Human Resource Practices At Hbl Commerce Essay

Habib Bank Limited (HBL) commenced its operations in the year 1947. It has the privilege of being the first bank to establish itself in Pakistan after independence. From there on, the bank has taken leaps and bounds and has shown tremendous growth in the field of banking. It has now because the largest private sector bank in Pakistan. It has customer base of around five million people. HBL has around 1705 branches across the countries.

HBL also has international presence in around 26 countries. The bank has subsidiaries in Hong Kong and United Kingdom, it has affiliates in Nepal, Nigeria, Kenya, and Kyrgyzstan. HBL also has representative offices in China, and Iran. The vast international network makes HBL the largest domestic multinational. Such achievements strengthen the position of the bank not only in the domestic market but also brighten the image of the bank in the international market. The company is now planning to expand its operations in UAE, UK, South and Central Asia, Africa, and the Far East. HBL has 55 branches worldwide.

The commodities offered by HBL include product offerings and services in Retail and Consumer Banking. The bank has the honor of holding the largest Corporate Banking portfolio in Pakistan with an active Investment Banking arm. Small Medium Enterprise (SME) and Agricultural lending programs and other banking services are made available to customers residing in urban and rural areas.

The company leads the market by holding a domestic market share of 40 percent. HBL continues to dominate the domestic banking sector with a major share-holding in foreign remittances and loans to SMEs, traders, and farmers.

HBL is currently rated AAA (Long term) and A-1+ (Short term) with ‘stable’ outlook and has a balance sheet size of USD 13.82 billion. It is the first Pakistani bank to raise Tier II Capital from external sources. (Habib Bank Limited, 2012)

HBL has always led the market with example of quality performance and extra ordinary treatment with the clients. It has adapted with the changing times and evolved its practices as well for the betterment of the company. The company has its headquarters in Habib Bank Plaza, Karachi.

Company History

HBL was founded by late Mr. Ismail Habib on 25th August, 1942 at Bombay. At that time it was the first Muslim bank to be established in the Indian Sub-continent. It was initiated with a capital of Rs 2.5 Million with a mere 12 branch network. (Ayaz, 2011)

Prior to Pakistan’s independence, Quaid-e-Azam during his campaigns realized the importance of a bank that was going to cater to the needs of the Muslims residing in Hindustan. He requested the Habib family to establish a commercial bank. Habib Bank Limited was thus created in 1941. The head office was located in Bombay (now Mumbai). The fixed capital was 25,000 rupees. The bank played a vital role in utilizing the funds from the Muslim community to finance The All-Indian Muslim League for the establishment of Pakistan. HBL also helped the refugees who were hurt in the communal riots and violence that preceded the departure of British.

After independence HBL shifted its headquarters to Karachi. Habib Bank Limited’s first international branch was setup in Colombo, Sri Lanka, in 1951. The bank started its international from this year and never looked back after that. In 1975, the company built the Habib Bank Limited building in Karachi to celebrate its 25th anniversary. (Habib Bank Lmited, 2012)

The company was nationalized in Zia-ul-Haq’s era. Prior to nationalization, HBL had a domestic market share of about 40 percent. After nationalization HBL continued to dominate the market and held a major share in inward foreign remittances (55percent) and loans to small industries. The company expanded its international boundaries and covered USA, Singapore, Oman, Belgium, Seychelles, Maldives, and the Netherlands. (Habib Bank Lmited, 2012)

A decade after nationalization, HBL’s annual profit was more than twice the combined profit of all the other commercial banks operating in Pakistan at that time which included United Bank Limited, National Bank of Pakistan, Allied Bank limited and Muslim Commercial Bank. HBL had been a source of rapid economic development in the state since its establishment. It financed various government transport schemes, agricultural schemes and leases over the years and remained the largest and one of the most profitable government entities till its privatization. (Ayaz, 2011)

It is believed that HBL presented a blank cheque to Muhammad Ali Jinnah at the time of birth of Pakistan. The bank also looked over the initial financial matters of the state by assuming the status of the state treasury till the state bank came into existence. HBL therefore had been very close to the government of Pakistan since it was established due to these significant reasons.

Vision

“Enabling people to advance with confidence and success”

(Habib Bank Limited, 2012)

Habib Bank Limited wishes to see its customers excel in their lives with confidence. The vision of HBL is targeted towards the domestic market and focuses on fulfilling their needs and requirements in order to give them satisfaction, confidence, and the comfort they deserve.

According to Rieches, 2012 the vision statement of a coporation provides a platform to inform competent personnel, create strategic alliances, and most importantly loyal customers. It is really a depiction of desired destination. The destination that the corporation wishes to arrive at. It is a long term long goal established by a corporation which reflects where the it wishes to see itself in the future.

HBL vision statement is not a very strong vision statement. It does not clearly define where the company wishes to itself in the future. The vision statements are usually one liners and within this limitation the long term goal is defined. HBL however has failed to do so. From the vision statement the readers are not able to gauge about the future plans of the company and what it wants for itself. It does talk about its customers and their benefit. Customers is just one very small part of it. The corporate goal is the most significant thing to be mentioned in the vision statement.

The focus of the company only remains on its customers. The vision to help the customers grow is in the right direction but the other stake holders are being ignored. That however is not a good strategy. It does not mention its shareholders, future plans, furture expansions etc. It also does not mention whether the company wants to remain the market leader or not.

There is immense competition in the local market and it is no longer easy to survive in this fierce competition without having a crystal clear vision. The vision statement of the company is a weak statement and does nor portray or convey the future plans of the Bank. The statement leads to a lot of questions and it has a lot of ambiguities.

Mission

“To make our customers prosper, our staff excel and create value for shareholders”

(Habib Bank Limited, 2012)

The mission of HBL discusses its customers, employees, and the shareholders. The statement mentions three of the most important dimensions of the company. The main aim of a mission statement it to outline the short or medium term goals of an organization so that the employees can make strategies accordingly.

Mission statements are given an enormous importance by the strategists. They consider it to be a reflection of how company is being operated and which direction it intends to take on. It is said to explain the core purpose of company’s existence. Famous names in the field of strategic management consider mission statements to be a corner stone of an organization, and believe that a well thought out mission statements tells a lot about an organization (Wheelen & Hunger, 2010). They identify nine important components of a mission statement. Though all of these might not be included, or be necessary, but their presence in the mission statement does make the mission statement powerful and gives it ability to make an impact a well. These components include customer, products and services, markets, technology, concern of survival, growth & profitability, philosophy, self-concept, concern of public image and concern of employees (Adam, 2009). The researcher has used these nine components as guideline to analyze the existing mission statement of Habib Bank Limited.

HBL mentions the first component, its customers first. It puts the customers and their betterment as a top priority. That is a very sound strategy. The bank is operation in a competitive market and if it does not follow a consumer centric approach then it is likely to experience downfall in its popularity. Therefore placing the customers as the first and foremost priority is a good strategy that is used by the company. The company indirectly promises to work for the success of its customers and make them prosperous in their life.

There is another important dimension covered in the mission statement, the employees of the bank. The employees play a vital role in establishing the company in the market and eventually making it a leader. The mission statement of HBL talks about its employees and providing them with opportunities which would help them excel in their careers. This is a good strategy again. If a company is taking care of its employees it is very likely that the employees are going to work with loyalty for the betterment of the company.

It mentions its customer, but more clarification would have been ideal. Its products and services are not clear at all, whereas other components of a powerful mission statement including markets, technology, concern of survival, growth and profitability, philosophy, self-concept, concern of public image and concern of employees is totally missing. Therefore this is a weak mission statement, which could be improved by incorporating these components in to it. Mission statements are often a little more elaborative, than the one under consideration, which conveys a much clearer picture of the organization’s mission, purpose and objectives to its stakeholders.

Habib Bank Limited should improve its mission statement. Make the component mentions in it more clear and make it more useful for its stakeholders.

Values

“Our values are the fundamental principles that define our culture and are

brought to life in our attitudes and behaviour. It is our values that make

us unique and unmistakable.”

(Habib Bank Limited, 2012)

Value of a company describes the traits and qualities that shape daily actions with the internal community, customers, and suppliers. These values shape corporate culture when they become deeply held driving forces and high priorities. (Rieches, 2012)

Excellence

This is at the core of everything we do. The markets in which we operate are becoming increasingly competitive, giving our customers an abundance of choice. Only through being the very best – in terms of the service we offer, our products and premises – can we hope to be successful and grow. (Habib Bank Limited, 2012)

Integrity

We are the leading bank in Pakistan and our success depends upon our trust. Our customers – and society in general – expect us to possess and steadfastly adhere to high moral principles and professional standards. (Habib Bank Limited, 2012)

Customer Focus

We understand fully the needs of our customers and adapt our products and services to meet these. We always strive to put the satisfaction of our customers first. (Habib Bank Limited, 2012)

Meritocracy

We believe in giving opportunities and advantages to our employees on the basis of their ability. We believe in rewarding achievement and in providing first-class career opportunities for all. (Habib Bank Limited, 2012)

Progressiveness

We believe in the advancement of the society through the adoption of the enlightened working practices, innovative new products and processes, and a spirit of enterprise. (Habib Bank Limited, 2012)

Operational Structure

HBL is one of the largest commercial bank of Pakistan. It accounts for a substantial share (20percent) of the total commercial banking market in Pakistan with a network of 1,705domestic branches; 55 overseas branches in 26 countries spread over Europe, the Middle East, Far East, Asia, Africa and the United States. (Ismail, 2009)

HBL wholly owned Subsidiaries namely Habib Bank Financial Services (PVT) LTD. Karachi, Habib Finance International Ltd. (Hong Kong) and Habib Finance Australia Ltd. – Sydney; two Joint Ventures namely Habib Nigeria Bank Ltd. (40%) and Himalayan Bank Ltd. (20%).

Habib Bank Limited also has two representative offices in Iran and Egypt.

(Ismail, 2009)

Organization Structure

Organization structure defines how job tasks are formally divided, grouped, and coordinated. There are six key elements that managers need to address: work specialization, departmentalization, chain of command, span of control, centralization, decentralization, and formalization. (Robbins, Judge , & Sanghi, 2010)

Chairman

President

Board of Directors

Senior Vice President

Senior Vice President

(Finance & Audit)

Senior Vice President

(Asset Remedial)

Senior Vice President

(Corporate Banking)

Senior Vice President

(Corporate Banking, Financial Institute, & Project Finance)

Senior Vice President

(Credit Policy)

Senior Vice President

(Retail Banking)

Decision Making

The decision making process at HBL is centralized. All the decisions are taken at the top level of the management without any consultation with the lower levels of the hierarchy. According to Famous names in the field of organization behavior define centralized decision making of being concentrated at a single point in the organization. (Robbins, Judge , & Sanghi, 2010) The lower-level managers simply have to carry out the top management’s directives. A centralized structure reflects a more rigid and strict culture at the organization. It is not considered to be a very responsive structure.

Chain of Command

“The chain of command is an unbroken line of authority that extends from the top of the organization to the lowest echelon and clarifies who reports to whom.” (Robbins, Judge , & Sanghi, 2010) Chain of command identifies which employee is to report to whom. In HBL chain of command is clear and every employee knows their direct supervisor and to whom he can report. The company is using a unity of command chain of command. This particular type keeps the concept of unbroken line safe and ensures that the employee has one supervisor only to whom the employee is to report. If the unity of command gets broken then the employee might have to respond to the demands of two or more supervisors.

Organizational Strategies

There are primarily two main types of strategies adopted by the human resource department of an organization. In an interview with the

Following are the two main strategies followed by the Human Resource department of Habib Bank Limited:

Corporate Strategy

HBL focus on two types of corporate strategies

Geographic Expansion

In this new era of 21st century it would not be wrong to call the world a global village. With the introduction of revolutionary technology the ends of the world are able to communicate with just a click. HBL is trying to capture different international markets by geographically expanding its operations.

Diversification

In today’s competitive world only those companies are able to survive who are the fittest. The key is to either target a particular untapped market or target the needs of several different segments. The latter strategy ensures a wider coverage of the market and as a result increases the market share. HBL is following diversification strategy to tap different segments in the market which possess different needs. HBL introduces different services in intervals to entertain the needs of its diversified customer line.

Business Unit Strategies

Following are the business unit strategies for Habib Bank Limited:

Cost Leadership

The cost leadership strategy allows the firm to develop a competitive advantage in the market by keeping the costs as low as possible. The company is able to achieve cost leadership through efficient and effective production system. HBL follows this strategy by providing services to customers at costs lowers than the competitors.

Differentiation

Differentiation according to Micheal Porter is highlighting the distinctive competencies in a firm which would make the firm stand out from its competitors. HBL is following this strategy to provide unique services to its customer in the banking industry.

Human Resource Department

According to (Dessler & Varkkey, 2012) “Human resource is the process of acquiring, training, appraising, and compensating employees, and of attending to their labor relations, health and safety, and fairness concerns” The human resource department of HBL tries to perform the same duties as mention by Dessler & Varkkey. The department plays a significant role in creating value for the bank. HBL has a very efficient and active human resource department. It consists of competent employees who formulate strategies according to the local and global needs of the industry and employees. The department also skillfully tackles different problems related to the HR department. The department plays an active role in making the bank more successful every day.

Over the years, HBL has adopted customer oriented approach in the recent years due to the changing market dynamics. In order to cater to the needs of these customers, the employees of HBL play a vital role. Therefore, in order to keep the employees happy and satisfied with their work, the HR department tries to take care of their needs and requirements in timely fashion. The department takes care of the company’s asset – the employees and hopes that the asset would pay the company back with full interest.

Human Resource Strategies

The Human resource department of Habib Bank Limited has six main strategies:

Workflows

In order to maximize the profits, HBL has planned a mix of long term and short term goals. These goals are designed in a manner that they would help HBL achieve a competitive edge over its competitors. The following measures are considered for this regard:

Risk Management

Unified Information Technology System

Intensive Training and Professional Recruitment

Re-organization of the Consumer and Retail Banking Business

Information Technology system enhancement

Product offering enhancement

Advancement of Operations in urban areas

Recruitment and Staffing

Employment planning is where the recruitment and selection process commences at HBL. This process starts with the forecasting and planning of human resource required for the current and future positions. The process of selection and recruitment process is carried out tactfully and all the dimensions of the candidate are analyzed carefully. Future prospects are also identified while hiring the candidate. Skills, personality, attitude, knowledge are some of the aspects of the candidate which are judged carefully during the recruitment process.

Vacant PositionRecruitment Process

Forecasting of Positions

Identify Pool of Candidates

Develop pool of candidates

Monitoring, Tailoring & Development

Screening / Short Listing

Final Selection

Recruitment and Selection

Source: (Shahid, 2012)

Employee Separations

HBL has started a program which offers voluntary retirement schemes to employees. The employees get a golden handshake in return. The new term for golden handshake is Voluntary Separation Scheme (VSS). This scheme offers a special incentive to the employees who opt for the scheme and provides them a lump sum amount which equals to the salary of twelve months. Employees who work with the bank for a decade or more are entitled to the pension plan. This plan is going to help the employees in a manner that they will have no financial obligations after they have retired.

Performance Appraisal

Evaluating an employee’s current and past performance relative to its performance standards is called performance appraisal. A process that consolidates goal settings, performance appraisal and development into a single common system to ensure that employee’s performance is according to company’s aims is called performance management. Ratings as practiced in HBL consist of following five kinds of factors. The following factors are put into consideration while reviewing the performance of an employee and making an appraisal:

Productivity

Attributes

Technology

Customer Service

Personal

Training

According to (Dessler, A Framework for Human Resource Management, 2011), “training refers to the methods employers use to give new or present employees the skills they need to perform their jobs.”

HBL follows the follows a four step following process. The training process is as follows:

Needs Analysis

Identify job performance skills needed, assesses skills of prospective trainees and develop objectives.

Instructional Design

Produce the training program content, including workbooks, exercises, and activities.

Implementation

In this step the process gives an opportunity to the trainees to experience situations close to practical life. 

Evaluation

In this step the success or failure of the program is assessed.

Source: (Shahid, 2012)

Training and Development Programs

HBL uses the following practices for training and development of its employees:

Management Trainee

Management Trainee Officer (MTO) program looks for highly motivated candidates who exhibit the potential to become future leaders. At HBL, the MTO program offers extensive interactive classroom training, on the job rotations and personal mentoring from senior management to provide a comprehensive learning experience.

Management Associate

Management Associate Program at HBL is a training and rotational program. The program particularly focuses on handling the branch banking requirements. It also provides numerous opportunities across HBL’s network of Retail, Corporate, and Commercial Banking.

Cash officers

Candidates in this program are the bank ambassadors. Therefore they are required to have exemplary skills when interacting with the clients. The program involves an extensive one-month training period based on branch banking operations before placement in one of the branches.

Types of Processes

On the Job Training

It is when the new employee learns about the job by actually doing it. Methods of on the job training are as follows:

Understudy

Job rotation

Special assignments

Action learning

Understudy

It is also known as coaching. Under this method the employee is placed under the supervision of a professional employed at the organization. The professional provides guidance to the new employee. At HBL, the trainee works under the supervision of a senior manager. The trainee may also work with the employee to be replaced. It takes place at all the levels of the job. New and old, both the types of employees are trained with the help of this method.

Job Rotation

Job rotation is when an employee is moved from one department to another to not only broaden the skills of the employees but also to analyze the strong and weak points of the employee. HBL’s manager associate program makes use of this type of training.

Special Assignments

Special assignments are given to the employee by the supervisor. These are assignments or tasks to be done within the premises of the branch. Based on the way the task is completed the supervisor analyzed the performance of the employee.

Action learning

This method is only to be used for the employees based at the managerial level. Under this method, the employees are to work full time in one department. The employees are assigned to take care of the problems which arise and provide relevant solutions for the problems.

Compensation

The salaries, rewards, bonuses, and incentives on the basis of job and performances are called compensations. HBL’s compensation and benefits strategy combines the need to maintain a high performance culture along with market competitiveness. According to performance each employ gets benefits and compensation. Tenure duration is less preferred as compared to the performance of employees. Employees are paid in two forms:

Direct Payments

These are the payment in the form of wages, salaries, incentives, commissions, and bonuses. 

Indirect Payments

This mode of payment includes the benefits and perks that are given to the employees for example medical, car, insurance, residence, car fuel, easy loans etc.

Industry Analysis

The Banking sector is an integral part of the country’s financial services industry. The banking sector experienced growth in 2001 – 03. During this tenure the deposits rose almost by a 100 percent. The competition is high in the industry with the presence of local and foreign banks.

Almost a decade ago, opportunities for foreign banks, especially in consumer and retail banking, were greater than ever before. In the financial year of 2004-05, the banking sector experienced growth rates of 21% and 36% in its deposit and advances portfolio respectively. This helped improve the stability of the banking sector as compared to 2003 – 04. (Pakistan Banking Sector, 2009)

“A significant shift of focus from industrial lending to consumer products has allowed the banks to enjoy enormous spreads. However, the manufacturing sector is still enjoying the highest share in credit facilities extended by the banking industry” (Pakistan Banking Sector, 2009). Initially the banking sector was only catering to the needs of big corporations and the government. However after the reforms the sector is now entertaining the middle class as well.

The industry was passing through a transitional period from long established patterns and norms to the unknown land of threats and opportunities. The following are the few areas in the banking industry which have witnessed change over the years:

Diversity within the commercial banking industry

The following segments have experienced change in the few years: operations, market focus, advertising, and use of information technology. The banks are now concentrating more on developing and establishing distinctive image as compared to their competitors. The banks are doing this by introducing unique products in the market.

Intensifying Competition

The competition in the banking industry has deepened over the years. It has become fierce over the years. There are a few factors who have contributed to the increasing competition. Increased consumer awareness about the different products and services being offered by the banks has increased the competition. The banks in such a situation can no more enjoy saving the deposits of the consumers at lower rates. Such situations may actually force the banks to lend their money to customers which might have a high risk.

Profit trends

The ratios indicate a growth in the market. There have been a few dips in the market but overall the industry has seen an upward trend over the years.

Soaring Loan Losses

Troubled loans are regarded as a cancer for this industry. The quality loans are the ultimate goal for bankers in the 21st century.

Mergers

Mergers have taken their toll in this country. Over the years the country has witnessed many mergers for example Union Bank with Standard Chartered etc. The purpose is to hold on to as much market share as possible and to tame the increasing competition. however there are some setbacks as well for example, the economies of scale after a certain level of expansion no longer exist for the merger.

Structure of the Banking Industry

Pakistan being a developing country has a relatively low level of income. The required growth rate as a result is also low because of low savings. The standard of living and quality of life are terms still stranger to the people of this country. The foreign aids have been the bridging gap for us between our savings and investments. “Nevertheless these aids have become the drowning forces for our country. IMF’s main objective for Pakistan is to maintain stable exchange rates, multi-lateral credit system and international liquidity in order to recover from its worst economic crisis.” (Pakistan Banking Sector, 2009)

Structure of the Pakistani banking sector has substantially changed in the last decade, particularly following the privatization of the state-owned banks. In 1990, the banking system was dominated by five commercial banks which were all state-owned. The 1990 amendments to the Banking Companies Ordinance launched the process of financial sector reforms by allowing privatization of the state-owned banks. During the first round of reform, two of the state-owned banks, Muslim Commercial Bank (MCB) and Allied Bank (ABL), were privatized between 1991 and 1993. The reforms process was subsequently delayed for several years and resumed significantly only in the early 2000s. With the privatization of the third large bank, United Bank (UBL), in2002, the domination of the state-owned banks was ended. As of September 2003, the asset share of local private banks and public sector commercial banks was 47 percent and 41 percent respectively. Another large state-owned bank, Habib Bank (HBL), completed its privatization n process in February 2004. As a result of this privatization, the share of banking system assets held by public sector commercial banks decreased to less than 25 percent. The largest bank in the country, National Bank of Pakistan (NBP), with a market share of approximately 20 percent, remains state-owned and its privatization prospects are uncertain at this stage, although the government divested approximately 25 percent of its capital in 2001-03.

A lot of endeavor has been put in the sector in recent years to promote Islamic banking in Pakistan. Numerous conventional banks have also opened up their branches to provide financial services to the consumers.

Lately, the banking sector has diversified its product base and carried out a lot of innovation. They have included different customers like the agriculture sector, SMEs, mortgage financing and consumer financing in their customer list. Not only that this diversified lending portfolio mitigates risks but it also raises the purchasing power of a large segment of population that was completely shut out from credit markets. Pakistan’s auto industry has expanded its car production by a multiple of five times in the last four years as auto financing enabled a vast number of middle class income earners to purchase the cars on monthly installments. (Pakistan Banking Sector, 2009)

Pakistan’s Banking Sector and its Categories

Category

Description

State Bank of Pakistan

Central Bank and the Autonomous and Governing Body for all banking operations in the country

Nationalized Scheduled Banks

These deal primarily in industries of banking and capital markets. They offer a host of unique policies, banking training, products which include loan, services, credit cards, and consumer banking.

Privatized Scheduled Banks

Banks engage in channeling funds from depositors to lenders against the primary objective of acquiring profit i.e. Bank Spread.

Foreign Banks

These concentrate primarily on International Trade Finance, Innovative Credit Orientation and Plastic Money.

Development / Cooperative/ Investment Banks

Investment Banks act as an underwriter which serves as an intermediary between an issuer of securities and the investing public.

Specialized Banks

These banks are created with specific interest thus specializing and catering to a particular sector industry.

Source: (Pakistan Banking Sector, 2009)

Literature Review

Hussain ( 2005) talks about the banking sector of Pakistan and its traditional purpose to cater to the needs of the government organization, subsidizing the fiscal deficit, and entertaining the needs of a few large corporations. Initially the sector did not offer lending service to the small and medium enterprises, to the housing sector, and to the agricultural sector. These sectors were known to create growth and generate employment in Pakistan. Moreover, the middle class known to be the backbone of an economy was not given attention by the banking sector.

Hussain sheds light upon such an erratic behavior of the banking sector. Firstly, he mentioned the huge fiscal deficits which used to soak up most of the money from the banks. The banks thought of it as a safe investment and they also earned good returns. It was basically risk-free.

Secondly, the government owned most of the banks. The banks suffered from bureaucratic culture where the employees did not perform their duties. As a result the banks were incurring high administrative costs and that affected the returns of the depositors.

Thirdly, the loans lend out to the huge corporations were not given on the basis of merit but on political influences and considerations. Very few of these corporations almost next to none repaid the loans.

The bank sector was burdened with taxes and this was also affecting the performance of the banks. The banking industry had to pay 58 percent while the rest of the corporate sector paid only 35 percent. All these factors accumulated made the lending rates to customers very high. The industry was not considered to be an attractive option for the new entrants. It showed inefficiency, lack of profits, and a lot of government influence.

These were the reasons which lead to the introduction of banking reforms. They were implemented to improve this high potential industry and to make it more attractive for the new entrants. Hussain highlighted the primary purpose which was to facilitate the middle class and those individuals who did not have sufficient income to afford a conveyance or a house for their family. It was also put into action to support the individuals who wished to start their business on a small or a medium scale. The most important factor was to support the agriculture sector of the industry in order to make it flourish. This industry was initially neglected by the banking sector, however after the reforms the sector began to receive huge loans from the industry.

Furthermore, to support the poor Hussain as being the head of the State Bank of Pakistan started what is called micro finance. Under this type of financing no collateral is required. This is only for those who do not have anything to present as collateral to the bank. They can get up to 20-25 thousand rupees as loan.

Rehman & Raoof (2010) investigated a comparison between public, private and foreign bank

efficiencies. According to him, in Pakistan, financial sector had gone through extra ordinary changes over the decade. In particular, the banking sector of Pakistan grew rapidly and the stakeholders enjoyed high returns. The study analyzed whether there was compatibility between the high profitability of the sector and high efficiency. To find this out, Rehman and Raoof took a sample of forty banks from the period of 1998-2007. A data envelopment analysis was conducted to compute the efficiencies of the banks. The results showed that the efficiency of the banking sector in the beginning years matched with the world banking efficiency however in the later years an unsystematic approach is observed. Initially, foreign and private sector banks were ahead of public sector in term of technical efficiency, but in the later part of the analysis public sector banks are the real difference. The primary reason of this change was known to be the massive privatization, which took place in the later years.

According to Barrett & O’Connell (1999), there are two types of training. It is either general or specific. General training refers to training that can help the trainee in performing better on the job not only in the current organization but also in other organizations. Whereas specific training will only help the trainee to improve performance in current job position in the existing organization. Their results revealed that general training has positive effect on the productivity growth, but same was not observed for specific training. Furthermore, the positive effect of general training remains with control for different factors (including changes in work organization, firm size, initial level of human capital in the company and corporate restructuring) and varies positively with the level of capital investment. Furthermore, Barrett & O’Connell suggest that if trainee has positive perception about the training, the productivity of the trainee will increase. If the trainee believes that the training is structured to improve its performance in the company as well as elsewhere, they will be more keen on gaining from that training.

Baldwin (1999) through his research showed that more successful firms believe that developing competencies in wide range of areas is one of thekey factor in their success. But one single factor that differentiates faster growing companies from slow growing companies is innovation. These innovators in turn emphasise on training and acquiring skilled workers. In larger organizations, training helps in improving productivity through better Research & Development, adoption of advance technologies and development of new processes that will improve efficiency. In smaller companies training helps in handling newlyintroduced machinery or technology. However training helps all the organizations, particularly in services sector, to equip workforce with new skills that will help the company to be more productive. The training is again linked back to innovation, since through training employees companies are looking for innovation in current processes.

The research of Hansson (2003) used an international data set of more than five thousand companies across 26 countries. According to the research company’s training provision is mainly dependent upon company specific factors. These factors include human resource management practices. Results also reveal that two widely used measures of training, namely incidence and intensity, are largely determined by different factors and cannot be attributed to some specific factors. Staff turnover is linked with lower profitability, since companies consider it a loss that feeds on profitability of the firm. The amount of money invested in training is often linked to the profitability of the firm, which also suggests that economic benefits of trainingoutweigh the cost of staff turnover. The decision of conducting training is an investment decision to increase profitability in the future, and does not (or should not) consider past profitability of the firm.

Moreno, Bhattacharjee, & Brandon (2006) conducted a research on auditors to examine the effectiveness on improving analytical procedures performance of different training techniques. Worked out example and problem solving training were developed as two different mechanisms for acquiring knowledge. These mechanisms were then combined with different levels of self explanation, that means with or without self explanation. A baseline group of participants was provided with no training, whereas six other groups of participants were provided with six training techniques that included outcome feedback, worked out example, problem solving, self-explanation, worked-out example with self-explanation and problem solving with self-explanation. After this, participants were to complete a final analytical procedures case. Results clearly revealed that worked out example or problem solving training combined with self-explanation outperformed all other participating groups. These results are important for this particular study, since they show that combination of techniques are required in order to design an effective training plan that will aid in improving decision making and analytical procedures performance of the trainees.

Balmaceda (2006) found out through his research that task specific training is not fruitful for the organization. If task specific training is provided considering the job of the trainee only, perhaps the employee will be underutilized. To avoid underutilization of human capital in the firm, Balmaceda suggests that job designs shall be prepared in a way that this risk is mitigated. Furthermore, flexible work practices such as job rotation and task reallocations shall be made. This research is close to the very reason HBL initiated MTO program. Trainees at different levels in Management Division were given task specific training and they were specialized in their own categories only. Their transfer in to other category was not easy, since that would require the comapny to provide them with complete understanding of the new category. This pt a lot of burden on the company’s resources. Furthermore their career progression would have been slowed down. Therefore MTO program was designed to ensure that Trainee will be rotated through all departments and given complete exposure, instead of just being trained in a certain category.

Jones, Jones, Latreille, & Sloane (2008) used British 2004 Workplace Employee Relations Survey (WERS) to analyze the relationship between training, job satisfaction and workplace performance. Performance was analyzed using numerous measures. The measures include absence, turnover, labor productivity and financial performance. The results demonstrated clearly that training and job satisfaction are positively related. Job satisfaction and measures of performance are also positively related. The relationship between training and performance measure however turned out to be complex since it depends on the measure of performance and specific training provided. Jones, Jones, Latreille, & Sloane believed that employers may be able to improve establishment performance by increasing the volume of training and taking action to raise the job satisfaction of the workforce, but to succeed in this they also need to pay attention to the quantity and type of training offered. This means that type of training provided will have major impact on the performance outcome of those being trained. For that the primary step is to design an effective training plan, considering all the factors discussed here and later in this study.

According to the The Express Tribune (2012), HBL has been declared the Strongest Bank in Pakistan. The Asian Banker Magazine has given this honor to HBL. The criteria of selection was scale of operations, balancesheet growth, risk management, profitability, asset quality and liquidity. This shows that HBL has come leaps and bounds from where it stood a decade ago. The performance of the bank is not only recognized locally but the international criterions have also realized the capability of the bank.

T. & Bebe. (2007) talked about the continuous imporvement of the Pakistan Banking sector with the support of the foreign and local stakeholder. It improved competition within the industry and gave the consumers a lot of choices to choose from. The customers can now have quality based services. According to T. & Bebe, the country now has 6 Islamic Banks and 13 conventional banks which offer services according to the shariah law. It is reported that customers of Islamic bank have greater perception of service quality as compared to customers of conventional bank in Pakistan.

Research Question

Habib Bank Limited Pakistan has a Management Trainee Officers’ (MTO) Program. Human Resource Department of Habib Bank Limited Pakistan realized that there is a need to inject fresh blood in to the company, who will be fresh graduates without any prior experience. This lot of fresh graduates can then be specifically trained for their designated jobs to meet the needs of the organization and to face the challenges in this growing industry. The batch of Management Trainee Officers Program was designed to handle the operations of the bank in different departments. For this Trainee program, recent graduates are hired directly from the universities. The trainees go through an extensive training period of approximately one year. After a year, the trainees are designated to different departments based on their performance and interest.

Name of the interviewee is the Training Manager at Habib Bank Limited Pakistan. His responsibilities include planning, designing and implementation of all sorts of training in the organization. Name leads a team of three people in Training Department of the organization. This department comes under the Human Resource Department of the Bank.

Name highlighted the problems in the training of Management Trainees. Extensive discussions on the issue laid the foundation for the research question for this particular project. The topics brought under discussion are discussed below.

First of all, instructions to design a training plan for Trainees were communicated to the Training Department when hiring process is almost on the verge of completion. This gives the training department very little window to design an extensive training plan for the newly hired graduates.

Secondly, a training plan for Trainees could not have been prepared without inputs from the relevant heads of the departments. A comprehensive, extensive and effective training plan could not have been prepared without the input from relevant people in the concerned department. But due to heavy work load in Division, unavailability of relevant people in the department further made Training Department’s work difficult.

These two were basic background problems that probably lead to the kind of training plan that was designed. According to Mr. Siddique they were unable to design a comprehensive training plan for the fresh graduates. He sighted that as root cause of the problem, which probably leads to other flaws in the existing training plan. These issues, especially the problem existing with the training plan, were highlighted by frequent feedbacks he received from the Trainees. Therefore following research question was designed.

“Does the lack of comprehensive training plan for Trainees at Habib Bank Limited Pakistan cause ineffective training and incapability to meet training program’s objectives?”

It is very important to clear some terms used in this research question. A comprehensive training plan would have been the one with elaborated details. These details would have included following points:

Training Objectives: Defining what are the training objectives. What knowledge do Trainees need to acquire from different steps in training?

Time Duration: How much time does a Trainee need to spend in a certain department?

Circulation: How Trainees will be circulated in different departments at the bank?

Assessment: How Trainees will be assessed for what they have gained from training?

Form of Training: What forms of training will be used? Forms of training may include lectures, discussions, on job training, off the job training, and hands on training, and others.

An effective training is one in which all trainees are equally and efficiently trained to meet certain requirements. An effective training would ensure that the objectives set forth for the training program are being met. If those requirements or objectives are not met, that would mean that training is ineffective and training program’s objectives are not being achieved.

Research Methodology

This research will be divided in to different phases. It is very important for a solid research that both, qualitative and quantitative methods are used. Research Methodology adopted for this research will be explained below.

First phase of this research was to collect qualitative data on company, its industry and main area of research for this. In previous parts this information has been collected, and will be used for analysis in the parts of the research that will follow. It is very important for conducting a business research project that the nature of the business, industry dynamics and company’s culture is understood in detail. Since without the knowledge of these mentioned aspects, neither problem can be properly understood nor can an accurate analysis or recommendations be prepared. Furthermore literature review has been conducted on the area of study, which primarily relates to training. This literature review serves as a valuable source of knowledge when conducting this research, especially for preparing questionnaires and analyzing them. Input from these sources will also be important in making recommendations.

Second phase of this research was to collect qualitative data through Experience Surveys. Experience Surveys serve as one of the most valuable source of information about the research, giving the research an in depth analysis for the research being conducted. Therefore, due to its enormous significance it has been used as a method of research for this study. Since the research is about an industry that is in its maturity stage, it is viable to obtain overview as well as insights from experienced personnel.

The third phase of research revolved around the collection of quantitative data for the study. Quantitative research provides the measurements and mathematical models to find out the results of the data collected by the researcher. Quantitative research is a mean of inquiring an identified problem, where the problem is measured using numbers and in advanced researches often statistical techniques are used to analyze this numeric data. Quantitative research relies primarily on numbers as the main unit of analysis. As a tool to carry out quantitative research, researcher has used survey method. The fundamental tool of survey research is questionnaire; it standardizes and organizes the collection and processing of information. Using surveys it is possible to collect data from large or small populations.

Survey questionnaire was prepared for the batch of MTO Program, the three Trainees. Since this research study particularly revolves around their training plan, it is important to get an insight about their perception of the training plan. The valuable insights they can provide on how this training has been conducted, what are their learning outcomes and what problems they faced would be an asset to this research study.

Results from the survey questionnaires were then tabulated in Microsoft Excel. This research study did not make use of any statistical model or statistical analysis. Therefore, Tables and graphs for these questionnaires were generated through Microsoft Excel and were used for survey analysis.

Results from all different sources were then combined together for a final analysis to prepare finding of this research study, reach the conclusion and then make recommendations on eradicating the problems in the training plan for Trainees at Habib Bank Limited.

Analysis & Findings

Survey Questionnaire Analysis

The survey questionnaire was conducted from the trainees at HBL. Their insight was very significant for this study. The sample size taken for this questionnaire was small. There were a total of 20 respondents. Some of them were hired this year through the trainee program launched in 2012 and few of them belonged to the trainee batch of 2011 and 2010. However, the responses of these trainees are very essential. The study intends to find out the underlying problem in the management trainee program.

Most of the survey questionnaire responses are analyzed with the help of graphical representation to present a clearer view.

This question was aimed at asking Trainees whether they considered their training plan to be comprehensive or not. According to the results 80% of the respondents believed that it was not at all detail oriented, whereas only 20% believe that it was slightly inclusive. This clearly shows that Management Trainees were not satisfied with the comprehensiveness of their training plan.

This question was aimed at asking the respondents to get an insight on how well their training program was planned. It is very important to know the perception of trainees on the planning, since it will reflect their feelings on the effectiveness of the plan as well.80% perceived that it was not at all thorougly planned, whereas only 20% perceived it to be slightly well planned. This clearly showed that the trainees were not satisfied with the management trainee program and they did not like the way things were pursued at the bank.

This question was asked from the respondents to know as to what they thought about the implementation of the program. The purpose is to know about the implementation of the program, if it was implemented in a proper and systematic manner. 60% respondents believed that training plan was not well implemented, whereas the rest of 40% believe that it was slightly well implemented.

This question was asked from the trainees to know about the level of their satisfaction from the management trainee program. Results have shown that 81 percent of the respondents were dissatisfied with the structure. Only 16 percent were fairly satisfied. Whereas only as small as 2 percent were satisfied with the structure of the training plan. This demonstrated that the majority of the trainees were not satisfied with the structure.

The purpose of asking this question was to know how the trainees felt about the effectiveness of the program. Whether they found it to be useful for their job or not? 20% respondents believed that training plan was not effective at all, whereas 60% considered it to be slightly effective. The trainees believed that the rotational policy made it more effective because they experienced the operations of different departments.

Based on the time Trainee Buyers have spent on their training, and their learning and outcomes on the job this question was aimed at asking that whether they consider one year training time period to be right or not. 80 percent considered this time duration to be very lengthy whereas remaining 20% considered it to lengthy.

All the respondents strongly disagreed with this question. They thought that the objectives had a lot of ambiguities in them and were not clearly defined. 100 percent of the respondents said that the objectives were not clearly defined.

Respondents of the survey were questioned to ask whether their trainers were clear about what and how do they need to train. Results show that 40% respondents believed that their trainers were never clear, whereas 60% thought that they were seldom clear about their training. This shows that even trainers did not have a clear picture about the training; therefore training carried out in such a way was destined to be ineffective.

This question was simply intended to ask respondent’s clarity on the duration of training period to be spent in one particular department. Only 7% respondents were provided with an absolute timeline on how much time a Trainee will spend in one department, whereas the remaining 93% did not get any timeline. This showed that the trainees did not know how much time were they to spend in one department.

This question was asked to know whether each Trainee spent an equal amount of time in all the departments or were there disparities. 67 percent responded that the trainees did not spend an equal amount of time in all the departments. 19% respondents believed that every Trainee spent somewhat the same time in one department whereas 14% believed that they spent moderately the same time.

This question is intended to ask the respondents whether all of them received the same assignments and tasks. Results show that 77 percent of respondents believe that Management Trainees were not assigned the same tasks and duties. Only 16 percent believed that all the respondents received somewhat same types of tasks whereas 7 percent thought that training towards all of them was moderately same.

The question was aimed to find out whether all the Management Trainees thought that they were trained without any differences and shared the same knowledge. The results revealed that 20% were undecided on whether they shared the same amount of knowledge and received training without any differences, whereas 40% disagree that they do and another 40% strongly disagrees.

Respondents were asked whether they have been assessed on their training. No assessment was conducted to find out the short comings of the trainees. This was surprising. 100 percent respondents answered that they have never been assessed on the training knowledge the received.

Without assessment the effectiveness of the training program cannot be gauged. Furthermore, the shortcomings of the program would also not come on surface.

One possible reason for no assessment could be no set objectives of the training program.