In respect to the technological advancements and improved ways of executing task, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of PULSE Institute Africa, Mr. Austin Akufo Gamey has urged professional administrators to desist from the traditional and arbitrary ways of managing people and adopt the practice of inclusion in their everyday work to achieve positive results.
The era of managing people with discretional powers, demand and controlling practices, he admits, does not conform to the standards of the twenty first century hence the need to have a paradigm shift among the professional body of administrators.
“Honestly, we are living in a time where we all agree that with the rapid change in technologies, there is clearly no need to keep doing the same old things all the time. We have to adapt to change and agree that there must be a paradigm shift in the kind of administrators with discretional powers that we have been”.
The advice from Mr. Gamey was made known at the fifth annual admin professionals’ conference in Accra under the theme “Mobilising Admin Professionals for Effective Development Administration: Critical Legal Issues”
Defending his position on inclusion on the part of administrators, he made reference to the 1992 constitution, specifically, the directed principles of state policy, saying, “it clearly ensures that we have this (inclusion) embedded in the way we work, wherever you find yourself”.
Speaking on the theme, “Discretionary Powers, Duty Imposed, the Law and the Administrator”, Mr. Gamey said failure to ensure inclusion at the work place can result in an individual appearing before the court of law.
“In the absence of inclusion, you will always have problems with the law and you will consistently be arraigned before the magistrate labour of commission or the law court in resolving myriad of problems that bedevilled the system as we see today”, he cautioned.
He described inclusion at the workplace as significant because it is backed by law and also gives people a sense of belonging.
“Inclusion is very important, it gives people a sense of belonging and today, is urgent that we ensure that in our policies, people must be part because the directive principles of state policy clearly states that people will make room for participation in decision making at the work place”, he said.
The chairperson of the programme who also doubles as the Vice Chancellor of the University of Ghana, Professor Nana Aba Appiah Amfo, stressed on the significance of the theme saying “as a country, which professes the rule of law, legal studies cannot be underrated”.
She applauded the level of consistency exhibited by the Charted Institute of Administrators and Management Consultants (CIAMC) in organising such conferences for its members and also underscored the impact of the such programmes in shaping the character of the administrator
“Meetings of such nature are important meetings, as it is through them that the purpose and character of the administration profession are concretised”, she explained.
Speaking largely on the focus for the conference, CEO of CIAMC, Samuel Mawusi Asafo, reiterated that in the midst of innovation and willingness to take risks in order to encourage change and growth, the administration practitioner must be concerned about the legal implication of decisions.
He noted that choice for the theme is premised on the link between legal issues, and the consequences of decisions administrators make as managerial leaders of the institutions they operate within adding that theme was carved out of the Institute’s theme for 2023, “Development Administration: The instrument for achieving sustainable growth and development”.
