Apmas Uo Report

8/14/2019 Apmas Uo Report

1/56

i

Table of Contents

1. INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................. 1

2. OBJECTIVES ........................................................................................................................ 2

3. METHODOLOGY ................................................................................................................ 3

4. LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY......................................................................................... 3

5. 7-S- model .............................................................................................................................. 4

5.1. The Hard Ss ................................................................................................................... 4

5.2. The Soft Ss..................................................................................................................... 5

6. Introduction to APMAS ......................................................................................................... 6

6.1. Organizations Profile ..................................................................................................... 7

6.2. History............................................................................................................................. 7

6.3. Area of Operation ........................................................................................................... 7

6.3.1. APMAS: Andhra Pradesh ........................................................................................ 8

6.3.2. APMAS: Across India ............................................................................................. 9

6.3.3. The Urban Operations of APMAS ........................................................................... 9

7. SHARED VISION ............................................................................................................... 10

7.1. Vision: ........................................................................................................................... 10

7.2. Mission:......................................................................................................................... 10

7.3. Core Values:.................................................................................................................. 11

8. STRUCTURE ...................................................................................................................... 11

9. LIFE CYCLE of APMAS .................................................................................................... 13

10.1. The Operating Core ..................................................................................................... 15

10.2. The Middle Line ......................................................................................................... 16

10.3. The Strategic Apex ..................................................................................................... 16

10.4. The Techno-structure .................................................................................................. 16

10.5. The Support Staff ........................................................................................................ 17

10.5.1. Administration and Account ................................................................................ 17

10.5.2. Programme Support and Research Documentation Group .................................. 17

10.5.3. Library.................................................................................................................. 17

11. Structural Dimensions ........................................................................................................ 18

11.1. Complexity .................................................................................................................. 18

11.2. Formalisation .............................................................................................................. 18


2/56

ii

11.3. Centralisation .............................................................................................................. 19

11.4. Professionalism ........................................................................................................... 19

11.5. Coordination ............................................................................................................... 19

12. SYSTEMS.......................................................................................................................... 20

12.1. Environment ................................................................................................................ 20

12.2. Communication and resource system ......................................................................... 21

12.3. Consultative forum...................................................................................................... 22

12.3.1. Members of the Forum......................................................................................... 23

12.3.2. Procedure for Policy Change ............................................................................... 23

12.3.3. Recommendations for APMAS from the Forum ................................................. 23

13. STRATEGY ....................................................................................................................... 24

13.1. Key Areas of Support.................................................................................................. 24

13.2. Strategic Thrust Areas................................................................................................. 24

13.3. Major Thrust Areas: .................................................................................................... 25

13.3.1. Consolidation of support to the SHG movement in Andhra Pradesh .................. 25

13.3.2. Expansion to Select States ................................................................................... 25

13.3.3. Facilitation of self-organized supervision of SHG federations............................ 26

13.3.4. Facilitation of SHG federations as sustainable financial institutions .................. 26

13.3.5. Strategic partnership with NABARD & Government of India ............................ 26

13.4. Porters Competitive Strategies .................................................................................. 27

14. STYLE ............................................................................................................................... 28

14.1. Management Style ...................................................................................................... 29

14.2. Rules and Customs ...................................................................................................... 29

14.3. Social Behaviour ......................................................................................................... 29

14.4. Attitude to work .......................................................................................................... 30

15. SKILL ................................................................................................................................ 31

15.1. Capacity building ........................................................................................................ 31

15.2. Quality assessment (QA) ............................................................................................ 31

15.3. Livelihood promotion ................................................................................................. 32

15.4. Research and Advocacy .............................................................................................. 32

16. STAFF/HUMAN RESOURCE ......................................................................................... 33

16.1. Affiliate System .......................................................................................................... 33

16.2. Staff Recruitment Process ........................................................................................... 34


3/56

iii

16.3. Human Resource System ............................................................................................ 34

16.4. APMAS Services for Staff Well Being ...................................................................... 34

16.5. Senior Staff Perks ....................................................................................................... 35

16.6. Compensation and benefits ......................................................................................... 35

16.7. Training and Development ......................................................................................... 35

16.8. Group processes .......................................................................................................... 36

16.9. Inter group relations .................................................................................................... 37

16.10. Appraisal system ....................................................................................................... 37

16.11. Use of Performance Appraisal .................................................................................. 38

16.11. Employee Turnover .................................................................................................. 39

16.12. Termination/Resignation........................................................................................... 40

17. PERFORMANCE: ............................................................................................................. 40

17.1. Other Major achievements of APMAS for the year 2007-2008 ................................. 41

17.1.1. The National Network of Resource Organizations (NNRO) ............................... 41

17.1.2. SHG Federations in India - A Status Report ........................................................ 41

17.1.3. National Conference on SHG Federations ........................................................... 41

17.1.4. Expanding Initiatives to Bihar ............................................................................. 42

17.1.5. Sector Owned Control (SOC) / SNU ................................................................... 42

17.1.6. Promotion of SHG Federations in Urban Areas: ................................................. 42

17.1.7. Raks Thai Foundation .......................................................................................... 43

17.2. Major Donors .............................................................................................................. 43

18. References .......................................................................................................................... 44


4/56

iv

List of Abbreviations

APMAS Andhra Pradesh Mahila Abhivruddhi Society

AGM Annual General Meeting

APUSP Andhra Pradesh Urban Services for the Poor Project

BC Business Correspondents

CBO Community-Based Organisation

CBs Commercial Banks

DFID Department for International Development

DHAN Development of Humane Action

HUL Hindustan Uniliver Limited

IKP Indira Kranthi Patham (earlier it is called Velugu Project)

JBY Janasree Bima Yojna

MACTS Mutually Aided Cooperative Thrift Society

MEPMA Mission for Elimination of Poverty In Municipal Areas

MFI Micro Finance Institution

NABARD National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development

RBI Reserve Bank of India

SHG Self Help Groups

SLF Slum Level Federation

SDTT Sir Dorabji Tata Trust

TFI Total Financial Inclusion


5/56

v

List of Figures

Figure 1: 7-S- Model Framework .............................................................................................. 4

Figure 2: Areas of Operation of APMAS .................................................................................. 8

Figure 3: Areas of Operation of APMAS in Andhra Pradesh ................................................... 9

Figure 4: Organogram of APMAS ........................................................................................... 12

Figure 5: Life Cycle of APMAS .............................................................................................. 13

Figure 6: Mintzberg Model of APMAS ................................................................................... 15

Figure 7: Core System of APMAS .......................................................................................... 20

Figure 8: Environment of APMAS .......................................................................................... 21

Figure 9: Attrition Rate at various levels ................................................................................. 39

Figure 10: Reasons for Attrition .............................................................................................. 39
http://c/Users/anup%20bajaj/Desktop/ou%20nisaant%20final.docx%23_Toc237805911http://c/Users/anup%20bajaj/Desktop/ou%20nisaant%20final.docx%23_Toc237805911http://c/Users/anup%20bajaj/Desktop/ou%20nisaant%20final.docx%23_Toc237805913http://c/Users/anup%20bajaj/Desktop/ou%20nisaant%20final.docx%23_Toc237805913http://c/Users/anup%20bajaj/Desktop/ou%20nisaant%20final.docx%23_Toc237805913http://c/Users/anup%20bajaj/Desktop/ou%20nisaant%20final.docx%23_Toc237805911


6/56

vi

List of Annexure

Annexure 1: Members of the Governing Board ......................................................................... i

Annexure 2: Partners.................................................................................................................. ii

Annexure 3: Financial Statements ........................................................................................... iii


7/56

1

1. INTRODUCTION

APMAS has given us reasons to save and........smile!

- Lakshmidevi, Member of the SHG group

in the Bethovelu mosque slum area of

Gudivada who saved from the income

earned from weaving flowers.

The people behind these smiles are the dedicated pool of APMAS employees who have been

working continuously to improve the living conditions of these SHG members. As part of our

field visits we went to the greater mosque slum area in Guntakal town and met the SHG

members who run their own flower weaving shop and all the members of the group together

weaved the flowers to be sold in the nearby market. There were many such examples which

exhibited the self reliance of the poor women in the area and most of them were engaged in

some kind of income generating activity. They saved into the SHGs and took small loans

from the SHG. All credit goes to the APMAS field workers who organised the members and

brought a sense of discipline in them in terms of regularity of meetings apart from the

sustainability issues. The summer intern at APMAS provided us with an opportunity to

understand the organisation and the people involved with it to bring happiness to the lives of


8/56

2

millions of women across country. APMAS is a national level resource organization that is

committed to enhance quality and the sustainability of the Self-Help movement in India.

Registered in 2001 as a non-governmental public society, APMAS is recognized nationally

and internationally as a credible and pioneering support organization in the field of SHG

Promotion. APMAS aims to meet the managerial and technical support needs of various

stakeholders involved in the promotion of SHGs and SHG federations. APMAS is a

professionally functioning and managed organization with devoted governing board and

dedicated staff. The Board of APMAS consists of 21 representatives from government,

NGOs, financial institutions, banks, academic institutions, SHG federations and eminent

individuals. APMAS has very high quality human resources comparable to the best in the

sector. APMAS strongly believes in collaborations and partnership in achieving the vision

and mission.

2. OBJECTIVES

The objectives of our study are as follows:

To understand APMAS as an organization with respect to its purpose, structure,

culture, environment and strategies against the backdrop of classroom learning.

To understand the external environment in which the organization operates such as,

the government regulations, clients, competition etc. - Understanding the external

environment was one of the chief objectives for us because not only is the external

environment very diverse, but it also has a telling effect on the way APMAS

functions.

To understand performanceparameters and impact of APMASs work.

To examine the internal coordination mechanisms within the organizations functions,

teams and various locations - Analyzing the working and functioning of the

organization was an indispensable part of our study. This gave us an insight into the

coordination mechanisms between the various teams and the various processes.

To study the culture and its influence on the way the business is conducted within the

organization APMAS culture is distinct in a number of ways due to its direct

interactions with the target rural population and also due to the various internal and

external limitations it faces. An insight into the organizations culture is mandatory to

understand its functioning.


9/56

3

To gather the various perceptions of the key role players in the organization these

role players may be stakeholders, the clients and the employees. Their perceptions are

valuable in understanding the various roles the organization plays in their lives.

3. METHODOLOGY

Both primary and secondary sources of data were used for the study. The primary sources

include semi structured interviews and informal discussions. Semi structured interviews were

conducted with the CEO, employees and the field staffs. Informal discussions with the

support staff helped us immensely. We also got an opportunity to attend some of the training

programmes organized by APMAS. Through this we were also able to interact with some ofthe APMAS trainers and field volunteers.

Primary sources of data

Discussions

Unobtrusive observations

Semi-Structured interviews

Secondary sources of data

Field visits Annual Reports

Process And Policy Manuals

Internal circulars

Published Reports

Internet

4. LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY

Paucity of time: our stay in the organisation was of 50 days only and in that period we

were also in the field for our organisational action component.

Language barrier: although most of the staff was comfortable with English, still at

many instances inability to communicate in Telugu was a major constraint.

Restricted reach: our access to employees was very much restricted as interaction with

every employee did not happen due to their field visits and busy schedule.


10/56

4

5. 7-S- model

To achieve the above mentioned objectives we needed a holistic approach to extract and inter

relate information that we could gather from the organization through various sources. The 7-S-model gives a complete picture of how the factors are affecting the core values of the

organization both in the preferred as well as in the adverse manner. The 7-S-Model is better

known as McKinsey 7-S. Two persons who developed this model were Tom Peters and

Robert Waterman, were consultants at McKinsey & Co. They published their 7-S-Model in

their article Structure Is Not Organization (1980) and in their books The Art of Japanese

Management (1981) and In Search of Excellence (1982). The model starts on the premise

that an organization is not just Structure, but consists of

seven elements. Those seven elements are

distinguished in so called hard Ss and soft Ss.

The three hard elements or hard Ss are feasible and

easy to identify. They can be found in strategy

statements, corporate plans, organizational charts and

other documents.

The four soft Ss however, are hardly feasible. They

are difficult to describe since capabilities, values and

elements of corporate culture are continuously developing and changing. They are highly

determined by the people at work in the organization. Therefore it is much more difficult to

plan or to influence the characteristics of the soft elements. Although the soft factors are

below the surface, they can have a great impact of the hard Structures, Strategies and Systems

of the organization.

5.1. The Hard Ss

Strategy: Actions that a organization plans in response to or anticipation of changes in its

external environment.

Figure 1: 7-S- Model Framework


11/56

5

Structure: Probably the most important aspect to understand the organization as it gives an

overall picture of what are the basis for specialization and co-ordination that are influenced

primarily by strategy and by organization size and diversity.

Systems: Formal and informal procedures that support the strategy and structure. At the

current scenario having good systems increases efficiency and credibility of the organization

5.2. The Soft Ss

Style / Culture: Style or culture of the organization can be defined as the way in which the

organization is operating not in terms production and delivery of outputs but the type of

distinctive way the organization has which gives it the competitive advantage. It can bedivided into 2 types:

Organizational Culture: the dominant values and beliefs, and norms, which develop

over time and become relatively enduring features of organizational life.

Management Style: more a matter of what managers do than what they say; how do a

organizations managers spend their time? What are they focusing attention on?

Symbolismthe creation and maintenance (or sometimes deconstruction) of meaningis a fundamental responsibility of managers.

Staff: The people or the human resource management in the organization. It deals with the

processes that are used to develop managers, their socialization processes, their ways of

shaping basic values of management cadre, introduction of the new recruits to the

organization and ways of helping to manage the careers of employees

Skills: The distinctive competences of the organization in terms of what it does best, ways of

expanding and shifting competences to meet the challenges of the market.

Shared Values: Guiding concepts or fundamental ideas around which a business is built

must be simple, usually stated at abstract level, have great meaning inside the organization

even though outsiders may not see or understand them.


12/56

6

Effective organizations achieve a fit between these seven elements. This criterion is the origin

of the other name of the model: Diagnostic Model for Organizational Effectiveness. If one

element changes, it will affect all the others. For example, a change in HR-systems like

internal career plans and management training will have an impact on organizational culture

(management style) and thus will affect structures, processes, and finally characteristic

competences of the organization. In change processes, many organizations focus their efforts

on the hard Ss, Strategy, Structure and Systems. They care less for the soft Ss, Skills, Staff,

Style and Shared Values. The soft factors can make or break a successful change process,

since new structures and strategies are difficult to build upon inappropriate cultures and

values. These problems often come up in the dissatisfying results of spectacular mega-

mergers. The lack of success and synergies in such mergers is often based in a clash of

completely different cultures, values, and styles, which make it difficult to establish effective

common systems and structures.

The 7-S Model is a valuable tool to initiate change processes and to give them direction. A

helpful application is to determine the current state of each element and to compare this with

the ideal state. Based on this it is possible to develop action plans to achieve the intended

objectives.

6. Introduction to APMAS

Andhra Pradesh Mahila Abhivruddhi Society (APMAS) was formed in 2001 in Hyderabad to

strengthen the SHG movement. Since inception, it has been actively supported by the

Government, Banks, NGOs and Community Based Organizations. It is registered as a non-

governmental public society and stands under the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act, 1976.

This is the 9th

year of successful operation of APMAS. It is a professionally functioning and

managed organization with devoted governing board. The Board has a total strength of 21

members representing the Government, Financial Institutions, NGOs and SHG federations. It

aims to meet the managerial and technical support needs of various stakeholders involved in

the promotion of SHGs and SHG federations. APMAS has about 55 full time employees in

Andhra Pradesh and about 25 of them are based in head quarters in Hyderabad and at least 2

field officers in the other areas where it is operating in Andhra Pradesh.


13/56

7

6.1. Organizations Profile

Name Andhra Pradesh Mahila Abhivruddhi Society (APMAS)

Head Quarter Plot 20, Rao & Raju Colony, Road 2, Banjara Hills,Hyderabad500034

Telephone & Fax Tel: 040-23547926 / 27

Fax: 040-23547926

Email [email protected]

Website www.apmas.org, www.shggateway.in

6.2. History

In March of 1999, the Government of Andhra Pradesh (GoAP), approached NABARD,

BASIX, CARE, and Vikasa Darshini to seek their inputs to design a Rs. 1000 crores

womens bank, owned by the GoAP, or a separate body to provide capacity building and

credit for SHGs in Andhra Pradesh. After several consultations, the Advisory group,

comprising of stakeholders in the microfinance sector submitted a concept paper proposing

the establishment of an Andhra Pradesh Mahila Mutually Aided Cooperative Society

(APMACS). The concept paper envisaged that APMACS would be a membership body of

the cluster federations and act as a specialized credit and capacity building organization for

its members. The final outcome, based on consultations and field studies, resulted in a shift

from the concept of APMACS to APMAS.

6.3. Area of Operation

APMAS works for poverty reduction by supporting the SHG movement through quality

assessment (rating), capacity building, livelihood promotion and research & advocacy.

Providing services to SHGs & SHG federations, self-help promoting institutions, government

agencies and civil society organizations, APMAS is a support institution aiming to meet the

needs of various stakeholders who are involved in the promotion of member owned andmember managed microfinance institutions.


14/56

8

6.3.1. APMAS: Andhra Pradesh

APMAS has its head office in Hyderabad and three regional offices are located in the districts

of Anantapur, Chittoor and Nizamabad . In addition, two DLRC offices have been established

in Adilabad & Kadapa districts. Within Andhra Pradesh, APMAS works in 8 districts

(Anantapur, Chittoor, Nizamabad, Adilabad, Kadapa, Kurnool, Mahaboobnagar, Ranga

Reddy) and 3 towns (Guntakal, LB Nagar, Gudiwada). In the remaining districts of Andhra

Pradesh, APMAS provides need-based and demand based services.

Figure 2: Areas of Operation of APMAS


15/56

9

6.3.2. APMAS: Across India

Though its initial focus was on strengthening the SHG movement in Andhra Pradesh,

APMAS now works to support the SHG movement in various States across India. Drawing

inspiration from the commendable contribution it has made in strengthening the SHG

movement, several APMAS-type institutions are now being created to support SHGs across

India. The State Governments of Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Orissa, West Bengal and

Maharashtra are working along with donors and NGOs to promote SHG support institutions

with assistance from APMAS. It is also having its operations in Gujarat, Karnataka, Bihar,

Assam, Jharkhand, Uttarkhand, Chhattisgarh and many other Indian States.

6.3.3. The Urban Operations of APMASAPMAS has taken initiatives to

strengthen the SHG urban movement in

the 3 towns of Guntakal, Gudivada and

LB Nagar with the help of Mission for

Elimination of Poverty in Municipal

Areas (MEPMA)1

which is a

government venture to implement

various schemes through the help of the

institutions like APMAS. A total of 2741

SHGs are functioning with good

practices within the 3 towns and 1,584

SHGs are linked with banks for financial

assistance. These numbers are continually increasing as more and more SHGs are forming

seeing the success story of the existing SHGs. To address the common needs of the SHGs

and ensure their long term sustainability, a total of 106 slum level federations (SLFs) have

also been formed. All the SLFs are registered under the Mutually Aided Credit & Thrift

Societies acts (MACTS). In addition, a town level federation (TLF) in each of the towns have

also been established to deal with larger issues unable to be met by the SHGs or the SLFs.

APMAS, in collaboration with LIC under Javari Baima Yojana (JBY) has implemented an

insurance program for SHG members in these three towns. A total of 9,731 SHG members

1

MEPMA, Mission for Elimination of Poverty in Municipal Areas, is an organization set up by the Governmentof AP in 2007 for poverty alleviation in urban areas which is working in collaboration with APMAS to

strengthen the SHG movement in the urban slums.

Figure 3: Areas of Operation of APMAS in Andhra

Pradesh


16/56

10

and their spouses are covered under this insurance scheme which seeks to provide financial

assistance to the insured members family at the time of her death. In addition, A Risk

Management Fund (RMF) has also been set up by the slum level federations. Out of Rs.100

contributed by each SHG member, Rs. 90 is paid out for the LIC insurance premium and Rs

10 is diverted towards the RMF fund. The RMF fund provides Rs.2,000 to the insured

members family at the time of her death as a relief to meet funeral expenses and as

protection against financial risk and later recovers this amount when the member gets the

insurance claim. Other successful programmes that APMAS has implemented are Food

Security Program2and Pavla Vaddi3

(1/4th

interest) scheme. Community based sanitation

programs which raise awareness and educate members on better hygiene practices and the

availability of family counselling centres have also been created for members. SLFs also help

members to deal with various gender based issues and provide care the well being of orphans.

7. SHARED VISION

During the last 8 years, APMAS has grown into an organisation providing effective technical

and managerial support to SHGs, their federations and other major stakeholders in the self-

help movement within Andhra Pradesh and across India. In promoting the long term

sustainability of the SHG movement, APMAS through its vision, mission and major thrust

areas strives to ensure that continuous support is provided to existing SHGs and their

federations so that, members achieve a better quality of life both, economically and socially.

In addition, APMAS intensively works to reach underserved areas of the country so that more

women may benefit from this phenomenal movement.

7.1. Vision:

A sustainable Women Self Help Movement in India

7.2. Mission:

To enable SHPIs to provide quality services to strong and vibrant SHGs and SHG

Federations.

2 FSS-The food security scheme is being implemented by the SLFs in the urban centers wherein the members

get the food grains at discounted price from the SLFs.3Pavla vaddi is a government scheme wherein the state government provides interest subsidy to the SHGs

having linkages to the banks.


17/56


18/56

12

Figure 4: Organogram of APMAS

AVP-Associate Vice President, RM-Regional Manager, FTC-Full Time Consultant, RO-

Research Officer, RA-Research Associate, CO-Communication Manager, Sys.Admin.-

System Administrator, QAO-Quality Assessment Officer, CBC-Capacity Building

Coordinator, CBO-Capacity Building Officer, CBA-Capacity Building Associate,

LMLivelihoods Manager, LO-Livelihoods Officer, RM-Regional Manager, Exe.Sec-

Executive Secretary, AFM-Assistant Finance Manager, AO-Administrative Officer, AA-

Accounts Assistant, Recp.-Receptionist, OA-Office Assistant.

We can see that the CEO is the coordinating body between the Board of Directors and the

functional team of APMAS. This is a very typical situation where the decision making is

centralised and the span of control of the CEO is very wide where as when it comes to the

span of control of the AVPs and RMs its quite low comparatively.


19/56

13

9. LIFE CYCLE of APMAS

Figure 5: Life Cycle of APMAS

APMAS has completed 8 years of operation and is a comparatively middle aged organization

keeping in view that the promotion of SHGs extensively arrived in the 90s and then came the

micro financing concept. This gave rise to the need of organizations like APMAS which

could provide expertise in the form of technical and managerial support. There are not many

such organizations in this field and this organization has established its roots well and firm in

the entire system. This can be seen clearly as more and more states are partnering with

APMAS for the joint ventures which lead towards the common goal of eliminating the

phenomenon of poverty.

If we see the evolution of APMAS in the past 8 years we can see that in the entrepreneurship

stage when APMAS had just started, it had to offer only a few services. It being one of the

first in the field of service providing there was a lot of creativity and innovation. For example

the rating system, the capacity building modules, etc. were developed during this period.


20/56

14

This growth leads to a leadership crisis as there were diverse activities and fewer leaders to

manage. In the collectivity stage, the appointment of executives at various levels was done

and each was provided with certain amount of decision making power. The direction that

these executives or managers gave resulted in further growth of APMAS and each of the

activity started performing at its maximum efficiency. But sometimes there were conflict of

opinions and also conflicts of decisions in order to ensure profitability for the department

alone and not of APMAS as a whole. This lead to a crisis of autonomy and hence it was

decided to centralize the decision making process such that all the decisions are made

keeping in view the overall benefit of the organization. Te executives were delegated the

work and a minimum level of autonomy was given as the professionals who work here with

industrial expertise would not like being tamed and powerless. This delegation of work

efficiently increased the organisation further and it got into various ventures where the

environment played an important factor which disabled it from controlling the situation. To

overcome this control problem it joined hands with various government and non government

organizations under the expansion plan through collaboration. This is the phase where

APMAS is currently placed. The joint ventures are proving to be success stories. But very

soon this would lead it towards a crisis for staff as the bigger the organisation is getting the

more difficult it is getting for them to handle operations with the existing staff. Moreover,

attrition rate is also a prime concern in this organization. The stage where APMAS is now is

also known as formalization stage.


21/56

15

10. Mintzberg Model:

Figure 6: Mintzberg Model of APMAS

10.1. The Operating Core

The operating core comprises those employees who perform the basic work related to the

delivery of product and services. In the case of APMAS the Regional Teams who works in

the different regions under different heads such as capacity building and livelihood promotion

are termed as operating core. Apart from these regional teams there are some teams who

perform services related Quality assessment and Research Advocacy in the head office itself.

These teams are responsible for the effective implementation of the support services

approved by the Board of Governors and also the coordination with the operating core of the

partnering agencies such as Society for Elimination of Rural Poor (SERP)and MEPMA.

Each regional team is comprised of the regional manager, one capacity building officer

(CBO) and one capacity building co-ordinator (CBC) apart from some interns from different

institutions. The regional manager is responsible for coordinating with the CBOs and CBC

and assisting them in service delivery. Besides, he also looks after the training at the the

training centre. Apart from such training centres, there are a couple of District Rural

Livelihood Resource Centre (DLRCs) and some Cluster Level Livelihood Resource Centre


22/56

16

supported by the organisation. Hence there are few livelihood officers who work under the

regional managers. Currently there are two DLRCs supported by APMAS - one at Cuddappa

and the other at Adilabad. The regional manager also works out the schedule for the whole

month along with the Town Project Officer and his team of Community Officers (CO) and

Community Development Workers (CDW). Trainings are mainly provided to the SHG

members (Nagardeepikas) and Community Resource Persons (CRP) about the financial

operations such as book keeping, dealing with the banks, form filling and also about different

government schemes, etc.

10.2. The Middle Line

Middle line comprises those managers, who connect the operating core to the strategic apex.

The Middle Line in the organisation consists of Associate Vice Presidents (AVPs) and

Managers. The managers and the AVPs remain in direct contact with the regional managers

who head the regional teams. These AVPs have certain level of autonomy and are experts

from the industry.

10.3. The Strategic Apex

The Strategic apex comprises of top-level managers, who are charged with the overall

responsibility of the organization. The Strategic Apex of the APMAS consists of the

Chairman, Board of Governors and the Chief Executive Officer. The CEO of APMAS is

responsible to the Board.

10.4. The Techno-structure

The Techno-structure is analyst who has the responsibilities for affecting certain forms ofstandardization. The Techno-structure of this organization comprises the internal network of

computers which helps in quick sharing of information to all employees. Even employees of

regional teams have access to computers and they avail regular update on information and

happenings in the organisation as well as the in the sector. Such network and other technical

aspects are looked after by a full-time technical expert of the organisation who belongs to the

Information & Communications department. All accounts and administration related matters

are also assisted by the well maintained computer system.


23/56

17

10.5. The Support Staff

The Support staffs are people who fill the staff units, who provide indirect support services

for the organization. The Administration and Account, Library, etc. are support staffs whohelp in the effective implementation of the work of the organization.

10.5.1. Administration and Account

The main responsibilities of the accounts department is preparation of payroll, maintenance

of bank and cash accounts, reconciliation of bank accounts, maintaining the financial records,

maintenance of regional teams financial statement, providing financial inputs to the top

management for the planning of the projects, preparation of the financial accounts, etc. The

administration department look after the matters related to the employees, like leave,attendance also, the maintenance of office, stores, etc. Recently they have hired one HR

manager who develops modules for appraisal, grievances, etc. The secretary of the CEO and

a few other staffs at the head office play an important role in providing and ensuring a

smooth flow of communications and activities .

10.5.2. Programme Support and Research Documentation Group

Also known as office assistants or drivers the Programme support group has six employees

each of whom is responsible for providing support services and coordinate different teams.

They provide services such as finance and administration, reception, logistics, stationary, etc.

10.5.3. Library

The organisation has a good collection of books and subscribe to most of the journals and

magazines. This provides a huge literature resource to the organisation staff and help in

enhancing their knowledge base which ultimately helps in better service delivery of the

organisation.

APMAS has a simple structure with support departments centralised at the head office of

Hyderabad. The organisation also has characteristics of Matrix structure. Such a structure is

shown by the presence of multiple reporting of the employees especially the regional teams.

For example, the teams may need to report to the Research and Advocacy team as well as the

Livelihood team and QE team simultaneously.


24/56


25/56

19

be standardised. Also, the dynamics of surroundings differs from each other. The level of

formalization however has not affected APMAS as it has build up an organizational culture

which is quite informal in nature.

11.3. Centralisation

The level of centralisation in decision-making is majorly defined by the risk factor associated

with the transaction. Centralization considers where the locus of decision making authorities

lies. A high concentration implies high centralization whereas a low concentration indicates

low centralization or what may be called decentralization. The field teams have been given

full discretion related to the delivery of services. The monthly schedule of employees is made

by the respective team heads after discussing with them. They can take decisions in those

matters. However, the financial matters are looked after by the CEO at head office in

coordination with the finance department and team leader at the team level.

11.4. Professionalism

Professionalism is very high in APMAS as the major activities of the organisation is in the

area of capacity building through training and research so, specialised people from varied

backgrounds and qualifications are required for each of the different activities. APMAS

accordingly chooses its employees. There are highly qualified personnel, who have PhD

degrees, acting as Associate Vice Presidents and others. Apart from these, the organisation

hires MBA graduates also.

11.5. Coordination

One of the major objectives of the organisation is to improve the coordination and make itmore effective. Both formal and informal co-ordination mechanisms exist for inter-team and

intra-team co-ordination. The delegation procedures necessitate immense coordination within

a team. There also exit periodic target achievement reviews, feedback sessions, team

meetings and unofficial outings to facilitate and foster intra-team co-ordination. To ensure

coordination employees are constantly reminded of the mission and vision of APMAS and

also the core value which the employees inculcate in them over a period of time serving the

organization.


26/56


27/56

21

Figure 8: Environment of APMAS

The four departments like the capacity building, R&A, livelihood promotion and quality

assessment play the role of boundary spanning and continuously maintain the linkage with

the external environment. There is large number of external elements and the elements are

dissimilar. Moreover elements remain the same and change slowly hence the environment iscomplex but stable. But one of the major elements is the government policies and the external

agencies because most of the services that APMAS provides comes at a very low fee which is

not enough for it incur all the expenses. Hence it becomes imperative that the flow of funds

from the external agencies is on a continuous basis to meet the expenses. Again the

organisation has to continuously change itself in accordance to the change in the external

environment so all the four departments are vigilant to the respective changes that could

affect the organisations performance.

12.2. Communication and resource system

As a technical and resource based organization, A key role of APMAS is its need to

disseminate effectively and efficiently, the sea of information and findings related to

microfinance, SHGs and SHG federations which it collects through research studies and

project initiatives. The information is made available to key players in the sector and to the

public through the APMAS resource center which holds numerous publications, books,


28/56

22

videos and documentaries, CDs and Brochures. In addition, the two APMAS websites are

also used extensively to disseminate the, latest publications and APMAS related news and

progress. APMAS also publishes a monthly Telugu news letter called Mahila Sadhikaratha

which focuses on a variety of womens Issues. This year the APMAS communications team

not only focused on improving the efficiencies of its various communication media but also

strove to disseminate information with results that would yield greater impact on recipients.

The teams initiatives also contributed significantly to generate revenues for APMAS.

During 2007-2008, the communications team

Published SHG Federations in IndiaA status Report.

Designed and printed brochures for the National Conference on SHG Federations

Sold 17,368 APMAS publications yielding a revenue of Rs 5,34,000

Printed all 12 issues of Mahila Sadhikaratha news letter in a timely fashion.

Subscriptions

generated an income of Rs 1 lakh

Revised and updated the currently existing APMAS brochure

Printed over 10,000 copies of the MACS act book for use in Field operations.

Added over a hundred new books to the resource center

Supported SOC study in Kamareddy through the translation and publication of write

ups in the News letter

Assisted the Livelihoods Promotion unit with preparation of documentation for

National level immersion workshops

Translated various learning materials for use at workshops during National

Conference on SHG federations

Installation of Sonic wall and Symantec antivirus software for better protection of APMAS computer systems.

12.3. Consultative forum

In order to keep up with emerging issues that SHGs and their corresponding federations face

with respect to poverty eradication and womens empowerment as well as, how the rural

scenario as a whole, impacts the lives of the members, the Board of APMAS in 2004, put


29/56

23

forward the suggestion of establishing a Consultative Forum (CF) that would facilitate

APMAS keeping abreast of the ground realities faced by SHG members.

12.3.1. Members of the Forum

The APMAS Consultative Forum consists of twenty two women representatives from twenty

two districts of Andhra Pradesh. The selected women are experienced SHG members who

have been involved in the SHG movement at all levels including SHG, VO, sub district and

district level federations for a long period of time and who are capable of observing and

reporting to APMAS, various issues coming up on the field that affect SHG members. The

representatives meet with APMAS quarterly to talk about issues affecting women as well as

discuss the impact that various APMAS initiatives are having on SHGs and their federations.

12.3.2. Procedure for Policy Change

The recommendations put forward by the CF representatives are used by APMAS to make

policy changes at the State level and improve the regulatory frame work within which the

SHGs can operate. In so doing, it is hoped that these State level changes will uplift the social

and economic empowerment of the women in Andhra Pradesh.

12.3.3. Recommendations for APMAS from the Forum

This year, APMAS organized three CF meetings at the newly established learning center. The

SHG representatives provided APMAS with the following recommendations aimed at

benefiting SHG members and strengthening the SHG federations;

Board and staff Members at the federation level must be educated on book keeping

and on how to read and analyse financial statements. They should also receive

trainings on financial Management and the MACS act

.APMAS should also work on identifying value added services for existing

livelihoods in the Districts

APMAS should Facilitate Audit, Livelihood, Rating and Social issues committees at

District level

Separate standards should be designed for SMFIs based on their age and geographical

conditions when rating them for credit worthiness

Strengthen the SHG urban movement to reduce poverty and hardship for women in

urban areas. They too, are in need of financial and social assistance.

Increase trainings for SHG members at the learning center and disseminate published

best practices related to MACS, Insurance and Financial Management in Telugu for

easier understanding by members.


30/56

24

13. STRATEGY

7 years of dedication in supporting the SHG movement in India, with an extremely promising

and ambitious drive to continue efforts into the future, APMAS holds invaluable experience

and knowledge accumulated since its founding in 2001. Tools and methodologies used by

APMAS for strengthening SHGs and their federations stand at their highest degree in terms

of practicality and relevance. This is owing to the continuous refinement of tools to keep up

with the dynamics of the SHG movement. Future progress for APMAS will, thus, be

propelled by its tremendous experience and vast understandings of SHGs, their federations

and the external environment.

The rationale for APMASs future strategy is to contribute to the sustainability of the SHG

movement. Large numbers of poor have gained access to financial services through SHGs.

To sustain the SHGs, federations have been emerging on a large-scale. However, the growth

of the SHG movement has been confined to a few States and areas. Many women in other

parts of India are still left out from the benefits of the SHG movement. Through the strategic

partnerships established this year, APMAS aims to direct its efforts in working harmoniously

with its partners to reach the underserved areas and contribute to the sustainability of the

SHG movement.

13.1. Key Areas of Support

APMAS recognizes that for sustainability of federations in the future, it must put its efforts

in four or five major areas; strengthening the management capacities of federations, help

federations to mobilize their resources more effectively, increase external linkages for

federations and ensure that federations are capable of managing their own operations through

a well grounded self regulation process.

13.2. Strategic Thrust Areas

To achieve the key areas of support mentioned above, APMAS will continue to work. Several

APMAS initiatives that are underway in AP require strengthening and consolidation. Besides

its intensive focus on Andhra Pradesh, expansion to other States in collaboration with various

partners has begun but requires much work. In addition, another major thrust area is the need

to support SHG federations in emerging as sustainable financial and livelihood promotion

organizations. There is also a need to push more aggressively, self-organized supervision for


31/56

25

SHGs and their federations. APMAS is confident that with continued collaboration from

NABARD, Government of India and NGOs, these thrust areas can be strengthened further, to

achieve sustainability of the SHG movement.

13.3. Major Thrust Areas:

1. Consolidation of support to the SHG movement in Andhra Pradesh

2. Expansion to select states

3. Facilitation of self-organized supervision of SHG federations

4. Facilitation of SHG federations as sustainable financial institutions

5. Strategic partnership with NABARD & Government of India

13.3.1. Consolidation of support to the SHG movement in Andhra Pradesh

To strengthen the SHG movement and ensure its sustainability within AP, APMAS will

continue to support the SERP projects (cluster approach) by providing increased CB support

to SHG federations in the 14 clusters that it has been working with. Considerable efforts will

also be made to strengthen support services for the urban SHGS as well as collaborate with

MEMPA to extend the SHG movement to beyond the 3 towns that APMAS currently works

in. With respect to the two DLRCs in Kadappa and Adilabad districts which are now full

fledged resource institutions, the next step for APMAS will be to ensure that both these

DLRCS evolve as organizations that are capable of sustaining themselves. An effort to

increase livelihoods promotion activities for SHGs also remains high on the APMAS agenda.

Not only will APMAS continue to research into new profitable and feasible livelihood

options for SHGs but will also play a facilitator role in ensuring that APLLG continues to

evolve into a valued platform for sharing and learning about livelihood promotion activities.

13.3.2. Expansion to Select States

Having established strategic partnerships with various SHPIs in other states of India this year,

APMAS now intends to get action on the ground going in terms of promoting the SHG

movement. Specifically, it will begin implementation of the SDTT funded SHG

strengthening project in Bihar and UP, Complete SHG quality studies in Bihar and MP with

funding from NABARD, Support Koraput & Gajapathi districts in Orissa to develop SHG

federations as sustainable organizations, Initiate Capacity Building support in Assam, Bihar


32/56

26

and MP with support from NABARD and provide capacity building support to SCALE

partners in Gujarat, MP and Rajasthan (AKRSP, DSC, ARAVALI and PRADAN) to

strengthen their SHGs and corresponding federations.

13.3.3. Facilitation of self-organized supervision of SHG federations

APMAS has completed the first year Of Sector Own Control (SOC) which is a 2 year pilot

study aimed at promoting self regulation of SHGs and their federations in the Kamareddy

cluster of Nizamabad district. In 2009-20010, it will study the lessons learnt from the study

thus far, make relevant changes to SOC processes, learning materials and systems being used

promote self regulation and increase the efficiencies and effectiveness with which it delivers

SOC over the last year of the pilot study. A process document of events of the entire study

will also be prepared and made available for dissemination at the end of reporting year 2009-2010.

13.3.4. Facilitation of SHG federations as sustainable financial institutions

As the number of SHGs increase, the ability to be self sustaining financially will be vital for

their survival. To achieve this financial sustainability, APMAS, over the next reporting year,

will continue to ensure intensive enrollment of SHGs under MACS and other liberal

cooperative acts, raise SOC awareness within SHGs by educating them on the importanceof

standardized book keeping practices, regular savings and on the need to conduct periodicinternal and external audits as well as ensure quality assessments of federations are

undertaken to enhance their credit worthiness. APMAS believes that all the above mentioned

practices will allow for SHGs and their federations to become financially sustainable by

improving their access to funds both internally and externally. As part of NNRO, APMAS

will collaborate with the 7 partners from other States to implement the project that has been

approved by Ford Foundation. The sharing of individual strengths by all partners on a

common platform will allow for progress on the SHG movement to be made across India and

in so doing achieve sustainability of the movement.

13.3.5. Strategic partnership with NABARD & Government of India

APMAS will continue to ensure that it maintains a harmonious relationship with GOI and

NABARD as it is only with their support that, sustainability of the SHG movement can be

achieved at the National level. To strengthen the SHG movement in select states, to facilitate

appropriate legal form for SHG federations, to formulate national level policy and guidelines

on federation-bank linkage and to promote self-supervision of federations/MACS, APMASwill work in tandem with NABARD. Likewise, APMAS, in cooperation with its partners,


33/56

27

will assist GoI in formulating national policies and guidelines in supporting the provision of

livelihood and financial services for SHGs and SHG federations and other forms of

community based organizations. The outcomes from the National conference on SHG

federations held this year will serve as the base from which APMAS, GOI and NABARD can

implement changes in policies to ensure an effective regulatory frame work exists for SHGs

and their federations.

13.4. Porters Competitive Strategies

Michal. E. Porter studied a number of organizations and introduced a framework describing

three competitive strategies: low cost leadership, differentiation and focus. The following

figure shows framework for analysing organizational strategies:

The above figure shows that an organization can have competitive advantage because of two

reasons i.e. uniqueness of the goods & services that it delivers or the low cost at which it

delivers the services. APMAS in this context falls in the former category as there are very

few organization that provide support to the government in implementing its IKP project. Its

primary activity through which it supports government is capacity building services to the

Low-cost

leadershipDifferentiation

Focussed Low-

cost leadership

Focussed

Differentiation

Competitive

Sco e

Competitive Advantage

Broad

Narrow

Low Cost Uniqueness


34/56

28

SHG federations. As far as competitive scope of APMAS is concerned it can be seen that its

narrow, although the organization is trying to expand into other states but still it is limited to

activities mainly focussing on providing capacity building support to CBOs in other states.

Its other three departments are considerably smaller in terms of resources (both human

&economic). Apart from that, the level of activities has not yet achieved the scale with which

it can make considerable difference to its external environment. Hence the strategy that

APMAS should follow is that of Focussed Differentiation.

Under differentiation strategy, organization attempts to distinguish its services from others in

its competitive environment. The strategy usually targets customer who need specialise

services and are ready to pay for it. It can be seen here that SERP is funding APMAS as it is

providing it with such unique services which no other organisation is offering. APMAS

should also focus at a specific market or buyer group which in its case is other SHPIs. Since

APMAS vision is about bringing sustainability to SHG movement across country, it should

necessarily work in collaboration with the organisations that are in some or the other way

linked to SHG movement. APMAS should not pay excessive attention to other activities like

livelihood promotion. Livelihood promotion should be a part of overall support services to

the federations and should not be taken indigenously because in that case it will have to face

tough competition with other bigger organizations which are undertaking livelihood

promotion in a big way.

14. STYLE

Style refers to the cultural style of the organization and how key managers behave in

achieving the organization's goals. Moreover culture implies the existence of certain

dimensions or characteristics that are closely associated and interdependent. In order to

understand the organization culture we have used a multi- pronged approach. Firstly, we have

used observation method to judge the norms and the behavioural dimension of APMASs

culture. Then we met key persons of various teams and the managers of district teams and

conducted unstructured interviews to understand the issues related to the structural

dimensions of APMAS that affect the culture.


35/56

29

14.1. Management Style

Managers fall into two broad categories - those who start up organizations or departments and

the vast majority who administer the status quo. Each type requires different personalqualities. In APMAS the Board takes decisions on the policy related matters, partnerships

with the outside agencies etc. The CEO takes decisions on day to day activities with the

assistance of team leaders. Decisions like staff promotion, recruitment, termination rests on

his discretion. The core team committee comprises of team leaders and regional managers

which decide on field operations, planning and implementation. The core team meeting is the

decision making forum of the organization. Based on the recommendations of the core team

meetings Board approves/disapproves the decisions. Team leader has decision making on

sanctioning the TA bill, approving the tour plan and operational kinds of things.

14.2. Rules and Customs

Rules and customs refer to what people can or should do in general, rather than the way

specific business processes are carried out. At the beginning of an organization's life there are

few rules but as it evolves and more people become involved, rules and customs start

appearing. These may relate to the way the organization operates or may govern the social

conduct of staff. APAMS has clearly laid rules, systems and procedures which help in its

proper functioning. The organisation has very sound internal systems related to financial

management, HR Policy and Gender Policy. Dress Code at APAMS is not well defined as

employees also wore semi formal dresses on job. People generally wore formals or semi

formals. The teams were very informal in their outlook and dealings. APMAS has a well

defined code of conduct which forms an integral part of the HR policy4.

14.3. Social Behaviour

The total number of employees in APMAS is 55 and most of the employees spend the

majority of their time in a small group or team. This is because most of the work in the

organization is project and team based giving very little scope for interaction with other

employees. All staff meetings, core team meetings, retreat and other inter team meetings are

formal ways of bringing employees together and providing them a platform to share their

4 A brief copy of it is attached in the Annexure on code of conduct


36/56

30

experiences. Moreover at lunch and tea time the office kitchen becomes a common place for

the informal interaction. The members of a team generally get along well with each other, are

polite and treat each other with courtesy and socialize outside work. One peculiar thing that

we noticed was that they communicated to each other using the local area network and the

language used on the ip messenger was very formal.

14.4. Attitude to work

APAMS has more than 40 staff, additional interns, affiliates and consultants who work with

APAMS to realise its vision. There is strong emphasis on recruiting qualified and

experienced professionals. The employees are committed to the values of the organisation

and are ready to put extra effort whenever necessary to complete the assigned job. Accepting

that the organisation structure is a matrix one and there is a possibility of carrying multiple

reporting, the employees take it as a challenge to produce quality output in a limited frame of

time. The people in the organisation are working for the larger contribution to the

development sector. There is no dearth of well-motivated people in the organization. Most of

them are highly qualified and competent to get much more the salary in other organisations.

This speaks volumes that most of the people working in the organisation are working for their

professional satisfaction and contribution to the sector.

In APMAS rewards are equally there for efforts as well as results. The following elements of

encouraging environment were seen:

Systems like reporting and planning example- Time sheets and MRPS, ARPs

on time payments

updating of sectoral information and knowledge sharing

Continuous learning

Appreciating performance

Staff development programmes

Energetic CEO ( support in personal and professional)

Performance Appraisal System and feedback

Openness in sharing knowledge

Commitment toward poverty reduction

Flexibility to work in other areas/job chart

Support by seniors


37/56

31

Freedom and respect to employees

Very good human resource

15. SKILL

APMAS provides four distinct services; capacity building, quality assessment (rating),

livelihood promotion and research & advocacy to major stakeholders of the SHG movement

to achieve outreach and sustainability. These services are interrelated and are directed to

maximize the efficiency of APMAS is achieving the intended objectives.

15.1. Capacity building

APMAS is a leader in providing trainings at almost all the levels of the system, staring from

the training for book keeping and Accounts maintenance to the members of an SHG to

training for the executives of various organisations on how to deal with several issues related

to rural and urban poor. It basically focuses on training-of-trainers based on needs

assessment, hand-holding support and follow up of trainings conducted, facilitating exposure

visits and enabling the process of problem solving at the field level. Field visits are

undertaken to provide on-the-job support and to demonstrate good practices in the field.

Expansion of the SHG movement support services to other States by APMAS and promotion

of the urban SHG movement are also key initiatives under this unit. Over the past 7 years,

APMAS has trained more than 70,000 professionals and federation representatives. During

2007-08, a total of 18,223 participants were trained and supported.

15.2. Quality assessment (QA)

This being a very recent and innovative in the development field has gained the confidence of

all the institutions that need some credibility attached to the people they are going to deal

with. Rating of SHG federations contributes to the sustainability of the SHG movement.

Through six rating tools that have been designed by the QA team over the last 8 years,

APMAS has assessed 431 SHG federations for various promoting organizations. The findings

of the assessments are disseminated widely to gather consensus on the need to build

necessary systems and processes for the SHG federations to become sustainable, both

institutionally and financially. APMAS ratings have been extensively used by SHPIs to


38/56

32

improve the quality and to provide seed capital and by banks and other financial

institutions to make lending decisions. APMAS is now recognized as a specialized agency in

SHG federation rating in India.

15.3. Livelihood promotion

As SHGs mature and get larger loans from banks on a regular basis, the need for converting

those loans into additional sources of income for SHG members arises. APMAS thus initiated

a Livelihood Promotion Unit in 2004 with financial support from the Aga Khan Foundation

(AKF) under its SCALE project funded by the European Commission (EC). Through this

unit, APMAS plays a catalytic role in rural livelihood promotion in collaboration with

Government of Andhra Pradesh and other livelihood support organizations. The key

objectives of this unit are:

To integrate livelihood promotion with the agenda of SHG federations

Develop institutions to promote natural resources based livelihoods especially in

agriculture and livestock, which form the basis of livelihoods for about three-fourth of

people in rural India. For this, 2 DLRCs are being anchored by APMAS in Adilabad

and Kadappa districts to provide capacity building for livelihood enhancement.

Documentation and dissemination of best practices in livelihoods.

15.4. Research and Advocacy

As a technical and resource organization, APMAS keeps abreast of the ground realities to

provide a wealth of resources to other stakeholders in the development sector. The Research

and Advocacy unit is divided into three components; Research, advocacy and

communications.

Action and applied research is conducted by the unit on various issues as they emerge on the

field. The findings from the studies are then not only used to design capacity building

strategies for SHGs and promoting institutions, but are also disseminated through various

workshops (Advocacy) and made available to the public, through APMAS websites

(www.apmas.org and www.shggateway.com), Mahila Sadhikaritha (Newsletter),

publications, videos, CDs and Brochures which are available at the APMAS resource centre

(communications).
http://www.apmas.org/http://www.shggateway.com/http://www.shggateway.com/http://www.shggateway.com/http://www.apmas.org/


39/56

33

With respect to Advocacy, the National Network of Research Organisations(NNRO), a pilot

initiative supported by Ford Foundation has been a success. A National Conference on SHG

federations was also organized on to enhance the profile of the community based

microfinance in India with almost 500 participants from across the country.

16. STAFF/HUMAN RESOURCE

Approximately over 50 staff, interns, affiliates and consultants are working, to realize the

APMAS vision and strengthen the SHG movement across India in APMAS this year. 30

permanent staff works at the head office in Hyderabad under the four respective units and

about 30 affiliates manage day to day field operations within the rural regions where APMASworks.

16.1. Affiliate System

To increase its outreach, APMAS has selected several individuals as affiliates to provide

capacity building services to SHGs and SHG Federations. APMAS identifies and selects

individuals with experience in promoting SHGs, provides them capacity building inputs and

accredits them to become service providers to a wide variety of stakeholders. These

individual affiliates work under the certification of APMAS and the quality of their work is

also monitored by APMAS. Today, 30 individual affiliates support APMAS in all regions.

One review and two CB events are conducted each quarter and they are provided quality

assurance support by APMAS.

Interns

During the reporting year, APMAS received 18 interns from within India (Ahmedabad,

Delhi, Tirupati) and overseas (Canada, UK and Germany). APMAS values the contributions

made by interns in terms of research and implementation of initiatives; the interns in turn,

value the work experience gained and the balance between learning and contributing under

supervision from skilled and experienced APMAS staff and affiliates.


40/56

34

16.2. Staff Recruitment Process

To recruit qualified and experienced professionals, APMAS follows an elaborate process for

staff recruitment. Newspaper advertisements, job announcements on the website, headhunting and maintaining a roster are the methods used for sourcing candidates for various

vacancies at APMAS. All the short listed candidates go through a rigorous selection process

including a written test, group discussion and interviews. Two references are checked for all

the selected candidates. The chosen candidate undergoes an induction program anchored by

the team that they join or by the Human Resource Manager.

16.3. Human Resource System

Performance management is an integral part of the HR system. Regular (monthly and annual)

team and individual performance reviews and appraisals form the basis for incentives and

promotions. APMAS has a well developed HR policy which is updated from time to time. In

addition, APMAS strongly believes that effective human resources are a necessity for

organizational excellence. For this purpose, staff development programs were introduced,

including in-house technical and behavioral trainings, exposure visits and sponsored

programs. Every staff member is enrolled in about four to five programs per year.

16.4. APMAS Services for Staff Well Being

The over all well being of its staff is important to APMAS. As a result, a range of services are

provided to the staff to ensure their comfort and security. The services include; a peer

mentoring system to help staff achieve their personal and professional development goals or

view their problems within both spheres and employee welfare and safety schemes like the

Mediclaim Policy and Accident Insurance policy. This year, a major policy initiated by

APMAS for its staff has been the CASH (Committee Against Sexual Harassment) Policy.

The purpose of this policy is to show APMASs commitment towards maintaining a positive,

harmonious and productive working environment free from sexual harassment. The policy

allows for a procedure by which inappropriate conduct will be dealt with effectively and

appropriately thereby providing utmost protection for staff with respect to any cases related

to sexual harassment should they arise.


41/56

35

16.5. Senior Staff Perks

Senior staff of APMAS is eligible to take one month leave to undertake consultancy

assignments which will give them some incentive and also benefit the organization throughthe experience gained from such assignments. To institutionalize the strong culture based on

our core values, the APMAS values are discussed in the regular meetings and are displayed

for all staff to read at the head and regional offices.

16.6. Compensation and benefits

APMAS seeks to provide a compensation package, which attracts, retains and motivates the

best for its employees. HR policy of APMAS contains adequate information regarding the

compensation and other benefits to the employees. Benefits include personal accident

insurance, medical Insurance, medical Insurance advances and others. Also aspects like

annual increment, leave travel allowance, gratuity benefits etc. are covered in the HR policy.

16.7. Training and Development

There are two broad areas under training and development. First is the induction of new

employees and second, the capacity building of the existing employees. Both are discussed in

the following sections.

Induction

As participation and continuous learning are the major components in the work culture of

APMAS, the Induction System in APMAS is in the form of a Buddy System along with the

orientation is given to the new entrant of APMAS, where an individual would be

coordinating with both the Regional and Head Office Staff and Departments depending on

the requirement especially in performing the work. Following are the salient objectives of

APMAS. It is a formal introduction and is a part of induction where the new employees are

given proper guidance and direction to their new job, new co-workers, and new working

environment.

Objectives of induction process at APAMS:

Understand APMAS

Understand field realities of Microfinance in Andhra Pradesh


42/56

36

Understand the need for and role of Quality Enhancement, Quality Assessment, Research

and Advocacy, Livelihoods, internalize and develop Job Descriptions

Understand the procedures and policies of APMAS.

Most of the employees who joined recently in the organisation are highly experienced. So the

process was not carried formally. But all employees went through some kind of induction so

as to get basic understanding of the activities of APAMS.

Training and staff development programs

It strongly believes that effective human resources are a necessity for organizational

excellence. For this purpose, employees undergo staff development programs, which include

in-house technical and behavioural trainings, exposure visits and sponsored programs. Every

staff is enrolled in about four to five programs per year. APMAS has also introduced a peer

mentoring system to help staff to achieve their professional and personal development goals.

16.8. Group processes

Team Meetings are held on 1st week of every month. In case of special need, meetings can be

held twice also. The team leader informs about the place, timings and date of the meeting.

The time sheets and monthly progress reports of each staff are sent to the team leader prior

the team meeting starts. The team leader reviews the time sheet before the team meetings. Inthe team meeting last months activity plan is reviewed and simultaneously action plan for

coming month is prepared. Topics are discussed and new tasks are delegated by the team

leader to the team members on voluntary and capability basis.

In the team meetings members discuss freely their anxiety, their achievements, their failures,

their strategy, reasons for change in strategy to the team leader as well as all team members.

After listening to the progress reports the team leader weighs the progress vis a vis last year,

gives areas to be focussed on and expresses readiness for timely support for any resource

needed to accomplish task assigned.

Apart from the Team meetings, in order to share information among inter teams there are also

meetings like all staff meetings and core team meetings. Core team meetings consist of all

regional manager and team leaders including the CEO. Core team meeting hence becomes the

decision making forum for the organisation. All decisions are made on consensus basis and

preparatory steps to be taken for the upcoming meetings are discussed. Action plan prepared

at the cluster team meeting is discussed by the Regional Manager (for regional offices) with

the Project Director. In the team meeting the RM also explains some of the points of HR


43/56

37

policy. After completion of team meetings the team leader consolidates the progress reports

along with the time sheets and sends it to the CEO and the Program Support.

16.9. Inter group relations

The teams actively provide need based support the other teams. For example QE team

provides input data to the R&A team. The process to seek help from other team is simple.

The team leader will request the team leader of another team and seeks help of any particular

person. The team members from some team may also help the PS team in development of

pay slip, time sheet formats etc. Also while conducting flagship programmes collaboration

between teams is needed. Core team meetings comprising of team leaders and regional

managers are held once in two months.

16.10. Appraisal system

Performance Management is an integral part of the HR policy. Regular (monthly and annual)

team meetings are held to access the individual performances. The appraisal forms a basis to

decide the incentives and promotions.

The objective of Appraisal System is to identify the performance gaps of the staff in their

existing job responsibilities, and thus, filling theses identified gaps through staff development

programs, which enable staff for a better performance. At APMAS, there is 360 degree

Annual Performance Appraisal System: It is the process in which an Employee evaluates

him/herself on a set of criterion, that his/her peers, Manager/Superior evaluates the employee.

Appraisal System in the organization is primarily done on a team based approach. There is an

appraisal format in use. The appraisal process consists of the following steps-

1. A preliminary discussion takes place between the Supervisor and the Employee so that

they come to an agreement on the process of the appraisal: it must be positive and serve the

purpose of self development. During this discussion, existing job description, annual

performance plan and also the performance indicators are reviewed. An agreement must be

made on the no. of inputs into the appraisal of the employee, a minimum of 2 people and

maximum of 6 persons.

2. The employees have to complete the appraisal format within a particular frame of time.

Those identified for providing inputs have to give their written inputs focusing on what have


44/56

38

been their major achievements of the employees during the reporting year and what are the

areas for improvement.

3. Discussions are held on performance appraisal between employee and the supervisor based

on the self-appraisal and the input provided by others.

4. Supervisor drafts the appraisal for every year and shares it with the employee for feedback.

5. Based on the feedback, the appraisal is revised and finalised after discussion with the

employee.

The concept of peer grading also exists in some of the teams where members rate not only

their team mates but also their team leader. Normally the team leaders and regional managers

are appraised by the CEO and inputs are provided from team members, team leaders of other

department or the employees from field who have been closely working with the concerned

employee to be appraised.

16.11. Use of Performance Appraisal

The performance appraisal process enables the organization to document an employees

performance during the year for current and future reference, which provides the base for

merit increase, promotion & rewards. Also it links the organizations vision, strategy,

priorities and values to an individual performance and contribution, thus creating a positiveand healthy working climate in the Organization.

The performance appraisal process enables the employees for their future job

responsibilities, by providing an opportunity for self reflection & individual goal setting by

the employee. It also encourages continuous feedback and communication between

employees and supervisor & identification of the developmental needs of the employee. It

enhances in filling of the gaps in the performance level of the employees in their roles &

functions, in relation with the strengths & weaknesses. It enables the employee to understand

how the organization meets its goals with segregating the performance of the employees,

thereby setting clarity about employees roles & responsibilities. The Appraisal process thus

provides an opportunity for mutual understanding between the Supervisor and Subordinate in

matters relating to the Subordinates performance and conduct of the same or different

department.


45/56


46/56

40

One of the major reasons behind the high at

Documents

Apmas Uo Report