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VIEWPOINT

Not just resources, but resourceful people

As a manager, it’s challenge enough to formulate five- and 10-year business plans against a background of relative stability. It’s harder to visualize a future whose scenarios are being written by other people, in other places, far away.

Nevertheless, good management means allowing for contingencies and finding the means to keep organizations productive – no matter what. So while we’re grateful for each day that passes without news of war, we’ve got to be ready for the worst.

One of the greatest risks a business runs in times of uncertainty and economic sluggishness is demoralization and the subsequent loss of efficiency – a sure way to lose even more business. So in a situation like this, it’s up to management to motivate staff and set goals. In other words, this is an excellent opportunity to evaluate our companies’ human resources, and do what we can to upgrade them.

I am fortunate to have studied in America, where some organizational skills seem to be almost culturally transmitted. The idea of teamwork, for example, is second nature to many Americans, as is the principle of assigning positions and salaries based on the quality of an employee’s performance.
But delegating responsibility also means absorbing the results of some errors in judgement, and many traditional Egyptian organizations prefer not to take the chance. They lose out by underestimating people, who in turn feel disinclined to make their best effort.

Building confidence and showing appreciation for staff efforts is a daily feature of Western-style management, whereas here it’s conspicuously absent. In fact, the process of employee-manager feedback is often entirely ignored. People are not really “working together,” and are therefore incapable of accomplishing goals that require cooperation.

Human-resource management is not a mysterious art. It’s a combination of common sense and basic technique. Make someone feel that they belong to an organization, that their work is necessary and appreciated, and you’ll have a loyal, productive employee who will rise to many a challenge.

Forget the importance of assessing and upgrading each person’s skills, of helping your employees make the most of their talents, and you’ll have frustrated individuals who sabotage an organization without even realizing it, simply because of their disappointment in their employer and themselves. “People are important” is written in many a corporate profile, but what is being done to nurture that asset, to make it grow?

Ideally, human-resource management begins even before someone gets his or her first job. It starts – or should start – with an education that prepares youth for the job market.

To equip young people for better jobs, Egyptian schools will have to improve teacher training and coursework. The business community has pointed out the lack of market entry skills – a list that includes languages, time management, problem solving and computer literacy. Until these areas of study figure more prominently on educational agendas, there will be a growing need for intensive training and supplementary schools in specialized fields.

But in the meantime, employee enthusiasm, plus good training and sharp management, can compensate for educational gaps. People are not just a “human resource,” there to be employed and administered. People are themselves resourceful, capable of all sorts of contributions and achievements when given the chance, and when properly rewarded.

Indeed, taking the time to recognize talents and optimize people’s involvement in your business can be an even greater reward than counting the higher profits that the business – and its human resources – are bound to generate.

Mohamed Mansour
President, AmCham

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