‘Business community must gear up to meet globalisation’s challenges’

Hiran H.Senewiratne

HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT: The business community in Sri Lanka has to meet the emerging challenges of globalisation and ensure sustainable growth even with setbacks as a result of the war against terrorism, Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer Ceylon Leather Products Limited Sitendra Senaratne said.

“Therefore it is a colossal task to create an intelligent, responsible workforce and to implement modern management techniques for continuous improvements in the human resources in the country,” Senaratne told at the inauguration of the HR Service Providers’ Exhibition 2007 at the BMICH.

The Institute of Personnel Management Sri Lanka (IPC) organised this two-day exhibition. The theme of this year’s event was “People Drive Business”.

He said that Sri Lanka as a country has the competitive advantage of having a literate force compared to the regional countries. This advantage has to be exploited in attracting foreign investment to Sri Lanka.

Further, to get optimum use of human resources in the country we have to look after not only the white-collar staff but also the blue collar staff, which is a force to be reckoned within the workforce.

Senaratne who was the chief guest said, Sri Lanka’s energy cost and the number of holidays are highest in the region. Therefore to compete with those countries in the region we have to improve the status of the human resources in the country, which is the need of the hour.

Overall success in this endeavour depends on the collective effort of a wide spectrum of stakeholders including training institutes, such as IPM. This could produce professionals who are responsible to introduce new concepts and practices for management of human resources in Sri Lanka. This exhibition is suitable for HR Executives and CEOs in various companies, Senaratne said.

President-IPM Sri Lanka Sanjiv Wejayasinghe said at a time Sri Lanka is going through a difficult period they are able to have 50 stalls in the exhibition.

He said this event would facilitate business organisations and the public to build a network for mutual benefit with over 50 stall-holders representing reputed and large business organisations.

HR Service Providers Exhibition this year is highly competitive and certain innovative features have been introduced by the exhibition and its exhibition committee headed by Lalith Wijetunga.

The exhibition provides a comprehensive picture of the latest trends in this key sector. On line learning, leadership development coaching and HR Outsourcing Services, Head Hunting Consulting and a host of value added services are among the topical themes reflected in the exhibition which runs alongside the Conference Hall at the BMICH.