Don't play favorites, tycoon Ciputra says

JAKARTA (JP): Business tycoon Ciputra, speaking of his human resource management methods, says he makes it a rule not to play favorites, even when it is his relatives who work for him.

Talking about family-run companies in a discussion about human resource development yesterday, Ciputra used his own companies as an example. Out of some 30 relatives working at some of the companies, three or four have been dismissed this year because of their poor performance, he said.

"The managers of the companies that hire people don't hesitate to fire them (the relatives) if such action needs to be taken," he told some 50 participants.

The discussion was held by the Gatra weekly magazine and featured high-profile speakers such as Jaya Suprana, owner of a traditional herbal medicine company.

Ciputra said the success of a company depends greatly on its leaders. "What's needed from those leaders are wisdom and the ability to satisfy consumers," he said. "What they must never do is play favorites with their employees."

"Once company leaders take even only one crown-prince, they create 10 stepsons," he advised. In addition, "never create scandals...so your wife at home will be untroubled."

Ciputra's four children and two sons-in-law are directors in the Ciputra Group of companies, which has assets of Rp 1 trillion as of last year, according to the Indonesia Business Weekly.

Another speaker, Gede Prama of the Organizational Dynamics Consulting human resource development consultant firm, said managers need to have great tolerance for differences of opinion if they wish to develop strong human resources.

"Human resource development needs creativity, and creativity can only be expanded in a place where people appreciate differences," said Gede.

"It would be difficult for someone to unleash his creativity if he is told to follow other people's opinions, for example his superior's, all the time," he said.

Gede admitted that, in Indonesia people tend to avoid differences. "That's a mistake. It happens anywhere, in government offices, as well as in education, private and business sectors," he said. (31)