Errol Gregory, Contributor
AT THE recent Jamaica Association For Training and Development (JATAD) Conference that focused on "Creating Dynamic Growth Organisations", Dr. Lloyd Best raised many eyebrows and almost completely fazed his audience by dismissing what he called the traditional emphasis on organisational theory and the role of technology in discussing "Management and Employee Relations."
Addressing the specific issue of "Cultural shifts - challenges for managers in an environment of employee empowerment," Dr. Best argued that the focus should be on an understanding of the politics of the rise and fall of empires.
In this regard he noted that between 1989 and 1991 the number of new independent countries increased from 60 to 203. "It is this kind of increase that has stimulated the new global order", he said. Expanding on this point he said that many small countries had gained independence because they had empowered themselves. "Nobody can organise democracy or empower persons, they must empower themselves," he declared.
Focusing on the Caribbean, he said that we gained self-government and ultimately independence after the people expressed themselves in the riots of 1938 and made their wishes known. "We gained independence and empowerment by doing every thing for ourselves," the popular Trinidadian economist said.
Dr. Best contended that this message was lost to the educated elite who did not understand this reality. On the specific role that culture played in the empowerment process that ushered in independence, he said that we retained our culture at the same time that we acquired formal education as a studied response to our circumstances. "We decided that the best way to fight colonialism was to become like the colonialist," he added.
Turning to the region's response to globalisation he said, "As we face globalisation what we have to sell is the experience of survival that we have lived. We must sell the story of how we have survived. I don't understand why our training institutions are not bringing in visitors here to find out how we did it."
In this regard Dr. Best stressed that he did not regard the current competitive environment as hostile to small countries. "I do not share the pessimism about this global environment as I think it is tailor-made for small countries like Jamaica," he added. Looking at strategies for re-empowerment of individuals and companies in the region he made three recommendations namely:
The introduction of a new regime of ownership. He saw this as critical given the history of dispossession of large numbers of persons that had its origin in slavery. "Large firms and small firms must come together and work this out", he suggested. Change the terms under which labour is incorporated into production. In his view the model of cheap labour was outdated. "We want high value-added jobs, generating employment for our people based on selling our survival skills," he said. A re-conceptualisation of the education system. He called for fiscal incentives that would encourage firms to have their own schools as tried in Japan.In addition to Dr. Best's radical perspective on a possible response to globalisation that involved marketing our survival skills, there were a number of other issues that emerged at the conference that demand exploration at this time.
First, there was the issue of an apparent conflict between the focus on "hard skills" and "soft skills". Soft skills generally refer to human relations skills, while hard skills are associated with technical competence. Contemporary management theory tends to place emphasis on soft skills. However, some managers who attended the manager's forum at the above-mentioned conference argued that, oftentimes the person with technical competence may not have people skills, but depending on the organisation's objective a decision to favour technical competence may be the preferred choice.
A second issue relates to the difficulty of generating employee loyalty in the new work environment where contract labour, employed on a project basis, is likely to be the norm. One perspective on this matter is that the onus will be on the employer/manager to design strategies to build loyalty that will not be automatic. A point allied to this is that since short-term contract labour is likely to be the preferred choice, then relational skills at the managerial level may not be so critical.
A third issue that emerged has to do with a redefinition of employee and company stability. Traditionally, we viewed organisations with frequent labour turnovers as unstable. This will change however as the new global environment demands workers with multi-experiences. Job stability at the individual or company level could become an index of stability and a lack of dynamism. Doesn't this prove that even change is different these days?
