You are on page 1of 34

ORGANIZATION INTRODUCTION

Lever Brothers Pakistan Limited is a multinational organization. Unilever PLC London is its
parent company. Unilever is a European based company with headquarters in London, and their
shares are quoted at the stock exchange of several European countries. They deal in all kinds of
products from animal foodstuff to foods and detergents plus other personal and consumer
products. Unilever has its subsidiaries in over 80 countries of the world, to which it spreads its
vast knowledge and resources.

William Lever (its originator) commences business in England as a grocer. He established Lever
Brothers in 1827 in England Sunlight was the first product of Lever Brothers, which makes the
beginning of the marketing of branded products at the same time Margarine Uni was established
in Nether Land by Simon Van Berg and Anton Jurgens. These two companies in term of:

         Buying raw material

         selling finished goods

Consequently both the companies loosing out money in term of profit. These problems led to
think of the mergers in 1930. These two companies merged together and renamed the business as
Unilever PLC / the word UNI is taken from margarine Uni and Lever is taken from Lever
Brothers. Its head quarter was established in England and Rotter Dam.

Unilever has 500 operating companies in 80 countries. It has 0.3 million employees and turnover
of sales in 23000 million pounds. The global business proportion is 60% in Europe 20% in North
America and 20% in rest of the world. An identified board of directors control the activities of
subsidiary companies throughout the world. Lever Brothers Pakistan Limited started its
operations in 1948. A merger of Sadiq Vegetable Oils and Allied Industries existed in Rahim Yar
Khan was taken place with Lever Brothers and HVM company based at Karachi. As a result of
merger Lever Brothers Pakistan Limited was incorporated as an independent Unilever operating
company in 1955. The company is quoted on the Karachi, Lahore and Islamabad Stock
Exchanges. Lever Brothers Pakistan Limited has around 1900 employees in Pakistan.
Lever Brothers Pakistan Limited played a dynamic role in boosting consumer products market. It
stand at a unique position due to its honesty and integrity. Lever Brothers Pakistan Limited’s
main divisions of business are:

MERGER WITH BROOKE BOND

Brooke Bond Pakistan Limited was incorporated in 1948. Company’s 40% shares are held by
Unilever, 21% by financial institutions, 24% by individuals, and 10% by insurance companies.
The company is quoted on Karachi and Lahore Stock Exchange market. The company is
manually engaged in the blending, packaging and marketing of tea. It also has a small business in
the sale of packing apices. The company employs around 850 persons. And has three
manufacturing locations situated in Karachi and Khanewal. It also have three regional sales
offices. The head office of the company is located in Karachi.

After the amalgamation of Lever and Brooke Bond, Unilever will have a majority shareholding
in the combined company and it will provide a comparable level of technical, management and
financial resources. The proposed merger will benefit the consumer in term of price and quality.

ACQUISITION

Lever Brothers Pakistan Limited acquires the shares of Pakistan Industrial Promoters Limited,
Mehran International Limited and Ambrosia International Limited, which is known as Polka
Group of Ice Cream Companies.

VISION OF LEVER BROTHERS PAKISTAN LIMITED

The vision of Lever Brothers Pakistan Limited is driven by is the commitment to excel and we
are here to sell aspiration not brand. So, the core vision is integrating and that is to excel in
every field whatever Lever Brothers do to provide customer delight and value. The Lever
Brothers have been able to follow the track set by their vision and to achieve the standards set by
their customers.
MISSION STATEMENT OF LEVER BROTHERS PAKISTAN LIMITED

Lever Brothers Pakistan Limited will be the foremost consumer company in Pakistan with the
dominant position in laundry, personal wash, skin, ice creams and spreads: a leading position in
tea, hair, dental and household care and a sustainably profitable position in cooking oil and fats.

1.            We will aim at delivering a 15% UVG rate, hence doubling the size of our business over 5
years and thereby delivering superior value creation.
2.            We will achieve this by adopting a broad view of our market by seeking the new
opportunities in the core categories of Unilever and by staying closer to all consumers
than competitors, understanding their evolving needs and focusing on constant delivery
of superior value for our brands through innovation.
3.            Competitive advantage will also be developed by driving down relentlessly on relative cost
positions and outpacing competition in operational efficiency improvement.
4.            We shall build on our strong network of distributors to maximize penetrations and
visibility in existing channels and to develop all new channels relevant to our consumers.
5.            We shall establish Unilever’s core brands in Afghanistan, building brand loyalty and
strong distribution in the market.
6.            To achieve these standards of performance, Lever Brothers Pakistan Limited will develop
a strategically focussed organization and will motivate its personnel to use its full
potential of creativity and commitment. It will also leverage Unilever’s best practices and
maintain the highest standards of operational control.
7.            Through its commitment to high levels of care and safety for its employees, its consumers
and the environment, Lever Brothers Pakistan Limited will be exemplary and will
participate in the dissemination of such practices in Pakistan.
ANALYSIS OF MISSION STATEMENT

MISSION CONTENTS

ORGANIZATION PHILOSOPHY

PEOPLE

Peoples are key to strengths of Lever Brothers Pakistan Limited. The development of their
potential is core to Lever Brothers Pakistan Limited business.

So they provide extensive attention to developing human resources.

CUSTOMERS

Lever Brothers Pakistan Limited is the customers focus organization. They do delight customers
with their products and service. Their brands always deliver the high quality as they premise.
Lever Brothers Pakistan Limited pays extra attention to the complaints of consumers.

e.g. if the consumer complaints that detergent harmed any cloth or skin they send the sample for
lab test a team analyzes that customer complaint is right or not and then they send the detailed
response to customer along with gift of their products. With a questionnaire for suggestion for
further improvement on the top of which is written “WE CARE ABOUT YOU”.

SUPPLIERS

Suppliers are considered the partners of Lever Brothers Pakistan Limited and Lever Brothers
Pakistan Limited maintain mutually beneficial relationship with them.

INTEGRITY

Lever Brothers Pakistan Limited never compromise on integrity management adhere to high
standards in all they do.

ENVIRONMENT RESPONSIBILITY

Management adheres to all national and Unilever standards to ensure health, safety and
protection of the environment in which they live and work.
PROFIT

It is considered to be the ultimate measure of Lever Brothers Pakistan Limited’s performance


and it is required to maintain and grow their business.

PRODUCT MARKET DOMAIN

This factor indicates where they are going to compete. Lever Brothers Pakistan Limited’s field of
operations is the consumer products and business and this is very clearly stated in their mission
statement.

ORGANIZATION KEY VALUE

It defines that what they want. They people of organization to be good at or how do they want
them to behave and this very clearly stated in mission statement as always stay responsive to
change, go for innovation, employee commitment to organizational objectives and mission and
creating value for customers. So, if we check the mission statement through this aspect then we
can easily state that they have clearly stated what should be the organizational key values and
how to reinforce them.

CRITICAL SUCCESS FACTOR

The central issue of this factor is that what do they have to be good at to succeed in this market
or industry. The mission statement outlines this as “adopting a broad view of our market, by
seeking the new opportunities in the core categories and by staying closer to all consumers than
competitors and understanding their evolving needs and focusing on constant delivery of
superior value for our brands through innovation”.

So far them critical success factor is consumer connectivity and commitment to excel and to
provide superior value to customers and products of superior quality and value.

CONCERN FOR DIFFERENT STAKEHOLDERS

Mission statement describes that what are the obligations to different stakeholders i.e.
stockholders, employees, suppliers, customers and community at large. Lever Brothers Pakistan
Limited’s mission statement contains concerns about all stakeholders. First be foremost
consumers and then other stakeholders and describes it as: “Through its commitment to high
level of core and safety for its employees, its consumers and environment. Lever Brothers
Pakistan Limited will be exemplary and will participate in the dissemination of such practices in
Pakistan”.

FORM AND SOURCES OF COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGES

Mission statement of Lever Brothers Pakistan Limited completely describes the form and sources
of competitive advantage as:

“Competitive advantage will be developed by driving down relentlessly on relative cost positions
and outpacing competitor’s in operational efficiency improvements and through building strong
network of distributors and by developing a strategically focused organization and by motivating
its personnel to use its full potential of creativity and commitment and by maintaining the higher
standards of operational control”.

They are going for unique combination of cost reduction and superior value to customers so they
entirely provide the form and source of competitive advantage that what they wanted to achieve
and how they will achieve it.

SCOPE AND TYPES OF MISSION

The mission of Lever Brothers Pakistan Limited covers both the external dimension (product
market domain, critical success factors) and internal dimensions (philosophy, organization key
values, form and sources of competitive advantage, and concern for different stakeholders) so
therefore, we can say that the mission statement of Lever Brothers Pakistan Limited is a global
mission as according to the following exhibit.
OBJECTIVES OF LEVER BROTHERS PAKISTAN LIMITED AND ATTAINMENT OF
OBJECTIVES

OBJECTIVES OF LEVER BROTHERS PAKISTAN LIMITED

1.            Their main objective is to have a double-digit growth and resultant cash flows will be
utilized in improving the product quality and contents to enhance the value to customer
and final users.
2.            Lever Brothers Pakistan Limited has an objective to have a responsive supply chain and
technological based processes.
3.            They want to have consumer connectivity, i.e. they want to know what they eat, drink,
how they spend their lives, what are their preferences. So in this way they wan to be very
close to customer, to know their real insight and desires so they can develop new strategy
for product design and can implement their strategy in better manner i.e. avoidance of hit
and trial approach and hitting the right target with right strategy at right time in right and
accurate manner.
4.            They want to be cost efficient i.e. they want to reduce in their cost of production, cost of
transportation, distribution and packaging cost and finally reducing all the human cost to
offer a competitive price to customer maintain the high standards of quality.
5.            To have a partnership with their suppliers to enable them to provide high quality low cost
material.
6.            Have entered and will be aggressively developing new markets.
7.            be exciting to their customers with stream of innovative products.
8.            To be no in all their existing markets.
STRUCTURAL ANALYSIS

ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE AND MANAGEMENT OF LEVER BROTHERS PAKISTAN LIMITED

Lever Brothers Pakistan Limited restructures the organization after the merger with Brooke Bond
Pakistan Limited. The chairman is the executive officer of Lever Brothers Pakistan Limited. He
leads the seven member’s management committee, which is the top of decision making. The
management is responsible for corporate strategy of Lever Brothers Pakistan Limited and for
initiating policies and overall planning as well as their general management duties. Management
committee members are each responsible for specific function. Reporting to the management
committee members are departmental heads who are responsible for advising the management
committee for planning and implementation of policies for ensuring that targets are reached. The
committee includes:

Mr. Lain Strachan Sangster (Chairman & Chief Executive)


Mr. Mashkoor Alam (Vice Chairman)
Mr. Mujib-ur-Rehman (Technical & Logistics Director)
Mr. Perwaiz Hassan Khan (Director Personnel)
Mr. J. A. Lee (Director Sales)
Mr. A. D. Bandaranayake (Director Commercial)
Mr. N. I. Khockhar (Business Unit manager ODF)
Mr. Clive David Welland (Director Food Business)

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

The board of directors controls the whole operation of the organization it includes the following
personalities:

Mr. Lain Strachan Sangster


Mr. Syed Babar Ali
Mr. Fateh Ali W. Vellani
Mr. Mujib-ur-Rehman
Mr. Perwaiz Hassan Khan
Mr. J. A. Lee
Mr. Clive David Welland
Mr. Dr. A. D. Bandaranayake
Mr. S. N. Patel
Mr. M. Asadullah Sheikh
Mr. Abdul GhaniBachani
Mr. Azim Azmat Osman

As we can notice that the management of the company is composed of a mix of international and
Pakistanis business professionalists. The management of the company includes Syed Babar Ali
as director, who is also involved in many other organizations i.e. Packages and other industries.
It includes in its board meetings one member from each province i.e. Punjab, Sindh, NWFP and
Baluchistan. The top management of the company is fully professional specially marketing
department which is headed by Mr. Jeff Lee who has world wide experience in this field.
HIERARCY
BRANCH STRUCTURE

All over Pakistan 6 branches of Lever Brothers Pakistan Limited are working. Its head office is
located in Karachi at Avari Towers. The chairman and management committee as well as the
most of the department heads have their offices there.

STRUCTURAL ANALYSIS

Lever Brothers Pakistan Limited has a functional structure i.e. its based on the primary tasks that
have to be carried out such as production, accounting, finance, marketing, etc. and then there is
separate department for each function and these functions are carried out by directors and they
are assisted by managers of that very particular function like marketing manager and those
managers have divided each product category into home and fabric care category, spread and
cooking category, etc. And these categories are headed by one product manager and assistant
manager.

We cannot say that the structure of Lever Brothers Pakistan Limited is an ideal or exact
functional structure as in functional structure CEO is in direct supervision of each primary
activity but Lever Brothers Pakistan Limited have also included layers of vice chairman and very
important management committee as described earlier. This structure maximizes the basic
advantage of functional structure that the CEO is in charge and well informed about each
primary activity and minimizes the basic disadvantage of functional structure that an
organization become larger or more diverse, then CEO, senior management can be over
burdened with everyday operational issues, which is true in the case of Lever Brothers Pakistan
Limited and to offset this disadvantage they have created additional layer of management
committee which is responsible of coordination between CEO and chairman, vice chairman, and
the functional directors to take a strategic perspective on problems. So, Lever Brothers Pakistan
Limited has an ideal structure to oversee the whole organization and to control the operations of
the organization which in turn create problems as of very slow decision making process and very
centralized too.

To continue with structure analysis discussion, now let’s turn our discussion to five basic forces,
which determines an organization’s structure i.e.

1.            Threat of new entrants


2.            Threat of substitutes
3.            Buyer power
4.            Supplier power
5.            Competitive rivalry.

THREAT OF NEW ENTRANTS

These potential threats always exist in every organization. But an organization like Lever
Brothers Pakistan Limited this threat is very minimum because you need a giant to compete with
another giant like Lever Brothers Pakistan Limited and in a relatively small market like Pakistan,
they are enjoying the highest market shares in most of their product categories like ghee, oil,
soaps, spread, fabric care, etc. so, they face no threat of any new entrant.

THREAT OF SUBSTITUTES

Same as in the case of new entrant no as such threat they are facing.

BUYER POWER

To determine buyer power one condition is always necessary i.e. the buyers are few so they exert
power over an organization. But this condition is not present in case of Lever Brothers Pakistan
Limited, they have very diversified product categories and within each category they have brands
targeted at almost each and every segment of the market so they don’t face the buyers power as
such but still “customer is king” and they do have to pay a lot of attention to buyers being a
consumer product company.

SUPPLIER POWER

Suppliers don’t exert any power over Lever Brothers Pakistan Limited rather Lever Brothers
Pakistan Limited provides buyer’s power in this case, no body would like to loose a buyer like
Lever Brothers Pakistan Limited so, they don’t face any significant supplier power.

COMPETITIVE RIVALRY

Competition is intense but not cut throat competition and all of them avoid frontal assault or
direct attack. So, situation of healthy competition exist. Competitive rivalry would be discussed
more in detail in the section “competitor analysis”.

STRUCTURE TYPES IN MULTINATIONAL COMPANIES


The growth in the size and importance of multinational business warrants some special mention,
since the structural implications can be significant. In deciding the structure of multinational
critical aspect or factor or issue is the extent to which local independence and responsiveness
take precedence over global coordination. On the basis of these factors there are generally four
types of multinational structures, such as:

In all the four structures, Unilever has assumed the structure of transnational corporations in
which they have developed structure, which attempts to combine the local responsiveness of the
international subsidiary with the advantages available from coordination found in global product
companies. The key is that they wanted to create an integrated network of interdependent
resources and competencies, in which:

1.            Each national unit operates independently, but is a source of ideas and capabilities for the
whole corporation.
2.            The corporate center manages a global network by first establishing the role of each
subsidiary, then sustaining the culture and system to make the network operates
efficiently or in a way we can say that they have combined global and multi-domestic
strategy, staying independent and responsive towards local or national market and yet not
loosing touch or coordination with the worldwide network and parent company.

There are interesting differences between countries in the way that global strategy tend to
develop. Companies, which originated in many European countries such as Unilever or Nestle
needed to internationalize their activities at an early stage, owing to the small size of their home
markets. This took the firm of “international subsidiaries” but now their challenge is to reduce
the local autonomy and increase global coordination. But in contrast US companies with a large
domestic market tended to favor “international divisions” and now they face two challenges:

1.            The issue of local autonomy.


2.            Barriers between their separate strategic views of the domestic and international business.
3. Unilever has well coped with these challenges by adopting the transnational corporation
structure.

HR POLICIES ON EMPLOYEE BENEFITS


“It is vital we have people with the right talent, skills and creativity. To ensure our long-term
prosperity, we want everyone to be healthy, motivated and committed. As part of our Unilever
Sustainable Living Plan (launched in November 2010), we have set ourselves bold new targets
for creating a better workplace: Reduce workplace injuries and accidents; improve employee
health and nutrition; reduce employee travel; reduce energy consumption in our offices; reduce
office waste; and, increase sustainable sourcing of office materials.”

Our approach
We are developing the people and building the structures to help us advance towards our new
vision.

WINNING WITH PEOPLE

We believe in providing an environment where individuals can achieve their goals, both
professionally and personally. In order to attract and retain the best people, we recognise the
need to offer those ways to take advantage of opportunities, room to succeed and grow, and
more directions in which to pursue their careers.

Our approach is founded in our values as set out in our Code of Business Principles. This
describes the way in which we seek to treat our people and also the high standards of behaviour
and integrity we expect of them.

A place to succeed
We are building a performance culture that rewards people who deliver. Inspiring our people
and motivating them to succeed will help us deliver our growth ambition.

People, integrity and values have always been central to Unilever and will continue to be so.
But within that context, we are determined to become faster, more focused and more
competitive. In 2009 we updated some of our performance management tools, for example
introducing a global performance and talent management system. See 'Developing and engaging
our people' for more.

Sustainability is now even more closely tied to our business strategy. Delivering this requires a
workforce that is aware of the wider impacts the business has on society and the environment.
We can do this most effectively if we harness people’s own passion for making a difference to
help the company achieve its sustainability goals.

Our transformation process


Started in 2005, our One Unilever transformation process was nearing completion at the end of
2009. Our aim was to simplify our business structure, speed up decision-making and improve
competitiveness.

We focused on three major areas: restructuring and simplifying our organization; developing
employee skills and capabilities; and embedding a performance-driven culture.

After creating One Unilever operating companies in each country around the world, we moved
swiftly to establish multi-country organizations (MCOs) in all our geographies, with a single
management team leading a cluster of countries. We now have a total of 24 MCOs. Our
operating companies are now much leaner and better equipped to focus on serving local
consumers and customers at competitive costs.

We have also been streamlining our business, and in 2010 we have created a new global
business unit integrating the services of IT, Human Resources, Finance, Information
Management and Workplace & Travel Services as a step towards creating an agile and cost-
competitive organization for the future. The new unit will continue to use a combination of in-
house and outsourced services to meet Unilever’s evolving needs.

Our Targets

 Reduce workplace injuries and accidents


 We aim for zero workplace injuries.
 By 2020 we will reduce the total recordable accident frequency rate in our factories and
offices by 50% versus 2008.

Improve employee health and nutrition.

 Our Lamplighter employee program aims to improve the nutrition, fitness and mental
resilience of employees. It has already been implemented in 30 countries, reaching
35,000 people.
 In 2011 we aim to extend the reach to a further eight countries. Our longer-term goal is
to extend the reach to all countries where we operate.
 Reduce employee travel. We are investing in advanced video conferencing
 Facilities to make communication easier while reducing travel for our employees. By
2011 this network will cover more than 30 countries.
 Reduce energy consumption in our offices. By 2020 we will halve the energy (kWh)
purchased per occupant for the offices in our top 21 countries versus 2010.Reduce office
waste
 At least 90% of our office waste in our top 21 countries will be reused, recycled or
recovered by 2015. We will send zero waste to landfill by 2017.
 By 2015 we will reduce paper consumption by 30% per head in our top 21 countries.
We will eliminate paper in our invoicing, goods receipt, purchase order processes,
financial reporting and employee expense processing by 2015, where legally allowable
and technically possible.
 Increase sustainable sourcing of office material. By 2013 we will source all paper-based
office materials from either certified sustainable forests or recycled sources.

Remuneration Policies
• Principles of Work Levels
• My Salary
• My Variable Pay
• Cash Award
• Values in Practice
• Share Options
• Variable Pay in Shares
 
Workplace Benefit
• Diversity
• Dress Code
• Hygiene
• Cafeteria
 
Entitlements
• On Transfer
• On Joining
• Products on Discount
• Meal Allowance
• Shift Allowance
• Mobile Phones/Landlines
• Loans
• Group Insurance
• Leave
• House Lease
• Clubs
• Long Service
Health
• Medical Policy
 
Travel and Transport
• Domestic Travel
• Travel by Road
• International Travel
• Travel & Insurance
• Transport
• Pick and Drop
 
Safety and Security
• Emergency Evacuation
• Travel by Road
• Fire Drill
• Bomb Threat
• Off-site Events
 
Leisure
• Beach Huts
• Sports
 
Self Development
• Education Assistance
 
Retirement
• On Separation or Retirement

HEAD COUNT
MANAGEMENT STYLE OBSERVED/INTERVIEWED AT UNILEVER

 DECISION MAKING
The fast-moving consumer goods giant is undergoing a cultural change in the way the
company approaches strategic decision making. Unilever has implemented the
process called Decision Making under Uncertainty. Unilever has applied Decision
Making under Uncertainty to hard-to-resolve questions in product development,
regulation, safety, and corporate acquisitions.

 PERFORMANCE APPRAISALS

Performance appraisals are done and accordingly rewards are designed for motivation
of workers such as cash awards value in practice, share options and variable pay in
shares.
“HLL wanted a Performance Appraisal and Competency Enhancement system for its
officers, based on the Performance Management Model followed at HLL. The
problem was that there were no records of the details of officers in a consolidated
form. We were also given a ridiculously short deadline of 3 months to develop the
whole software and absorb data into it.

We managed to develop & deploy the system in 2.5 months, and also setup India-
wide multi-location helpdesks to handle the high quanta of data. Helpdesks were
setup in the four main metros and Bangalore to handle regional data and provide
regional support, functionally as well as technically.

About 4000-5000 officers' data was absorbed for the previous 3 yrs; 2000, 2001 &
2002. And officers entered their data for 2003.This whole process was supported
without any hitches and the whole exercise completed in under a month”.

 RECRUTIMENT

“We believe that individuals should drive their own careers and that life at work
should be a continuous learning journey. Seizing the opportunity to make a difference
is more important than simply progressing up the ladder. People with this attitude and
approach will find Unilever challenging, inspiring and highly rewarding”
Unilever has this strategy of recruiting people at a rigorous path. But they hire highly
skilled and trained people so these people perform accordingly.

Recruitment is the process of gathering a pool of candidates for an organizational


vacancy. Selection is the process of short listing only the qualified candidates who are
fit for the job. In terms of recruitment and selection it is important to consider
carrying out a thorough job analysis to determine the level of skills/technical abilities,
competencies, flexibility of the employee required etc. And HR at Unilever follows
these criteria. Unilever policy of recruitment is very simple, if at any time there is a
vacancy, due to retirement, resignation, if employees opted for the golden hand shake
or the death of an employee, the management of the branch will inform the head
office about the vacancy. The head office will place an advertisement in all major
news paper with the all necessary information required to be furnished by
the applicant

 TRAINING AND DEVELOPMENT

EARNING IS AN INTEGRAL PART OF LIFE AT UNILEVER AND THERE ARE MANY WAYS IN
WHICH YOU CAN DEVELOP YOUR SKILLS, BOTH PROFESSIONAL & PERSONAL.

Training & Development involves improving the knowledge, skills and abilities of the
individuals. A continuous training is conducted inside the organization to improve the
performance of the employee. There are two types of trainings conducted at Unilever: •
In-house Training • External Training In-house training is customized training which is
only for Unilever employees. External training is carried out through trainers in training
institutes. Employees at Unilever are usually trained through Rameez Allahwalla (in
Karachi), Possibilities and Intec (two well-known training institutes). Before training
“Training Need Analysis” (TNA) is conducted by the manager of the department. And
after the training feedback from the employee is taken.
A lot of emphasis is placed on professional skills development which are technical skills
required for your job. This usually happens through classroom; trainer led learning,
operational visits to other countries and sites along with professional certification
courses.
General skills will also be developed with the aid of e-learning courses, virtual instructor
led programs and the traditional classroom style instructor led programs.

 BENEFITS FOR EMPLOYEES

A very effective way to retain an employee is to give him compensation and benefits. At
Unilever following benefits are given: • Medical Facility to employee and his/her parents
• Paid Vacations • Accommodation Facility to energetic employees

Executive Directors enjoy similar benefits to many other employees of the Unilever
Group. These include subsidized medical insurance, the use of company cars (or cash in
lieu) and assistance with relocation costs when moving from one country to another.
They also receive an allowance to cover small out-of-pocket expenses not covered by the
reimbursement of their business entertaining expenses.

 HUMAN RESOURCE PLANNING


Planning provides a guideline to accomplish an activity. At Unilever the HR team
plans everything so that the outcomes and results can be perceived before the plan is
actually implemented. This makes the planning more accurate and efficient; it also
saves time and money.
At Unilever profiles of all the employees containing data relating their payroll, leaves,
benefits etc is saved in a database known as HRIS. Unilever uses a locally procured
HRIS which is to be upgraded using Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP).

 ORGANIZATION STRUCTURE

In Unilever the hierarchy is very lean, in general the whole setup is centralized, all the
matters are to be reported to the head office and all the policies and targets are
approved at the higher level. But at the branch level the structure is decentralized.

Unilever had a decentralized IT infrastructure with multiple environments, including


enterprise resource planning (ERP) applications from companies such as SAP, MFG
Pro, BPCS, and Fourth Shift, as well as legacy systems. To reach its Path to Growth
goals, employees at Unilever needed fast, easy access to actionable information on
both a regional and global basis. To get to this point, the IT department launched the
Unilever Information Program (UIP) to develop an infrastructure to support the Path
to Growth strategy. One of the greatest priorities on the UIP agenda was to find a
quick data integration solution to allow user access to any number of data sources for
in-depth analysis.

Question from Manager


Q1) Is the HR strategy of Unilever aligned with its vision?

Q2) Is the HR of Unilever just being “nice to staff” and considered as a “back room function” in
Unilever?

Q3) Are the HR processes in Unilever is effectively managed? It is Adding value in the
performance employees? How the company is promoting it?

Q4) Do you think employees in Unilever know “what is expected out of them”?

Q5) Are the HR management design the job descriptions in such away that it’s focused on
“responsibilities” rather than “deliverables” resulting in the following questions:

 Objectives not achieved?


 Duplication of responsibilities?
 Delays in execution?
 Blame games?
 Confrontation between different functions?
 Over staffing?

Q6) Is your current appraisal system:

 Needs have well accepted in the organization?


 Reducing the communication gaps?
 Measuring the performance of each employee against targets?
 Assessing the training & development your employees?
 Distinguishing “high post” from “stock bowlers”?

Q7 Have you ever conducted a climate / opinion survey in your organization?

Q8 Is Unilever going through any change? Now or in future?

Q9 Are you aware of Impact of the change on organizations? and people?

Q10 Are you ready to manage people behaviors during transition?

Questions from employees


Q1 Do you able to answer the following of your questions?

 Where do you standing today in your organization?


 Where do you expect your self to be in the Unilever in future ?
 When will you thing you able reach there?
 What do you thing the HR policies of Unilever provide enough resources available to you
to be there?
 What Do you thing are the barrier in your path?
 Who are your competitors?
 Do you thing if you stay in this organization you will be happy and healthy?
 What do you think about the organization?

Q2 How they want to see the organization?

Q3 What is your commitment level towards the organization?

Q4 What do you thing HR policies and procedures exists in your organization?

Q5 What is your opinion about the HR-policies

 It followed in true spirit?


 Is it enhancing communication within the organization?
 Are these policies and procedures employee friendly?

COMPANY STRUCTURE
EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE

The Executive Committee is responsible for agreeing priorities and allocating resources, setting
overall corporate targets, agreeing and monitoring business group strategies and plans,
identifying and exploiting opportunities created by Unilever's scale and scope, managing external
relations at the corporate level and developing future leaders.

Leading the team are the chairmen of Unilever PLC and Unilever N.V., the parent companies.
Other members are the global division directors for Unilever Best foods and Home and Personal
Care; the Corporate Development Director; the Finance director and the Personnel director.

REGIONAL PRESIDENT

The regional presidents are responsible for delivering business results in their respective regions.
Regional presidents report to either the director of the Foods division or the director of the Home
and Personal Care division.

As members of either the Unilever Best foods or Home and Personal Care divisions, they play an
important role in shaping divisional strategy and ensuring that regional strategies and plans are
consistent with overall objectives.

ADVISORY DIRECTORS

The advisory directors are the principal external presence in Unilever's government. One of their
key roles is to assure that government provisions are adequate and reflect best practice. The
advisory directors comprise a majority of the members of certain key committees of the Boards.
They attend the key quarterly meetings, committee meetings, conferences of the directors and the
Executive Committee, as well as meetings with the Chairmen.

SENIOR CORPORATE OFFICERS

Unilever's senior corporate officers are responsible for ensuring that board meetings and board
committee meetings are supplied with the information they need. So, for example, the chief
auditor ensures that the audit committee has the necessary information, while the head of the
corporate relations department keeps the external affairs and corporate relations committee
informed.

 
The Working Environment & Accountability at unilever

With the world fast becoming a Global Village and the Internet Information Technology
Revolution, the issues of HUMAN RIGHTS and Working Condition are becoming significant
important with each passing day.

Unilever can pride itself in having one of the most congenial and professional working
environments of any company operating in Pakistan. Unilever is an equal opportunity employer
and there is no discrimination on the basis of sex, caste or creed. All hiring and promotion
decisions are taken on merit. All local laws are adhered to regarding different matters. Extreme
emphasis is placed on worker safety and health

Selection & Career ladder

Personnel Department makes arrangements for the recruitments of the employees. For this
purpose it collects information about the desired employee’s functions and then defines the job
requirements and job profile. The Personnel Department makes all the arrangements for the
report meant of new employee, It sees better such employee is available in the organization or
not. In case of no, it gives the advertisement in the newspapers. It also collects all the
applications of the applicants. It also makes arrangements for test. The Personnel Department
uses different tests for different applicants. After that it arranges the interviews for the succeeded
applicants. Usually the interviews are bland of different types of interviews. These interviews
include panel interview, structured questions etc. The background information about the
succeeded applicants is also gathered by the Personnel Department

Promotion Of Persons At UNILEVER

On the basis of experience and performance, they are promoted to higher managerial level; at
higher level I have seen various MBA, CA, ICMA and also people who have spend years at
Unilever. In order to provide incentives to employees at Unilever, cash rewards are also granted.
The head of the department, on job basis gives bonuses. The function of promotion of the
workers is also performed by ERD after consulting with the top management and analyzing the
past record of the workers

Job Assessment

At Unilever Pakistan Limited Performance Appraisal is prepared to check the performance of


workers. It is like ACR (annual confidential report) in the government sector.

The basic Objectives of job assessment are

· Check the overall performance of employees


· Whether the job assigned is fully done or not

· Integrity, honesty

· Loyalty

· Devotion and commitment of the part of employee to achieve organizational


objectives

Measures To Check Overall Performance

Higher manager to check the performance of employees adopts following measures,

· Standards are established first

· Measure the individual as well as collectively performance

· Compare actual performance with planned

· Taking corrective action

· Reviews of job are made.

· Superior management assesses accuracy of work.

On the basis of performance appraisal awards and rewards or punishments are given.

Accountability

Employees have to face inquiries or suspensions, if they are involved in activities which are not
according to the goal of Unilever Pakistan Limited. They are often terminated from their jobs, if
they are not performing well. They can be demoted from their ranks. In Unilever, promotion is
granted on performance basis so they are also accountable if they are performing poorly.

If the employees are not obedient to their superior or involved in unethical activities, they have
to face the circumstances. Severe punishment like demotion, firing and suspensions are given to
non-performing or low-performing employees.

Satisfaction Of Employee

Employees have a high morale. Top management is maintaining very cordial relationships with
union leaders. Actually employees feel a part in the organization and its achievements.

COMPENSATION AND ADMINITRATION


The Unilever Pakistan Limited conducts the wages survey in the market and of the major
competitors after every two years and compares the results with its own package and there is any
difference then adjustment is made. The desire of Unilever R.F. is that its employees must be
satisfied in every aspect because it has the opinion that satisfied employees are more productive
as compared to dissatisfied. The Unilever gives 30 different types of allowances to its
employees. Some of these are annual, some are semi-annual, and some are monthly while some
are once in the whole employment period.

HEALTH AND SAFETY

Unilever R.F. is much conscious about the health and safety. Proper equipments are available in
all areas of the production where sensitive machinery is in operation. Furthermore, the
organization has a well equipped Medical Center where MBBS doctors are available in order to
meet with emergency cases.

The Personnel Department provides all possible instruments to all workers and it has the desire
that every worker should use those instruments in order to avoid losses.

Following are the Instruments which are provided to the workers:

Long shoes

Helmets

Gloves

Fire Instruments

BENEFITS & SERVICE

Unilever R.F. also provides certain benefits and services to all its employees. A list of some
benefits and services is given below:

Attendance Allowance

Good attendance award

Death Compensation

Canteen allowance

Tea Expenses

Conveyance Allowance
Family medical allowance

Family medical care

House rent Allowance

Utilities allowance

Meal Allowance

Rehabilitation Allowance

Retirement

Jersey

Shoes

Tonga Allowance

Traveling Announce

Hajj

Marriage Assistance To minorities

The organization has a club for the employees of the organization. Indoor and outdoor facilities
are also available. The company also celebrates Annual Sports Day on which different games are
played and prizes are given to the succeeded players by the company.

Personal Development And Training

Junior-level courses are frequently held in-house for personal training. Various courses
organized in the past include the following,

1. Executive Development Course

This course was specially designed for middle management to enhance their principle-centered
leadership qualities so that they could meet the emerging challenges of the global world. Neuro-
linguistic programming was part of the course to help the employee in day-to-day activities to
improve proficiency and effectiveness in their attitude and work style.

 
 

2. Basic English Language Course

This course was for those staff that is not proficient in written and verbal English language. An
external instructor whose services were especially hired for this purpose conducted the course.

3. Basic Labor laws of Pakistan

Professionals from Labor Department organized this course. The main purpose was to give
acquaintances to the staff of their rights. Wage rates, vacations, working hours, child & bonded
labor etc, were the main topics covered.

4. In-Housing Training School

Unilever has also established an in-house Training School for unskilled labor so that they may be
trained. Unskilled manpower is hired from the market for training. And during this period they
are paid as per the prevailing wage rules.

HUMAN RESOURCES PLANNING

The most important function performed by the ERD is the Human Resource Planning. For a
smooth production there must be an effective Human Resource Planning. For This purpose it
makes long term and short term plans to make the labor available for production. Short term
Plans are made for those places where workers have gone on holidays or absent.

Under these plans it has two types of recruitment:

Badli

Temporary

For long term plans workers are recruited from the temporary workers who have become skilled
one.

MOTIVATION

The organization has the opinion that motivated workers are more productive than unmotivated
workers. To motivate its employees the organization uses both intrinsic and extrinsic approaches
for motivation its employees.

o Intrinsic Approach

o Extrinsic Approach

INTRINSIC APPROACH
Job rotation

XTRINSICE APPROACH

Training

Appreciation letters

Bonuses

Cash awards

Gifts

Shields

Clocks

Put the name of the workers on the notice board who perform an excellent performance. To
motivate the employees the organization has introduced a program name OFI (Opportunity for
Improvement).

COMPANY’S POLICIES

Unilever's update Code of Business Policies because we believe that their reputation for high
corporate standards is a key asset which they needs to be fresh and living throughout in their
business. The Code is published in full below.

Unilever has earned a reputation for conducting its business with integrity and with respect for
the interests of those our activities can affect. This reputation is an asset, just as real as their
people and brands.

Their first priority is to be a successful business and that means investing for growth and
balancing short-term and long-term interests. It also means caring about their employees

To succeed requires the highest standards of behavior from all employees. The general principles
contained in this Code set out their standards in Hr policies. More detailed guidance tailored to
the needs of different countries and companies will build on these principles as appropriate, but
will not include any standards less rigorous than those contained in this Code.
Organizational Chart Of
Fundamentals of Organization
We often begin to describe a firms Structure by looking at its Organization Chart.
Organizational Chart:-

The reporting structure and division of labor in an organization is called Organizational


Chart.
The above chart provides a picture of reporting structure (who reports to whom) and the various
activities that are carried out by different individuals.
Note that organizational chart give various kinds of information that are conveyed in a very
simple way:

1The boxes represent different work.

2 The titles in the boxes show the work perform by each unit.

3 Reporting and authority relation ship are indicated by solid lines showing super subordinate
connection

4. Levels of management are indicated by horizontal layers in the chart. All the persons or units
That are of the same ranks and report to same person are on one level.

5. The solid lines are called functional lines and they report to works manager and the doted lines
Are called operational lines and they report to their own head. This would be someone in an
organization.
There are two fundamental concepts around which organization is structured is differentiation
and Integration.

Differentiation

Differentiation is created through division of labor and job specialization. Division of labor
means that the work of the organization is subdivided into smaller task. Various individuals and
units through out the organization perform different tasks. e.g. Repair and maintenance
department further divided into sub department which are engineering store, area engineer
personal wash, area engineer personal product, engineering. Planning, projects. They all have
assigned different task under the repair and maintenance department. Specialization is a process
in which different individuals and units perform different tasks. E.g. The Buying department of
unilever has a specific task which purchasing inventory or raw material.

Integration:-

As Unilever differentiate their structures, managers must simultaneously consider the issues of
integration. All the specialized in Unilever cannot be performed completely independently.
Because the Unilever is a larger organization and it has different units, some degree of
communication and cooperation must exist among them. Integration and its related
concept,coordination, refer to the procedure that link the various part of Unilever to achieve the
Unilever overall mission. E.g. the finance department, buying department and marketing
department link together to achieve overall mission.

First we will discuss vertical differentiation within Unilever organizational structure. This
include issues pertaining to authority within an organization, the board of directors, the chief
executive officer and hierarchical levels, as well as issues pertaining to delegation and
decentralization
Vertical Structure:-
Vertical structure is also called Reporting structure which tells about the hierarchy of an
Organization an chain of command

Top level

Middle Level

Lower Level

Unilever Span of Control


A span of control is the number of people who report to one manager in a hierarchy. The more
people under the control of one manager - the wider the span of control. Less means a narrower
span of control.

Unilever has the Narrow span of control but now they are moving to wide span of control by
reducing their layers. It is tall organization that has many reporting level. In this the
communication is difficult for employees.

Centralize Decision Making

Unilever is a centralized organization because most of its decision makes by top level executives
but lower level can also gives their views.
Secondly we will discuss the horizontal Structure including issues of decartelization that create
functional, divisional, and matrix organization

Horizontal Structure
It is also called division of labor. As the task of Unilever become increasingly complex, the
organization in inevitably must be sub divided that is, departmentalized-into smaller unit’s
organization departments. One of the first places this can be scene is in the distinction between
line and staff departments. Line departments are those units that deal directly with the
organization primary good organization services, they make things, sell things, organization
provide customers service. In Unilever buying department, Quality assurance, Packaging & Raw
material, Business service department, Admin & security, Factory medical center, Estate First
aid center, Human resource department, Unilever estate, Area Eng. Personal product (Shampoo,
Lotions), Area Eng. Personal wash(Soap), PW finishing, PP finishing, PW soap finishing, and
service and Utilities department are the line department. Staff department means units that
support line department. e.g. Services engineer support the service & utilities department.
The Matrix Organization
A matrix organization is a hybrid form of organization in which functional and divisional form
Overlap. Unilever is matrix organization and composed of dual reporting relationship in which
some manager’s report to two superiors-a functional manager and a divisional manager.

A Matrix Organization is an organization structure that is matrix-shaped. It has 2 axes, rather


than a pyramid-shape. The vertical hierarchy is overlaid by some form of lateral authority,
influence, or communication and there are dual lines of authority, responsibility, and
accountability that violate the traditional "one-boss" or "Unity of Command" (Fayol) principle of
management.

You might also like