Unilateral decision-making affecting efficiency at national university

Nov 15, 2017 News

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Many unilateral decisions are made at the University of Guyana [UG], a state of affairs that is impacting its efficient operation. This is the observation of Mr. Bruce Haynes, President of the University of Guyana Workers’ Union [UGWU].
Haynes’ remark in this regards comes on the heels of bold utterances by valedictorian of the 51st UG Convocation on Saturday.
Elsie Ann Harry, a Bachelor’s Degree in International Relations graduate of the Faculty of Social Sciences was named the Best Graduating Student. As a result, she was bestowed with the President’s Medal. She also delivered a blistering valedictory speech which highlighted some of the inefficiencies at the national university.
During her captivating speech, Harry not only spoke of rampant indifference at the national university, but pointed out that this is compounded by poor customer service and a general sense of malaise that has plagued the institution for almost all of her four years as a student.
“I have wasted many days, because too many people didn’t know where to find what and didn’t care enough to ask someone who did,” Harry passionately recalled.
Even as she highlighted the glaring challenges at the institution, Harry assertively underscored that, “new buildings will not transform UG but a change in attitudes will. UG in my opinion is a microcosm of Guyana; therefore, the same inefficiencies can be experienced in the country at large.”
Commenting on the valedictorian’s remarks, Haynes said, “I agree with her! It is not a question of building; it has always been a question of people. If you want people to change then first you have to understand what you are dealing with.”
According to Haynes, “If you don’t understand what you are dealing with, then the measures that you put in place to effect change will not work. You can’t push things down people’s throats; you can’t accuse people unilaterally of this or that. What you have to do is to be on the ground and interface with all the staff.”
Haynes’ remarks were directed to the mode of operation of some Vice Chancellors who have sat at the helm of the university over the years.

He noted, for instance, that while Town Hall meetings have been convened by current Vice Chancellor, Professor Ivelaw Griffith, “you don’t get proper engagement and to interface [with staff]. You have to engage at the level of faculty, departments, [with] people on the ground to see where they are…the conditions under which they work.”
“This is the kind of synergy that you need so that staff will understand that you are aware of where they are, that you understand what they are experiencing and that you will make a special effort to fix whatever is necessary so that they are comfortable,” said Haynes.
But, according to Haynes too, “if you have taken a position and you have removed yourself and leave a gap between you and the people, then you can’t change people by being a bully.”
Haynes has held a position as a Technologist within the Faculty of Technology at the university for a number of years.
Even as he considered that there have been some recurring problems at UG, Haynes stressed the need for attitudes in particular to be changed, at the various levels. Haynes recognised the importance of team work which, he said, is a lacking feature in many areas.
“We have basically not been working towards creating an environment where people work together because they are working towards a common objective. That has been a failing of all of our vice chancellors, except for Professor Lawrence Carrington when he came. He had started a process, the other Vice Chancellors who followed did not continue that process,” Haynes noted.
He pointed out that that attitudinal change, had it continued since the time of Professor Carrington, “then the inclusion of all staff, at all levels in terms of the functioning of this university, would not have resulted in a valedictorian speaking to attitudes. That is our major issue…attitude.”
“The buildings don’t work by themselves; there are people in those buildings. There are staffers at different levels and they also have students…the relationship, between staff and students, is not literally the best, and that is because the staff do not get the requisite support from the administration for them to really function,” said Haynes.
But according to him, “the Academic Board is the body through which all of these issues are resolved, but the Board has not functioned as it should, and that is why we have the breakdown. You cannot manipulate the Academic Board! If that is dysfunctional, then every other sector will be dysfunctional. Our major systems have been diminished; they have been broken down because of unilateral actions.”
Haynes is convinced that the downward spiral started under Professor Jacob Opadeyi and it continued unabated under Professor Griffith.
The leader of the university, he asserted, must be able to bring about “attitudinal changes at all level, and to do this we have to make sure that we have training for our staff. If we are talking about customer orientation we have got to train our staff, we have to put the systems in place… We have to monitor those systems constantly and keep reviewing them and making changes,” said Haynes. But according to him, such changes will not happen overnight, and it certainly will not happen without a collective approach.

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