HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT

TOPIC: HRM Practices in VODAFONE SUBMITTED TO: Mr. Siddharth Saxena SUBMITTED BY: A13 Bhavil Jain A30 Pratik Mistry A49 Darshan Snehal

DATE: 5 April 2013

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ASSIGNMENT 1 STRATEGIC HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT WITHIN VODAFONE Strategic Human Resource Management (SHRM) is a modern day business concept that has been now been widely used the organization; the crux of the concept is that all the human resource activities of the companies should be aligned with the organizational corporate objectives. In this assignment we are required to select an organization of our choice and then analyze their strategic human resource practices, we are required to see that how the practices and strategies of human resources department are aligned with the companys objective. What are the areas that are performing well and what the areas that need the improvement are? For this we have selected leading telecom company of UK. Vodafone has been the market leader with their continued growth in UK and other parts of the world. This assignment will analyze two dimensions, one is their strategies for recruitment, selection, learning, development and training and we shall explain how these strategies are maximizing employee performance and are linked with corporate strategies. The second part of this assignment will present the performance management processes of the organization we shall how this organization manages the performance of their employees and how human resource department is managing the employee relations. INTRODUCTION TO THE COMPANY Vodafone is a leading telecom player in the UK and other parts of the world including India. The products and services they provide are of high quality and high standards and the market they are operating is highly competitive. The nature of competition requires the management of the company to have a strategic clarity and all the business operations should be working in same direction. Their service portfolio includes mobile phone connection including 2G and 3G networks, broadband internet in homes and on mobiles (www.vodafone.com, 2011). In order to understand the strategic human resource activities of the organization is very important to understand that what company all about is. Their vision values and business orientation are the key drivers that are driving the human resource management department (www.vodafone.com, 2011). COMPANY VISION They see their future in outstanding data services and products - backed up by the best customer experience in the business. Their journey has already begun, with things like Mobile Internet and Mobile Broadband. And their Vodafone at home fixed broadband service. And their targets are big, which means millions of customers using their data services every day (www.vodafone.com, 2011).

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COMPANY VALUES Speed - They are focused on speed to market, they relentlessly priorities and pursue the outcomes that matter to our business. Simplicity - They make things simple for their customers, partners and colleagues. Trust - They are reliable and transparent to deal with. They deliver for others, and trust others to do likewise HRM & SHRM: Strategic Human Resource Management is a modern day business concept that is now being practiced in many of the organizations, its acceptability and practice is increasing with the time as organization have realized that this management philosophy is actually adding value to business profitability in many indirect ways . As we know that human resources are one of the most important resources of that a company can have, their ability to participate in development of companies sustainable competitive advantage is unquestionable, in past the human resource management has been a separate department with no influence and participation in strategic management of the company. Whatever have been the corporate strategies companies were not linking the human resources management with it. The result of which was the disintegration of companys objective and human resource management, this scenario made the human resource participation in sustainable competitive advantage limited. With the evolution of modern business era, that has started from 1980s, the management practitioners and commentators has been feeling the need of taking the companies to one direction, and they have also realized that it very important that human resource department should be made part of the strategy formulation process and their human resource strategies should be made while keeping in mind the business strategy of the organization. Therefore the researchers came up with the concept which is called the Strategic Human Resource Management, that enables the HR department to derive their practices from the corporate strategy and they are also made part while making the business strategy. Strategic Human Resource Management requires the dept being proactive rather than being reactive, they are required to adjust themselves according to the human resource need of the company. They are also required to foresee the upcoming needs of the company and then plan beforehand accordingly. STRATEGIES FOR RECRUITMENT, RETENTION, TRAINING & LEARNING Vodafone is a market leader in their category, they have a competitive advantage because of their diversification in products, services and marketing strategies, therefore their corporate objective is to sustain their marketing leader position with the help of their diversification.

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Below is the snapshot of HR strategies for various HR functions of the organization that tells us the organization is linking their business strategy with their human resource strategy: 1. Recruitment & Selection Vodafones recruitment and selection process is aligned with their business strategy, as they are in the business of providing services and their market position is a leader with differentiations, therefore when they recruit individuals on different seats, they have set of core competencies that are required for each position and they check these while hiring someone(Armstrong, 2006). Their selection process makes sure that the right person with right set of capacities and attitude is selected, for example if they are hiring for the position of customer service they would make sure that person being hired has the soft skills, the empathic attitude and is not aggressive in nature. They have devised a set of such soft skills that are evaluated on each of the hiring and these skills vary from position to position. For managerial level position they make sure they hire someone with good analytical skill along with flare of leadership in them. So in Vodafone the entire selection process is linked with the corporate objectives. 2. Compensation & Benefits Vodafones entire compensation and benefits are also linked with business strategy, their remuneration systems and annual appraisal systems are derived from corporate strategy. Since our case company is working in highly competitive environment and they have to maintain their market leadership position therefore they have designed their compensation system that encourages the quality individuation to work in this organization. They provide employees with state of the art facilities and salary packages so that the best in the industry are attracted to work in the company and then they play their part in making the organization a market leader. In Vodafone, every department has their quarterly and annual objectives, and these objectives are then used to make the individual and teams quarterly and annual objectives. Now when performance appraisal is done, Vodafones human resource department makes the objective achievement the part of the appraisal system and all the increments in salary and bonuses are linked with the objective achievement in teams and individuals. For their objective achievement calculation they make sure that performance objective are time bound, quantifiable and measureable. 3. Training & Development Training and Development is an important component of their human resource strategy. They keep on adding value in their human resources by training them on hard skill and soft skill whatever is required by the nature and role of the job. The processes start from indentifying the training needs of each of the department. They after understanding the objective of the each of the department for the coming year, asks the relevant managers to identify and evaluate the individuals in their teams that require the training and development in certain
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areas of their job. These training needs can be of soft skill and also can be of hard skills that are directly related to the job. Once the training needs are indentified then human resource department manages the training calendar of the year, in which all the required training are mentioned and employees are sent for on job and off job training. Human resource department also have the eye on the upcoming expansions and technological developments in the market so the relevant employees can be trained before the time and they are ready to work when there is any technological advancement and change in the organization. 4. Learning Human resource department of the organization put special emphasis on developing the learning culture within the organization. Employees are encouraged to share their experiences and learning with each other so that team members can have a learning culture in the organization. Since Vodafone is working in different geographical regions of the county, therefore they make sure that employees are encouraged the learnings regarding technical and marketing knowledge with each other, so that employee of one region can learn from the experience of the other region. As discussed above they also send employee on training, they also send different employees of different department to their different geographical markets so that they can have the training of various situations and have the understanding of various markets, that rotation also helps employees and increase the learning within the organization. CAREER BUILDING Since attracting and retaining the quality employee is challenge for the organizations working in todays competitive market, therefore Vodafone have the policy of having a clear and well defined career path for each of their employee. This clarity of career path makes it clear for employee that where they should see themselves after spending different number of years in the company. The department also makes sure that all the career advancement of the employees are based on their performance and every top performing employee should have the advancement in their career, this policy helps to control the employee turnover and encourage employees to work hard and perform as they would have the chance to grow. EMPOWERMENT Vodafone is working in competitive environment and to stay ahead of competition it is very important for organizations to have the fast and correct decision making. Therefore the human resource department put the special emphasis on empowering the employee for timely decision making. For this purpose they have worked in devolution of power, decentralization of decision making and flatter organizational culture. They have been working on the dimensions on giving the employee the power of making the less critical decisions and top management
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should only be making decision that are or critical nature are of strategic importance. This empowerment of employees gives them sense of responsibility, increases their commitment towards the organization and save the precious business time that is required to take the decision from top management. RETENTION As it is very important for organizations working in competitive business environment, Vodafones human resource practices also work in the same way, they try to retain their quality employees to go to the competition. Their retention strategies revolve around the good compensation and benefits, pay per performance, rewards and increments on good performance and then having the well defined promotional system that gives the chance to every employee to perform and build their careers and then grow. Their retention policy is derived from the strategic objective of the organization to be diversified in their business, and same is the case in their human resource management. PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT & EMPLOYEE RELATIONS Below we shall see that performance management is done in Vodafone, these lines will presented the different methodologies and practices that are being adapted in the performance management section of strategic HRM of company. i) Determination of Performance Targets The first step in strategic performance management of the organization is to determine the required performance targets of the organization for the year. These targets are derived by combining number of activities, first of all market analysis is done; the management analyze the external environment so that market growth trends and competitors market share can be understand. Once this step is done management have the background information for dominating the organizational performance for next year, then the next step is to decide and agree upon the performance targets, once the corporate level targets are decided then these targets are divided into department level targets. These department level targets are then reflected in individual level targets and objectives. ii) Encouraged Individual Commitment Vodafone has realized the importance of encouraging the employee commitment towards organizational objective, as without this commitment employees will not be able to achieve the performance that organization is expecting them to achieve. Once organization is able to make the organizational objectives the target of the individual then we can see the success rate of achieving this objective is high. Therefore Vodafone increases the employee commitment to the organizational objectives by involving them in the objective making process. It has been the practice in the Vodafone that managers and teams
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decide their performance targets themselves and once these are approved by the management their personal commitment to these targets is high. They strive and struggle more to achieve the targets that has been made in consultation with them. iii) Delegation, Mentoring and Coaching There are some other activities that play their role in strategic management of the performance of the organization, Vodafone on the also using the three of the activities that are delegation of power with responsibility, proper mentoring and feedback system, and coaching. Vodafone believes in delegation of power to the employees that are responsible for achieving certain targets, as responsibility comes with authority, same is the philosophy that is applied throughout the Vodafone. Their culture is devolution of power so de-centralization, they try to give maximum power to their employees so that they can achieve their responsibilities with given authority. Vodafone also believes in mentoring and coaching of employees, managers are encouraged to act as mentor for their team members, this also involves on job training for the teams, this systems encourages learning environment in the organization. iv) Monitoring and Feedback Monitoring and feedback system is an important part of the organizational performance management; same is the case with Vodafone. They have proper monitoring and feedback system that helps us monitoring the performance and individuals and teams. They have a quarterly performance management system that relates the performance of the employees with their objectives of that quarter. After the evaluation and monitoring of the performance of teams then feedback is provided to them. That system helps the organizational performance on the track and helps the organization to stay on their performance objectives throughout the year. v) Handling Under-Performance Vodafone handles the underperformance of their employees by having a proper monitoring system, they first evaluates the performance of the employees, then if team members are found to be underperforming then they see that if there is any training needs. If there are training needs then employees are sent on training, after the trainings their performance is again monitored. If performance is found satisfactory then it is ok, if again performance is not found satisfactory then employees are replaced to other jobs.

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EMPLOYEE RELATIONS Vodafone puts special emphasis on managing good relations with their employees; they believe that their employees are their more important assets, their human resource policies are more focused towards managing their employees relations with the organization. Their performance evaluation, benefits and compensation system is targeted towards retaining their employees and maintaining their motivation with the organization. Harassment and bullying Bullying and harassment have no place in Vodafone. Harassment can have a serious impact on both the health and happiness of employees and the productivity and success of the business. Vodafone is committed to ensuring that their employees develop in a positive environment. Where they see any harassment or bullying happening, they put a stop to it, fast. Vodafone defines bullying and harassment as unwanted behaviour from another person where you feel it is intimidating, malicious, offensive, insulting, humiliating or degrading. It may be related to age, gender, sexual orientation, race, disability, religion or belief, and can be either a repeated or a one-off incident. It can be verbal, non-verbal or physical and isnt always face to face (e.g. displayed images, email, phone, social networking websites). It doesnt have to be targeted at an individual and can be about creating an unwelcoming or hostile environment. Harassment is illegal in many countries and employees must understand and implement the requirements set by local laws. Guidance can be found in your employee handbook and can be obtained from your local Human Resource steam. Any examples of harassment will be taken very seriously and may lead to disciplinary action, including potentially dismissal and legal action. If any employees believe that they are victims of harassment or bullying, they should notify their local Human Resources Department. Some examples of what we class as harassment and bullying are: Insulting someone particularly on the grounds of his or her age, race, sex, disability, sexual orientation or religion. Making fun of someone or putting them down. Excluding or isolating someone from work or social activities. Picking on someone because they have made a previous complaint of harassment. Unwelcome flirtation, sexual advances or sexual assault. Touching or standing too close when not invited to. Displaying or circulating offensive materials (e.g. rude, racist or sexual pictures or cartoons). Making decisions on the basis of sexual favours being accepted or rejected. Making inappropriate jokes or comments.
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Misuse of power or a position of authority. Harassment and bullying are not limited to these examples. At Vodafone, whether you are using company or personal communications, when discussing employees, take care to ensure that you do not communicate derogatory, harassing or abusive information. Remember to apply the same standard in all forms of communication no matter how informal they may appear. More information if you do not feel you can talk to your coworkers or manager about an issue you can always speak to a member of your local Ask HR team or your Human Resources Business Partner. What can you do? If you notice any discrimination, harassment or bullying among your work colleagues, speak up; the victim of harassment may feel unable to do this and we need to support each other. If it feels unsafe to raise the issue directly contact your local Human Resources Department for advice on how to resolve the issue. Travelling/working abroad? If you are travelling or working abroad ensure that you familiarize yourself with local customs, regulations and the local Employee Handbook. Be sensitive to different cultures; talk to local managers and the local Human Resources Department and adapt your behaviour as necessary. Environment Vodafone recognizes that their day-to-day operations will impact on the environment in a number of ways. They are committed to minimizing the potentially harmful effects of their activities wherever and whenever possible. They will adhere to relevant environmental legislation and international standards. In countries where environmental legislation is not evident or enforced, Vodafone ensures that responsible practices for managing environmental impacts are in place. They will minimize their use of finite resources (such as energy, water and raw materials), and the release of harmful emissions to the environment (including waste, air emissions and discharges to water). They will seek to improve the environmental performance of the products and services they provide, for example by increasing energy efficiency, or reducing waste. Vodafone supports innovative developments in products and services that can offer environmental and social benefits to our customers. Consider what opportunities exist in your working life to contribute to Vodafones environmental commitment, specifically: Make sure you are familiar with the environmental laws, regulations and policies that apply to your job. Look for opportunities to reduce waste dont print if you dont need to, turn off lights, dont over order consumables.
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Dispose of any materials carefully if you have access to recycling facilities then make sure you know how to use them. Make the most of being online it reduces the need for hard copies of documents, saving paper and energy costs. Think of the environment when travelling can you video conference or telephone instead? Can you walk or use public transport? Can you car share? Build environmental considerations into your purchasing decisions. Communities and Societies Vodafone relies on local communities. Their network is set up and maintained in the communities around us. Their customers are affected by the way in which they operate in their communities and trust them to act with integrity. Vodafone respects any concerns that these communities have and always try to answer any questions or worries raised. They also provide charitable support to many communities. Their aim is to work together for the benefit of the communities and Vodafone. Dos: Be sensitive to the needs of the local community in which you are based and listen to any concerns about Vodafones operations. Make sure issues are raised with the relevant department. Use inclusive communication and engagement practices to ensure that different groups in the community have an opportunity to be heard. Contact your local Vodafone Foundation to see what you can do in your local community. Health and Safety It is the responsibility of all of us to take steps to protect the health, safety and wellbeing of ourselves, each other, our partners, our customers and the wider communities in which we operate. Vodafone is committed to ensuring a stimulating, safe environment and supporting health, wellbeing and worklife balance for all of our employees. To achieve this, Vodafone expects its leaders to lead by example identify risks, establish controls and monitor performance for the area they manage. Vodafone has dedicated health, safety and wellbeing management systems and structures to manage health, safety and wellbeing risks. Vodafone reports, records and investigates their incidents, and communicates their performance transparently internally and externally. Dos: Comply with the Vodafone Absolute Rules these are designed to protect you from risks we know can cause serious harm.
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Understand and comply with the policies, standards, procedures and arrangements that Vodafone has put in place to ensure your health and safety at work. Ensure that our suppliers and partners identify access and manage risk for all activities and services undertaken and/or products provided on Vodafones behalf and can comply with all applicable laws relating to health and safety and Vodafones Code of Ethical Purchasing. Report all accidents, unsafe practices and unsafe situations immediately. This will help us prevent accidents in the future. Intervene when you see unsafe acts and conditions. If you are not sure how to do something, or consider the activity to be dangerous, stop and seek advice. Act quickly to initiate an immediate investigation in the event of accidents or emergencies. This includes if there is doubt over the safety of a product or service. Recommend innovation or improvements, and commend others doing the right thing. Consider the impact of work on your wellbeing and your worklife balance as well as the wellbeing and worklife balance of others. Individual Conduct Vodafone acts with honesty, integrity and fairness in our dealings both internally and externally. They do not tolerate any form of bribery, including improper offers of payments or gifts to or from employees. Vodafone avoids any contracts that might lead to, or suggest, a conflict of interest between personal activities and the business. They will neither give nor accept hospitality or gifts that might appear to incur an obligation. They will pursue mutually beneficial relationships and seek to promote the application of their Business Principles with their business partners and suppliers. Avoiding conflicts of interest Each employee has a duty to always act in the best interests of Vodafone and its customers. If a competing loyalty arises an individual may be subject to a conflict of interest. You should avoid circumstances that may lead to either a conflict of interest or the appearance of a conflict. If you are in a position that is a conflict of interest, disciplinary action may be taken against you including, potentially, dismissal. To avoid a conflict you should: Recognize when you are presented with situations that might result in you having a loyalty that competes with your duties to Vodafone. Discuss any concerns with your line manager. Ensure that in performing your job you continue to act in the best interests of Vodafone.

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Dont allow yourself to be put in a position where you have a personal interest in, or influence over, a contract or relationship. If you do have a personal interest in the outcome, avoid taking part in the decision-making process. As a guide, ask yourself whether you would feel comfortable explaining your actions to friends/co-workers/media. Gifts, entertainment and payments Vodafone policy prohibits accepting significant gifts or any other business courtesy (including discounts or benefits that are not made available to all employees) from any of our customers, suppliers, partners or competitors. Vodafone appreciates that business relationships will sometimes result in a need to receive or offer a modest gift or hospitality. In finding this balance, we must ensure that they are not influenced, or seen to be influenced, in their decisions by payments or gifts and that there is a genuine and legal business purpose in accepting or giving the gift. If you are offered any significant gifts, notify your line manager and only accept the gift if it is approved. There may also be additional requirements in relation to registering gifts in your company; check with your local Human Resources representative. Gifts may take many forms including invitations to attend events. Gifts should always be infrequent, modest and should not include any element of cash or a cash equivalent. Remember: Dont accept any gift that may create the appearance of impropriety. Never accept gifts from competitors or government officials. Dont accept gifts of cash or cash equivalents (e.g. gift certificates or prepaid gift cards) even if they have a low value. Never ask for gifts or hospitality. While we appreciate that local customs may require the giving or accepting of modest gifts this should always be in accordance with your local policy. Equal care and consideration needs to be taken in offering gifts. CONCLUSION Strategic human resource management is the modern concept that is in practice by different by different organizations, in this paper we have observed the strategic human resource management practices by one of the leading organization in UK. We have observed their organizational objectives with relation to their human resource management activities. The focus of the assignment has been on the recruitment & selection, training and development and learning functions and their relationship with organizational strategy. It has also been observed that how performance management system is working on strategic guidelines provided by the organization and how it is playing role in competitive advantage.
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ASSIGNMENT 2 INTRODUCTION TO THE COMPANY Vodafone is a leading telecom player in the UK and other parts of the world including India. The products and services they provide are of high quality and high standards and the market they are operating is highly competitive. The nature of competition requires the management of the company to have a strategic clarity and all the business operations should be working in same direction. Their service portfolio includes mobile phone connection including 2G and 3G networks, broadband internet in homes and on mobiles (www.vodafone.com, 2011). In order to understand the strategic human resource activities of the organization is very important to understand that what company all about is. Their vision values and business orientation are the key drivers that are driving the human resource management department (www.vodafone.com, 2011). COMPANY VISION They see their future in outstanding data services and products - backed up by the best customer experience in the business. Their journey has already begun, with things like Mobile Internet and Mobile Broadband. And their Vodafone at home fixed broadband service. And their targets are big, which means millions of customers using their data services every day (www.vodafone.com, 2011). COMPANY VALUES Speed - They are focused on speed to market, they relentlessly priorities and pursue the outcomes that matter to our business. Simplicity - They make things simple for their customers, partners and colleagues. Trust - They are reliable and transparent to deal with. They deliver for others, and trust others to do likewise. INTERVIEW WITH: M/S. IVY (HRM STAFFING EXECUTIVE, VODAFONE WEST LIMITED) Q. How many employees does Vodafone (Gujarat head office) have? 700 On-role Employees. Q. What is the recruitment process does Vodafone follow? The Recruitment process at Vodafone is a 4-Step process. The recruitment process starts with the declaration of vacancies to our various sources of recruitment Sources Of Recruitment 1. HR Consultancies (Names not disclosed)
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2. Online Web Portals (Nakuri.com, Monster.com etc.) 3. Employee Referrals. 4. Internal Job Posting. The Next step is to receive and screen the resumes collected from all the sources leading to the formation of a shortlist of potential candidates. After the shortlist is made, the process directly jumps to interviews of these candidates (Exams are conducted, but only for operational level jobs). The last step in the process is providing the offer of acceptance which includes the job description and duties, to the candidate selected from the shortlist. Q. How is the employee welfare taken care of? Vodafone believes in Human Connect, therefore there is no digitalised feedback mechanism such as grievance e-mail, complaint portal etc. that exists. The feedback mechanisms followed by Vodafone are: Core HR teams that make sure no such practices, which work against the interest of the employees, happen in the organisation Zonal HR heads that look after the same in the zonal offices and retail outlets of Vodafone. At Every hierarchy level of every office, a Spock (a person who doesnt let his judgement get clouded by emotions) is selected, who an employee can approach regarding their problem Open house discussions, both intra and inter offices, takes place every month via video conferences (vid-con). In these conferences employees are encouraged to make their problems or issues known. The purest form of Human Connect. Employees at any and every Vodafone office is always encouraged and welcomed to come and seek solace regarding their problems from their seniors, peers, the HR department and even the highest authorities. A special e-mail ID is also in place for matters of such nature which cannot be discussed openly or if the employee is not comfortable doing the same in person. A special 8 member team is formed to ingrain the culture into the organisation at every level the in itself encourages the Human Connect. Breach of Code of Conduct leads to WARNING 1 followed by WARNING 2 and then EXTINCTION. Q. What kind of efforts does Vodafone put into Employee Recreation? Vodafone has a nice set of activities that it carries out to ensure that their employees have enough recreation. List of recreational activities.
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Vodafone hosts an annual day where all the employees are invited along with their families. There are fun activities for all, ranging from games for kids to stage performances for the grown-ups. This is followed by a gala dinner to end the day. They describe this day as more of a marriage function, rather than a companys annual day. Every employee is allotted an annual picnic budget. So at to enable the employees to plan a picnic on their own according to their convenience rather than complying with a company decided picnic. Employees are also allotted a certain amount for recreation with their families in form of picnics, trips etc. Major festivals and Days are also celebrated in the offices. Vodafone had also come up and started with an innovative practice which they call as The Employee Engagement teams. Thought the concept is not brand new, the way it is accomplished it very different. These teams organise Josh Fridays, during which these Josh teams organise small games, which dont hamper the work process in anyways but still keeps the employees engaged in something other than work which is refreshing. Things like quizzes, the game of housie etc. are played via mobile or emails. The Annual Meeting (mentioned as Open House Discussions above), also has a section which is informal and targeted towards knowing what kind of recreational activities the employees like and would want to have in the future. Health safety & welfare campaigns are also held from time to time. Another concept that Vodafone has implemented is the Social Saturdays. On every alternate Saturday this team encourages social bonding and formation of interpersonal relationships between employees by different means, exercises, discussions, etc. employees can also bring their families to show them their workspace and introduce them with their peers & colleagues.

Q. How many levels of hierarchy are there in Vodafone? Form bottom to top Vodafone had Band J to E, i.e. 6 levels. Each Band has 2 distinct designation levels. Even though the hierarchy exists, the flow of communication is very smooth and easy, and Vodafone considers itself as a flat and decentralised organisation. Q. How many departments does Vodafone have? Apart from the core functional heads of finance, marketing, HR and operations Vodafone has 5 more departments List of departments Network Operations
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Retail Customer Care Technology Information

Q. What is the Training and Development process at Vodafone? The standard process followed at Vodafone for T&D for every employee at every level is as follows: Common Process for all new employees: 1 day for Orientation. 2 days for Core Functional Induction. Certain Jobs and roles require on-the-job training, therefore this is provided after the above mentioned activities are performed. For certain roles, specific certifications are required, for example, to use the CRM software of Vodafone, an employee has to gain the proper certification (from the organisation itself). These certifications are provided on the basis of performance in the respective exam of course undertaken. Q. What kind of issues or obstacles has Vodafone been facing over the years in the procurement of adequate Human Resource? Vodafone has considered Gujarat as a very welcoming and a good place to run its operations from, but every coin has 2 sides, and so does Gujarat. Major issues that Vodafone has faced due to being situated in Gujarat. Short comings and scarcity of Skilled labour. Geographically speaking, Gujarat has a very extreme climate which acts as a de-motivating point for outsiders to shift to Gujarat. Some people have an issue with Gujarat being a dry state and therefore dont want to shift here. Also the fact that Gujarat has been struck by an earthquake and also communal riots acts as a de-motivating factor. Most of the local potential is of an entrepreneur aspiration, and therefore not very interested in a job.

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CONCLUSION Hence by studying the various aspects of HRM with respect to telecom giant Vodafone, we can say that all organizations have different approach towards their HRM practices. Many of the core HR functions like recruitment & selection, training and development and learning functions are similar for many organizations, but their internal employee relationship plans and strategic HRM differs in all components. For Vodafone, their unique employee engagement programmes and employee welfare plans have made Vodafone a dreams company for many new aspirants. The technical employee staffing is done by outsourced consultancies whereas the management employee staffing is done by Vodafones HRM.

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ASSIGNMENT 3 HRM Practices recommended to Vodafone by referring to various Journals The main objective of this study was to test the effects of strategic entrepreneurship and HRM practices on organizational performance. The results showed that among the four dimensions of strategic entrepreneurship (adaptive capability, resourceful innovation, proactive change and risk anticipation) proactive change was critical in determining organizational performance while adaptive capability interacted with performance management and career development to affect performance. Risk anticipation was negatively related to performance. While performance management is crucial for firms, the performance management and performance relationship vary across regions. This case revealed that regional aspects of HRM can be hard to be contented with, they are impossible to eradicate by firms internal or external strategies, in fact it needs wide ended support from government, environment, people and society. The problem hinted towards with regard to this case is Entrepreneurship in Gujarat. One problem stated by M/s. Ivy (HR Executive -Vodafone West Limited) was that Gujarat Region is a place where society is built on small business and most of the people here are entrepreneurs. Thus finding local people with required skill set to meet the job perspective is quite tuff. The case states that performance can be upgraded if proactive change is employed. Proactive change means actively attempting to make alterations to the work place and its practices. Other issue stated by M/s. Ivy was that Gujarat is a dry state (nonalcoholic region) which is also a regional issue. Due to this government law, young employee does not prefer to work in Gujarat. Under regional the entrepreneurship issue is a societal stereotype problem and dry state is a government law. Thus, in no case can Vodafone apply its strategies to change the externalities. However recommendation can be given to add value to its internal aspects, some of them are as follows: Vodafone can search for talent from within Gujarat. They themselves dont entertain alcoholism, so they must also ask the employee for habits like alcoholism and others to source the talent pool in better way. Use employee referral programs on larger scale.

As Vodafone is getting global, it has been involved in some mergers and acquisition since late hence its very important for Vodafone to maintain its diversified human workforce. People working in different country have different working style, also the laws and rules, regulations may be different hence its very important from Vodafone point of view to identify the details about the culture, working style, laws and labor laws in the country in which they are operating. So in order to establish uniform working environment all over the globe, Vodafone must take in to actions following steps:

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Integration stage: An important consideration for HRM in implementing uniform environment across globe is the level and speed of integration. the need for strategic interdependence or fit and the need for structural autonomy. Vodafone need to integrate the entire structure and the HRM policies so that all the departments in all the countries are closely linked with each other and the Central HRM team monitoring all the offices and their latest happening across the globe. Resource Management: Resources management is an important issue which needs to be sorted out soon. Thus, the HRM function will have to decide quickly upon a downsizing strategy, with planning and staffing duties such as outplacement programmers critical to the success of the firm as whole. The focus on human resources is not, however, solely on downsizing, a retention issues might also play a key role. Processes: In domestic environment, there is often little change made to HRM processes. But when we talk of global environment the processes vary to great extent hence Vodafone need to understand the culture and emotions of people in the country in which they are operating. They should plan the same type HRM Strategy for country with same value and traditions. Values: Its obvious that organizational values tend to differ on the basis of the working scenarios and the conditions in which its operating. However, conflict over resources and processes may be relatively lower if the integration of all the companies operating in different countries and different geographical location is strong.

Conclusion Vodafone cannot change the government laws on alcoholism; neither can they change the stereotype of Gujarat being an entrepreneurial region, hence they ought to be contended with the externalities and have to make change in their internal management of Human Resource. But, Vodafone being the number one telecom operator in Gujarat, it can more overcome such issue in their own sole way. Vodafone need to have high adaptability and high acceptance to changes in terms of working culture and the behavior of people meanwhile they need to set some standard HRM practices that are followed in all the branches of Vodafone all over the world. References (1) The International Journal of Human Resource Management, Vol. 19, No. 5, May 2008, 945963 Zhong -Ming Wang and Sheng Wang a Zhejiang University, China; University of Nevada, Las Vegas, USA (2) Int. Journal. of Human Resource Management Volume 15, 8 December 2004. By Ruth V. Aguilera and John C. Dencker

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