Introduction to Human Resource management

Report: Term Project

National Highway Authority

Submitted to: Mr. Abdullah Z Sheikh

Submitted by:
Shabana Shabnam
Farhan Zaidi
Ahtasham Ahmed Shah
Sumble Khlid
Ehtisham-Ur-Rahman
Hassan Arshad

Muhammad Ali Jinnah University, Islamabad.

INTRODUCTION

NHA AT A GLANCE
NHA is part of the Ministry of Communications, Government of Pakistan and is
headquartered in Islamabad, with field offices located across the country. Our web site is
designed to make it easy for you to find the information you seek about NHA.
This web site provides access to information pertaining to our organization, our goals and
objectives, the various activities undertaken, statistics as well as governing laws, rules
and agreements applied in carrying out our activities.

BACKGROUND
The Government of Pakistan (GoP) decided to federalize seventeen important interprovincial roads in 1978 and created the National Highway Board for development and
maintenance of these federalized roads named as National Highways. Total length of
the federalized roads now stands at 8780 KMs.
The National Highway Authority (NHA) was created, in 1991, through an Act of the
Parliament, for planning, development, operation, repair and maintenance of National
Highways and Strategic Roads specially entrusted to NHA by the Federal Government or
by a Provincial Government or other authority concerned.
The Government of Pakistan, in 1978, decided to federalize important inter-provincial
roads. The erstwhile National Highway Board (NHB) was created for the development
and maintenance of the federalized roads, which were named as "National Highways".
The NHB was replaced by the National Highway Authority (NHA), created through an
Act of the Parliament, in 1991. All the National Highways/Strategic Roads are now the
responsibility of the NHA.
NHA is responsible for the development, operation and maintenance of National
Highways. It was established to plan, promote, organize and implement programmes for
construction, development, operation, repair and maintenance of National Highways and
Strategic Roads. The total length of roads under NHA (8,780 KMs), account for 3 % of
the entire road network and 75 % of the commercial road traffic in the country.

NHA is custodian of the Highway assets of Pakistans road network. It is committed to

provide a safe, modern and efficient transportation system. As the cornerstone of
tomorrows Highway network, NHA functions as the backbone of Pakistans
transportation system. It plays an important role in the development of micro and macro
economy. It also enhances the national integration by increasing the social and economic
dependence between the Provinces.

HEAD OFFICE AND OTHER ACCOMMODATION

A number of buildings/plots spread all over Pakistan, mostly at the sites of major projects
are owned by NHA. Some of these buildings have been placed at the disposal of National
Highways and Motorway Police for establishment of their camps and offices on
Highways/Motorway now being patrolled by them.
The Authoritys Head Office at Islamabad is located in NHAs own building. In order to
accommodate all the staff at the Head Office, three buildings have also been hired in
Islamabad. NHAs own building for the Regional Office Punjab is nearing completion in
Lahore.
The Authority also owns a plot adjacent to the Head Office building and plans to
construct another building on it in the near future to overcome the office space problem.

PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE

HIGHWAYS IN PAKISTAN
From a historic perspective, the modern Highways in Pakistan were born during the
period 1950s - 1970s, came of age in the 1980s and entered its golden years in the
1990s - 2000s. Presented below is a concise comparison between the past history,
present status and future vision of NHA.

PAST
Majority of the roads in our present Highway infrastructure were built in the early
seventies and had the following deficiencies:

Narrow, single-lane, surface-treated roads.

Non-compliance with any standard design criterion or specifications.
Poor geometrics resulting in alarming numbers of accidents and fatalities.
High degree of traffic congestion due to bottlenecks.
Untimely maintenance.
Virtually non-existent drainage system.
Inappropriate road signing and signaling.

PRESENT
NHA, in 1991, inherited various roads from Highway Departments of all the four
Provincial Governments and began the task assigned to it throughout Pakistan with
limited resources/funding and a small complement.
To improve and increase the road network in Pakistan, NHA embarked upon an ambitious
highway development programme. Some of the major tasks undertook and completed by
NHA during the period 1991-2001 were as follows:

Dual-lane and four lane Carriageways with adequate roadway widths and
shoulders were constructed.

Geometric aspects of the existing roads were substantially improved to ensure

high speed, yet safe movement of traffic and sufficient distance of clear vision.
Strict adherence to international design standards and specifications resulted in
better and improved riding quality.

Tourism was promoted by inter-connecting far-flung areas of Pakistan especially

the scenic Northern areas, being a vital source of revenue generation for the
country.
Advanced technologies for traffic control were researched and developed for
Pakistans most heavily trafficked corridors.
Deficient bridges and allied structures were repaired or replaced.
Concerted efforts were made and energies spent to alleviate congestion on
Highways by eliminating bottlenecks and black spots.
Adequate and economic drainage systems were provided.
Well-designed traffic-control devices were installed to convey drivers
information about a Highways proper use.
Damage to the Highway network reduced/prevented by conducting proper
inspection and timely maintenance.
Construction of Lahore-Islamabad Motorway (M-2) ushered in a new era in road
communication.
Grand Trunk Road (N-5), which carries 60% of national traffic and 80% of freight
traffic across the country has been developed / dualized. It presently serves as a
second economic corridor providing North-South link being the bloodline of the
nation.
Prior to creation of the NHA, only two major World Bank-assisted Highway
projects were undertaken:
o

KMs
- Construction of ACWs 355
- Rehabilitation of ECWs 443
- Total length of roads developed 798
- After creation of the NHA, following works have been carried out:
KMs
- Construction of ACWs 1700
- Rehabilitation of ECWs 746
- Construction of Indus Highway 636
- Construction of 6-lane Motorway (equivalent to 1000 KMs of 2-lane
Carriageways) 364
- Total length of roads developed(2-lane equivalent) 3446

FUNCTIONAL SETUP
MANAGEMENT

In accordance with the powers delegated by the NHAs Executive Board, the Authority is
geographically and functionally organized as follows:

NHA has it Head Office at Islamabad with the Chairman as its Chief Executive
Officer.
Presently, there are five different functional Wings, which look after the Finance,
Operation, Planning, Public Relations and Administration aspects of the
Authority.
The functional Wings are headed by Member Planning, Member Operations,
Member Finance, DG Public Relations and DG Administration.
While Members/DGs are functional heads within the organization, the General
Managers are the operational heads for each function entrusted to them.
A GM each is positioned at the four Provincial capitals viz Lahore, Karachi,
Peshawar and Quetta with a number of maintenance offices functioning under
each. All these Provincial GMs function under the Member (Operations).
The Member (Finance) is assisted by General Manager (Finance) and a Financial
Adviser.
The GM (Internal Audit) functions directly under the supervision of the
Chairman.
The Member (Operations) is assisted by the GM (Construction) besides the four
Regional GMs in handling the construction and maintenance work.
The Project Directors of some important projects function directly under the
Member (Operations) and some through the Regional GMs.
The Member (Planning) is assisted by GM (Planning), Senior Director (Contracts
and Specifications) and the Senior Director (Designs) besides a number of
Technical Specialists.
Member (Operations) is also assisted by a Director (Land Management & Infra
Structure) for handling land acquisition matters for Highways, Motorways,
Additional Carriageways, etc, and afforestation along these roads.
The DG (Public Relations) is assisted by a Director (Highway Safety) besides
PROs.
The DG (Administration) is assisted by a Director (Personnel) and Director
(Establishment). Lately GM (Assets Management) has also been placed under
him for compilation and evaluation of NHAs assets spread all over Pakistan.
The affairs of the NHC and the Executive Board are handled by the Member
(Planning) assisted by Deputy Secretary NHA.
The Legal and Computer Bureaus and the Deputy Secretary Section also serve
under the Member (Planning).

STRATEGIC PLANNING
FUNCTIONS

"Plan, Promote, Organize and Implement Programs for Construction, Development,

Operation, Repairs and Maintenance of National Highways/ Motorways and Strategic
Roads."

STRATEGY
Advise the Federal Government on matters relating to National Highways and
strategic roads;
2. Acquire any land in accordance with legal procedure and obtain and dispose of
moveable and immovable property or interests therein;
3. Plans and schemes: The Authority shall prepare a master plan for development,
construction, operation and maintenance of National Highways and roads in
Pakistan for the approval of the council.
4. The authority may frame a scheme or schemes for all or any of the following
matters namely :
1.

construction, expansion, operation and development of National Highways

and strategic roads;
research and development in the field of Highways;
training of the Authority's employees;
welfare of the Authority's employees; and other matter pertaining to the
purposes and functions of the Authority or incidental thereto.
incur expenditure on works specified in ( 3a ) above.
procure plant, machinery, instruments and materials required for its use;
enter into and perform all such contracts as it may consider necessary;
levy, collect or cause to be collected tolls on National Highways, strategic
roads and such other roads as may be entrusted to it and bridges thereon;
license facilities on roads under its control on such terms as it deems fit:
determine a building line between which and the ROW it shall not be lawful
without the consent of the Authority to construct or maintain any structure or
make any excavation;
cause studies, surveys, experiments and technical researches to be made or
contribute towards the cost of any such studies, surveys, experiments or
technical researches made by any other agency;
exercise power to award negotiated contracts for projects to be undertaken
through Private Sector Financing programmed;
seek and obtain advice and assistance for the preparation and execution of any
plan, programmed or project;
raise funds (local and foreign) through borrowing, floating of bonds, sharing
or leasing of assets or any other means, from time to time. Provided that a
foreign loan shall be negotiated in consultation with the relevant Ministry of
the Government of Pakistan.
Perform any other function supplemental, incidental or consequential to the
purposes and functions aforesaid.

HUMAN RESOURCE
NHA is indeed proud of its employees. With the passage of time this human resource
base is maturing into a great asset. These silent workers have definitely contributed
significantly in greatly improving the National Highways network in Pakistan and the
difference if compared with the facilities available a decade ago is clearly visible.
The NHAs Executive Board had approved, in its 51st meeting held on December 21,
1994, a total sanctioned strength of 1,642 for the Authority. Another 13 posts were,
subsequently, approved for the Audit Wing in August 1999 and 12 posts were created for
the A forestation Section in March 2000 besides 3 posts for misc administrative duties
bringing the total staff strength to 1670.
The posts included the original sanctioned strength of the defunct National Highway
Board comprising 252 personnel of different cadres. The GoP is allowing establishment
charges for these 252 posts only through budget grant of the Ministry of Communications
while the rest of the posts are paid out of project funds or maintenance grants.

RECRUITMENT
This is the process of seeking qualified candidates for the vacant position. So for this the
recruiting and selection technique is very effective.
One of the major functions of HR department is Recruitment. In NHA following methods
are used.

INTERNAL RECRUITMENT
In NHA internal recruitment is done by promoting their employees. However if there is
any new post they do not use this method.

EXTERNAL RECRUITMENT
In external recreating they use only one method that is only publish in new paper. They
are planning to use this method online also they have made subsequent changes in their
recruitment policies and they will be hiring the employees by taking their aptitude test.
There are 200 contract employees and 1242 are permanent employees out of total 600
hundred employees are in management.

SELECTION PROCESS
While selecting they use the tools of interview and tests. They conduct test for those
employees who need to be appointed for grade 17 and above. On the other hand for
employees below 17 grade only interviews are conducted.
The employees are considered eligible for job if they earn more than 60% marks.
Following four aspects are taken into consideration.

Professional knowledge
General knowledge
Pakistan knowledge
Islamic knowledge

All the four variable are equally considered.

INTERVIEW
Interview is taken by committee made especially for this purpose. This committee
includes almost every head of the department so that to reduce the chances of errors.
They emphasize on three aspects.
Personality attributes
Psychologically attribute
Behavioral attribute
NHA uses the structured type of interview while the selection process for the employees
under 17 grades.

RESUME SORTING

Resume is sorted according the required post normally based on the objective, education
or the skill set. They dont use the application form before conducting the interviews that
is mostly used in the organizations.
First when the application comes in the organization the applications are firstly recorded
in the register manually and then it is sorted out according to the basis mentioned above.
They normally call 3 candidates for one vacancy. The organization doesnt believe on the
reference check method.

EMPLOYEE ORIENTATION
Basically it is a government organization so there is no such practice such as employee
orientation. They just and just only tell them to sit on their chair and see what is
happening all around them and the employees learn the culture of the organization during
their tenure.

TRAINING
The organization uses joint training system, which means that when they feel the need of
the training then they call the employees from the different departments and train them
together.
Recently the director of the HR has conducted two training programs which spans for one
week. This training includes technical and managerial related work.

METHOD OF TRAINING
The following methods are used while training.

Lectures
Visitors
Documents
Videos
Trenchancies

NIPA (National institute of public administration)

The trainers from NIPA use to come and they train the employees of NHA.

TRAINING AND EVALUATION

As mentioned that the organization has conducted two training programs so, there is no
training evaluation done up to now.

TRAINING PROBLEMS
All these problems are faced by the NHA
Diverse Trainees Backgrounds
Trainees not buying into the need of training
Trainees not buying Objective 0f training

EQUAL EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITIES

Gender discrimination
In NHA 2% quota is for the ladies and for special persons the quota is also 2%.

WORKING WOMEN ISSUES

MATERNITY LEAVES:
1 month leave is given to the women.

PROMOTION ISSUES
Basically promotion is not given to the women because they feel that it hurt their self
esteem.

GRIEVANCE MANAGEMENT
Basically the grievance management case is firstly handled by the immediate supervisor
and in case of non satisfaction from the employees side then this case is then transferred

to the director of that department if even then the employee is not satisfied then the case
is then filed in the court.
Generally most cases are going in the court these days.

COMPENSATION PACKAGE
Every organization has compensation system that they provided to their employees to
boost the moral to the employee to get efficient work from their employees. Because it is
a government organization and the people over here in our community they dont like the
salary package offered.
Basically, there are two reward types:
Intrinsic Reward
Extrinsic Reward
Employees get and do their jobs while suffering a lot and they just need a job to feed their
children so when the jobs are offered it is enough for the employees that they get a 2 to 3
thousand salary package. So, the point of Intrinsic reward doesnt arise at all.
Extrinsic Reward includes financial and non financial rewards. Under financial reward
they give one month salary in bonus and to motivate the employees honorarium is given.

JOB EVALUATION
Basically in all of the government organizations the Ranking method is only used and the
basic salary scale is set according to their Grades. As the employees reach the maximum
level of their basic pay scale then they are promoted.

TURNOVER RATE
The employment opportunities in the country like Pakistan are not so much big so when
an employee is selected for a job then they dont want to loose it. So, there is 0 %
turnover rate in NHA.

EMPLOYEE BENEFITS

Every organization provides substantial benefits to their employees so as NHA which are:

LIFE INSURANCE
The employees of the organization get the benefit of life insurance as they enter.

LEAVE POLICY
20 days casual leaves per year.
48 days earned leaves per year.
No limit for sick leave and it depends on the prescription given by the doctor.

TRAVEL/FLIGHT BENEFITS
They are given the following benefits

Salary advance
Service Awards
Provident fund
Accommodation
Company maintained Car
Pick & Drop facility
Travel/Flight Benefits
Load facility for the construction of house.

PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT GOALS

Promotion
Termination/Downsizing
Developing Training Programs

PROMOTION
Under the head of promotion they rely on the ACR (Annual Confidential Report) which
is issued annually to decide weather the employee should be promoted or not. In addition,

they use a fitness promo form which is filled by the immediate supervisor to judge the
employees competency for promotion with the use of two variables YES or NO.

TERMINATION / DOWNSIZING
In compliance of a decision taken at the level of the Chief Executive of Pakistan, in
February 2001, regarding reduction of manpower/establishment expenditure, NHA is
now required to bring its total manpower down from 1870 to 1442. Consequently, the
present working strength of NHA has already been gradually brought down to less than
1442 through normal attrition and other measures. This gradual reduction in manpower
will continue till the basic benchmark figure is achieved.
As a result of the downsizing exercise, a major reshuffle was undertaken and a number of
important posts including Member (Highways), Secretary NHA and many posts of
GMs/Directors and other supporting staff were retrenched. The posts reduced include 7 of
BS-20 and above, 59 of BS-17 to 19 and 385 of BS-16 and below.
In the present working strength of NHA a number of employees are serving on contract
and some on deputation from the Federal or Provincial Governments or other
organizations.

DEVELOPING TRAINING PROGRAMS

NHA is presently thinking about the provision of training and development opportunities
for its work force for a positive contribution to the road building and maintenance effort.
The training is imparted in institutions of repute both in country and abroad. However,
this matter needs further attention and more concrete measures are being envisaged.

APPRAISAL METHOD
As discussed above they use Ranking method for the performance appraisal of the
employees.

PERFORMANCE APPRAISAL ISSUES

As we have studied about the central tendency error, in NHA as been told there are four
variables on which the employees performance is based and these three variables are
EXCELLENT, AVERAGE and POOR the real problems which the employees face
is that if their immediate supervisor rank them on an EXCELLENT or POOR then
they are aware of the situation but if their supervisor marks them as AVERAGE then
they are never aware of the situation going with them and this a real danger for them
because at the end they may get demoted.

OCCUPATIONAL SAFETY
The occupational safety includes the following which are applicable in the organization.

CLEANLINESS
The head office is highly standardized and the level of cleanliness is quite good.

FIRE EQUIPMENT
There are 2 fire extinguishers on each of the floor.

FOOD STANDARD
There is a cafeteria in the head office with subsidized rates and the standard of the food is
also very good. The employees can have one time lunch for Rs.8.

STRESS
LACK OF PARTICIPATION
The people in the organization are not much concerned with their jobs related work and
there is no one who keeps check on them. This causes problems within the employee
force. So, in this sort of situation when the other notice that the one is not working and
even then he is getting equal pay then the participation factor in the organization is
effected.

CONFLICTS
When the problem of lack of participation occurs then there do arise conflicts because
every body thinks that he is the only one king of his area and if any one else interrupts
then they feel that it is a matter of their insult then conflicts also pop up.

LACK OF FEEDBACK

In government organizations there is always a problem with the feedback and proper
feedback is not given to the employees for what he has done so, boosting employees
morale become a big issue for them.

AMBIGUITY IN DUTIES EXPECTED TO BE ACHIEVED

The employees on any post dont know their duties and responsibilities so, they do make
mistakes again and again and hence what happens is that they give continuous loss to the
organization.

JOB BURNOUT
Most of the employees face this problem when they join the organization for the post of
manager then there are very less chances of their promotion because of the reason
mentioned above. So, the nature of their job doesnt change which results in to Job
Burnout situation.

SYMPTOMS OF STRESS
In our opinion we found all the symptoms of stress which basically are:
Physiological symptoms
Psychological symptoms
Behavioral symptoms
Because of those very reasons mentioned above in the employees have low productivity,
conflicts, lack of feedback etc the employees of the organization become the victim of
these symptoms.

STRESS MANAGEMENT PROGRAMS

Wellness Programs
Relaxation Techniques
Career Life Planning
No such programs are done in the organization.

EMPLOYEE RIGHTS

 Complaining about safety

Notice of Termination
Records confidentiality
Privacy
The employees of the organization are edict of being violated so they dont rise up for
their rights because of the very reason that they know that if they want to exist then they
have to suffer some of the matters.

RETIREMENT
At the time of retirement mostly exit interview is not taken because it is not the trend in
the organization and also because of the fact that the employees use to tell the secret
things which may be very beneficial for the organization however, some times farewell
parties are given and the dues clearance procedure is also done.

SUGGESTIONS
When the employees are at the age of about 40-50 they are fed off from all of the
things which they do through out their job. So, to avoid this situation the
organization should adopt the method of job rotation or hook them with new
projects.
If the promotion is done effectively and ethically then as a result they will be
motivated and they will work more effectively.
The exit interview should be conducted so that the organization should know its
weaknesses and awareness of the environment.
The HR manager should do some career counseling with the employees.
Instead of favoritism they should treat every employee equally and fairly for the
evaluation purpose.

 The system of performance based rewards should be established so that each and
every employees productivity could be improved.
The salary structure should be improved; it should be according to the economic
conditions of the country.
The cafeteria style benefits should be given to the employees so that they choose
the benefits according to their needs and wants.
The communication system should include the modern methods and techniques so
that the communication between the lower management and the upper
management could improve.
Orientation should be properly and formally given to each and every employee at
the first day of joining.
Black and white instruction should be given to the employees regarding the
responsibilities of the job.
The management should conduct strict training programs i.e., the attendance of
each and every employee should be mandatory so that they all take part in it.
The management should know that in what areas they are lacking and they should
give the training to overcome those.
Unions unite all the employees in the organization and there is no union in NHA
so, if the organization is unionized then the employees will be able to
communicate to the higher authorities for their rights.
Computerized system should be introduced so that all the data relating to the
employees should be kept in safe records and when ever it is required then it
could be retrieved easily.
Despite of tradition, the government organization should follow the criteria of
the right person on the right job and at the right place.
They should introduce different standards of training which should be given in the
start of the job to make the employee aware of the organizational environment.
It should be the part of HRM planning that the do job analysis.
For the job analysis all data collection method can be used depend on the nature
of job.

 Along with the job description, NHA should also gave special attention to the
making of job specification so that the rights and responsibilities of every can be
clearly defined.
In the context of safety and health program the employees should be trained and
should develop a mind set to work honestly and efficiently.
The employee should be given a feed back for his performance so that he can
improve or go an extra mile in his work.
The new policies or any change in the policy should be communicated to all the
employees so that there will be no ambiguity.
There should not be work overload on the employees otherwise stress conditions
will come into play.
The privacy issues should not be leaked out in any case because it is also one of
the main reasons of the conflicts.
The performance should be timely evaluated against the job description to check
whether the performance is according to job description or not.
For performance appraiser it is recommended that only trained appraisers should
be used.
HR conduct Surveys about employees feelings about the fairness of the Appraisal
process
NHA is recently newspaper as an external recruiting method; we recommend that
the organization also go for other options.

CONCLUSION
To, conclude we can say that NHA is working according to the old methods and
techniques hence; the new HR manager is trying to develop some skills in the employees
of the organizations by giving them training etc. The biggest challenge for any one is that
the government organizations have their own set of activities which they perform and
now to change them you should have to change the whole system which is quite difficult
but proper steps could be taken.