NUST Business School

HRM 442 – Human Resource Management

Fauji Fertilizer Company Limited

Submitted to;
Ms. Neelab Kayani
Submitted by;
Rabia Nawab
Taleya Iqbal
Noor Fatima
Amna Abid
Jaweria Haroon

BBA-B 2K16

Date: April 28, 2019.

Table of Contents
Fauji Fertilizer Company Limited – Training and Development ............................................. 3
Introduction ................................................................................................................................. 3
Findings and Analysis ............................................................................................................... 4
Training and Development ................................................................................................... 4
1. Analysis of Training ....................................................................................................... 5
2. Design and Development ............................................................................................. 6
3. Implementation ............................................................................................................... 7
4. Evaluation........................................................................................................................ 7
Training Budget ...................................................................................................................... 8
Current Issues ............................................................................................................................ 8
Recommendations .................................................................................................................... 8
Conclusion ................................................................................................................................ 10
References ............................................................................................................................... 11

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Fauji Fertilizer Company Limited – Training and Development
Introduction
Fauji Fertilizers is Pakistan’s largest chemical fertilizer producer established in 1978 as a
joint venture by Fauji Foundation and Haldor Topsoe of Denmark. Since then it has diversified
into food industry, financial services, cement industry and renewable energy. FFC aims to be
a leading enterprise, effectively pursuing multiple growth opportunities, maximizing returns to
the stakeholders, remaining socially and ethically responsible. It believes in selling more than
just a product and has adopted a customer-oriented strategy. FFC has been awarded several
awards in Corporate Reporting, Safety Standards, CSR and other many such categories for
previous several years. This is reflective of the fact that FFC has achieved excellence in all
areas of its operations.

FFC is nationally well-established with 72-73 sales district across Pakistan from Karachi
to KPK controlled efficiently by its HR Department. The HR Department comprises of almost
75 employees with 26 officers in HR setup and roughly around 50 non-management
employees. The entire HR department at FFC is managed through an ERP system called
SAP. All the appraisals, compensations, monthly salaries, employee leaves and attendance
records, transfers and everything else is managed through SAP.

Their Human Resource structure have following two main areas; Business partner role
and Central side or operating/ strategic side.

 Business partner role:

Business partner role consist of manufacturing business partners that are located at FFC’s
manufacturing sites i.e. at their 3 plants. In business partners they have their HR setup in
marketing which is located at Lahore. There is a total of around 720 management employees.
More than 50% of the 720 make up the manufacturing and marketing department. FFC’s
business partners are constantly in touch with this managerial group and convey their
functional needs, succession needs etc. to them.

 Central side or operating/ strategic side:

The central side of HR structure consist of FFC’s Head office (corporate) in which they
have traditional HR. This setup includes recruitment, organizational development, learning
and development of employees, compensation and benefits and “HR IS” which is their
Information system that manages the employee data base. L&D Department within the head
office engages with all functions. HR caters to requirements and needs of all departments and
functions.

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Findings and Analysis

FFC welcomes its new employees with an onboarding session followed by an orientation.
Onboarding helps new employees better understand the organization, its goals and
objectives, its culture, and equips them with knowledge to be a productive member of the
organization. The orientation is to introduce an employee to hi department, workplace, co-
workers, benefits and facilities, give him an idea of what’s expected of him, gain employee
commitment and reduce his anxiety. Onboarding and orientation at FFC is usually followed by
training due to technical nature of job mostly.

Level of performance, effectiveness, knowledge, skills and ability of an employee are

important determinants of success of an organization. These can be enhanced and polished
through training programs. Training programs help bridge the gap between the current
performance and the desired performance standards of the employees. Research has found
training to be a continuous process to keep up with the constantly changing needs of market
and success of the Organization. For a training to be effective, it should be designed according
to each company need and have clear goals and objectives that would help improve the
performance of the company and individuals as whole.

Our main area of focus is “Training and Development” in FFC. After conducting an in-
depth interview with Mr. Ali head of the HR department, it can easily be said that FFC focuses
on the on the development of their employees. They consider it necessary to provide their
employees the opportunity to realize their true potential. They engage people in long-term
relationships by boosting their talent and skills through purposeful career planning,
progressive trainings, first-rate incentive system, a culture of excellence and healthy work-life
balance. Employees are continuously exposed to cross-trainings, technical & management
courses, workshops and seminars both at home and abroad. FFC gives inside and remotely
directed pro and interdisciplinary preparing and capability measures. At FFC, the HR
improvement system centers around preparing and instruction of workers, which comprises of
a three-advance procedure, first evaluating representatives' abilities, preparing them for their
activity, and after that empowering the improvement of representatives through training. This
distinguishes expertise gaps and weakness inside the association and put efforts to address
those gaps; guaranteeing the ideal individuals are in the correct occupations for ensuring long
haul manageability of the Company.

Training and Development

In the training and development, FFC goes an extra mile to provide its employees with
opportunities that help them to polish their abilities and broaden their skill set. The trainings
are functional-need driven. Each department and function such as engineering, marketing,

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finance, and supply chain have their own curriculum. But there are some generic need-based
trainings that are designed according to the core values of the organization (such as
consistency, excellence, integrity, honesty, compassion and fairness) and the leadership skill
set according to management level and experience within the organization (such as planning,
time management, job prioritization, negotiation, job planning, analytical and communication
skills etc.).

FFC has opted two ways for the training of their employees.

 Internal Training: The management gathers its pool of the experienced people who
train the employees in their skills, behaviors & attitudes.

 External Training: They hire the international consultancy firm who gives training to the
employees and assists in the different areas of job.

Based on ADDIE model, we have divided the training process of FFC into four different
steps that are:

1. TNA
2. Design and development
3. Implementation
4. Evaluation

1. Analysis of Training
The way to identify training need it is by analyzing the system in the organization and
finding the gaps between what the company aims to achieve and what the company is
currently accomplishing. A few ways of identifying these needs include performance
appraisals, conducting training surveys, business and human resource analysis and analysis
of the job (Hameed, 2011).

The need for training is not only done by the department but also the employees
themselves reach out to the management or the line staff to convey their training needs. This
is mainly done by the annual Performance Management Dialogue (PMD).

 Department:

In training and development FFC has a very structured process which comes through their
annual performance management cycle. In performance management one portion is of TNA,
in which during the performance management dialogue with an individual, his strengths and
weakness are identified that determine the needs, criteria, and the development and design
of future training programs.

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  Employees:

Employees also reach out to the management if they want specific training. During the
PMD, training needs are identified consultatively between the employee and the line manager.

2. Design and Development

In design and development, FFC focuses on both on the job and off the job trainings that
include:

 Open workshops available in the market. FFC is already engaged with LUMS, IBM etc.
which provide generic trainings to the employees.
 Foreign Trainings where every year around 42-45 employees go abroad i.e. Europe,
US, and Middle East for trainings and assignments in different organizations providing
them a chance to look at the technical inspections or inspecting the maintenance cycle.
 They also engage consultants if they don’t find the required managerial training in the
market and customize their training.
 At FFC’s manufacturing facility, they have a Learning and Development Care
Department. LDC is like a training house as a lot of technical trainings are being
conducted there. They induct engineers, diploma holders and then undergo them
through a rigorous training cycle ever year.

Technical Training

FFC is a technical knowledge-based industry. Each equipment and machine require

special use and training. FFC trains its employees based on manuals of the equipment. For
example, for a pump, employees are trained according to the guide. Similarly, fertilizer
manufacturing has its own technology. FFC designs training according to the technology in
use. So, each new employee must go through the entire curriculum.

Talent Management

In talent management FFC’s focus is on succession. In this they early pick those
individuals who have high potential and are good performers. They are groomed through cross
functional assignments and job rotation within the same function.

Training and Development Team

FFC does not have any specific internal trainers. They outsource trainers when
customized trainings are required. The L&D team sits with the consultants to effectively design
the entire training according to the training objectives. The apprentices and trainers are
selected based on their profile and experience which includes the organizations they have
worked for before and their market and job exposure. When trainers are shortlisted, they have

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one session with the HR department in which they present their training module and the HR
department evaluates it technically and commercially.

3. Implementation

1. On the job trainings are being continuously held through assignments, projects,
through deployments.
2. FFC sends its engineers abroad for trainings and different assignments. The trainees
are also sent to different organizations there to look at their technical inspections or
inspecting the maintenance cycle.
3. Trainings are also outsourced according to the departmental needs.
4. Both traditional based TNA training and on the job trainings are being done.

4. Evaluation
“The guidelines for employee professional evaluation & development include ability,
standards, knowledge and skills, measurement, feedback, environment and motivation”
(Elnaga, 2013). The process of training evaluation is also critical. It helps the organization
identify the use and productivity of the training program, and if it should be pursued in the
future by more employees. Organization measures the benefits of training program by
analysing whether or not the employees have improved performance and by measuring how
much the employees have applied the training into the job.

There are a number of activities that help employee development. These include coaching
which involves mentors or managers to help develop employees’ skills, performance
feedbacks, performance appraisals to analyse at what stage the employee is at and by simply
investing in the employees.

The effectiveness of the training at FFC is checked right after the training through feedback
forms. But this way only measures the effectiveness of the training in terms of knowledge and
skill side. This is because soon after the training ends there is no major change in the behavior
as a person only learns something or has improved a skill. It takes time for both to transfer
into behavioral change.

Behavioral changes which occurs over a period of 6 months are covered in the annual
performance management cycle. One component of PMD is to identify the training needs for
future, and the other component is to discuss about the outcomes of the trainings conducted
last year. It can be in terms of improvement in knowledge of the candidate, skill enhancement
or behavioral change as these are the three main areas in which training and development
takes place. So, the assessment of last year’s training is conducted, and its effectiveness is

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gauged and according to that next year’s training is designed, this happens primarily in PMD
annually. So, this is one way of evaluating the training.

Training Budget
When it comes to training and development many companies during times of financial
issues or troubles try to reduce the training cost and tend to make employees redundant which
through research is found to have more harm than good. Many companies believe that training
simply leads to increase in company costs. This way of thinking needs to change as research
has found that investing in training of the employees leads to sustainability of the organization
in the long run.

FFC allocates a specific part of training budget to some departments and it is upon them
how they utilize it. For example, if HR department gives RS.100,000 to a department and they
have 10 individuals that require training. So, they must choose how to utilize 100,000. The
department manager has the final say in which training is required to which candidate based
on the employee needs.

Current Issues
Fauji Fertilizer’s H.R. Department deals with two major issues at hand:

1. As the company has offices in multiple cities of Pakistan it has to deal with inter-cultural
conflicts amongst employees, especially in Sindh where culture and politics are major
issues. These cultural conflict
2. The company has a record of only 10 lateral inductions in its 40 years history and a
minimum turnover rate (approximately 0.3). The only new hires are the fresh graduates
at intern level. Although internal hiring for positions provide growth opportunities for
employees, it also means that most of its employees are very old and it is significantly
hard to introduce them to technological advancements. They face resistance for
change in training and development.

We have following recommendations that we believe will effectively resolve these issues.

Recommendations
Following were some of the recommendations proposed to address the above-mentioned
issues:
1. Sindh Cultural Conflicts:

Beginning with the first issue we believe that there are multiple solutions for this problem.
Initially, cultural differences evolve because people unknowingly or knowingly practice
ethnocentrism. This prevents them to accept people from other cultures and hampers team
work. Moreover, these differences occur among the laborers working in the plants located in

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Sindh. Their job might not require intense interaction among each other, but cultural conflicts
do impact efficiency of the entire work process. Hence, cultural differences should be
recognized at an organizational level and can be resolved by increasing trainings and activities
that promote interpersonal skills. This will help the company integrate multiple cultures into
one uniform organizational culture or be more open to cultural differences among colleagues.

This accommodating attitude will allow Fauji Fertilizers to enable their employees to
accept each other’s cultural differences and increase the efficiency of teamwork: learning a
few key phrases, showing appreciation to other’s cultures or being open to new things may
reduce grudges and eliminate conflicts.

Following initiatives would add up to the solutions to this problem:

 Printing documents in their local language

 Employing interpreters
 Conducting interactive exercises, e.g. dialogue meetings
 Assigning supervisors with specific instructions to overlook collaboration
 Educating them about diversity
 Reducing task interdependence
 Encouraging the practice of negotiation
 Ensuring job rotation that would develop understanding of each other’s work.

Fauji Fertilizers might need to develop a little flexibility and patience in dealing with this
issue. The solution to this training issue falls into ‘behavioral’ category considering its nature.
Hence, it would require the organization to take on a creative approach in designing the
training program for the laborers in that plant.

2. Resistance to Change:

Like any other market leader, it has become vital for Fauji Fertilizers to keep up with digital
transformation in order to survive in the market. For that they have ensured updated training
programs which introduce their employees to new technology and tools that have emerged
with time.

Unfortunately, this is where low turnover rate and minimum lateral inductions pose a
problem for the company. The employees, who are now a part of the organization for
approximately 30+ years, find it hard to adapt to new technologies.

To counter this problem Fauji Fertilizers can take following steps:

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  Although, functionality is important, the company should use the technologies that are
user friendly. Choosing technologies that are relatively more approachable may
promote employee (who are relatively old compared to the competitive youth in the
market) interest.
 The trainings should be customized to cater for the needs of individuals based on their
interests and pre-existing knowledge, some might be comfortable with basic demos,
but some might require coaches or multiple sessions. In this specific case the trainers
hired should acknowledge the fact that the trainees belong to older age group and must
be dealt differently as compared to fresh recruits.
 The training program should incorporate the tool or technology into the daily routine of
the employees, that way it will be ‘institutionalized’, and the employees will no longer
be alienated by it.
 Most importantly, the authorities in charge should announce and create awareness
about the convenience the new technology can provide to the employees and how it
will benefit the concerned stakeholders of a respective department. This will add to
their motivation and provide logical basis to step out of their comfort zone and
improvise their professional skills with emerging technological advancement.

Conclusion
FFC strives to provide best employee training and development programs to ensure
employee growth, to stay on top of of competition and FFC’s continued progress. It faces inter-
cultural conflicts in Sindh and resistance for change in technological and training aspects.
These problems can be addressed to some extent by trainings for interpersonal skills, team
work, job rotation, and trainings should consider old employees along with fresh recruits.

Where training is found to be a competitive advantage for most companies and an

essential factor of Human Resource Management, it can also fail due to a number of reasons
such as if the management does not clearly identify the objectives and benefits of the training,
if the supervisors and employees are not rewarded for performing the training, if the budgeting
and planning of training is not done appropriately and if the training is found to clash with the
goals of the organization.

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References
Elnaga, A. and Imran, A., 2013. The effect of training on employee performance. European
Journal of Business and Management, 5(4), pp.137-147.

Hameed, A. and Waheed, A., 2011. Employee development and its affect on employee
performance a conceptual framework. International journal of business and social
science, 2(13).

Obisi, C., 2011. Employee training and development in Nigerian organisaitons: Some
observations and agenda for research. Australian Journal of Business and Management
Research, 1(9), p.82.

Hanaysha, J., 2016. Examining the effects of employee empowerment, teamwork, and
employee training on organizational commitment. Procedia-Social and Behavioral
Sciences, 229, pp.298-306.

Nda, M.M. and Fard, R.Y., 2013. The impact of employee training and development on
employee productivity. Global Journal of Commerce and Management Perspective, 2(6),
pp.91-93.

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