9th December 2014

PEOPLE
&
ORGANIZA
TION

MOBILINK (TEAM PROJECT

REPORT)

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

We owe a debt of gratitude to ALLAH AL-MIGHTY for

the vision and foresight which inspired us to conceive
this assignment.
We are particularly indebted to our teacher Sir
Safiullah Hassan for inspiring us to do this work.
It is also our duty to record our thankfulness to Khyam
Zikria who arranged the interview for us and Mr. Mirza
Sohail Asghar for providing the information and his
valuable time from his busy schedule which helped us a
lot in undertaking this assignment.
Finally we take this opportunity to acknowledge the
services of the total team members and everyone who
have collaborated in producing this assignment.

TABLE OF CONTENT
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT..................................................................................1
TABLE OF CONTENT.....................................................................................2
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY..................................................................................6
INTRODUCTION TO MOBILINK......................................................................7
Introduction:.............................................................................................7
Mobilink Departmentalization & Functions:..............................................8
Competitors of Mobilink:.........................................................................11
Market Share:.........................................................................................12
MODULE 1: MOBILINK, A HYBRID ORGANIZATION.....................................13
OLD MODEL OF ORGANIZATION.............................................................13
NEW MODEL OF ORGANIZATION.............................................................13
TABULAR ANALYSIS:................................................................................14
REQUISITES FOR TAKING EFFECTIVE ACTION AT MOBILINK:...................15
MODULE 2: THREE LENSES ON ORGANIZATIONAL ANALYSIS AND ACTION16
STRATEGIC LENS:....................................................................................16
POLITICAL LENS:.....................................................................................20
CULTURAL LENS:.....................................................................................22
MODULE 3: MAKING TEAMS WORK............................................................24
Teams:....................................................................................................24
Work in Teams:.......................................................................................26
Linking of Departments:.........................................................................26
Exposure to Environment:......................................................................26
MODULE 4: DIVERSE COGNITIVE STYLES IN TEAMS..................................27
MODULE 5: TEAM PROCESSES...................................................................28
Team membership:.................................................................................28
Mobilink context of a Team:....................................................................28
TEAM PROCESSES:..................................................................................28

MODULE 6: TEAMS AT MOBILINK...............................................................31

Boundary Management:.........................................................................31
Task Coordination:..................................................................................32
Information Flow:....................................................................................32
X-Teams:.................................................................................................32
MODULE 7: WORKFORCE MANAGEMENT...................................................33
OLD MODEL OF EMPLOYMENT PRACTICES:.............................................33
NEW MODEL OF EMPLOYMENT PRACTICES:............................................33
PROMOTIONS AND REWARDS:................................................................34
FLEXIBILITY:............................................................................................35
ASSUMPTIONS REGARDING WORKFORCE AT MOBILINK:........................36
THE EVOLVING ROLE OF HUMAN RESOURCE AT MOBILINK:....................36
MODULE 8: MANAGING CHANGE AT MOBILINK..........................................37
ORGANIZATIONAL CHANGE:...................................................................37
DIFFICULTIES THAT MIGHT ARISE DURING CHANGE:..............................37
STAGE MODEL OF CHANGE PROCESS:....................................................38
DIMENSIONS OF CHANGE:......................................................................40
MODULE 9: MOBILINKS ACTIONS IN COMPLEX ENVIRONMENTS................41
Strategic Design Perspective: Organization Set Model........................41
Political Perspective: Stakeholders Model...............................................43
Cultural Perspective: Institutional Fields.................................................44
CONCLUSION.............................................................................................45
RECOMMENDATIONS.................................................................................46
APPENDICES..............................................................................................48
TEAM ASSESSMENT...................................................................................52
INDIVIDUAL ASSESSMENT..........................................................................54
PEER ASSESSMENT....................................................................................56
ORGANIZATIONAL ASSESSMENT................................................................58

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Mobilink, subsidiary of the Vimpelcom, is Pakistan leading
cellular company. With more than 31.6 million subscribers,
Mobilink maintains market leadership through cutting-edge,
integrated technology, the strongest brand and the largest
portfolio of value added service in the industry
According to our analysis Mobilink is a Hybrid Organization
following few characteristics of New Model Organization and
few characteristics of Old Model Organization. It has a tall
hierarchy and a long reporting channel. Decision making is
centralized to a certain manner. Mobilink focuses on People
rather than Process i.e. if a related person is not available then
the work will remain pending till the time the person is not
present.
Mobilink has grouped the organization on the regional basis in
order to cover whole Pakistan for its services. There are three
basic regions that are further divided into sub regions too. As
the departments work in isolation so the linking mechanisms
are weak plus there are certain problems with the alignment
too.
Political index is high at Mobilink as the employees do compete
with one another because of existence of old practices. The
individuals with better networking skills and greater informal
networks are better off in many cases
The culture is strong and homogenous and compliance to it is
mandatory as the standard operating procedures are clearly
defined too. Due to repeated practices the culture became
strong and homogenous.
In Mobilink departments work in isolation to a certain manner
and departments do not see other departments their
stakeholders and follow Service Level Agreements (SLAs).
People at Mobilink do work in teams usually in Cross Functional
Teams, complementing and supplementing each other. Team

members having different skills, expertise, experience, etc. XTeams do not exist at Mobilink.
Performance is evaluated by the ultimate bosses and not the
team leader which affects the team members performance.
The promotions and incentive system is also clearly defined in
terms of slabs and usually followed accordingly.

INTRODUCTION TO MOBILINK
Introduction:
Mobilink is the subsidiary of the VimpelCom Corporation is
Pakistan leading cellular and Blackberry service provider. With
more than 31.6 million subscribers, Mobilink maintains market
leadership through cutting-edge, integrated technology, the
strongest brand and the largest portfolio of value added service
in the industry, a broadband carrier division providing next
generation internet technology as well as the countrys largest
voice and network with over 8,000 call sites. Housing Pakistans
largest distribution and contact centre networks and an
unparalleled 6,500 kilometres fibre optic backbone. Mobilink
has already invested over US $3.3 billion in the country to date
and
provides
uninterrupted
countrywide
connectivity,
unmatched customer services and international roaming in
over 140 countries. The company is also official cellular partner
of the Pakistan Cricket Board. As a responsible corporate
citizen, Mobilink also offers a range of socially inclusive
products and services dedicated to enhance access to
information. Through Mobilink Foundation, the company
supports education, health and environmental initiatives and
promotes sustainable business practices.
At Mobilink, there are over 4,500 unique individuals who make
us Pakistans largest cellular network. Facilitated by the best
practices and enabling environment, they are the best minds in
the industry today working with the leader is their sources of
pride
Mobilink is more of a Hybrid organization; some features of its
structure reflects the old model organization where as some of
its features reflects new model organization. We interview Mr.
Mirza Sohail Asghar Assistant Manager Strategy Management
department, we found out the advantages and disadvantages
of working in a Hybrid organizations. How Mobilink works in a
team, their reporting mechanism, Reward system, how politics
take place at different levels of organization and how different

employees practice polices according to their capacity. We also

figured out how three lenses are applied on Mobilink.

Mobilinks Vision:
To be the
Pakistan by
make each
Shareholder

leading Telecommunication Services Provider in

offering innovative Communication solutions that
day better for our customers while exceeding
value & Employee Expectations.

Mobilinks Values:
Be Passionate
People at Mobilink, are passionate about fulfilling & exceeding
customer needs and enriching their lives every day.
Be Professional
People take pride in practicing the highest ethical standards
and take responsibility for our actions.
Lead With Purpose
People are committed to lead the market through innovations in
new services, products, as well as cutting edge technologies
and solutions.

Mobilink Departmentalization & Functions:

The organization is divided into departments and sub
departments. The division, their sub-functions and their
organization are mentioned below:
Technical:
Installs, maintains and operates the GSM Cellular Network. It is
also involved in planning and rolling out networks expansion as
per business targets while working closely with other
departments, especially commercial and IT, to launch new
services and cities. It is the second largest division in the
organization.

Regional Technical Operation

o Technical Engineering
o Operations Access Network (OAN)
o Operations Core Network (OCN)
o Production and Deployment

o Fibre Optics Operations

Technical Budget PMO and Quality of service
Network Operation Centre
Technical Logistics

Marketing:
Anticipates, and satisfies the customers communication needs.
This includes consumer behaviour research and translating this
research into service and pricing plans. This Marketing team
helps identify new business opportunities and develops plans to
exploit these profitably. It also designs and implements brand
strategies and communication plans.

Data services
Pricing and Strategy
Brands
Market Development
Strategic Brand

Sales & Distribution:

Employs direct and indirect channels to augment sales. They
are also responsible for extending post sales support to ensure
customer convenience.

Indirect sales
Distribution
Sales & Operations

Customer Care:
This department provides services to the customers pre and
post purchase to ensure that customer expectations are
exceeded. It is the largest division in the country.

Customer Operations
Support Centres
Quality Assurance, Standardization and Training
Business Planning and Customer Retention-Business Intelligence
Credit & Collection

Finance:
Prepares and monitors financial plans and budgets. Arranges
timely funding to meet business requirements and for
maintaining accounting records, Sourcing and qualification of
items and vendors, Reviews risk management procedures and
compliance with existing

Corporate accounting
Treasury
Business Support & Revenue assurance
Planning, budgeting and reporting
Supply Chain

Information Technical:
Enables secure and efficient information sharing to meet the
business needs. It facilitates conversion, storage, protection,
processing, transmission and retrieval of information to and
from various channels.

Planning, Implementation and Technological Management

IT Strategy, Innovation and Service Management
Business Intelligence and Billing
Enterprise system Integration & support
IT Governance & Information Security
Technology Solution Planning
Business Intelligence

Human Resource and Administration:

The human resources function at Mobilink comprises four main
areas. The staffing and compensation function is responsible for
meeting the companys recruitment requirements along with
developing, implementing and maintaining companywide
compensation and incentive plans.
Overseeing
nationwide
facilities
management,
the
Administration department ensures that employees are
provided with a comfortable working environment that is
conductive to high performance. Security department Aims to
meet the security needs of the entire organization by covering
people, property and assets nationwide.

Centre of Expertise

Employee Services
Business Partnership
Administration
Facilities and Build out
Services

Corporate Affairs:
Corporate affairs constitute Legal affairs, Government relations
and interconnect. Legal affairs provide legal and corporate
support and advice at all levels to ensure effective decision
making and strategizing. The department also engages in
policy-making, overseeing contracts and transactions, ensuring
compliance with applicable rules, regulations and laws.
Regulatory matters and assistance and support to the holding
company and subsidiaries also falls within legal Affairs
purviews.
The Government Relations department liaises with Government
authorities and the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority on
regulatory aspects like government rules, policies and SOPs.

Government Relations
Inter Connect
Legal Affairs

Office of Strategy Management (OSM)

Formulates business strategy and works with other divisions for
alignment and implementation. The department also identifies
and recommends new business opportunities for revenues
generations and strengthening strategic advantages.
o
o
o
o

Business Intelligence
Program Management
Special Projects
Security

Business Solution Division

This division is divided into two sub-departments:
The Sales Division is structured with the aim of maximizing
accessibility and providing purchasing convenience to the
customers by offering them the best possible sales solutions.

10

To support these activities there is a dedicated Distribution

Planning and Monitoring Department. This department ensures
timely availability of stock, visibility of products, commission
payments to the channel and policy making.

Competitors of Mobilink:

Ufone
Telenor
Zong
Warid

11

Market Share:

12

MODULE 1: MOBILINK, A HYBRID

ORGANIZATION
OLD MODEL OF ORGANIZATION
Predictability and Reliability: Mobilink has shifted from
being predictable and reliable in terms of practice as they
became more networked and responsive to the environment
whereas in terms of Services provided to the customers they
are still the most reliable network of Pakistan.

Impartiality: The element of impartiality is diminishing at

Mobilink as the allocation of resources and requirements of
every division are becoming more apart from each other
because of creating responsiveness to the changing
environment.

Expertise: To a greater extent, experts are still present in

every division of Mobilink but the number is decreasing with the
time as Mobilink has promoted diversity which enables
individuals with diverse skill set to be onboard rather experts of
one division.

Clear line of Control: This element of old organization is

prominent at Mobilink as the commands and authorities within
the departments are clearly visible and reporting structures are
well defined

NEW MODEL OF ORGANIZATION

Networked: Currently the departments work in isolation but
Mobilink is trying to move from being isolated to be more
networked intra and inter organization and environment
through the use of new technologies which can help the
organization to be more responsive to departmental needs as
well as the changing needs of customers and stakeholders. The
interaction with outside environment is handled by a single
boundary spanner division which is also a short coming.

13

Flat: Mobilink is rather an organization with tall hierarchy with

multiple layers of middle managers so this element of new
organization is not present at Mobilink.

Flexible: Mobilink shows flexibility in terms of adopting the

changing environment and competing with the other TELCOS
and thats why responses more rapidly to the changing
environment.

Diverse: Mobilink encourages diversity among its employees

therefore employs more people with diverse backgrounds and
even individual from other TELCOS in order to examine their
practices and acquire the best and suitable ones. New hirings
at Mobilink majorly consist of young individuals which is helping
to increase diversity index which previously was very low

Global: Though Mobilink operates under VimpelCom but the

services under the name of Mobilink are only provided in
Pakistan so this element of New Organization is not present at
Mobilink.

TABULAR ANALYSIS:
Below is a tabular analysis of different traits of an organization
and practices of these traits as performed at Mobilink is
provided. Further inference regarding the way the trait is
practiced is part of new or old organization is defined.

Traits
Basic Unit
Flow of Information
Decision Making
Hierarchy
Orientation
Emphasis

Mobilink

Trait of

Team

New
Organization
New
Organization
Old
Organization
Old
Organization
Old
Organization
New

Vertical and Horizontal

Centralized
Tall
Structure
Result and Outcomes

14

Working Hours
Career Path

Flexible (To limited

extent)
Lateral and Flexible

Reward System

Customised

Culture

Homogenous

Mindset

Ethnocentric

Boundary
Management
Value Chain

Environment

Handled by Boundary
Spanner (EPMO)
Local
(Operations only in
Pakistan)
Local
(Operations only in
Pakistan)

Organization
New
Organization
New
Organization
New
Organization
Old
Organization
Old
Organization
Old
Organization
Old
Organization
Old
Organization

REQUISITES FOR TAKING EFFECTIVE ACTION

AT MOBILINK:
Mobilink doesnt fall fully under old or a new organization
because multiple elements of both kinds of organizations are
present in the structure of Mobilink. In order to take effective
action at Mobilink or to transform it completely to a new
organization some elements under the head of Individual skills
Organization features and Environment need to be addressed
whereas some elements are already present.

Requisites for Taking Effective Action

at Mobilink
Organizati Individual Organizatio
Managing
onal
Skills
nal Features
the
Characteri
Environmen
stics
t
Networked

Teamwork
(Present)

Teams
Alliances Need
Structures Have To Be Managed

15

Flat

Flexible

Diverse

Global

Room For
Improvement
Negotiation Development Of
Boundaries
(Required)
Incentive
Need To Be
System Is
Managed
Required
Multitasking
Workforce
Learning Is In
(Required To
Needs To Be
Progress
An Extent)
Managed
Listening /
Conflict
Stakeholder
Empathy
Management
Relationships
(Required)
System
Management
(Required)
(Required)
CrossCross-Border
Local
Cultural
Integration
Responsivenes
Communicati
(Required)
s (Present)
on (Required)

16

MODULE 2: THREE LENSES ON

ORGANIZATIONAL ANALYSIS AND
ACTION
STRATEGIC LENS:
Task:
At Mobilink, the tasks are derived by breaking down Key
Performance Instructions (KPI) provided by the Parent company
that is VimpelCom. At the start of every year, an activity is held
around the organization known as Objective Setting Activity
(OSA), starting from the top flowing downwards, initiates when
the parent company provides the KPIs in form of Multiple
Generic Statements to the company President. The president
team disintegrate the Generic Statements for Various Vice
Presidents also known as Directors that take control of different
divisions. Directors break the Objectives for various
departments and hand it over to Head of departments (HOD)
and further its responsibility of HODs to assign the basic task
till the associate level.

Task Variety:
Just like any other Company tasks at Mobilink varies in the
dimensions of Complexity, Routinization and Interdependence.
Complexity:
Mostly the complex tasks are a part of High level positions
including President, Vice Presidents and HODs. Their tasks
include Objective setting, Problem solving and keeping a
check on performance of every unit.
Routinization:
Routinize tasks are part of lower level management including
Seniors Managers, Managers, Specialists and Associates that
contain high level of same work to be repeated on periodic
basis.
Interdependence:
Pooled: Such types of interdependent tasks are undertaken
at the same time, such as Quarter, Biannual and annual

17

meetings. Representatives from various units take part at

one place to complete the task.
Sequential: Such types of interdependent tasks are
undertaken in sequence, such as Implementation of
customer strategy. A vague strategy is proposed by Services
department moving to Research and development further to
Technical, Finance, Branding and so on.
Reciprocal: Such types of interdependent tasks are
undertaken in repetitive coordination among different units,
such as attainment on new technology in which Operations,
Technical, Research and Development and various other
units are in repetitive contact to make it work.

Grouping:
Mobilink has not grouped the whole organization in accordance
to a single grouping technique; they used multiple
methodologies at various levels and departments. Being a
service provider, Mobilink went for Grouping by Market (Region)
as their Primary Strategy. They divided whole Pakistan into
three regions for its operations. Each region is headed by a vice
president. Further every Region contains series of Functional
departments as per requirements that are headed by Head of
Departments more commonly known as directors. Every
department contains managers of various levels including
senior managers, managers, experts and associates.

18

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Mobilink comprises of a total 4500 employees Pakistan wide.

The distribution on work force is in three tiers depending upon
the position in management. The upper or top tier contains only
75 top level executives, the middle management layer consist
of 750 managers whereas the base level consist of an
overwhelming number of 3675 employees.

Linking:
Linking Mechanisms:
Formal Reporting Structures
As the hierarchy and chain of command are clearly defined in
the hierarchy of Mobilink, the existence of Formal reporting
structure is prominent in the strategic design.
Integrator Roles
The existence of Enterprise Project Management Office
(EPMO) as a boundary spanner and as a facilitator for
coordination between departments allows it to perform the

19

role of integrator. The office holds authority to make key

decision between departmental issues.
Temporary Cross-Unit Groups
Cross unit groups also known as Multi-functional teams at
Mobilink exist only on temporary basis. The representatives
only put issues that are related to multiple departments and
dont put forth the internal issues and changes that might
affect other departments.
Information Technology Systems
Mobilink lacks specialized system for the coordination among
departments and they have to pass through EPMO at every
step of coordination. As told by Mr. Asghar that the office
direly needs a Video conference based system to coordinate
with the Sales team head office which is located at Lahore.
Planning Processes
Departments are not completely involved in the planning
process as the KPI are provided by the parent company and
only the top management, Strategy Office and EPMO are
fully involved in the planning process only.

20

Alignment:
Alignment systems:
Organization Performance Measurement Systems
Annual Credibility reports are formulated in order to check
the progress of individuals and company where as weekly
Thursday meetings are arranged in every region in which
summary is formed regarding last week progress and next
week targets are determined. Vice presidents chair these
meeting.
Individual Rewards and Incentives
Extrinsic rewards are part of structure are intrinsic rewards
rarely exist. Rewards greatly depend upon the appraisal by
the manager rather than performance based incentives. A
hefty sum is rewarded to senior managers only in form of
retention bonuses and Shares as well.
Resource Allocation
Enterprise Project Management Office (EPMO) and top
management holds the decision to allocation of resources to
different
departments.
EPMO
coordinates
with
all
departments about their requirements regarding resources.
Human Resource Development
Special emphasis is put on training and development of
employees. Inter region training sessions are programmed as
per the expertise are location of Department such as Sales
head office is located in Lahore.
Informal Systems and Processes
Some individuals directly report to Head of departments
rather than senior managers as per understandings and this
helps them pull certain favours personally.

21

POLITICAL LENS:
Organizational politics are informal, unofficial, and sometimes
behind-the-scenes efforts to sell ideas, influence an
organization, increase power, or achieve other targeted
objectives. Although often portrayed negatively, organizational
politics are not inherently bad. Instead, its important to be
aware of the potentially destructive aspects of organizational
politics in order to minimize their negative effect. As discussed
with Mirza Sohail Asghar (Assistant Manager, Office of Strategy
Management) we came to know that there was strong
organizational politics in different levels and of different types
in Mobilink.
Core concept of politics depends on two elements that are
following:

Interest:
Every individual employee in Mobilink got their personal
interest that they want to achieve the good reputation in eyes
of top management. Good relationship with managers can help
in receiving different fringe benefits like taking company
maintained vehicle for the weekends, inviting a friend or two for
lunch in Mobilinks facility etc. This situation is completely
different in Telenor where the focus is totally on process.
Whistle blowing and leaking companys information for vested
interests is quite common in Mobilink. Changes in strategy,
employees termination plans and financial reports are made
public in platforms like www.Pro-Pakistani.com etc. regularly by
internal anonymous employees.

Power:
The ability to affect the behaviour or outcome of other people is
Power. An example of power factor of Politics in Mobilink was
the decision of disbursement of Cow sites (cell on vehicles) in
recent Raiwand Ijtema. Although revenue wise this decision
lacked feasibility but many senior management still proposed it
as they were going in Ijtema and network coverage was to be
ensured for them. Similarly based on the power influence one

22

has over management ad placements in different location can

be done. Mostly Hiring and Internship in Mobilink is also referral
based i.e. someone from the internal organization has got to
refer a candidate so that s/he is eligible for the interview.

23

Sources of Power:
Mobilink has still people based management which means the
designation (formal position in the organization), contacts
(informal position in organization or social network) and
personality of an employee (personal characteristics) is the key
factors for getting the work done.

Using the political lens:

For using the political lens in Mobilink, building network and
right negotiations skill were pointed to be very important.
Building Network:
An important advantage of political relationship building as told
by Mirza Sohail Asghar was of getting a due advantage in terms
of attendance. Employees are usually given 20 days off
annually but with the right connections one can waive off this
limit to an extent.
Building negotiation skills:
With good negotiation skills and a formal position often such
incidents occur in Mobilink like bypassing the chain of
command to get approval for a special project or training, going
through improper channels to obtain special favours, or
lobbying high-level managers just before they make a
promotion decision which eventually results in unfairness
among many employees. Those who follow proper procedures
feel jealous and resentful because they perceive unfair
distributions of the organization's resources, including rewards
and recognition.

24

CULTURAL LENS:
Mobilink has a very open, collaborative and nurturing company
culture. Mobilink's corporate values serve as the foundation for
its culture, behavioural norms, and decision making. These
values have always been at the heart of their business
principles and success. The culture bears direct impact on the
companys most valuable asset that is the employees. Thus,
continuous transformation and development in organizational
culture tend to receive special attention from the management.
At Mobilink, the organizational culture and values are specially
taken care of to provide an environment based on Mobilinks
goals and vision. The goal of Mobilinks culture is to promote
self-confidence,
passion,
personal
accountability
and
professional excellence.

Values of Mobilink:
The three values are Be Passionate, Be Professional, and
Lead with Purpose. These values are then further broken down
into behaviours comprising the essential cultural elements. The
new values and their underlying behaviours have been mapped
over the previous organizational values to ensure adaptability,
while introducing a few complementary behaviours for further
consistency and higher degree of employee engagement. For
example organization wide communication and awareness
campaigns are planned for the launch of a new brand.
Performance management system have also been updated with
the new values and provided employees with a series of
customized trainings, Mobilink Behaviours Reference Guide
book, and e-learning module to help understand and implement
the behaviours in everyday work.
Mobilinks Values and Behaviours are based on the Group Value
Agenda. It is a result-driven approach and uses employee
engagement concepts to ensure consistent and successful
execution of Group and organizational strategy through an
enabling culture. Employees are made to understand and
integrate these values into their everyday tasks by providing

25

them with a scenario based e-module that takes them through

examples they can relate to.

26

Subcultures:
While the culture of an organization is representative of the
company as a whole, many smaller subcultures also exist
within this structure. As an example consider Head Office of
Mobilink as being the organizational culture and the different
departments such as HRM, Finance, Marketing, Production and
Front line operations being subculture. There is fundamental
cultural differences between the departments for example
Office of Strategy Management has a very formal culture while
Marketing department has very informal culture with no tap on
dress code, office timing, use of jargons etc. Each individual
subculture has its own unique set of characteristics making it
distinguishable from the other subcultures, but together, they
still operate as a whole striving for the same overall goals.

27

MODULE 3: MAKING TEAMS WORK

Teams:
Mobilinkers work in teams rather than working in groups. It
enhances their productivity and efficiency. The most common
teams at Mobilink are Cross Functional Teams.
These Cross Functional Teams are made depending upon their
tasks or requirements. As the telecommunication market is
very competitive and in order to retain the market share and to
meet the market requirement Mobilink has to be very flexible to
change and has to adopt change as soon as possible. In Cross
Functional Teams there is multiple reporting; team member
reports to the ultimate manager and the team manager. And
the performance of that individual/employee is evaluated by
both the managers/bosses.
Whereas in Mobilink people work in Cross Functional Teams and
report
to
both
their
managers/bosses
but
the
individual/employee performance is evaluated by the ultimate
boss not the Cross Functional Team leader/boss. This leads to
performance issues as the individual/employee does not
perform well while working in a Cross Functional Teams.
Mobilinks departments are not highly linked together and in
Cross Functional Teams linkage of departments are very
important. Mr. Mirza Sohail Asghar quoted an incident which
happened in Mobilink few months back, the Strategic
department needed some funds urgently and when it was
forwarded to the Finance department for the sanction of funds,
the Finance department took 3 days to allow the funds to the
Strategic department but at that time it was too late and
Mobilink had to pay penalties because of late payment. It
happened because of low linkage of departments.

Flexible Timings:
Mobilink offer flexible working hours to their employees to a
certain limit and they are monitored by the management. Few
years back Mobilink had very flexible timing (but depending
upon the departments) for their employees, even they used to

28

work a home occasionally but now Mobilink has introduced a

sign in and sign out software every employee has to sign in
when they reach to the office in the morning and they have to
sign out before leaving the office and every month it is
monitored by the top management and it is evaluated.
Another thing which was highlighted by Mr. Mirza Sohail Asghar
was that every employee is allowed to take 20 leaves but if a
person is having good relations with his/her manager then even
a person can go for a leave without mentioning about the leave
on the software. Where as in Telenor this thing was never
practices during Mr. Mirza Sohail Asghar tenure.

People Oriented:
According to Mr. Mirza Sohail Asghar Mobilink is a people
oriented organization; work cannot be done if the respective
people is not available even if the work could be done without
him. The work gets pending unless that person itself does not
complete that work. It affects the work and performance which
is to be finished as soon as possible takes a lot of time.
Where as in Telenor; it is based on process means that if a
person is not available who has to perform certain task but they
have alternate people who can carry out their work and it also
saves time and the tasks are completed on time.

Tall Hierarchy:
Mobilink has a tall hierarchy though information flows vertical
and horizontal but decision resides upwards with the top
management and decisions flow downwards. Mobilinks each
department consist of cubical and telephone extensions
although they have strong internet networking in the
organization all the data, conversations are done through email
and kept in record but still Mobilink has telephonic extensions.
The size of the cubical varies according to the position of the
employee. Mr. Mirza Sohail Asghar said that while he was
working in Telenor every department has big halls in it and
tables and chairs were placed in a parallel way so that
everyone could see each other, as Telenor has a grid structure.

29

Bossy Culture:
Mobilink has a very Bossy culture Mr. Mirza Sohail Asghar said
Mobilink is the perfect example for the quotation Boss is
always right. In Mobilink if the person is having good
relationship with his/her boss then things are very easy for that
person and if the person is not having good relationship with
the Manager (boss) then things are very tough for that person.

Work in Teams:
In Mobilink employees work in cross functional teams
depending upon the task which is to be achieved by the team
and the team members are selected by the team leader
according to the nature of the task. Mobilink focuses on the
Team work rather than Group work.
At the year start the C.E.O along with higher management of
VimpelCom decides the objectives of the company also called
as (OSA) objective setting activity. These objectives are further
split into small task within the organization and through KPIs
evaluate the success of an organization or of a particular
activity in which the teams or individuals were engaged. And
after every 6 months these are reviewed that whether the
organization is on the right track or not.

Linking of Departments:
At Mobilink, departments are not networked but they are linked
together to coordinate with each other. As Mobilink is having a
Bossy culture therefore they follow integrator to link different
departments with each other. According to Mr. Mirza Sohail
Asghar integrators are used in Mobilink because it is quite
difficult for the people of different departments to coordinate
with other department as everyone is busy with their own work
and they have their own targets to meet so with the use of
power it makes work easier for people of different departments
to coordinate with each other.

30

Whereas in Telenor people are given leverage and departments

are linked together by Liaison and no power is used. Liaison is
compatible with their organizational structure and Integrator is
compatible with Mobilinks organizational structure.

Exposure to Environment:
Mobilink is densely networked to environment as the
telecommunication sector is very competitive and in order to
remain the market leader Mobilink has to be densely networked
with the environment so that they are always aware of the
customer needs and expectations.

MODULE 4: DIVERSE COGNITIVE STYLES

IN TEAMS
Cognitive style is an individual's preferred approach for solving
problems and making decisions. We were not able to meet and
survey multiple managers at Mobilink because of their nonavailability due to their busy schedule. Hence we are carrying
out this personality analysis solely on our reference at Mobilink
Mirza Sohail Asghar. Following inferences were drawn
Four activities that every worker has to do each day are:
Meeting with others (introvert vs. extrovert):
Generating information (sensing vs. intuition)
Making decisions (thinking vs. feeling)
Choosing priorities (perceptive vs. judgmental)
At Mobilink creating and developing relationships with
colleagues and top management plays a crucial role in career
paths. It depends upon the personality type that whether a
person is introvert or extrovert in nature. The Assistant
Manager (Office of Strategy) was an ESTJ person. This
conclusion was drawn by analyzing the questionnaire which we
gave him (attached in annexure)

31

Personality Analysis:
ESTJs are representatives of
tradition and order, utilizing
their understanding of what is
right, wrong and socially
acceptable to bring colleagues
and
managers
together.
Embracing
the
values
of
honesty,
dedication
and
dignity, people with the ESTJ
personality type are valued for
their
clear
advice
and
guidance, and they happily lead the way on difficult paths.
Taking pride in bringing people together, ESTJs often take on
roles as community organizers, working hard to bring everyone
together in celebration of cherished local events, or in defence
of the traditional values that hold families and communities
together.

MODULE 5: TEAM PROCESSES

Team membership:
What Mr. Mirza Sohail Asghar told us about Mobilinks team
membership was that people working in a team are quite
comfortable as the employees know each other as they are
working in the same organization for couple of years.
Transactive memory system exists in Mobilinks team, but to a
certain extent. Team members share relevant information with
each other only if their position in front of their ultimate bosses
is not held awkward.
Expertise are always available in the team according to the
task of work as the teams are design in the way that all the
experience and expert people are present in the team for the
achievement of a certain task or goal. Team member are highly
diverse as there is no racial or gender discrimination in the
organization.

32

Mobilink context of a Team:

The tasks and goal are properly designed and different Key
performance Indicators
(KPIs) are formed for each team
member but the team does not have sufficient autonomy to
carry out the task as the information flow resides with the
person and might not be disclosed according to the condition.
The issue working in a team is that the reward system in
Mobilink according to Mr. Mirza Sohail Asghar is that the
performance evaluation is done by the ultimate bosses not by
the team leader. Which ultimately affects the performance of
the individual working in the team as the employees know their
performance will be evaluated by their ultimate bosses and
their promotions is at their hands.

TEAM PROCESSES:
Task and maintenance functions:
According to Mr. Mirza Sohail Asghar although the individual
performance is evaluated by their ultimate bosses but still the
performance of the individual in the team is satisfactory. As
mentioned earlier that Mobilink has a bossy organizational
culture therefore the team leader behaviours like a boss and
the task is carried out in a proper manner and the goals are
achieved by the team. The decision making authority resides
with the team leader but still before the final decision the team
members consent is also involved. The team members often go
to a lunch or a dinner sponsored by Mobilink after the
achievement of the goal/task, which is a form of extrinsic
reward.

Team Decision Making:

Decision making in teams are done by the Leader but with the
participation of all the team members excluding exceptions.
Leader asks for different solutions from all the team members
and after getting all the solutions then a decision is made by
the leader.

33

Decision making often vary from situation to situation. Small

issues or problems are solved by the team members
themselves whereas when the problem are big then
participation all members are required.

Team Communication:
Team communication varies individual to individual and position
to position. Individual who are extrovert are more
communicative and individual who are introvert are less
communicative. Position of the individual also matters a lot
because a person who is the key personal in the team has to
interact and communicate with every team member.
The team members who are managing the boundaries of the
team (inflow and outflow of information) within the organization
communicate for frequently with the team members.

Team Influence:
According to Mr. Mirza Sohail Asghar at Mobilink team influence
depend upon the team members their personal characteristics,
their experience, expertise, position at Mobilink.
Team influence strongly exists in Mobilink, and most of the
people in Mobilink very Efficient in using/exercising their
powers. Most of the times a person who is the most influencing
personal in the team dominate the whole team even by passing
the team leader.

34

Team Conflicts:
Both substantive conflicts and affective conflicts occur at
Mobilink. According to Mr. Mirza Sohail Asghar conflicts are
good but if they are Substantive otherwise if they are affective
then they slow down the team goal/task and team members
are carried away.
The conflicts vary from individual to individual depending upon
their level of influence. If the person is highly influential for the
team and for the organization then the conflict better needs to
be resolved as soon as possible otherwise it would lead to
unaccomplished goals.

Team Atmosphere:
Team atmosphere has a high impact on the task completion.
Every team tries to have a good, health and friendly
atmosphere.
Most of the times when teams are formed the people are
friendly as according to Mr. Mirza Sohail Asghar Mobilink has
stopped hiring new employees since 5 years. So when teams
are formed then most of the times the team members know
each other as they have worked with each other at different
tasks and projects.
People usually avoid taking risk as non of the team member
wants to take responsibility of anything which go wrong
because the team members want to maintain their good
reputation in front of their ultimate bosses.

Emotional Issues:
As everyone working in the teams has clear roles and
responsibilities so they have their identity while being in a
team. Every team members know their KPIs according to those
KPIs every team member decide their needs and wants.
Control resides with the team leader as team leader will be held
accountable in particular if the task is not completed on time
and power is exercised by the individuals who have strong
network, good position, expertise, experience.

35

36

MODULE 6: TEAMS AT MOBILINK

Boundary Management:
According to Mr. Mirza Sohail Asghar the biggest problem which
he has faced while working in Mobilink is that the departments
work in isolations and one department do not see other
department as the stake holder.
Every department has their own (SLAs) Service Level
Agreements (Standard Operating Procedures) and they work
according to those SLAs. Mr. Mirza Sohail Asghar gave a recent
example of a cheque which their team need to get it from a
Finance department to carry out their work. They needed that
cheque as soon as possible but due to lack of inter-department
dependence the cheque took 3 days and their work was
pending for 3 days.
Whereas Boundary Management does exist in Mobilink to
interconnect with different departments

Influence dimension is vertical:

In Mobilink when the parent Company VimpelCom sets
objectives at the start of the year which needs to be achieved
in a year or more. These objectives are then further
communicated with the President of Mobilink Pakistan which is
further discussed with the Vice Presidents and they are divided
into different small tasks and goals which will when combined
together will make the objective achieved.
These goals/tasks are communicated with the employees and
every employee has different KPIs which help them to achieve
the goal/task. At the mid of the year these KPIs are reviewed
by
the
management
and
they
see
whether
the
teams/individuals are on the right track or not, if not then it is
rectified through communication. At the end of the year they
are again reviewed and the top management get the complete
picture. Then at last the final results are matched with the
objectives.

37

Task Coordination:
As there are cross functional teams at Mobilink so it is easier to
communicate horizontally. But teams or team members cannot
force the other teams or departments to carry out work faster
as each department has their own (SLAs) Service Level
Agreements (Standard Operating Procedures) which result in
slow down of team performance and team effectiveness

Information Flow:
Information does flow vertically and horizontally but in a certain
manner. Here Mr. Mirza Sohail Asghar told us that when
Mobilink changed their logo only marketing department knew
that as they were the one who changed it few finance
individuals knew it and the rest of the departments do not even
know that Mobilink is changing their logo.
And on Monday when they came to office they saw that whole
atmosphere of the office was changed and New Logo was
introduced. This high lights that the flow of information exist
but where necessary.
Changing logo dramatically reduced their sales and sales
department were not able to meet their targets. So due to the
marketing people the sales people were unable to meet their
targets. At this point it was necessary to communicate with the
Sales department that they are changing the logo and their
participation was important as their targets/goal were on stake.

X-Teams:
During our interview with Mr. Mirza Sohail Asghar we came to
know that X-Teams dont exist at Mobilink. Usually when teams
are formed they are Cross Functional Teams.
And Cross Functional Teams are effective, efficient as there are
team members from different departments having different
skills, expertise, and experience.
Mr. Mirza Sohail Asghar also told us that during his experience
at Telenor even there Cross Functional Teams were formed.

38

39

MODULE 7: WORKFORCE MANAGEMENT

OLD MODEL OF EMPLOYMENT PRACTICES:
Bounded:
The workforce at Mobilink in different departments works in
isolation and individuals from different departments cannot
directly coordinate and therefore requires the presence of
Boundary spanner department Enterprise Project Management
Office (EPMO). The employees stay in their cubicles most of the
time concentrating on individual task and require permission of
senior manager even for a visit to other department.

Hierarchical:
Though in the past years Mobilink has diminished middle
managers at various levels in order to become a flat
organization but still the hierarchy is tall. Employees are
inducted at associate level and spend several years on same
level before being promoted up. The career path is well defined
as there is no lateral rotation of employees among departments
as the emphasis is on being an expert in a single domain.

Local:
Though VimpelCom is an international service provider but the
operations of under the head of Mobilink are confined within
the boundaries of Pakistan that results in less globalization in
terms of Work force. Mobilink do prefer candidates with
international background in work and education. 2 top level
management positions are also occupied by foreigners that are
President and CEO Jeffry Hedberg and Chief technology Officer
Gabriele Sgariglia

NEW MODEL OF EMPLOYMENT PRACTICES:

Flexible:
Mobilink shows flexibility in terms of workforce management
practices to an extent as they do provide almost equal rewards
and incentives as compared to others Telcos. The organization

40

encourages Women participation in its work force at all levels

too. Mobilink hire key individuals from other Telco are who know
about the unique practices being carried out by the
competitors.
As in the case of Mr Sohail Asghar, who was a part of Health
and Safety team at Telenor and after joining Mobilink initiated
and implemented the idea of Health and Safety at Mobilink.
Mobilink shows flexibility toward adapting new work force
management practices which are being practiced in the other
TELCOS but still the extent of flexibility is low as Mobilink only
follows in the case rather than implementing it on first hand

Diverse:
Mobilink encourages diversity among its work force as the
hiring are majorly on Merit and individuals from diverse
backgrounds and culture are inducted in offices around the
country. Employees are also sent to other cities for certain
period in order to learn the culture and work setting of that
office. Training sessions are also conducted in various cities and
employees from all around the country attend these sessions.

PROMOTIONS AND REWARDS:

Promotion Policy:
For promotional policy, the whole organization is divided into 5
tiers. The top 2 level promotion decisions depends on President
whereas the lower three levels has a minimum period in years
attached to it. Other than that the promotion is also dependent
upon the availability of slot that in some cases the period is
shrunk down where as in others the employees have to spend
more years or even just get the pay scale upgraded rather than
the position.
Chief
According to president decision
Director
According to president decision
Manager
3-4 years (Average)
Specialist
4-5 years (Average)
Associate
4-5 years (Average)

41

Rewards and Incentives:

Mobilink considers its employees not just as a cost but also as
a resource in which the company has invested room which it
expects valuable returns. Pay policies and programs are one
of the most important human resource tools for encouraging
desired employee behaviors. The advantage of paying above
the market average is the ability to attract and retain the top
talent available, which can translate into highly effective and
productive work force.
The incentive scheme and incentive objective have been clearly
defined and communicated to all the individuals and depends
on their performance and appraisals. Intrinsic and extrinsic
rewards include:
Special assignments
Medical care
Life insurance
Relocation
Credit advance policy
Recreation
Provident policy
Club travel policy
Education assistance policy
Business mobile phone policy
Official blackberry policy
Vacations

FLEXIBILITY:
Flexibility in terms of Workforce is greatly associated with
acceptance of Women at workforce. Mobilink encourages
woman to apply for the job openings as Mobilink is an equal
opportunity employer.
Flexibility is taken to next level when the womens are even
involved and welcomed at the top managerial level of an
organization. At Mobilink, the vice president of Human Resource
and administration is a Female namely Sadia Ahmed. Women
are also provided with special services such as more flexible
timing, pick and drop service right to/from door step, extra
leaves and others.

42

Flexibility Choices:
Flexible space
The option of flexible space is only provided to the top level
executives. Though they have a specified office but they are
given access to extra technological tools in order to
communicate at long distances, whereas lower level employees
have fixed and specified cubicles with no access to such
technology
Flexible time and allocation of tasks
Flex time is offered to the committed individuals with high
performance over the years but it is to a limited extent whereas
concept of job sharing is absent.
Flexible career paths
The career paths are fixed horizontally and there is no concept
of lateral career paths or job rotation to other departments
Flexible workforce size and firm boundaries
Outsourcing is done at the technological level due to the
limitation and global practice. Concept of part time is absent
where as interns are hired to assist associates and expert level
employees in their routine tasks and to learn.

ASSUMPTIONS REGARDING WORKFORCE AT

MOBILINK:

People
Work
Technolo
gy

Assumptions

20th
Century /
21st
Century

Theory X: People are a cost that

must be monitored and controlled
Segmented, Industrially based and
individual tasks
Design technology to control work
and minimize human error

20th Century

43

20th Century
20th Century

Leadersh
ip
Goal

Senior managers and technical

experts

20th Century

Unitary focus on returns to share

holders

20th Century

THE EVOLVING ROLE OF HUMAN RESOURCE

AT MOBILINK:
Perspective on People viewed as factor of
Employees
production
As well as resource
HRs role in
Implementation, Support
Strategy
Key HR
Administration Recruitment, Training
Activity
and benefits as well as Alignment of
Resources

44

MODULE 8: MANAGING CHANGE AT

MOBILINK
ORGANIZATIONAL CHANGE:
As this project started we had in our minds that we have to
propose a restructuring methodology for Mobilink in order to
bring a change at Mobilink to make it a better organization. For
bringing a change at Mobilink, we will address the structure at
the first stage and more specifically the linking and alignment
of the departments in order to make Mobilink more responsive
so that the departments can work in close coordination. At the
later stage, were going to address the political and cultural
aspects of Mobilink.

DIFFICULTIES THAT MIGHT ARISE DURING

CHANGE:
While proposing and communicating a change idea to the
stakeholders of Mobilink we are going to face some challenges
that are

Human Nature:
Change represents uncertainty and its human nature to avoid
risk and uncertainty. With the change implemented employee
generally feels reservation and insecure about the future
regarding their job prospect, authority, expected workload and
reporting procedures. The managers might think that theyll
lose the authority and power and the lower level employees
might get free hand to do their tasks more independently.

Organizational Inertia:
The overall organization environment is also reluctant to
change because adopting new practices and procedures
disrupts the flow of processes and information.

Unanticipated Consequences:
Change can also result in negative consequences due to
internal and stakeholders non-compliance. Often it causes loss

45

of key alliance partners. Like with changing the strategic

structure of organization it may result in negative assumption
of the company in this competitive environment.

STAGE MODEL OF CHANGE PROCESS:

Unfreezing:
This first stage of change involves preparing the Mobilink to
accept that change is necessary, which involves break down
the existing status quo before you can build up a new way of
operating.
Key to this is developing a compelling message showing why
the existing way of doing things cannot continue. This is easiest
to frame when you can point to declining sales figures, poor
financial results as happened in the recent quarter (3 rd quarter
2014) where Mobilink lost 9% in revenues, worrying customer
satisfaction surveys, or suchlike: These show that things have
to change in a way that everyone can understand.
To prepare the organization successfully, we need to redefine
the structure in terms of Linking and Alignment whereas the
grouping will remain the same
This first part of the change process is usually the most difficult
and stressful. When well start cutting down the "way things are
done", well put everyone and everything off balance. It may
evoke strong reactions in people, and that's exactly what needs
to be done.

Change:
After the uncertainty created in the unfreeze stage, the change
stage is where employees at Mobilink will begin to resolve their
uncertainty and look for new ways to do things. People will start
to believe and act in ways that support the new direction.
The transition from unfreeze to change does not happen
overnight: People take time to embrace the new direction and
participate proactively in the change. A related change model,
the Change Curve , focuses on the specific issue of personal
transitions in a changing environment and is useful for
understanding this specific aspect in more detail.

46

47

Implementation of new mechanisms for linking and alignment

and making amendments in the already existing linking and
alignment mechanisms and later on addressing the political
and cultural aspect of Mobilink is the main course of action
during the change stage.
Time and communication are the two keys to success for the
changes to occur. People need time to understand the changes
and they also need to feel highly connected to the organization
throughout the transition period.

Refreezing:
When the changes are taking shape and Mobilinkers have
embraced the new ways of working, the organization is ready to
refreeze. The outward signs of the refreeze are a stable
organization chart, consistent job descriptions, and so on. The
refreeze stage also needs to help people and the organization
internalize or institutionalize the changes. This means making
sure that the changes are used all the time; and that they are
incorporated into everyday business. With a new sense of
stability, employees feel confident and comfortable with the
new ways of working.
With the application and integration of new mechanisms,
employees may need a little time and in some cases detailed
training sessions depending upon the complexity of the new
system installed.

48

DIMENSIONS OF CHANGE:
Scope:
The change at Mobilink were about to bring is going to be
incremental in nature. Everything will be installed, initiated
and integrated from time to time rather than changing the
whole face of organization in a single night, just like that
happened in the past in the case of changing of Branding of
Mobilink.

Pace:
The pace of change is going to be punctuated rather than
continuous. At every step of change, some time will be invested
in order to make it firm into the position and then the change
will be moved to the next step. The changes in different
mechanism will be brought one by one rather than working on
all elements at once

Source:
The change will emerge bottom up because the kind of
changes we recommending are actually lacking at the lower
level and these do exist in some form at upper level that may
be in form of extra features and authority provided to the upper
tier of management

Process:
The process of change is planned as we already have a task in
hand to propose a strategy for Mobilink to make it a better
organization. The plan is to
Communicate the idea of change at all levels
Answer queries and remove barriers and misunderstandings
Integrate new methodologies for linking first and then
alignment
Work on political aspect
Work on cultural aspect
Reinforce the change with the help of trainings as required

49

50

MODULE 9: MOBILINKS ACTIONS IN

COMPLEX ENVIRONMENTS
Strategic Design Perspective: Organization
Set Model
Organization set model maps resource environment in terms of
input set and output set. Applying in Mobilink we extracted the
following data:

Input:
Human resources: The Human Resource Department of
Mobilink keeps its eyes on the requirements of the Mobilink
Head Office and recruits appropriate applicant to fill those
requirements. The process starts from the post of
announcement to market the organization and the position
to possible candidates. The applications are received and
then screened the candidates and selected through a clear
selection process. Employees are also hired through different
job fairs, visiting top universities and HR management firms.
Financial Resources: Mobilink arranges its finance through
the Parent Company i.e. AAR Consortium that has Alfa bank
and Alfa Capital. Local banking channels arent used for
financing and the company solely depends upon its own
source bank.
Technology: Mobilink has been using Teradata Enterprise
Data Warehouse technology and services since 2005. All of
the top 15 Communication Service Providers in the world use
Teradata data warehousing and analytics solutions. For
integrated silicon solution Mobilink technological partner is
Broadcom
Corporation
that
enables
broadband
communications and networking of voice, video and data
services. Mobilink has also bought Point of Sale Verification
Solution Frame Contract with Secure Tech Consultancy (Put)
Ltd. Secure Tech provides necessary hardware using its own
developed proprietary software to capture customers
designated fingerprint, convert it to a format that is

51

acceptable to NADRA for its 1:1 verification with the already

saved fingerprint in NADRAs database and thereby verify the
customer and link him to his CNIC.
Knowledge: Mobilink adopts its practices from the
knowledge gained by the best practices of others in the
same industry. Also regulatory authority provides guidelines
for the standard of procedures.

Output:
Customers: Mobilink is the leading telecommunications
service provider in Pakistan with 38.1 million subscribers and
market share of 28% as of March 2014. Customers can be
divided into two categories: Corporate Clients and Regular
Customers. Mr. Mirza Sohail told us that Mobilink Corporate
Clients includes many famous celebrities including Shan, Ali
Zafar and politicians like Nawaz Sharif, Asif Zardari etc.
Retailers: Mobilink has 30,000 retailers strategically spread
in rural and urban areas to maximize financial outreach.
Distributors: Mobilink also has the largest distribution and
call centre network that enables it to offer wider accessibility
and quality customer services across Pakistan.

Regulatory Set:
PTA is a regulatory body for the telecom sector in Pakistan and
has been established under the Pakistan Telecommunication
(Re-organization) Act 1996. It has been formed to ensure and
facilitate the availability of high quality, efficient, cost-effective,
and competitive telecommunication services throughout
Pakistan and to protect the interests of consumers and
licensees. It is worth noted that in 2003, Mobilink was slapped a
fine of Rs60 million for poor quality of service by PTA with a
direction to pay the penalty by compensating its customers
within 30 days. With a customer base of one million in the
country at that time every customer got a compensation of
Rs60 each.

52

Set of Competitors:
The four direct competitors of Mobilink are: Warid, Zong,
Telenor and Ufone. According to PTA consumer survey 2013;
Mobilink is number 1 in market in terms of service excellence
followed by Warid, Telenor, Zong and finally Ufone.

53

Political Perspective: Stakeholders Model

Stakeholders model includes internal stakeholders and external
stakeholders. Analyzing it in the context of Mobilink we
inference the following data:

Internal Stakeholders:
Interest:
Internal Stakeholders of Mobilink mainly includes the CEO, top
managers, middle managers and employees. Internal
stakeholders interest is mainly profit and revenue
maximization.
Middle
managers
main
concerns
are
compensation and job security because due to economic
downfall Mobilink frequently lays off its middle and low level
employees. To align the goals of top management (profit
maximization) and middle managers/workers (bonuses, job
security), In Mobilink the compensation (bonuses provided) to
managers depends proportionally (i.e. 50:50 or 60:40) on own
performance and companys performance. Interests of internal
stakeholders are clearly defined in job description and
performance measurement systems.

Power:
The basis of power is the formal hierarchical position as the
authorities are clearly defined. Element of informal networking
also plays a pivotal role and allows to get off the desk work
done.

External Stakeholders:
The main external stakeholders of Mobilink are its corporate
and regular clients as Mobilink has the largest customer base in
Telecom industry so the interests of customers is responsibly
addressed in terms of promotions and packages. Mobilink
ensures that the compliance of Governmental authority and its
specification are aligned with that of inputs of its technological
partners. Telecom industry has biggest chunk of tax paid to
government so regulatory authority keeps a close eye on the
revenues of different telecoms. Government also ensures that

54

the telecom industry complies with its ordinance like blocking

of services in certain days of strike. Mobilink has also its own
NGO, Mobilink foundation which aims for the betterment of the
lives of un-privileged class of our society. It provides assistance
in terms of scholarship, trainings, medical aids etc. This upholds
the Mobilink CSR responsibility.

Cultural Perspective: Institutional Fields

Industry:
Institutional field concept analyzes interactions between
organizations and their environments. The practices of other
telecom competitors have greatly affected the culture of
Mobilink. As competition has increased so to retain the best
talent Mobilink has made its practices very adaptive that has
ultimately resulted in the transformation of the overall
organizational culture.

Parent Company:
The KPIs (key performance instructions) provided by the Parent
Company has made some practices of the culture very rigid. As
the financing including compensation and SOPs is provided by
them so the overall behaviours and work attitude of employee
is more inclined towards homogeneity.

Customers:
Mobilink has a large database of corporate clients so its culture
is a mirror image of it. It is reflected in its advertisement and
promotions campaigns.

Suppliers:
To remain competitive Mobilink has outsourced its technology
from suppliers already mentioned above in the report. This is
the industry practice to outsource the technology. So Mobilink
gives training to old employees or hire new employees who are
aware with the technology in use. This induction is making the
culture more diverse and evolving over the period of time.

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Regulatory Authority:
Regulatory Authority like PTA gives SOP and regulations in
terms of technical specifications. This makes the culture aligned
with the industry practice.

Coercive Isomorphism:
Stakeholders provide KPIS which imposes the structural and
procedural demands in Mobilink. The ARR consortium is a
multinational group which has hold on several of its business.
The key aspect is that they ensure the already defined
practices are enforced in each of its business. Hence coercive
isomorphism is deeply rooted in the culture of Mobilink.

CONCLUSION
The analysis performed on Mobilink as per the studied
knowledge of the course People and Organization gave us a
detailed and comprehensive insight about the whole structure
of Mobilink. We became able to see the things we were not
aware of before also the unseen.
The analytics part provided us the understanding of basic
practices that use to happen, that happen now a days and even
how the new ones are transforming into more advanced one
due to the changing requirements.
The team part provided us with the insight to how teams are
formed, what kind of individuals join these teams, how teams
work, what is their composition, the benefits of team over
groups and individuals and the diverse kinds of teams
The organizational part elaborated how workforce is managed,
what motivates them, how to sort out their issues, the changing
initiatives in organizations and how the environment is
changing and becoming more complex.

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The knowledge gained by working on this project gives us a

new perspective to look at an organization and taught us the
ways to be successful in specific settings.

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RECOMMENDATIONS
Starting from the practices, we found Mobilink tilted toward old
practices so the organization needs to works more on
networking by as the departments work in isolation, to make
the organization flat but removing the unnecessary middle
management level, flexible toward practices as to initiate
rather than adopt and Diversity by increasing diverse
workforce.
We will start from the strategic lens. We studied the structure in
detail and we found that grouping technique (By
Market/Region) is good enough for Mobilink to continue.
Changing the design will result in huge disruptions and
business. The region segmentation is covering whole Pakistan
well in terms of service. The problem arises at the integration
between the departments (Linking) and to reinforce the links
(Alignment).
The role of Enterprise Project Management Office EPMO should
be completely refined as it acts as the boundary managers. It
must facilitate the interaction of departments in a positive way
and make decision as per requirement.
Some cross unit group needs to e permanent who work in close
coordination and more freely on the task that are integral I
nature.
The basic reason of lack of communication between the
departments
is
the
lack
of
technological
resource.
Communication systems such as VideoCon must be
implemented so that departments can come out of isolation.
All departments of organization must be involved in planning
process so that no issue would arise later about the task and
resource distribution and it will also give them a sense of
ownership.

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Performance measurement system needs to be customized and

the leaders of cross functional groups must also be involved in
the appraisal that will increase productivity.
Individual rewards are as per the competition but being a
market leader; Mobilink should provide more competent and
unique rewards.
Departments are to be involved in decision making so they can
own the tasks they are given to complete and resources,
especially technological systems, are required in every
department.
Training about these new systems will be compulsory as the old
managers might not be able to handle it plus on the other
issues as they arise.
Team membership exists at Mobilink but lacking
organizational citizenship behaviour (OCB).
Complete information should be shared with the team
members regardless of the individual position in front of the
ultimate boss.
In order to increase team effectiveness and efficiency more
autonomy should be given to the team members.
Affective conflicts should be resolved as soon as possible,
sooner the better.
Influential team members should use their influencing power
in a positive way.
Mobilinks need to strengthen its boundary management;
departments should be highly interdependent.
Focus on results and outcomes rather than SLAs
Performance should also be evaluated by team Leader rather
than ultimate bosses
Should also work on creating X-Teams to have rapid response
and quick task completion
Mobilink should focus on process rather than people
Mobilink should introduce friendly culture, it would help
employees to be more creative and will develop OCB

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60

APPENDICES
Annex 1:
Personality Test
(From Assistant
Management)

Manager-

Office

of

Strategy

You find it easy to introduce yourself to other people. Agree

A logical decision is always the best, even when it hurts
someones feelings. Agree
You are rather impatient. Agree
You need to retreat and have some alone time after
spending some time talking to other people. Disagree
You are relaxed most of the time. Agree
You can easily read between the lines and get metaphors.
Agree
It is rather difficult to excite you. Agree
People often say that you are inflexible. Disagree
Emotional movies can easily make you sad. Agree
Your home and work environments are quite tidy. Agree
You often feel as if you have to defend your principles and
ideas. Agree
You are often accused of being indecisive. Disagree
You do not mind being at the centre of attention. Agree
You would rather come up with an action plan than deal with
its implementation. Agree
You rarely get mood swings. Disagree
You believe that it is important to be in control of your
environment. Agree
You find it difficult to start talking when you do not yet have
a clear idea in your mind. Disagree
Your mood can change very quickly. Disagree
You often do things spontaneously or in a rush. Agree
You want your work to reflect how you feel instead of just
meeting some objective standards. Agree
Your work style is like energy spikes than to a slow but
constant flow. Agree
You are often envious of others. Disagree

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 An interesting book/video game is often better than a social

event. Agree
Being able to develop a plan and stick to it is the most
important part of every project. Agree
Ideas are often more important than real things. Agree
You find it easy to support your friends emotionally. Agree
You often over think your tasks or projects. Agree
You do not let your emotions show, even when you are with
friends. Agree
You find it difficult to keep a cool head in conflict situations.
Disagree
You enjoy thinking about what impact current events could
have on something far away in the future. Agree
It does not take you much time to start getting involved in
social activities at your new workplace. Agree
You would rather do something in your own way than copy
other peoples methods, even if they are shown to work.
Agree
It is easy to irritate you. Disagree
You are a perfectionist. Agree
You would rather call yourself down-to-earth than a dreamer.
Agree
You do not mind being criticized, even harshly, if the
arguments make sense. Agree
You find it easy to notice factual discrepancies than
underlying patterns. Agree
You would rather improvise than spend time coming up with
a detailed plan. Agree
You can quickly remember important facts and events (e.g.
birthdays). Agree
You often stick to your ideals, even when your mind tells you
to go in a different direction. Agree
Keeping your options open is more important than having a
to-do list. Agree
You would rather work in a team than alone. Agree
You rarely feel insecure. Disagree
You have no difficulties coming up with a personal timetable
and sticking to it. Agree
Justice is more important than mercy. Disagree

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 You always try to imagine the full picture before looking at

individual facts. Agree
You feel better after spending time with other people. Agree
Your actions are often influenced by your feelings. Disagree
You see yourself as very emotionally stable. Disagree
You cannot stand chaos. Disagree
You have a good fashion sense. Disagree
You like to isolate yourself from the surroundings every once
in a while. Disagree
It is difficult for you to hide your feelings. Disagree
You are a relatively reserved and quiet person. Disagree
If the room is full, you stay closer to the walls, avoiding the
centre. Disagree
You would rather choose an old and reliable approach than
try one that is new and unpredictable, but possibly better.
Disagree
You feel very anxious in stressful situations. Disagree
You think that there is nothing wrong in bending or breaking
some rules if the situation calls for that. Agree
You think that there is little point in being empathic in a
professional environment. Agree
You often take initiative in social situations. Agree

Annex 2:
Cultural Questions:
Why did Mobilink transform its values and philosophy?
What are the values of Mobilink?
Describe the behaviours Mobilink promotes within the
employees.
Organizational values evolve over time. To what extent
was the change in the companys values natural/organic
and to what extent was it a conscious effort?
What is the role of Mobilinks values in driving a high
performance culture?
How do you motivate the employees to integrate the
values into every routine and small task, as opposed to

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the bigger picture? Isnt the translation of these values

into small daily tasks more challenging?
What external factors were considered while implementing
the change in organizational values?
What were the biggest hurdles in moving to the new
organizational philosophy?

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Annex 3:
We asked open ended Questions from Mr. Mirza Sohail Asghar
in order to get as much information as we can
Questions which were asked are as following:
Is there formal hierarchy in the Mobilink?
How Goals are set in Mobilink?
What kind of Team exists at Mobilink?
Does Politics exist at Mobilink?
Do people use Power?
What is the culture at Mobilink?
Does Team Membership exist at Mobilink?
Does X-Teams exist Mobilink?
Is there clear line of authority?
Are there formal rules which you have to comply with?
Are there set boundaries for departments?
Is there flexibility in organization?
Is the organization networked?
At Mobilink is the organizational structure is flat or vertical?
Is the organization global?
Is the organization diverse?
What is your current company strategy?
How are the employees being rewarded?
Do you have to perform same task the same way every day?
What sort of strategic grouping do u use at Mobilink?
Does Mobilink have some sort of informal structure in their
hierarchy?
Does manager act as Liaison or integrator?
Are there cross units at Mobilink permanent or temporary?
How efficiently are the resources allocated to the
employees?
What sort of human resource programs do you deploy at
Mobilink?

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TEAM ASSESSMENT
What criteria were used in selecting an organization?
After the initial group meeting, the members discussed the
choice of references on hand and the organizations that they
belong to. The references were scrutinized by the probability
that they will give us enough time and information about the
company to carry out the report whereas the organizations
were examined on their visible futures with respect to the
course. After some discussion Khyam Zikria came up with
reference of Mr Sohail Asghar who is assistant manager in
the strategic office of Mobilink and so Mobilink was finalized.
How was leadership negotiated?
Before the announcement of project we observed that
Ibrahim is an active student in class and always contributes
in lessons so we voluntarily gave the Leadership to Ibrahim
as we found him better at complementing and
supplementing.
How was work divided?
The work was divided equally and module wise and certain
changes were made according to the strong areas and
attention to a particular topic of an individual too.
What was the most difficult conflict to resolve and
how did you resolve it?
Communication, we were new to each other and it was our
first time to be a part of single team so we had a
communication gap. The issue was resolved with frequent
contact outside class and discussion on topics.
What is the team most proud about this project?
The completion of this project! The project required a lot of
effort and brain to come in this final shape. On the other
hand the effort resulted in deep understanding of the subject
along with minute details too that can help us identify even
the unseen at an organization

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67

 What would your team do differently on this project if

you could do it again?
o More communication and coordination
o Better Planning
o Make a time line
o Better explanations
o More Details
And all this will surly result in a more improved outcome
What grade do you think this should receive based on
team performance?
We can never ever forget the effort, amount of time and
concentration we gave to this project, so we expect an A
(Being the highest) as a result.
Should every member receive the same grade? Why
or why not?
Yes, the effort every member gave in is almost the same so
giving same grades complies with equality and justice.

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INDIVIDUAL ASSESSMENT
MUHAMMAD EHSAN
What did I learn about working on a team?
Teams are good when they work at the same frequency and
energy level. Team inducts diversity, creativity and other
positive factor to the outcome. The members have to
complement supplement each others work in order to come
up with a better outcome.
What did I learn about myself from this experience?
I learned to compliment and supplement the work of other
group members when they have genuine reasons to lack
behind in progress. It taught me how to handle pressure,
meet deadlines and carry extra workload.
What will I do differently as a team member on future
teams?
To create an understanding before starting the task so that
all members can be at the same frequency and to emphasize
the responsibility toward the assigned task to each member
as its for their own good.
Introducing the concept of timeline is also in the list followed
by taking the responsibility to be a leader at first hand.

KHYAM ZIKRIA
In the initial stage we were totally unaware of each other so
obviously had some communication and understanding
problems. But later on through exchanging numbers, email ids
and joining the online platform for sharing information of the
group; we made good acquaintances with each other. I learnt
how to accept criticism gracefully by giving extra efforts on the
next assigned chapter. Our team members supported group
decisions even if they initially disagreed which made me learn
the importance of collective bargaining. I was never a good
listener but these team efforts made me a good listener and I
found it necessary for yielding creativity. In the end I would say

69

that I realized and understood the importance of collective

efforts for a better result while working in a team.

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IBRAHIM GHAZNAVI
My experience in working in a Team rather than a Group was
great. Me and my team members implements all the attributes
of a Team and we came to know that working in a team creates
synergy among the team members, by Complementing and
Supplementing each other helps to finish the given task before
time.
What I learnt working in a Team was that we have our Clear
Roles and Responsibility, first we figure out that what are the
Strengths and Weakness of each Team member and then roles
were further divided into the team members. I noticed that my
effectiveness and efficiency had a multiplier effect on my
performance. I really enjoyed working in the team with such a
good team members. The team environment was very friendly
and we all got to know each other very well.

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PEER ASSESSMENT
By MUHAMMAD EHSAN
Mr. X was the first class mate when I joined university for MBA.
We both, being from same locality, share a similar kind of
thoughts at many things. MR x had a better understanding with
me, though he had some time occupation but was available
when contacted. He worked sufficient in the report and is
always there to assist me.
Mr. Y has a dominating character and always comes up to fill
the gaps where we lack. Thats why we made him our team
leader as hes good at complimenting supplementing too. He
completed his work on time, lead us at the interview with
comprehensive questioning that provided us with the
information required.
After the discussion with other teams of the class I realized that
I was a part of the best group out of the whole class and thats
a blessing.

By IBRAHIM GHAZNAVI
What I learnt about my team member Ehsan, he is hard
working person with really good computer skills, he helped us
in formation of our Report in computer very well by using
various commands on MS Word and MS PowerPoint. Ehsan is a
responsible person and I never came to know that he has not
completed his task on time. He always completed the task
before time.
My team member Khyam is a very good guy and a very
supportive person. Through his reference we told the interview
of Mr. Mirza Sohail Asghar (Mobilinks employee). He arranged a
meeting with him. Khyam also played a vital role in the
completion of this project Report. He is also a very responsible
person and gives his sincere input in the work. He always
completed the given task on time.

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Have Good Team Members is a blessing.

73

By KHYAM ZIKRIA
Muhammad Ehsan:
As a team member Ehsan played a very important role in this
project. He always exceeds productivity standards by applying
his well understood core concepts of the subject. I found him
always very polite and willing to help. He is a self-starter with
high motivation and constantly goes beyond call of duty. He
carried out tasks without overly depending on other team
members. His quality of work was always accurate in all areas
of contribution. Ehsan never missed a team meeting and was
always on time. During the report writing process I found his
work done ahead of schedule.
Ibrahim Ghaznavi:
Ibrahim was our team leader responsible for aligning and
coordinating all the team efforts. I found him very sociable and
outgoing. He listens and understands the situation of others
team members very well. He kept the group together and in the
right direction with his steady influence. The most inspiring
thing about his leading the team was his positive attitude and
spirit. He always contributed positively to group discussions
and was the initiator in every group working aspect (interview
with our Mobilinks reference, reports proof-reading etc). It was
Ibrahim who when conflict occur made the team confront and
deal with the issue before moving to another subject. Ibrahim
also made our different article presentations cohesive by
complementing and supplementing arguments of other team
members. His communication skills are exceptional and he
always articulated his idea clearly. I found him reacting
sensitively to verbal and nonverbal cues of other team
members.

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ORGANIZATIONAL ASSESSMENT
It was a nice experience with these gentlemans namely
Muhammad Ehsan, Khyam Zikria and Ibrahim Ghaznavi from
Bahria University whom I met at a series of meetings regarding
their Project regarding Organizational Analysis on Mobilink.
I found all these individuals dedicated to work, on time and
concerned more about knowledge rather than just wrapping up
the work as they asked very comprehensive questions at the
interview. At times even I had to think a little when they put
forward a question or request them for some time so that I can
guide them better.
The project was not only a learning for themselves but for me
too as I got to know multiple aspects about my organization
which I didnt know earlier. These full of knowledge sessions
gave me a new perspective to look at my organization and to
address the shortcomings in more effective way
I look forward for their recommendation on solving these issues
at Mobilink and expect them to get good grades too for this
project.

Mirza Sohail Asghar

Assistant Manager
Office of Strategic Management
Mobilink

75