History:

Established in 1977 with 4 employees in Lahore (Pakistan) providing engineering services to process plants, today Descon is a major player in the region serving the oil and gas, chemical, petrochemical, cement, power and infrastructure sectors in Pakistan and the Middle East Vision To become a world class engineering & manufacturing company.

Core values:
Professionalism Teamwork Leadership Continuous improvement Open communication.

Organizational goals:
Following are the goals of DESCON ENGINEERING (PVT) LIMITED as mentioned in the values and mission statements of the organization

Adding value to society through engineering, technology and management Providing customers with quality, cost effective and reliable solutions Professionalism Ethics and integrity Commitment and team work Candid and open environment Recognition and growth of individual and respect for human dignity Encourage leadership Initiative and innovation Continuous improvement in all aspects of our business.

HUMAN RESOURCES DEPARTMENT Human Resource Management

The ultimate success of any organization depends on its Human resource. This makes Human resource a challenging and critical element for managers to control. Thus Human resource of Descon is not only a critical asset today but has become an important source of competitive advantage in dynamic industry of engineering and construction. With the help of HRD, Descons rating in Pakistan is No.1 in Engineering and Construction based industry. They are standing for many years and no one even touch to their rank because of competent and willing work force.

Human Resources Planning

It is a starting point of human resource management. If an employee leaves the firm due to any reason, which may be deliberate resignation to move to another firm, or any other reason such as, retirement, termination or death, a vacancy is formed at the respective department of the Descon. The

department, carefully analyzed in all its respects identifies this vacancy and the job description is forwarded to the Human Resource department.

Job analysis
It is the procedure for determining the duties and skill requirements of a job and the kind of person who should be hired for it.

a) Job Description
It is a list of jobs duties, responsibilities, reporting relationships, working conditions and supervisory responsibilities. Descon Engineering Company makes a job description before recruiting people.

b) Job Specification
A list of jobs human requirements that is, the requisite education, skills, personality, and so on. They also make job specification hire the right people at the right place.

Role of Human Resource Development Manager

The role of manager of HRD (human resource development) consists of four separate but overlapping components referred to as sub roles. Each is vital to the development of an efficient and properly managed HRD department. They include: 1) Evaluator of the HRD programs impacts and effects on organizational efficiency. 2) Management of the organizational learning system. 3) Strategist responsible for long term planning and integrating of HRD into the organization. 4) Marketing specialist responsible for the advancement of HRD within the organization through well define and effective networks.

The Role of HRM in Knowledge Management

There are several roles that can be played by HR Executives in developing knowledge management system of Descon. They should help the organization to articulate the purpose of the knowledge management system. They know that investing in a knowledge management initiative without a clear sense of purpose is like investing in an expensive camera that has far more capabilities than you need to take good pictures of family and friends.

HR FUNCTIONS & POLICIES RECRUITMENT AND SELECTION

Descon maintains a strict difference between external recruitment and internal recruitment. It has given different names to both these functions that is: Descon Engineering is a multidimensional engineering, construction and manufacturing company operating in Pakistan and the Middle East. With over million man hours of construction work executed in industrial and infrastructure projects, Descon employs over 34000 professionals and other personal. Resourcing refers to internal recruitment the Descon that is; they try to attract candidates for vacant jobs from within the organization. Recruitment only refers to external recruitment that is locating candidates from outside

the firm, which may include fresh graduates of people working in other firms. However, it must be noted that Descon prefers resourcing to recruitment.

The Resourcing Process

The resourcing process at Descon is conducted in a well plan and efficient manner. Resourcing process can be summarized as: Identification of Job Vacancy Job Description forwarded by respective departments Determination of Grade and Designation Job Posting Candidates contact HR Department

Steps in the Resourcing Process

Now we will discuss all the steps involved in the resourcing process in turn. 1. Identification of Job Vacancy If an employee of the company leaves the firm due to any reason. This may be deliberate resignation to move to another firm. This may also any other reasons such as, retirement, termination or death, a vacancy is formed at the respective department of the company. The department, carefully analyzed in all its respects identifies this vacancy and the job description is forwarded to the workers of the human resource department. 2. Job Description Forwarded By Respective Department Then the department, in which the vacancy is created, sends a complete Job Analysis Information to the HR Department. Thus, the Department forwards a complete document to HR specialists so that they can analyze the job correctly and efficiently. 3. Determination of Grade and Designation When respective departments have identified the vacancy and the job description has been sent to HR Department, the HR Department decides on the grade and designation of the vacancy. 4. Job Posting This is the most common practice at Descon. Moreover; the reporting time is also specified within which the candidate should contact the HR Department. 5. Candidates contact HR Department After job has been posted, the candidates who are interested contact the HR Department via mail, telephone or face to face. The candidates will include HUMAN RESOURCE DEPARTMENT People working within the same branch of Descon. People working in some other branch of Descon.

The Recruitment Process

In Descon recruitment refers to external recruitment only that is people are hired from outside the firm. The recruitment process involves the following steps: Internal unavailability of appropriate personal Screening of Available Resumes

Orientation Process and Induction of New Employees

The Descon holds that orientation Program is very necessary for the old as well as for the new employee. The entire process of orientation is conducted at Descon as follows: 1) Need determination for orientation program 2) Designing of orientation program 3) Implementation of orientation program 4) Analysis of orientation programming And Development

Steps of Orientation Program

Need determination for orientation program.

When an employee joins Descon, the HR Department, the department in which the employee has been selected and the top management determines the need for the orientation program. If the candidate has been transferred from some other country to Descon Pakistan, it is very necessary to acquaint him to the culture of the country and the general business practices. He is of course, aware of the Descon engineering culture but he may be informed about the new department he has joined and about his new duties and authority. Designing of orientation program

At Descon the orientation program is designed by 35:dlideloeielpoep Head of HR Department Training Specialists Immediate Supervisor Head of the Department in which the employee is selected

In designing the orientation program, the length of the program depends on the employee for whom the program is conducted. If the employee has joined Descon from some other country the program is very lengthy as he is not only to learn the culture of the organization but also the culture of the country as a whole. The program usually includes History, policies, practices, rules and regulations of the organization An overview of the department, the employee joints

An introduction to the work environment, co-workers, superiors, and sub-ordinates. Hence, in this way the new employee is thoroughly acquainted with the Descon culture and thus can perform his job effectively. Implementation of orientation program

At this step management simply implement the already design orientation program effectiveness. Analysis of Orientation Program

The HR Department of Descon holds that the feedback on the success of orientation program is very necessary. The follow-up is conducted in the following manner:

Training Policy
Basic purpose of training is to update the knowledge of employees and enhancing their skills. Today organizations want professional employees because they have come know the importance of employee thats reason organization call employees their most important assets. Due to which companies send their employees on different types of workshop, seminars and other educational programs. Even some companies provide opportunity of getting knowledge on the cost of company.

Training Need Assessment

The training program of Descon normally for the period of lesser then six months and its purpose is to investigate strength and weakness after that making effort to remove these weaknesses. They analyze that employee need training by self-assessment, performance record, and questionnaire. The handouts which they provide to trainee develop by themselves not net based. All the cost incurred by the company let it be in-house training or training organized by the Descon Engineering Co. The employee normally needs training about his skill, knowledge and career development.

Trainings given at DESCON

Graduate Engineers training program for building technical base. Trainings to foster DESCON core values in the young flag bearers & nurture future leaders. On-the-job training through field visits to different Descon sites, Manufacturing workshops and offices. Fresh graduate induction program through MTP (Management Trainee Program) & trainee engineers program to generate a trained pool of human capital for employees.

PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM

A performance management system is very important in order to check efficiency and effectiveness of work. Actually it is the process of creating the work environment in which people are enabled to perform their best abilities. It starts from the necessity of the job and ends with the employee leave from the organization. The manager and the HR Department at Descon evaluate the performance of each employee formally. At some branches of the Company in Pakistan, management checks the performance on monthly bases.

Steps in performance management system:

Analyze Your Organizational Structure

The first step of performance appraisal method is to analyze the structure of the organization and then identify those ways which help to make it more effective. Descon Company is Project Base Company in which the structure of the companys work force is usually contract base. But the company is focusing their employees to train them and motivate them. This thing starts from assessing needs to the completion of those needs. The performance management system is one of the ending processes of the whole retention program.

Evaluation of the Jobs

When the structure of the company is analyze by the HR Managers. They start to evaluate the people and jobs to match the right individuals to the right roles.

Define Career Progressions

The company defines career progression both from individual roles and across related job groups and interlinking organizational goals with personal goals.

Reward Program
After the Performance Appraisal Process, the company had develop targeted pay and reward programs.

REWARDS AND REMUNERATION MANAGEMENT

Rewards and Remuneration Management plays very important role in the motivation of employees. Every organization gives the importance to these activities.

Monitory Rewards Salaries

Descon pay the salaries to their employees according to their ability, skills and their experience. Company also considered the national laws of every country in which it operates regarding to salaries such as minimum salary act. Other monitory rewards include so many things in which an employee can be motivated through different packages. These rewards are following: 1. Gratuity 4. Annuities 2. Funds Profit Sharing 5. Bonus 3. Provident funds

Non-Monitory Rewards:
Descon gives utmost importance to compensation packages because this is the most crucial factor for retaining key employees. The amount of bonus and increments depend on the profit so they gives gratuity for those projects in which the workers perform well and effects companys extra profit, then for each department. Stock Ownerships are given, as Performance Bonuses to employees giving high performance and whom the Company wants to retain.

Allowances
Descon Engineering Co. gives the different allowances to their employees in order to increase their performance and loyalty. There is different allowance that included in basic salary of employees. These are: House Rent Allowance at sites Medical Allowance Conveyance Allowance Insurance Facility Food allowance Annual Leaves Hardship Allowances Health and Safety Environment

GAPS
Specialization is extensive in DESCON. Each employee performs a narrow range of tasks. It means that organization provides less opportunity to employees for development of multi skills. It can promote monotony. It can make workforce stagnant by performing specialized tasks again and again. Repetitive tasks and less creativity can also demotivate employees. Nobody has any idea about the nature of other employees job, so whenever any higher position becomes vacant, nobody is capable from inside the organization to fill that position or to temporarily holds it.

Span of control is narrow and hierarchy of authority is tall in the organization. It means that higher authorities are not easily approachable and accessible. It can create a huge communication gap among people in the organization having higher positions and low level employees. It is contradictory to the some core values of company that focus on teamwork and open communication. It can create a rivalry and dispute among high and low level employees in the organization. Due to communication gap people in authority can implement policies or new changes without considering the needs and demands of their subordinates, which in turn demotivate their employees. Hierarchy of authority is tall which results in lack of interaction among high level employees & their subordinates, so any change in policies cannot be properly communicated creating confusion and ambiguities in the minds of employees.

In DESCON, the organizational structure is of centralized versus decentralized nature. But the company should now move towards a more decentralized structure as now employees need more empowerment & autonomy in their work. It will boost the motivational level of employees which will become valuable for organization to achieve their goals and strategic objectives.

In the past structure of organization was decentralized twice but it failed totally mainly due to: Lack of trained leadership to properly propagated such a huge change in structure. Proper procedures & systems were not in place causing widespread manipulation of authority.

There is relatively homogenous workforce in DESCON. It is relatively easy to manage. But diverse workforce introduces new ideas & practices in the organization which in turn promotes innovation. People from different backgrounds learn from each other experiences & as a result best practices become part of an organization which in turn promotes positivity in the organization & help organization to achieve competitive edge through innovation & its human resource.

The company displays aggressiveness It means that employees are more competitive than cooperative. Individual desires reign over the companys goals attainment. Every employee wants to get promotion. The company is trying to overcome this factor and has succeeded to some extent. The company is of the view that to interact with employees in a good way to increase your strengths and to decrease your weaknesses.

INTEGRATION:
Company is not succeeded in identification of internal set of HRM practices, that are horizontally integrated to ensure synergistic benefit which are in turn linked to the appropriate strategic configuration of the business. Thus both horizontal and vertical integration are maximized. Human resources are identified as key strategic assets Which are capable of being a key source of sustainable competitive advantage To be the best and to achieve the VISION: Value Rarity Adding value will at best only provide temporary competitive advantage, and may only provide competitive parity. The organisation needs to identify and exploit the rare characteristics of its human resources to gain competitive advantage. Inimitability Achieving value and rarity will only provide temporary competitive advantage over an organisations rivals. If a competitor can imitate these characteristics, CA will be lost over time. The organisation needs to develop and nurture characteristics that cannot be easily imitated by its competitors, such as socially complex phenomena, ie. Unique history or culture and team synergies. How can an organisations human resources add value to the business? How can they enhance customer added value?

These are strengthened through causal ambiguity and social complexity. Organisation Finally to achieve SCA (Sustainable Competitive Advantage) the HR function needs to ensure they are organised or have appropriate integrated systems to capitalise on the value, rarity and inimitability of their human resources. A Core Competency is required to be rare among others: A bundle of skills and technologies that enable a company to provide particular benefits to customers Is not product specific Represents . . . The sum of learning across individual skill sets Must be competitively unique Is not an asset in the accounting sense of the word Represents a broad opportunity arena or gateway to the future

Emphasises the HRM system and the need to develop bundles of integrated HR practices that are tailored to meet an individual organisations specific context: Need to be aligned and integrated with each other. To avoid deadly combinations of HR practices which work against each other. The total HRM systems need to support business priorities. To gain full benefit from the powerful connections or synergies between practices.

Strategic fit between practices & organizational goals & core values:
Formalization pertains to the amount of written documentation in the organization. Documentation includes procedures, job descriptions, regulations and policy manuals. In DESCON there is high degree of formalization. Job descriptions of employees, regulatory procedures are well-defined. Organizations policy manual is highly organized. Role clarity Every policy & role is clearly defined & stated. Reducing the confusions and ambiguities in the minds of employees about their job duties & organizational policies.

Extensive training is given to generate a trained pool of human capital for the company through graduate engineering training program, management trainee program, on job training, trainings to foster DESCON core values in the young flag bearers etc. Through focusing on selection and recruitment process & extensive training programs management is actually concentrating on its two core value and organizational goals i.e. professionalism & leadership. Professionalism is the level of formal education and training of employees. In DESCON high level of professionalism exists. To carry out the specific tasks, employees are trained on regular basis. In selection and recruitment process, the candidates having relevant education, experience and technical expertise are considered.

Extensive training & execution of comprehensive management evaluation scheme also help the management to develop & identify future leaders for organization through succession planning, this in turn serve as a tool to focus on the core value & to achieve the organizational goal of company i.e. leadership & encourage leadership. Effective leadership, in turn, provides a clear direction & path to the company. Extracurricular activities are organized by the company. Every project is performed on team basis. Give an environment of expressing & trusting together to individuals & organization. The primary purpose of all these are to: Reduce communication gap between employees; promote interaction among employees of all ranks reducing any rivalry and misunderstandings. Helps the employees to share their problem & propose a unanimous solution for their problems. Promote the environment of cooperation and coordination.

Through organizing extracurricular activities company is focusing on its two core values i.e. Open communication & team work. In other words we can say that company uses extracurricular activities as a tool for achieving open communication & teamwork. It has continuously evolving culture.it has evolved and still evolving. This means its not very rigid culture. It is flexible and adaptable to the changing environment. It means that it has the capacity to adopt best practices. This continuously evolving & learning culture serve as a tool for attaining the organizational goal i.e. continuous improvement in the organization & also promotes innovation. It prevents the company to become stagnant and static and organization remains in the process of improvement.

Strategic fit between organizational practices, organizational goals, its core values, strategic objectives & vision of company: Pictorial representation:

Provide a clear direction to the company which enables the company to achieve its vision i.e. To become a world class engineering & manufacturing company

All these synchronized activities produce a huge amount of energy that manifolds the efforts of employees of the company enabling it to achieve competitive edge in market through innovation & competitive HR team.

Help to achieve the organizational goals of company or achieve a strategic fit b/w practices & orgs goals by focusing on core values of company i.e. Professionalism Teamwork Leadership Continuous improvement Open communication.

Practices: Formalization, recruitment & selection, training, comprehensive & competitive salary packages,& other non-wage compensation, continuously evolving culture, provides environment of expressing & trusting, stress free working schedules & many other practices.