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| Ronald Jones, Minister of Education and Human Resource Development. (FP) ?? |
Human capital working together in both the public and private sectors creates the winning formula for success.
This was intimated today by Minister of Education and Human Resource Development, Ronald Jones, as he addressed the 14th Annual Conference and Exhibition of the Human Resource Management Association of Barbados Inc. (HRMAB), at the Accra Beach Hotel.
Alluding to the conference’s theme, Creating a Winning Formula for Successful Business Partnerships, Minister Jones said: "When the human capital that is present in both Government and private enterprise work together, a formula for building successful business partnerships can be brokered, and, when we can add as well those who work with us within the Trade Union Movement, within the genuine social partnership, then we know we can truly develop and broker successful partnerships, businesses or otherwise in our country."
He further stressed: "The human resource potential of Barbados is our largest and most important resource and, particularly, in these challenging economic circumstances, we must put our people first and design a path which will shape a prosperous society for our future.
"A business, any organisation or the wider community can only be as successful or resilient as the quality of input that is used and this is especially true of the self-directing resources – our human capital."
As he acknowledged that the creation of successful businesses was to some extent linked to the creation of successful lives, Mr. Jones added: "People create businesses; people generate all of the development activity which happens around us."
He cautioned, however, that as both individuals and businesses sought to achieve their dreams or visions there would be challenges to overcome including that of ???fear’, which persons needed to "first cleanse as they worked towards achieving success". "Fear because that can tie us or bind us from achieving what we truly want to set out to do; we can worry; we can develop a defeatist attitude It is not going to happen even though we want it to happen. So, we set up that counter situation. We want it to happen but there is either someone or ourselves saying this," the Minister maintained.
Human resource managers were also told to embrace the concept of ???love within the organisation’, as an important ingredient of organisational behaviour, organisational management and, of encouraging productivity.?? Explaining this, the former teacher said, "I am talking about an attitude which we bring; which creates a vibrancy within the organisation to make it work, to make it active; where one can see it … it is dynamic; it is vibrant, forceful and everyone comes to the centre and participates as part of that dynamic and no-one stands on the periphery."
Contending that those who stood on the periphery would plot against the organisation, the Minister noted: "They plot because they have been denied, because they feel that they are not worthy and no one cares about them and, therefore, they plot to destroy, discourage, to demotivate."
He observed that successful business organisations usually pulled everybody to the centre including the person who serves the coffee; the food, who photocopies; sweeps the floor as well as salesmen. "Even the lowest among us all should also be appreciated and loved as we move towards the achievement of the vision for the successful business partnership or organisation. We need to see that all are involved in the process and all are, therefore, consumed by the same ethic, by the same value as we work…" Mr. Jones said.
HRMAB was commended by the Minister for "exploring how the management of our human resource capital lends to building successful and resilient businesses in these difficult economic times". Meanwhile, its President, Elaine Bourne said that organisation remained committed to executing its vision of "becoming a world-class association for the management and development of people." She noted, however, that "As a result of the current economic down turn, the past months have been very challenging. Many individuals and businesses have been struggling to improve competitiveness in a volatile and uncertain market. Consequently, such an environment has caused HRMAB to limit the scope of new projects we could undertake."
She outlined, however, a few initiatives on the cards; among them the World of Work curriculum for secondary school children "to bridge the gap between education and work," as well as the organisation’s plans to re-launch its Thomas Roach scholarship as "another way to reach out to another level in our educational sector of the community".