ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

All thanks to Allah Almighty, the benevolent and compassionate, who blessed us with the power and

capabilities with the help of which we are able to successfully complete our task. It is our pleasure to

also thank those people who made our report possible. We feel ourselves indebted and highly grateful

to honorable Sir Ahmer Rafi to enhance and polish our skills and knowledge under a qualitative

supervision. We are also thankful to the Floor Manager Mr. Abdul Jabbar and HR manager Mr Abdul

Jabbar Fida of Askari Bank Ltd. for his help and providing us necessary material which was required.

We are thankful for his encouraging response and guidance to make our report as a real learning

experience. We are grateful for all we have learnt from him.

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 OBJECTIVE

We, the students of BBA (Hons) 18B have analyzed the Training and Development

program of Askari Bank and how it has helped the bank to meet competitive challenges.

Training and development plays a key role in helping companies meet these challenges.

So do so company needs to train employees and there are certain factors which make the

organization to develop their employees. By doing this project we gain the knowledge

about what is happening outside in the corporate world and how they are giving training

facilities to its employees to gain a competitive advantage.

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 TABLE OF CONTENTS

Executive Summary…………………………………………………….. 4

Introduction of Organization…………………………………………… 6

Educational Opportunities……………………………………………… 9

Need Assessment……………………………………………………… 12

High Leverage Training…………………………………………………16

Strategy of the Organization…………………………………………… 21

Model of the Training Department…………………………………….. 25

Hierarchy of the Organization………………………………………….. 26

MTO’s training…………………………………………………………. 27

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 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Askari Bank recognizes its employees as the prime asset and the key contributors to the

performance of the Bank and places great emphasis on the attraction, development, motivation

and retention of its employees.

Human capital of the Bank is given the highest value in the aim to achieve our mission of being

the Bank of first choice. Accordingly, the Bank’s focus remains on employee development

coupled with improving the ambiance through regular reviews and refinements of processes and

work environment thereby ensuring its dynamism and robustness and keeping the spirit of its key

guiding principles and policies.

Therefore, employees’ professional development is one of the key elements of our human

resource strategy. To keep abreast with technological development and other advancement,

human capital enrichment through extensive in-house and external training is indispensable.

Training goals are determined in the light of well defined training needs assessment (TNA)

procedures as envisaged in the overall strategic plan of the Bank.

Training & development team of the Bank continue its pursuit for quality training to the Bank’s

staff in line with the approved training policy. During each year, various training programs are

conducted for Bank employees through in-house training academies at Rawalpindi, Lahore and

Karachi, and external training facilities both local and international. The bank remains

committed to provide ample opportunities for in-house and external trainings that will enable our

4
employees to improve their skills and professional competence.

These academies conduct workshops and operational skill development clinics in the disciplines

of domestic banking operations, IT, credit & finance, international trade, risk management,

service & attitude, management & communication, and on other diverse subjects including series

of Leadership and Team development programs for senior management of the Bank. These

courses are conducted by professionally skilled qualified faculty aided by industry experts.

5
 INTRODUCTION

VISION

To be the bank of first choice in the region.

MISSION

To be the leading private sector bank in Pakistan with an international

presence, delivering quality service through innovative technology and effective

human resource management in a modern and progressive organizational

culture of meritocracy, maintaining high ethical and professional standards,

while providing enhanced value to our stakeholders, and contributing to

society.

6
 SUMMARY ABOUT THE ASKARI BANK
An important player in Pakistan’s financial services industry, Askari Bank is now leading the

way to the most modern and dynamic banking in the country.

Incorporated in October 1991, Askari Bank commenced its operations in April 1992, and has

since expanded into a nationwide presence of 150 branches, including 14 dedicated Islamic

Banking branches connected online and supported by a shared network of over 2,670 online

ATMs covering all major cities in Pakistan supports the delivery channels for customer service.

Askari Bank also has an Offshore Banking Unit in Bahrain.

ASKARI BANK is the leading private sector bank in Pakistan, delivering quality service through

innovative technology.

In the success story of ASKARI BANK, one of the most important factors, apart from its

dynamic management and prudent approach, is the QUALITY of its SERVICES, which gives it

a great edge over its competitors. ASKARI BANK has always strived to facilitate its customers

by introducing various high quality hi-tech services for the first time in Pakistan.

Askari Bank is proud of it’s pioneering role in providing the most modern and technologically

advanced services to their customers. Knowing their customers and their needs is the key to their

business success. Their products and services are as diverse as their market segments.

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Technology has played a pivotal role in meeting customer

expectations, particularly with respect to the speed and quality of services.

Askari Bank has fully automated transaction-processing systems for back-office support. The

branch network is connected on-line real-time and customers have access to off-site as well as

on-site ATMs, all over Pakistan. This includes not just establishing and maintaining technology

infrastructure for providing operational support to all units of the Bank, but also encompasses

introducing latest state-of-the-art technology-driven products and service delivery systems, such

as ATM networking, Internet Banking, Mobile ATM, Credit Cards, Debit Card, Prepaid Card,

utility bills payment through ATMs & Internet which have brought about cost-effectiveness,

timesaving and safety.

It is also a matter of satisfaction that ASKARI BANK has been the first bank to introduce PTCL

and WAPDA utility bills payment electronically through ATM and Internet on an Online-Real-

Time Basis. For the first time in Pakistan, they have introduced Mobile ATMs to provide

banking facilities at the doorsteps of their customers. Askari bank’s mobile ATMs first in the

banking history of Pakistan, now four in number, continue to serve customer needs.

8
 HEIRARCHY OF ASKARI BANK

OG3 OG2 OG1

Officer grade 3 Officer grade 2 Officer grade 1

AM

Assistant manager

Manager

AVP

VP

SVP

EVP

SEVP

PRESIDENT

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Training refers to a planned effort by an organization, banks

and companies to facilitate employees learning of job related competencies. These competencies

include knowledge, skills or behaviors that are critical for successful job performance.

Askari Bank conducts the training program of the selected candidates, group of employees

which is conducted by the Training wing in alliance with Human Resource (HR) and other

related departments.

An organization should provide some educational opportunities to their employees, so that their

performance get improve and organization can get competitive advantage.

Askari bank is also providing its employees some educational opportunities. Some of them are

explained below…

1. Through training programs:

Askari bank is providing their employees with good training programs that are of many

types like:

 Mandatory training

This training is compulsory for all employees when they get hired, not a single employee

can skip this initial training, and this training is of 3 days that is must for newly selected or

hired employees.

 Planned training

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 As we can understand from its meaning of “planned”.

This is scheduled training which HR decide while taking major decisions that we have

given these trainings to our employees at this and this level. For example mandatory

training which is compulsion.

 Unplanned training

These are trainings which organization has to provide at the stage when any new

technology is adopted or any new product have to be launched. That is not in regular

schedule but due to need we will provide to our employees at any period of time.

 Pressure points

There are some pressure points due to which problems get occur in Askari bank and for

take over these problems bank conduct some training programs. Some reasons for these

pressure points are as follow:

 New products

 New jobs

 Customer requests

 New Technology

 Poor Performance of Employees

 Lack of Skills in Employees

 His Boss Identifies Him For Training

 Employee Himself Asks For Training

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  New Services

 Training programs created spontaneously by analyze competitors

Askari bank at some time conduct some training programs after analysis that what

competitors are following training programs, to take competitive advantage. Askari bank

is providing such training to their employees so that they can compete in market. They set

benchmark and try to build better training programs as compared to others. In Pakistan

Askari and Allied bank are on top in providing standard training programs.

2. Learning through self study:

Self study in Askari bank is allowed but bank didn’t do any favors to employees like if any

employee want to go on leaves for study , bank do not pay him for that leaves.

3. Learning through job rotation:

Askari bank is providing employees an opportunity to learn by rotating or altering their

current jobs. From one department to other they are rotated in this way employees can

build many capabilities regarding to other jobs as well and can do multitasking. Branch

managers are compulsory transferred from one branch to other.

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 NEED ASSESMENT

Every organization has its own training process. Askari Bank basically provide training by firstly

looking at the very basic step that is assessing the need for training.

Need assessment refers to the process of assessing the need that either the employees need

training or not and in which field and of what kind of training do they require and what their

main problems which can be resolved through training. Need assessment is the first step in the

instructional design process and if it not properly conducted the whole purpose of providing the

training may go wrong which means that results would come out to be null.

Need assessment methods:

At Askari bank two techniques are used for the purpose of doing a need assessment which are

 Observation; done by first line managers and peers.

 Interview; done by middle management and top management.

Who does need assessment?

Because the goal of need assessment is to determine whether a training need exists, who it exists

for, and what tasks need to be trained, it is important to include managers, trainers, and

employees in the training process. At Askari bank the need assessment starts at the very basic

level. Firstly and most basically the need assessment is done by the first line managers. They

13
observe their employees and look for if any job requirements are

lacking or missing or if there are any severe issues that the employees are facing regarding their

jobs or if there are any severe

issues that occur at the team level or organizational level. Also the peers make observations of

any problems that are occurring in work, they report about these problems to the managers. All

the issues are firstly tried to resolve at the very basic level.

If the problems are big and cannot be resolved at the grass root level, the first line managers then

report the issues to the middle managers. The middle manager then conducts an interview with

the employees regarding the problems or issues to get a clear and closer look at what the problem

really is. Most of the problems get resolved at this stage. However if the problem is still not

resolved then the issue is taken to the top management. The middle managers at Askari then

discuss the problems with the top management who according to the nature of the issue refer to

the Askari training academies. Then according to the suggestions from the Askari training

academies the top management takes the decisions for where and what sorts of trainings should

be provided and to whom should it be provided.

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 The Need Assessment Process

Organizational Analysis:

The Head Office supports the training program by providing finance and peer appreciation. An

Annual Budget is allotted to the Training Wing for conducting the training program.

Person Analysis:

The APR exactly identifies that who needs training, and is it really a training problem. APR is

evaluated by using the most effective tool, 360* Feedback and APR is checked by the reporting

officer and rechecked by senior reporting officer, so there is no doubt about the identification of

the training need of an employee.

Task Analysis:

The task and duties that require training are also specified in the APR. In the APR the Boss

might recommend the areas of training, or the employee himself may identify the tasks and

duties for which he needs training.

Ensuring Employee Readiness:

The relevant department of whose employee is requiring a training session ensures the particular

employee that he can learn the task or duty. Further they also ensure the employee / trainee that it

will be beneficial for him and for the organization both.

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Evaluation of Training Program:

The Training Wing in alliance with HR evaluates its training program as follows;

The most important way to evaluate the training program is by checking the link with the

objective and goals of the bank / high leverage training.

 By measuring the effects on organization.

 By Cost – Benefit Analysis / Budgeting.

 By checking the employee reaction.

Evaluation of Trainees:

At the completion of training session, the Training Wing evaluates each trainee in following

ways;

 By Pre-test – Post-test.

 By testing the employees during the session.

 Askari conducts quizzes and evaluates the written & oral assignments.

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High Leverage Training

High leverage training is linked to strategic business goals and objectives uses an instructional

design process to ensure that training is effective and compares to benchmarks the company’s,

bank’s or organization’s training programs against training program in other banks,

Organizations and companies.

Askari bank compares benchmarks with other banks (Allied Bank, Alfalah, UBL, and HBL) to

ensure that whether the training is effective and helps in attaining strategic business objectives

which help banks in gain a competitive advantage.

The high leverage training is done in two main areas

 Banking (General Banking, Credit Division, foreign Trade)

 Personality Development

As hiring is done in two categories (MTO and JO) so because of difference in ranking and

working methodology the training needs for both are varied. Among various training

methods classrooms and OJT (on job training) are very common in practice in Askari bank.

Other than training of new hires there are more than 50 Refresher Course for the

improvement and development of current employees.

Traditional Training

Traditional Training is a focus on an acquisition of knowledge, skills and abilities. Askari bank

also provides Traditional Training. In banks traditional training is training for newly inducted

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officers to cover all aspects of banking. In traditional training

approach, training is seen as a series of programs or events that employees attend. On-the job

training refers to new or inexperienced employees learning through observing peers or managers

performing the job and trying to imitate their behavior.After attending training program

employees are responsible for using for what they learned in training on the job.

Who needs Training?

The new hires always need training. There are two types of new hires.

I. Fresh Hires

Fresh employees are those who recently completed their studies and have no or little

experience of banking. Such employees need to attend a Formal Training session to get

aware banking technicalities. These fresh selected employees are categorized into two

separate parts according to their posts, hence the training methodology of both differs with

each other.

a) Management Training Officer (MTO)

MTO’s are hire only once in a year as they are selected for middle level executive posts, so

their training is quite complex as compared to JO’s

b) Junior Officer (JO)

Junior officers are hired according to the needs of different branches and departments. There

work is non-managerial and clerical in nature, so their training needs are not as complex as

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 MTO’s. After the selection JO’s have to attend the 2 weeks

Theoretical Training Session. They get training only in General banking and Personality

Development, not in Credit and Foreign Trade. No OJT is conducted for JO’s.

II. Experienced Hires

Experienced employees are those who have already worked in banks at executive posts. Such

employees do not need any formal training session they are informally trained in their

specific area.

III. Current Employees

Askari bank provides more than 50 Refresher Courses in different aspects of banking, so

their training needs of current employees are fulfilled.

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Who Controls Training Purchases?

Training academy, Human Resource, Senior Management, Trainees and Training Department

controls the training purchases.

Who Provides Training

In banks most training and development activities are provided by

 Trainers

 Managers

 In-house consultants and

 Employee experts

Who is in-charge of Training?

Training and development can be responsibility of Professionals in Human Resources, Human

Resource Development or Organizational Development. Askari Bank may also have entire

functions or departments called Human Resources (HR), human Resources Development (HRD)

and Organizational Development (OD) who provides training and development.

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Human resource Development (HRD) refers to the integrated

use of training and development, organizational development and career development to improve

group, individual and organizational (banks) effectiveness.

Training is not restricted to specific employees it is open to all the employees. Askari bank is

also trying to give training to all the employees to raise efficiency and standards of performance.

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 STRATEGY OF THE ORGANIZATION

Internal Growth

The main strategy which Askari Bank follows is the Market development and innovation.

They achieve this strategy by giving new and innovative ideas which distinguish them in the

market and these factors help them to grow successfully. They give the training and develop a

culture of team building so that they work together to build a strong culture.

Training according to their strategy

Askari Bank basically provides trainings on different issues for betterment of its employees. Like

they give

Cultural Training

They give training to their employees to make their employees well about their culture and how

should the employees have to behave in the organization and they do so, so that everyone can be

aware about the culture and everyone follow the same culture. How they should behave with the

customers so to promote their culture.

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Development of organizational culture that values

creative thinking and analysis

They basically give freedom to their employees to give their ideas and allow them to speak for

different issues so that innovative ideas can be brought and organization can bring creativity.

Technical competence in job

Employees are given technical training so that they can well manage all the technical issues and

can deal the problem in time.

Manager training in feedback and communication

Managers are provided training to improve their skills for giving feedback in time so that issues

can be resolved and there could be no delay and training to improve their communication skills is

also given so that they can better interact with the people.

Conflict negotiation skills

Employees and managers are also given training for the management of conflicts so that they can

better tackle the problems.

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Types of Training

Askari Bank give training to their employees according to their position that to which employee

they are going to give training and the pattern and time of training is then decided. Askari bank

gives following kind of trainings to their employees.

1- Employee Orientation

When new employees are hired, Askari Bank design orientation programme of 1 day. In

which they tell their employees about the organization and its mission and vision.

2- Leadership Training

This training is basically given to the senior employees because they are leading their juniors

and have to guide them.

3- Product Knowledge Training

This training is given to the employees for the knowhow of the product so that they can have

full knowledge about each and every product or packages which will be helpful in dealing

with the customers and they can also better make their customers about the organization and

its unique offerings.

4- Safety Training

This training is basically linked how to save oneself at the time of any mishap not proper

training in given but they are given the demonstration of how to react and do things.
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5- Problem Solving Training

This training is basically given to the senior employees or the leaders of the organization.

Like this type of training is very important for the manager so that he can better resolve all

the issues related to the employees and customers as well.

6- Team Building

This training is also given to the leaders of the organization so that they can boost the spirit

of team building and co-operation among employees so that their performance can be

enhanced which is useful for the company as well.

7- Soft Skills Training

In this training employees are being taught how to deal with the customers and answers and

resolve their queries softly without being rude or harsh to them.

8- Software Training

Bank gives software training to the employees previously there was a software named

UNIBANK that Askari bank was using but now they have implemented a new software

FLEXCUBE and they are giving training to the employees so that employees will perform

better.

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Model to Organize the Training Department

There are different models which organization follows

according to the structure of their organization. But when we talk about Askari Bank, it

basically follows.

Faculty Model

In faculty model experts of the related department provide training to their employees.

Director of training

Soft skill Equipment Leadership Product

Training Training Training Training

So the organization follows this model to train their employees. They basically have hired

experts outside the organization who basically train the employees from different

departments. Each department has its expert trainers to train the employees and it better

guide the employees and these experts are hired only for the training purpose and are not

from inside the organization.

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 Management Trainee Officer Training

MTO’s are hire only once in a year as they are selected for middle level executive posts, so their

training is quite complex as compared to other employees.

After the selection they have a Theoretical Training Session of 2-3 months followed by On the

Job Training (OJT). The theoretical training session is conducted by Training Centers, where

formal lectures and presentation techniques are adopted. Whereas OJT is conducted at the

relevant branch and department. MTO’s get the training in all the areas of banking i.e.

 General Banking

 Credit

 Foreign Trade

General Banking:

Giving training to the employees about the general banking includes how to handle accounts

opening and closing, how to deal with the customers, cash handling, knowledge about the cheque

books, remittances and clearing.

Foreign Trade:

Training on foreign trade includes how the foreign currency related transactions are done

through the bank. And how it is facilitated.

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Credit:

Credit knowledge includes the training on the loan procedures its basis and factors which are

involved in lending a loan.

It’s a one year training which have 3 modules as named above. There is a one month class

training which are held three times in a year and there is also 3 months On the Job Training at

different branches as allotted to the MTO’s. During this training they are given different

assignments, presentations, and there is also a Mid and Final exam. During training sessions

Role Plays are also given to employees, which help them to develop themselves. And in the end

of this training a comprehensive Viva is also arranged to see that whether the MTO has the

sufficient knowledge of what has been taught throughout this training. Poor performance in

Viva will delay the promotion of that employee up to 6 months or it can be one year.

Personality and Employee Development:

Development of employees in Askari is done under following approaches;

 A On Job Degrees and Certifications

 At Askari every employee is given an opportunity to do extra degrees and certifications

in his field or where he / she have lacking skills.

E.g. MBA- Executive and others.

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Askari has also more than 50 refresher courses in different area

of banking and management. Employees are fully supported at Askari to take these courses and

degrees.

Sabbaticals for Training:

For refresher courses, which are usually not longer than 7 to 10 days, sabbaticals are given to the

employees. This motivates the employees to take these courses whenever an opportunity is there.

Courses are normally conducted at Five Star Hotels, which is a motivating factor for trainees.

Reward System

Askari bank has a reward system for the trainees who perform better during the training session,

which are in shape of;

 Appreciation Letters.

 Shields. Etc.

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 CONCLUSION

The well planned and well designed training program of Askari bank is its strength. All

employees at Askari bank are given the opportunity to get themselves proper training in their

desired areas, Employees do an informal counseling with their supervisors for improvement in

their work and also in career development.

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