BASIC RESEARCH PROPOSAL

CHANGE MANAGEMENT IN MULTI NATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS BY

MAJOR SAQIB RIAZ

MHRM (FINAL)

EP-1034042

LECTURER

PROF.DR.AKHTER BALOCH

UNIVERSITY OF KARACHI

1.

INTRODUCTION.

The only certainties in life are death and taxes.

To this well known quotation, one might add change. People are constantly changing, being pressured to change, and pressuring others to change. Although the nature of our world confronts us with the inevitability of change, many of us do not welcome change willingly. The field of change management in business culture of a multinational organization can be confusing and sometimes complicated to research and study for new practitioners as well as more experienced practitioners. In fact change management is the application of many different ideas from the engineering, business and psychology fields. To understand change management, as we know it today, we need to consider two converging and predominant fields of thought, an engineers approach to improving business performance and a psychologists approach to managing the human side of change. Over the past 50 years, organizations, specially the multinational organizations have made dramatic shifts in roles and values of front line employees. Predictably and control have been replaced by values of accountability, responsibility and empowerment. Now employees have been given the ability to make the rules. Change is the process of making things different, either directly or indirectly. Change occurs because the status quo cannot be maintained indefinitely. Globalization has placed a new emphasis on the need for multinational organizations to be aware of and responsive to change, but this change does not occurs automatically. A formal change process / management is required to administer, manage and implement the change. This process of change management may not become a confusing and a complicated issue, for this very purpose, a clear, precise and thorough knowledge about change and management of change in the organizations must be acquired to meet the need of an hour. The world is in a state of constant change, birth, growth, decline and ultimately the death. All these forces/factors tends to keep the life situation of any organization or any individual in a constant state of flux. Therefore, change management is an essentially required leadership competency to excel in business today. The proof of change management becoming an essential component of business is, the desire of people in the field to measure, have statistics and benchmarking about the impact of change management on the bottom line of a multinational organizations. Since individuals and

Organizations

life

is

full

of

change,

to

summarize,

one

may

say

that,

change is necessary for survival

2.

RESEARCH OBJECTIVES.

The prime objectives of this research

report are as under:a. To highlight the historical perspective of change management in multinational organizations. b. To identify the external and internal forces of change. c. Be able to evaluate the need for change in the organizations. d. To Determining size and scope of change. e. To explain the change process in organizations. f. How to deal with resistance and identify the causes of resistance to change. g. To learn the advantages and disadvantages of change in the organizations

3.

RESEARCH SCOPE. The scope of the research is restricted to the

multinational organizations located at Karachi, however the findings, recommendations and conclusion of this report is likely to highlight and introduce various new phenomenon/ aspects related to change management in multinational organizations which is ultimately going to pay rich dividends to the multinational organizations all around the globe.

4.

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY.

In the preparation of this

report both primary and secondary sources of data collection are being used. Being specific these are listed below:a. In non probability sampling design, purposive sampling technique is being used. b. Structured interviews c. Annual reports of various organizations d. Case studies e. Related web Sites on the internet. f. Various books on the subject.

5.

EXPECTED FINDINGS.

Change

is

necessary

in

all

organizations. But, the way change is initiated can vary. It can be forced upon companies by outside forces or just come from realization that the company may be falling behind the times. The successful completion of this research is not only going to elaborate the historical perspective of change management in multinational organizations, but as well as identify the external and internal forces of change, explain the change process in detail in the organizations and above all the research is also likely to discuss the phenomenon of resistance to change in the organizations by identifying the causes of resistance to change along with discussing the tactics of dealing with resistance to the change in multinational organizations. To summarize the research is going to identify and introduce the smooth sailing practices in the course of managing change in the organizations

APPLIED RESEARCH PROPOSAL

INCREASED EMPLOYEE TURNOVER RATE IN UNILEVER PAKISTAN BY

MAJOR SAQIB RIAZ

MHRM (FINAL)

EP-1034042

LECTURER

PROF.DR.AKHTER BALOCH
UNIVERSITY OF KARACHI

1.

INTRODUCTION.

The growth, prosperity and progression of any

organization depends on the organizational culture, the motivation level of the employees, the compensation / welfare packages, equity and unbiased procedures / policies of the company. The human resource is an asset as well as an investment for any organization, the more this asset is looked after, groomed and trained the more productive and progressive will be the organization. On the other hand if this asset of employees/ HR is not been treated with equity, not been provided with the compensations corresponding to the inflation /price hike and their miscellaneous perks/privileges/welfare measures are not been well looked after, then the consequences for the organization can be disastrous. Low productivity can be the minimum outcome of unhappy and unsatisfied employees, and its ultimate can be the employees leaving the company, resulting in the talent and experience drain.
2. Employee turnover refers to the proportion of employees who leave an organization

over a set period (often on a year-on-year basis), expressed as a percentage of total workforce numbers. At its broadest, the term is used to encompass all leavers, both voluntary and involuntary, including those who resign, retire or are made redundant, in which case it may be described as overall or crude employee turnover. It is also possible to calculate more specific breakdowns of turnover data, such as redundancy-related turnover or resignation levels, with the latter particularly useful for employers in assessing the effectiveness of people management in their organizations. 3. Turnover is measured for individual companies and for their industry as a whole. If an employer is said to have a high turnover relative to its competitors, it means that employees of that company have a shorter average tenure than those of other companies in the same industry. High turnover may be harmful to a company's productivity if skilled workers are often leaving and the worker population contains a high percentage of novice workers. When accounting for the costs (both real costs, such as time taken to select and recruit a replacement, and also opportunity costs, such as lost productivity), the cost of employee turnover to for-profit organizations has been estimated to be up to 150% of the employees' remuneration package. High turnover rates of skilled professionals can pose as a risk to the business or organization, due to the human capital (such as skills, training, and knowledge) lost. Notably, given the natural specialization of skilled

professionals, these employees are likely to be re-employed within the same industry by a competitor. Therefore, turnover of these individuals incurs both replacement costs to the organization, as well as resulting in a competitive disadvantage to the business. 4. High turnover often means that employees are unhappy with the work or compensation, but it can also indicate unsafe or unhealthy conditions, or that too few employees give satisfactory performance (due to unrealistic expectations, inappropriate processes or tools, or poor candidate screening). The lack of career opportunities and challenges, dissatisfaction with the job-scope or conflict with the management has been cited as predictors of high turnover. Low turnover indicates that none of the above is true: employees are satisfied, healthy and safe, and their performance is satisfactory to the employer. However, the predictors of low turnover may sometimes differ than those of high turnover. Aside from the forementioned career opportunities, salary, corporate culture, management's recognition, and a comfortable workplace seem to impact employees' decision to stay with their employer. When companies hire the best people, new talent hired and veterans are enabled to reach company goals, maximizing the investment of each employee. Taking the time to listen to employees and making them feel involved will create loyalty, in turn reducing turnover allowing for growth.

2. RESEARCH PROBLEM. A high rate of turnover of the employees has been observed in Unilever Pakistan during the years 2010-2011 ,i.e the turnover ratio has been inflated from 5% to 15%.

3. PROBLEM VERIFICATION. The statistical data and information been provided by the HR department of the company has revealed and verified the increasing /fast growing trend of employees leaving the company during the last two years.

4.

HYPOTHESIS. The inflation and price hike as compared to the

compensation packages been provided to the employees is the cause of increased turnover rate.

5.

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY.

While conducting the research both

primary and secondary sources of data collection are likely to be used. Being specific these are listed below:a. In non probability sampling design, convenience sampling technique may be used. b. Both structured and unstructured interviews will be planned for various posts/ grades of the employees. c. Annual reports of the company for last two years will be consulted. d. A questionnaire survey using purposive sampling technique e. Exit interviews of the departed employees will also be consulted.

6. LIKELY FINDINGS OF THE RESEARCH.

The research is likely to verify the hypothesis been generated or the otherwise. In both of the cases the causes and the reasons of increased turnover rate will be identified and recommendations will be made to effectively check and control the turnover rate. Once the root cause is being identified and addressed, the company is surely going to get rich dividends out of the research. Hence the turnover rate of Unilever Pakistan is surely going to be reduced.