HR for national prosperity

Insights, initiatives and implications

The countdown has begun. It is just 14 days to the biggest HR event in South Asia. I am delighted to lead a dedicated team to make it even bigger, better and brighter. Today’s column will be the first part of the three-part series on the National HR Conference 2015.

Overview

National prosperity encompasses a variety of aspects including economic development, social wellbeing, environmental protection and peaceful co-existence. Both public sector administrators and private sector managers have a crucial role to play in such a mammoth endeavour. 

This is more critical in the post-war Sri Lanka with accelerated development taking place in all fronts. Human Resources (HR) as a profession cannot operate in isolation ignoring these realities.

The Institute of Personnel Management (IPM) Sri Lanka, being responsive to national needs, has decided to focus on its next conference to reflect on and relate to its obligations to the nation. HR can be a bridge between private and public sectors as its key functions have an overarching effect on utilising the most precious resource of any organisation. 

Ironically, we have an over-emphasis on private sector HR with less focus on public sector. This should be rectified through a sensible dialog on best HR practices and their applicability to both private and public sectors alike. National HR Conference (NHRC 2015) intends to fill this void in a meaningful and memorable manner. 

We want to showcase how HR can contribute to national prosperity with clear insights, clever initiatives and combined implications. A variety of eminent resource personnel from local and overseas will have their impactful presence through talks, panel discussions and other novel interventions as well. Participants are expected to be informed and inspired to take away key ideas for impactful implementation. 

We brought you ‘In Search of HR Excellence’ in 2013 with overwhelming success. We hosted the largest-ever attended HR event of IPM in 2014 with the theme ‘Redefining HR for Boosting Performance’. Now, the South Asia’s largest HR event will come to you, more enhanced and enriched. Do keep 16 and 17 June reserved for this engaging and energising experience. We will assure you immense insights, initiatives and implications in line with HR for national prosperity. 

 

Key features

“As in previous years, NHRC 2015 provides an excellent forum for exchanging information and discussion on a wide variety of timely HR topics, representing the latest developments and future trends in the world of work,” observes Rohitha Amarapapa, the President of IPM Sri Lanka.

“Our endeavour is to raise the professional bar of HR practitioners and all others involved in the discipline of people management,” states Dyan Senavirathne, the CEO of IPM, Sri Lanka. “We aspire to take HR to the forefront in the context of its true meaning whilst enhancing our beloved country’s growth and productivity, through her people,” he further observes.

We aspire to take HR to the forefront in the context of its true meaning whilst enhancing our country’s growth and productivity, through her people. The NHRC 2015 organising committee has taken great pains to invite renowned foreign and local speakers to add credence and provide diverse perspectives and to align with the theme from disparate, yet simple and comprehendible angles.

Let’s look at the key features of the two-day event.

 

Key features

NHRC 2015 begins with a service provides exhibition. It will showcase a diversity of people-related services such as employee provident fund, IT solutions, training interventions etc. It, in fact, is a meeting point of a multitude of suppliers and customers, in the broader context of HR. It has been designed to accommodate more quality displays with novel features this time.

The next sought after item in the agenda is the ‘Great HR Debate’. There was an increased awareness this time with regard to the participation. The two finalists will battle for the crown on 16 June afternoon. HR Debate allows participants to demonstrate their knowledge on the latest HR concepts, reasoning ability and critical thinking skills through eloquent expression of arguments before a select group of HR and business leaders.

In fact, the ‘Great HR Debate’ is the only debating competition that is dedicated to the HR fraternity of the country. 

Next comes the much-awaited inauguration and awards ceremony. 

 

Awards galore

‘IPM Sri Lanka People Leaders’ Awards’ has been described as a national level initiative undertaken by IPM Sri Lanka to recognise ‘professionals’ for their contribution towards promoting sound and vibrant people management practices in the world of work. 

With much expansion this time, the awards will be delivered in collaboration with five leading professional bodies, namely the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Sri Lanka (CA Sri Lanka), The Institution of Engineers, Sri Lanka (IESL), Chartered Institute of Marketing – Sri Lanka Region, The Computer Society of Sri Lanka (CSSL) and The Institute of Supplies and Materials Management (ISMM). Evaluated by an eminent panel of judges, facilitated by The Nielsen Company with their research and multi-rater feedback. 

IPM-hSenid National HR Excellence Awards are dedicated to recognise the outstanding contributions and achievements of individuals, teams and organisations who have demonstrated excellence, dedication and commitment in promoting and propagating the human resource management discipline in the country. 

The pinnacle of all these will be the IPM Lifetime Gold Award. I am humbly happy to read the citation of this year’s winner (who is yet to be selected) as it is traditionally read by the previous year’s winner.

 

Technical sessions

The second day is all about insights, initiatives and implications with regard to HR for National Prosperity. The “opening batsman” will be Prof. Srinivasan Raghavan from the Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore (IIMB). He will speak on why HR for National Prosperity in offering a global perspective. 

Srinivasan is an Associate Professor of Corporate Strategy and Policy at IIMB and also a Visiting Professor at the Friedrich Alexander Universitat Erlangen-Nuremberg, Germany. His current research focuses on characterising rapid growth firms, studying platform-mediated networks, promoting open innovation, and unravelling strategic decision making in top management teams. 

He will focus his session on how HR can play a vital role in contributing to organisations as well as nations. The development of ‘human capital’ consisting of skills, expertise, experience and knowledge at an individual and group level is critical to the prosperity of societies. National prosperity encompasses a variety of aspects including economic development, social well-being, environmental protection and peaceful co-existence. Both public sector administrators and private sector managers have a crucial role to play in such a mammoth endeavour. 

Prof. Srinivasan will also share a few success stories from both developing and developed countries alike, on how HR has contributed to national prosperity. Both multinational and multi-local organisations have been instrumental in adding value to the well-being of their stakeholders including the society at large. He will also link the overarching lessons for the HR professionals as to how they should act in a local context.

The second technical session will be conducted by Dr. Chandra Embuldeniya. He is a thought leader and an international consultant for entrepreneurial higher education and skills development. He is also on record as the first private sector executive to have had the honour of being invited by the Government of Sri Lanka to become a Vice Chancellor.

In his sharing, Dr. Embuldeniya will identify human capital being at the foundation of enablers of growth for prosperity. Human capital readiness is the foremost driver of national prosperity. Human resources should also have a sense of commitment for nation building. Human knowledge and skills are our most critical national assets and the right strategies must be in place to align these assets with national development goals.  The investors and producers are saddled with immense HR issues due to HR unpreparedness. Amazingly, our Sri Lankan brand value is expected to exceed the GDP in 2015 due to Sri Lanka brand promotions driving ahead of HR readiness. There should be adequate streams to produce industry-ready human capital to realise the true value of the Sri Lanka brand.

Companies measure the cost of developing their intangible assets such as skills, knowledge bases, brand development, yet the realisable value of investments in intangible assets is perceived poorly. Intangible assets have potential value but not necessarily market value. Organisational processes are required to transform the potential value of intangible assets into products and services that have tangible value. 

As such human capital should be ready; it should also be integrated with other intangible assets, linked to tangible assets and final goals. Therefore, what is a desirable value proposition for nation building? What should be our key goals on growth and productivity? How do we act wisely to deliver through sustainable processes for the multifaceted needs of prosperity? Dr. Embuldeniya will examine pertinent answers for the HR professionals and the functional managers alike.

 

Way forward

There is a plenty more to talk about NHRC 2015. The next column will elaborate further on the same aspect. My invitation as the Chairman of the NHRC 2015 is simple and humble. Be there on 16 and 17 to witness the South Asia’s largest HR event becoming bigger, better and brighter.

(Dr. Ajantha Dharmasiri is the Director and the Chairman of the Board of Management of the Postgraduate Institute of Management (PIM). He also serves as an Adjunct Professor in the Division of Management and Entrepreneurship, Price College of Business, University of Oklahoma, USA)