By Dennis Chung, ContributorGROWTH HAS been the main preoccupation of politicians and Jamaicans in recent times, because of the lack of it, resulting in constant discussions on achieving it. In order for growth to be advantageous, however, it must be controlled so that it occurs in an environment that provides the greatest benefits.
We have seen in China recently where they have deliberately taken steps to slow growth as if uncontrolled it can have an overheating effect and create economic negatives such as inflation. Here in Jamaica we do not have the problem of too much growth, and may not for some time, but as we attempt to expand our economy and society we must be cognisant of the need to do so in a controlled
environment.
ORGANISATIONAL GROWTH
As our society and economy grow we must take a critical look at the cultural environment. The Prime Minister in his recent address to the nation spoke of the need to bring "social order" to the country. This compares to a growing organisation, where systems and procedures are required to facilitate expansion. An examination of our large companies will reveal that their human resources department and policies have played an important part in their development. As companies increase the number of transactions and employees they must adapt new accounting, technology and personnel systems and policies that are predictable.
The only way to ensure that everyone is on the same path is to set down strict guidelines and procedures for employee behaviour and accounting transactions. This is one of the major advantages of new technology in that it provides information and a controlled systematic environment that allows for calculable growth. Many international and large national organisations would not be able to grow successfully without new technology as they would be susceptible to fraudulent activities that may not be easily detected.
For example, banks such as NCB or BNS would find it more difficult to detect a 'kiting' scam in one of its many branches if information was not as timely as it is with current systems. Admittedly, however, technology does make it easier also to commit fraud for one determined to do so.
EXPANDING JAMAICA'S ECONOMY
Similarly, the Jamaican Government must act like the management that seeks to control growth to minimise the effects of organisational crime. This is one of the problems we have had since our independence. We have expanded in an uncontrolled manner, namely, going after economic growth without the accompanying 'social order' that the Prime Minister spoke of. Many of the difficulties we faced in the 1990s to the present have resulted primarily from our not keeping pace with updated legislations for monitoring the expansion and opening of our economy.
I refer to growth not in the GDP sense that is normally done, but rather the expansion in economic activity we have seen from the introduction of globalisation and a competitive market economy. It was much easier to control when we had a relatively closed economy during the 1970s and 1980s. During these decades we had all sorts of controls, including higher tariff structures and foreign exchange controls, which made it easier to direct the flow of economic activity. With the onset of the 1990s, however, it was no longer possible to postpone the opening of the economy to the ravages of globalisation. When we did that, however, we neglected to ensure that the legislative and social systems were ready for the onslaught of globalisation. Consequently, we found ourselves with antiquated legislation and social structures that could not support the expansion of economic activity.
LACK OF LEGISLATIVE
AND SOCIAL SUPPORT
This lack of legislative support was obvious in the collapse of the financial sector of the 1990s. Because of our inability to see the need for this we have been overrun by lawlessness and have no way of dealing with it adequately. Imagine an organisation that triples in employees, expands its branch network and increases transactions ten-fold.
If they do not have in place proper internal control systems and human behaviour policies they will have uncontrolled growth and begin experiencing increased fraud and indiscipline throughout. In Jamaica, the lack of legislative and social support has resulted in increases in crime, street people and poverty. These are natural spin-offs from a growing society without order. We only have to look at the chaos that has occurred on the roads, both indiscipline and traffic congestion, because of the uncontrolled growth in the number of vehicles. Many of today's major crimes, in my opinion, emanate from the inability to control indiscipline in seemingly minor areas such as on the roads. Indiscipline has a cancerous effect as it spreads through society, finally resulting in a chronic
illness.
We see many results of this in the areas of bribery, corruption and increased crime levels. A developed country cannot function with a judicial system with improper investigations and lacks the people's confidence. We cannot have court cases taking the long time they do and when awards are given that takes forever to be paid. It is not practical to have legislation that does not have enough teeth to prevent crime from occurring. An example, which has been changed recently, was the Betting, Gaming and Lotteries Act, where an illegal operator would be fined maybe $12,000 when the profit from one illegal transaction could be much more.
One thing we can say for this Government is that they have revised many laws in this country to seek to deal with the scourge of crime and indiscipline and they must be commended for that. This attempt to deal with drastically needed changes in legislative and operational processes in Jamaica has been one of the reasons for the apparent greater indiscipline and not necessarily because indiscipline and lawlessness were absent. It could be that our outdated systems were not adequate to deal with indiscipline and so it did not seem to be a problem.
Once change is introduced there will always be resistance and so many accepted practices will no longer be possible. The first reaction will be resistance. It will therefore seem as if there is an upsurge of chaos when in fact it is resistance to change for the better. This has occurred in many instances in this country. It is because of the lawlessness and indiscipline in Jamaica why the phrase 'Jamaica No Problem' seems relevant. There was a recent report in The Gleaner that tourists admit that they come to Jamaica for the free sex and we also know that they come for the 'ganja'. Maybe the term to use is 'Jamaica much problems'. In the final analysis it is up to the Government and upholders of the law to hold steadfast to the correct principles and enact much needed changes to restore "social order". This culture shift is a necessary move to being a developed country.
E-mail: dra_chung@hotmail.com
