In my last article titled "Re-floating the sinking utilities", it was argued that the salvation lies in human resource development (HRD) and nothing else. It was also conveyed that anymore experimentation would result in more losses.
While strong arms tactics has been understood to be the least of the effective solutions, nothing much is being done to steer away from this course. Who-so-ever takes over a utility, he first tries for an undiluted mandate of hire and power even before he or she ever begins to understood the organization.
The HRD, though a household word and seemingly uder way everywhere, is simply missing in it's true meaning. All members of the higher management, be it the bigger players amongst the utilities or even those heading the paltry WASAs, the same where un-metered water supplies have been creating a rampage, keep on telling everyone and sundry that they are on the prowl and surely alive to the situation. If one listens to them, it seems that Pakistan would soon surpass even the mighty West in the HRD.
As nothing of the sort has taken place and the HR stays as stunted as ever and also under constant assail, we need to understand what is actually happening and what needs to be done.
Required insight into the prevalent situation reveals that indeed each utility does have it's own training programmes and happily also the HRM and the HRD staff - dedicated on paper to the sole purpose of management and development of the employees.
That all management and developmental activity translates into simple administration in the old colonial way (a legacy which we are unable to shake off) is another story.
We see that both the HRM and the HRD divisions or whatever name and shape such departments have taken in various utilities, are simple errand or messenger boys and would only communicate the top management's orders - and in most of the cases the autocratic orders of the top man alone.
In Pakistan all wisdom flows from the top man and generally he retains complete hold on everything that goes on. He is the administrator, the manager, policy maker and the one who sets the rules. He is even the in-house actuaries and knows all which may happen tomorrow.
In fact, it is his vision which translates into the subsequent results. As all is failing in the country, as a perfect corollary, full and undiluted responsibility for the losses needs to be placed on the shoulders of the top men. And because the utilities - rather nearly all the public sector enterprises (PSEs) are in the red and would remain so in the near future too, it becomes a dire need to ensure that the things change and improve for the better.
How do we do that? As already discussed the HRD is the only way in which the losses can be stemmed. Once the losses stem, the utilities can cogently start serving the people - a rarity these days.
Development of the existing HR is not simple nor easy in comparison to recruitment of the new and already trained cadres. In Pakistan because of state monopolies only, the required type of the HR is also not available in the private sector.
However, had such resource been available, this new recruitment too would soon become trite as time passes and would then have to be retrained or upgraded. It is because of this fact that retrenchment is given the backseat and dynamic organizations consider it appropriate to take up the HRD instead and that too as a regular feature. In such cases it is retooling and re-engineering that further develops and builds upon the capacity of the employees and in extension the utility itself.
The syllabi and curriculum of such programmes are usually based on five basic tenets viz., the problems being faced in the discharge of core-responsibilities, the policy thrust and vision of the competition, the changing requirements of the clients/customers, the requirement to adapt to changing technologies and lastly on the changing vision of the utility itself.
And as a necessity sometimes, the syllabi would also directly depend on the results arrived at by the utility on the basis of policy-driven research. At the last of these pre-requisites depends upon the restructuring and development (R&D) being undertaken - in Pakistan it would simply be the training of the HR in taking up the R&D activity first as, but for the PTCL and that too lately, no utility has ever taken up any such activity to improve upon itself. The PTCL's R&D cell too caters for without, as apparently the communications giant also does not need the R&D for improvement in it's day to day operations. Actually, the present level of profits and equal level of losses seem to be enough for its smug management.
Dilating upon the situation, we see that the HRD becomes a constantly ongoing job with no respite for the management. And as a pre-requisite, the utility would have to fix it's core responsibilities, come up with the reasons why it is unable to cogently discharge the same, understand the dynamics or the drag of each of the problems and then relate the problem to the existing HR level and the technology at it's disposal.
All this would also in some cases, have to be discussed in light of the results of the policy-driven research being conducted. In this manner alone would the senior or the top utility manager be able to comprehend the problems. The four other areas would then come into play and true interaction would lead to the formulation of an apt syllabi and curriculum .
Once this is done, thereafter would be the actual effort to improve upon the existing HR level. How do we do that? Would it be through on-job trainings, attendance of regular courses, setting up of permanent training centres or sending the cadre to similar set ups already working in the market.
Another issue that merits study is whether there is any need at all to attain extra theoretical knowledge through the masters and the doctorate programmes in universities and institutions of higher learning.
Similar is the need to understand the timetable and itinerary for each of the above tools available for the HRD. And then it has to be comprehended as to whether the whole HR of a particular utility needs to go through all of the trainings or whether some facets are necessary for all while some only relate to a specific group.
The itinerary of all these additives is also important to be formulated and then understood in its totality and the allied career paths would have to be charted in advance.
Coming to the specifics, we see that as a necessary initiation, all new entrants have to be given a utility specific pre-induction course - it, however, has to be understood that the same should be for at least one year duration i.e., till such time the university of engineering and technology (UETS) and such institutions restart their presently dormant internships.
In a way the new inductee has to undergo at least a one year on-job or house-job training. This would be inherently different from what the medical graduates have to undergo as in this case the patient or the utility client would not be serviced by the trainee.
In case such a long duration of pre-induction training is cost-prohibitive and beyond the financial resources of the utility or cannot be undertaken due to any reason, then shorter pre-induction courses would follow by a second part after two or three years of service.
As soon as the incumbents complete their first five years of service, the time comes to evaluate the career path of each employee so that he or she could be placed in the correct slot and thereafter channelled appropriately.
This is the stage when decisions have to be made to chart the routes to be taken up by each employee. The best 5 per cent, on the basis of gradings, would be immediately sent for post graduate study in the relevant areas at the UETs and other centres of excellence. The syllabi and curriculum would off-course be utility specific developed after serious thought.
The next 5 per cent would have to wait for a period of two to three years, improve upon their abilities and then be sent for the same post graduate studies. As a consequence, at a given time as much as up to 10 per cent would be getting post graduate education.
On the face of it, this figure seems colossal but it is the minimum that is needed - at least during the initial years of the HRD activity. So as to ensure that the utilities do not shirk on this job, the GoP and the provincial governments should reserve all their scholarships (including the large S&T ones) for in-service professionals.
In this manner, the present nepotism and misuse of funds in case of foreign studies, whereby fresh undergraduates - mostly favourites who thereafter simply do not return to the country get the most; would be corrected. It would also reduce the pressure towards adjusting lateral entrants to the detriment of the existing cadres.
What about the others? They do not have to be left behind, but need to be channelled towards non-degree courses and in-house training programmes. However, all these would be again utility specific, but catering for different areas of operations.
With this the PG education, the existing HR would improve quantumly and also contribute to the utility's profitability in the right proportions. Alongside the PG education would be the regular monthly, three monthly and the six monthly in-house training courses.
This training is envisaged to be run mainly through visiting faculty members - who in turn would primarily be from the utilities and in this manner it would be two-fold exercise leading to the simultaneous training of the trainees and the trainers.
The visitors from outside would be big names and experts to be reckoned with. Besides, the in-house training, a large portion of the cadres would need to be sent to similar institutions setup in the market.
All this is likely to lead to a healthy competition and eventual better avenues for the HRD. What about the impending privatization and the effect it is likely to have for the utilities, the HR it presently has on its rolls and the chances for enhancing, improving and upgrading the system capacities from some resource thought to be available in the private sector.
The proponents consider privatization as the only answer to all the problems, but simply fail to connect up, whatever the situation be, that the HRD is simply indispensable and needs to be taken up on priority and that it cannot await privatization or the coming of some messiah.
It is also flawed, when privatization is considered necessary for effecting improvement in the present efficiencies or for extending better service to the utility consumers.
The poor level of service and the back-breaking tariffs offered by the mobile telephony services is enough to understand the situation; the low level of expenditures on the HRD by three major players in that sector is also there to gauge what private sector does in Pakistan.
On the other hand, the thesis that appropriate level of the HRD and additionally the needed capacity building would be a logical sequel to privatization of the utilities is again in serious doubt.
Similarly, the expectation that all this would stem out of the great repository available with the private sector, the MNCs and allied groups, likely to buy the utilities in the near future, would also turn into wish-full thinking and nothing else.
This is so because privatization of the PSEs - mainly the utilities would only take place cogently in case all past and present liabilities are written off by the government and the entity becomes profitable after due re-organization/re-structuring.
And what does the later means; it only translates into the fact that the HRD has to be undertaken immediately and it should have no relevance at all to the eventual privatization taking place or not.
