Human capital
17 February, 2010 – The greatest asset of a nation is neither its natural resources nor its economy, but its people.
From the time Bhutan opened its doors to the outside world and began drawing up its development plans, people were sent to India for training to return equipped with the knowledge of running administrative jobs. Oftentimes the country had to seek advisers from India to run things.
Today, Bhutan places a premium on human resource as never before, as the country is set to undergo unprecedented economic development. Modernisation means both opportunity and competition.
Bhutan cannot succeed if the aim is to be just better than average, because it is no longer living in isolation. But complacency and condescension, which has been a telling attribute of the Bhutanese, continues to be our chief enemy today.
We are long past the day when an employee took a job in civil or corporate service and some 30-40 years later retired having done more or less the same work everyday.
Such mediocrity is gradually being phased out with more and more emphasis on unlocking human potential, by giving people the space to develop their talents and capacities.
In plain language, to run an office, business or a company, there is a need for good people more than ever, who see the big picture, who can think critically.
Economists refer to this as “human capital” and successful companies and countries are those that manage this capital in the most effective and efficient manner.
Anywhere in the world, the number one challenge of an organisation is not technology but attracting and retaining talent. The CEO of Microsoft Bill Gates summed it up when he said, “Take our 20 best people away and I tell you that Microsoft would become an unimportant company.”
In other words, it was humans not software that separated Microsoft from the competition.
Instead of recognising the worth of investing in human resources, many government departments, corporations and private organisations in Bhutan, until recently, were worried more about the financial impact of such a move.
That mindset appears to be changing. Government entities, corporate organisations and private businesses are being forced to become more creative and relative to a modernising Bhutanese populace, thus the need to invest in creative and energetic employees. Nowadays, more and more opportunities for specialised training and higher learning are opening up and, with advancement in communications technologies, knowledge is everywhere.
It is one of the ways of creating a knowledge-based society that decision makers have been talking about.
Source: kuenselonline