Case
ALIGNING ORGANISATIONAL GROWTH AND CORE VALUES AT AKHUWAT
INDUSTRY :-
AREA :HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT/ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOUR
ORGANIZATION :-
LENGTH :15
LUMS No :05-788-2019-1
PUBLICATION YEAR : 2019
ABSTRACT:
Mr Atif Tufail, Chief Human Resources Officer (CHRO) of Akhuwat - an interest-free microfinance organisation - faced a dilemma in 2018. He was worried if the organisation’s increasing number of employees, particularly those at the junior level, were aligned with the organisation’s mission and core values. The organisation had grown enormously in terms of donated funds and number of employees in the past decade and was engaged in several projects to eliminate poverty. Both Atif and his boss (Dr Amjad Saqib, the Founder and Executive Director of Akhuwat) were worried if unit and branch managers were really up to the enormous challenge that this growth represented. Did they share the values and commitment that the organisation’s less than 50-member team used to have back in 2004? Dr Saqib was concerned as he wanted to know whether employees were aligned with the core principles and original intentions of founding Akhuwat. This concern was particularly relevant in the backdrop of a rapid expansion plan that Akhuwat had been following since 2010. Dr Saqib founded Akhuwat in 2001 with an aim to provide an alternative to conventional microfinance institutions, which he saw as exploitative as these charged very high-interest rates from poor borrowers. Akhuwat, in contrast, followed the Islamic principles and charged zero interest on its microcredit products. It relied on charity and donations, instead of bank loans, as its lending base and for covering operational expenses. The organisation underwent a rapid expansion after a credit injection from the provincial government of Punjab in 2010, resulting in a multi-fold increase in its loan portfolio and the number of branches across the country. This transition also brought some challenges in terms of employee acculturation and alignment at Akhuwat. The case highlights Mr Atif Tufail and Dr Saqib’s concerns and approaches regarding this matter.