Luận Văn Unproductive Project Management Process In ITC.doc

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UNIVERSITY OF ECONOMICS HO CHI MINH CITY
International School of Business
------------------------------
NGUYEN THANH TUNG
UNPRODUCTIVE PROJECT
MANAGEMENT PROCESS IN ITC-HCM
MASTER OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION

UNIVERSITY OF ECONOMICS HO CHI MINH CITY
International School of Business
------------------------------
NGUYEN THANH TUNG
UNPRODUCTIVE PROJECT
MANAGEMENT PROCESS IN ITC-HCM
MASTER OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION
SUPERVISOR: PhD. TRAN HA MINH QUAN

TABLE OF CONTENT
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT 4
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 5
I. COMPANY INTRODUCTION 6
1.1 General information about ITC-HCM 6
1.2 Company organization 6
1.3 Business activities 7
II. PROBLEM ANALYSIS 9
2.1 Business symptoms 9
2.2 Interview with Admin head officer 12
2.3 Interview with departing engineers 13
2.4 Interview with current working employees 14
2.5 Initial cause-effect diagram 15
III. PROBLEM IDENTIFICATION 16
3.1 Updated cause-effect diagram 18
3.2 Cause justification and problem of interest 23
3.3 Importance of interested problem 24
3.4 Cause validation for focused problem 25
IV. PROPOSED SOLUTIONS AND ACTION PLAN 28
4.1 Proposed solutions 28
4.2 Action plan and requirements 29
4.3 Budget 30
4.4 Additional actions 31
V. CONCLUSION 31
VI. SUPPORTING INFORMATION 33
1

LIST OF FIGURES
Figure 1: Organization chart of ITC-HCM 6
Figure 2: General workflow for a typical research project and personnel 8
assignment
Figure 3: Recruitment/Departure of employees in ITC-HCM since 2010 10
Figure 4: Consequences of the business symptoms 11
Figure 5: Possible causes leading to turnover actions acquired from interview 12
with Admin head officer
Figure 6: Summary of causes leading to turnover actions acquired from 13
interviews with departing engineers
Figure 7: Summary of potential causes of dissatisfaction acquired from 14
interviews with current employees
Figure 8: General initial cause-effect diagram for turnover situation in ITC- 15
HCM
Figure 9: Simplified initial cause-effect diagram for turnover situation in ITC- 16
HCM
Figure 10: Updated cause-effect diagram with key determinants 18
Figure 11: Possible advantages from Productive project management 25
Figure 12: Updated cause-effect diagram with focus into interested issue 25
Figure 13: S-curve diagram for Alpha project 26
Figure 14: Final cause-effect diagram 28
Figure 15: Main tasks with time schedule for adapting ProjectManager platform 29
Figure 16: Gantt chart for adapting ProjectManager platform 29
Figure 17: Result of quantitative findings 54
2

LIST OF TABLES
Table 1: Combined revenues of ITC-HCM from 2015 to 2017 9
Table 2: List of budget for one-year-use of ProjectManager 30
Table 3: Budget for consultancy services to construct a clear work process for 31
project management in ITC-HCM
Table 4: Interview guide with Mr. Bac NT, Admin head officer who is in charge 33
of HR activities
Table 5: Summary of findings of interview with Mr. Bac NT 34
Table 6: Interview guide with departing engineers 38
Table 7: Summary of findings of interviews with departing engineers 39
Table 8: Interview guide with current working employees 44
Table 9: Summary of findings of interviews with current employees 45
Table 10: Interview guide with senior project leader 52
Table 11: Summary of findings of interviews with senior project leader 53
Table 12: Questionnaire for quantitative research to evaluate the importance of 54
each determinant
3

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
First of all, I would like to express my warmest thanks to my supervisor Dr.
Tran Ha Minh Quan for his patience, encouragement, and professionalism. His clear
guidance and candid evaluation for my thesis have helped me complete all qualitative
and quantitative researches on time with satisfactory results as well as led me to finish
my Master thesis.
I also would like to thank all lecturers in International School of Business (ISB)
for courses and subjects that they had taught me and my classmates. The knowledge
that I gained from the courses has widened my knowledge as well as provided me
with valuable experience in practical businesses.
Additionally, I would like to thank all members in thesis defense committees,
for their insightful comments and evaluation. I also want to thank all ITC-HCM
employees and officers who had cooperated with me during data gathering,
interviews and surveys.
Last but not the least, I would like to thank all my classmates in MBUS 7
program for their cooperation, support, discussion and unforgettable moments that
I have been with them in the last two years
4

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Employee turnover places a lot of difficulties towards organizations in terms of
new recruitment, training, organization, costs and so on. Voluntary turnover behaviors
can be initiated by low job satisfaction, especially in state-own organizations. ITC-
HCM is one of state-owned organizations located in Ho Chi Minh city and facing
abnormally high turnover rate among skilled engineers. To investigate the situation as
well as the main causes for engineer turnover, a number of in-depth interviews were
conducted with departing employees and relevant co-workers. The results of these
interviews reveal the main causes for their departure, which involves leadership style,
project management, work environment, compensation and benefits, work morale. To
have broad views of the turnover situation in state-owned petroleum firms, a number
of previous academic theories have been applied to make a cause-effect diagram for
the turnover issue. By evaluating and verifying each cause, researcher could locate the
core problems leading to the high turnover rate. Though the reasons for employees are
diverse and varied from employees to employees, for the company, the most critical
problems of the state-owned company is “Unproductive project management process”
which involves loose management, unclear task assignments and too much reporting
system. The suggentio for improvement are 1) to apply project management
technology for the company, which also enables team communication and progress
tracking, and 2) to hire consultancy service to help construct more productive work
process with clear measures and key performance indicators. Action plan and budget
are proposed accordingly. The suggestions from researcher are expected to improve
the company’s performance in order to help reduce the turnover intention accordingly.
5

I. COMPANY INTRODUCTION
1.1 General information about ITC-HCM
Integrated Technical Center (ITC) is a subsidiary of PetroVietnam Exploration
and Production Corporation (PVEP). The company was established in September 2010
and works as main research unit for PVEP to supervise and optimize oil & gas
activities for most oil fields on Vietnamese continental shelf. ITC consists of 02
offices: head office in Ho Chi Minh city and representative office in Ha Noi city. The
research will focus into the Ho Chi Minh head office, which is named as ITC-HCM.
Since the mother company PVEP is fully owned by the Vietnamese government,
ITC-HCM, as its subsidiary, is also considered a state-owned enterprise (SOE).
1.2 Company organization
Before 2017, ITC-HCM had a total number of 41 personnel. However, since mid-
2017, 5 engineers departed from company, making the total number of current personnel
36. The company consists of 02 main departments: Technical and General
Administration. The board of directors includes 01 director and 02 vice directors, each
in-charge of one department. The organization of ITC-HCM, until September 2018, is
illustrated in Figure 1:
Figure 1: Organization chart of ITC-HCM
6

 Technical department:

The Technical department includes 3 sectors: Exploration, Reservoir and
Production. Each sector is supervised by head officer and vice officers. This is the
main revenue-earning department for company, which focuses into researching and
optimizing oil & gas activities as well as conducting outsourcing researches. The
department includes 19 skilled engineers with oil-gas engineering background. Most of
engineers are over 30 years old with more than 5 years working for ITC-HCM.
 General Administration department:

The General Administration department only supports for technical departments
and board of directors with paperwork, accounting, reception activities and so on.
There are 03 sectors within this department: Admin, Accounting and Commerce.
Admin sector is in charge of logistics, paperwork, reception as well as other human
resource activities. Commerce sector is in charge of preparing contracts and account
management while Accounting sector is in charge of typical accounting activities. The
accounting sector is supervised directly by a vice director.
In ITC-HCM, there are Union Division, Women Association and Ho Chi Minh
Communist Youth Union like other SOEs. These organizations help to increase the
engagement of employees and to protect the rights of employees.
1.3 Business activities
 Main function

As a research subsidiary of PVEP, ITC-HCM is in charge of supervising oil and
gas activities of assigned oil-fields on Vietnamese shelf, such as block 01-02, block
02/97, block 42, and so on. Each engineer in Technical Departments is assigned to
supervise specific activities in certain field(s) and annually reports to supervisors and
directors about the status of those activities.
Exploration engineers are in charge of Geology & Geophysics activities, such as
exploring new hydrocarbon prospects, interpreting time & depth horizons of those
prospects, identifying sedimentary paleo-environments. The results from Exploration
engineers will become input data for static and dynamic models of Reservoir engineers.
Reservoir engineers use the input data provided from Exploration engineers to
generate structural models (or static models) and dynamic models in order to calculate
7

potential hydrocarbon volume of certain oil- fields and forecast the future production
volume of existing fields.
Production engineers use the forecasted models from Reservoir engineers to
propose detailed plans for field development and/or cost optimization for existing field
operations.
 Project outsourcing

Besides main function as research unit for PVEP, ITC-HCM also works as
research outsourcer for other oil-producing operators in Vietnam such as Cuu Long
JOC, Bien Dong POC, Hoang Long - Hoan Vu JOC, etc. The typical workflow of a
research project is illustrated in Figure 2
Figure 2: General workflow for a typical research project and personnel assignment
 Competition

In this industry, ITC-HCM does not have many competing opponents. In fact,
there are two other companies with similar functions, Vietnam Petroleum Institute
(VPI) and NIPI. However, VPI is located in Ha Noi while NIPI in Vung Tau; both
companies only conduct service projects for local companies. Therefore, the
competition from VPI and NIPI against ITC-HCM is considered relatively low and
ITC-HCM is the only oil - gas research unit in Ho Chi Minh City.
8

 Revenues

ITC-HCM receives yearly financial funding from mother company PVEP as well
as revenues from outsourcing research contracts. The financial data of company is not
officially announced but from interview with Admin officer of the company, total
combined revenues of company from 2015 to 2017 (2018 data is not yet available) are
shown in following Table 1:
Table 1: Combined revenues of ITC-HCM from 2015 to 2017
Year 2015 2016 2017
Revenue
60 47 36
(billion VND)
II. PROBLEM ANALYSIS
2.1 Business symptoms
From its establishment in September 2010 to year 2016, ITC-HCM has been
developing and increasing its human resources as well as its revenues. There were no
employees leaving the company and the employee turnover rate had been 0% for many
years. However, since mid-2017, the company has encountered unprecedentedly high
voluntary employee turnover as a total of 5 engineers of total 24 engineers, which
takes about 21%, voluntarily left the company: three at the end of year 2017 and the
other two after March 2018. All 5 engineers voluntarily asked to terminate their
Indefinite Duration Contracts with the company. After the departure of those 5
engineers, the company did not hire any other replacements.
9

Figure 3: Recruitment/Departure of employees in ITC-HCM since 2010
All of 5 departing employees were highly skilled engineers who used to work
for Technical Department, which included 02 exploration engineers, 02 reservoir
engineers and 01 production engineers. Demographically, 5 engineers, 04 males and
01 female, were from 30-40 years old, married and had 1-2 children. They all lived in
Ho Chi Minh City and near ITC-HCM’s head office in Phu My Hung, District 7.
In terms of experience and skills, all of departing engineers were experienced
and skilled technical engineers with more than 5 professional years working for the
company; some had more than 10 years of experience in oil & gas industry. Moreover,
02 of them used to be project leaders, who led team of 2-3 members. These employees
were key members of their technical teams and played important role in company’s
projects. Furthermore, all of 5 departing employees were voluntary to terminate their
Indefinite Duration Contracts with the company.
The departure of those engineers had placed a lot of difficulties to the company.
The difficulties were emphasized by Mr. Bac NT, the Admin head officer who is also
in charge of HR activities of the company. According to the interview results with Mr.
Bac NT, 04 main difficulties had been revealed as shown in Figure 4
10

Figure 4: Consequences of the business symptoms
- Difficulty to find replacement: in Vietnamese oil & gas industry, the training
of a skilled engineers is very difficult according to the interview results. Therefore, as
the skilled employees left ITC-HCM, the board of directors got difficult to find
replacements. Moreover, voluntary employee turnover directly involves cost of hiring
and training new employees, cost of lost time until new employees achieve full
productivity and cost of unused production capacity during the period of adjustment of
new employees (as proposed by Buzeti1
). According to Discenza and Gardner, as cited
in Fitch et al2
, the financial costs of replacing leaving employees have been roughly
estimated at “two to five times their monthly salaries”.
- Overwhelming task assignment: As it takes long time to find new replacement,
the workload of departing employees were transferred to current employees. According to
Hauck3
, “the stress construct itself has been positively related to high levels of
workload”. As a result, depending of the amount of transferred workload, the
employees will suffer from varying levels of job stress caused by task overwhelm.
- Lower other employees’ morale: Price4
proposed that increased turnover would
lower employee satisfaction and, in turn, increased more turnover. Larwood5
found that
overall job satisfaction also negatively correlated with intention to leave, while
Bluedorn6
concluded that there was “a significant positive relationship between leaving
intentions and actual leaving behavior”. Therefore, the lowered employees’ morale (or
11

satisfaction) is a critical issue that need to be considered by the director if they want to
retain their talented employees.
- Changes in overall operational planning: the disruption in human resources
will eventually change the operation of the company as well as planning for next
period because the board of directors will have to adjust their planning on revenues,
budgets and other activities.
Moreover, according to the interview with Mr. Bac NT (see Table 5), the turnover
rate among the engineer segment of the ITC-HCM was about 21%, which was much
higher than that in the mother company (which was about 15%). The abnormally high
turnover rate, especially within the skilled engineers, had made the ITC-HCM’s
board of directors start to investigate the reasons why those engineers left and whether
the symptoms would get worse. The aims of this study are:
 to investigate the causes leading to employee turnover actions

 to propose the solutions to help retain current employees.
2.2 Interview with Admin head officer
The purpose of interview with Admin head officer, who is also in charge of HR
activities of the company, is to investigate the causes for turnover situation within ITC-
HCM from the perspective of HR person. However, the interview with the officer did not
reveal the causes for the engineers’ departure because the former engineers did not share
with him honestly. The given reasons were “serious individual issues”, which were vague
and unconvincing. The Admin officer also assumed that the departing engineers were not
satisfied with the company’ monetary benefits due to lowered revenues (as shown in
Table 1). Moreover, the interview gave researcher some benchmarking information as
well as relevant recruitment information. The possible findings for causes of turnover
action acquired from the interview is proposed as below:
Figure 5: Possible causes leading to turnover actions acquired from interview with
Admin head officer
12

2.3 Interview with departing engineers
The interview with 2 available former engineers first revealed their reasons to
leave, which could be interpreted as following factors: leadership style, project
management process, work morale, income, knowledge sharing and relationship with
co-workers. When researcher proceeded to ask more question related to other possible
factors, it showed that both of they were not satisfied with many aspects of the ITC-
HCM, which could have raised their intention to leave and eventually led to actual
turnover action. The findings are combined and summarized in the following diagram:
Figure 6: Summary of causes leading to turnover actions acquired from interviews
with departing engineers
After having gathered all information from depth-interviews, there found 5 main
groups of causes leading to turnover action of former engineers: 1) Compensation and
benefits, 2) Leadership style, 3) Work morale, 4) Work environment, 5) Project
management process. All of those causes led to the dissatisfaction at work towards
13

former engineers, leading to their intention to leave and eventually voluntary turnover
actions as they found suitable alternative opportunity
2.4 Interview with current working employees
The purpose of these interviews are to verify whether the groups of causes
found from interviews with former engineers still exist and affect the current working
employees in the company. In this phase, the interviews are expanded to both technical
engineers and non-technical employees. The findings of the interviews are summarized
in the following diagram:
Figure 7: Summary of potential causes of dissatisfaction acquired from interviews
with current employees
14

From the interviews with current employees, more causes leading to
dissatisfaction have been revealed. The interviewees showed dissatisfactory feeling
towards many aspects in the 5 groups: 1) Decreased compensation and benefits, 2)
Leadership style, 3) Lowered work morale, 4) Work environment, 5) Unproductive
project management process. However, most of them currently do not have intention
to leave immediately since they find good trade-offs such as salary, work-life benefits
or job security. The interviews also show the possible intention to leave from the
technical department members while the non-technical members do not. However, as
they are not satisfied with the company, it is probable that they could leave the
company as they have more attractive opportunities.
2.5 Initial cause-effect diagram
The initial cause-effect diagram is combined from the findings acquired from
all depth interviews. Some items are grouped and clarified as shown in Figure 8:
Figure 8: General initial cause-effect diagram for turnover situation in ITC-HCM
15

III. PROBLEM IDENTIFICATION
The initial cause-effect diagram for turnover situation in ITC-HCM is simplified
with key determinants:
Figure 9: Simplified initial cause-effect diagram for turnover situation in ITC-HCM
According to Hall and Price7
, turnover is “the movement of members across the
boundary of organization”. There are typically two types of turnover occurred within
organization: voluntary turnover -an employee's decision to terminate the employment
relationship- and involuntary turnover -an employer's decision to terminate the
employment relationship, as described by Shaw et al8
. It seemed that “voluntary
turnover would be explained by different determinants than involuntary turnover” and
“the attention was concentrated on the members voluntarily leaving the organization”,
as proposed by Price9
. The models used to explain for voluntary turnover action vary
from Met-expectations model10
, Turnover process model11
, Job embeddedness
model12
, Unfolding model of voluntary turnover13
, Concept of job satisfaction14
.
In the context of ITC-HCM, the concept of job satisfaction is more preferable to
understand the hidden reasons leading to turnover action and to propose solutions for
better employee retention. In fact, not only leaving engineers but current working
employees show various levels of dissatisfaction to many aspects within the company.
Therefore, by lowering the dissatisfaction towards employees, it is believed that
employees are more likely to stay, as suggested by Selznick et al15
. From the interviews
16

with former and current employees, 05 groups of determinants accounted for the job
dissatisfaction and possible turnover action have been defined: Decreased
compensation and benefits, Bureaucratic leadership style, Lowered work morale,
Toxic work environment and Unproductive project management process. From
literature research, 6 more determinants are added to the cause-effect diagram to
broaden the possible causes leading to employee turnover within state-owned
petroleum companies. The additional determinants are listed as below:
- Job security16
- Flexible work-family arrangement16 & 17
- Lack of training and development17 & 18
- Performance appraisal and feedback19
- Lack of professional advancement opportunity16, 17 & 19
- Lack of organizational commitment20
17

3.1 Updated cause-effect diagram
The cause-effect diagram is updated with key determinants. The “Alternative
opportunity search” is considered an external factor and removed from the diagram.
Figure 10: Updated cause-effect diagram with key determinants
 Inappropriate performance and feedback system
According to Poon21
, performance appraisal represents “a central function of
human resource management”. However, the author also points out “there is some
evidence that managers deliberately distort subordinates’ performance ratings for
political reasons”22, cited in 21
. As received performance appraisal ratings are not based
on performance factors, employees are likely to experience reduced job satisfaction
and tend to “view work place politics as undesirable”. As a result, they may “withdraw
from the organization as a mean of avoiding political activities”, leading to voluntary
employee turnover. Igbal19
also mentioned that dishonest and evasive performance
18

reviews might damage “the self-esteem of the employees”. Especially in Saudi
Arabia’s collective culture, which are quite similar to Vietnam, “the pay-for-
performance system that recognized individuals is undermined” and is viewed as
“unfriendly and hostile” by employees. Poon21
concludes that “manipulations of
performance ratings arising from personal bias and punishment motives have negative
effects on job satisfaction and turnover intention”. In ITC-HCM, there is no HR
department with specific HR activities within the organization; the performance
appraisal system is adapted from mother company.
 Lack of professional advancement opportunity

Kim17
explains that “lack of promotion opportunities had a significant effect on
the decreasing job satisfaction of the federal, white-collar workforce”. The author also
proposes that “fair opportunity for advancement and promotion will lower turnover
intentions to the employees”. Igbal19
, from his research in Saudi culture, also provides
that lack of advancement (or promotion) opportunity “is one of the prime reasons why
employees leave organizations”. When employees observe limited opportunities for
professional or personal advancement in their current jobs, they “prefer to join other
companies which may provide good career growth and good pay packages”. Unfair
promotion policies perceived by employees may negatively impact their organizational
commitment, according to (19). In ITC-HCM, the promotion opportunity might be
limited unless employees join the Communist Party. The Party will nominate its
members for managerial position within the organization and the members have to
strictly follow the party’s guidelines and policies.
 Lack of job security

Meltz23
defines job security broadly as “an individual remains employed with the
same organization with no diminution of seniority, pay, pension rights, etc.” Similarly,
Triandis and Herzberg24
defines job security as “the extent to which an organization
provides stable employment for employees”. Yousef25
, from his researches in UAE
organizations, proposes that “there is a significant positive correlation, although not very
strong, between satisfaction with job security and organizational commitment”. Author
(16) also provides that for an employee who is the primary earner in a family with
children, job security will be highly valued. Therefore, the benefits of long public sector
19

tenure in terms of wages, job security, and pension rights is negatively associated with
turnover and decreases turnover intention. In ITC-HCM, most employees, including
engineers and non-engineers, have signed Indefinite Duration Contract with the
company, which guarantee a stable, long tenure job for employees. Also, the company
pays full Social Insurance for employees to guarantee for future pension.
 Inflexible work-family arrangement

Moynihan and Landuyt26
, as cited in (16), proposes that “work-family policies
offered by public sector organizations are generally more generous than those found in
the private sector which could be an incentive not to leave the public sector”,
especially for women employees. Durst27
, as cited in (17), finds that “approximately
52 percent of local, state, and federal agencies surveyed agreed or strongly agreed that
family-friendly programs decreased turnover”. Many researches also reports that
family-friendly program promote job satisfaction, loyalty among employees and
enhance employee retention, as mentioned in (17).
 Lack of training and development

Continuous training of the workforce is necessary to ensure that employees are
updating their skills. Stovel and Bontis28
suggests that training will “increase the
employee loyalty, as many employees recognize that company is working to help them
their career goals”. According to the author, employee training can be conducted through
either “on-the-job or off-the-job training practices”. On-the-job training “allows
employees to work within the firm, while learning about their job and the company”. Off-
the-job training can include “technology-driven e-learning programs, formal classroom
training, and external training conducted by suppliers or formal educational institution”.
However, according to the interview results with Mr. Bac NT (see Table 5), the training
and development is not prioritized in ITC-HCM because there are no HR department or
specialist in the company. All training and development programs are provided from the
mother company. If one person would like to be trained or funded for their higher
education, they have to ask for permission from ITC-HCM’s directors. Then the company
will send a form to mother company’s HR department for acceptance. The process is time-
consuming and the employees are not keen on asking for supports of training from the
company. Instead, they tend to do on-the-job training. However, due
20

to the lack of employee cooperation, as many employees do not want to share their
knowledge, it is difficult for effective on-the-job training, especially for junior
employees.
 Decreased compensation and benefits:

Since the oil recession in year 2014-2015, the company had to encounter sharp
decrease in revenues (see Table 1). As a result, in order to balance the financial
budget, the company had to change the pre-existing compensation and benefit policy
allowed for employees. Even though the wages have been unchanged due to the
government’s policy, the decrease in work benefits have significantly affected the total
financial income of every employee. For example, the bonuses and health insurance
plan was decreased, travel and fitness support was removed. According to 2007 Job
Satisfaction29
report by Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM),
compensation and benefits were ranked among top five aspects towards employee
satisfaction. As the compensation and benefits decreased, the employees in ITC-HCM
somehow lost their satisfaction with pay, thus leading to turnover intention.
 Bureaucratic leadership style:

Dimarco and Norton, as cited in Nguyen30
, described bureaucratic structure as “a
detailed list of rules, policies and regulations” and concluded that “a low bureaucratic
environment would be an ideal place to increase employee satisfaction”. Rainey et al31
pointed that the bureaucratic business environment was “influenced by external factors
such as laws, rules and oversight activities that the government imposed on the public
sector to maintain their control power”. Additionally, Hickson et al32
stated that “there
were sign of uneven and political decision-making in public organizations”. ITC-
HCM, as a state-owned organization, shows similar characteristics as described by the
authors. In this organization, the board of directors are dependent on rules, policies and
regulations to manage the employees. They are less likely to apply new changes unless
there are new policies accepted by the mother company. Also, the leaders show low-
task leadership as they are less competitive in modern market. The highly bureaucratic
environment like ITC-HCM will result in high employee dissatisfaction eventually.
 Unproductive project management process:
21

In public sectors, since they are highly focused into formal system, they failed to
easily adapt new technology and personnel, and to allow for the growth and development
of mature personalities as stated by Bennis33
. According to Kamoche34
, public
organizations are unable to change working practices to fulfill the current demand for
efficiency due to weak management, loose monitoring, soft budget constraints and limited
organizational flexibility. In ITC-HCM, the loose management with outsourcing projects
leads to lack of task clarity as well as work confusion. The consequences include the
number of meetings with little clear results between employees with managers. The
managers keep asking redundant questions many time due to lack of understanding of the
current projects. As a results, managers ask for many weekly reports as a proof that they
are supervising the project carefully. However, the reports are too time-consuming and
waste a lot of working time of the employee.
 Toxic work environment:

Harder35
proposes that an organization “can be considered toxic if it is ineffective
as well as destructive to employees”. In his study, he proposed 3 categories of
elements of workplace toxicity: organizational principles, work conditions and intra-
office relationship conflicts. In ITC-HCM, the intra-office relationship conflicts are
quite clear as there existed a number of unfriendly conversation and arguments among
employees. Moreover, many senior employees show rude behaviors and obscene
words towards other co-worker. Sometimes, when they get drunk, they have sexual-
harassment-like behaviors towards female employees. Moreover, information
transparency within the organization is poor as many employees are not willing to
share their knowledge and findings with junior ones, making project execution more
difficult. According to Hsu36
, lack of information transparency can lead to “confusion,
misinformation and distrust within organizations”. To better manage the projects, clear
task confusion, knowledge development, and so on, the board of directors in ITC-
HCM should promote information transparency.
 Lowered work morale:

Guba37
suggests that “high satisfaction must precede high morale in time if the
extra energy required for high morale is to be available”, which means low satisfaction
does not correspond to high morale. In ITC-HCM, the leadership, environment,
22

management, and compensation and benefit policy, and so on do not satisfy
employees, which eventually leads to low work morale. The employees feel
unproductive at workplace and find less opportunity to develop their skills and careers.
Studies conducted by many researchers, as cited in Michael et al38
, support the
hypothesis that turnover is preceded by turnover intention, which are preceded by
satisfaction. In the Mobley et al39
’s model, the job satisfaction gets low, the turnover
intention is generated and the action to leave will take place after having perceived
alternative employment. The departure of employees is consequences of long process
initiated by job satisfaction. Therefore, in order to retain employees, the board of
directors should consider available satisfaction elements and try to improve them.
 Low organizational commitment

Organizational commitment is defined as “individuals' belief and trust in
organizational goals and values, and affections toward the organization”, mentioned in
Ting40
. The author proposes that “individuals are likely to become psychologically
attached to the organization before they develop affectionate attitudes toward their
jobs, and employees often develop job satisfaction consistent with the level of
organizational commitment”. The author (20) proposes the relationship between
commitment and turnover intention in UAE oil industry. Meanwhile, the mother
company PVEP is a leading company in Vietnam’s oil and gas industry for many
years. In year of 2017, the company contributed about $6.14 billion to GDP of
Vietnam, according to (41). The mother company is in charge of supervising all oil&
gas exploration and production activities on Vietnamese continental shelf. Therefore,
for petroleum engineers, PVEP is great place for working in Vietnam. Moreover, due
to the company’s security policy (see Table 5), the employees, who are leaving the
company, are not allowed to work for any domestic competitors. This means they have
to commit to the company unless they tend to move to different industry.
3.2 Cause justification and problem of interest
To verify the existence of all determinants in updated cause-effect map as well as
their importance, a survey was carried out for 15 working employees in ITC-HCM,
consisting of engineers and non-engineers (see Table 11). The results of the survey (see
Figure 17) showed that respondents showed most “Disagree” responses toward work
23

management, leadership style, compensation and benefits. These 03 determinants
received from 87% to 100% of “Disagree” responses, meaning that employees are
most dissatisfied with these determinants. In terms of work morale and work
environment, the number of “Disagree” responses exceeded 60% of total responses as
well. Most “Agree” responses belonged to the job security, commitment and family-
friendly policies. Respondents show most “Neutral” responses towards training,
advancement opportunity and performance appraisal.
From the quantitative findings, it can be concluded that the most serious issues
in ITC-HCM for employee turnover are 1)Unproductive project management process,
2) Bureaucratic leadership style and 3)Decreased compensation and benefits. However,
after having considered each issue, the researcher finds out that it’s not possible to adjust
the leadership style as well as the compensation and benefits of the organization. The
director is the head of the organization and the leading decision-maker, his personalities or
leadership style may not be adjusted in short period of time. On the other hand, the
compensation and benefit policy of ITC-HCM relies heavily on the mother company and
its business situation. During the period of oil recession since year 2014, the revenue of
ITC-HCM, as well as the mother company, is not possible to improve quickly. The
benefits, as a result, is difficult to be adjusted solely by the managers. Therefore, the
research will focus into solving the most critical issue “Unproductive project
management process”.
3.3 Importance of interested problem
By improving productivity of project management, the company can utilize its
human and time resources, as well as bring high quality to the project results. As a result,
the firm’s performance will be improved in terms of revenues and brand. Melián-
González et al42
points out that a number of researches found “a significant relationship
between aggregated employee satisfaction and performance at the business-unit level”.
The author proposes that employees in well-performed organizations often share a
positive outlook; they have norms of collaboration and are more engaged and motivated to
“work toward organizational goals”. Campion et al43
suggests that employee cooperation,
or collaboration, can be promoted by effective workgroup process as well. As the
employees are satisfied and motivated, the work morale, which is positively
24

linked to satisfaction, is enhanced accordingly. Angle44
suggests that “there is a strong
relationship between organizational commitment and organizational effectiveness”.
Although the researchers could not strongly prove the effect of firm performance with
employee collaboration, commitment, there is an evident relationship between those
factors.
The advantages which could be brought by productive project management are
illustrated in following diagram:
Figure 11: Possible advantages from Productive project management
With the “Unproductive project management process” chosen as interested
issue, the updated cause-effect diagram with focus into Unproductive project
management process is shown in following figure:
Figure 12: Updated cause-effect diagram with focus into interested issue
3.4 Cause validation for focused problem
The causes for Unproductive project management process is validated by
interviewing a senior project leader who is working in ITC-HCM. He confirmed that
these causes existed and explained for each causes:
 Lack of task clarity: The assignment is conveyed by word-of-mouth or emails with
unclear objectives and requirements. It does not allow feedbacks from members as
they need help from leader for encountered issues. Members have to wait for leader’s
response to clarify and there are a lot of complaints for late or no responses.
25

 Loose management: The leader do not regularly monitor the performance as
well as the progress directly with members. They only use members’ reports to update
progress without understanding actual progress or difficulties of the projects and do
not provide troubleshooting immediately when members get difficulties. Therefore, the
project quality is not guaranteed in time schedule and quality. In fact, 11 of total 16
projects in 2017 were behind deadline and suffered from clients’ complaints.

 Inappropriate report system: the report template is made in MS Excel and
members have to manually type in and submit to leaders. However, the template is too
long with many excel formulas but do not reflect the actual status of project. The time
spent on making one report could take a whole working day for submission.

To clarify the unproductivity of in project management of ITC-HCM, a typical
project, named Alpha for confidential reason, has been analyzed. The S-curve diagram
showing the planned and actual progress (in percentage) versus time for the project has
been constructed as shown in Figure 13:
Figure 13: S-curve diagram for Alpha project
The project started smoothly as the both progress curve matched with each other.
But the actual progress gradually declined and the gap between planned and actual
progress expanded with time. The maximum of difference reached almost 30% after half
of proposed time frame. As a result, the time was delayed by 20-25% of the planned
26

time frame. This delay is explained by the project leader as the “lack of productive
working time” due to many lack of task clarity, loose management and too many reports.
The productive working time is calculated by the following formula:
Productive working time =Actual working time contributed for project 8∗number of working day
The productive working time observed for Alpha project was calculated to be
about 50-60%. The lowest value dropped to 50% during the execution period (from
week 2 to week 17) and was explained by the lack of time for reports, technical
meetings to clear task assignments and confusions. Even though there are no
benchmarking from competitors, the number of productive working time reaching 60%
is critically low, causing delay of project and increase of spent resources.
For work group effectiveness, Cummings45
emphasized on the knowledge
sharing through functional assignments and reporting system. Moreover, Gladtstein46
proposed effective work group process by promoting goal and role clarity, open
communication and supportiveness. For the issues in project management process in
ITC-HCM, the researcher realize there lacks an effective management tool that enables
knowledge and information sharing from members to members and members to
leaders. The project conducted in ITC-HCM is a process done by 2-3 teams (see
Figure 2). The data and information transparency is very important to ensure smooth
execution of a project. By allowing good knowledge and information sharing, the
leaders will manage the project quality and time schedule better and quickly adjust
when trouble occurs. Also, as the knowledge of the project is well understood by
members and leaders, the members will concentrate more on their functional task
rather than reporting to leaders and leader can keep track of the progress easier.
Moreover, when information is clear and easily transmitted, each team can easily
inherit from doing of previous team, making the work transfer easier.
27

The final cause-effect diagram is proposed as follows:
Figure 14: Final cause-effect diagram
IV. PROPOSED SOLUTIONS AND ACTION PLAN
4.1 Proposed solutions
Nowadays, with the help of technology, project management gets easier by
adapting modern management systems. There are several well-known system such as
SAP (Systems, Applications & Products in Data Processing), Microsoft Dynamics AX
or Infor CloudSuite. For the size of ITC-HCM and the project characteristics,
researcher suggests to adapt the ProjectManager platform, which is illustrated on its
website https://www.projectmanager.com/
The advantages of the platform includes:
 Planning: creates interactive Gantt charts online with detailed task
assignments and clear time schedule for each member, allows online tasks update and
document uploads

 Task management: easily manages task list, updates and shares tasks with other
members, instantly alerts with emails or phone notification

 Collaboration: quick update for resource allocation, allows team chat and
private chat for easy communication, easy document sharing within the system

 Team management: keeps track of each member’s progress, quickly updates
work progress status and responds, allows real-time communication by providing
immediate directions and feedbacks; fast troubleshoots and resource re-allocation

 Time tracking: quickly keeps track of time and progress online with
detailed timesheet assigned, easily approves/rejects task updates

 Reports: instant customized reports with multiple visual charts, notification
to team and each member for their reports and adjustments
28

4.2 Action plan and requirements
The action plan for adapting ProjectManager platform is proposed for 06
months from the first day purchasing the system (expected to be 1/1/2019). The
platform is expected to apply for 3 new projects during that period. After 06 months,
the board of directors will evaluate the productivity of the platform and will
consider re-signing new contract
The main tasks and timelines for each task is illustrated as below:
Figure 15: Main tasks with time schedule for adapting ProjectManager platform
Figure 16: Gantt chart for adapting ProjectManager platform
Details of each task and each requirement are describes as follows:
- Installation: install of the platform in all computer system, carried by
technician from vendor. Need to check the compatibility of the version with current
operating system
29

- Database building and storage: build a database warehouse (storage) for
keeping transferred documents and output reports, carried by technician from vendor.
Need to guarantee fast and smooth transfer speed, security and restoration.
- Training: training courses are provided by the vendors for project leaders and
officers in Technical Department. The participants are required to attend all
sessions. At the end of each session, participants are required to take assessment test
and will received certificates for passing.
- Trial run: test the execution of the platform on overall system, ensure that
the platform is compatible and easy to use for all users
- On-the-job training: The project leaders and officers who have participated into
the training sessions are required to mentors their subordinates to use the platforms.
Each group has 2-3 members under guidance of a mentor.
- Execution: the platform is executed for 3 assigned projects
- 1st
evaluation: gather feedbacks from users for the quality of the platform
and consult with vendor for any issue
- Continued execution: continue to execute after 1st
evaluation
- 2nd
evaluation: intensive review and evaluation for the productivity of
the platform for further signing
- New signing: the board of directors will consider signing new contract
with vendors for license purchase
4.3 Budget
The budget for ProjectManager platform for one-year-use is listed as bellows:
Table 2: List of budget for one-year-use of ProjectManager
Items Price/unit Unit Quantity Total Description
License purchase $8,000 year 1 $8,000
Training 0 included in license purchase
Maintenance $2,000 year 1 $2,000
On-site support varies depends on the urgency of the support
Training materials and expenditures 100 person 10 $1,000
Subtotal $11,000
The budget for one year use of the platform is estimated to be $11,000 plus
extra consultation charge.
30

4.4 Additional actions
Due to lack of benchmarking from competitors, it is hard for the managers to
compare company’s productivity with others. Therefore, it is necessary that the
company should have a clear work process with specific key performance indicators.
It is possible that the company should hire outsourcing consultancy agency with
experts in Project Management to build a clear work process for the company.
The service will take place for 2 months with following budget:
Table 3: Budget for consultancy services to construct a clear work process for
project management in ITC-HCM
Aside from the adaption of the technology to improve the project management
performance, ITC-HCM should consider holding programs to connect employees such as
outings, picnics or teambuilding. These actions will help improve the relationship among
the employees. Moreover, the company should buy more books and e-books in petroleum
industry for knowledge update; this will help the employees work better.
V. CONCLUSION
The departure of the skilled, senior engineers has placed a lot of difficulties
towards the board of directors in ITC-HCM. Through in-depth interviews with former
engineers and current employees, it is revealed that employees have been suffering from
various aspects of dissatisfaction. With the assistance of literature review and quantitative
research, most critical determinants have been identified: Unproductive project
management, Bureaucratic leadership style and Decreased compensation and benefits.
Researcher have evaluated and considered the possibility of these determinants to decide
to focus into the “Unproductive project management” issue. In fact, the unproductivity
within project management is making the company waste its human, time and even
financial resources. The employees, especially the technical engineers, are not getting
clear guidelines and sufficient supervisory support from leader. The outdated format of
reports are causing a lot of confusion and stress among the employees. As a result, the
current employees, even though they are committed to stay,
31

they show highly possible turnover intention. Therefore, researcher has proposed to
adapt modern management platform for the company for more productive
management, precise progress tracking and easier reporting. A set of action plans and
related budget are proposed for the company as well.
During the research, researcher encountered a lot of difficulties in collecting
data due to lack of available contacts of former engineers as well as the reluctance to
participate of current employees. Moreover, employee turnover is a complicated issues
that need to investigate various aspects of psychological process of employees.
Therefore, the analysis can be limited. In addition, the proposed solution is short-term
to quickly enhance the situation of the company. In order to fully resolve all the
existing issues, it requires time and long adjustment from the mother company as well
as government mechanism. However, as the company can improve in terms of project
management, the current turnover intention is expected to reduced, thus improving the
employee retention from the company.
32

VI. SUPPORTING INFORMATION
Table 4: Interview guide with Mr. Bac NT, Admin head officer who is in charge of HR activities
Objective: to investigate the reasons for turnover issue from HR officer’s perspective
Introduction
Good morning Mr. Bac, my name is Tung Nguyen and I’m conducting a research to investigate the
current turnover situation within the company. I would like to ask you several questions regarding the
issue and ensure that all provided information will be kept confidential.
Questions Responses
Q1: How is the current employee turnover occurred in the company?
Q2: What are the reasons for their departure?
Q3: What are the unsatisfactory factors which may cause the turnover?
Q4: What are the reasons for decreased revenues?
Q5: What are the impacts of turnover towards the company?
Q6: Why does the turnover occur with Technical Department?
Q7: What do you think about their chance of getting another occupation?
Q8: What have you done to understand the satisfaction of employees?
33

Table 5: Summary of findings of interview with Mr. Bac NT
Q&A Coding Category Quote
(full Q&A) (key answer) (<20, concept in theory) (description of coding from answer)
Q1: How is the current employee turnover occurred in
the company?
A: 3 engineers voluntarily left the company at the end + 3 engineers in 2017 “... 3 engineers voluntarily left the
of year 2017 and 2 more left since March 2018, which and 2 more in 2018 company at the end of year 2017 and 2
means a total of 5 engineers left the company during + never happened more left since March 2018”
past 6 months. This had never happened before since before “… never happened before”
our establishment. I heard that more people are having + more people having “… more people are having intention
intention to leave. intention to leave”
The turnover rate among engineering department is +21% turnover rate “The turnover rate among engineering
about 21%. Compared to mother company, this rate is +benchmarking with department is about 21%”
only 15% among 200 petroleum engineers. Moreover, mother company “Compared to mother company, this
the turnover only occurred with the technical rate is only 15% among 200 petroleum
department; employees from non-technical departments + comparison engineers”
are more likely to stay. “…only occurred with the technical
department; employees from non-
technical departments are more likely
to stay”
Q2: What are the reasons for their departure?
A: To be honest, I’m not sure about the reason. On the + not sure “…not sure about the reason”
leaving form, they only said they had “serious + serious individual “…serious individual issues””
individual issues”. When I try to ask them further, they issues
were not willing to share with me. But when people + not willing to share “…not willing to share with me”
leave, they are surely unsatisfied with something. + unsatisfied with +job satisfaction “…unsatisfied with something”
something
All leaving employees signed Indefinite Duration + signed Indefinite +job security “…signed Indefinite Duration
Contract with company, which means they will not be Duration Contract Contract…will not be likely to be
likely to be fired in state-owned company. Many + not be likely to be fired”
benefits are provided such as health insurance or fired “ Many benefits are provided such as
+ benefits health insurance or pensions”
34

pensions. As they left the company, I assume there were
serious issues occurred.
Q3: What are the unsatisfactory factors which may
cause the turnover?
A: I heard a lot of complaints from former employees +complaints +dissatisfaction ”…a lot of complaints from former
regarding the change in bonuses and benefits. In this +bonuses & benefits + bonuses & benefits employees regarding the change in
state-owned company, the salary will not be likely to be bonuses and benefits”
decreased due to state policy. However, due to oil +oil recession “due to oil recession since year 2015,
recession since year 2015, the bonuses decreased a lot, +decreased bonuses the bonuses decreased a lot, causing
causing decrease in annual revenue of employees. For +decrease in annual decrease in annual revenue of
example, the bonuses used to be 5-6 months of salary in revenue of employees employees”
2016. However, in 2017, the bonuses were just 2
months of salary. Also, as the company’s revenue is
decreased, we have to reduce some benefits such as +reduce some benefits “…have to reduce some benefits such
business support, including hospitality and travel. as…”
Health insurance is lowered from PVI premium
membership to regular one. Holiday support is removed
as well, as the company will not pay for air tickets
Q4: What are the reasons for decreased revenues?
A: The oil recession caused lower oil price, making total +oil recession “The oil recession caused lower oil
revenue from oil production 50% lower compared to +lower revenue price…50% lower compared to that in
that in year 2015. As a result, the funding from mother +decreased funding year 2015”
company decreased accordingly. Moreover, the oil “…funding from mother company
recession led to lower demand in research activities decreased”
from operators. That’s why the company got difficult to +difficult to find “…got difficult to find outsourcing
find outsourcing projects and earn revenues. The total outsourcing projects projects and earn revenues”
of projects in 2017 are only 16 compared to 22 in 2016. and earn revenues
Q5: What are the impacts of turnover towards the
company?
A: The leaving engineers left us with a lot of difficulties. + difficulties “…difficulties
Since they are highly skilled senior, it’s difficult to find + find replacement + new recruitment “…difficult to find new replacement”
replacement. In this industry, the training for a skilled
engineers takes a lot of time and the number of
35

candidates are few. Also, current employees have to
work more take care of their workload. The board of + work more + task assignment “…work more to take care of their
directors will have to change the planning for company + change company + operational planning work load”
to match with HR situation. But what I’m concerned the plan “…change planning for company”
most is that this situation will get worse as the morale is +lowered morale + work morale “…morale is being lowered”
being lowered and more people will try to leave the +more intention to +turnover intention “…more people will try to leave the
company leave company”
Q6: Why does the turnover occur with Technical
Department?
A: I guess that those engineers are highly potentials with +high potentials +professionalism “…highly potential with really good
really good skills and academic backgrounds. Most of +good skills and skills and academic backgrounds”
them have master degree of oil & gas engineering. Also, academic backgrounds “…master degree of oil & gas
they have experience working with international clients +experience engineering”
in many important projects. That means they are very “…experience working with
valuable candidates for other foreign contractors in +valuable candidates international clients in many important
Vietnam. projects”
“…valuable candidates”
For the General Administration Department, the
employees are not highly competitive and their skills +not highly “…not highly competitive and their
are average. In this company, we pay higher than other competitive skills are average”
accounting or reception position. I don’t think they are +average skills “… we pay higher than other
going to leave. +pay higher accounting or reception position”
Q7: What do you think about their chance of getting
another occupation?
A (confidential): As employees sign the contract with “will not be allowed to work for any
the company, they will not be allowed to work for any +not allowed to work + limitation competing oil & gas companies in
competing oil & gas companies in Vietnam. If they want for competing Vietnam. If they want to work in oil &
to work in oil & gas industry, they will have to work for companies gas industry, they will have to work for
foreign company or go abroad. Otherwise, if they work foreign company or go abroad.
in other industries such as construction, they are free to Otherwise, if they work in other
do so industries such as construction, they
are free to do so”
Q8: What have you done to understand the satisfaction
of employees?
36

A: We don’t have budget to do so. Generally, I talk to
employees to understand their feelings
37

Table 6: Interview guide with departing engineers
Objective: to investigate the actual reasons for turnover decision of leaving engineers
Introduction
Good morning Mr/Mrs, my name is Tung Nguyen and I’m conducting a research to investigate the
current turnover situation within ITC-HCM. I would like to ask you several questions regarding your
leaving action and I ensure that all of provided information will be kept confidential.
Questions Responses
Q1: What are you doing after leaving ITC-HCM?
Q2: What were the reasons for your leaving?
Q3: What did you think about the director?
Q4: What did you think about the salary and benefits of ITC-HCM?
Q5: What did you think about work management?
Q6: What did you think about the relationship with other coworkers?
Q7: What did you feel about working for ITC-HCM?
Q8: What did you think about your work-life balance?
Q9: What did you think about alternative opportunities?
Q10: How long did it take for your decision to leave?
38

Table 7: Summary of findings of interviews with departing engineers (names are kept confidential)
Q1: What are you doing after leaving ITC-HCM?
Engineer 1: I am working for a construction company in +working, construction “…working for a construction
Ho Chi Minh city company”
Engineer 2: I am staying at home and travelling +unemployed “…staying at home and travelling”
Q2: What were the reasons for your leaving action?
Engineer 1: I could not stand the leadership style as well +not stand +unsatisfied “…I could not stand the leadership
as project management process of the company. Also, +leadership style +leadership style style as well as project management
the knowledge sharing from other senior employees was +project management +project management process of the company …”
too little and I could not learn much. Before I left, I felt process process “…knowledge sharing from other
inactive and unproductive. That’s why I searched for +little knowledge + knowledge sharing senior employees was too little and I
other job opportunities. sharing could not learn much”
+inactive and +spirit “…I felt inactive and unproductive”
unproductive feeling
Engineer 2: The annual income was lower in the past 3 +lower annual income +income “annual income was lower”
years. The director was too bossy and unproductive; he +bossy and +leadership style “director was too bossy and
only cares about his position instead of the work unproductive director unproductive ”
management and employees’ life. Also, the relationship +bad relationship +relationship “relationship with other employees
with other employees was so bad that I don’t want to be was so bad”
in that unfriendly workplace
Q3: What did you think about the director?
Engineer 1: He was conservative and old-style. He did +conservative, old- +conservativeness “… conservative and old-style… not
not want to try new ideas. Also, he did not care about style, not try new ideas want to try new ideas… did not care
the productivity even the company had trouble in +not care about +unproductiveness about the productivity… cared about
recession period. He only cared about relationship for productivity relationship for promotion… has
promotion. Since he had power, no one dared to oppose + power +bullying power, no one dares to oppose”
him.
Engineer 2: He did not listen to anyone at all. When I +not listening +conservativeness “…not listening…. Uses policies to
tried to oppose his ideas, he used company policies to +pressure +bullying pressure….SOE leader “
pressure me. He was the type of SOE leader nowadays. +SOE leaders +bureaucratic
39

He did not want company to improve, he just followed +not want to improve +uncompetitive “doesn’t want company to improve…
the policies, the order from mother company and the +follow policies +bureaucratic follow policies….”
ISO committee.
Q4: What did you think about the salary and benefits of
ITC-HCM?
Engineer 1: Income used to be super attractive back in
2010-2013 when the oil industry was in prime time.
Salary policy is based on government policy, so it will
increase every 3 years. What makes this job attractive
really comes from company bonuses and benefits.
However, due to the recession, the benefits were +reduced benefits +benefits “benefits were reduced a lot...travel
reduced a lot. For example, the holiday money was +remove travel money +benefits money was removed … insurance was
removed, the insurance was cut by 75% with no +cut insurance, cut by 75% …”
supports for family members. The uniform money was uniform money “…uniform money was cut…bonus
cut by 16m as well. Also, the bonus policy has changed +changed bonus +bonuses policy has changed… received much
and I received much less, typically 1-2 months bonus policy, received less less”
instead of 10-12 months before.
Engineer 2: After oil recession 3 years ago, the benefits +decreased benefits +benefits “…benefits decreased a ot...project
decreased a lot, especially the project bonuses or +project bonuses +bonuses bonuses or company business support”
company business support. For example, the project +business support +compensation
bonuses used to account for 10-12 months of salary a
year, but it was decreased to 1-2 months over past 3 +decreased bonuses +bonuses “…it was decreased to 1-2 months
years. Company business support was lowered on flight over past 3 years”
ticket, taxi fares or hotel money. Moreover, the health +decreases health +benefits “…health insurance was decreased”
insurance was decreased from Premium to Regular class insurance
as well. Other gym, yoga, dance, sports activities was +decrease fitness +benefits “gym, yoga, dance, sports activities
removed as well. benefits was removed”
Q5: What did you think about work management?
Engineer 1: I had worked 7 years for company and been
project leader of several projects. The project
management process was outdated but the managers did +outdated +management process “…management processwas
not pay attention to projects as well as the progress. +not pay close attention +loose management outdated...”
“… not pay attention to projects”
40

For example, the task assignment was delivered by +word of mouth or +task assignment “... task assignment was delivered by
word-of-mouth or emails with unclear guidelines or email word-of-mouth or emails with unclear
deadline. +unclear guidelines or +task assignment guidelines or deadline”
Every week, each member have to submit a written deadlines
report but the managers did not fully read any. That’s +did not read report +report system “… managers did not fully read… did
why he did not update the total progress of projects as and update the progress not update the total progress of
well as each individual contribution. As a results, there projects”
were too many technical meetings where each members +too many meetings & +report system “... too many technical meetings”
have to present their doings. However, since the presentations
managers did not read the reports, he could not
remember the current status of project and kept asking +asking redundant +management “…kept asking redundant questions”
redundant questions. Those meetings and reports took a questions
lot of time, making employees less time to spend on +time consuming +time resource “…meetings and reports took a lot of
their main tasks. As a result, many project had been late meetings and reports time”
for deadline or had insufficient quality. +late for deadline, +project quality “… late for deadline or had insufficient
insufficient quality quality ”
Engineer 2: I had been project leader for 2-3 years. I feel
depressed with annual reports as I had to submit 2 +depressing annul +report system “…I feel depressed with annual
reports every week. The reports provided the project reports reports…”
progress but the Excel template was too confusing and +consfusing and time “… Excel template was too confusing
takes a lot of time to fill out Also, I had to present to consuming and takes a lot of time to fill out...”
officers and board of directors whenever they wanted.
Sometimes, I had to present 3 times a week. And the +presentation report system “…had to present 3 times a week”
presentation meeting took 2-3 hours and wasted a lot of
time for me and other co-workers
Q6: What did you think about the relationship with
other coworkers?
Engineer 1: Some senior guys were rude and use +rude, obscene words +work environment “…rude and use obscene words”
obscene words in workplace. They usually got drunk
and disturb other people. Sometimes, they had sexual +disturb +work environment “…disturb other people”
harassment actions like rubbing shoulders of other +sexual harassment +work environment “…sexual harassment”
female co-workers. Also, some skilled employees,
especially the senior ones, did not cooperate well with +not cooperating +cooperation “…not cooperate well … in
the others, especially in information sharing and +not share information +information sharing information sharing and exchange
exchange within projects. That means they work along within projects”
41

without connecting with others. They did not update +no connection +relationship “… without connecting with others”
their results regularly unless asked by the project
leaders. That’s why the project leaders and members got
difficulty updating the overall progress. Probably, they
didn’t want anyone to learn their skills. Someone did
say unfriendly words about me and even confront me. +unfriendly words +relationship “… unfriendly words… confront”
However, I did not want to mess with them or maybe +confront +relationship
I’m just too straightforward
Engineer 2: I had good relationship with the female
employees but not the male ones. They usually went to
drink, got drunk, came back to office and disturbed +disturbance +work environment “…disturbed other people ”
other people. They said obscene words and disturbed +obscene words +work environment “ said obscene words and disturbed the
the female employees as well. Moreover, the female employees”
relationship between the Reservoir and Exploration +unfriendly +relationship “ relationship between the Reservoir
sectors was not friendly. The Reservoir sectors, with the relationship and Exploration sectors was not
support from vice director, always said that exploration friendly”
team was not productive while exploration team worked
really hard. There were a lot of arguments in workflow +arguments +cooperation “…a lot of arguments”
and assignments between two sectors. Also, in company
events, many members did not participate and even +lacking participation +cooperation “ many members did not participate
argued with other co-workers and even argued with other co-
workers”
Q7: What did you feel about working for ITC-HCM
Engineer 1: I felt exhausted and unproductive working +exhausted & +dissatisfaction “…exhausted and unproductive”
in the company. Even though the salary is high and this unproductive
is the best place for oil & gas engineers, I felt my value +wasted value “…my value was wasted”
was wasted. My career was good, but I want to learn +want to learn more +search for development “...want to learn more”
more outside the engineering knowledge.
Engineer 2: I think I wasted my talent in that company. +wasted talent +dissatisfaction “…wasted my talent”
I could do much better without sitting there writing
reports. When I left, I felt pleased. Since I got MBA
degree, I would like to try in different industry. In this +try in different +search for development “…would like to try in different
company, you can’t get further I you don’t join the industry industry”
Party.
42

Q8: What did you think about your work-life benefits?
Engineer 1: Working in this company was quite “...quite convenient”
convenient. The task was not too hard for experienced +convenient
engineers like me. There were rarely overtime or +task not too hard +workload “…task was not too hard”
rushing projects. Also, the company was close to my +close to family +location “…close to my family”
family, so I could leave early for my children. The +leave early +flexibility “...leave early”
salary was sufficient for a normal life.
Engineer 2: The company was easy-going with time +easy-going +flexibility “…easy-going with time
management. I could spend more time for reading +spend more time management”
habits. Also, the office was close to my child’s school +close to school +location “…close to my child’s school”
and I could leave early to pick him up
Q9: What did you think about alternative opportunities?
Engineer 1: Yes I did think about that a lot when I got
mad with the situations occurred in the workplace. +mad +dissatisfaction “…got mad with the situations”
However, I had to consider a lot of aspects before +considered a lot of +consideration “…consider a lot of aspects”
leaving. aspects
Engineer 2: I took MBA degree in order to find another +MBA degree to find +intention to leave “...took MBA degree to find another
job. ITC-HCM was a good place to earn good money. another job job”
But my value was much more than that
Q10: How long did it take for your decision to leave?
Engineer 1: about 3 years, especially after the recession
period
Engineer 2: about 2 years, since I started MBA program
43

Table 8: Interview guide with current working employees
Objective: to re-examine if the current employees are facing same problems like former employees did and evaluate their turnover
intention
Introduction
Good morning Mr/Ms, my name is Tung Nguyen and I’m conducting a research to investigate the current
turnover situation within the company. I would like to ask you several questions regarding the issue and
ensure that all provided information will be kept confidential.
Questions Responses
Q1: What makes you satisfied working in ITC-HCM?
Q2: What makes you dissatisfied working in ITC-HCM?
Q3: What do you think about the director?
Q4: What do you think about the salary and benefits?
Q5: What do you think about work management?
Q6: What do you think about the relationship with other co-workers?
Q7: What do you feel about working in ITC-HCM?
Q8: What do you think about your work-life benefits?
Q9: What do you think about alternative opportunities?
44

Table 9: Summary of findings of interviews with current employees (names are kept confidential)
Q1: What makes you satisfied working in ITC-HCM?
Junior engineer 1: salary is higher than other possible
company, job security
Junior engineer 2: salary, job security
Senior engineer: salary, location, work-life benefits
Project leader: job security, work-life benefits
Accountant: salary, location, work-life benefits
Secretary: salary, location, friends
Q2: What makes you dissatisfied working in ITC-
HCM?
Junior engineer 1: leadership style, work management,
on-job training
Junior engineer 2: disturbance, leadership style, work
management, reduced benefits
Senior engineer: leadership style, work management,
compensation and benefits, relationship among
employees
Project leader: leadership style, project management,
employee cooperation
Accountant: leadership style, work disturbance,
relationship among employees, reduced benefits
Secretary: leadership style, sexual harassment,
relationship among employees
Q3: What do you think about the director?
Junior engineer 1: He is bossy and unproductive. +bossy and +bossiness, unproductivity “…bossy and unproductive”
Sometimes, he bullies other employees if they don’t unproductive “…bullies other employees”
follow his order. He’s old-styled and conservative +bully +bossiness “…old-styled and conservative”
+conservative +conservativeness “…not competitive”
45

Junior engineer 2: He is not competitive at all +not competitive +competitiveness “…lacks management skills as well as
Senior engineer: The leader lacks management skills as +lacks skills +skills soft skills”
well as soft skills. He does not have good visions and +no vision +vision “…does not have good vision and not
not pay attention to employees +not pay attention to +care pay attention to employees”
employees
Project leader: He is not competitive in finding new +not competitive +competitiveness “… not competitive”
projects. If he does, the bonuses for employees will
increase. Also, the management process and reports that
he makes employees follow are too time-wasting and
ineffective. However, he never listens to other +never listen +conservativeness “… never listens to other employees’
employees’ feedbacks and forces employees to do what +bullying +bullying feedbacks and forces employees…”
he wants
Accountant: He is picky and harsh on money. He does +picky +personalities “…picky and harsh on money”
not find new contracts. He only spends company money +not find new contracts Competitiveness “…does not find new contracts”
on golf +forces other +bullying “…forces other employees to follow”
Secretary: He forces other employees to follow his employees “…without listenng”
order without listening to anyone +not listening +conservativeness
Q4: What do you think about the salary and benefits?
Junior engineer 1: Salary is good, but the benefits have +good salary +salary “Salary is good, but the benefits have
been reduced significantly. For me, I’m quite fine with +reduced benefits +benefits been reduced significantly”
the current income because I’m junior
Junior engineer 2: The salary is good, but the company +good salary + salary “salary is good, but the company cuts
cuts off the insurance and gym benefits. +cut insurance and gym + benefits off the insurance and gym benefits”
Senior engineer: Salary is not changed due to policy. +unchanged salary + salary “Salary is not changed”
However, bonus money as well as other benefits such +decreased bonus, + benefits “bonus money … other benefits…
as insurance, health care, holiday have been decreased. insurance, healthcare, have been decreased”
For me, I’m more concerned about bonus money and travel
insurance
Project leader: The salary is followed government
policy but the bonuses depend on company’s
performance. Due to oil recession, the bonuses +reduced bonus money +benefits “…bonuses decreased a lot ”
decreased a lot. Moreover, the company had to cut off +reduces insurance, + benefits “ cut off many funds on insurance,
many funds on insurance, health support, holiday and health support travel, health support, travel and business
business support, uniform. In general, the current business support, support, uniform”
uniform
46

income is much lower than 3 years ago but guarantees a +lower income +income “…income is much lower than 3 years
normal life for my family. ago”
Accountant: My salary is good and increasing with my +good salary, + salary “Salary is good”
working years. The bonus money has been cut more increasing “ bonus money has been cut more than
than 60% and I lost a lot of income. The insurance, +reduced bonus money + benefits 60%”
uniform and travel support have been reduced as well. +cut insurance, + benefits “insurance, uniform and travel support
Luckily, my husband’s company provide those benefits uniform, travel support have been reduced ”
to my family.
Secretary: Salary is good. However, compared to +good salary +salary “Salary is good”
previous years, the bonus money is much lower by more +lower bonus money +benefits “bonus money is much lower by more
than 50%. Many benefits like uniform, insurance, +reduced uniform, +benefits than 50%”
healthcare, travel have been reduced. I have to pay for insurance, healthcare, “…benefits like uniform, insurance,
my children’s insurance. travel healthcare, travel have been reduced”
Q5: What do you think about work management?
Junior engineer 1: The work management is loose and +loose management +management “work management is loose”
the officers as well of directors do not remember the +do not remember +management “do not remember the progress”
progress of the projects. They ask us for many same progress “ask us for many same presentations”
presentations which takes a lot of time +many presentation +meeting
Junior engineer 2: The task assignment is not clear as +unclear task + task clarity “task assignment is not clear”
the officers does not follow the progress of projects. assignment “does not follow the progress of
Also, he lacks management and troubleshooting skills +does not follow +management projects”
progress
+lacks management + skills “…lacks management and
and trouble shooting troubleshooting skills”
skills
Senior engineer: The work management is unproductive +unproductive +management “work management is unproductive”
and takes a lot of time for meetings and presentations. management “takes a lot of time for meetings and
The officers do not read progress reports carefully as +time-consuming +meeting presentations”
well as does not clarify assignment for employees. The meetings and “do not read progress reports
weekly reports are long and time confusing as well presentations carefully”
+do not read progress +management “does not clarify assignment”
+unclear assignment +task clarity “weekly reports are long and time
+long reports +reports confusing”
47

Project leader: As a project leader, I think the current +unproductive +management ”… the current management process is
management process is too unproductive. It does not management process too unproductive”
fully convey the task requirements as well as practically
reflect the project progress. The assignment process is +ineffective +assignment “…assignment process is done
done through word of mouth or emails from leaders assignment method through word of mouth or emails”
without allowing feedbacks from members. Moreover,
some leaders, typically old ones, did not regularly
assess the progress and performance of the projects, +unregularly +management “…did not regularly assess the
making a lot of confusion in reports and appraisal. assessment progress and performance of the
That’s why there are a lot of reports and meetings which +report projects”
are time-wasting to employees. I would suggest +a lot of reports and “…there are a lot of reports and
applying modern management tools for my works. meetings meetings”
Q6: What do you think about the relationship with other
co-workers?
Junior engineer 1: I don’t like the way they get drunk
and disturb other employees. They say obscene words +disturb +work disturbance “disturb other employees”
and have sexual harassment actions. Also, the senior +obscene words +obscene words “say obscene words and have sexual
employees do not share knowledge with us +sexual harassment + sexual harassment harassment actions”
+do not share +information transparency “do not share knowledge”
knowledge
Junior engineer 2: The employees are not cooperating +not cooperating +collaboration “employees are not cooperating”
with each other. They do not share company works or +do not share +information transparency “do not share company works or
information and knowledge with each other. I want to information information and knowledge”
learn more but no one mentor me
Senior engineer: Many male employees usually get +disturb +disturbance “disturb others”
drunk and disturb others. Also, some skilled employees +do not share +information transparency “do not want to share information”
do not want to share information with others, making information
me difficult in data collection
Project leader: Some members do not want to share their +do not share findings +information sharing “…do not want to share their findings”
findings with each other. That makes it hard to update
the total progress of project team. Moreover, I find that
there are arguments between the execution process of +arguments +relationship “…there are arguments between the
Exploration and Reservoir teams. They cannot find execution process”
48

common words in the workflow and cooperation.
Moreover, some employees lacks discipline when they +lack discipline +discipline “…some employees lacks discipline…
get drunk and disturb other co-workers, especially +disturb +disturbance disturb other co-workers”
female ones.
Accountant: Many drunk employees disturb me while +disturb +disturbance “disturb me”
working. They use obscene words in the workplace and +obscene words +obscene words “use obscene words”
sometimes rub my shoulders. I don’t like those +rub shoulders +sexual harassment “rub my shoulders”
behaviors at all but the director does not do anything
Secretary: Employees do not participate in company +not participate +cooperation “do not participate”
events. Some people say bad words about others. They +bad words +relationship “say bad words about others”
usually get drunk and disturb other people. I tried to +disturb +disturbance “disturb other people”
avoid meeting them when they are drunk
Q7: What do you feel about working in ITC-HCM?
Junior engineer 1: The workplace is boring and the task +boring workplace +dissatisfaction “workplace is boring”
is not hard. Also, the managers and officers make me
stressed with reports and meetings. However, for junior +stressed with reports +stress “…stressed with reports and
engineer like me, it’s okay to stay here for good salary and meetings meetings”
and more experience +okay to stay +acceptance “ it’s okay to stay”
Junior engineer 2: I’m okay with the current job because +okay to stay +acceptance “I’m okay with the current job”
I need to learn more. Also, company won’t terminate
my contract even if I’m slacking
Senior employee: I used to be head officer and project
manager. Now I’m too old to think of promotion. I just +okay to stay till +acceptance, job security “want to work peacefully till
want to work peacefully till retirement and gain my retirement retirement”
geological knowledge
Project leader: I feel like losing my motivation working +losing motivation +motivation “…losing my motivation”
in this company. Also, due to lack of projects, I don’t +hard for performance +appraisal and “…hard for my performance appraisal
have many tasks to work on. Moreover, the directors appraisal and career development and career development”
might not listen to my new ideas. That’s hard for my development
performance appraisal and career development. If I find
better job, I might change immediately. +change +intention to leave “…I might change immediately”
49

Accountant: For my position, it’s difficult for higher
promotion. I’m fine with that as long as I have more +fine with company +acceptance “I’m fine with that”
time for family.
Secretary: I won’t be able to get higher position, so I’m +Happy with current +satisfaction
happy with current position. If I leave, I can’t get a positions “happy with current position”
better job
Q8: What do you think about your work-life benefits?
Junior engineer 1: The task is not hard and I’m learning.
My apartment is close so I can get home early without +get home early +time management “...my apartment is close … can get
traffic jam +without traffic jam +location home early without traffic jam”
Junior engineer 2: My family lives in Hung Yen, so I
have to take flight home during holidays. The mangers +easy time +time management “easy-going with taking holiday
are easy-going with taking holiday leaves so I have management leaves”
chance to see my parents
Senior employee: Time management is not hard and I +flexible time +time management
have time for my hobbies and family. Sometimes, I management “ have time for my hobbies and family
leave early with permission from directors. +leave early +time management “…leave early with permission”
Project leader: I’m feeling quite flexible and I have +flexible +time management “ I’m feeling quite flexible”
more time to work on my hobbies and take care of my
family. Also, I’m about to run a small cafeteria and I
can leave early for that, even though the directors do not
like it (laughing)
Accountant: Working here allows me to have more time +more time for family +time management “…have more time for family”
for family
Secretary: I can leave early to pick up my children +leave early +time management “...leave early to pick up my children”
Q9: What do you think about alternative opportunities?
Junior engineer 1: I’m taking Master program and will +will consider +possible intention to ”…will consider when I’m finished
consider when I’m finished with the degree. leave with the degree”
Junior engineer 2: I’m not sure. Maybe I will think over +not sure
when I get married
50

Project leader: Definitely, as long as new company
pays me much higher and allow further development
Accountant and Secretary: Not certain
+confirmation +intention to leave “ Definitely”
51

Table 10: Interview guide with senior project leader
Questions Responses
Q1: How effective is the project conducted in ITC-HCM?
Q2: How is task assignment conveyed to team members?
Q3: How effective is the management?
Q4: How effective is the report system?
Q5: Do you use any modern project management platform?
52

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