Professional Bodies and Office
Seekers
T V Rao
Professional
bodies like the AIMA, AMA, ISTD, NHRDN, NIPM, ISABS, ISISD etc. have
contributed a lot to the development of the respective professions and
professionals. Indian Professional bodies, I am familiar with, have a great
opportunity to contribute and have a long way to go compared to their counterparts in the
west. For example, the American Society for Training and Development, SHRM, American
Psychological Association, The American Sociological Association, The Academy
of HRD, USA etc. have done enormous service to their professions. They encourage
research, hold conferences, publish journals, conduct certification programs. In
all this work, they involve most of the time the top-grade universities and
scholars besides practitioners and executives. One thing remarkable about these
bodies in other countries is the involvement of academics and scholars. In
India whenever the academics and scholars were involved a good degree of research
took place and over a period there seems to be a tremendous decline of the involvement
of academics and scholars. Concerted effort may have to be made to engage the
scholars to upgrade the quality of contributions of these professional bodies.
Research and publications is the backbone of any profession. In the absence of
them there is a risk of them turning out to be like clubs to meet the affiliation
needs of those involved. Professional bodies should develop a plan of action and
have self-renewal mechanism instituted to rejuvenate them and lift their
quality and impact.
You Don't need to hold office to contribute to a Profession or a professional body
I have seen
many enthusiasts’ wanting to be office bearers of professional bodies. I am a
life member of NHRDN, ISTD, ISABS, ISET and AMA. I am not a member of NIPM nor
AIMA. I conduct a HR Leadership event every year for AMA though I had never
been an office bearer or on its Board. CK Prahalad used to come every year when
he was alive, and gave a honorary lecture at AMA for the city of Ahmedabad. I always
welcomed any invitation from and never refused to address any chapter of NIPM
or NIPM itself whenever they requested me. NIPM even sponsored me for some
global award even though I am not a member. ISTD also invited me several times
for keynote talks etc. even though I was never an office bearer. On the contrary, NHRDN for which I am Founder
and first president never invited me for a keynote talk or as a key speaker in
the last 20 years. They do invite me to attend their conferences or to say a
few words, occasionally depending on the Chapter’s preference. This honor was
given to me by NIPM and ISTD.
In fact, I am not even on the Board of NHRDN for
the last several years. I did not want to participate in
the selection process of its office bearers except once in the last 15 years. Almost
all decisions in the last 20 years have been taken without my involvement. About 18 years ago, when
it was not picking up and activities were at the lowest, I volunteered to constitute
a Renewal Committee and rejuvenated with the help of a large number of others including
Aquila Busrai, Arvind Agarwal, P V R Murthy, Rupa Padki, Uday Pareek in 1999-2000.
Once Arvind Agarwal was appointed the President in 2000, I withdrew and was
like any other member. My contention was,
learning from Ravi Matthai, my time was over and it is for others to lead. However, this
does not stop me from contributing to NHRDN as its member and founder President without imposing my views..
Once in recent years, I requested
for a small fund to recruit summer trainees to consolidate all the publications
of NHRDN and put them together. Though the President agreed the Director General
declined. I felt upset, but went ahead and spent my own money, hired the trainees and completed
the task. The thousand and odd articles are now available on NHRDN portal. In
recent times I saw members of some professional bodies taking up issues for
positions on some of these professional bodies. I have also seen some members
contesting elections and doing a lot of canvassing and after they get elected
rarely turn up to events. Professionalism and sense of responsibility is
missing among some of them. I have also
seen a few members who have taken it as a mission only to find faults in the governance
system of these bodies. Good Governance is important. Transparency is very
important. It is not enough to read out a code of conduct but it is more important
to practice it and be available for examination of this practice.
Performance or Contribution Appraisal of Office bearers should be compulsory
Some members
go out of way to canvass for getting elected for positions and once they are
elected they don’t even attend meetings. I have come across one case when a
President of a Chapter would not do anything and he would not also resign after
having been elected as President. When an informal meeting as called and someone
from the local university volunteered to take up the role, the president in
office threatened the professor that he will be beaten up if he does not withdraw.
The chapter never recovered from this and the city lost a great opportunity. I find
it difficult to understand why some professionals go out of way to make issues
and keep controversies alive. They should realize that they are harming
themselves and the profession they represent without their knowing it. I also believe
that professional bodies should not become mere legal entities in the name of
good governance. What is needed is flexibility, creativity, sense of purpose
and commitment to a cause. It goes without saying that these bodies should conduct their activities transparently, ensure all statutory compliance particularly in financial and accounting matters.
If someone is not working they should be prompt enough to remove them and let the body function. Unfortunately, there is so much of local apathy to professional bodies in some places. In other places, there is intense competition to fight elections and take positions. Both have their downsides.
If someone is not working they should be prompt enough to remove them and let the body function. Unfortunately, there is so much of local apathy to professional bodies in some places. In other places, there is intense competition to fight elections and take positions. Both have their downsides.
To avoid
such things professional bodies should also have strict performance evaluations
of all their office bearers every six months and even undertake a 360 feedback once
a while. Performance evaluation by members (related members) is a must in professional
bodies and the results should be transparently published.
In my view self-regulation is the key to success of Professional bodies. When office bearers take up positions they should publicly commit their time and other resources for building the profession and contributing to the body. Unless they do this they would be doing enormous invisible damage to the profession. It is not right and not ethical.
In my view self-regulation is the key to success of Professional bodies. When office bearers take up positions they should publicly commit their time and other resources for building the profession and contributing to the body. Unless they do this they would be doing enormous invisible damage to the profession. It is not right and not ethical.
