Report on

Effectiveness of talent management at BRAC

Submitted by
Md. Moin Hossain
ID- 17304139

An internship report submitted to the BRAC Business School in partial fulfillment of the
requirements for the degree of
Bachelor of Business Administration

BRAC Business School

Brac University
2021

© 2021. BRAC University

All rights reserved.

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Declaration

It is hereby declared that

1. The internship report submitted is my own original work while completing degree at Brac
University.
2. The report does not contain material previously published or written by a third party, except
where this is appropriately cited through full and accurate referencing.
3. The report does not contain material which has been accepted, or submitted, for any other
degree or diploma at a university or other institution.
4. I have acknowledged all main sources of help.

Student’s Full Name & Signature:

___________________________________________
Md. Moin Hossain
17304139

Supervisor’s Full Name & Signature:

__________________________________________
Ms. Tanzin Khan
Lecturer, BRAC Business school
BRAC University

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Letter of Transmittal

Ms. Tanzin Khan

Lecturer, BRAC Business School
BRAC University
66, Mohakhali, Dhaka-1212

Subject: Submission of Internship report

Dear Ma’am,
It is my pleasure to submit my internship report regarding “Effectiveness of talent management at
BRAC”, where everything has been accomplished under your kind guidance.
I have tried my best to complete this report with the fundamental data in a notable compact and
comprehensive way. I’m hopeful that the report will fulfill the motive.
Sincerely yours,
_______________________
Md. Moin Hossain
ID- 17304139
BRAC Business School
BRAC University
Date: 9 October, 2021

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Acknowledgement

I’m very grateful to the almighty for giving me the chance to complete my internship in such a
grand organization like BRAC. I was very fortunate to get to work with very skillful and wonderful
professionals in a fascinating work environment. I believe I have learned so much in this short
period of time which will help me in the long run.
I’m also very grateful to my academic supervisor, Ms. Tanzin Khan. This whole report has
been completed with her direction and instructions. There is no way I could complete the report
without her support. The way she communicated with us even during the tough time of the
pandemic situation is worth mentioning. She checked all my draft reports thoroughly and gave
important feedback in time, which helped me to understand my mistakes and correct those.
Another man who deserves the gratitude is my organizational supervisor, the head of talent
management at BRAC, Mr. Tyseer Amin. The way he supported me throughout the time is
remarkable. He helped me to understand the whole process and also gave me access to the
resources. He was also one of my interviewees, which was a vital part for completing the internship
report.
Last but not the least, I would like to thank all the members of the talent management team for
making my experience a memorable one.

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Executive Summary

With the vision of uplifting rural people’s lives and empowering women, BRAC started its journey
in 1972. This internship report has been made to measure the effectiveness of the talent
management process at BRAC. This process is to formulate, define and execute talent strategy in
line with business strategy that links strategic resourcing, succession planning and leadership
development across the organization. The objective of this report is to identify the effectiveness of
the talent management process and understand the attitude of the employees towards it. This is a
qualitative report that has the analysis of the interviewee responses collected from the employees
of the company. This report will help the talent management team to get a view on the attitude
of the employees towards the process and will help them to take necessary steps to make the
process better and effective for the employees.

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Contents

Declaration....................................................................................................................... 2
Letter of Transmittal ..................................................................................................... 3
Acknowledgement ........................................................................................................... 4
Executive Summary ........................................................................................................ 5
Chapter 1: Overview of Internship ............................................................................... 7
1.1 Student Information ................................................................................................. 7
1.2 Internship Information: ............................................................................................ 7
1.3 Internship Outcomes ................................................................................................ 8
Chapter 2: Organization Part ........................................................................................ 11
2.1. Introduction ............................................................................................................11
2.2 Overview of the company .......................................................................................11
2.3 Management Practices ............................................................................................15
2.4 Marketing Practices ............................................................................................... 21
2.5 Financial information and Accounting Practices ................................................... 22
2.6 Operation Management .......................................................................................... 24
2.7 Industry and Competitive Analysis ........................................................................ 26
2.8 Summary and Conclusion ...................................................................................... 31
2.9 Recommendations .................................................................................................. 31
Chapter 3: Project Part.................................................................................................. 32
3.1 Introduction ............................................................................................................ 32
3.2 Methodology .......................................................................................................... 35
3.3 Findings and Analysis ............................................................................................ 36
3.4 Summary and Conclusions .................................................................................... 38
3.5 Recommendations .................................................................................................. 39
References ................................................................................................................. 40

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Chapter 1

Overview of Internship

1.1 Student Information

Name: Md. Moin Hossain
ID: 17304139
Program: BRAC Business School
Major: Human Resource Management and Operations Management

1.2 Internship Information

1.2.1 Period, Company Name, Department, Address
Period: June 20, 2021 – September 20, 2021
Company Name: BRAC
Department: Human Resources Division
Address: BRAC Centre, 75 Mohakhali, Dhaka-1212, Bangladesh

1.2.2 Internship Company Supervisor’s Information

Name: Tyseer Hasan Amin

Position: Head of talent management

1.2.3 Job Scope

The job description for interns at the Human Resource Division were-
a) Working with HRD to research best practices in some specific HR functions
b) Assisting HRD in the recruitment process
c) Working on specific projects, such as Talent Management, recruitment etc.
d) Compiling training report on capacity development initiatives from different countries and
providing support in organizing training where necessary

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As I was an intern at the talent management team, which works with the HR department, my
primary job was to assist in assessment and assisting my team members in different areas. My
supervisor, Mr. Tyseer Amin guided me to work on different segments of assessment including
data collection, data evaluation etc. I also assisted my team members with their work. Attending
meetings, sharing opinions etc. was part of my job as well.

1.3 Internship Outcomes

1.3.1 Student’s Contribution to the Company

For many student’s, an internship is the first experience of the real corporate world. It was no
different for me. In my three months of service, I tried to give my best and learn as much as
possible. My contribution to the company will be the assist in assessment. Also, making slides,
recording meeting times, in a word, helping my team to complete the process smoothly was my
contribution to the company. Though the contribution could have been far more than this if it
wasn’t for the Covid-19 situation as we were forced to stay at home and continue working from
there.

1.3.2 Benefits to the student

The three months of internship at the largest NGO had a lot of impact on me. The benefits that I
had in this three months of internship can be categorized into some sections like-

Professional work environment- BRAC being the largest NGO in the world maintains an
exceptional work environment. I worked with very skillful, experienced professionals in a
wonderful environment which will be a great experience for me. The employees are very polite,
humble and cooperative to each other. They feel more like a family than colleagues. From them I
learned to maintain a great work environment and organization culture.

Enriching soft skills- BRAC has helped me a lot to enrich my soft skills. I have learned and
practiced punctuality, working responsibly, being cooperative with coworkers and so on. This will
boost my moral values and will help me in my career.

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Networking- I had the fortune to work with wonderfully skillful professionals at BRAC. They are
among the best at what they do. So being in touch with them will not only help me to get myself
accustomed to the corporate world, but also will create a great job opportunity for me in the future.

Developing communication- We all know HR deals with people. They have to connect to new
people everyday and work with them. As I was an intern at the HRD department, I have developed
my communication skills significantly. This particular skill is very important in any sector of work.
Thus, being more expressive and achieving the ability to connect with people will enable me to go
further in my corporate career.

Practical work experience- I had the opportunity to assist my team in the process of assessment,
which is a crucial part of talent management. Also I learned about different departments of BRAC
and their work. Here at BRAC, I had the opportunity to imply my academic knowledge in a
practical way. I learned about management process, assessment objectives and process etc in my
undergrad, which I implied here.

1.3.3 Problems / Difficulties

There is no doubt that I enjoyed each moment of working at the wonderful environment of BRAC.
But due to covid 19 situation, most of the time we were in lockdown and I had no option but to
work from home. This took away some of the scope of working closely with my team. Also, there
stays a tiny communication gap in the process of work from home. Though I learned a lot, I could
learn so much more if the covid situation was different.

1.3.4 Recommendations

I have passed absolutely mesmerizing time at BRAC during my three months of internship. My
team members and others have been very cooperative. They helped me in every possible way to
understand the workflow and to get accustomed with the organizational culture. But there are a
couple of things that can be improved for better experience for interns. First of all, we all know
that companies give comparatively less exposure to the interns usually, so giving more exposure
to interns can motivate them to learn more. Getting a good idea about the working process of other
departments of the company can help them to enhance their experience and knowledge about the

9
company. Also the communications could be more efficient, but we also have to keep in mind the
covid outbreak situation.

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Chapter 2
Organization Part

2.1 Introduction
I have done my internship at BRAC. I’m grateful to the almighty for giving me the opportunity to
start my career in such a grand organization. BRAC has been the leading NGO in the world and
has been working to uplift people's lives. I’ve worked with the Human Resource and Development
department and tried my best to work within my limits. I specifically worked with the talent
management team. The main focus of the team is to assess the performance of the employees and
help them to develop. BRAC being the leading NGO needs the best people in every department
and the talent management team is here to ensure that.

2.2 Overview of the company

BRAC stands for Building Resources Across Community, and is the largest NGO in the world. It
operates in 11 other countries in the world along with Bangladesh with an aim for changing
people’s lives. The founder of BRAC is Sir Fazle Hasan Abed KCMG. Sir Abed started BRAC
right after the liberation war in 1971. In 1972, BRAC started its journey to rebuild the war affected
country. Initially BRAC worked to elevate the lives of refugees and poor homeless people of the
country. At that time the child mortality rate of the country was very high and people were dying
from diarrhea. BRAC initiated to go home to home and teach people to make oral saline which
helped many lives to survive. It lowered the child mortality rate to 60%. BRAC now works in
various sectors like healthcare, microfinance, education, disaster relief and so on. BRAC makes
80% of its own revenue from its social enterprises like BRAC dairy, Aarong, BRAC Agro and
seeds, BRAC chicken, BRAC fisheries etc.

2.2.1 Vision, Mission, Core Values:

Vision
BRAC has a noble vision of a world free from all forms of exploitation and discrimination where
everyone has the opportunity to realize their potential.

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Mission
The mission of BRAC is to empower people and communities in situations of poverty, illiteracy,
disease and social injustice. Their interventions aim to achieve large scale, positive changes
through economic and social programs that enable women and men to realize their potential.

Core Values
The four core values of BRAC are -
1. Integrity.
2. Innovation.
3. Inclusiveness.
4. Effectiveness

2.2.2 Brand name and logo

BRAC was formerly known as Bangladesh Rehabilitation Assistance Committee, then as the
Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee, and later as Building Resources Across
Communities. The logo has also been changed several times. Here are the old and current logos of
BRAC.

Fig- Old logos of BRAC

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Fig- Current logo of BRAC (Retrieved from https://www.brac.net)

13
Organogram

Fig- BRAC Organogram (Retrieved from https://www.brac.net)

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Products and Services

BRAC has its own subsidiaries from which it makes most of its revenue. As per Some subsidiaries
of BRAC are-
1. Aarong
2. BRAC Agro and seeds
3. BRAC Chicken
4. BRAC fisheries
5. BRAC Dairy
(Retrieved from https://www.brac.net/program/)
BRAC has been working from its beginning to alleviate people's lives. The services of BRAC have
helped people who lived below the poverty line to get a better life. Some services of BRAC are
mentioned below-
1. Economic development
2. Educational development
3. Microfinance
4. Disaster relief
5. Health and safety
(Retrieved from https://www.brac.net/program/)

2.3 Management Practices

2.3.1 Leadership Style

An organization must go through a proper and effective management practice because the
success of the organization relies on it. BRAC being the top NGO in the world possesses an
effective management process that enables it to run thoroughly. The leadership style that BRAC
follows is participatory leadership. Participatory leadership is quite similar to democratic
leadership that encourages employees to actively participate in the decision making process. In

15
participatory leadership all the employees work together to make decisions. There are a few steps
that it follows, like-
1. Discuss as a team
2. Provide necessary information
3. Share their own ideas and opinions
4. Process those ideas and information
5. Actually make the decision
6. Implement the decision

Here at BRAC, there are two layers of participative leadership. The mid-level management follows
collective participative leadership where all members of the group are equally involved and
responsible. The leader just works as a facilitator here and assists the employees. But in the higher
management level, the autocratic participative leadership is practiced. There the leader holds the
power over other employees. To make a decision, they do not need to have permission from all
the employees. Actually in large organizations like BRAC, it is needed to follow some sort of
autocracy to properly maintain the work flow and decision making process.
The leadership style at BRAC enables it to achieve its goals and objectives. As we have talked
about it earlier, BRAC works to empower people in situations of poverty, illiteracy, disease and
social injustice. By following participatory leadership, it makes sure that the internal environment
is well and all the employees are empowered equally. If equality is maintained inside the
organization, it will encourage them to practice it at the field level as well. That’s how BRAC
achieves its goals and objectives.

2.3.2 Recruitment and Selection Process

The recruitment process at BRAC follows some steps-

1. Identify vacancy and evaluate need

This is a part of Human resource planning where the HR personnel will identify the needs of people
and will reorganize the work distribution. The HR personnel will identify the current manpower

16
and will forecast the future manpower depending on the work. This is a crucial part because
misjudgment in this step can create an overflow or scarcity of employees which can affect the
balance at the workplace.

2. Develop job description

The next step includes developing a job description where the necessary details about the job are
given. It includes job position, location, work details, requirements, educational background, work
experiences, salary etc. All these are properly mentioned in the job description.

3. Post job circular in different online and offline media

After the job description is ready, BRAC does the job advertising. In this step the job circular is
posted in the official website of BRAC as well as different online job portals and newspapers. The
interested candidates find these circulars and apply for the job.

4. Receive applications
Once the job is posted online, the applicant starts applying. The recruitment team will provide an
email address and deadline to apply and drop their CV. Throughout the deadline time, the
recruitment team will continue receiving and organizing the applications.

5. Shortlist candidates
After the deadline, the recruitment team stops receiving applications and starts shortlisting
candidates. This is another crucial part because there are chances of missing out on an appropriate
candidate due to negligence. The recruitment team carefully evaluates all the applications because
often many people apply without meeting the requirements. So all the applications are monitored
properly and best suitable candidates are shortlisted. The recruitment team maintains a folder for
each of the shortlisted candidates and puts their documents in it.

6. Conduct exams and interview

Once the candidates are shortlisted according to their CV, they appear on designated exams. Exams
can be written or oral. In this critical time of pandemic, the interviews are held online. The
interview is taken based on some structured questions as well as candid questions. Each candidate

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is interviewed for about 20 to 30 minutes considering how interested the board is about them. In
this time the member of the interview board tries their best to figure out the personality of the
candidate. They tend to give the candidate most of the time to express themselves. In the meantime,
their reference is checked and all other information is verified. Candidates are screened out due to
different shortcomings. Mostly, their communication skills are given focus on.

7. Complete necessary measures and finalize recruitment

After the interview, the board members discuss among themselves, score the candidate and the
best candidates get recruited. The recruitment team lets the selected candidate know that they are
hired and wait for their confirmation. Once they confirm, they are given a specific date to join
BRAC. In the meantime, they need to submit several forms like personal information form,
nominee form, etc. They also need to submit a photocopy of all their academic certificates and
NOC from their previous job if needed. After all these are successfully completed, the person is
hired. This is how a candidate becomes an employee and starts his/ her journey at BRAC.

2.3.3 Compensation management

Compensation management is the system that is concerned with compensating employees for their
job. The main objective of compensation management is to attract new recruits and motivate
current employees. Additional benefits to the basic salary can also keep the morale of the employee
high and encourage them to go an extra mile for the company. The compensation management is
directly related to retention of employees, improved productivity and employee satisfaction.
BRAC follows a monthly compensation system in general. In some project based recruitments,
BRAC can pay periodically or according to the project. They also provide some benefits like
festive bonus, health insurance, contributory compulsory provident fund, gratuity, staff security
benefits and others. Also the talent management team does the annual assessment and based on
that performance appraisal is given. If an employee performs better, he or she gets an increased
payment or some additional amount. BRAC also strictly keeps in mind the government rules and
regulations regarding compensating its employees.

2.3.4 Training and development initiatives

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Training and development is a must for the betterment of the employees and overall improvement
in productivity for the company. BRAC has an effective training and development process that is
particularly handled by the talent management team. The process includes different steps like-

1. Training needs analysis

The first step of this process is the training needs analysis part. Here the talent management
team assesses the particular group of employees and compares their actual performance
with expected performance. If the actual performance is lower than the expected
performance, then the employees need training to develop themselves. Also, if a new skill
set is necessary for the employees to adapt or the existing skills need to be upgraded, the
needs of training is necessary.
2. Setting goals and objectives
After the team is done with analyzing training needs, the goal and objectives of the training
is to be set. There can be diversified objectives for a training like
 Adopting with the organization culture
 Acquiring a new skill
 Change of attitude towards workplace
 To enlighten about some specific topic
 To provide ethical knowledge
These objectives can be differently set according to the need of the training. Setting the
objective is important because the whole training process depends on that.

3. Training methods
There can be different training methods depending on the objectives of the training. At
BRAC all newly recruited employees go through an orientation training to get themselves
accustomed with the new culture. Employees also follow a role-play method if there is a
certain topic that needs to be interacted on. In rural areas, the employees basically do this
type of role-play or simulation to make rural people understand the topic. For example, the

19
 making of oral saline to prevent diarrhea is shown in a simulation process where employees
make oral saline and teach the process to the rural people. There can be seminars on specific
events like International Women's day, International Mother Language day etc. Also for
some recent topics like child marriage, acid violence, domestic violence etc are taken place
in audiovisual training. Internships and apprenticeships are training programs for newly
recruited employees. Also all employees must attend sessions on sensitive topics like
workplace exploitation, sexual violence, misusage of power etc. Job rotations are done to
enhance the work experience and enhance understanding about the organization.

4. Implementation

As the training and development is done with setting the training goals and selecting the
method, the main training process is actually taken place. The management and HR team
consults with the higher authority and decides the time schedule for the program. The
newly recruited employees usually go through the training right after joining. The existing
employees go through training depending on the workload and free time span. The
internship and apprenticeship goes on throughout the time an employee works in the
organization.

5. Evaluation and monitoring

Once an employee goes through a training process, it is important to evaluate and
constantly monitor the employee and his output. Training takes place to upgrade a certain
skill or to develop a new skill. Sometimes it is just to get someone accustomed to the new
workplace. Whatever the objective and goal is, the output should be monitored. If the
employee has changed attitude towards the workplace and he is more productive, that
means the training program is implemented successfully. On the other hand, if an employee
shows somewhat to zero change, then the training program needs to be redesigned because
it is not effective. BRAC does all these through their talent management process who
arrange yearly assessment to selected employees. The employees are given time to improve

20
 their performance. If they can, they are rewarded. If they cannot show better performance,
they will be terminated.

2.3.5 Performance Appraisal

Employees get their performance evaluated each year by the talent management team. BRAC
follows the SMART system of performance appraisal where the objectives of employees are
Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant and Time framed. Their performance is evaluated into
five main categories. They are-
1. Outstanding- It means the employee has exceeded all the expectations with great margin
and gone beyond it.
2. Exceeds performance expectation- This category is for employees who did perform good
and somehow exceeded the expected performance. The output here is more than 100%
which makes them a great asset to the team.
3. Meets the expected performance- This category of employees meets the expected
performance just as much. They are not outstanding performers or under performers. A
better effort from them can make them outstanding performers.
4. Not fully achieved expected performance- Here the employee has met some of the expected
performance but not all of them. Their output percentage is below 100%.
5. Underperformer- This is the poor performers who did not meet the expectations
whatsoever. They need serious mentoring or they need to be terminated under performance
ground.
Good performance leads them to promotion, salary increment and better benefits whereas poor
performance leads them to termination.

2.4 Marketing Practices

2.4.1 Marketing strategy

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As a full blown Non-Government Organization, BRAC earns 80% of its revenue from its social
enterprises (Amin, 2018). BRAC has developed many social enterprises from its beginning like-

 Aarong
 BRAC Dairy
 BRAC Agro and Seeds
 BRAC Chicken
 BRAC Fisheries
 BRAC Sericulture
 Microlending institutions
 BRAC Nursery
 BRAC cold storage
All these enterprises are individual and independent. They run thoroughly to alleviate people's
lives and also to earn revenue for BRAC.
BRAC being an NGO does not have a dedicated marketing department. Though they make pitches
to different global organizations for funding. Biggest global institutions like World Bank,
UNICEF, UNESCO, WHO etc. provide funds to BRAC. This is mainly the marketing strategy
BRAC follows.

2.5 Financial Performance and Accounting Practices

2.5.1 Defining Financial Performance and Accounting practices

Financial performance is the study to understand how a company is doing financially. It focuses
on how an organization allocates its resources to gain revenue and manage its assets, liabilities and
the financial interest of its stakeholders.

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Financial performance is the picture of the health of the economy for a particular organization.
The stakeholders like customers, suppliers, shareholders, bondholder everyone keep track of the
financial performance of a company. It also reflects the job management and internal
synchronization of the company.
Accounting practice is the day to day procedure of recording the financial transaction of a
company. It is a must to maintain the legal financial and income statements. There are mainly two
types of accounting practices; cash accounting and accrual accounting.
Cash accounting mainly records the day to day transactions where the expense is recorded only
when it’s paid and the revenue is recorded only after it’s received. On the other hand, accrual
accounting records transactions when they are actually incurred rather than paid or spent. It gives
a more accurate picture of the company's financial position.
There are several methods to figure out the financial position of an organization. Among them,
liquidity ratio, efficiency ratio, profitability ratio, leverage etc are the most common ones.
If we go through the financial report of BRAC for the last three years, we can get a good idea of
how it operates financially. Here we will look through the annual financial report of 2017, 2019
and 2020, thus we will figure out some ratios regarding the liquidity, efficiency, solvency, leverage
etc (Annual report and publications, 2021)

2.5.2 Total Asset

Total assets of BRAC for 2017 was 239,991,917,138 BDT which increased to 341,152,346,073
BDT in 2019. It went further in 2020 by the amount of 394,603,561,498 BDT. So as per total
assets, (Annual report and publications, 2021) BRAC made great progress and kept the graph
linear.

2.5.3 Total Income

The total income of BRAC through microfinance and its other subsidiaries, was 67,219,483,940
BDT in 2017. In 2019 it increased to 89,853,613,043 BDT. However, in 2020 it took a slight fall
as the pandemic hit hard and its income went low to 87,984,063,435 BDT (Annual report and
publications, 2021). So we can see, the total income of BRAC does not make a linear trend for the
year 2017, 2019 and 2020.

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2.5.4 Return on investment (ROI)
Return on investment refers to the return on a particular investment measuring its investment cost.
If we process the data from previous years’ balance sheet of BRAC, we can actually figure out the
ROI.
Return on investment has been quite good for BRAC in 2017 as it was around 80% (Annual report
and publications, 2021).

2.6 Operations Management and Information System Practices

2.6.1 About operations management

Operation management is the process of planning, organizing and controlling capitals, labour,
materials etc to successfully and efficiently run a business or an organization. The main target of
an operation manager is to manage resources efficiently and bring great output. Operation
management includes some vital parts like supply chain, product design, quality control,
forecasting etc.
Supply chain is the process of turning raw materials and labor into a finished product. It includes
parts like purchasing, production, delivery etc. Product design is shaping up products for end
consumers. The design can be something new brought to the market or something that already
exists. It is important to design products as per the consumer's demand and preference. Forecasting
is predicting the future depending on the past. It mainly works with demands of the consumer to
successfully produce a product. Good forecasting can meet the consumer demand whereas wrong
forecasting can cause shortage or overflow of products. Another important part of operations
management is delivery management. Delivery management is the process of delivering a finished
good to the consumer. Good delivery management is the key to customer satisfaction. Because it
doesn't matter how good a product is, if it is not delivered in due time, there will be no customer
satisfaction. So a great operation manager manages all these processes and brings a good outcome.

2.6.2 Operation management at BRAC

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The operation management at BRAC is efficient enough to make it the top NGO in the world. It
has a dedicated procurement department that forecasts the demand and supply and purchases as
per that. BRAC being an NGO tries to improve the quality of life for the rural underprivileged
people. It also works with the health of women and children. So the procurement team forecast the
demand of the goods needed and purchase it. As BRAC has several subsidiaries, they all have an
independent operation management team to operate day to day operations.

2.6.3 Information system

Information system is the process of collecting, storing and processing data for managing
operations and maintaining communication. Every well-established company has an effective
information system. Companies use information systems to interact with their customers and
suppliers, go to production, manage their operation and organizations. Also there is an internal
information system that is used to connect internally with the employees and stakeholders.
Information systems can vary regarding different needs and objectives. The operation information
system is used for occurring necessary actions regarding operations. A management information
system is used to make reports that will help the businesses to get a clear idea about the company.
The decision support information system is used for establishing facts extracted from the data to
support a decision.

2.6.4 Information system at BRAC

BRAC maintains an efficient information system to connect both internally and externally. To
connect internally BRAC maintains a data storage that includes all the personal information of the
employees. They all are given a unique personal identification number (PIN). The notices and
updates are posted on their official website. This website is also used to connect to outsiders.
Interested candidates can apply for jobs through this site. Also the annual report is published here.
BRAC maintains a HRMS software to do their internal work like separating, transferring,
terminating, retiring etc. The software is named EDMS. Only some specific departments have
access to this with their official computer. The HR team updates any sort of changes in information
of any employee. Just putting the PIN number into EDMS will show all the details of the employee.

25
In this pandemic situation, BRAC is maintaining a number of 40% attendance every working day.
Employees have to come twice to thrice a week. The rotation of workdays is decided with a rooster
and declared on the weekend. This maintains the safety and security of the employees in these hard
times.

2.7 Industry and competitive analysis

2.7.1 Porter's Five Forces Analysis

To understand a company’s competitiveness in the market, Porter's Five Forces analysis is done.
It works on different factors of competitiveness. The porter’s five forces are-
1. Bargaining power of suppliers
2. Bargaining power of buyers
3. Threats of new entrants
4. Rivalry among existing players
5. Threat of substitute products and services
These factors are described elaborately below-

1. Bargaining power of suppliers

If the bargaining power of suppliers is high, then they can extract more money from the company.
NGOs mainly work to alleviate and empower the life of rural artisans and entrepreneurs. Thus the
bargaining power of suppliers is low as they are already getting empowered and helped by these
NGOs.

2. Bargaining power of buyers

If the bargaining power of the buyer is high, then they can force the company to sell the product
at a lesser price. This shrinks the profit margin for the company. In our current market, the

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bargaining power of buyers is low. Because the NGOs try to provide livelihood for poor
underprivileged people. Thus the bargaining power is not high in this segment of market.

3. Threat of new entrants

If a market has high barriers to enter, that market is likely to have a greater profit margin. On the
other hand, lower barriers encourage new entrants to come and have a share of the success of the
existing players. Now there are a few numbers of new NGOs that are operating quite well.
Especially after the rohingya issue, there has been an uprising for a lot of NGOs who are working
with them. As funds are coming in great numbers, it is easier for the NGOs to operate. Thus the
threat of new entrants in this market is high.

4. Rivalry among existing players

Rivalry among existing players can affect the market. If one player maintains its rivalry and tries
to dominate others, the market gets too competitive. The profit margin shrinks and everyone tries
to do something different. There are some very good and old NGOs operating in Bangladesh like
Care Bangladesh, ASA, Caritas Bangladesh, BURO Bangladesh etc. Though they work combined
to uplift the lives of underprivileged people, often there is a cold war running among them. It
mainly occurs regarding the issue of who gets the big government projects and funding. Thus the
rivalry among the existing players is high.

5. Threat of substitute products and services

If a market gets saturated, that means if there are too many companies offering the same sort of
products and services, the competition gets higher and the price gets low. Also, for a substitute
product, the value proposition of a particular product can decrease. For example- If the price of
Pepsi increases, people might go for Coke, which is a substitute product of Pepsi.
If we talk about NGOs, there are almost no substitute services. No organizations work so devotedly
to change the lives of people like NGOs do. Though many companies spend in charity or give
work opportunities, it is not sufficient enough. Thus the threat of substitute products is low in this
market.

So after applying Porter's five forces model it can be stated that the market is competitive.

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2.7.2 SWOT analysis

SWOT analysis is the straightforward study of a company to discover what it can and cannot do,
and also what its threats and opportunities are. The process is quite self-explanatory as SWOT
stands for strength, weakness, opportunities and threats. To figure out an organization's current
abilities and issues, SWOT analysis is done.
SWOT analysis is a data and fact driven study which is very effective to untangle the current
position of the company in its particular industry. Companies do this after a certain period to keep
track of their achievements and failings.
BRAC has been operating as the largest NGO in the world for several years. Though it has
succeeded so far in its industry, there can be a lot of sectors that they can improve. Here we will
talk about the SWOT analysis of BRAC.

Strength

1. First mover advantage- BRAC started its journey right after the liberation war in 1971. So
it clearly has the first mover advantage in our country. Being a first mover can help an
organization in many ways. It has earned people’s trust. Also it has been assisted by the
government as they have done so much to empower the rural people.
2. Strong relationship with suppliers- BRAC has many subsidiaries from which it earns its
revenue. BRAC earns 80% of its own revenue from them. Aarong, BRAC dairies, BRAC
agro and seeds, BRAC sericulture etc. are the main subsidiaries of BRAC. These social
enterprises work to alleviate local artisans and entrepreneurs. So BRAC has a great
relationship with its suppliers. Local people are happy to sell their products to these
subsidiaries because they get a good deal from them.
3. Great domestic market- BRAC being the first mover has captured a great portion of the
domestic market. Bangladesh is a developing country yet there are tons of people who live
under the poverty line. So BRAC has a great chance of growing in these circumstances.
Moreover, there are new issues rising every day in our country. The Rohingya issue was
on rise. After that the pandemic situation came. So BRAC works on these issues and grows

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 every day. BRAC has developed area offices in almost every district. This has created
employment opportunities for the rural people. This is how BRAC is still capturing the
domestic market.
4. Superior product and service quality- Both BRAC and its subsidiaries provide excellent
products and services to people. BRAC being the largest NGO keeps working on uplifting
people's lives. The subsidiaries of BRAC like Aarong, BRAC agro and seeds, BRAC
diaries etc. also work to empower rural artisans. They have great quality products compared
to the price. The service BRAC is providing is beyond expectation.
5. Strong brand equity- BRAC has built strong brand equity all over the world. It is currently
working in 11 other countries along with Bangladesh. The service it provides is top notch.
Their involvement in empowering the rural people is worth mentioning. Its main subsidiary
Aarong is a top ethnic wear retail chain in Bangladesh. Thus BRAC has built a strong brand
name along with its subsidiaries.

Weakness

1. Inefficient inventory management- The inventory management system that BRAC follows
is not efficient enough. It can improve more to effectively manage inventory and cash flow.
2. Implementation of technology is still in process- BRAC could operate more efficiently if
the process was more technology derived. The specialized technologies like machine
learning, artificial intelligence are still not efficiently used in BRAC. Though they are in
process, BRAC can develop in this particular factor.

Opportunity

1. Social media and ecommerce oriented business model- BRAC can cut down its marketing
cost significantly by using social media as a media or marketing. In this period of
technological development, people are more into social media and online sites. It will be
very easy for BRAC to connect to its suppliers and customers through social media if they

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 can use it effectively. Currently the social media appearance of BRAC is not that connected
so they have a huge opportunity to improve here.
2. Access to international talent in the global market- BRAC can look for international talents
for their higher positioned jobs. In this current world of competitiveness, there are almost
no barriers among the countries in the world. So they can look for experienced
professionals for head hunting. BRAC University has done a great job in terms of this.
They’ve hired Professor Vincent Chang as their Vice Chancellor who has more than 20
years of experience in the education sector.
3. Focus on the most demanding product- BRAC can standardize their business model by
focusing on the most successful and demanding products and services.
4. Implementation of AI- As we have discussed in the weakness part, BRAC hasn’t yet
developed their business based on AI. Using AI can be a blessing for them as it will enable
them to predict consumer demand, keep track of niche markets etc.

Threat

1. Changing government regulations- BRAC should be careful regarding the changing

government rules regarding environmental and labor law.
2. Expanding in different economies- BRAC has been operating in 11 other countries along
with Bangladesh. Their expansion is one of their strengths but it can sometimes become a
threat too. Storing information to expand in the international market can be risky. Also due
to the geo-political relationship among the countries, the country that BRAC is expecting
to expand can be hard.
3. As the NGO industry in Bangladesh is getting vast day by day, it is easy for any new NGO
to come and replicate the business structure of BRAC. Though they won’t get the validity
and brand equity like BRAC, they can somehow enter into the market with a strong
structural state.

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2.8 Summary and conclusion

After discussing the financial and accounting practices, operations and information system and
competitiveness of the market, we can state the fact that BRAC is in a great position in the current
market with a huge chance to grow. It has a well-established and efficient management policy. It
is great in the marketing segment with all its subsidiaries. It has been strong with its financial and
accounting practices and gaining revenue quite well. With an effective operations and information
system it connects with the suppliers and consumers well and also maintains a good supply and
demand chain. The market is competitive enough but BRAC has the first mover advantage and the
brand value that makes it almost untouchable. Finally, we can agree with the statement that BRAC
is structurally strong enough to operate and surpass its competitions.

2.9 Recommendation

BRAC has been doing significantly well to operate and bring changes in people’s lives. But there
are a few weaknesses and threats that might bother them in the long run. BRAC has to solve the
issues of low ROI, inefficient inventory management and inadequate implementation of
technology. Also they should keep in mind the chances of replicating their business structure by
newbies. If they can ensure these steps and can enhance the communication and operation
efficiency, there is a long successful journey ahead for BRAC.

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Chapter 3- Project part

3.1 Introduction

The research is regarding the talent management process of BRAC. To measure the effectiveness
of talent management at BRAC, I have interviewed four employees from both the conventional
employee side and management side to get a broader perspective of the situation. The process of
research follows a qualitative method and the research is a descriptive one. Throughout this part,
I’ll present the whole project with its problem statement, research objective, methodology,
research questions, findings etc. This will describe the part of measuring the effectiveness of the
process.

3.1.1 Problem statement

BRAC is successfully operating as the largest NGO in the world. Its work has been a blessing for
more than 135 million people. BRAC operates in 12 countries in Asia, Africa and Caribbean to
elevate people’s lives. To run its operations smoothly, BRAC needs to maintain their talent
management properly. The talent management department is a part of BRAC HRD which mainly
works on identifying, recruiting, developing and retaining talents all over the organization. The
successful operations of BRAC depend a lot on these processes. Thus it needs to be studied
whether the process of talent management is accurate enough to shape the talents of BRAC, how
the officers of the talent management department signify the process, whether the conventional
employees think this process is effective enough or not. The main focus of this study is to get a
broader view of the effectiveness of talent management at BRAC and what strategies can make
this process even better.

3.1.2 Research Objective

· General research objective

The main objective of this research is to identify the effectiveness of talent management at BRAC.

· Specific research objective

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 1. Identifying employee’s attitude towards the talent management process
2. To find out the barriers that management face while conducting the process
3. Point out the lacking (if they have any), and try to strategize that particular issue for
betterment.

3.1.3 Research Questions

1. How significant is the talent management at BRAC?

2. How effective the process is to higher management?
3. How effective the process is to the traditional employees?

3.1.4 Significance

Talent management plays a vital role in shaping the overall talent at BRAC. The effectiveness
measurement of this process is necessary because many crucial decisions regarding training,
hiring, terminating etc. depends on this. Through this study, we can make a positive impact on this
process. As we will hear from the conventional employees and will get to see their attitude towards
this, we can identify the strengths and weaknesses of talent management. This will help our
organization to work on the weaker part to make it smoother and better.

3.1.5 Literature review

Talent management is the key to success for every organization in this era of sheer
competitiveness. Talent management mainly refers to finding appropriate talent for each
post of an organization. It does not only focus on hiring talent, but also works on
development and retention of employees. According to Cepin, Germany (2013),
organizations must adopt a new approach that focuses less on filling positions quickly
and more on aligning talent acquisition with the business. If the employees are properly
placed, they tend to stay happy with their work life and perform well. On the other hand,
misplaced employees cannot maintain work life balance which often leads to poor

33
performance. According to Kumar, Siringi Ranjit (2013), stating that it is extremely
crucial to fit the right employee in the right position. Talent management also focuses
on the development of talents which is extremely important for every organization. In
this world of competition, if the employees are not well trained, they will not be able to
give their best output which ultimately will cost the organization. According to Kock and
Ellström(2011), organizations should design individual HRD strategies with regard to
the talent of their employees and the specific prognosticate future demands of the jobs
and their organizations. Now to talk about BRAC, it was founded in 1972 by Sir Fazle
Hasan Abed at Shallah Upazillah in the district of Sunamganj as a small-scale relief and
rehabilitation project to help returning war refugees after the Bangladesh Liberation War.
It was formerly known as the Bangladesh Rehabilitation Assistance Committee, then as
the Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee, and finally as Building Resources
Across Communities. BRAC has scaled up in other developing nations in the Global
South, using a unique integrated strategy that is tailored to each country's needs. BRAC's
institutional experience, gained through many years of executing programs in a variety
of industries, is now being used in 10 countries outside of Bangladesh. As days passed,
BRAC started elevating people’s lives by working on diversified sectors like economy,
education, disaster relief, health and so on. BRAC has a huge workforce of around
135,000 people and the greater percentage of it is women. BRAC creates its own revenue
from its enterprises like Aarong, BRAC agro etc. To run all these smoothly, BRAC needs
to find an efficient process of identifying and recruiting talent. With this thought, the
journey of talent management at BRAC started. Keeping in mind the organizational
priorities of BRAC, the talent management team works with the HRD team to imply all
the necessary steps to run the process. The process will start with mid-level managers.
The competency framework based technical, soft and leadership skills development of
the staff will be analyzed to figure out their potential. Developing the talent includes
different specialized training and assistance. Another main focus on talent management
is to ensure leadership skills among the employees. Finally, BRAC retains their talent
through the work of talent management. They focus on the reason behind leaving and try
to improve that. For this, half yearly follow up is done. Also, designing career paths and
ensuring reward and recognition for performers are considered very effective in this

34
process. Overall, the talent management process at BRAC helps the management to
shape up the talent and run smoothly. Being so crucial, this process needs to be
effectively conducted. Thus, in this study we will see how effective the talent
management system is at BRAC.

3.2 Methodology

The methodology for this study will be interview based. It is a qualitative method in which four
employees will be interviewed in separate one on one sessions. Among them, one will be the head
of the talent management team who will enlighten us about the management perspective of the
process whereas the other three will be conventional employees on whom the process is implied,
to know about their opinion towards the effectiveness of the process. I’ve decided to go with
qualitative research because it suits the genre of my topic. Qualitative research is not only about
“what” people think. This is also about “How” people think about the matter and focuses on their
attitude towards it. Qualitative research is founded on social science fields such as psychology,
sociology, and anthropology. As a result, qualitative research methods enable in-depth and follow-
up probing and questioning of respondents based on their replies, with the interviewer also
attempting to understand their purpose and feelings. The target population is the employees of
BRAC. Both parties, who conduct the process and on whom the process is conducted will be
interviewed. The reason behind choosing them is because in this study we want to get a diversified
view on how the talent management process works. There’s no doubt that the management
considers this as a vital process and many things depend on this. But we also want to know from
the conventional employees whether they find the process effective or not. The sampling technique
used is a convenience sampling. This is known as one of the efficient techniques as the participants
are selected based on availability and willingness.

The research will be analytical research. It focuses on the question “how ?“. It collects the simplest
detail to make a big difference in opinion and result. This type of data helps establish the relevance
of an idea or confirm a hypothesis. It helps identify a claim and find out whether it is true or false
(Omair, 2015). As we want to prove the hypothesis that the talent management process at BRAC
is effective, we need to rely on this research method.

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3.3 Findings and analysis

The talent management process at BRAC has been efficient throughout the time. But how much
does it influence the performance and work life of employees? To complete this study, I have taken
interviews with four people. Among them are Mr. Tyseer Amin, head of the talent management
team. He will give us some information from the management perspective. How the program is
designed, how it helps employees to perform better, what are the steps they take if the performance
is not up to the mark even after the implementation of the process etc. are the information we
expected to get from him. On the other hand, to learn about the real life experience of BRAC
employees, I conducted interviews of three conventional employees. They will express their
opinion on the journey, the effectiveness of the process, how it helped them to perform better and
the changes in their work life and performance after implementation of the process.

3.3.1 Demographic Information

Number of interviewee - 04
Gender- Male (01), Female (03)
Job position-
Tyseer Hasan Amin
Head of Talent Management
HRD, BRAC

Rahima Akhter
Deputy Manager, Service Channel
Microfinance| BRAC

Afrida Nazibah
Deputy Manager M&E
Humanitarian Programme | BRAC

Tasneem Huq
Deputy Manager |Talent management |
Human resources and learning division | BRAC

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3.3.2 Interview analysis of management perspective

After analyzing the interview of Mr. Tyseer Amin, we get a clear view of how effective the talent
management process is as per them. As per Mr. Tyseer, the main objective of the talent
management team at BRAC is to formulate, define and execute talent strategy in line with business
strategy that links strategic resourcing, succession planning and leadership development across the
organization. The talent management process at BRAC is focused on developing future pipelines
for critical roles and leadership. As a revamped process, structured details are being added on with
the support of senior management and is effective especially since it involves great collaboration
with management and all accountable for the planning and implementation. So the process is
effective enough to develop the leader building process. This includes the YPP (Young
Professional Program) which recruits young leaders and develops them throughout the long
journey.

3.3.3 Interview analysis of employee perspective

The three interviewees whom I have interviewed had mostly the same concept regarding the
effectiveness of the talent management process. They defined the process as a great platform for
younger talents to start an exciting and challenging career through self-development. Another
respondent said the programme was established to attract diverse young professionals like us who
demonstrate a commitment to development, academic success, professional achievement and
leadership potential through displaying a passion for learning, risk-taking, people development
and, holding the value of compassionate leadership potential.
It also motivated them to perform better as they were into a development process and the outcome
was monitored. They were encouraged by the team to learn new skills, improve communication
skills and develop themselves as the future leaders.
The YP program should get mentioned here because it helps a lot of young talents to find a career
and be the next leader. The BRAC YPP is very effective to them in terms of giving a fast-track
career path to a beginner. The scope this programme provides to the youths is immense. One could
develop his professionalism and leadership skills as well as personal development skills through
this programme. Through this one-year journey, lots of new ideas one gets to discover in a unique
way. This experience includes exploring the knowledge of the whole BRAC (all the programmes

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of BRAC, starting to its multifunctional activities nationally & internationally), the vision,
mission, value of BRAC and its hand to hand journey with our country. The large diversity of
BRAC work process and its long term impact both nationally and internationally helps youth
minds to learn from details to connect with the bigger picture. The learning process from national
level facilitators (Government & private sector) indifferent but connected topics helps us to
balance technical depth and breadth with the ability to "see the bigger picture." In addition, at the
end of the one year experience we become able to demonstrate a people-centric mindset—a
commitment to working across our institutions on joint solutions to development challenges.
They could also find some points which were a bit overwhelming for them. Especially in this
pandemic situation, they had to get used to virtual modality which was new to some of them. Also
there is always a pressure in the back of the mind that they might get terminated if they do not
perform up to the mark. This can sometimes affect the performance

3.3.4 Key findings

After analyzing the interview of both parties, there are certain facts regarding the talent
management process that we could get a clear view about. They are-

1. The talent management process is working to create pipeline for future leaders
2. Employees find this process quite effective as it helps them to have a great start with their
career
3. It pushes them to their limit and encourages them to learn new skills
4. The process can be improved by focusing more on the young professionals’ program and
by giving more access to the resources.

3.4 Summary and conclusion

To summarize, after analyzing the interview responses, I can say that the talent management
process at BRAC is an effective process with huge potential. It is well run by the talent
management team along with the support from higher administration. The process is a great
platform for younger talents to start an exciting and challenging career through self-development.
Also, the talent management process works to improve the performance of the upper level
employees. If the management level employees are well trained, the decision making process will

38
be smooth and effective. In the near future, BRAC will see the success of it as it is still strategizing
and improving in different areas. There are some parts of the process that can be redesigned to
make it more user friendly. Apart from that, talent management at BRAC is effective enough to
create and nurture future leaders.

3.5 Recommendations and implications

There were some points figured out after analyzing the interviewees' responses. These are the
recommendations from my side-

 There should be strictly 2 management level role plays in Field and HO.
 Some short-term projects can be designed which will be coordinated by YPs individually.
 They should have access to more resources for improving different skills
 The evaluation can include more factors like communication, effects on the organization
environment etc. It will help them to improve in these sectors as well which will uplift
the work environment.

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References

 BRAC: Creating opportunities for people to realise potential. (n.d.). Brac.Net. Retrieved
October 8, 2021, from http://brac.net/
 Articles. (n.d.). Www.Businessmanager.In. Retrieved October 8, 2021, from
https://www.businessmanager.in/managing-hr-in-ngo-sector-issues-and-challenges.php
 Solved Porter 5 Forces : BRAC in 2014 Case Study Solution. (2020, June 4). EMBA Pro
for Executive MBA Professionals.
https://embapro.com/frontpage/porter5forcesanalysis/16897-brac-bangladesh
 BRAC: Annual Reports and Publications. (n.d.). Brac.Net. Retrieved October 8, 2021,
from http://www.brac.net/annual-reports-and-publications

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