Developing Motivational and Coaching Skills in Telecom Companies. A comparative study between Batelco and Zain, Bahrain

Abstract: Over the last 20 years, the telecommunication industry has grown rapidly and has become one of the major business markets in the Kingdom of Bahrain. Today it can be considered as the fastest growing segment of trade and business development in the country. Since 2000, monopoly of the telecom market has been demolished as the government has modified the policy of licensing mobile enterprises. This, along with the advanced technology in telecom sector, has led to the launching of numerous competitors to the only telecom company, Batelco, including the fast growing company, Zain, with its comparative facilities and prices. The two major telecom companies; Batelco and Zain, are run and headed by Bahraini and non-Bahraini CEOs. This study is to examine selected issues, which are fundamentally related to management in general and to leadership in particular. The main objective of the study is to explore the domain of motivational and coaching skills within telecom business sector by using empirical analysis. It will explore, first, how leaders make effective use of motivational and coaching skills to improve employees’ performance in both Batelco and Zain; the two major leading companies in telecommunication, mobile services and internet market in Bahrain. Second, it will investigate the impact of leaders’ motivation and coaching techniques on employees. The hypotheses of the study are the following: 1. The motivational and coaching techniques implemented by the two companies in order to enhance performance of customer service representatives are extremely distinctive. 2. From employees’ perception, leaders are motivating to a specific extant in one company and demotivating in another. 3. The motivational techniques in both companies are matching the organisation’s objectives and employees' needs. 4. Managers are found to understand the concepts of a coach or a motivational leader in one company rather than the other. 5. The findings in the empirical part correspond to the theory in the field. The analysis has verified that a statistically significant relationship exists between existing motivational and coaching techniques and skills taken for granted by leaders, and employees’ satisfaction, and subsequently specific degree of performance within the two telecom organisations. The study showed that lower or inappropriate motivation practices at work place were reflected in employees’ satisfaction and hence lower level of motivation. This fact led to lower performance and lower productivity. Unexpectedly, it was found that both companies suffered from low level of motivation among employees due to: poor incentive system, absent of encouragement, unfairness or obvious discrimination in key positions, inadequate training policy, limited benefits, and unfair distribution of promotions specifically in key managerial chairs at Batelco basically and in Zain to less extent. It was not known if this was created by policy makers and higher management; or, instead, by line managers who were suffering from inappropriate skills of motivation and poor knowledge of coaching. Upon the above findings, the study suggested the following measures for remedy: - Top management should create a clear plan of motivation based cooperation and goal achieving between employees and leaders. - Successful incentive system should be guaranteed. - Diffusion of team culture instead should be considered. - Fairly treatment among employees should be emphasised. - Efficient and clear appraisal system is considered. - Training and career development should be reinforced to all employees. - Exposing leaders to intensive coaching and leadership practices training sessions.