Comprehensive Report on HRM Functions at Dialog Axiata

This report delves into the Human Resource Management (HRM) practices of Dialog Axiata, a prominent telecommunications provider. It begins with an introduction to HRM, outlining its core principles and objectives, and then provides an overview of Dialog Axiata's operations. The report explores the concept and purpose of HRM, emphasizing its strategic importance in attracting, developing, and retaining a skilled workforce. It then examines the key functions of HRM, including workforce planning, recruitment, selection, training and development, compensation, and employee relations, analyzing their contributions to Dialog's organizational objectives. Furthermore, the report assesses the impact of training, performance appraisal, and compensation on both employees and employers, as well as their influence on productivity and profitability. It also discusses the significance of employee relations and relevant employment legislations. The report concludes by analyzing the influence of job descriptions and specifications on HRM functions, providing a comprehensive understanding of how Dialog Axiata manages its human capital to achieve its business goals.

Contents
1.0 Introduction .............................................................................................................................. 1
2.0 Overview of Dialog .................................................................................................................. 2
3.0 Concept of Human Resource Management ....................................................................... 2
3.1 Purpose of Human Resource Management ................................................................... 3
4.0 Functions of HRM ................................................................................................................... 5
4.1 Contribution of HRM functions to Dialog’s Objectives ................................................... 7
4.2 Approaches to Recruitment and Selection ...................................................................... 8
4.2.1 Recruitment Methods .................................................................................................. 8
4.2.2 Selection Methods ..................................................................................................... 12
5.0 Impact of training, performance appraisal and compensation ....................................... 18
5.1 Benefit of training, performance appraisal and compensation on employees and
employers.................................................................................................................................. 18
5.2 Influence of training, performance appraisal and compensation on productivity and
profitability ................................................................................................................................. 20
6.0 Influence of employee relations .......................................................................................... 22
7.0 Employment Legislations ..................................................................................................... 23
8.0 Job Description and Job Specification ............................................................................... 25
8.1 Influence of Job description and Job Specification On HR functions ....................... 27
9.0 Conclusion .............................................................................................................................. 28
1.0 Introduction
Human Resource Management [HRM] is a combination of people-oriented
management practices that views employees as assets rather than costs; and its
main aim is to create and maintain a skilful and committed workforce to gain
competitive advantage. It is essentially the efficient and effective utilisation of
human resources. HRM functions include conducting job analyses, planning
personnel needs, recruiting the right people for the job, orienting and training,
managing wages and salaries, providing benefits and incentives, evaluating

performance, resolving disputes, and communicating with all employees at all
levels. (Khan, 2019)
The purpose of this report is to outline the Human Resource Management practices
in the telecommunication industry. Initially, the purposes and scope of human
resource management will be explained in terms of resourcing an organisation with
talent and skill appropriate to fulfil business objectives. Secondly,the effectiveness
of the key elements of HRM in an organisation will be evaluated. Moving on, an
analysis on the internal and external factors that affect HRM decision making,
including employment legislation will be provided. Finally, human resource
management practices will be applied in a work related context.
2.0 Overview of Dialog
Dialog Axiata, a subsidiary of Axiata Group Berhad (Axiata), operates Sri Lanka’s
leading quad-play connectivity provider. Dialog Axiata PLC, listed on the Colombo
stock exchange, supplements its market leading position in the mobile
telecommunications sector with a robust footprint and market presence in Sri
Lanka’s fixed telecommunications and digital television markets through its fully
owned subsidiaries Dialog Broadband Networks (Private) Ltd and Dialog
Television (Private) Ltd. The company has received numerous local and
international awards including the Telecom/Internet Service Provider of the Year,
National Quality Award and Sri Lanka Business Excellence Award; and was the
first South Asian company to receive Customer Service Quality Standard [CSQS]
certification, in recognition of its achievements and high level of compliance to
CSQS in contact management; thus delivering world-class customer service to its
8 million subscribers. (Dialog, 2020)
3.0 Concept of Human Resource Management
Armstrong (2006, p-3) defines Human Resource Management [HRM] as ‘a
strategic and coherent approach to the management of an organisation’s most

valued assets – the people working there, who individually and collectively
contribute to the achievement of its objectives’. Likewise, Flippo (1980) describes
HRM as the planning, organising, directing, controlling of procurement,
development, compensation, integration, maintenance and separation of human
resources towards the achievement of individual, organisational and social
objectives. Armstrong (1999, p.3) adds to the same that HRM is also concerned
with the conduct of relationships between management and the workforce.
Furthermore, Storey (1995); Buchanan and Huczynski (2004) suggest that HRM
emphasises on the strategic placement of a highly committed and capable
workforce, using an array of cultural, structural and personnel techniques; as well
as on the need to establish an integrated series of personnel policies to support
organisational strategy and achieve competitive advantage. Since every
organisation, regardless of its type is made up of people, acquiring their services,
developing their skills, motivating them to higher levels of performance and
ensuring that they continue to maintain their commitment towards the organisation
is essential to achieve organisational objectives. (Decenzo and Robbins, 2010)
HRM can be categorised into two approaches; ‘Soft’ and ‘hard’. Hard HRM treats
people just like any other resource that has to be managed effectively and
emphasises on organisational needs rather than the needs of employees. On the
other hand, Soft HRM recognises the needs and wants of people and focuses on
nurturing and developing staff alongside employee training, motivation,
commitment and participation as a means of achieving corporate aims. (Storey,
1992; Beardwell and Claydon, 2007)
3.1 Purpose of Human Resource Management
The human resources department of a business is provided the responsibility to
equip the organisation with the necessary skills and talents; and assign the right
person to the right position according to their qualification so as to ensure
performance improvements. According to Graham (1978) the purpose of human
resource management is to ensure that the employees of an organisation are used
in an effective way so as to gain optimum benefit from their abilities while the
employees obtain both material and psychological rewards from their work. In other

words, HRM strives to maximise a company’s performance by investing in the right
people/providing a high return on a business’s investment on its people. HRM also
plays a considerable role in improving an organisation’s reputation. Fombrun and
Van Diel (2004) cited in Freidman (2009) suggest that Human Resource
Management indirectly improves corporate reputation. It focuses on actions such
as communication, training and compensation initiatives that build employee
competencies, motivation and organisational identification, that in turn positively
influences corporate reputation especially when employees then interact with
external stakeholders such as customers. Similarly, Lockwood (2004) also argues
that human capital is a critical value driver of corporate reputation. Therefore, by
partnering with senior management and implementing strategic human resource
practices HRM enhances reputation of an organisation.
Human Resource Management also strives to control budgets and minimise
excessive spending by developing methods to curb workforce management costs,
which includes negotiating better rates in return for benefits such as health care
coverage. Additionally, HRM studies the labour market, employment trends and
salaries based on job functions to ensure competitive and realistic wage-setting.
Such business budget controlling is crucial especially for smaller organisations.
Furthermore, an in-house human resource function instils the importance of human
capital to a company especially to organisations where employees perform cross-
functional duties. HRM strives to sustain or even enhance human capital value by
recruiting and selecting the most qualified and suitable applicants, and retaining
the most talented, well-motivated and committed employees (Parameswari and
Yugandhar; 2015). Picincu (2019) also agrees that the purpose of HRM is to attract
and engage highly skilled people who can add value to an organisation and support
its goal. HRM also ensures that the workforce embraces the company's philosophy
and business principles, thereby creating a cohesive work environment.
Conflict is inevitable in a workplace, given the diversity of personalities, work styles,
backgrounds and levels of experience among employees. HRM and its related
managers’/staff persons are specially trained to handle employee relations matters
by identifying and resolving conflict among the workforce and restoring positive
working relationships. Moreover, the HRM function develops succession planning
by identifying employees with the required capabilities and promise to eventually

transition to leadership roles within the company. This is vital for an organisation’s
stability and future success. (Parameswari and Yugandhar; 2015)
4.0 Functions of HRM
Workforce planning is a fundamental business process to align changing
organisational needs with people strategy, this involves identifying workforce
requirements and then designing strategies to meet those requirements. In other
words, workforce planning is the process of analysing, forecasting and planning
workforce supply and demand, the gap between the present and future workforce
needs; and then developing strategies to meet the gap so as to achieve
organisational missions, goals and strategic plans. The human resource
department accomplishes the process of workforce planning through its functions
which include recruitment, selection, training and development, performance
appraisal, compensation, employee relations and many more. (Bandaranayake,
2014)
According to Armstrong (2009) recruitment is the process of finding and engaging
people the organisation needs while selection is concerned with deciding which
candidate should be appointed to the job. Similarly, Branton and Gold (2007)
differentiates recruitment and selection by implying that “recruitment is the process
of generating a pool of capable people to apply for employment to an organisation.
Selection is the process by which managers and others use specific instruments
to choose from a pool of applicants a person or persons more likely to succeed in
the job, given management goals and legal requirements”. The process involves
identifying job vacancies and defining requirement related to qualification, skills
and work experience through job analysis; preparing job descriptions and
specifications; attracting candidates by advertising the job vacancies while
reviewing and evaluating alternative sources of applicants inside and outside the
company; shortlisting applicants and selecting the most suitable candidate after
interviews, tests, assessments and background verifications; then finally offering

employment after preparing necessary contracts. During the entire process of
recruitment and selection, human resource [HR] managers must ensure equal
employment opportunities without discrimination based on caste, creed, race, sex
and religion. Failure to do so shall invite legal action against such organisations.
(Mwaniki and Gathenya, 2015; Bandaranayake, 2014)
Another core function of HRM is training and development which involves
improving the skills and knowledge of current and future employees so that they
could perform their jobs effectively. In addition to providing training for new or
inexperienced employees, organisations may also provide training programmes for
experienced employees whose jobs are undergoing change. Large organisations
often have development programmes which prepare employees for higher level
responsibilities within the organisation. Various methods of training and
development could be used including on-the-job training, off-the job training, job
rotation, coaching, mentoring, workshops, conferences as well as vocational,
graduate and self-awareness training. Such training and development
programmes are useful to assure that employees are capable of performing their
jobs at acceptable levels. Moreover, it reduces wastage and increases quality of
output of an organisation while improving employee job satisfaction and motivation.
(Mathew, 2019; Bandaranayake, 2014)
The HR department also oversees the payment of compensation or remuneration
which is the fundamental duty of an employer. Compensation is essentially the
payment may by the employer to the employee for the work performed by the latter.
HRM develops, implements and maintains a system of payments which is fair both
internally and externally that fair wages or equal pay is made for equal work.
Compensation or remuneration is the basic motivating factor for any employee,
and acts as primary factor for retention of employees in an organisation. Unjust or
improper remuneration may trigger dissatisfaction and hurt organisational
performance and reputation. HRM provides a rational method for determining how
much employees should be paid for performing certain jobs. Moreover,
since compensation is a major cost to many organisations, it is a major
consideration in workforce planning. Compensation also affects staffing as people
are generally attracted to organisations offering a higher level of pay in exchange
for the work performed. It is also related to employee development as it provides

an important incentive in motivation employees to higher levels of job performance
and job positions in an organisation. (Saurabh, 2019)
Maintaining employee relations through sufficient communication systems and co-
partnership is one of the most important functions of HRM which also involves
interacting and negotiating with trade unions regarding wages, service conditions,
resolving disputes and grievances. Maintaining good labour relation is essential to
ensure productivity and smooth running of a business. It helps avoid conflict and
maintain peace and harmony within the organisation by reducing strikes and
providing fair deals to workers as well as establishing industrial democracy.
Unhealthy employee relations shall cause the moral and physical conditions of the
employees to suffer. (Bandaranayake, 2014; Saurabh, 2019)
4.1 Contribution of HRM functions to Dialog’s Objectives
The functions of HRM contribute greatly to the achievement of organisational
objectives. This is because the objectives of HRM are directly related to an
organisation’s mission and goals. (Picincu, 2019) Dialog Axiata operates with the
vision to be the undisputed leader in the provision of multi-sensory connectivity. It
also aims to create value, provide quality service as well as leading edge
technology unparalleled by any other (Dialog, 2020). In such a circumstance, the
HR department of Dialog would influence the achievement of the set objectives
through its functions relating to recruitment and selection, compensation, training
and development, performance appraisal and employee relations.
The recruitment and selection process in Dialog plays a key role in ensuring that
the organisation has a competent workforce by attracting and selecting candidates
with adequate skills, qualification and work experience. A talented workforce can
be used strategically to add value to the organisation. Besides, such employees
would also bring in fresh/innovative ideas within the business and may contribute
to the development of technological advancements that may be unmatched by the
competitors of dialog thus providing Dialog a competitive advantage over its rivals.
(Bianca, 2019)

As Dialog is a service organisation that operates in the telecommunication industry,
employees of Dialog will have direct contact with customers and would frequently
interact with them during customer inquiries, calls, sales promotional activities and
many more. In such circumstances, HR functions especially training and
development will help employees gain the necessary competencies and interactive
skills to provide high quality services and customer satisfaction. (Estalemi, 2000;
Estalemi and DeMaeyer, 2002; Heskett et al.,1997) cited in (Friedman, 2009).
Moreover, HR functions in Dialog such as compensation and training influence
employee motivation and overall behaviour that customers and the general public
observe and use to assess corporate reputation. Therefore, a justified
compensation and effective training scheme would boost the corporate reputation
of Dialog. Additionally, compensation schemes related to employee benefit
packages such as vacation days, flexible working arrangements or retirement plan
enhancements would assist Dialog to increase employee retention. (Bianca, 2019)
Furthermore, Dialog will be able to create value, enhance quality and improve
services by satisfying employees, compensating them while providing financial
benefits, conducting their appraisals, providing open communication systems and
accepting feedback within the organisation. Also maintaining good employee
relation within the organisation is a vital function HRM which enhances employee
job satisfaction and motivation. This would then boost employee loyalty, retention
and reduce employee turnover rates in Dialog. (Leghari et al. 2014)
4.2 Approaches to Recruitment and Selection
4.2.1 Recruitment Methods
Internal and External Recruitment
Internal recruitment involves an organisation filling a job vacancy within the
business from among its existing workforce through promotion or lateral transfer.
On the other hand, external recruitment is when the business looks to fill a job
vacancy in the organisation with any suitable candidate from outside the business
organisation. (Jonas, 2011)
Table 01: Strengths and Weaknesses of Internal Recruitment

Advantages Disadvantages
Boosts motivation and morale of
existing employees
New skills and ideas do not enter the
organisation
Minimises costs Morale problems for those not
promoted
Less time wastage Creates another vacancy which must
be filled
Organisations have better knowledge
about internal candidates
Limits number of potential applicants
Author developed (2020) based on Bandaranayake (2014)
Table 02: Strengths and Weaknesses of External Recruitment
Advantages Disadvantages
Brings in new ideas and skills Longer process; time consuming
Large pool of workers to choose from Costly
People may have a wider range of
experience
Less opportunities for promotion and
development
Author developed (2020) based on Mathew (2019)
There are a number of pros and cons of hiring both external candidates and looking
inside a company’s existing talent pool. Primarily, internal recruitment is likely to
be cheaper than external recruitment. External recruitment involves costs of
advertising the job vacancy in newspapers, specialist publications or online.; as
well as costs related to conducting interviews, assessments and tests along with
providing induction training and many more. Internal recruitment eliminates the
need for such costs and Dialog could invest such cost savings in other functions
such as value creation and towards achieving other organisational objectives.
(Jones, 2011) Moreover, elimination of additional training such as induction also
saves time and makes the process quicker because internal recruits tend to be
familiar with company policies and working practices. Organisations would not
need to spend time conducting background checks of external candidates for
during internal recruitment, the management would already know the strengths and
weaknesses of internal candidates which facilitates quick decision making on who

is right to fill the vacant position. Unlike this, the process of external recruitment
would be much longer and time consuming due to the tedious process of attracting
and selecting suitable candidates alongside the time taken by newbies to adapt to
organisations and work environments. Such time wastage could interrupt the
production process in a business and especially organisations such as Dialog
operating in the service sector cannot afford to keep job positions vacant for too
long (especially positions that involves interacting with employees often) and as a
result would consider time very important and strive to eradicate time wastage as
much as possible so as to provide quality services to its users. Furthermore, unlike
external recruitment which can have a demotivating effect on existing employees
who are not offered the chance of promotion/development, internal recruitment
provides organisations with the opportunity to promote and develop their
employees. Such actions boost the morale and motivation of employees and
incentivises them to work harder towards promotions thereby having a positive
effect on their performance as well as employee, loyalty and retention. Therefore,
by promoting existing employees to vacant positions within the organisation, Dialog
could gain positive long-term outcomes in terms of increasing productivity and
profitability. (Marcouse, Hammond and Watson, 2015)
On the other hand, external recruitment also has its advantages over internal
recruitment. For instance, while organisations relying on existing employees will
face stagnation of ideas and approaches within the business after some time; and
be restricted to its existing pool of employees during recruitment, external
recruitment provides employers with a large pool of qualified and experience
candidates to choose from. Additionally, external candidates may be more
experienced, qualified and talented and would also bring in fresh ideas,
new/innovative skills and techniques which is especially significant in creative or
technical industries like the telecommunication industry that Dialog operates in
where businesses need to keep up with and become more competitive to survive.
In most situations, candidates may already have the skills required to perform the
job in question, avoiding the need for and cost of training. Moving on, internal
recruitment may cause morale problems and conflicts between employees if one
of them is promoted while other are not. This could disrupt employee relations and

the working environment. Besides, transferring an employee from one position to
another creates another vacancy elsewhere which must be filled. Such issues may
be avoided through external environment and employee motivation would also
improve when working under new and more experienced managers and
supervisors. (Marcouse, Hammond and Watson, 2015; Jonas, 2011) Likewise, it
must be kept in mind that these pros and cons are not fixed. It may differ according
to different circumstances. For instance, internal recruits may still require a certain
amount of training to be able to do their new job efficiently which may incur costs
to the business. Conversely, an organisations as large as Dialog may be able to
attract candidates from different departments or subsidiaries, thereby expanding
the range of employees to choose from during internal recruitment. This also allows
for the sharing of skills and knowledge from other areas and such employees may
be able to look at a problem from multiple perspectives and come up with
effective/innovative solutions. (Jones, 2017)
In deciding whether to hire from within or outside the organisation, employers
should consider the nature and level of the job, characteristics of the firm and
industry, and a firm’s system of HRM policies. Internal recruitment may be
preferred to external hiring when knowledge and skills specific to the firm are
important, when promotions are crucial for motivating current workers, when the
costs of a hiring mistake are particularly large, and when an additional vacancy
(created when a worker switches jobs internally) is not too costly. For instance,
Dialog may choose to appoint one of its existing employees to a vacant position so
as to preserve confidential information and technical know-hows within the
business. Organisations may also prefer internal recruitment if they have a small
budget to hire, on board, and train new talent; high potentials eager and ready to
take the next step; the skills needed are already available within the existing talent
pool or when they are in a time crunch to fill an important position. In contrast,
external recruitment may be suitable in situations where organisations are looking
to expand its operations and workforce; to bring in fresh, new perspectives and
improve diversity; or when a change in direction or mentality is needed. (DeVaro,
2016)

4.2.2 Selection Methods
Once organisations attract potential candidates, they then have to select the most
suitable candidate for the job position in consideration from amongst the pool of
applicants. Organisations may choose from a number of selection techniques,
namely, interviews, tests and assessments. (Marcouse, Hammond and Watson,
2015)
Interviews
An interview is essentially a formal meeting/procedure designed to obtain
information from interviewees responses to questions asked by one or more
interviewers. (Reddy, 2019) The purpose of a job interview is to get a clear
impression of what the candidate is actually like, in person and in comparison to
what is mentioned in their resume or CV. (Sisk, 2018)
Table 03: Advantages and Disadvantages of Interviews
Advantages Disadvantages
Provides first-hand information on the
individual
Vulnerable to interviewer bias
Helps gain a better idea of the
individual
First impressions could be wrong
Can thoroughly assess the individual Candidates could rehearse answers
Is relatively cheaper Interview results could be unreliable
Author Developed (2020) based on Reddy (2019)
Interviews allows organisations to gain a more accurate perception of an
applicant’s personality, poise, interpersonal skills as well as their knowledge and
experience related to the job/field in consideration, especially in the context of
discussing business and the type of work a successful candidate would have to
perform. The stress of the situation also helps understand the individual’s ability to
perform under pressure which would be a crucial factor organisations look for when
operating in a fast moving, rapidly changing and unpredictable business
environment such as the telecommunication industry. Further, organisations can