France Telecom Case Study

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France Telecom Case Study

• II- Business Strategy and
• Management of KEY Competencies

Lecture 4
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Some more features of the corporate context that
have been pre-requistes for the implementation
of Competency Management

• Conducting the privatization process
• Introducing a new Classification System based on
  a limited number of reference jobs
• Focusing on the Yearly Progress Interview
  (performance appraisal) for revising Human
  Resources Management Practices

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To summarize 10 years of fast evolution at FT

• From
• - A technical administration evolving in a
  monopolistic context
• To
• - A commercial service provider evolving in a
  competitive context

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• Technical administration with monopoly
• Employment Security
• Scale-based salary
• Mobility on wishes
• Civil servant status of the staff
• Technical legitimacy
• The technique impacts the service offered
• The subscriber is a captive market
• All activities are monopolistic
• Administrative accounting
• Administrative management
• Prices are based on non-optimized costs

• Service company in competitive market
• Fear on employment
• Individualised and Merit-based salary
• Mobility for the service
• Employee shareholder of the company
• Commercial legitimate
• The technique is the answer to match demand
• The Client is in the heart
• All activities are in competitive environment
• Private law accounting
• Management based on quality-cost-deadlines,
  productivity and profitability
• Prices are determined by the competitive market

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Breakdown of France Telecom staff (France)
Early retirement planat 55 instead of 60
years with 70 of salary one-year bonus
Orange, Wanadoo
thousands
Fixed and distribution
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Key issues to be developed

• Re-classification
• Appraisal
• Career management

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New issues of HR Management...

• From one PTT administration towards a Private
  company..
• How to manage administrative personnel (civil
  servants rights) in coherence with private rights
  personnel in a competitive sector company ?
• From a qualification approach towards a
  competency logic point of view.
• How to warrant employment criteria in the work
  environment today?
• How to warrant the group performance combining
  both individual and multi-skills?
• How to ensure evolution in skills?

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HR Management Evolution

• This evolution was closely followed by a deep
  social reform that lead to a really coherent and
  innovative HR management policy (although
  conforming to the civil servant rules).
• The key issue of this new management
• Re-reclassification
• (from a grade to a specific job-type)

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Re-classification From grades to classification

• Objectives and principles
• Identify all functions in place in the
  organization
• Facilitate coherence between functions and
  professional qualifications
• Recognize the value of professional experience
  acquired during the career and through promotion
• The different steps
• Identify key functions (130) which cover all
  fulfilled functions
• Position these functions with an appropriate
  rating scale
• Design evaluation and weighting tool
• Use this tool to fix all functions on levels on
  which build the new Human Resources salary scales

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Re-classification Function levels

• 15 function levels identified and organized in 4
  classes
• Class I corresponds to the functions of
  low-skilled employees without required diploma (3
  sub-levels)
• Class II groups the functions of team members and
  supervisors (3 sub-levels)
• Class III corresponds to the front-line Managers
  (3 sub-levels)
• Class IV corresponds to Executive Managers (6
  sub-levels)

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Re-classification Function levels
Class I specialized agents
Recruiting without any diploma
Class II Team Members and Supervisors
Recruiting A-level
Recruiting mode
500 grades
Class III Exploitation and management
executives
Recruiting bachelor degree
Class IV Top executives
Recruiting master of engineering
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Re-classification Positioning tool weighting

• Responsibility Criteria 35
• Management level 14
• Specific Responsability (finance, security,
  etc,.) 10
• Impact status 11
• Competency Criteria 28
• Experience, skills 14
• Problem solving ability 14
• Autonomy Criteria 22
• Relationship Criteria 12
• Hardship Criteria 3

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Re-classification Criteria and weighting degrees

• Management level
• Degrees from 0 to 3000 persons
• Relational Dimension nature, frequency, quality
  of relationship
• Degrees collection, analysis, simple
  restitution, with factual persuasion or no, for
  whom, for which purpose,...
• Competency experience
• Degrees knowledge, know-how, behaviour
  requirements, (in one or various fields) acquired
  through experience or studies
• Autonomy
• Degrees simple tasks, complex ones, with or
  without procedures to apply
• Problem solving ability unusual situation or
  not..
• Responsibilities extend limited, concerned with
  others..
• Impact with or without risks, recommendation
  needed,..
• Hardship physical, psychological, mental
  strain,..

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Re-classification Job description - functional
links

• Objective allowing the establishment of a link
  between an employee and a targeted function
• Methodology
• From occupied job posts and the link to a
  function, a proposal is made to every employee
  through a job description which includes
• The hierarchical connection
• A structural position
• A position in the classification scale
• A corresponding salary scale
• Internal promotion perspectives

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An Appraisal tool the Progress Interview (PI)

• Implementation of PI allows
• Evaluation
• Post activities and associated skills mastering
• Fixed objectives achievement and performance
• Employee potential capability
• Fixing objectives for the period to come
• Raising needs in terms of skills development
• Promoting individual expectations
• PI becomes a real management tool which permits
• a compensation evolution
• a promotion for the employee
• Consideration for evolution wishes in terms of
  career

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Conducting of Annual Progress Interview (PI)

• A progressive implementation processA top-down
  approach, without any exception
• Preliminary Preparation of those conducting the
  interviewsA face-to-face training session,
  complemented with a probationary period allowing
  HR Managers to master their facilitators role
• Detailed information of those being assessedAn
  opportunity to put into practice the up-dated
  rules concerning internal communication
  (cascading dissemination, intensive use of the
  Intranet,listening practices and bottom-up
  information flows)
• Conducting the annual interviewWith a strong
  will to eliminate any prejudice and in order to
  conciliate collective interest with individual
  expectations

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Job Description Key features

• Creation date
• Job title
• Duty station
• Job title of the Supervisor
• Main duties
• Size and importance of the position
• of the post itself (allocated budget, staff)
• of the business unit (overall budget, staff)
• Specific context/ environment/ contribution to
  the value chain

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Job Description Key competencies (Managerial
and Executive levels)

• To decide
• To direct
• To make happen
• Ensure data security,..while delegating the
  responsibility
• Analyse disfunctionning causes
• To Lead
• Supervise the personnel management team
• Support and take training actions
• To Communicate
• Coordinate the different interlocutors
• Inform and assist the users
• To Solve problems
• Define, coordinate, organise and manage
  TEAMSactivities
• Be aware of new techniques

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The Management of Career Development Mapping of
Critical Competencies

Make happen
Direct
Lead
Communicate
Decide
Problem-solving
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Career evolution (1/2)

• Career orientation complements the individual
  appraisal
• To be organized in line with the Progress
  Interview and without any hierarchical
  constraint
• Through the implementation of ad-hoc committees
  whose members are Heads of Operational Units or
  HQ Departments
• Already prepared to identify competency
  profiles- Aware of job vacancies in the
  concerned regional area and concrete
  opportunities for filling these posts - Able to
  design transitional scenarii for moving
  step-by-step from the current post to the target
  position

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Career evolution (2/2)
Management of internal re-deployment is
considered as a real process- In order to
create a genuine employment market at the level
of each regional area, reflecting the diversity
of job opportunities in compliance with the
national and international Human Resources policy
of the company. - Based on a clear
identification of the responsibilities of the
originatingand terminating branches of the
organization,..that should not be
limitedneither to an excessive confidence in the
employees goodwill, norto sub-contracting the
HR Manager the whole re-deployment process-
Recognizing the importance of eventual
transitional situations for a smoothtransfer of
know-how
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From a local HRM towards a virtual one From
the HR executive office to HRCC and
Intranet New upcome...

• The Front line manager (Group Manager) becomes
  the first HR Adviser of his/her Group (team).
• The Business Unit HR Director is required to
  provide support to the group manager.
• Usual actions related to HR management are
  carried out through the Intranet. Every employee
  becomes an actor of his/her own management
• gt Reduction of HR structure in the units
• HRCC creation HR platform (Call Center) to
  bring together resources providing support to
  several units..and provide corporate visibility
  on Job Vacancies

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www.francetelecom.comBernard MERK Equipes RH
acteurs de la str_at_tégie
Bibliography