Unilever Bangladesh Free Essay Example

A rapid moving consumer goods’ company out of many is Unilever which engages in the manufacture and distribution of home care products, personal care products, and foods. It offers household care, fabric cleaning, skin cleansing, skin care, oral care, hair care, and personal grooming products, as well as tea based beverages. The company was formerly known as Lever Brothers Bangladesh Ltd. and changed its name in December 2004. Unilever Bangladesh Limited was founded in 1964 and is based in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Unilever Bangladesh Limited is a subsidiary of The Unilever Group.

I.1 Unilever Today

Brands of Unilever are trusted everywhere and, by listening to the people who buy them, Unilever has grown into one of the world’s most successful consumer goods companies. In fact, 150 million times a day, someone somewhere chooses a Unilever product.

Look in your kitchen, or on the bathroom shelf, and you’re bound to see one of our well-known brands. Unilever creates market and distribute the products that people choose to feed their families and keep themselves and their homes clean and fresh.

People’s lives are changing fast. As the way Unilever all live and work evolves, our needs and tastes change too. Unilever aims to help people in their daily lives. So, Unilever keep developing new products, improving tried and tested brands and promoting better, more efficient ways of working.

Unilever has a portfolio of brands that are popular across the globe – as well as regional products and local varieties of famous-name goods. This diversity comes from two of our key strengths: •Strong roots in local markets and first-hand knowledge of the local culture.

•World-class business expertise applied internationally to serve consumers everywhere. Focusing on performance and productivity, Unilever encourage our people to develop new ideas and put fresh approaches into practice. Hand in hand with this is a strong sense of responsibility to the communities Unilever serve. Unilever doesn’t only measure success in financial terms; how Unilever achieves results is important too. Unilever works hard to conduct our business with integrity – respecting our employees, our consumers and the environment around us.

Mission of Unilever

In the last five years, Unilever has built its business by focusing on its brands, streamlining how Unilever works, and improving its insight into the evolving needs and tastes of consumers. Now Unilever is taking the next step in simplification – by aligning ourselves around a clear common mission.

Unilever recognizes that the world in which is being operated is changing. Consumers are increasingly bringing their views as citizens into their buying decisions, demanding more from the companies behind the brands. They want companies and brands they trust.

Unilever embraces these new expectations. Unilever’s heritage of good governance, product quality and long experience of working with communities gives a strong base to the consumers. Unilever aims to build on this by taking the next step in transparency and accountability. Unilever will stand visibly as Unilever, behind its products and everything Unilever does, everywhere.

Every day 150 million people in over 150 countries choose Unilever’s products. Already, most of its brands give the benefits of feeling good, looking good and getting more out of life. Sunsilk, for example, helps consumers feel happier because their hair looks great. In the future, Unilever brands will do even more to add vitality to life. Unilever’s vitality mission will focus its brands on meeting consumers needs arising from the biggest issues around the world today – ageing populations, urbanization, changing diets and lifestyles. Unilever see growing consumer need for:

•A healthy lifestyle
•More variety, quality, taste and enjoyment
•Time, as an increasingly precious commodity
•Helping people to feel good, look good and get more out of life will enable us to meet these needs and expand our business.

Unilever is in a unique position to understand the interrelationships between nutrition, hygiene and personal care. Unilever can do this thanks to its strong science capability and locally rooted consumers’ insight. It is by bringing all this together that Unilever can strive to contribute to quality of life and Unilever wellbeing – adding vitality to life.

I.2 Purpose & Principles of Unilever

Corporate purpose of Unilever states that to succeed requires “the highest standards of corporate behavior towards everyone Unilever work with, the communities Unilever touch, and the environment on which Unilever has an impact.”

Always working with integrity

Conducting operations with integrity and with respect for the many people, organizations and environments have always been at the heart of its corporate responsibility.

Positive impact

Unilever aims to make a positive impact in many ways: through our brands, our commercial operations and relationships, through voluntary contributions, and through the various other ways in which Unilever engage with society.

Continuous commitment

Unilever also committed to continuously improving the way Unilever manages its environmental impacts and are working towards our longer-term goal of developing a sustainable business.

Setting out our aspirations

Corporate purpose of Unilever sets out its aspirations in running our business. It’s underpinned by the code of business Principles which describes the operational standards that everyone at Unilever follows, wherever they are in the world. The code also supports its approach to governance and corporate responsibility.

Working with others

Unilever wants to work with suppliers who have values similar to Unilever’s and work to the same standards as Unilever does.

1.3 Performance Management of Unilever:

Performance and Development Planning (PDP) helps you make the most of your working life at Unilever. The process supports you in identifying and delivering against challenging goals that impact the organization. It helps you plan how you’ll develop skills and leadership behaviors for your current position and for the years ahead. It also gives you the opportunity to clarify expectations and discuss future opportunities.

Career Progression

Careful planning ensures you build a strong foundation in professional skills, gain experience across different operating environments and processes, and develop capability in your chosen area of expertise. Performing well will lead to opportunities to take on new and more challenging roles. That in turn will allow you to deepen and broaden your skills and experience.

Depth & breadth

Depth of experience is about developing professional skills through performing and practicing your role. We’ll encourage you to build this depth of skill early in your career to provide a solid basis for further progression. Breadth of experience is about increasing your knowledge and understanding of the business as a whole, so you can assess complex issues from different angles. Naturally, this becomes more important as seniority increases.

Wider experience

International experience is essential in many roles within a global organization – and assignments offer valuable development opportunities. You can also gain exposure through regional/global roles and project teams. In higher-level positions that have a wider geographic remit, cross-border, category and customer experience may be vital to help leverage our global scale.

1.4 Training & Development of Unilever:

On the job

You’ll learn much of what you need to know by working with knowledgeable colleagues and receiving regular coaching and feedback. Wherever you join, in whatever capacity, you’ll have a wide variety of experiences developing skills relevant to your job and giving you an overview of how our company works.

Professional skills

Specific programs ensure you build expertise in your chosen career. The courses often use e-learning that enables you learn at your own pace and take control of your development. In some areas you can study for professional qualifications and, as you progress, you’ll develop your leadership capabilities.

Continual update

Each function has its own Academy – a team that continually updates its professional learning curriculum. E-learning modules are then made available on a dedicated intranet portal. Here you’ll also find the very latest news, articles and thinking. Essentially, everything you need to keep in touch with the business.

Personal development

Passion, energy and creative thinking are traits that you’ll already have when you join. But equally important is the ability to understand who you are as an individual and what you want to achieve from your career. We offer a whole range of personal development opportunities which can be tailored to your specific goals.

Mentoring

There are many people on hand to help with your learning and development, in particular your mentor. They will encourage and support you, answer questions, help build your self-confidence and offer invaluable advice.

People of Unilever

In many respects, Unilever thinks of Unilever Bangladesh as a community, rather than an organization. This community is shaped and led by its people, who operate creatively within a framework of shared values and business goals.

Staying connected

Because people of Unilever are fundamental to the way Unilever does business, they’re at the centre of everything Unilever does. Their professional fulfillments, work and life balance, ability to contribute equally as part of a diverse workforce – these are all issues to which Unilever gives priority.

Growth

Unilever grows as a company by growing our people. This insight is behind all our efforts to keep our people fulfilled and committed. It’s also why Unilever stays connected with – and connect together – its employees around the world, conducting surveys and ‘pulse checks’ which then feed into the future direction of its business.

I I- Part2 Introduction of the Report:

I I.1 Rationale of the study:

Actually, we are going to prepare this proposal because of its necessity in building our career stronger. After preparing this report we have found out the performance management of Unilever and we have learnt how to find out performance management of any company. Basically, we are learning how to prepare a project of any company which will help us in our job life. And simultaneously, this report will conserve by the faculty member and we will let him know about how efficiently Unilever is managing its employees’ performance. Basically, it is one kind of research which provides some information regarding how efficiently Unilever is managing its employees’ performance.

Statement of the problem:

It has been proved that employee performance has great effect on organization’s overall performance. That is why, it is important to find out the problems that exists in the organization which accelerate bad performance of the employees and yield bad result for the company. Therefore, we must say that to identify problem is a key to success. From this study, we will find some answers of some specific questions. So the following questions will be answered:

•The criteria is followed to evaluate performance is appropriate for the employees.
•Do they have any career progression program?
•Are they providing training & development program?
•Do employees practice team work or not?
•Do the existing employees have the work life balance?
•Finally, how efficiently employees’ performance has been managed?

Scopes and Delimitation of the Study:

Our reports also have a specific target. We think that this report will help people know the way a company can manages the performance of its employees. this study will help organizations to build up a good management to control performance of the employees. If this study brings out a quality model then it is confirmed that most of the employees in the organization will be satisfied by knowing the ************ and as a result company’s goal will be achieved. The main limitation of this study is accessibility of the required data. By visiting Unilever head office I shall be able to collect some data but not all necessary data. Another problem is that the time bound. Because the deadline we have given to prepare this report is less than one month’s which main constraint in preparing the data is.

Objectives of the study:
Broad objective:
To measure the policy Unilever uses to manage the performance of the employees. Specific objective:
•To see whether they have any performance appraisal system or not
•Whether they encourage team work or not
•To observe whether they provide training and development
•To see whether the managers evaluate employees they have adequate training or not?
•To see whether employees get chance to give feedback since they are identified as
poor performer. •To see whether employees have been evaluated by their direct boss or some other officials.
•Do employees get information regarding aspects of evaluation at the beginning of the year
•Finally, to recommend how to improve performance management policy.

I I .2 Review of Related literature:

I I.2.1 what is performance management?

Performance management is the key element of activities. It actually, covers performance appraisal and some other issues. The performance management systems need to include-

–decisions about who should evaluate performance
–what format should be used
–how the results should be utilized

I I.2.2 Types of performance management:

A performance appraisal, or performance review, is a formal interaction between an employee and her manager. This is when the performance of the employee is assessed and discussed in thorough detail, with the manager communicating the weaknesses and strengths observed in the employee and also identifying opportunities for the employee to develop professionally. In most instances, a performance appraisal is completed quarterly or annually.

360-Degree Feedback:

A common performance appraisal method is the 360-degree feedback. In this scenario, whoever conducts the appraisal, such as a human resources manager, interviews an employee supervisor, peers and any direct reports. This technique allows an appraiser to gain a complete profile of the employee. In addition to gauging the worker job performance and technical skill set, an appraiser receives in-depth feedback on the employee behavior. Measuring areas of subjectivity, such as character and leadership skills, allows an employer to manage an employee development.

Management by Objectives:

Management by objectives (MBO) is another modern method of performance appraisal. This technique was first promoted in the 1950s by management theorist Peter Drucker. MBO requires a manager and employee to agree upon specific, obtainable objectives with a set deadline. For example, a sales manager may be required to increase his revenue by 25 percent within three months. Once this goal is set, the responsibility is on the sales manager to direct himself towards the objective. With this technique, success or failure is easily defined.

Ratings Scale:

An alternate type of performance appraisal is the ratings scale. This methodology requires an employer to develop an in-depth grading system, similar to the way students in school are assessed. This scale is then used to evaluate an employee success within a variety of areas, such as technical skill set, teamwork and communication skills. There is typically a minimum required grade an employee must receive in order for the performance appraisal to be considered a success. Those that do not make the grade are often put on a performance improvement plan. This method is viewed by some management theorists as an egalitarian way of measuring individual performance.

I I.2.3 Performance Appraisal Process:

II.2.4Effective Practice Guidelines for Performance Management:

Performance management systems, which typically include performance appraisal and employee development, are the “Achilles’ heel” of human resources management. They suffer flaws in many organizations, with employees and managers regularly bemoaning their ineffectiveness. A recent survey by Watson Wyatt showed that only three out of 10 workers agree that their company’s performance management system helps improve performance.

Less than 40 percent of employees said their systems established clear performance goals, generated honest feedback or used technology to streamline the process. While these results suggest that there may be poorly designed performance management systems in many organizations, it is typically not poorly developed tools and processes that cause difficulties with performance management. Rather, difficulties arise because, at its core, performance management is a highly personal and often threatening process for both managers and employees.

Possible Outcomes from Effective Performance Management:
•Clarifying job responsibilities and expectations.
•Enhancing individual and group productivity.
•Developing employee capabilities to their fullest extent through effective feedback and coaching.
•Driving behavior to align with the organization’s core values, goals and strategy.
•Providing a basis for making operational human capital decisions (e.g., pay).
•Improving communication between employees and managers.

Since 1993 the CIPD has been regularly reviewing and publishing work on performance management. As one of the key practices of HR it has featured heavily in the work on people and performance carried out in the late 1990s and early twenty-first century, when it was identified along with work design and training as a key practice in performance delivery.

The work suggested that performance management in its broadest sense would be carried out when the following activities were apparent: •Communication of a vision to all employees.
•Setting departmental and individual performance targets that are related to wider objectives.
•Conducting formal reviews of progress towards these targets.
•Using the review process to identify training, development and reward outcomes.
•Evaluating the whole process to improve effectiveness.
•Expressing performance targets in terms of measurable outputs, accountabilities and training/learning targets.
•Using formal appraisal procedures as ways of communicating performance requirements that are set on a regular basis.
•Linking performance requirements to pay, especially for senior managers.

I I.2.5 Typical Performance Management Process:

I I.2.6 Guidelines for Establishing Effective Performance Goals:

•Goals should be difficult, but achievable, to motivate performance.
•Goals should be set in no more than three areas—attempting to achieve too many different goals at once will impede success.
•Goals must clearly define the end results to be accomplished.
•To the extent possible, goals should have a direct and obvious link to organizational success factors or goals.

I I.3 Methodology of the study:
Primary Source:

The main data for this study will be collected directly from Unilever. By visiting the head office time and again we will be able to get some required data. In addition, I will collect some data through my friend who is working there for one year.

Secondary Source:
For doing this study I will need help from some secondary source like internet or books etc. So my secondary source will be:
i.Internet
ii.Relevant books
iii.Published reports and annual reports

I I.3 Analysis and Interpretation of the Data:

1. To what extent you believe that your performance has been evaluated properly in your Organization?

Interpretation: According to this graph, it is seen that most of the employees are satisfied the way they are evaluated. Meaning almost all the employees are pleased the way Unilever managing employees’ performance.

2. The criteria has been followed to evaluate your performance is known to you?

Interpretation: This graph is showing the response of employees who have been surveyed. Here we have found that out of all the respondents, maximum goes for higher level that means they know very well the criteria based on what they have been evaluated. There are few entry level employees who do not know how they have been evaluated. 3. What do you think the training you have been given is focused on the job or some general training they provide?

Interpretation: Here most of the employees go for the higher and highest level. This is indicating that the training they are having is focused on their jobs. Therefore, we can say that Unilever making their employees skilled for their job.

4. To what extent the training and development program is important for your career

Interpretation: In this regard, it is clearly evident that this company has a reward based performance management. Because out of all the respondents, more than 80% employees agreed upon the issue that Unilever reward its employees.

5. Is there any team work practice in your organization?

Interpretation: This graph is indicating that all the respondents agreed upon that they have team-work practice. Since none of them goes for any other options, I must say the team practice is very strong there.

6. To what extent you are allowed to give feedback for the poor performance you have had?

Interpretation: Here we have observed that most of the respondents mark the neutral option and some agreed and some disagreed. Therefore, we can say that employees are not happy regarding the opportunity to give feedback. This is not practiced there. But some senior officials agreed.

7. Have your performance been evaluated only by your direct boss?

Interpretation: It is clearly evident from the graph is that in Unilever performance evaluation of employees is done by their direct boss. Some higher official’s performance is done by the other department as well.

8. The persons evaluate your performance have been trained up for the evaluation program?

Interpretation: This graph is indicating that almost every respondent said that their bosses who actually, evaluate them are not trained up for the evaluation. These bosses evaluate them which sometimes raise biasness.

9. Which type of techniques has been followed for your evaluation?

Interpretation: This graph is indicating that most of the employees told that they have been evaluated through one way where as some of them told that others technique also been followed. Here we can say that this company is concerned using only the one way technique that is direct boss.

10. Have your performance appraisal been set mutually consulting with all the employees?

Interpretation: Actually, respondents were equally divided into different groups. Some of them told that management had a discussion with them to fix the performance appraisal and some of them told they don’t know even what are being set and how? Basically, some of senior officials said that they know what are the appraisals have been setting up for the performance standard. 11. Do you have the right to know the criteria to get promotion, salary increment at the beginning of the year?

Interpretation: From the graph, we can see that almost 35% of the employees voted for the higher level and 45% votes for the highest level that means they know the criteria based on what their promotion has been made, salary has been increased. 12. Based on what your performance standard been set in your organization?

Interpretation: This graph is showing that 60% employees have said that to meet strategic goal their performance standard has been set and 15% goes for job analysis and rest goes for the both strategic goal and job analysis. Therefore, we can say that the organization sets performance standard to reach strategic goal.

I I.4 Findings of Study:

1.Our first observation is that almost all the employees in the Unilever are happy the way their performance has been evaluated. 2.Except some entry level employees, rest of them know the criteria on which their performance been evaluated. 3.Unilever provide training to employees focused on the job and sometimes international training take place relating to some other issues. 4.It has been identified that all the employees provided reward for good performance in this organization. 5.Unilever has a practice of tem work. In this organization employees have been divided into different teams. 6.Employees are not given the opportunity to give feedback except some of managerial level employees.

7.It has been identified that performance has been evaluated by the direct Boss and Human Resource Head. 8.In Unilever the persons evaluate employees have not been trained up for this issues. Therefore, some biasness has been created. 9.Other important issues, we have discovered that evaluation takes place by one way appraisal. 10.Most of the employees do not get the opportunity to sit on the issue that set their performance standard. 11.Unilever let all the employees know the criteria to get promotion, increment at the beginning of the year. 12.Here, performance has been managed to meet strategic goal.

I I .5 Recommendations:

This organization need to follow the 360 performance appraisal. Because it will make the evaluation system unbiased and more accurate result will be found. All the employees should be allowed to give feedback for the poor performance not only the higher officials. The Bosses who evaluate their subordinates need some training regarding how to evaluate all though they are provided some other training.

Conclusions:

Basically, performance management is a very important tool for any organization. It indicates that how smooth an organization is being run. If any company can manage the performance of its employees in efficient and effective way, then that organization will do better. Whenever we talk about performance management, we basically talk about the performance appraisal. And performance appraisal indicates that employees must be rewarded for the good performance to get motivated. Here we have identified that Unilever is managing its employees’ performance very well. They are able to get their employees motivated and as a result they are having good business in our country.