Chapter 4:Human Resource Planning in a Changing Environment: HRM in Practice 4.2: Unitel (Nankervis et al 2014)
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HRM in Practice 4.2: Unitel Pages 140 to 141
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Unitel is one of the largest telecommunications companies in the Asia Pacific region. Like most large telcos it was formerly government-owned, but was privatised in the early 1990s. Since privatisation, however, Unitel has faced increased competition from foreign and local competitors. Unitel remains profitable, but the telecommunications industry has seen considerable innovation in terms of both products and services in recent years, and senior management are concerned that the culture needs to be improved at Unitel if the telco is going to continue to grow its presence and maintain its profitability in a continually developing and changing market.
Last year, Unitel senior management unveiled a new corporate strategy to guide Unitel into the next decade. Called ‘Vision 2020’, it is an ambitious programme that aims ‘to place customers in a pivotal position’ and to seek ‘excellence in products, customer service, product delivery and corporate image’. Developed by an external management consulting firm, Vision 2020 aims to reposition Unitel as the ‘best enterprise in the region’ by developing ‘action teams’ and ‘change teams’ whose role is to encourage ‘possibility thinking’ and ‘customer comes first values’ in the large industry incumbent.
Vision 2020 has been enthusiastically embraced by many senior managers at Unitel. ‘It is bringing field staff and high-level management together for the first time’, remarked one plant coordinator. ‘Problems are heard, solutions sought and, once found, their implementation is pursued.’ ‘Unitel has a lot of internal