Is the Bertram Collins College targeting the right group?

Feb 27, 2019 Letters

Dear Editor,

The media recently featured aspects of the Bertram Collins College at Ogle which sent me down memory lane. I was reminded of the ‘master strokes’ played by the iconic Harold B. Davis (Snr) who, as Head of Training and Staff Development and later as Director of Human Resources, initiated the switching of the building from being the residence for the Chairman of Bookers Sugar Estates Ltd to being the residential training centre for developing the management cadre responsible for the new generation of managers to replace the expatriate managers of the sugar industry.
As an early beneficiary of these programmes, I vividly recall with happy nostalgia, the many days and nights spent at this Ogle Management Development Centre along with the other ‘young turks’ like Earl John, Tony Downes, Abdul Baksh, Erwin Brewster et al. We were expected to develop, among other competencies, the psychosocial and managerial skills and finesse to facilitate a smooth transition from the then expatriate to the new Guyanese management of the sugar industry. I still recall the many lectures, discussion groups and case studies that helped to equip us with the tools and confidence to fully assume our respective leadership roles. Excellent case studies like the one titled “Vinay Aggarwal”, which opened with the Hindi words “Mayrayjewanaakkhelownahai, aaklarkakayhaath may” meaning: “my livelihood is now a toy in the hands of a boy”; the old lady in the weeding gang threw these words at Vinay Aggarwal, the newly appointed Field Superintendent who replaced the older expatriate with whom the old lady was apparently more accustomed and perhaps more comfortable as ‘the boss’. Her words were a poignant commentary on the socio-cultural changes taking place at the time; they obviously bothered Vinay who could not help pondering the double whammy he must now deal with in that he had to assert himself without ‘offending’ the workers with whom he grew-up and respected as elders in the community.
The Management Development Centre at Ogle was the virtual laboratory in which such intricate, nuanced management issues had to be analysed and taught how they should be dealt with.
The Ogle Management Development Centre was ‘reserved’ for ‘management’ development i.e. to provide facilities and programmes aimed at developing managers who were required to go back to their respective locations armed with the skills and competencies to train and develop their subordinates; it was not for the rank and file staff to learn the basic skills of their jobs.
The media reports suggest that the centre is being used for orientation and basic skills development among the entry-level cadre, which to me is a misplacement of priorities since orientation and on-the-job training must be done by the trained managers at the job sites.
Effective and beneficial training is better delivered in a ‘top-down’ mode whereby the top managers are trained first and they in turn are involved in the training and development of their subordinates, preferably on a continuous basis ‘on the job’. I believe much more mileage will be achieved if the Bertram Collins College were to focus on Management Training and Development.

Nowrang Persaud

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