Deputy National NADMO Coordinator, Hon. Joseph Yammin has attributed the growing divestiture of state-owned industries in the country to the perennial negative worker attitudes of Ghanaians who were privileged to work in these divested companies. Ghanaian governments have so far divested or sold more than 400 state-owned industries or companies out of frustration, mismanagement of national resources invested in these industries and bad worker attitudes of employees.
Joseph Yammin wonders why the same workers would perform efficiently when national industries are sold to the private sector.
“About 70 percent of Ghana’s revenue is used to pay few government workers with the hope that they would give off their maximum to help sustain the state-owned companies they worked for but the growing lackadaisical attitudes of workers and financial misappropriation, among others, plunged these industries into either extinction or nonperformance until they were sold into private hands”, he lamented.
Joseph Yammin was speaking in an interview on how Ghanaian governments have contributed towards the maintenance and financial viability of Ghanaian industries. Citing the recently revamped Komenda Sugar Facroty by President John Dramani Mahama to create jobs for 7,000 people, among others, the Deputy National NADMO Coordinator described the current government’s investment into industries as unprecedented.
“The NDC government has so far made huge financial commitments to the setting up and revamping of distressed Ghanaian industries more than any other government and this I can say on authority”, Yammin noted.
He is calling for more public-private partnership to set up industries that would produce goods and provide services for the local and international markets. “We must develop and implement a national industrial development plan that would enhance the establishment of industries for large scale production in order to compete on the global market and create more jobs for Ghanaians”, he said.
For a substantial part of my life I was contracted to bring failing government and non-government organisations and work groups back into cost effective productivity to achieve organisational goals. I was quite successful at doing this.
In my experience failures occur because managers, supervisors and all other employees lose sight of the goals, aims and objectives of the organisation. This occurs because performance, performance indicators and employee performance agreements are not directly tied to those goals, aims and objectives, and most importantly to the employees’ job security and remuneration. Too often there are no performance indicators or agreements. In other words if the employee does not produce positive outcomes in line with the organisational goals, aims and objectives then that employee has no job anymore. If I paid money for a TV set and the shopkeeper did not give me the TV or gave me a cheaper one than what I paid for I would not be happy. Being employed is and always should be like buying something. The employer agrees to buy the employee’s services for a certain salary amount each month, and the employee agrees to provide certain outcomes from his or her work. The agreement between the two parties needs to be solidified within a performance agreement which both the employer and employee agree to at the outset of employment and or at various stages throughout the course of the employment. In other words no positive outcomes, no job, no pay.
These situations where the employee does not perform correctly usually arises because of poor training, poor understanding, poor management, poor communication and an inability to embrace the work ethic.
Often strategic and business plans are more produced to look fancy and complicated rather than to be practical tools which all members of the organisation can use for guidance and direction.
Another factor which can be very detrimental to an organisation’s performance and future is its inability to read and understand the market place and its own production line. Too often senior management is tied down with administration and paper shuffling. Very senior managers need to oversee the administration undertaken by subordinates thus leaving themselves adequate time to spend in the market place assessing trends and forecasting their future businesses directions. They also need to spend considerable time on the production line to ensure quality control.
Good ideas can come from anyone, and quite often the best people to come up with good ideas are those motivated and enthusiastic people who are working at the sharp end of the organisation; that is to say those who actually produce and sell/supply the goods or services that the organisation is in existence to sell or supply to. I stress though that one only seeks out the ideas of the motivated and enthusiastic and not from the “dead wood” in the organisation even though the “dead wood” can sometimes be rejuvenated if the organisation provides success and prosperity for itself, its clients and its employees. All three groups need to prosper when the organisation prospers.
There are lots more I could say but I guess I have said almost enough here but before I close let me mention the most important thing about having a successful organisation. The happiness factor is crucial to the success of the organisation. For success and prosperity you need to have most, if not all employees happy at work! This is entirely possible in every organisation if it becomes one of the aims of the organisation and is embraced by management. You would not believe the critical importance of this if you do not have an understanding how the subconscious mind works.