IPM National HR Conference 2016 takes HR to new vistas

The National Human Resources Conference 2016 organised by IPM Sri Lanka, the nation’s leader in human resources management successfully hosted its two-day flagship conference, the largest HR conference in South Asia, on 21 and 22 June at the BMICH in Colombo amidst a large and distinguished gathering representing the HR fraternity and professionals from other disciplines, business leaders, local and foreign delegates, speakers and other special invitees including the Guest of Honour, Minister of Plantation Industries Navin Dissanayake MP, keynote speaker Singapore Human Resources Institute President Erman Tan, IPM Sri Lanka President Rohitha Amarapala, NHRC 2016 Organising Committee Chairman Aruna Dayanatha, together with the committee members, past presidents, council members and officials of IPM Sri Lanka. 

The conference commenced with the inauguration of the first IPM Research Symposium 2016 revolving around the theme ‘Developing Strategies for Uplifting High Performance through HRM’. The symposium was chaired by IPM Sri Lanka Council Member Dr. Badra J.H. Arachchige. Ministry of Labour and Trade Union Relations Secretary S.M. Gotabaya Jayaratne and United Motors Lanka PLC Chairman Sunil Wijesinghe were the Chief Guest and Guest of Honour respectively at the first Research Symposium of IPM Sri Lanka. 

From left: IPM Sri Lanka President Rohitha Amarapala, Singapore Human Resources Institute President Erman Tan (keynote speaker), Minister of Plantation Industries Navin Dissanayake MP (Guest of Honour) and NIPM India President Somesh Dasgupta

The symposium provides a unique forum for HR practitioners, students and the faculty to present their scholarly contributions and work on contemporary HR issues and aims at identifying and highlighting research findings of special relevance to the South Asian region.

The HR Service Providers’ Exhibition 2016 was inaugurated on the first day of the conference providing an opportunity for all the attendees and participants to the NHRC to visit vendor stalls to view and familiarise themselves with the multitude of solutions available to increase the efficiencies and effectiveness of HR functions from a strategic as well as short/mid-term perspective. 

IPM HR Service Providers’ Exhibition 2016 Organising Committee Chairman Col. Saman Jayawickrama – IPM Sri Lanka council member said that vendor participation at the exhibition was indeed a great opportunity to showcase company products and solutions to a wide cross section of HR professionals and managers.

The final round of the Great HR Debate 2016, the only debating championship dedicated to the HR sector, was worked out between GlaxoSmithkline and Pan Asia Bank alongside the main NHRC 2016 Conference on Tuesday 21 June. The primary aim of the Great HR Debate is to create a mechanism to debate on issues which are important to the country’s HR ecosystem and to nurture and build an intellectually sound HR community that is capable of creating value within the HR landscape. 

Himal Perera – IPM Sri Lanka council member functions as the Chairman, The Great HR Debate 2016 organising committee. GlaxoSmithkline was adjudged the winners and the Great HR Debate 2016 Champion’s trophy was awarded to the team.                       

IPM Sri Lanka Past President and Council Member Chris Obeyesekere was the Chairman of the National HR Excellence Awards 2016 organising committee. The National HR Excellence Awards is an exclusive Awards programme where exemplary HR professionals and organisations that have demonstrated best practices in HRM are recognised with a series of prestigious awards that are strongly supported and endorsed by the Sri Lankan HR community. 

Hayleys Plantations Sector (Kelani Valley Plantations PLC & Talawakelle Tea Estates PLC), Colombo Stock Exchange, Sampath Bank PLC, Brown & Company PLC, Unilever Sri Lanka Ltd., VirtusaPolaris Ltd. and Bodyline Ltd. were honoured with the National HR Excellence Gold category awards while Kelani Cables PLC, Polytex Garments Ltd., People’s Leasing & Finance PLC, Fonterra Brands Lanka Ltd. and GlaxoSmithKline were honoured with the Silver category awards. The Gateway Hotel Airport Garden Colombo, Citizen Development Business Finance PLC, Classic Travel Ltd. and the Employees Trust Fund Board were presented with the Bronze category awards.     

The National HR Excellence Awards 2016 individual category award recipients Dr. Jayantha Pathirathna (FIPM) was honoured with the IPM Lifetime Gold Award 2016 while the PQHRM HR Professional of the Year 2016 Award was presented to ikman Ltd. Manager HR M.B. Shiwanthie Wijesuriya. 

The unique IPM Sri Lanka People Leaders’ Awards 2016 are presented to non-HR professionals and are dedicated to recognising the commitment of non-HR professionals towards promoting best practices in people management within the world of work. 

Sri Lanka Land Reclamation and Development Corporation Deputy General Manager (Supplies and Stores) Shehenaz Dananjaya Dharmaratne, Hatton National Bank PLC Chief Internal Auditor/Assistant General Manager –Audit Avindra Niroshana Seneviratne, Sampath Bank PLC Deputy General Manager IT/Heal of IT Ajith Salgado, Maliban Biscuits Manufactories Ltd. CEO Sales and Marketing Ravindra Ajantha Jayawardena and Geological Survey and Mines Bureau Chairman Dr. Kithsiri Dissanayake were the recipients of the prestigious IPM Sri Lanka People Leaders’ Awards 2016 for People Leader Supply Chain, People Leader Finance, People Leader IT, People Leader Marketing and People Leader Engineering respectively.     

The evaluations of the applications for the awards were carried out independently by a panel of auditors attached to the Postgraduate Institute of Management (PIM), University of Sri Jayewardenepura.

An eminent line-up of international and local speakers presented their ideas and thoughts on various topics. Some of the interesting and timely topics that were presented were Empowering business leaders to face competitiveness, Attracting and retaining talent: Employer brand management, Sustainable business growth through ethical leadership, Leading in an upside-down world: The rationale for creativity, design thinking: A strategic approach for innovation inside an organisation, Integrating technology and people through HR, Harnessing your everyday creativity, Three-box theory: New perspective for performance management and How HR changed a nation: Singapore case study.