Dated management training policies

Apr 18, 2017 Editorial, Features / Columnists

In our society, every employer sets out the prerequisites for potential employees as having a number of certificates: be they Diploma, Degree, Masters or Doctorate. There is no problem with these prerequisites; however, one may wonder why organizations, businesses or institutions are still crumbling and experiencing so many problems.
Employers may have all the ‘qualifications’ from the finest universities around the world and employ individuals who have graduated from the most recognized, accredited universities, but according to research and observation, workplace violence, lack of interpersonal communication skills, stress and anger issues are abundantly high. Mere academic qualifications will not make an organization more efficient.
With all the qualifications, can we say that we exercise emotional intelligence? Do we know how to control our anger? Are we aware of what we are doing to ourselves – the self-destruction we are causing? No one destroys us; we are doing a pretty good job at destroying ourselves.
The reason businesses and organizations are experiencing many problems is that their employers and employees are lacking ‘life skills’ – those basic things we need to take us through life every day. What purpose would it serve if a man has a Degree or Masters, but insults everyone when he’s angry or perhaps breaks things, or maybe utters a flood of epithets?
Why do we refuse to accept those who have no Certificates into our organizations even though these individuals have all the necessary experience and common sense? Have we ever thought of how the Egyptians built the pyramids? Did they have certificates?
These are pertinent questions. However, the employer is one who always looks at the person most likely to advance his business. And for him advancing the business means pushing the worker, sometimes treating that worker little better than a slave. We have heard of reports of employers actually assaulting workers, physically.
There are people who would say that they are not children and therefore they would resent any attempt to assault them. But then again, the idea of job hunting is not something that some people relish. There are not too many jobs in the country and employers know this.
More recently, some people have been complaining that their recent employers merely kept hiring and firing. They would hire someone and fire that person before that person could qualify for benefits. This cycle is allowed to continue because the employer knows that there would always be a line leading to his/her door for the very reason that jobs are simply not there. People who were previously hired and fired return for more of the same treatment.
Such practices make people promote the application of life skills in the workplace. The most efficient businesses are those that make each worker feel wanted. Those in which anger seems to be the common factor are the places with production problems.
A number of articles have been written on life skills and their benefits, especially in the area of anger management. The public needs to be aware of the importance of life skills – programmes which would actually benefit the individual in self-development.
Government departments are inefficient because of poor management skills. We have seen things reach the stage where workers come and go pretty much as they please, simply because the manager is insecure and often demonstrates an attitude that is little better than the errant staff member.
An educationist once noted that the difference between schools is the management. Those with strong managers, people who have interpersonal skills, do better than those where the manager is laidback. Those who insist on proper behaviour from the staff would present the better results and this has been proven. That is why the training institutions at one time focused on psychology. Every teacher had to understand human nature and apply the knowledge in any condition. Perhaps there is need to review the policy of management training.

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