The Mobile Telecommunication Industry In Sri Lanka Management Essay

In the recent past there has been significant concern about employee motivation and organisational performance. The corporate world is facing rapid changes and becoming highly challenging with the daily increasing level of competition. And aspects of globalisation has a major part to play in this with increasing communications with global communities have created new business opportunities for existing businesses and more opportunities for multinational companies has also been created. In turn this has led the organisations to be highly challenging and competitive. With all this changes taking place organisations are compelled to enforce best business practices that certify efficiency and effectiveness. Companies have to manage all factors of production (men, machine, materials and money) wisely to retain and compete in the market. Among these four factors managing human resource is the biggest challenge, since in employee management it requires skilful handling of thoughts, emotions and feelings if highest productivity to be achieved. In order to face this challenge organisations adopt the most efficient human resources management strategies that will help in ensuring satisfaction and motivation of the employees thereby to increase productivity. Schiller (1996) is of the view that the job performance is actually the product of an individual’s motivation and ability.Also recent research Syptak, M.David, and Ulmer, (1996) has shown that the satisfied employees tend to be more productive, creative, and committed to their employers. It has also been identified that human resources is the most important resource that the organisation possesses and in the recent past so much of focus is paid to this very valuable and volatile resource. Due to this phenomenon studies and ways and means and great many ideas have been generated to ensure that this resource is not taken for granted, or left out.

Motivation

Organisations operate to achieve profits, and profits come from productivity and the maximum output for the input that is imparted. So the mission for improving performance in an organisation is one of the core visions of management. There are many factors involved in this, such as having the right equipments, people with the precise skills, abilities and knowledge, properly defined processes and right kind of organisational framework. With having all this in place it is very important that the people should be willing to work and give their all towards the organisation.. Employees need to be motivated by some means to commence the task which will contribute to the company to archive its objectives. Motivationis not only a word that derives from the word motive which means desires, drives, needs or wants of individuals, but also the buzz word of twenthieth century organisation culture and these various motives should be fulfilled to have a satisfied employee that will contribute and stay contributing as long as they are working in the organisation..

Motivation is an internal desire and force that drives to accomplish tasks and goals. In the ideal situation, we learn, develop skills, and grow as individuals as we move towards these goals. If a company is able to motivate its staff and help them feel important, respected and appriciated positive results will begin to unfold.

Motivation is highly essential in every working environment and it is different from person to person, since needs differ from each other companies required to use different strategies to satisfied these needs. Several motivation theories and studies have been discussed in this study to understand what might effect to increase motivation and how those practices translate to this study.

High motivation will significantly contribute to an exceptional performance. Effectiveness of an individual’s work depends on the ability to perform on a task and a pleasant working environment. Skills and ability can decide by employee’s performance of the given task. Lacking of skills can be managed appropriate trainings, on the job coaching or matching the skills with a different task or a role; equally working environment can be improved by providing better facilities and resources. However motivating employees are complex than we think since it changes individual to individual because their needs, aspirations and core values are different to one and another.

Motivation broadly can divide in to two intrinsic motivations, focused on factors that are inside a person and based on individual needs. Theses are discussed under some classical theories such as Herzberg two factor theory, Alderfer’s ERG theory, McClelland learned needs theory, and needs theory of Maslow. One primary issue with intrinsic motivation is to identifying the need and the effectiveness of the relevant factor since this can be identified only by observing the particular employee’s behaviour. Other motivation type is extrinsic motivation; extrinsically motivated individuals are motivated by external factors like rewards of a tangible nature as money and incentives.

Motivation produces a satisfied and productive employee who saves the time and effort. The motivated employee is more passionate about work and volunteers to do more work than what is expected always goes the extra mile to complete a task and more successful achievers than others. Those employees are good resources to a company and a model to be followed by other employees and add positive contribution for work within the company.

Highly motivated employees are true assets to any organization. They’re productive, energetic, eager to take on additional responsibilities, and pleasant to be with and work with. Furthermore, they spread their enthusiasm and work ethic to others (David, 2005)

Employee motivation is necessary in today’s corporate world for the success of the company therefore in the modern workplace high emphasis is given to human resources. Because motivated employee is productive, committed and in turn reduce turnover, increase performance.

Mobile industry in Sri Lanka

The telecommunication industry always been a state owned industry until 1989 when government decided to change the state monopoly to the privet sector. During this period, mobile telecommunication was introduces to Sri Lanka by Celltel, the first mobile operator in Sri Lanka,with a “Brick sized” pocket radio type mobile phone only used by the upper class society. Till then until today with the evolution of mobile telecommunication sector, market place became more competitivewith entrance of new mobile operators. Today there are five mobile operators namely Dialog, Airtel, Mobitel, Etisalat and Hutch.

The mobile telecom industry in Sri Lanka is one of the most dynamic sector’s of the country. Significantly contributing to economic growthby investments, employment, and innovation with introducing latest technology.

Sri Lanka mobile telecommunication industry is one of the rapidly changing and expanding industries; this is mainly due to the introduction of new technology and the increasing demand by the people. It is evident that penetration and the usage of mobile and communication facilities are increasing therefore as one of the fastest growing industry; telecommunication industry has a larger influence in other industries and accordingly in the country’s economy as a whole.

Technology wise Sri Lanka telecommunication industry has been in the forefront in the region being first to launch most of the technologies such as GSM, CDMA, Wimax, 3G, HSPA etc.. This enhancement of communication has lifted the lifestyle and quality of life in all segments of the population and made this island a smaller place due to connectivity and technology.

Dialog

Dialog Axiata PLC., a subsidiary of Axiata Group Berhad, is the largest telecommunication network provider in Sri Lanka. Dialog has spearheaded the mobile industry since the late 90’s, it also has expanded its business to satellite television (DTV), broadband and fixed telecommunication.

With align to its vision of “To be the undisputed leader in the provision of multi-sensory connectivity resulting always, in the empowerment and enrichment of Sri Lankan lives and enterprises” dialog has establish itself as the pioneer mobile operator in enhancing user experience through value added services (VAS) & introducing new technology such as being the 1st operator to introduce Short message service, WAP, GPRS, MMS (Wireless internet for phones), Mobile-commerce, mobile email, information on demand services well ahead of regional networks as VAS. Also Dialog was the first to launch commercial 3G operations HSPA+ and 4th generation LTE in South-Asia. ‘In-flight and ocean coverage’ which enables customers to safely use mobile on flight and in ocean, this yet another initiative of dialog to enrich customers communication experience.

Apart from mobile, Dialog has invested in DTV, the single largest digital service provider in Sri Lanka, Broadband internet and fixed telephony forerunner in fixed data and voice connectivity, Featuring pre-packaged high-speed internet solutions, although this was a hard market to breakthrough, Dialog managed to enter and maintain a steady base that formally belonged to SLT. Dialog Tele-Infrastructure, Sri Lanka’s leading provider of telecommunications infrastructure providing state-of-the-art transmission for licensed operators makes Dialog the country’s pioneer in information & communication technology industry.

22 service centres, 90+ service points (Franchise), 2000+ retailer points, country’s largest customer contact centre and 1600+ 2G & 600+ 3G base station are build to deliver quality service to its 7 million+ customers.

Dialog employs about 2544 people, and 9% of it in senior management grade and rest as 36% middle management, 28% executives and 27% non-executives.(Dialog sustainability report 2011)

Dialog certified for ISO 26000s

Research problem

The mobile telecommunication industry has come to its maturity stage. In year 2008 Dialog was having the market share of 53% (Fitch ratings) and rest of the operators shared the rest Dialog spearheaded the industry with no competition. After the privatisation the market became competitive and initially operators expanded their coverage in all parts of the country and increased their customer base. Dialog being the 1st to launch GSM technology and with the biggest coverage they were the market leader with a market share of 53% and was earning robust profits and was able to maintain their own tariffs. Whereas other 3 operators, Mobitel, Etisalat (then Tigo) and Hutch were having medium profits and they were competing with each other.However as time passed the form of competition changed specially with the launch of India’s one of the biggest mobile operator Airtel in 2009 where they hit the market hard with subscribing 1 million customers in just six months and world 15th largest telecommunication giant Etisalat taking over Tigo made a huge impact to the mobile telecommunication sector.Now with five players in the market competition kept on rising. Dialog still being the market leader,market share has gone down to 38% (Fitch ratings), as the new entrants are pulling subscribers from other networks. In this marketcompeting has become more constricted since there are no obvious changes in the product and product is becoming standardised by the day. All most all the value added services provided are similar. Dialog known for its innovation and first in launching new services; however other operators adapt it quickly. Also every operator is expanding its coverage rapidly island wide dialog no longer will have the edge over coverage as well.This led to an aggressive price war and operators had to reduce tariffs to retain their market share which hit their bottom line massively. And the telecom regulatory commission(TRC) had to impose floor tariffs to end this price war. Today the Mobile has almost become a commodity product and price is not a competition tool anymore. Subscriber acquisition and retention of customers become a tough task.

In 2011 according to Fitch ratings, Sri Lanka Mobile industry was one of the most competitive markets in the Asia‐Pacific region, where there are five mobile operators competing to cater to a total population of 21 million. And the mobile users for year 2011 is 18.4 million (Central Bank of Sri Lanka) which is being shared within five operators from which 82% of the market share is with Dialog, Mobitel&Etisalat.

For sustainability of the operators they are required to retain their subscribers and also they need to attract customers from other operators and expand the business. Since there are no obvious changes in the product in this highly competitive and volatile market customer churn, in other words switching networks is really high. Because the industry has reached its maturity level mainly profits are not initiate by initial selling but from the long stay of the customer therefore in this situation it is important to gain customer loyalty, which is where customers have a deeply held commitment to re-buy and re-patronise products and services consistently in the future, against all odds and at all costs despite strong marketing efforts of competitors. (Oliver, 1997). Thus to retain its market share and to expand, mainly operators should try to reduce churn, increase customer loyalty and try to attract customers from other operators.

As discussed above in Sri Lanka Telecommunication industry operators must maintain agility and creative edge at all times. Also a high level of service should be provided to customers to retain and to create a brand loyalty in turn increase the profitability of the company.

To create a satisfied Customer there should be a satisfied and a productive employee to serve that customer, as per a study done by Sears Roebuck & Co. showed that a five-point improvement in employee attitudes led to a 1.3 rise in customer satisfaction which, in turn, generated a 0.5 increase in revenues. Also Wiley & Brook (2000) reviewed the “relationship between financial success and customer and employee variable” and found that customer satisfaction and customer loyalty was accounted for by employee attitudes.  According to Entrepreneur.com, high levels of employee motivation and engagement are directly linked to a company’s customer service levels and satisfaction.

In mobile telecommunication industry to be in the business and to increase profits it is essential to retain its customers, reduce churn by increasing customer loyalty. To build that customer satisfaction and the brand loyalty which also helps to bring in new customer by word of mouth,company should have a solid relationship with the customer.

This is mainly depend on the sales, customer service and contact centre Staff as they are the first contact point of customers and how well the communication takes place. However support staff is also has a bigger part such as the speed of complaint resolution, activating a requested service or attending to a technical issue of the customer etc.. Therefore company equals the employees and everything is depend on the performance of the staff.

Employee satisfaction is high does not mean that the employees are productive as well. Employees need to have some sort of an internal motivation to perform better in their job. Because if the employee is demotivated, their focus get shifted to self-interest and they are no longer interested in satisfying the customer. Employee will stop going the extra mile to serve the customer better or solve a customer complaint faster to provide a better service.

Providing excellent service is a key factor to retain customers. If customers does not get a proper service they tend to leave the network since there is no vast difference in the product offered.  According to a new Consumer Reports’ survey, 65 percent are “tremendously annoyed” by rude salespeople and 64 percent of respondents said that they had left a store in the previous 12 months because of poor service, with customer satisfaction and the brand loyalty will also helps to bring in new customer by word of mouth.

Rational of the Study

In mobile telecommunication industry if a company desires to sustain with the highest market share, satisfying the customer is important. Happy employee equals happy customer. If the organization does not create superior value for its employees, it is very difficult for the employees to produce superior value for customers (W. Earl Sasser 2003).

Therefore keeping employees motivated is vital to maintain a productive and a successful business. Employers must find ways to motivate employees and make them work up to their full potential. To do this effectively employers should identify and understand the factors that motivate each individual within the context of their respective job roles.

Due to the important nature of the subject matter and the implecations of motivation correctly implemented and understood, this study becomes an important one as a desirable working conditions and motivated individuals can make the industry more successful and the economy better and fruitful.

In this study it is expected that result of this study, would simply be supportive to identify the most important factors that motivates employees to perform effectively and efficiently in their job role in mobile telecommunication sector.

Purpose of the Study

As there tend to be much empirical and theoretical evidence regarding motivated employees performs better, and that motivation is key in a successful organsitionand industry. This study attempts to investigate the key factors that motivates employee to perform better in Dialog Axiata PLC, the leading telecommunication company in Sri Lanka. Also the issues and problems that the management is facing as well as other implications will also be examined and researched as a part of this study.

Objectives of the Study

To determine the relationship between factors of motivation and Performance, in the workplace.

To determine the relationship between motivation factorsand Motivation in the workplace.

To determine the relationship between motivation and performance of the employees.

To identify the critical motivation factors should be used by the employers to motivate employees

Hypotheses

To prove or disapprove above mentioned objectives below hypotheses will be tested.

Hypothesis 1:

Null hypothesis – selectedmotivation factors does not motivate employees.

Alternate hypothesis – selectedmotivation factors motivates employees.

Hypothesis 2:

Null hypothesis – selectedmotivation factors does not increase Performance.

Alternate hypothesis – selectedmotivation factors increases Performance

Hypothesis 3:

Null hypothesis – Motivation does not increase Performance.

Alternate hypothesis – Motivation increases Performance

Limitation of the study

This study has limitation due to the time restriction and practical difficulties of collecting data and analysing the data. When collecting data the survey questionnaire is close ended questionnaire hence this will limit the respondents’ choices that actually reflect their real feelings. 

Therefore it was difficult to get the qualitative aspects of employee behaviour as it cannot be measured effectively by a close ended survey questionnaire. So to overcome that I have included questions that are capable to classify more meaningful and empirical expressions of the concepts of

motivation.

Also there would be incidents where employees will be reluctant to answer or to give the correct answer.

Another limitation would be that this questionnaire is answered only by frontline and sales staff of Dialog. Therefore more research is needed to identify supporting staff motivational issues.

Structure of the study

The study compromise of 5 chapters and each chapter will provide an insight to understand the research study as whole.

Chapter 1 Introduction – delivers a brief overview of the background of the research area, research problem, rational, purpose and aim of the study with concept to highlight the research problem. Furthermore the objectives and the hypotheses formed to archive those objectives.

Chapter 2 Literature Review – addresses the relevant literature relate to the study in order to get an awareness of the research problem by evaluating theories related to motivation and the studies and by other researchers. Thereby construct the conceptual framework which will help to develop the questionnaire and the discussion of the study.

Chapter 3 Research Methodology – provides an overview of the methodology used for the chosen topic in order to carry out the research. The areas addressed under this chapter are the research design, questionnaire design, the population and the sample size of the study and data collection and analysis methods.

Chapter 4 Finding and analysis – focus on the analyzing collected data via questionnaire using statistical tools to get more specific results relevant to the study. Thus presented in the form of tables or graphs with a clear explanation.

Chapter 5 Discussion – this chapter highlights the results of the analysis in more detailed manner referring to theories and studied from past literature, comparing with the conceptual framework. Also the outcomes related to objectives are addressed with the reason and explanation.

Chapter 6 Conclusion and recommendation -provides the overall conclusion and summaries all the findings to bring out the main findings of the study. This provides answers to all raised questions by meeting the objective. And also state the recommendations for anticipated future implications.