Dan Seevaratnam on changing traditions, winning awards, and pioneering efforts of the IPM
View(s):Director and CEO of Watawala Plantations PLC, Dr. Dan Seevaratnam, was recently honoured with the Global CEO of the Year Award. He was also awarded the IPM’s Life Time Gold Award last year in recognition of his exemplary contribution towards the plantation sector.
Speaking of what contributed towards such outstanding achievements in human resource management in the plantation sector, Dr. Seevaratnam modestly stated that his efforts in the industry have been focused on acknowledging the significant contribution made by ‘people’ in the industry. He further stated that “In all businesses, value is created and value is unwittingly destroyed by people; the real value is people – that is what differentiates one company from another. It is the people and the talents of the people that differentiate the good from the great.”
Explaining the significance of this view in the plantation sector, Dr. Seevaratnam indicated that the plantation sector thrives on the effort put in by its manual workers comprising nearly 90% of the entire workforce of the sector. This is evident by the the significance of recognizing the contribution made by these workers and making them aware how indispensable their contribution is, in order to ensure that the real value of the people is utilized in creating business value. Dr Seevaratnam further explained that by recognizing that the real value of the people brings value to the company through the people.
As the CEO of Watawala Plantations, Dr. Seevaratnam, has set some of the finest examples of how the practice of acknowledging the human resource can be directly converted to company profit.
In 2011 the management concepts of Watawala Plantations were revolutionized through two strategic decisions: firstly, all employees to be referred to as ‘associates,’ where all associates share the vision of the organization and understands the importance of the contributions they make; secondly, including female employees in the supervisory cadre such that by 2015 women will make up 50% of the supervisory cadre.
He asserted that the strategic move to transform ‘coolies’ to associates and empowering women has shown positive results in their organization; Watawala Plantations being the only plantation company showing a significant growth from last year to this year with an all-time record profit, evidently bore the fruits of their labour. He further explained that the profit will be shared by all employees under the organisation’s gain-sharing mechanism, and affirmed, “We walk the talk in terms of our people being our greatest asset; because they are the ones who create value in this company and when we mishandle them, they are the ones, wittingly or unwittingly, who destroy the value in a company.”
Dr. Seevaratnam states that he believes that it is his relentless efforts in proper people management towards the growth of the organization that has brought him such recognition in the human resources realm. In 2012 he was lauded with the IPM’s Life Time Gold Award and in March 2013 he was yet again honoured as the Global CEO of the Year Award. The significance of Dr Seevaratnam being awarded the IPM’s Life Time Gold Award is that IPM being able to recognize such rare talent, especially as it was outside the HR sphere, on its way to achieving a glorious status as the ‘Global CEO,’ where 88 CEO’s from the some of the biggest organizations in the world contended!
Explaining how he gained advantage at the Global CEO award ceremony, Dr Seevaratnam stated that in his capacity as CEO in five different companies, he groomed five potential CEOs, who succeeded him in his position. With each of these five tenures as CEO, Dr. Seevaratnam was brought into the organization as an outsider where he groomed a person within the company who eventually succeeded him.
Discussing the importance of promoting new skills, knowledge and innovative thinking in the modern human resource management traditions, Dr. Seevaratnam identified IPM as one of the biggest contributors towards transforming the plantation industry to a people oriented business.
The plantation sector, been in existence for over 140 years, had always concentrated on the technical aspects of the business such as fertilizer, pruning, machinery, and management, and hardly on the human aspect of the business. In a business sector where over 70% of the cost is people, dominance of the technical aspect over the human aspect is a huge inconsistency.
Dr Seevaratnam further asserted that IPM, as Sri Lanka’s leading institute in human resource management, has pioneered in introducing the human aspect to the plantation industry. And went on to explain that by recognizing the importance of synergizing the technical skills with soft skills, and introducing tailor-made training programs to enhance the soft skills of the plantation workers, IPM has undertaken a laudable task, especially in view of the vastness of the plantation sector and considering the impact it will have on the country’s economy.
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