Taking Sri Lanka’s Human Resource Management to the Global Arena

While the dramatic change brought about by the Digital Revolution is felt exponentially across the globe, the President of IPM Sri Lanka Dhammika Fernando who also served as the Chairman of the Great HR Debate 2018, is convinced that this Digital Revolution- dubbed as the 4thIndustrial Revolution is set to fundamentally change ‘jobs and designations,’ few years from now. 

Embedding the aspect of digitalization into this year’s Great HR Debate, provided the professionals in Human Resource Management field with a platform to connect with IPM Sri Lanka’s endeavor, to collectively reflect on achieving national progress on par with the world; taking advantage of the digital transformation. 

In an interview with Career141 Executive Search (the Principal Sponsors of this year’s edition of the Great HR Debate of the National HR Conference 2018), Dhammika Fernando, who partnered with Chandra Hewapaththini to introduce the Debate as a novel feature to the National HR Conference back in 2010, recalls how it has gained momentum over the years, owing to the enthusiasm of young and budding professionals working in the corporate and public sector. 

As an organization having the vision to become a global HR leader, IPM Sri Lanka winning the competitive bid to host the prestigious World HR Congress 2020 as a member of the vibrant Asia Pacific Federation of Human Resource Management, would derive further opportunities to the nation in multiple spheres such as tourism and management, Dhammika opines.  

Elaborating on the rigorous bidding process and its significant benefits apart, some of the key insights he shared during the interview included his thoughts on the ‘skills mismatch’ prevalent in Sri Lanka and how this could be overcome with proper screening during recruitment- particularly taking advantage of  Executive Search.  

Dhammika who is currently the Executive General Manager of Tropical Findings (Pvt) Ltd based in the FTZ Katunayake had been working for foreign investments in KEPZ for 36 years. Hence, part of our discussion also focused on Free Trade Zone Manufacturers’ Association- a collective of foreign and international investors coming under BOI regime where Dhammika serves as the Honorary General Secretary.

 Asked what his most passionate area of work - Dhammika who had been adjudged the recipient of the Global HR Excellence -HR Leadership Award at Asia Pacific HRD Congress in 2010 was quick to reveal that it is working with “people” and “creating cultures” to build successful businesses.

Follow the full interview here: