Sincerity key human resources quality<\/p>\n
By Bob Widyahartono<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): As we enter the APEC era, the question for many
\nIndonesian businesses is not \"what is the newest, or best,
\ntechnique in human resources development (HRD)?\" but \"are they
\nsincere in HRD, professionally?\"<\/p>\n
Can they claim that, with regards to HRD, their organizational
\ncapacities and capabilities are solid enough to meet the
\nchallenges of entering into alliances with partners from
\nIndonesia and also from the Asia Pacific on a \"win-win\" basis.<\/p>\n
If the answer is \"yes\" then there is ample reason to believe
\nthat many Indonesian businesses will have meaningful long-term
\nrelationships. On the other hand, if the answer is still unclear,
\nthen there is little chance that HRD will be of immediate
\nbenefit. Although some business organizations are becoming more
\nenlightened in their treatment of workers in several sectors,
\nthey are also demanding greater returns on their investments.<\/p>\n
Markets are growing more competitive. Alliances will be
\nnecessary to maintain market share and growth in market share.
\nIndonesian businesses have no other choice but to become more
\nproductive and efficient if they want to prosper in the APEC era.
\nIt is not that their CEOs (Chief Executives of the Organizations)
\ndo not appreciate the value of a high-value working environment.
\nIn order to create an atmosphere in which members of the business
\ncan self-actualize, there must first be sufficient profit in the
\nbusiness to ensure its survival.<\/p>\n
So much has been discussed among government officials,
\nacademicians and prominent leaders in the business community.
\nThere is a sense of eagerness to make the Jakarta APEC meeting
\nnext week successful. Are the business community members,
\nparticularly the medium scale enterprises, well enough prepared
\nto cooperate with their prospective partners from the Asia
\nPacific?<\/p>\n
In their second report the Eminent Persons Group of APEC
\nmentioned that \"... Among APEC member economies, the ASEAN
\ncountries and China now enjoy the highest growth rates...
\nHowever, these economies already face bottlenecks to further
\ngrowth in public infrastructure such as transportation and
\ntelecommunications, and in technical and managerial skills... A
\nhigh priority on the APEC agenda must be given to technical
\ncooperation on public infrastructure, competent small and medium
\nenterprises (SMEs) and education and human resources development.
\nAll of these complement market-driven integration and enhance the
\neffects of trade and investment liberalization and
\nfacilitation...\" Inevitably private businesses will be the main
\nplayers in the APEC era. Are they ready for it?<\/p>\n
Many individual business entities of whatever size have argued
\nthat their personnel departments were formed, and to this day, to
\nrecruit new employees, to make up payrolls and to pay personnel
\nexpenses. In many business organizations, employees were, and
\nstill are, treated as production parts. Although a number of
\norganizations are now more enlightened in their treatment of
\npeople, old attitudes have not completely disappeared.<\/p>\n
Many business organizations are still family businesses. Their
\npersonnel departments (not referred to as human resources
\ndepartments) are staffed by those non-family members who could be
\nreleased from the \"more important functions\" of manufacturing,
\nmarketing and or finance.<\/p>\n
In effect these personnel departments often become a \"dumping
\nfield\" for the organization's casualties. These personnel
\ndepartments are merely assigned to recruiting, recording, and
\nadministrating payments as determined by the CEOs or owners.<\/p>\n
In any business organization, the human resources department
\nshould be a system. Its primary subsystems are staffing,
\nplanning, employee relations, compensation and benefits, training
\nand development. It is imperative for them to take time to
\nformulate and explain the organizational philosophy. The human
\nresources department's philosophy is derived from an
\norganizational philosophy, which in professional business is as
\nfollows:<\/p>\n
1. Human resources exist in any organization because they
\nprovide a necessary function at a competitive cost;<\/p>\n
2. Human resources' mission is to enhance the productivity and
\neffectiveness of the organization as it relates to both people-
\npeople and people-system;<\/p>\n
3. Human resources should drive the organizations' management
\nin regard to people issues;<\/p>\n
4. Human resources is a professional function, staffed by
\npeople dedicated to the development of employees in ways which
\nare satisfying to the individual and beneficial to the
\norganization.<\/p>\n
Once this kind of philosophy has been formulated, the next
\nstep is to work out a set of values which fit the philosophy.
\nValues are social customs or ideals which a group regards as
\npositive of negative. Behavior of employees is and should be
\nclosely related and therefore business should lay down a list of
\nacceptable and expected attitudes of employees in whatever
\nposition. Behavior is role determined and a proper description of
\nbehavior is required.<\/p>\n
Ideally, organizations should have values such as: allowance
\nfor risk taking and mistakes, high standards of performance,
\nloyalty, proactive\/initiating and personal responsibility and
\nbusiness ethics as well as social responsiveness. Exercises in
\nformulating a philosophy, developing organizational values which
\neveryone in the organization can accept, and describing related
\nbehavior could be very useful since this will commit employees to
\nthe business objectives.<\/p>\n
As we enter the APEC era, business operations will grow and
\nbecome more complex. CEOs and owners will find themselves faced
\nwith problems in a system that once awarded family ties more than
\nprofessionalism. Medium and large enterprises will gradually
\nbecome more aware of the challenges in their internationalization
\nprocess.<\/p>\n
Since the mid 1980s, the Indonesian private sector has become
\na major player in integrating regional economies. But as part of
\nthe Asia Pacific region, can the medium scale enterprises, which
\nmake up the majority of Indonesian business, live up to their
\nrich promises as a booming region, home to the fast growing
\neconomies?<\/p>\n
In the APEC era, I anticipate that the regional business
\nscene will be dominated by multinationals that are owned by East
\nAsians, Japanese and Chinese stockholders.<\/p>\n
So far in this region, American capital will still be present.
\nTheir shares however will be significantly smaller although they
\nare making every effort to invest. Capital formation streams in
\nthe region will be spearheaded by East Asians with their
\nnetworking, which becomes increasingly professional and utilizes
\nmodern information technologies. They are flexible in employing
\nhost country nationals as executives, even at the highest
\nmanagement levels, rarely the case with American or western
\nenterprises investing in the Pacific region.<\/p>\n
For Indonesia, business ideas and techniques will become more
\nAsian and less western in the areas of information and process
\ntechnologies, manufacturing and service sectors. The critical
\nissue faced by our private sector is what human resources
\nqualifications are required in the transformation from
\ntraditional ways of doing business to modern and professional
\nways.<\/p>\n
The issue remains: where to find the right caliber executives
\nin individual enterprises since up to date, only a handful of
\nfirms are ready to meet the challenge of APEC. For a start there
\nshould be a change in the thinking of owners that human resources
\nheads should become members of the management team, reporting
\ndirectly to the CEO and with a deep understanding, as well as
\nexperience, in corporate objectives and philosophy. They will
\nhave to understand marketing, segmentations and the financing of
\nfirms in order to help define the human resources needed in the
\nAPEC era.<\/p>\n
By understanding the changes and challenges ahead they will be
\nin a position to collaborate with CEOs in order to identify,
\ntrain and develop managers needed by the firm. As mentioned
\nearlier, the most promising stars are very seldom assigned to
\nhuman resources management, although the importance of human
\nresources development is becoming crucial to enterprises.<\/p>\n
What is needed by our medium size enterprises are human
\nresources executives with a compelling vision of the future of
\nthe enterprise. Also needed are executives who communicate more
\nfrequently with employees, link compensation to individual
\nperformance, promote management training and development and plan
\nfor management succession in the future. Herein lies the
\nchallenge for change and growth of medium size enterprises in the
\nAPEC era.<\/p>\n
It will be a long journey for Indonesian businesses, but also
\na very interesting one, particularly as they prepare themselves
\nfor the realization of \"free and open trade and investment in the
\narea (Asia Pacific)\" as stated in the principles of the
\nmultilateral GATT system.<\/p>\n
The writer is dean of the Faculty of Economics at Indonusa Esa
\nUnggul University, Jakarta.<\/p>\n
Window A: As we enter the APEC era, business operations will grow and
\nbecome more complex.<\/p>\n
Window B: What is needed by our medium size enterprises are human
\nresources executives with a compelling vision of the future of
\nthe enterprise.<\/p>",
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