Amunugama urges HR professionals to drive up Lanka’s productivity

By Cassandra Mascarenhas

Sri Lanka’s survival will solely depend on how organisations motivate workers and increase productivity in order to gain a comparative advantage over other economies, a task in which human resources has a vital role to play, stated Senior Minister for International Monetary Co-operation and Deputy Minister of Finance and Planning Dr. Sarath Amunugama.

Addressing the gathering as the Chief Guest of the National HR Conference 2013 organised by the Institute of Personnel Management which commenced yesterday, the Minister stressed on the need to make many structural changes, starting with the educational pattern so that there is a much greater fit between the educational system and the world of work.

“Unless we increase productivity, it is going to be very difficult and it is here that HR plays a very important role. Today, we have large numbers of people who come out of the school system who are unemployable. You have to train them all over again to get them into your establishments and increase productivity. Even more than that, is that we have to create a culture of productivity and achievement, of hard work and entrepreneurship – that is very important,” he stated.

Amunugama went on to say that HR has become a very significant aspect of the type of entrepreneurial culture that Sri Lanka has to create in order to take the country into the 10% growth category.

“It will come – when a country is growing at this rate and a middle class is emerging. We have one million three wheelers in this country. 1.4 million Sri Lankans are working abroad and they send us $ 6 billion every year – to put that into perspective, our standby arrangement with the IMF was $ 2.6 billion. We have a culture of work and rewards and I think you have to seriously engage yourself in debates and your contribution will be very vital to prepare a good workforce and a good working culture,” he urged the professionals gathered at the event.  

We are a breakout nation, Amunugama noted, and countries that have emerged from a civil war can work hard, increase their productivity and become fast growing economies by getting the peace dividend. “It is our duty now to look at our enterprises and ensure that we get the maximum returns by the way of productivity so that we make the best use of the post-war situation.”

Looking at China and India, both of which are now pushing or driving global growth, he pointed out that the significant aspect of these two growing economies is the productivity which is helping them be competitive, driving down cost of production which gives them both a huge comparative advantage when it comes to production over traditional European and American markets.

“Any product that is coming out of Europe is produced for much cheaper in Asia, and as a result, those developed markets are losing business and now they are entering a phase of protectionism because they know they can’t compete with the productivity of Asia,” he said.

“When we talk about the manufacturing and service sector, what is most important is the organisational structures that will help us increase productivity. We live in a world which is highly competitive where cost of production, efficiency and productivity are absolutely crucial if we are to survive.”

Pix by Upul Abayasekara