JEDDAH: Human resources (HR) leaders and experts strongly advocated a fundamental shift in leadership concepts and performance metrics to develop human capital into a truly sustainable resource and organizational asset. At the conclusion Thursday of the two-day first International Human Resources Conference and Exhibition in Dubai, the experts were unanimous in their opinion that underutilization of knowledge resources as well as lack of motivation and engagement were the main obstacles for human capital development in the region. "Poor management and poor utilization of knowledge resources are the underlying reason for the persistent gap between human capital development and performance in the GCC. Organizational reforms are imperative over and above education and training. Develop the individual, develop the organization too," Dr Edward Kellough, Department Chair and Professor of HR at the University of Georgia, said in his speech. "The Gulf states have over 50 percent of their human resources under-utilized. We need a fundamental shift in thinking about what organizations can do with their human resources. There are also no clear strategies for transferring the explicit and tacit knowledge lying within an organization," said Dr Khalid Al Yahya, Director of Governance and Public Management Research at the Dubai School of Government. The experts, while zeroing in on the real issues in GCC human resources, sought to dispel the notion of a skills deficit limiting entry of more nationals into the workforce. "There is no such skills deficit. GCC nationals need more opportunities. Investment patterns and stereotypes that make the public sector the preferred employer for nationals and private sector incapable of retaining them as employees should change," said Chander Mohan, Chairman of the HR Sub-group of Dubai Quality Group. GCC organizations were also cautioned on the significantly less engagement level of national employees compared to expatriates, validated by "Qudurat," a recent study led by Aon Hewitt. UAE employee engagement levels were even lower than the GCC average, the study showed. "Engagement is vital. A motivated, engaged employee brings disproportional value to the company," Mohamed Al Jishi, senior HR Advisor at Saudi Aramco said. Traditional performance appraisals and flawed assumptions on leadership also came in for strong criticism from the speakers. "The very assumption that leaders are born is wrong. Leaders are made, when they feel strongly about current inadequacies. Leadership is neither about competency models nor copy-cat role models. It's about harnessing human energy for a better future," Rajeev Peshawaria, CEO of the ICLIF Leadership and Governance Centre said, adding that flawed assumptions render most of the $60 billion average annual global spend on leadership development ineffective. Zeyad Mohamed El Kahlout, Quality and Excellence Adviser to the Dubai Government Excellence Program, pointed to the importance of integrating teamwork in the organizational culture and the role of management in leading this change. "Teamwork is crucial. People in the Middle East are great individual workers, but poor at working together. This must change. The sum of teamwork is more than the sum of individuals. One plus one, can equal three. It's up to good leaders to impose the teamwork ethic, and drive success," Kahlout said. Paul Sparrow, Chair and Director of the Centre for Performance-led HR at Lancaster University (UK), in his keynote address on the second day of the conference, warned that credit crunch should not be a pretext for organizations to bring talent management down their priority list. "Globalization, customer-centricity, and need for innovations are all current pressures that necessitate talent management," he said. "The UAE Vision 2021 has identified skilled human capital as one of the strategic enablers of achieving the vision, which targets to make the UAE one of the best countries in the world. Developing a comprehensive human capital is also a key priority of the UAE Strategic Plan," Nasser Al Hamli, CEO, Federal Authority for Government Human Resources, said in his address on the last day of the conference. The conference was organized by the UAE Federal Authority for Government Human Resources (FAHR) under the theme "Human Resources; the Sustainable Capital for the New Era" to encourage governments and organizations to take a hard look at the regional HR environment and enable professionals to share valuable HR knowledge.
