Internship Report - The process of human resource management at vica consultants international ltd. and some recommendations for improvement

The world business is becoming more and more complicated as technology is in its age of development and changing at a rapid pace. It seems that technology is reducing the role of people. However, this could be true in the production era only. Today, there are a lot more of new types of business where human play an important role along with that of machines and technology. Furthermore, there is a change in the conception and perception of the management of human resource (HR). As the name suggested, human now is the resource of a company, the key to its success, not the cost to a business as we used to perceive. Human is the asset that a company must seek for, maintain, and develop. Understanding this, many companies are trying their best to attract a good pool of workers in the labor force in order for them to gain a competitive advantage against their rivals. In conclusion, human resource plays a strategic role in the sustainable development of companies.

FACULTY OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION

Major: International Business

-*** -MID-TERM INTERNSHIP REPORT

The process of human resource management at VICA Consultants International

Ltd and some recommendations for improvement

Student : Do Thi Anh Ngan

Supervisor : Ms Le Thi Thu, Msc

Hanoi, 7/2009

Table of Contents

Preface 2

Part 1: Introduction to VICA 4

1 Establishment and Development of VICA 4

2 Organizational structure 5

3 Business activities 7

Part 2: The analysis of the human resource management process at VICA 10

1 Human resource management process 10

1.1 Definition 10

1.2 Human resource management process 11

2 The process of human resource management at VICA 14

2.1 Full-time workers 14

2.2 Associate consultants 16

3 Comments on VICA’s HRM practices 17

Part 3: Recommendation for improvement 18

Part 4: Internship experience 20

References 22

The world business is becoming more and more complicated as technology is in itsage of development and changing at a rapid pace It seems that technology isreducing the role of people However, this could be true in the production era only.Today, there are a lot more of new types of business where human play animportant role along with that of machines and technology Furthermore, there is achange in the conception and perception of the management of human resource(HR) As the name suggested, human now is the resource of a company, the key toits success, not the cost to a business as we used to perceive Human is the asset that

a company must seek for, maintain, and develop Understanding this, manycompanies are trying their best to attract a good pool of workers in the labor force inorder for them to gain a competitive advantage against their rivals In conclusion,human resource plays a strategic role in the sustainable development of companies Seeing the importance of Human Resource Management (HRM) in business, I havebeen always seeking for chances to get a more understanding of the HR practices intheory as well as in reality, from which I could draw some lessons for my futuredevelopment

To back up this purpose, I choose to work on the issue of HRM during the time I do

my internship in VICA Consultants International Ltd (VICA) This is not a big

company, which may have a lot of HR activities Moreover, as a consultantcompany, its success depends a lot more on associate consultants rather than theirfulltime workforce, so they may not have a HR department So why do I choose it?The reason is that I want to reinforce the point that HRM is important to companies

of all types, no matter how they do their business and how they employ their people

About my study approach, I am not going to focus on a specific area of the HRMsuch as the recruitment and selection process or the compensation policy Instead, I

am going to draw an overall picture of the HRM practices of the company, whichwill be clearer and clearer as we go through the report

Finally, I would like to express my gratitude to my family, who help me to havetime to focus on my study, to my university teachers, who I have had chance towork with during the last 3 years and have provided me with a lot of preciousknowledge, the managing director of VICA, who has provided me with generoussupport during my internship there, and last but not least to Ms Le Thi Thu who hasgiven me a lot of consultation and instruction during my internship I learned a lotfrom her and I hope and believe that this report would not disappoint herexpectation

In conclusion, I wish that this report will provide you with valuable information and

I would welcome all comments in order to improve my knowledge, viewpoint aswell as writing

Part 1: Introduction to VICA

1 Establishment and Development of VICA

VICA Consultants International Ltd was established on 26th April, 2001 by fivemembers namely Nguyen Thanh Hai, Nghiem Thi Minh Nguyet, Nghiem QuangMinh, Vu Thi Boi Lan, and Pham Ngoc Thang At the end of the year 2001, Mrs

Vu Thi Boi Lan withdrew her capital in order to invest in another field At the end

of the year 2003, Mr Nghiem Quang Minh withdrew his capital because of healthrelated problems and turned to work for a state-owned company In 2002, thecompany received the capital of Mr Nguyen Hong Tho, but by October, 2005, hewithdrew his capital in order to continue his study At present, the company isowned by three stakeholders namely Mr Nguyen Thanh Hai, Mrs Nghiem ThiMinh Nguyet and Mr Pham Ngoc Thang, who are professional consultants of highcalibre with 15-30 years of experience in working for projects in Vietnam

The company was first named Vietnam Investment Consulting and AuditingCompany Ltd because at the time it provided not only consulting but also auditingservice At present, the company just focuses on the consulting field, so it changedits name into VICA Consultants International Ltd (although VICA is still theabbreviation of “Vietnam Investment Consulting and Auditing”, which is its oldname)

Since its establishment in early 2001, VICA has become a well known provider oftechnical and management consulting services in Vietnam for multilateral financialinstitutions, international organizations, state agencies and private donors in projectsfunded by ODA, FDI, state’s budget, private - self mobilized funds VICA hasinvolved in all stages of the project cycle from project identification and preparation

to project planning, implementation, evaluation and closing

VICA currently employs a team of 50 full-time consultants, including consultingteam leaders, senior consultants for investment & development projects.Additionally, VICA also has a network of associate consultants and engineers ofmore than 500 domestic and international experts.

At present, the company is planning to expand to other countries in the area such asIndonesia, Philippines, Laos, and Cambodia

2 Organizational structure

The company is divided into 3 departments, i.e Business Development, Researchand Operations, Accounting and Finance Each one is managed by one ViceDirector, who reports to the managing director, being responsible for the wholecompany

The Business Development Department consists of two units One is responsible

for business development and one is in charge of procurement activities These twounits associate and support each other if necessary

The Business Development Unit is in charge of seeking opportunities for the

company to supply its services, especially those relating to the company’s strengths,i.e rural, societal, infrastructure, water, and environment development In addition,the unit is also responsible for seeking for consulting experts of such fields in order

to enrich its database of experts, which is very important to the bidding activitiesand project operations This unit has 3 employees working under the management

of a unit head

The Procurement Unit is responsible for preparing Express of Interest Letter and

Bidding Documents This unit includes one unit head and 2 employees

The Research and Operations Department is made up of 4 sections, which are

independent but still can support each other when needed

The Social Unit is in charge of society related works such as basic investigation,

economic and social investigation, resettle planning, resettle supervision, andcompliance of safety policy of sponsors At the same time, the unit can supportother ones when needed The head of the unit is responsible for 6 employees

The Project Management Unit is responsible for managing the implementation of

projects and the company’s services, at the same time assigning specialists to takepart in the management in a specific service if necessary This unit includes 4employees who report directly to the vice director of the department

The Water and Environment Unit is in charge of works relating to water supply,

rural and environmental sanitation, for example, rural water supply, rural sanitation,environmental protection planning, environmental effect evaluation, andcompliance of safety policy of sponsors This unit includes one unit head and 3employees

The Engineering and Design Unit is responsible for designing irrigation works,

rural infrastructure and urban development This unit includes one unit head and 2specialists

The Accounting and Finance Department includes one unit of Accounting and

Administration The unit is under the direct management of one Vice Director cum

Chief Accountant and it has one accountant and one administrative staff

With such a structure, VICA ensure its good operation and that its consultingservices is according to the claim “Quality makes Difference”

3 Business activities

VICA’s main Clients are:

- International donors, such as the WB, ADB, AFD, UNDP, DFID, IFAD,DANIDA, etc

- Foreign Direct Investors (FDI) or Vietnamese private enterprises

- Besides, VICA also directly provides consultancy service for donors andagencies belonging to the Government of Vietnam

VICA’s main types of project are:

- Agriculture and Rural Development: Water Resources and Irrigation;

Capacity Building, Livelihood Development, Integrated Rural Development andEnvironment

- Urban Development: Water Supply and Drainage, Sanitation, Capacity

Building, Environment

- Energy Sector Development: Renewable and Efficiency, Power Generation,

Transmission and Distribution, Environment in Energy and Capacity Building

For Agriculture and Rural Development Projects, VICA has capability to

provide:

- Socio-economic survey and project design as regulated by process, donors andinternational norms.

- Consultancy on agriculture, science and technology policies in agriculture andrural development

- Project management and implementation support in procurement, disbursement,financial management, reporting, and human resource management

- Provision of senior consultants in various fields in agriculture and forestry(cultivation, livestock, aquaculture, processing, agro-forestry, forestry andsilviculture, agricultural economy, forestry, land allocation and ruralenvironment etc.)

- Provision of senior consultants and engineers in water supply and ruralsanitation for subproject identification, planning, design, bidding documents andbidding plan, environment management plan and resettlement implementationplan preparation, construction supervision and sustainable maintenance withcommunity participation in all stages

- Preparing investment plans, preliminary designs for infrastructure subprojectsand works

- Monitoring of safeguard policy as stipulated by the donor (environment,resettlement and ethnic minorities)

- Capacity building for relevant institutions, training for project staff andbeneficiaries on various fields as specified in each project

- Provision of consultancy on community development to local communitiesincluding ethnic minorities and women

For Urban Development Projects, VICA has capability to provide:

- Socio-economic survey and project preparation as required by donors, provision

of financial, economic, institutional and social consultants for project design

- Project management and implementation support in procurement, disbursement,financial management, reporting, and human resources management.

- Provision of senior consultants and engineers to implement feasibility and feasibility study reports, basic design, technical design and constructiontechnique design

pre Senior consultant provision for infrastructure schemes construction in line with

international standards and Vietnam’s regulations.

- Monitoring of safeguard policies as regulated by donors (environment,resettlement and ethnic minority development)

- Institutional capacity building, training project staff and beneficiaries on variousfields in line with regulations of each project

- Support consultation in closing completed projects including project completionprocedures and post evaluation

Part 2: The analysis of the human resource management process at VICA

1 Human resource management process

Firms today are faced with increasingly competitive and fast changing environment;

to survive, firm must have competitiveness, which refers to company’s ability tomaintain and gain market share in its industry Many organizations have realizedthat it is the people in an organization that can provide a competitive advantage As

a result, people in an organization are considered as its resources “humanresources”, contrasting with the financial and material ones, and managing thisspecial resource well is very important to an organization So what is HumanResource Management?

Human resource management refers to the policies, practices, and systems that

influence employees’ behavior, attitudes, and performance Human resourcemanagement practices include:

- Analysis and design of work

- HR planning

- Recruitment and Selection

- Training and Development

perform HR activities are HR manager-specialists and operating managers, whoshould have competencies in communication, problem solving, recruiting/staffing,employment law, training/ development, compensation design among othersnecessary skills

Analysis and Design of work

Job analysis a systematic investigation of tasks, duties and responsibilities of a job(Job Description) and the necessary knowledge, skills, and abilities a person need toperform the job adequately (Job Specification) Job design is the process ofdesigning the way work will be performed and the tasks that will be required in agiven job

The analysis and design of work is useful because it provides a means for themanagers to understand all the tasks required to produce a high-quality product aswell as the skills necessary to perform those tasks They need to understand the jobrequirements to make intelligent hiring decisions as well as to better manage andevaluate their employees’ performance so as to make the right decision ofcompensation, rewards, and promotion

HR planning

Human resource planning is about assessing the future supply of, and demand forhuman resource, providing mechanisms to eliminate gaps that may exist betweensupply and demand, and making readjustment as labor market conditions change

HR planning can help managers to make decision in recruitment, avoidance ofredundancies, training and development, labor cost, productivity bargaining and so

on The HR planning process starts with an analysis of situation and environmentalscanning The second step is forecasting demand for employees, in which twoquestions are addressed: How many employees will be needed and what kinds ofemployees will be needed After that, the HR planner has to analyze the currentsupply of employees, i.e how many employees and what kinds of employees does