Documente Academic
Documente Profesional
Documente Cultură
REHAN KHALID
At
It is hereby certified that the report has been thoroughly and carefully read and
Report by Roll No 7300 Rehan Khalid, Session (2006 to 2007) Evening, in partial
Dated: ________
Supervisor: ___________________
Observer: _____________________
lengthy project”.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
All praises and thanks to Almighty Allah. The Lord and Creator of this universe
by whose power and glory all good things are accomplished. He is also the most
merciful, who best owed on me the potential, ability and an opportunity to work on this
project.
I am grateful to my respected teacher Sir Goolfam who has guided me in each and every
step of this project. Indeed, without his kind guidance I may not be able to even start this
project. May ALLAH give him the reward, which he deserves. I am also grateful to all
The internship report of Askari bank based on to practically experience the Human
Resource Practices studied in our course of MBA, on HRD of Askari Commercial Bank
Ltd., especially to thrash out the training and development practices followed at ACBL.
As, now days, there is a tough competition in the banking sector of Pakistan, so this
forced us to do competitive analysis of the main topic (training & development) to gain a
recommendations to the ACBL, for this I have selected the main competitor of ACBL, i.e.
Bank Alfalah. To proceed with the project we have visited Head Office of ACBL and
Saddar Branch (Rwp) of Bank Alfalah. We have tried to note down all the practices
followed in these banks at best according to our knowledge but as the Head Office and
Training Center of Bank Alfalah is situated in Karachi, so the information gained from
and telling the purpose and scope of the study. Including the Hierarchy of the Bank and
the HR- Department. This proceeds with the Findings of the Project, which summarizes
the HRM practices followed in ACBL and a detailed elaboration of Training and
Development practices in ACBL. Next chapter covers the Competitors Analysis followed
1.INTRODUCTION
1.1. HISTORY
3.1 PLANNING
3.2.RECRUITEMENT
3.3 SELECTION
3.5 COMPENSATION
4.1. TRAINING
a. HIERARCHY OF TRAINING
b. AREAS OF TRAINING
4.2.EMPLOYEE DEVELOPMENT
b. ASSESMENT CENTRES
c. PERFORMANCE APPRAISAL
5.ANALYSIS OF FINDINGS
a. COMPETITORS ANALYSIS
6.1.RECRUITEMENT
6.2 SELECTION
6.2(a) INTERVIEW
6.2(b) ORIENTATION
6.2(c) CONFIRMATION
7.SWOT ANALYSIS
8.CONCLUSION
9.RECOMMENDATIONS
10.BIBLIOGRAPHY
1. INTRODUCTION
Askari Commercial Bank Ltd. (ACBL) was Incorporated in Pakistan on October 09,1991,
ACBL commenced its operations in April 1992, as a public limited company, and has
since expanded into a nation-wide presence of more than 50 branches, handled by the
human capital of more than 1600 employees and has lowest turnover in Pakistani
Banking Sector.
The Bank is listed on the Karachi, Lahore & Islamabad stock exchanges and the initial
Companies Ordinance, 1962.As at December 31, 2002, the Bank had total assets of PKR
ACBL has a Correspondent Bank Network in more than 95 countries with about 167
banks. ACBL is the only bank with its operational Head Office in the twin cities of
Karachi and Lahore; this created its own challenges and opportunities, and forced us to
evolve and outward-looking strategy in terms of our market emphasis. As a result, ACBL
reliance on business in the major commercial centers of Karachi and Lahore, where most
delivering quality service through innovative technology and effective human resource
maintaining high ethical and professional standards, while providing enhanced value to
Different institutions and magazines have also awarded them at different occasions, some
are;
“The Best Bank in Pakistan” by the Global Finance magazine for the years 2001 & 2002.
“Best Consumer Internet Bank” award for Pakistan by Global Finance for the year 2000.
“Best Presented Annual Accounts” awards for 2000 and 2001 from the Institute of
Chartered Accountants of Pakistan and the Institute of Cost and Management Accounts of
Pakistan,
Prizes from the South Asian Federation of Accountants for “The best Presented Annual
The system of Regional and Area offices has been introduced since 1999 for effective
supervision and control of branches. The Bank's branch network has been divided into 4
regions:
Under this system the Regional heads have the primary responsibility for
President
Regional Corporate
Commercial &
Business Investment
Retail Banking
Chief Banking Group
Chief Regional Marketing
Chief
Managers Branch Managers
Corporate Head
North&
Corporate Head
South
Regional Operations Branch
Compliance Department of Operations
Chief the Region Manager
Special Assets
Management
Chief
Regional Risk
Risk Management Management
Group Chief
Chief
H.R.M.
Group Chief
Credit Department Branch Credit
of Region Officer
Regional GM
H.R.M.
President
Junior Officer
Divisional Officer
Reporting
HR Head
Operating Grade
Assistant Vice1
Operating
PresidentGrade
- HR1
Junior Officers
3. HRM PRACTICES FOLLOWED IN ACBL
This section includes a summary of the HRM practices followed in ACBL and a detailed
The most important Division at the Head Office is responsible for human resource
3.1 Planning: -
HR Department is responsible for an effective HR planning (16) regarding demand and
supply of employees and forecasting for these practices.
• Internal Movements.
Internal movements, which include promotions and rightsizing, are a part
of supply.
• Rotations.
Job rotations are also done with in the departments from time to time to
• Overtime.
To compensate the workload, most of the employees voluntarily work
over-time at their jobs. As the employees are not forced to work over-time
so they are not paid for this overtime. Sometime the supervisors also ask
Apart from this, there are night shifts working in Electronic Technology
• Temporary / Contractual.
Temporary and Contractual employees also work in ACBL normally in
The same are some times contracted from different Software Houses.
Other than this all the employee at ACBL is not permanent, most of them
six branches every year at national level. This makes an employee shortage for
3.2 Recruitment: -
ACBL recruits both fresh and experienced persons on regular basis to support its growth
strategy. A part from this, ACBL recruits in both categories (MTOs & JO) as discussed
above. For this ACBL uses following internal and external recruitment sources;
• Newspapers.
ACBL advertises the vacancies in popular newspapers, which can either
• Website.
ACBL has its own website, where it advertises the vacancies. It also has
electronic data bank where the interested persons apply for the jobs.
• Direct Applicants.
Fresh graduates keep on submitting their CVs to the HR Department from
time to time. HRD selects the effective persons for interview and tests
sequenced as follows;
comprised of, General Knowledge, English, Math, Accounting and other subjects
who clear the test are proposed to proceed further for the selection process and the
The selected candidates have to take the 1st interview, which is conducted by a
team of Subject Matter Experts (37) including HR officials. The candidates are
Now the Vice President - Human Resource, again interviews the next selected
lot.
V. Medical Test:
The selected candidates submit their medical reports of the required medical
3 – 4 months.
conducted by the Training Wing in alliance with HR and other related departments.
difference in ranking and working methodology, the training needs for both are
varied. Among various training methods, classroom and OJT are most commonly
in practice in ACBL.Other than the training of new hires, there are more than 50
3.5 compensation: -
HRD of ACBL has kept its compensation and equity practice confidential.
3.6 Performance Management: -
ACBL has an effective performance management system. HRD in alliance with the
this, Annual Performance Report (APR) of each employee is made and 3600 feedback
(36) is used as a tool for completion of APR..In APR employees are evaluated on basis
of following skills and are graded on scale of grades starting from A to E, which have
different percentages.
Leadership Qualities.
Marketing Skills.
Productivity.
Initiative.
Communication
Job Knowledge.
* This is the most important practice of HRD as, the promotions, increase in salary;
As priory written in the scope of study that ACBL is managing its training needs
from a single Training Center, so it is feasible to elaborate some facts about the Training
The training center was established in 1999, since then it is managing the training needs
of Punjab, NWFP and AJK region. It also handles the Sindh and Baluchistan Region in
alliance with main branch of Karachi. For Sindh and Baluchistan, Training camps work
President
HR Division
Training Wing
these strategies and the result of implementation is reported to HRD, which is further
reported to the President. In the training wing, currently Mr. Riaz Bungush (VP Training)
and Mir Shahid Iqbal (OG-1 Officer) are authorized trainers / instructors.
4.1(b)Areas Of Training
The training at ACBL is done at two broad areas, which are further categorized, these are;
I. Banking:
Credit Division.
Foreign Trade.
I. Fresh Hires: -
Fresh employees are those who have recently completed their studies and have no
session to get aware of banking technicalities. These fresh selected employees are
categorized in two separate parts according to their posts; hence the training
MTOs are hired only once in a year, and they are selected for middle level
executive posts, so their training is quite complex as compared to JO’s. After the
On Job Training (OJT) (33) for further 3 years. The theoretical training session is
techniques are adopted. Whereas, the OJT is conducted at the relevant branch and
department. MTOs get training in all the areas of banking, i.e. General Banking,
training needs are not as complex as of MTOs. After the selection, JO’s
Experienced employees are those who have already worked in other banks at executive
posts. Such employees do not need any formal training session; they are informally
The identification that either the training of current employees is necessary or not
Other than APR, following are also some of the valid reasons for conducting the
training program.
• New Hires.
• New Technology.
• New Services.
The Head Office supports the training program by providing finance and peer
appreciation. An Annual Budget is allotted to the Training Wing for conducting the
training program.
Person Analysis:
The APR exactly identifies that who needs training, and is it really a training problem.
Feedback (36) and APR is checked by the reporting officer and rechecked by senior
reporting officer, so there is no doubt about the identification of the training need of an
employee.
Task Analysis:
The task and duties that require training are also specified in the APR. In the APR the
Boss might recommend the areas of training, or the employee himself may identify the
The relevant department of whose employee is requiring a training session ensures the
particular employee that he can learn the task or duty. Further they also ensure the
employee / trainee that it will be beneficial for him and for the organization both.
• Job Rotation.
• Valuing of Employees.
Informally in all jobs the trained and experienced employees share their knowledge with
the new hires and those employees who are suffering with their tasks. But in Elec. Tech.
Among the various training methods, ACBL is using the following methods to trains its
employees.
The Training Wing of ACBL commonly uses it. JO’s have 2 weeks session of
o Business Games.
o Case Studies.
o Research Topics.
o Role Plays.
It is the second most commonly used method of training in ACBL. Only MTOs
Other than full time degrees and certificates, ACBL has more than 50 Refresher
* Audio Visual Aids and Multimedia are used in the training sessions. Further,
most of the training sessions are conducted in 5 Star hotels.
The Training Wing in alliance with HR evaluates its training program as follows;
• The most important way to evaluate the training program is by checking the
linkage with the objective and goals of the bank / high leverage training.
Evaluation Of Trainees
At the completion of training session, the Training Wing evaluates each trainee in
following ways;
• By Pre-test – Post-test.
• ACBL conducts quizzes and evaluates the written & oral assignments.
Bahrin.
Reward System
ACBL has a reward system for the trainees who perform better during the training
• Appreciation Letters.
• Shields. Etc.
* Courses are normally conducted at Five Star Hotels, which are a motivating factor for
trainees.
ACBL has also more than 50 refresher courses in different area of banking and
management. Employees are fully supported at ACBL to take these courses and degrees.
For refresher courses, which are usually not longer than 7 to 10 days, sabbaticals are
given to the employees. This motivates the employees to take these courses whenever an
opportunity is there.
Assessment Centers:
among executives and board on directors on regular basis, for the whole
During training sessions Role Plays are also given to employees, which
Performance Appraisals:
All employees at ACBL are given the opportunity to get themselves proper
development.
5. ANALYSIS OF FINDINGS
competitor’s findings.
5.1COMPETITOR’S ANALYSIS
Introduction:
Bank Al-Falah was established in July 1997. Its head office is in Karachi and bank has
49 branches all over the Pakistan. Bank has one branch in UAE.
Services:
Bank is offering different types of services for its valued customers. These services are
department advertises in newspaper for the jobs then recruitment and selection process
Bank advertises in newspaper and candidates apply for the jobs. After test, interview and
other formalities the selected candidates are given six months training. Every year the
candidates then receive comprehensive training in essential areas of branch banking at the
Bank’s state-of-the-art training facility at Karachi They are subsequently posted at the
Bank's prior to their posting at various branch locations in Pakistan. Preferred educational
background for entry into the MTO scheme includes an MBA degree, MA Economics or
M.Com from reputable Pakistani or foreign institutions with GPA of 3 plus, or equivalent.
Strong personal character, as well as communication and interpersonal skills are essential
Bank Alfalah’s management believes in developing the potential of the Bank’s employees
to the fullest extent. Training & Development Center of the Bank is housed in custom-
built, state of the art facility on the 4th floor of the Head Office building at Karachi. The
center is responsible for providing multi-level high quality training programmes to all
• Credit Administration/Documentation
• Time Management
• Personal Effectiveness
It is obligatory for each staff member of the bank to attend at least one training
programme. Wherever the Training Department is unable to provide focused training for
certain groups of staff, reputable external training providers are invited to fill the gap.
The candidates are given six month training in which theoretical lectures are given along
with different case studies, situations and presentation techniques. Groups are made to
enhance the coordination and team building. Candidates with different skills and abilities
are appreciated for their creativity. During the job formal and informal meetings are
conducted where all employees are free to speak and they can give different ideas and
plans. Employees are encouraged for continuous learning and bank even send its
Main Training Pressure Point of Bank Alfalah is also same to that of ACBL, i.e.:
• The identification that either the training of current employees is necessary or not
Rewards System:
Employees are given salary of 10000-12000 per month in training session, after
training bank increase their pay and also give them other benefits.
Performance Appraisal:
Each manager submit the report of his subordinates to his boss in which they evaluate his
employees from different dimensions and if audit report of any branch show negative
impact than all types of increments are stopped of all employees of than branch.
ANALYSIS
Analyzing the Training and Development practice of ACBL and comparing it with
effectively meeting its targets, but to encounter with future demands, ACBL needs to
overcome some short-comings in order to maintain and gain competitive edge, for this we
6.1 Recruitment
Recruitment is the first part of the process of filling a vacancy; it includes the
making contact with those candidates and attracting, applications from them. An
organization can never be better than the people it hires and this is a concept that askari
bank firmly believes in. They boast about never compromising on the quality of its
people.
SOURCES OF APPLICANTS:
Askari bank is well known of being conservative and this can be justified by the fact that
they try their best to fill in any vacancies that crop up by first scanning their current
employees for the required qualifications and experience. According to the Human
A present employee is more likely to stay at askari bank than an external candidate.
The people already working for askari bank are well aware of its culture and employee
The organizational policy of promoting from within enhances the employees’ morale,
At askari bank external recruiting is the last option. In case a need arises for external
recruitment they meet it discreetly. When enquired on this issue the HR Manager said that
they do not prefer external recruitment because it may have a negative impact on the
Referrals
At askari bank referrals act as an effective recruitment tool. Referrals are most helpful in
the cases of highly specialized jobs. Employees while recommending applicants place
their own reputation at stake; therefore, they are usually careful to recommend only
qualified applicants. Referrals result in maintaining consistency in the work force as the
people referring their friends would be well aware of the company culture and
environment and would never suggest a person they know isn’t capable.
Walk-Ins
Another common and effective methods of external recruitment are walk-ins and write-
ins. These methods are quite informal and provide the applicant an opportunity to sell
because it too gives them the chance to hire fresh, vigilant, determined and confident
Management Trainees
market exposure for fresh graduates. Askari bank provides these recruits with an
extensive learning program where they are taught how to handle dealings in the corporate
world and hence mould them into their culture. These recruits are evaluated after their
internship period is over and these appraisals are filed. Whenever external filling is
Job Orientation
Analysis Training
Development
Career
Selection Planning
Recruit Process Performance
Evaluation
Compensation
HR
Assessment
Planner
Selection is the process of assessing the candidates by various means and making a
choice followed by an offer of employment. This process consists of the following steps.
An interview with the HR Manager, the department head and finally by a panel of
executives.
6.2 (a)INTERVIEW
The candidates have to appear for an interview first with the HR Manager then with the
department head and finally before a panel. The panel will always include the head of the
three officers will constitute a quorum. The attached quick interview worksheet will be
utilized for guiding the interview. Rejection by more than one panel member will
During the interview, it is natural that the interviewers will tell the candidate about the
job. They are however, advised to confine themselves to the realities of the situation and
must not promise more than what the job probably offers, otherwise in likelihood the
company will end up with a frustrated worker who was painted a more attractive than the
evaluate the applicant’s acceptability. They are highly popular because of their flexibility,
as they can be adapted to skilled, unskilled, managerial and professional employees.
Interviewers at askari bank allow a two-way exchange of information: they learn about
applicants:
How do you consider yourself to be the best person for this job?
At askari bank the orientation period is two weeks. During this time the employees are
given information about the job, the people around them, organizational accomplishments
All new hiring will remain on probation for six months. Confirmation as a permanent
employee will be based on the satisfactory replies from at least three personal references
including former employers as shown on the application form. Usually the most valuable
references are from previous employers. Where necessary personal contact with previous
STRENGTHS
Network
Network is a major strength ACBL has. ACBL is a Pakistani Bank with the most
extensive and comprehensive global network that open up new opportunities in near
uniform service system across the Bank’s network that will allow much higher levels
Customer Relationship
The Bank has a distinctive client focus with a view of attaining greater customer
satisfaction. Continual efforts are made by the Bank to revisit customer needs and for
network with a view of improving efficiency28. The trust associated with ACBL is
also its strength to stand out. The bank continues to re-engineer processes and
centralize functions to make ACBL services more cost efficient to improve customer
international standard and its policies towards modernization helps them gain more
strength.
service and relevant products. ACBL strong culture of customer service and
International Operations
into regional businesses by formation of six major regional centers viz UK,
WEAKNESES
Promotion
ACBL is not promoting its ATM services which are a major weakness. They can
change their target market or at new target markets through promotion for example
they can promote the uses of ATM such as its use at vacations.
One of the weaknesses of ACBL ATM is that they have prescribed cash withdrawal
limit for all kinds of customers where as ACBL ATM offers no cash withdrawal limit.
They have cyclic withdrawal limit which allows each customer to have his own cash
withdrawal limit32
There is no facility offered by ACBL for payment of utility bills but it is possible on
NBP ATM.
Transfer Of Funds
No facility on behalf of ACBL ATM is offered regarding transfer of funds between
PLS savings account and current account of same customer through same ATM card.
Shortage Of ATM’s
in many of its branches. Similarly there are some profitable geographical locations
where there are prospects of increased profitability for example an ATM at Murree
ATM’s Working
ACBL ATM’s are usually out of work without any notification to customers as
order34. Moreover one of their customers also mentioned in a survey that the machine
OPPORTUNITIES
It can be an opportunity for ACBL to introduce ATM also as a credit card which will
invite a different segment and which will improve profitability. They can also cut
Technological Improvements
If ACBL opens up its deposit box facility for customers it can heavily increase its
request for payment of amount in dollars then it should pay the customer in Dollars.
They can make ATM more attractive and enjoyable place to come rather then a bossy,
bore environment. To provide customer’s with an enjoyable event whenever they visit the
ATM they can change their machine styles, have variations in colors and add audio
As Internet and World Wide Web usage continues to increase ACBL should extend it’s
exploitation of this market by acquiring and merging with companies with specialized
technological expertise. Although this expansion is costly they should exploit this
In order to increase their market share ACBL should expand its ATM network. By
opening ATM sites where it can target new market sis essentially good for competition as
well it is profitable. They can look out for any sick units that are not as profitable as the
expenditure of USD 20-25 million over next three years) to provide customers with
Illiterate People
Illiterate people are also an opportunity for ACBL in regarding this service . ACBL can
serve these people by giving instructions in Audio and in Urdu. They can also have
instructions written in Urdu on card or even they can have a display in Urdu. They can
THREATS
Economic Environment
when the government embarked on an economic revival plan with a complete task of
demand though improving still remained weak and fiscal constraints did not allow the
Political/Legal environment
Law and order situation has a direct impact on how frequently or how many people
use ATM. Also legal obligations also hinder/pose threat to ATM availability. For
example there is a rule that he two ATMs should be at least 3 kms away from each
other. If there are strict regulations on this policy then it is a threat to ATM
important that legal environment is positive and firm enough to pose threat to Bank’s
activities.
Expense Base
The expense base will be a major threat to the ATM because it will impact the need to
million is sufficient money to invest to open an ATM there should be a strong expense
Organizations exist when two or more people work towards achieving common goals. An
organization can never be better than the people it hires. Hence we have to get the best to
be the best because the performance of the employees reflects the company’s image and
Out of the three M’s i.e. Man, Money & Machine, probably the human dimension is of
the utmost importance. Hiring employees is not the sole objective rather the primary goal
is to devise a tool that can help the organization attract, maintain, retain and motivate
them enough to give their best to the organization. Training and development is therefore
the first step towards success. Better the quality of the employees better the performance
of the company.
opportunity to make significant contribution to the company. With better quality people
After analyzing the Training and Development practice following recommendations are
made;
• To fulfill the Training Needs of the more than 50 branches of ACBL, it needs to
decentralize its Training Centers and should open a new Training Center for
Karachi Region.
• For time being to share the burden of Training, more instructors should be hired
focused training for certain groups of staff, reputable external trainers are invited
to fill the gap, ACBL should also outsource trainers in such cases.
adopted to make the results more accurate as the bank is in growth stage.
• In 3600Feedback method, there are chances of errors due biasness and halo-factor.
To avoid this error, ‘Rater Error Training’ and ‘Rater Accuracy Training’ should
which should be further connected with all branches for more efficient working of
1. Books:
Edition: Third.
Edition: Fourth.
Edition: Second
• www.askaribank.com
• http://www.bankalfalah.com/careers/Manage_careers.asp
• www.sbp.org.pk