CIPM - Human Resource Forum Communiqué

2003

INTRODUCTION

The 2003 Human Resource Forum was held on Friday, 23rd May 2003 at the National Secretariat, CIPM House, Alausa - Ikeja. In his welcome address, the President Mr. Bunmi Oni, FIPM reiterated the fact that the theme for this year "Knowledge Management For Organizational Competitiveness: Best Practices" is very appropriate. He said the crux of the matter is how to retain knowledge and experiences and ensure the transfer of same from one generation/level of managers to another.

Quoting Peter Drucker, the President said that "the currency of the world today is information", organized information he went further, "amounts to knowledge which when applied becomes wisdom that can be applied for organizational growth and competitiveness".

The Honourable Minister of Labour, represented by Mr. O. A. Omotade, the Permanent Secretary stated in his keynote address that Human Resource Management Professionals (as employees or consultants) must be willing to learn if organizations must survive under the current heat of international competitiveness.

Two guest speakers presented papers, Dr. O. O. Gbeja, Director General of ASCON and Mr. S. O. Olatunji - Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, Gateway Bank Plc.

The following are the recommendations that generated from the forum:-

HR Professionals should regard it as personal duty to be well-informed and knowledgeable through self-motivated and organization-supported learning processes.

Acquisition of knowledge both at individual and organizational levels is an asset necessary for improved performance through which the Human Resource Management professional presents himself as a facilitator of organizational growth.

Practice of entrepreneurship with the four critical elements viz; systematic innovation, opportunity - focused strategy, change-oriented management and empowering leadership is key to effective knowledge acquisition process.

Fundamental rethinking, radical redesign and dramatic process improvement occasioned by sustained customer satisfaction through continuous product and service delivery improvement can only be achieved through a versed knowledge based strategic approach.

Organizations should shift from the environmental and cultural laden knowledge creation or leveraging approach and adopt a knowledge base that tackles the total individual zeroing on the character element.

A re-introduction of citizenship into our educational curricula at all levels far beyond formal education i.e. including corporate world is a ready tool for character moulding.

2003 HUMAN RESOURCE FORUM (FORMERLY IRF) HELD 23RD MAY 2003 AT CIPM HOUSE

In his welcome address, the President of the Institute Mr. Bunmi Oni reiterated the fact that the theme for this year "Knowledge Management For Organizational Competitiveness: Best Practices" is very appropriate. The crux of the matter is how to retain knowledge and experience and ensure the transfer of same from one generation/level of Managers to another.

Quoting Peter Drucker, we said that "The Currency of the world today is information", organized information amounts to knowledge which when applied becomes wisdom that can be applied for organizational growth and competitiveness.

The Honourable Minister of Labour, represented by Mr. O. A. Omotade, the Permanent Secretary stated in his keynote address that Human Resources Management Professionals (as employees or consultants) must be willing to learn if organizations must survive under the current heat of international competitiveness.

They should regard it as personal duty to be well informed, and knowledgeable through self-motivated and organization-supported learning processes. The acquisition of knowledge both at individual and organizational levels is an asset necessary for improved performance. Through improved performance, the Human Resource Management Professional presents himself as a facilitator of organizational growth.

The first Guest Speaker Dr. O. O. Gbeja of ASCON opined that the knowledge and management of the three Rs (Resources, Relationships and Results) are key to organizational competitiveness.

He adopted a two-example approach in emphasizing the importance of knowledge management (KM).

The first example which is the Practice of Entrepreneurship has four critical elements viz:

Systematic Innovation
Opportunity-focused Strategy
Change-oriented Management
Empowering Leadership

Out of all the four, systematic innovation is the most critical. This is driven by the following factors:

The Unexpected
The Incongruity
Process Need
Change In Structure
Demographics
Changes In Perception
New Knowledge

The second example include Total Quality Management (TQM) and Business Process Re-engineering (BPR) while TQM is about satisfying customers and continuous improvement, BPR has to do with fundamental rethinking, radical re-design, dramatic improvement and process focus.

However, it must be noted that they are all based on knowledge.

In his own submission, the second speaker, Mr. S. O. Olatunji, MD/CEO Gateway Bank Plc looked at knowledge management in an environmental and cultural context. He defined Knowledge Management as a process by which a firm creates and leverages knowledge. He affirmed that knowledge has become a primary source of advantage within a growing number of industries.

However, by far, the greatest challenge to sound Knowledge Management is changing people's behaviour and the traditional institutions have been indifferent in this regard. Therefore there is a need for paradigm shift to a knowledge base that tackles the total individual zeroing on the character element. A re-introduction of citizenship into our educational curricula at all levels far beyond formal education i.e. including corporate world, is a ready tool for character moulding.