Hilary Robertson-Hickling
AS A human resource pro-fessional, I am intrigued at the concept of talent development which I encountered in a large multinational in Jamaica. This department was involved in the recruitment of talented persons from educational institutions through internships, from within the organisation and from anywhere in the world that they might be available.
There should be an obvious link between this practice and the frequently held talent contests here and overseas. It is interesting to see the performers listening to the verdict of the judges and taking their advice to heart. Some of the contestants even enter the contest a second time having made the suggested changes to their repertoire, movement, costume or whatever is the problem.
Performance in the workplace is beset by low levels of productivity, resistance to performance evaluation and the kinds of problems identified by Carl Stone and later Kenneth Carter at the workplace. The current wave of industrial relations disputes also provides insight as to the expectations of various employees and the resources available to the Government to compensate. Discus-sions in Jamaica rarely speak of the performance-related compensation. Instead it appears that the burden of the discussion is about meeting the needs of the employee.
Poor quality service
Although we have come a far way in the practices which provide high-quality service, we still have many employees and business owners who treat the customer with contempt and disregard. The implication of the experience of the former telecom-munication monopoly which has lost a significant part of its market share to the new kid on the block has not penetrated into the behaviour of many organisations.
I watch the health sector, which is changing rapidly at home and abroad, and see that there are some nurses and doctors, as well as institutions, that seem unaware of the con-sequences of poor quality service. Not only is there a loss of income but also a loss of reputation which it is difficult to restore. Today's customer wants value for money as well as good service. The customer is much more mobile and has many more choices, Cuba being one that is close and reasonable, the United States, which is more expensive, but also close where there is recourse to legal action should things go wrong. A country like India is now attracting customers from the United Kingdom where people are tired of the long waiting lists in the National Heath Service.
Raise the standards
Our hope of developing health tourism will not be stymied by the brilliance of our nurses and doctors, but by the problems of poor service. Some believe that care is about the best technology, but it also about excellent patient care. Issues of clinical governance and ethics, as well as the changing legal environ-ment, will also impact on the use of our talent.
No matter how talented we are as Jamaicans, if we do not continuously raise the standards of our perfor-mance we will become a country with the potential to excel, but one that performs in a mediocre fashion. My loyalty as a consumer goes to the people and organisations which value my patronage, not the organisations with the most brilliant employees or the most talented. The development of talent is a great challenge for our country.
Hilary Robertson-Hickling is a lecturer in the Department of Management Studies, UWI, Mona.
