Global Communication of Bangladesh

Introduction

This chapter describes a brief background of the research. It explores objectives of the study, research questions of the study scope of the study and the significance of the study. Definition of key terms and outline of the thesis is also provided at the end of the chapter.

Background of Study

The increasing pressures from the rapid changes that are occurring in the business environment have led to a variety of responses among advertising organizations. Globalization of production and markets, the rate of technological innovation and fluctuation in consumer demand are among the factors that have increased the dynamism of the competitive environment to which organizations must respond.

For Bangladeshi firms to survive in a global economy in the new millennium, they need to exploit all the available resources as a means of achieving competitive advantage. One resource recently recognized as providing a source of competitive advantage is the human resources of the firm and it is widely accepted that people in organizations are an important source of competitive advantage for firms Since firm performance is considered as one of the major organizational goals, much of the recent human resource management (HRM) research has been directed at understanding the relationship between HRM practices and firm performance.

 An effective and competitive human resource is the key to the strength of organizations in facing the challenges of business today. The importance of having a competitive human resource is synonymous with the success of today’s organizations. An efficient and effective human resource will produce quality, productive individuals that will eventually minimize the problems that are related to human resource such as job dissatisfaction, absenteeism, or turnover of employees.

What is human resource management? Human resource management is a system, a philosophy, policy and practices that can influence individuals that work in an organization. HRM activities include staffing, training and development, performance appraisal compensation management, safety and health and industrial relations. According to Huang (2000), HRM practices is one area that influences employees’intention to leave, levels of job satisfaction, and organizational commitment. Since the concept of HRM became popular in the early 1980s, there have been increasing academic interest in the concept as well as research in the area. Early models of HRM (Beer, Spector, Lawrence, Miles, & Walton, 1984; Fombrum, Tichy & Devanna, 1984; Guest, 1989) were largely conceptual and not based on substantial empirical evidence for their validity. The 1990s saw a substantial amount of empirical research carried out to find evidence on the link between HRM practices and performance. In recent years much of the research in the 1990s did in fact found statistical evidence for an association between HRM practices and performance (e.g. Arthur, 1994; Huselid, 1995; Ichniowski, Shaw & Prennushi, 1997). Researchers also have shown an increasing interest in the concept of HRM practices and in the link between HRM practices and organizational Performance.

In order to effectively investigate whether human resources are capable of contributing to competitive advantage, it is pragmatic to examine HRM practices in as many settings as possible. Most of the studies in HRM practices and organizational performance have been conducted in the West, on the domestic operations of US firms, with a smaller number of studies carried out in the UK and Europe (e.g. Guest & Hoque, 1994; Hoque, 1999), and Asia (e.g. Huang, 2000; Huang & Cullen, 2001; Khatri, 2000; Mak & Akhtar, 2003; Wan, Kok & Ong, 2002).

In this new millennium, the role of human resources remains important if not vital to organizations. In spite of this evidence, many organizations are slow in adopting those practices that were found to contribute to organizational success.

The decision to study the advertising sector is due to several reasons; firstly, the advertising sector is expected to remain a strong contributor to the sustained recovery and growth of the economy.

Given the importance of employees to the Bangladeshi economic growth and a lack of systematic study in HRM practices in advertising sector, it is crucial that immediate action is taken to examine the relationship between HRM practices and firm performance.

Purpose of Study

The purpose of this study is to investigate the relationship between HRM practices and firm performance and the moderating effect of environmental uncertainty and business strategy in the advertising sector in Bangladesh.

Methodology of Data Collection

I have used both primary and secondary data for preparing this report. But most of the data are collected from primary source. I observed various activities of Advertising firm “ Global Communication’’

Primary source of Data

Primary Data: It is taken information from different employees and departments of “ Global Communication’’.

It was face-to-face communication. I also asked different client of Advertising firm “ Global Communication’’ about the company. Some people are very cordial to respond me.

Secondary sources of Data

Secondary Data: Prospectus of Advertising firm “ Global Communication’’, Review of literature, journal and other relevant books have used for secondary information. To preparing this unique report, I used different web sites as well as “ Global Communication’’web site.

Research Objectives

Specifically, this study is intended to achieve the following objectives:

     a. To identify and examine the extent of HRM practices in the Bangladeshi   advertising firms.

      b. To investigate the impact of HRM practices on the firm’s performance.

      c. To examine the moderating effects of environmental uncertainty and business

          strategy on the relationship between HRM practices and firm performance.

      d. To understand the employee relationship and chain to command in the

          organization.

      e. To realize the training programmer for the employees to the organization.

       f. To identify the recruitment system of the employee of the organization.

       g. To know the compensation package for the employee of the organization.

 Research Questions

This study is conducted to address the gap in the literature. It offered three important questions that had not been previously investigated in other studies and in the advertising setting in Bangladesh.

1. What type of staffing pattern in the organization and how many type of employees

        are working in the organization ?

    2. What about the employee relationship in the organization ?

    3. What types of training program are designed for the employees ?

   4. In which system employees are recruited in this organization ?

   5. What type of compensation packages is present for the employees in the organization ?

Significance of the Study

This research and its findings are considered important to provide insight into the various HRM practices needed to successfully perform in the advertising sector in Bangladesh. In terms of theoretical significance, this study proposes to fill the gap in the body of knowledge in the practices of HRM in Bangladeshi advertising firms by addressing these issues: first, the present study intends to investigate the role of HRM practices associated with firm performance, namely profitability, growth and employee turnover. Secondly, this study is to investigate whether business strategy and environmental uncertainty moderate the relationship between HRM practices and firm performance. Lastly, this study intends to further the previous research in HRM practices using the contingency approach. Relevant to the issues above, this study intends to generate a new framework for further research pertaining to HRM practices firm performance relationships.

From a practical perspective, the findings of this study will be useful to top management and HRM managers and practitioners to design their HRM practices within a strategic condition at the micro or macro organizational level in order to improve firm performance.

 Scope of Study

This study concentrates on the advertising sector of Bangladesh only. The justifications are based on the significant contribution made by this sector to the nation’s economy in terms of gross domestic products and employment as compared to other sectors in Bangladesh. HRM practices are limited to practices that are prevalent in Bangladeshi advertising firms while the contingencies to HRM practices-performance relationship are limited to business strategy and environmental uncertainty only.

 Limitation of the study

I have faced the following limitations when conducting this study:

Lack of time for conducting the study

Lack of time one of the major limitation of the study was limited time. The entire study has been conducted within three months, which is the duration of the internship program. This short period of three months is not sufficient for conducting a study efficiently.

Administrative secrecy

Another major problem every private company maintains some secrecy of its all activities. The authority kept much information as secrete.

Reluctance of providing data

Another problem I have faced during my study is the reluctance of the authority to provide information. Not all necessary data are available due to privacy and for this it was not possible to provide available numeric data.

 Unwilling to Response

While communicating with responsive persons most of this was very busy in their daily work at that time. So they were not eager to answer my question and should me many causes to avoid me.

The employees of  “ Global Communication’’ remain very busy with their working during most of their office hours. Though they had been very cooperative, they could not afford enough time for the study.

Lack of Experience:

To complete such kind of report need a lot of experience. But I had very little experience in this work field. So errors are possible in this report.

Definition of Key Terms

Human resource management

Refers to a distinctive approach to employment management which seeks to obtain competitive advantage through the deployment of a highly committed and skilled workforce, using an array of techniques.

 HRM practices

Refers to organizational activities directed at managing the pool of human resources and ensuring that the resources is employed towards the fulfillment of organizational goals.

Firm performance

For the purpose of this study, firm performance refers to profitability, growth and employee turnover.

 Business strategy

Business strategy is defined as the fundamental pattern of present and planned resource deployment and environmental interactions that indicates how the organization will achieve its objectives.

Environment uncertainty

Environmental uncertainty refers to a condition which decision-makers do not have sufficient information about environmental factors, and they have difficulty in predicting changes in environmental factors.

Employees

Employees refer to a pool of human resources under the firm’s control in a direct employment relationship. For the purpose of this study, employees refer to non managerial employees who are below the management levels of the organization.

 Organization of Remaining Chapters

This thesis is divided into 8 chapters.

The first chapter presents the background of the study, objectives of the study, research questions, statement of the problem, methodology of the study, significance of the study, limitations of the study, scope of the study, and lastly, Definition of key terms. Chapter two reviews the company overview, here narrates company profile, vision and mission. Chapter three describes the history of advertisement industry in details. Chapter Four presents the marketing overview and strategy of Global Communication. A SWOT analysis is also added at the end of the chapter. Chapter Five reports finding and policy recommendations. Chapter Six reviews the concept of HRM, the resource-based view theory. At the end of Chapter six the research framework and hypotheses are presented. Chapter Seven describes the literature on HRM practices and firm performance relationships. a review on the concept of HRM, the importance of HRM and the resource-based view of the firm.

descriptive statistics and the result of hypotheses testing are presented. Chapter seven also presents the discussion and recapitulation of the whole study, provides interpretation

and conclusions related to the research hypotheses, and discusses the implications of these results for future research.

The last chapter conclusion issues of  Global Communication.

LITERATURE REVIEW

This chapter is devoted to the literature on human resource management (HRM) practices. This chapter begins with a review on the concept of HRM, the importance of HRM, and the resource-based view of the firm. An overview of previous studies on the researches that has been done in human resource management practices is also discussed. Finally, a theoretical framework and hypotheses are presented to show the relationships between the study variables.

The Concept of Human Resource Management

The term “human resource management” has been commonly used for the last ten to fifteen years. Prior to that, the field was generally known as “personnel management”. Dessler (1991) had made no differentiation between personnel management and HRM and saw that the latter as a modern expanded version of traditional personnel management due to technological change in the work environment and a shift in societal values. Torrington and Hall (1998) explained the differences between personnel management and HRM by mentioning that personnel management is considered as workforce-centered while HRM as resource-centered. Guest (1987) conception of HRM is not as and alternate to personnel management but as a particular form of personnel management which stressed the strategic issues of employee commitment, flexibility, quality and integration.

Since there is no universal agreement on the meaning of HRM, many definitions have been offered. Armstrong (1995) defined HRM as “a strategic and coherent approach to the management of organization’s most valued assets – the employees who individually and collectively contribute to the achievement of the objectives of the business.” Beer et al. (1984) viewed HRM as involving all management decisions that affect the relationship between the organization and employees – its human resources. Storey (1995) considered HRM as a distinctive approach to employment management which seek to obtain competitive advantage through the deployment of a highly committed and skilled workforce, using an array of techniques. While others have defined HRM as being concerned with the need to achieve congruency among the various HRM policies and practices so that they become mutually supportive, rather than conflicting (Milliman, Von Glinow & Nathan, 1991; Schuler & Jackson, 1987).

 The Importance of HR as a Source of Competitive Advantage

In recent years, human resources have been recognized as an important source of sustained competitive advantage. Much of the human resources and theoretical and empirical work has been grounded in the resource-based view (RBV) of the firm (Barney, 1986, 1991, 1995). This theory maintains that in order to develop a sustainable competitive advantage, organization must create resource in a manner that is rare, nonimmitable, and non-substitutable. Barney (1986, 1991, 1995), Pfeffer (1994), Snell, Youndt and Wright (1996) and Wright and McMahan (1992), have argued that because the resources that have historically provided organizations with competitive advantage are easily and rapidly imitated, the human resources of the organization may be an extremely important source of sustained competitive advantage.

The RBV of the firm is a theoretical paradigm originating in the field of strategic management. The RBV assumes that resources and attributes of the firm are more Important to sustained competitive advantage than industry structure and competitors’ actions (Barney, 1997).

 Resources have been defined as “the tangible and intangible assets a firm uses to choose and implement its strategies” (Barney, 2001). This broad definition includes human, organizational, financial and physical resources. Barney (1991) and Teece, Pisano and Shuen (1997) have outlined a framework for determining if a resource can be considered a source of sustained competitive advantage. The key elements of this framework require resources to be valuable, rare, inimitable and non-substitutable. Technology, natural resources and economies of scale can create value, RBV argued that these sources of value are increasingly available to almost anyone anywhere and they are easy to copy, whilst human resources which is defined as “the pool of employees under the firm’s control in a direct employment relationship” (Wright & McMahan, 1992) can provide the firm with a source of competitive advantage with respect to its competitors. The first of these criteria is the value added to the company’s production processes, the contribution made by each employee having its effect on the results obtained by the organization as a whole. Also, since employees are not all the same, their characteristics are in limited supply in the market. In addition, these human resources are difficult to imitate. Since it is not easy to identify the exact source of the competitive advantage and reproduce the basic conditions necessary for it to occur. Finally, this human resources is not easily replaced; though short-term substitutes may be found, it is unlikely that they will result in a sustainable competitive advantage like the one provided by human resources.

Barney (1991) argued that organizations may not obtain the maximum utility from their employees because the employees are not contributing to their fullest potential. It was argued that organizations, through the effects of their HRM practices could maximize the knowledge, skills, and abilities of employees. The focus of the overall body of research, then, is to examine the contributions of HRM policies and practices to the performance of the organizations.

 Single HRM Practices and Firm Performance

A number of researchers examining the relationship between HRM and firm performance have taken a micro approach, investigating single HRM practices such as staffing,training, goal-setting, compensation, and so forth, and the effects of those practices on organizational level outcomes (See Table 2.1).

Russell, Terborg and Powers (1985) examined the relationship between training, organizational support, and performance of organizations in a sample of sixty-two retail stores. Their study utilized both archival data information obtained from a company developed attitude survey. The findings provided evidence that both training and organizational support was positively and significantly related to store performance.

 Approaches in Studying HRM Practices

In contrast to the various empirical works on the individual HRM practices-firmperformance relationship, the relationship between HRM practices and organizational performance has been the subject of significant empirical examination. Jackson, Schuler and Rivero (1989) examined the effects of HRM systems on organizational financial performance through a behavioral approach. They found that it is essential for organizational viability that HRM systems provide the capabilities for firms to acquire, develop, motivate and retain employees who will enhance organizational effectiveness.

In explaining the significance of human resources to firm performance, the majority of work in HRM has adopted the resource-based view of the firm (Barney, 1991, Delery, 1998). According to this view an organization can gain a competitive advantage from the human resources it possesses. However, the organization does not actually gain a competitive advantage from the HRM policies, per se, but from the human resources that the organization attracts and retains (Delery, 1998). These theoretical arguments point to the performance potential of a universal approach to HR focus on capital enhancement.

However, apart from the theoretical arguments, there were also empirical evidences supporting a positive relationship between universal approach to HRM practices and firm performance.

Arthur (1994) adopted a contingency approach to this intra-industry examination of the HRM practices of thirty U.S. steel minimills. In addition to the impact of HRM practices on firm performance, the contingency approach is concern with the congruence or fit between various policies and practices adopted by organizations. Arthur employed an empirical taxonomy identifying two types of HRM systems (i.e. control and commitment) to test the extent to which the specific combination of practices utilized by organizations could predict differences in organizational performance. His findings indicate that minimally using the commitment systems of HRM had higher productivity, lower scrap rates, and lower turnover than those minimally using control systems.

Huselid (1995) examined the effects of the use of thirteen HRM practices on firm performance. Two measures of HRM practices were identified. The first of these were designated “employee skills and organizational structures”; with practices enhancing skills, abilities, and role performance, and the second was labeled “employee motivation”, with practices targeted at evaluating and reinforcing desired employee behaviors. His findings indicated when these two measures were regressed on productivity individually, both measures were positive and significant, but when they were entered simultaneously, only the motivation measure remained significant.

Most of the foregoing studies have as their goal to verify the relationship between HRM practices and organizational performance. However, different approaches to these examinations have emerged. The following section provides a critical review of the various approaches taken in the area of HRM, and the assumptions made under each approach.

Previous research in HRM has used one of the following three ways to examine the effectiveness of HRM practices on firm performance: universalistic, contingency or configurationally approach (Delery & Doty, 1996).

Universalistic perspective

Universalistic perspective is the simplest form of theoretical model in the HRM literature. Universalistic perspective seeks for “best practices”. Researches in the universalistic perspective are micro analytical in nature and posit that some HRM practices are always better than others are and that all organizations should adopt these practices.

Huselid (1995) work reflected the “universalistic” approach to HRM. This perspective assumes that there are certain “best” HRM practices that contribute to increased financial performance regardless of the strategic goals of organizations. Further, a universalistic approach to HRM research assumes that HRM practices contribute to worker motivation (and thereby increased productivity) as well as increased efficiency (Ichniowski, Kochan, Levine, Olson & Strauss, 1996). While other authors concurred with these assumptions (Osterman, 1994; Pfeffer, 1994), different studies have utilized various assortments of these HRM practices, and there has been little work that provides a definitive description as to which HRM practices should be included in a “best practice” system. Huselid (1995), for instance, utilized thirteen HRM practices. Pfeffer (1994) however, advocated the use of sixteen management practices to achieve higher productivity and profits. In another work, Delery and Doty (1996) identified seven practices that are consistently considered to be strategic in nature. Practices identified were internal career opportunities, formal training system, appraisal measures, profit sharing, employment security, voice mechanism and job definition.

Contingency perspective

Contingency theorists posit that an organization needs to adapt specific HRM practices for different firm strategies. A number of researchers, however, have argued that contingency perspective is the more appropriate approach to HRMThe contingency theorists argue that, in order to be effective, an organization’s HRM practices must be consistent with other aspects of the organization.

The contingency approach differs from the universalistic perspective in that these studies have attempted to link variations of HRM practices to specific organizational strategies argued that HRM practices which are not synergistic and consistent with organizational strategy and, which conflict with other HRM practices are confounding in effect and create ambiguity which can inhibit both individual and organizational performance.

Configurational perspective

The configurational perspective is concerned with how patterns of multiple, planned human resource deployment and activities achieve the organization’s goals. A closely related body of work calls for a configurational approach to HRM, and argues that it is the pattern of HRM practices that contribute to the attainment of organizational goals (Wright & McMahan, 1992). According to the configurational perspective, in order to be effective, an organization must develop its HRM system that achieves both horizontal and vertical fit. Horizontal fit refers to the internal consistency of the organization’s HRM practices, and vertical fit refers to the congruence of the HRM system with other organizational characteristics, such as firm’s strategy (Delery & Doty, 1996).

Relationship between HRM Practices and Firm Performance

In contrast to various empirical works on the single HRM practices-firm performance

relationships, much of the recent research has been directed at understanding the relationships between HRM practices and firm performance.

HRM Practices

Previous empirical research on the relationship between HRM practices and firm performance have focused on single HRM practices (Balkin, Gomez-Mejia, 1987; Bartel, 1994; Gerhart & Milkovich, 1990; Jackson, Schuler & Rivero, 1989; Russell, Terborg,& Powers, 1985; Terpstra & Rozell, 1993). Table 2.2 demonstrated a summary of some of the HRM practices studies trhat were conducted by various researchers. In a study by Arthur (1994), using an empirical taxonomy of HRM practices, he found that steel minimills with commitment HRM systems had higher productivity, lower scrap rates and lower employee turnover than steel minimills with control HRM systems. Similarly,

Huselid (1995) using a national sample found that HRM practices had an economically and statistically significant effect on turnover, productivity, and corporate financial performance. Youndt et al. (1996) conducted a research in ninety-seven manufacturing plants and found that the human-capital-enhancing HRM systems had a positive main effect on employee productivity and a positive and significant effect on customer alignment and equipment utilization.

 Hoque (1999) explored HRM practices and a range of outcome variables from a sample of 209 hotels. The outcome measures were of two types: “human resource outcomes” and “performance outcomes”. He found that, amongst the quality enhancers, commitment, job satisfaction, quality of work, quality of service and financial performance, as perceived by the respondent, were all strongly related to the use of HRM practices. Khatri (2000) using a sample of 200 of the largest companies in Singapore, found that HRM practices have a stronger direct effect on profitability than sales growth and non-financial measures. In fact, the significant relationship between HRM practices and profits is encouraging and is in agreement with findings from other studies (Gerhart & Milkovich, 1990; Huselid, 1995).

 Similarly, in a study on long-term incentives plan, Leonard (1990) found that organizations having long-term incentives plan for their executives had greater increase in return on equity over a four-year period than did other organizations. Workers’ participation ensures organizational effectiveness as well. Empirical studies (Delery & Doty, 1996; Huselid, 1995) have showed that linking employee participation results in greater productivity, satisfaction and reduction in turnover.

 Employee turnover is often separated into categories of voluntary turnover, which is considered controllable, and involuntary (e.g. due to retirement or death), which is considered uncontrollable. Voluntary turnover and involuntary turnover of employees seemed to be influenced by different sets of factors. According to Shaw, Delery, Jenkins

 and Gupta (1998), voluntary turnover of employees is affected by factors such as dissatisfaction with current job and availability of alternative jobs, while involuntary turnover is influenced by staffing practices such as recruitment and selection processes and employee monitoring. Along the same line, Pitt and Ramaseshan (1995) found that individuals who displayed a higher tendency to leave their jobs were those who perceived that their job previews that they received during the interview process were not realistic.

 In another study by Villanova, Bernedin, Johnson and Dahmus (1994), they found that firms that were able to assess if individuals were compatible for the jobs they applied for, were more able at reducing employee turnover. In other studies related to compensation,

 Trevor, Gerhart and Boudreau (1997) found that salary growth had a pronounced effect on turnover, that is high salary growth significantly reduced turnover for high performing employees. Similarly, William and Livingstone (1994) found that a negative performance-turnover relationship was stronger in organizations using performance-

contingent reward systems. Employees who were compensated more for their high levels of performance were less likely to leave. Park, Ofori-Dankwa and Bishop (1994) also found that turnover is negatively associated with levels of pay, especially when pay was determined by individual incentives programs. As such, the higher the levels of pay, the lower the levels of employee turnover. Batt (2001) study show that turnover rates are lower and sales growth is higher in firms that emphasise high skills, employee participation in decision-making and in teams, and HR incentives such as high relative pay and employment security. Guthrie (2001) surveyed corporations in New Zealand and found that their HRM practices were related to employee turnover and profitability.

The literature highlighted that there were no consensus on which HRM practices should be used in a study. Dyer and Reeves (1995) include a table which compares the HRM practices included in some of the leading empirical studies in HRM. Table 2.2 highlights HRM practices measured in key HRM research based on various researchers. As can be readily seen from Table 2.2, there are widespread differences across various studies about which specific HRM practices “matter” for performance. Most studies of the HRM performance relationship aggregate individual practices into multicomponent scales (e.g. Huselid, 1995; Way, 2002), or some would group organizations on the basis of their HRM profile (e.g. Ichniowsky et al., 1997; Wood & de Menezes, 1998), in order to test for the relationships. Researchers like Huselid (1995), Ichniowski et al. (1997), Ramsay, Scholarios and Harley (2000) and Khatri (2000) use comprehensive and detailed lists including up to 24 practices (Ramsay et al., 2000). However, it must be borne in mind that the specific components of HRM practices vary a great deal across studies and measures of HRM are generally of unknown reliability. This finding indicates that HRM researchers need to devote more efforts on examining what should be included in measuring HRM practices influencing organizational performance.Despite this lack of consistency in the approach to study the concept, there is higher agreement as to the inclusion of some of the practices. Practices such as teamwork, self managed and self-directed teams, flexibility in terms of job design, sophisticated selection, formal training programs, quality or problem-solving teams, formal programs for participation and involvement, autonomy in decision making, formal performance appraisals, internal promotion opportunities, performance related and incentive pay, high pay, profit sharing and share options, attitude surveys and employment security are seen by empirical researchers more frequently as HRM practices.

COMPANY OVERVIEW & ADVERTISING ACTIVITIES

he Corporation:

Global Communication has CEO MD. Rajiv Mohajan  and had an auspicious step into the business . Global Communication comprising of a number of companies, has diversified its activities in various areas like product and project marketing, , international trading, distributorship and production of various items and already attained significance in the business arena of Bangladesh. Creativity and quality comes only from well coordinated and aptly envisaged teamwork. A team of creative copy writer, talented designers, farsighted visualization, experienced production management and efficient team lead are the base for creativity and quality. And that is what Global Communication stands for.

 About Advertising Firm ‘‘Global Communication’’:                                                                                                          

Since years, Global Communication  have been successfully executing the total media communication and brand building activities for various brands including Financial Institutions, Real Estate Companies, FMCG companies etc. to make these brands more & more significant according to the pace of time.

Although Global Communication set off its expedition recently whereas the individuals working here are well-experienced, dedicated and matured enough to ensure the entire brand building process. Some of the best peoples of the advertising industry have been merged together to lead Global Communication towards the ultimate success for its clients. In other words, this agency is a team very adaptable and eager to work for the products/brands of their clients steering towards the horizon of accomplishment. It believes, this is the smartest hub for your brand’s nourishment.

Company Vision, Mission

  VISION:

To be the most reliable and creative strategic communication company that

Promotes and protects our clients’ brands.

  MISSION:

To provide strategic communication service that enables our clients to build up strong relationships and to enhance corporate and brand reputation and to bring out the desired outcome in their sales & marketing.

Change:

 Yesterday makes today. Today brings tomorrow. The only truth ‘change’ is constant. We constantly follow change every day. So that clients’ valuable brands reach tomorrow constantly.

  Advertising Activities

Bangladesh came to today’s shape through a long history of political evolution. Bengal was probably the wealthiest part of the subcontinent up till the 16th century. The area’s early history featured a succession of Indian empires, internal squabbling, and a tussle between Hinduism and Buddhism for dominance. All of this was just a prelude to the unstoppable tide of Islam which washed over northern India at the end of the 12th century. Mohammed Bakhtiar Khalzhi from Turkistan captured Bengal in 1199 with only 20 men.

Under the Mughal viceroys, art and literature flourished, overland trade expanded and Bengal was opened to world maritime trade – the latter marking the death knell of Mughal power as Europeans began to establish themselves in the region. The Portuguese arrived as early as the 15th century but were ousted in 1633 by local opposition. The East India Company negotiated terms to establish a fortified trading post in Calcutta in 1690.

The decline of Mughal power led to greater provincial autonomy, heralding the rise of the independent dynasty of the nawabs of Bengal. Humble East India Company clerk Robert Clive ended up effectively ruling Bengal when one of the impetuous nawabs attacked the thriving British enclave in Calcutta and stuffed those unlucky enough not to escape in an underground cellar. Clive retook Calcutta a year later and the British Government replaced the East India Company following the Indian Mutiny in 1857.

The Britons established an organizational and social structure unparalleled in Bengal, and Calcutta became one of the most important centers for commerce, education and culture in the subcontinent. However, many Bangladeshi historians blame the British dictatorial agricultural policies and promotion

of the semi-feudal zamindar system for draining the region of its wealth and damaging its social fabric. The British presence was a relief to the minority Hindus but a catastrophe for the Muslims. The Hindus cooperated with the Brits, entering British educational institutions and studying the English language, but the Muslims refused to cooperate, and rioted whenever crops failed or another local product was rendered unprofitable by government policy.

Although adcomm, unitrend, asiant , micromedia advertising are  also most fabulus advertising firm.

About advertising Activities

Advertising Agency

The haziest part of the future is predicting what the future Advertising Agency will be like. One thing it will not be is the Advertising Agency of today. Already agencies have to a great degree lost a lot of their media buying function. On the other side the citadels of creativity is being attacked by boutique creative shops. The top ten players in the market at one time ruled over 90% of the market. These days it’s a different picture. In almost all the major pitches of last three years, small (and often new) agencies have been invited with the big boys. Also, media now going directly to the clients have made profitability margins for advertising agencies disappear. New compensation models other than the usual 15% media commission are being experimented with. From retainers, to fee based work, to rate cards, nothing is beyond acceptance.

This year Adcomm celebrates its 36 years. Starting from a small outfit in a sub-let premise, today we are amongst larger advertising agencies in the country. But the debate within is for how long can we sustain the revenue model of our business. The consensus seems that for not too long. We are evolving. We are moving away from being an“agency” to being a brand consultant. We aim to provide the thinking and strategy behind the brand. Not necessarily its implementation, nor even, shall I dare say, the creative output! Yes, even creativity is not sacrosanct. In the future it maybe outsourced. In this case the part the advertising consultant will play is to see that a brand’s personality and messaging is not schizophrenic. Just as brand owners are outsourcing their manufacturing, sales and distribution services, so too will they with communication. Dynamics of brand relationship is going to change beyond recognition. As will Adcomm (and other agency groups) offerings to their client. No one in the advertising world in Bangladesh missed Asiatic 360’s ad recently. It showed how they have grown beyond mere advertising to, as the name suggests, an all round resource. Clients can either call upon them to provide a complete solution or cherry pick those interventions that suit the brand the best.

Adcomm Group is now more than just advertising. We have over the years formed a “best-of-breed” offering between associated companies.

Global Brands vs. Local Brand

The largest battle over the next decade will be between Global Goliaths against Local Davids. Don’t for a second think that the result of that slugfest is a forgone conclusion.

We will see a match up between vast knowledge base of brand building honed to near perfection and huge war chests that global marketing giants have at their disposal; versus the agility and local consumer understanding that local brands have.

These “wars” for the consumer’s wallet have already started, points being won by both sides. Lux and Close-Up winning early battles against Aromatics and Fresh Gel. On the other side Mojo and Ispahani scoring over the Pepsi, Coke, Tetley and Lipton.

As an advertising agency head, I fight the battle everyday from both sides of the divide. In my mind the edge is currently with the local boys. Not burdened by global roll-out, heritage and need to confirm with regional dictates, local brands are finding indigenous insights. Some of the most interesting and compelling works done over the last few years have come out of Grey, Mediacom, Cogito, Bitopi and my agency Adcomm for our local clients. I can’t see a Protom Alo Bodlay Dao, Ruchi Chanachur, or Mojo being replicated by any foreign brands.
But that doesn’t mean that MNCs are sitting back idle. A superb counter-attack example is from Marico. They have taken the lessons of their duels with Unilever in India and are putting behind the local Camellia and Aromatic brands that they have bought.

Throughout my 12 years in advertising I’ve seen one thing, that this march towards regionalisation of advertising is a cyclical one. Every few years the trend inverts itself. We move towards regional harmonised communication and then kaboom – localisation of regional insights. Unilever is a master in this field. As our economy moves ahead, we will see them bringing in learnings from South-East Asia, South America, Eastern Europe and India to the battlefields at home.

MARKETING AND STRATEGY OF GLOBAL COMMUNICATION

 Market Segmentation

Based on our product we have segmented our market in three ways.

a)      Vehicle Aspect

b)      Client Aspect

c)      Product Aspect

These three aspects are having also different parameters that are described below.

• Vehicle Aspect

Global Communication use different type of vehicle aspect with them.

• Client Aspect

Basically three types of clients are served by Global Communication. These three are:

  Corporate Clients

   Government

 Individual Clients

         Product Aspect

• Media planning (print and electronic)
• Media buying (print and electronic)

• Press creative and copy development
• Sales promotion design and execution
• Market monitoring and intelligence study
• Television story board & TVC production
• Radio campaign development and RDC production.
• Brochure, Pamphlet, Calendar, Business
  cards & Pad design
• Production of advertising material (all medium)

Market Targeting & Positioning:

Based on the demographic variables like income, occupation, education, household status and geographic location, the target market of the product has done. It is found that, Global Communication’s target customer is the owner of vehicle and vehicle population is significantly big in Dhaka and other metropolitan cities. So, based on this information, targeting and positioning has done.

Marketing Mix

Product: Latest and premium brand product can be used as marketing mix element to get more market share.

Price: Selling price can be reduced by practicing value chain model.

Place: New places can be found out to retain existing customer, catch more customer and to increase the target market volume.

Promotion: Special promotion can be done to increase the sales volume.

Product

• Product Level

a)      Core Benefit: Global Communication is providing services in all over the Bangladesh.  And the core benefit of the product is to provide Ad.agency service.

b)     Basic Product: To convert the vehicles to the basic product of Global Communication is traditional advertisement.

c)      Expected Product: Expected product is a set of attributes and conditions buyers normally expect when they purchase their product. Expected product of Global Communication is Branding and product launching.

d)     Augmented Product: This is the product that exceeds customer expectations. The augmented product of Global Communication is Brand cycle branding service.

 Pricing

• Objective: To maximize the current profit and as well as market share.

• Price Sensitivity:

To make the price sensitive and to beat the competitor, Global Communication offers three types of prices.

a)      Low Value – Low Price: Global Communication offers lower price for lower quality of the product.

b)      Medium Value – Medium Price: For moderate quality product Global Communication offers medium price.

c)      High Value – High Price: For better quality product Global Communication offers high price.

 Market Place

Global Communication branding business involves the following steps in brief:

  Importing raw material from overseas suppliers.

  Available product and service.

  Purchase raw material from local suppliers.

  Processing the raw material to final product for selling to customer.

  Sales and marketing activities to general sales.

  After sale service.

  Keeping sufficient margin as profit.

Promotion

Strong brand image make easy to promote its product for Global Communication. They don’t exercise aggressive promotional strategy. Promotional strategies followed by Global Communication Brand are as follows:

1. Advertisement
2. Public relation
3. Personal relation

• Advertisement:

There is no doubt of contribution of advertisement. Global Communication targets their individual customer by advertisement.

• Advertisement vehicle used by Global Communication

• Radio Ad: One of the most popular media of advertisement in Bangladesh is FM radio. Recently Global Communication Use FM radio to promote their product. They have contact with all of the FM channels.

1. Newspaper ad: Newspaper ad also contributes a major sales promotion for Global Communication. It has a great impact on the target group of Global Communication. Basically Global Communication use Daily newspaper of Bangladesh
2. Billboard ad: Another new phenomenon of advertisement of Bangladesh is billboard advertisement. Global Communication purchase convenient location for billboard ad.

• Promotional expenditure of major companies:

           Global Communication takes the first position in the market place by invest huge    

           amount in promotional sector. Like Global Communication also heavily invest in

           promotional sector and got the reward of that effort.

• Public relations:

Global Communication maintains relations with all types of public.  Such as Government, media, etc.  Global Communication attends all types of car fair as well as any other fair.

Personal selling:

Global Communication join tender organized by different corporate house as well as Government. By joining this type of effort Global Communication gets a major source of corporate client. Global Communication has negotiation with various car importer companies. As Global Communication has the legal authorization of importing brand new Toyota car, also contributes a handsome figure of sells.

Example: Global Communication joins a tender called by Grameen Phone. This carries a proposal of branding conversion more than 600 cars. This proposal is under process.

 Competitive of advertising Industry:

Brand Cycle advertising: Creativity and quality comes only from well coordinated and aptly envisaged teamwork. A team of creative copy writer, talented designers, farsighted visualization, experienced production management and efficient team lead are the base for creativity and quality. And that is what Brand cycle stands for.

Clients in our heart and talents in our brain, we establish relationships that is professional, win-win and unending.

We have all the support extended in this regard from our network, be it a need for formulating a strategy or penchant for good creative’s. Matching the profile of our target audience in the country, their literacy and comprehensibility, we believe that we can also come up with effective creative’s that make sense to our Bangladeshi audience.

60 seconds advertising:   We set out journey. We look forward for general success and backward for lessons. By that time something grows. It’s the brand. It’s our client’s successful business. It’s our achievement.

Business starts well with a ‘B’.Runs very well with two ‘B’s.BrandBuilding.

Perception builder of Global Communication

We believe that the experience and creativity of the multitude of Global Communication is enough to ensure all your brand communication requirements. We offer complete media communication & logistic support, providing a wide range of creative, strategic planning, marketing, media buying and administrative services to enhance the brand image and give the desired personality to your product. Ensuring the flawless quality & competitive price we offer:

• Creative design and layout development
• Logo development
• Content development & Photography
• Comprehensive national Behavior Change Communication (BCC) strategies
• Designing and implementing national media campaigns
• Communication strategy and advertising  planning
• Product launching
• Event management
• Advertising campaign development and   execution
• Promotional campaign development and   execution.

Strategies should follow by Global Communication limited as they are market leader:

• Suggest Government to ensure the availability of gas and electricity
• Try to enter new geographical are
• Should invest on R&D
• Should defend the market share
• Hold current customer and win a fair share of new ones
• Try to reduce operation cost
• Right balance between cost and profit
• Carefully observe the movement of market challenger (Southern), and follower.
• Try to bring distinctive advantages on location , services , financing

Value chain

The main parameter of Global Communication value chain model is given below:

a)      Suppliers

b)      Business Development Services

c)      Global Communication firm (Manufacturer)

d)     Clients

•  Inflex, Argentina                                                      Global Communication
• Tomasetto A., Argentina
• Vanaz, India
• Omnitek, USA                                                            Figure: Value Chain Model

Value chain model shows that business development services (BDS) is very much important in between the Manufacturer and supplier. Because the main BDS for Global Communication are banks, insurance companies, C & F agent etc. Because when Global Communication wanted to import the materials from abroad; at first it needs to open a L/C, to ensure the materials and after coming into Chittagong sea port C & F agent help them to release the goods. BDS is less important in between manufacturer and clients because as Global Communication has a good brand image in that industry and customer has faith on Global Communication & brand communication.Our Valuable Client.

SWAT ANALYSIS

Strength:

As the first player in the market, Global Communication has a considerable amount of hold in the market. This is one of the biggest strengths of Global Communication. Global Communication doesn’t only have strength for their product quality but also their sales and distribution system. They have covered a bit of its marketing and sales system and its strengths are given below:

• ·         Use Landarienzo (Italy), Safe (Italy) kits.
• ·         Use Inflex (Argentina) cylinders.
• ·         15 months free service from the date of conversion.
• ·         15 months replacement guaranty for all Conversion Mechanical Parts.
• ·         Cylinder warranty for 5 years.
• ·         Cylinder standard is NZS 5454, not ISO 11439200.
• ·         Electronics (Selector switch/ Mano meter TAP) are from AEB company, New Zealand, Except VISA/Master Card
• ·         Dedicated Engineers for the conversion.
• ·         Engineers are trained up by foreign experts.
• ·         9 Conversion unit at Dhaka, Chittagong, Sylhet and Bogra and more
• ·         Foreign Expert technician.
• ·         Most competitive and dependable price.,
• ·         Door to door pre-conversion inspection facilities.
• ·         Special corporate package.
• ·         Provide bank loan facility

Weakness           

No matter how strong a firm may be. It will always have some weaknesses. The points given below best describe the weakness of Blueray Advertising. Most of its weakness lies in its distribution system, as Blueray Advertising offers its services at roughly the same price, as its competitors and the quality of all the firms in the industry are homogeneous.

• ·         Customer lists are not tested.
• ·         Some gaps in range for certain sectors.
• ·         Charges high price for their product
• ·         Cannot supply end-users abroad.
• ·         Need more sales people.
• ·         No pilot or trial done yet.
• ·         Don’t have a detailed plan yet.
• ·         Delivery-staff need training.
• ·         Lack of customer service training.
• ·         Processes and systems, etc Management cover insufficient.

Opportunities

Opportunities for Global Communication’s are endless. They have the money and experience to diversify. So opportunities for Global Communication are given below:

• ·         Possibility of introduce new product  in the market place.
• ·         Local competitors have poor products.
• ·         Profit margins will be good.
• ·         End-users respond to new ideas.
• ·         Could extend to overseas.

• ·         New specialist applications

• ·         Can surprise competitors.
• ·         Support core business economies.
• ·         Could seek better supplier deals

Threats

No matter how big or small, companies will always have threats that question their very existence. However some threats remains within the company itself rather than from its rivals or the anticipated new comers. These threats could arise from the strategies adopted by the company, in this case Global Communication, which prohibit Global Communication to function smoothly. Some of these threats are listed below: Legislation could impact.

• ·         Huge energy crisis
• ·         Possible entry of giant competitors
• ·         Existing core business distribution risk.
• ·         Retention of key staff critical.
• ·         Could distract from core business.
• ·         Possible negative publicity.
• ·         Vulnerable to reactive attack by major competitors.

Still! We are at work…

At Global Communication, we work with two tools together-creativity and reason. We shape our shocking creative ideas to fit the reality.

As a result our works fetch the delighted result for our clients.

Every client, to us, is equally important. Because, we believe, every client has things inside to be explored.

In fact, we explore ourselves by exploring the latent potentialities of our clients.

Our agency is our home, our family. And who we are but the members of this home, this family. Our perfection comes through our interaction, our mutual understandings.

HUMAN RESOURCES MANAGEMENT IN ADVERTISING AGENCY

Abstract:

The paper presents advertising agencies as a new type of knowledge-based organizations (knowledge-intensive organizations), whose essential resource is its people with their competences, in conditions in which in the present society knowledge is becoming the most important source of competitive advantage for current organizations. Such professional services firms have to practice a particular type of management, focused on their employees, on their aspirations and satisfaction, therefore the component processes of the human resources management (recruitment, selection, integration, motivation etc.) have a particularly important role in obtaining employees’ loyalty and increasing their performance and consequently in the survival and development of the company. The empirical research used case studies based on in-depth interviews with managers in advertising organizations, but also a survey through questionnaire sent by e-mail to advertisers across the country, to provide a clear picture on the characteristics of human resources management in Bangladeshi advertising agencies.

  Introduction

Nowadays, competition between organizations – becoming more flexible and innovative adhocracies – is “moving” more and more from the classics factors of production to the knowledge held by employees “Knowledge is becoming a more important source of competitive advantage for current organizations – the creation, sharing and protecting knowledge is vital to their health. These processes have a higher meaning in knowledge-intensive organizations, which depend on the generation, use and originality of their fund of knowledge.

Today it pays particular attention to knowledge resource as an essential aspect of “human capital”. If until the 1960-1970, the source of economic security for the most people was

keeping the workplace for a whole life, now more and more people (from advanced societies, with the mature market economy) find the source of economic security in the adequate accumulation of knowledge required by the market. Intellectual capital becomes a very important concept for those organizations whose strength is in knowledge; intellectual capital is the firm’s knowledge, the experience, expertise and associated “soft” assets, rather than physical “hardware” and financial capital.

While in Taylorist tehnocentrist management theory, man was treated as an inert instrument of executions of predetermined tasks, as a residue, his inventiveness being blocked and eliminated as dysfunctional and technology being considered the main resource, the anthropocentric management introduced by the 158 deconstructive perspective on organizations promotes a different image of man: „the most important factor of the organization is its people and their skills.

Knowledge-intensive enterprises are those company those intangible intellectual assets, (skills, experience, knowledge, values held by the firm) have a greater importance than the material assets (buildings, technology, stock products etc. owned by enterprise) and financial capital.

This change requires the practice in organization of a new type of human resource management that will capitalize the man with all its dimensions (intellectual, moral, social, not only physical). “The man must be the ultimate objective of all activities of the organization and not a simply means of it; the organization generally must take into account the man’s features, needs and aspirations,.

 We have identified the specific notice of advertising organizations as being their classification in typology of knowledge-intensive organizations, based on knowledge held by their employees. In this context, the article proposes a study with diagnostic value, designed to identify how they are performing human resources management (recruitment, selection, integration and motivation of employees) in the Bangladeshi advertising agencies, where people and their creative ideas are the vital resource of this type of organization. Exploratory approach was based on two information sources, namely case studies on the basis of in-depth interviews in different types of advertising agencies in Bucharest and investigation through a short questionnaire mailed to some Bangladeshis advertising agencies.

The essential role of human resources in the advertising agency, as a knowledge-intensive organization

In a broad sense, knowledge- intensive organizations are organizations that offer knowledge or knowledge-based products – eg. plans, prototypes, software, messages, symbols contained in the ads for advertising agencies; in which the main resource is the intangible assets held by the organization (skills, experience, knowledge of employees, value), and not fixed assets (buildings, machines) and financial capital. Examples of knowledge-intensive organizations, which “sell” knowledge: consulting firms from different areas (financial, legal, accounting, management), media companies, advertising agencies, educational and research institutions and firms producing software etc.

Almost one third (32,6%) of the entire workforce in the European Union was working in the knowledge-intensive services in 2006, with a maximum of almost half of total employment in Sweden (47,5%) and Denmark (43,8%), Romania placing on the last place in the EU (with 14,5%) (Eurostat, 2008, p. 470). Knowledge-intensive work is a substantial part of all organizations and its economic significance may be even higher than these figures suggest, since they affect the practices of other organizations through the dissemination of ideas, technologies, standards, etc. (Alvesson, 2004)

The symbolic work – using ideas and concepts – is crucial, while the processing of materials or tangible services achievement is not so much now. “Cognitive activity guided by theory is important – or at least make a difference – in many situations and for many people in such organizations than other organizations” (Alvesson, 2004, p. 17).

Knowledge-intensive firms are defined as “companies within the work is most likely intellectual and skilled Access via CEEOL NL Germany 159 employees, highly trained, represent the most labor force” (Alvesson, 2000, p. 1101); “knowledge-intensive attribute can be applied to firms in which knowledge is of greater importance than other inputs, and human capital, as opposed to the physical or financial one, dominate (Swart, Kinnie, 2003, p. 60), a key feature of such companies being their capacity to solve complex problems by developing creative and innovative solutions.

The essence of the activities of these companies is based on intellectual abilities of most employees; typical, a large proportion of employees have academic education and relevant experience. Formal education is seen as very useful in facilitating the theoretical and analytical skills, essential for such organizations; education can also be seen as an indicator of competence and as a legitimacy of expert status and high salaries of employees of these organizations. They are usually paid with wages above average and have high status, are being often called “gold collars”. Some of the representatives of the advertising agencies in our research explicitly refer to the high education of their companies employees: in the A1 advertising agency “all 20 employees have higher education in various fields: some are graduates in law, others in communication, others in the fine arts, others in economics, in the A2 agency “all 11 employees have high education in journalism, either in communication sciences or economics”, in A3 agency, of the 19 employees, all have higher education, graduated in the various specializations(some with very few links with advertising) – communication, engineering, director of theater and film, Law, Commerce or Marketing, those in the A4 form “a professional team”, all of the 5 employees are entitled, either in engineering, law or marketing.

The main characteristic features of knowledge-intensive firms, which differ from other organizations by the nature of work and how they are managed and organized, it refers to: high-skilled employees engaged in knowledge work, using symbolic and intellectual skills; a high degree of autonomy and flatten organizational hierarchies; the use of flexible, adaptive, ad hoc organizational forms; the need for extensive communication for coordination and problems solving, due to a high level of ambiguity; customer orientation, especially in professional services firms etc. (Alvesson, 2004, pp. 21, 38-39)

But an organization with features listed above, to achieve its societal effectiveness (production of knowledge to be used by other organizations) should have a proper management characterized by flexibility, autonomy granted creators, motivation, professional development opportunities offered to them etc., in other words an anthropocentric management to design an organization with adhocratical structure, focused on man and not only on strict performance of tasks. “This is not just to use more and better man (man as a means), but first, to consider that the man is the ultimate objective and to understand what organization can do and what must do so the man achieve himself humanly in and through work” (Hoffman, 1999, pp. 50, 55).

The present empirical research was conducted on two levels, using a mix of several techniques of qualitative research: six case studies based on face-to-face intensive interviews with a number of managers in Bucharest advertising organizations (based on semi-structured interview guide); survey used a questionnaire sent by e-mail to advertisers across the country (out of 265 questionnaires sent, we received responses from 13 agencies).

We used qualitative research because it was not a well known phenomenon that we had to measure its intensity, but it was approached a type of organization (advertising agency) whose characteristics were not yet sufficiently outlined, following more 160 complex and complete descriptions and explanations. Subjects who responded to interviews were managers or heads of departments in agencies, for due to position they hold, they know the issues covered by our research and therefore they provided us relevant data. Our diagnosis study has only a descriptive-exploratory character (can not be considered representative), in view of the new issue of knowledge- intensive organizations of advertising, but also the difficulty of access in organizations of this type, which due to competition specific to advertising domain is working with a recognized lack of transparency of management used (Leovaridis, 2008).

There are few studies in the international literature made in such knowledge-intensive organizations, to mention those of Mats Alvesson in a multinational computer professional services company (Alvesson, 1995) and in a Swedish advertising agency (Alvesson, 1994), of Maxine Robertson and Jacky Swan in a consultancy firm (Robertson, Swan, 2003), of Peter Svensson in a marketing agency (Svensson, 2003) or of Maxine Robertson and Geraldine O’Malley also in an advertising agency (Robertson, O’Malley, 2000). They are made, as our research, based on qualitative methodology, specifically through in- depth interviews with employees and managers, in addition with content analysis of specialized magazines and with observation.

 Recruitment and selection of employees in advertising agencies

Recruitment represent activity of identifying and attracting in the organization, on an adequate base and sufficiently large number of people who prove the skills and training necessary to apply to a vacancy or to be created job Most methods used to recruit candidates for selection are:

 1. enabling the human resources department for the identification of their own employees, to recruit for selection on other posts than those they occupy at the time given;

2. direct and indirect advertising (media);

3. turning circle of individuals and organizations in entourage of company;

4. turning their own counselors who consult directly different mediums;

5. analysis of all individual employment application voluntarily addressed to human resources department of the organization etc.

If the recruitment process aims to encourage people to seek a job in an organization, the selection process aims to identify and employ the most qualified applicants; with this opportunity are chosen, according to some criteria and principles pre-established by the organization and implemented by the department of human resources, the most suitable candidates to fill vacancies posts, to development or restructuring the organization.

Regarding agencies where they were made in-depth interviews with their managers and case studies, in the A1 full-service advertising agency, part of a multinational network (with 20 employees), „recruitment is done by turning the circle of individuals and organizations from entourage of the agency (i.e. through recommendations), or through analysis of all CVs sent volunteer to organization and stored in the database”. The selection has one step, the interview with the head of the department where potential new employee will work. Whatever of he read in the candidate’s CV, creative director says that “he necessarily meets with each candidate and, after a free discussion of 5-10 minutes with him, he read him, he realizes if he is the right person and if he wants to work with that person”; human contact is considered 161 essential in the choice, and therefore they no longer give practical exams.

 In A2 creative agency with Bangladeshi capital (with 11 employees) “recruitment is done by turning the circle of people and organizations in agency entourage (in other words, the recommendations), or more rarely, through ads in the press about vacant existing jobs”. The selection has one step, the interview with the stuff leaders (with the General Manager and possibly with creative director) – the general manager said that the main reasons that a candidate could use to persuade her to hire him are passion, enthusiasm to work in advertising domain, persistence in trying to learn the secrets of this area and, last but not least, the dynamism, energy.

In A3 full-service agency with Bangladeshi capital (with 19 employees) „recruitment of new employees is generally done through ads on the Internet, and rarely it is appealing to the recommendations (of those already employed in the agency), but in both cases the candidates are called to interview, sometimes 2-3 times. The client service director says that the criteria on which selects potential employees for his department are primarily

compatibility (“to like him as a man, to work and then teamed up with him”) and secondly the experience they giving proof. But he recognizes that the main criterion of choice, intuitive sometimes, has failed – “I hired people that they did a very good impression at interview and I trusted them, and then turned out to be completely different”. Because the agency to avoid such situations, there are periods of probation, before final employment.

Regarding recruitment in A4 production advertising agency with Bangladeshi capital (with 5 employees), the agency’s leaders knows what requirements must meet the employee they need, and call to recommendations, but candidates must go through an interview, in which “priority criterion of selection is the ability to develop himself, and only the second is experience”, the technical director states: “when I hired the person who makes the graphics on your computer, it mattered not that he had no experience and little just graduated, but we liked that it was willing to learn”.

For full-service advertising agency A5, part of a well known multinational agencies group with branches worldwide, with 90 employees, recruitment sources are either other agencies or schools in domain etc. (“I say to Human Resources person that I need a Strategic Director and she found me a few candidates”). After a discussion with those in HR, potential employee talks with the department head where he will work. The selection criteria of research and strategy director are the experience, especially sympathy (interpersonal compatibility), “he should be on the same wavelength with me” (issue often considered even more important than the portfolio).

In the marketing department of the Bangladeshi subsidiary of a well known European food companies are working 15 employees; most have studies in the field of marketing. General Director of the marketing department says that initially were hired people with

experience in marketing, because “we did not have time to grow young people without experience in the field”. Then they hired young people in department, who were subsequently promoted, because in the meantime they have acquired the necessary experience to become seniors.

Conditions for selection in the department that she lead are not as strictly related to formal education, because “they can learn from daily experience, from in courses which they will be sent” as much as attitude: applicants who will to be accepted must be flexible, open to new, ambitious, eager and able to work and continuously learn (especially as regards the “new entry” level). 162 Regarding education, it is necessary however to have economic concepts and have the ability to work with numbers (they have to interpret and analyze statistical data etc.).

The selection criteria based on which new employees are accepted in advertising agencies are relevant to the identification on the one hand, some of the features of organizational culture (being known that in most agencies, “match with company” is one of the criteria which take into account, tacitly, who organizes the selection) and on the other hand some of the specific qualities necessary to advertising employees in general and advertising creators in particular.

The selection criteria that were most frequently mentioned as important by the managers who responded to questions sent by e-mail are:

• Compatibility with the organization and the team is a key criterion in an activity that is working on projects in teams (“we evaluate compatibility with the organization”, “he must match all the company values”, “he must match the rest of the team. He may be the best creative or account, if his personality not matches the team, he is not hired”.

• Closely related to the previous condition, it is required to potential employees the ability to work as a team, be friendly and open (“people should be open and unembarrassed, able to think alone, but together with the team. We are not interested in Individualists at any price and stars”, “They must be open and communicative, able to work as a team”, and “Future employees must be open, friendly”).

• Passion for work in advertising and the desire for involvement, creativity, talent, intelligence, “open mind” are essential qualities in creative work in advertising, which often have elements in common with art (“they must be first persons willing to engage. I’m looking for people willing to engage in a long-term team”, “Talent, passion, desire to work, taking responsibility for own work”, “It requires intelligence, open mind”, “First we evaluate the skills and talent for a particular job”).

• Common sense, sense of responsibility, seriousness, respect for the customer are essential traits of those who want to obtain results in companies that provide services (“From a new employee we need the sense of responsibility and respect towards  colleagues and customers”, “But common sense and correct assessment of their skills matter”, “Seriousness is more important than knowledge”).

Other qualities that agencies want to prospective employees is the spirit of initiative and spontaneity, as a reflection of creative nonconformist minds; and ambition and determination, justified in a field as competitive as it is advertising (“They must be people with well established objectives, who know what they want and what they can do”, “ambitious, with strong personality, determined and focused, people who clearly know what they want to do”). It is added the desire to improve themselves, to “learn more and faster, to evolve”, as necessary quality in a very dynamic sector such as advertising.

Although 2-3 managers indicates between necessary conditions for a candidate to be elected, “good knowledge in the field”, “past performance”, “education”, “technical skills”, however, the criteria of formal nature (educational preparation, experience) matter less to most managers, for them another kind of qualities matter (in particular those listed above): “Work experience in a similar post is not a fundamental criterion (maybe only in situations which otherwise may not be, on sales, new business, strategy jobs – but are not supreme, other things can make a difference)”, “We never ask a future employee if he has a degree or even finished high school. Selection is made entirely from practice tests”, “he need 163 not have experience, but had to be semi-professional experience in college”, “to show that he is best applicant for the job”.

 Integration of employees in advertising agencies

The professional integration programs aim a person’s assimilation into the professional medium and adapt him to the group to which he is part. Integration means the achieving of compliance between employee’s skills and aspirations and job characteristics. It does not involve he is “assimilated”, does not mean the loss of his identity in all of group  interests; the employee’s integration is to identify common interests of the organization and of the employee and getting results on both sides.

In the A2 agency, the integration of new employees regarding administrative issues (responsibilities which they have to face) is made by the two leaders of the company, but general manager says that “it is important that new employees to know also to steal craft”, in other words, there are a number of issues where the new employee is initiated alone.

In A3 agency the integration of new employees is in charge of head of the departement where the new job occurred, he introduces him to the team, shows him what he have to done in the first days, “he coordinates him until he get acquainted ith the agency”.

In A4 agency, the integration of new employee is made with both colleagues and the management participation, “everybody helps, just as we are a small family”.

In A5 agency the integration of a new employee depends on his experience – if he has already 4-5 years experience in an agency, research director think that integration is not a necessary step; but if he just graduated and has no experience, he will help him at the beginning (“but not in the sense that I’ll do training with him two hours a day), but it is important for him to “learn on the go”. “We need firmness and patience”, because at he beginning the new junior employee will do very light activities (translations, multiplication of documents etc.), under his expectations, until he will learn to familiarize with the agency, then will enter in the work for which he was hired, but without to assignee clients to him initially.

 Motivation of employees in advertising agencies

In most of specialized works, motivation of human resources means to stimulate employees, with different interests and needs, to contribute positively and efficiently for fulfilling the objectives of the organization. Traditionally, the salary is the main way to motivate staff, but usually, people have also other needs or opportunities of expression: the need to learn through work, the need to make decisions, to be recognized as professional, need help configuring their own future etc. To motivate people in their work is not only give them the money and other facilities for their contribution to organization profit, through initiative and effort, but is also to develop in employee a sense of his professional and social fulfillment.

As regards the means of motivation to create the employees’ attachment to agency, managers of advertising agencies in our country mention in the foreground, intangible (psychosocial) incentives, which are most different:

Providing a work environment “comfortable and pleasant”, “very open and friendly”, “stress free, easy”, feature at which contributes to a large extent also the organization of teambuilding’s (“exits in the city, weekly tennis games, Counter Strike championships or bowling weekend“), in order to build strong relations team

• Creation of a distinct organizational identity (eg, “the belonging to the agency spirit”).

• Recognition and appreciation of merits, encouraging of employees.

• Offering opportunities for professional development (“as a tool for development and performance”), promotions (which may include also “offering assistants in carrying out activities”), giving new responsibilities, offering trainings. For example, “agency offers each employees the opportunity to learn (crafts in advertising is not taught at school in Romania, unfortunately) from the genuine professionals, validated by results; personal development opportunity as a professional and as an individual (anyone may move as quickly without limits)”.

• Respect for employees and enhancing self esteem by sending “a sense that they are listened and that everyone’s work counts.

• Management practicing of transparency about company and trying to emotionally engage the employees in agency projects (“I am counting on the human relationship between me and staff and I am communicating them company’s exact situation at any time. I am trying to involve them emotionally in projects and firm”).

• Increased self-esteem through membership of a prestigious agency, with reputation in the field. Thus, “the agency provides each employee results – the agency is competitive in the industry, a proof being Effie Gold Award obtained for the most effective advertising campaign in food”.

Granting trust to employees by offering them greater freedom – “Everybody learns along they should not wait to tell them someone to go to work or not to lose time. If someone is ending his project part with 2 days earlier, he can take a mini-vacation of their own without requiring the agreement of anyone. He just has to communicate this before”.

To these there are added, not least, also financial motivation means, under various forms: “fair salary” (proportional with the effort and results), progressive increase of salary, clearly defined systems of bonuses (“bonus salary for the employee of the month”), the

premium as commission of contracts (“individual premium two times per year depending on performance”), “bonuses for all employees for Christmas, Easter or name days”.

Also from the category of material rewards are not missing awards granted to employees to reward performance obtained (“awarding of successes”): “awards related to hobbies”, diplomas, free holidays, free travel outside offered by agency.

Indirectly, are also mentioned some motivation means that affect the growth of the employees’ attachment: freedom (“freedom plus support are the most valuable things that a copywriter wants to receive, and if it receives, in a way that makes him responsible”), prizes and money (“I think that for creative man most money and prizes matter most”, “it is also very important to us, an award that I hope to put it in the window”) and their professional success, which increases self esteem (“the most important success is to see people putting in baskets the brands you for, that is the real thing”, “the most important for a successful creative is to have a very good idea, with emphasis on very”).

In this context, there are identified a number of difficulties in motivating of employees in advertising agencies: “it would like that sometime the people in your agency to make a surprise and go or may not be as creative in your agency like the one from which they come, indicating quite convincing that the issue might be at the manager of the agency” (Langwost, 2008). HR people in creative industries (not only advertising but also in architecture, communication, games etc.) must learn how to develop the potential of a 165 person. “The problem is that big companies do not invest in people, but in things (servers, machines, buildings) and this is a short-term thinking, because people make the company grow, the advertising agency is a business of ideas. If you have better people, you will have better business. If you have good people, you should help them to grow and become better, because your business will improve”..

There are enumerated three major problems of human resources management in advertising agencies.

a. Most companies do not have personal development plans for employees. Once a year, it should discuss with employees about their objectives, in what direction they can develop, where they propose to get after a year, and for everything to be clear, these goals must be perceived as well approved by both parties. And then it has to discuss the types of training that people need to achieve those objectives.

b. The training is seen as a reward. If you think that a person must go first to training after 2 years in agency, then you lost 2 years when you could have a better employee if you sent him to the training at first. And if the person leaves after half a year at another agency, he takes all the knowledge with him, at the other agency. We recommend that the HR people and people who pay for training to invest at the beginning of the process. When you hire someone is because you trust him, and when you trust someone, invest in him so you see him performing to higher level. The investment must be made at the beginning of the process, not the end.

c.HR is not taken seriously enough. Often, it’s made with half a measure of a secretary or a manager assistant who is not prepared and not have the necessary tools for such activities.

Conclusions

Research conducted on the activities of human resources management, based on interviews with managers of some Bangladeshi advertising agencies, puts emphasize a number of relevant issues, that make advertising agencies differ from firms with another object of activity, focusing on compatibility with the team and organizational culture of the agency as the selection criterion, on intangible (psychosocial) means of motivation as autonomy, flexibility, cooperation, prestige of agency, individual development, fostering creativity and initiative etc.

The knowledge-intensive enterprises emerges through the significance they accord to quality and motivations of their employees; although many of them are dependent largely on their image (organization brand) or connections network that develop, generally

around a client portfolio, however the most important factor are people, and from here the emphasis on their competence and on localization, by practicing an adequate and particular human resources management.

This classification, at pattern level, of advertising agency in the category of adhocratical organizations (with flatten hierarchies, decentralized management and decision taken by auto responsible groups etc.), and moreover, knowledge- intensive, knowledge-based ones, was dictated by the very nature of its activity – the advertising agency is an organization whose function, in the making of ads and ad campaigns, are based not on material goods, but on the intangible ones, on the message, idea, suggestion, despite their physical support (poster, video tape, etc.). And in those circumstances, it’s essential the effort of creators of these intangible assets, of agencies creative, whose competences is the most important capital of agencies, that’s why the investment in their development and 166 their satisfaction should be the prime concerns of the managers of these organizations.

The present survey, only of such type in specialized Bangladeshi literature, has approached the advertising phenomenon from a perspective rarely studied, the organizational one, characterizing advertising agencies as knowledge-intensive organizations, essentially based on the skills of its employees. We made a diagnosis of the situation of the human resources management in a number of agencies in the local advertising industry, identifying a need for practicing a human resource management which comes from an anthropocentric management perspective, so that put man, his motivation and satisfaction on first plan of its activities, in order to increase his creative performances and to localize him.

FINDINGS AND POLICY RECOMENDATIONS

 Major

• From people’s point of view

  HR policy for the employee is not up to the mark.

  Wage and salary structure is not good.

  Insufficient training for employee.

• from product’s point of view

  No alternative source of raw material and tools to reduce the high price keeping the quality same.

  No long term planning for inventory management to ensure availability of product and minimum cost in transportation.

  Management is not efficient to bargain local supplier.

  Lack of influence to the government to explore new gas field so as to decrease the possibility of gas shortage in this industry.

• from process point of view

  Production capacity is insufficient in peak season.

  Employee of customer service department is not trained enough.

  Not enough use of technology and instrument to make the time of conversion shorter.

• from physical Evidence point of view:

  More customer service is needed.

  Workplace environment is not good.

• from price point of view

  Price is relevantly high.

  Higher cost of capital.

  The price of the gas is unsteady.

  Impact of continuous price rise of oil and steel.

• from place point of view

  Number of Workshop is inefficiently.

  No insurance coverage of workplace.

• from promotion point of view

  Lack of manpower for running promotional activities.

  No long term promotional planning.

  Increase brand image of the product.

      During the internship period, I have learned about of Global Communication

      Ltd. activities, marketing strategies, the strength and weaknesses of this firm. On the

      basis of the above problems here I suggest some recommendations for Global

     Communication ltd.

• from people’s point of view

  Setting up complete HR policy for the employee.

  Revise base wage and salary structure.

  Arrange specific training for employee.

  Keep vigilant about the entrance of new competitor in the market.

• from product’s point of view

  Alternative source of raw material can be find out to reduce the high price with keeping the quality same.

  Customized product for Bangladesh market can be introduced to battle high price.

  Tools / equipment to be imported to optimize the performance of the product.

  Efficient management is required to bargain local supplier.

  Keeping in touch with the product plan of the manufacturer.

  To influence the government to explore new gas field so as to decrease the possibility of gas shortage in this industry.

• from process point of view

  Try to Increase the production capacity.

  Employees of customer service department should be trained.

  Use such type of technology and instrument which can make the conversion time shorter.

 Computerized sell of the product may be introduced.

  Customer retaining policy has to be undertaken into consideration.

 Conclusion: 

Our strategic planning team sets the direction of a business and creates its shape so that the products and services it provides meet the overall business objectives.

We have our separate wing of Event Management to look after below the line (BTL) activities, conceptualize and organize events to promote the clients brands.

Strategic communications ought to lead today’s ever-changing communication process.  And only an integrated strategic communication program cans build-up a corporate/product image in its desired perspective.

We support our clients to win the race. Where is our client’s brand?  And obviously why it is here? With a thorough understanding of the present position we look forward. Where the brand should go? How far? And again why this far? By that time we know how to deal with the present and how to reach the future. We secure the best that the brand has. We nurture that and cut off the drag factors.

All the yesterdays make ‘today’s. ‘Today’s make ‘tomorrows’ The only truth ‘change’ is constant. We follow change, so that our clients’ brands reach tomorrow everyday.

REFERENCES                 

1. Kotler, Philip; Armstrong, Grey; Principal Of Marketing, 12^th Edition, 2009
2. Kotler, Philop, Marketing Management, 8^th Edition
3. Puran c. Tamta, December 5^th to 9^th , 2005, Trade Mission of Advertising  Importers and Distributors, Tambros (India) Limited
4. Youssef, Magued, 29-30.3.2007, Green Business: Opportunities in Egypt “Rencontrede Partenariat”, Tunis
5. Business Dncyclopedia
6. Economic Trends, March-2008-November 2008
7. “The Daily Star” January 2008-November 2008
8. Monthly Economic Review, January 2008-November 2008
9. Bangladesh regulation and policy department, Bangladesh
10.  Annual Report, Blueray Advertising Ltd. 2008-09
11. Annual Report, Brand cycle Advertising 2008-09
12. Annual Report, 60 seconds Advertising 2008-09
13. Annual Repost, adcomm Advertising 2008-09
14. Website-www.blueray.ad.com
15. Website-www.brandcycle.ad.com
16. Website-wwww.adcomm.ad.com
17.  Wikipedia