The Role Of Professional Managers In A Dynamic Economic Environment

BEING A PAPER PRESENTED AT THE INDUCTION OF NEW MEMBERS OF INSTITUTE OF PROFESSIONAL MANAGERS AND ADMINISTRATORS OF NIGERIA (IPMA-NIG) & CHARTERED INSTITUTE OF PROFESSIONAL MANAGERS AND ADMINISTRATORS- USA (CIPMA-USA), AT ALDGATE CONGRESS HOTEL, ABACHA ROAD GRA PHASE 3, PORT HARCOURT ON MARCH 5th 2016

“Every otherday, in almost every sector of the Nigerian economy, three businesses are shut down while one starts up, few jobs are created, many others are cut, and workers are hired while so many others are axed. This constant flux, or turbulence, is a defining characteristic of our free market system, yet it mostly inspires angst about unemployment, loss of earnings, and the overall competitiveness of corporations. The exchange rate of the Naira viz-a-vis other currencies has quadrupled. Investors are fleeing because of punitive economic policies. States and Local Councils cannot meet their basic financial obligations because of the catastrophic plunge in the price of our sweet crude. But is this endless cycle of fluctuations really so bad for Nigeria? Could something positive be going on in the economy as a result of it or are they ominous signs that the economy is bad as Wole Soyinka said or should we believe Pat Utomi that Nigerians may soon queue to buy salt?----(Idumange, 2016)

INTRODUCTION
Peter Drucker once said“Management is doing things right, leadership is doing the right things”. Today Nigeria seems to be caught in a web of severe economic crisis such that even pure water hawkers appear to be protesting. Nigeria is not the first country that has passed through this harrowing experience. Among the confluence of public opinions, the consensus is that Nigeria’s economy is on the slippery slope and our leaders may not understand the dynamics of the economy.

Around mid-August 1998, Russian began to experience financial crises. The economic turmoil arose partly from the 1998 global recession, which had its origin from the Asian financial crisis in July 1997. The global recession led to substantial decline in word commodity prices. Russia was badly hit as the rouble crumbled.

In the 1990’s, Asia attracted almost half of the total capital inflow from developing countries. The economies of Southeast Asia in particular maintained high interest rates, which were attractive to foreign investors. The region’s economies received a large inflow of hot money. The regional economies of Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore and South Korea experienced high growth rates, 8-12% GDP, in the late 1980s and early 1990s.

This was the “Asian economic miracle”. By 1996 Asia’s current account position deteriorated. The crisis started in Thailand with the collapse of the Thai baht caused by the decisions of the Thai government to float the baht, cutting its peg to the United States Dollar. Gradually the entire Asia was engulfed in economic crisis (ActionAid: 2009)

The Japanese banking crisis otherwise called Japanese asset price began with stock market and real estate bubbles. In the late 1980s, Japan’s monetary authorities flooded the market with liquidity in order to enable business to cope with the rising value of the yen.

Excess liquidity fuelled in real estate ventures and the bubbles burst thereafter as Japan’s Nikkei stock market average dropped; bank loans also fell, investment became unprofitable as rents declined and by 1997 was in deep systemic financial crisis, (Calvo, Guilermo .A. 2005).

In 1994-95, the Mexican economy had attracted many foreign investors. Bank accumulated billions of dollars in reserves. Trade barriers were reduced because of NAFTA but the Mexican economy started facing changes barely a year after NAFTA due to some disruptions in its financial plans. This disruption led to a balance of payments crisis in the country, which made the Mexican government to devalue the peso. The crisis later deepened (Oluba, M. (2008).

This paper is interactive hence I have stripped it bare of any scholarly gravity to enable us know that but for the reforms carried out by Henrique Cardoso in Brazil, the Rio Real would have been worthless. These experiences of economic depression are not far-flung; they are here with us in Nigeria now and we must learn to overcome the challenge. The commonsense revolution initiated by Senator Ben Murray Bruce is a panacea among other policy-driven prescriptions.

2. NIGERIA’S DYNAMIC ECONOMIC ENVIRONMENT

Economic environment refers to as the sum total of all those factors/forces which are capable of affecting the health of the economy. Economic Environment can be classified into two namely: external and internal environment.

External Environment is the totality of all available forces outside the economy and over which the economy has no control. Among the external environment are specific and general

Specific forcesare those variables that affect the organization or corporation alone. They may include customers, suppliers, competitive firms, investors and internal organizational challenges. These forces are specific to the type of business or industry. General forces are the forces that affects that affect all the firms of an industry. They may be social, political, legal and technical or technological situations.

The specific and general factors of our dynamic economic environment are intertwined and co-related. For example a drastic reduction in the price of crude oil on the global market will affect the import-export policy, the value of the naira, deplete the foreign reserves, trigger inflation and worsen poverty and unemployment in firms/companies, It may also affect the Gross Domestic Product per capita, the capacity of the bureaucracy and the ability of the tiers of government to fund infrastructural development. It might even result in economic go-slow in all sectors of the economy. It is therefore clear that in a dynamic economic environment a change in some factors may trigger changes in other sectors.

Nigeria’s economic environment is very dynamic. It is characterized by uncertainty, policy somersaults and inconsistencies. Because of the huge amount of uncertainty, planning becomes a herculean task. The professional manager can therefore forecast factors of the economic environment because they are dynamic taking into consideration the likely changes beforehand. However, if the changes are technical in nature, they can be very rapid and if they were not anticipated there are possibilities that anything can happen.

Besides, economic environment comprises of many factors. All these factors are related to each other. Thus their individual effect on the economy can hardly be recognized. Dynamic economic environments are related to the local conditions and this is the reason the economic environment differs from one country to another. For example, the factors that affect the location of industry in Malaysia may be different from those in the United Kingdom.

In an environment characterized by uncertainty, information about environmental factors is scarce and predicting external dynamicsbecomes an obstacle. In such an environment, it is difficult to calculate the costs of alternative decisions and the probability of their success and this may increase the risk of failure.

Nigerians have been told to expect a bleak economy in 2016. This is contained in the 2016 forecast for world economies by London-based magazine, The Economist. According to the magazine’s analysts, early signs are of a worrying resurgence of economic nationalism, stressing that economic growth under the present dispensation will be “uninspiring” in 2016.

Given policy uncertainties and a lower oil price environment, the Economist Intelligence Unit expects growth to remain well below recent averages throughout the 2016-20 forecast period.” Nigeria’s budget balance, according to The Economist, stood at -1.4, the least among all the countries explored, with Angola at -2.1, Egypt -9.2, Saudi Arabia -11.4, and South Africa’s -3.5. The Federal Government will address the problem of corruption and insecurity in the country. “The new It is hoped that government will use his political capital to address entrenched problems of corruption, insecurity and low living standards, but the patience of an electorate with high expectations will be short. “Africa’s biggest economy, which relies on oil for 70% of its revenue, is sputtering as prices fall. Economic policy has been adrift since May 2015 as investors complain about the central bank’s use of trade controls and import restrictions,” Clashing interests within the ruling party will limit efforts to improve management of the oil sector. If these macroeconomic variables are not adjusted economic growth will be uninspiring.”

Nigeria’s economy could see zero growth or even contract by in 2015 and again in 2016. If the oil price continues to stabilize, we consider that the CBN’s recent adjustment of the exchange rate regime will be sufficient to ease pressure on the Naira in 2015. If oil prices deteriorate further, we expect that a further c.10% devaluation of the Naira will be necessary in 2015. When combined with capital flight from a political or security shock, we expect the Naira may need to fall by a third against the USD by the end of 2016, matching the extent of the devaluation expected by the futures market at the height of the pre-election volatility in February.

Inflation: Nigeria’s heavy reliance on imports will see inflation accelerate as the Naira depreciates. Although some of this inflationary pressure will be offset by falling domestic fuel prices and lower rates of GDP growth, we expect inflation to be at least 3 percentage points higher than in 2014.

Role of the CBN: The central bank is likely to lose its influence on the short-term inflation rate as the Naira sheds its value, with consumer prices rising by around 20% in both 2015 and 2016. Government oil revenues If recent oil production trends continue, gross government oil revenues will fall dramatically from their 2013 level: by $21bn alone in Scenario 1 (equivalent to a 50% decline). In this case, a $ 5bn revenue shortfall is likely to emerge in 2015 compared to the outgone administration’s budget calculations.

The Central Bank’s pre-emptive devaluation in February offers support to the Naira which holds its ground as oil prices remain weak. Inflationary pressure from a depreciating currency exceeds deflationary pressure from lower economic growth. As a result, inflation rises to levels not seen since 2012, as the price of imported materials and food rises. Estimate based on an extrapolation of the historical relationship between the oil price and current account (1980-2005)

Excess Crude Account: This account has dried up. As recent production trends continue, the falling oil price sees the government’s largest source of revenue dry up. By the end of 2015, oil revenues stand at half the level collected in 2013 as US$5bn revenue shortfall emerges. This gap is higher than the total remaining resources of the Excess Crude Account, which is depleted by the end of the year, so the remainder is closed through a combination of spending cuts and debt issuance. Spending cuts to politically sensitive current expenditure are avoided, but capital expenditure is slashed further. 1,500 federal-financed projects are cut with the capital budget standing at a third of the levels budgeted for 2014. Additional borrowing is absorbed by the market due to the current low levels of government debt outstanding (at c.10% of GDP) State governments continue to struggle to pay wages and only survive by further slashing capital budgets.

Falling investor confidence: An uncertain security environment and the Naira’s slide scare away investors. All externally -financed oil-related investments are put on hold, which sees FDI inflows fall by a third to levels not seen since 2008, before recovering somewhat as the oil market stabilizes in 2016. The Nigerian economy continues to grow, but at a slower pace than many of the G7 countries and significantly underperforming its long term growth potential (we expect real GDP growth between 2015 and 2025 to average around 7%).

Crashing Crude Oil Prices: The impact of a severe oil price shock is likely to go hand-in-hand with a depreciation of the currency. The impact on GDP is likely to be negative in the short-term as inflationary pressures build and imports become more expensive, reducing economy and consumer spending. However, if a weaker exchange rate is sustained, imports can be substituted by local alternatives and the non-oil export sectors develop as they gain external competitiveness, leading to a recovery in GDP.

Bad Statistics: Nigeria’s economy has been harassed by bad statistics. Our Gross Domestic Product (Constant Prices, National Currency) for Nigeria in year 2015 is NGN 73,378.05 Billion. GDP Growth is 7.282 %; GDP Per Capita NGN 410,573.25; Nigeria’s GDP Share of World Total (PPP) for Nigeria in year 2015 is 1.022 %.; Implied PPP Conversion Rate for Nigeria in year 2015 is 91.338. Again Investment (% of GDP) for Nigeria in year 2015 is 15.224 %. Gross National Savings (% of GDP) for Nigeria in year 2015 is 17.464 %. Inflation (End of Year Change %) for Nigeria in year 2015 is 8.5 %. Import Volume of All Items Including Goods and Services (Percent Change) for Nigeria in year 2015 is 15.511 %. Import Volumes of Goods Only (Percent Change) for Nigeria in year 2015 is 18.787 % while export Volume of All Items Including Goods and Services (Percent Change) for Nigeria in year 2015 is 5.013 %. Unemployment Rate (% of labour Force) for Nigeria in year 2015 is N/A %. Population for Nigeria in year 2015 is 178.721 Million, The unemployment Rate (% of Labour Force) for Nigeria in year 2016 is not provided by it has almost burst the ceiling.

TYPES OF DYNAMIC ECONOMIC ENVIRONMENT
There are different types of dynamic economic environments. Some of them are as follows:

Task Environment: The task environment of a dynamic economy comprises the sectors of the market that are directly relevant to its operations, such as suppliers and competitors. In a dynamic environment, tasks change depending on the changes of the environment. For example, if there are constant and unpredictable swings in pump price of fuel, it can affect the cost of transportations by tankers, and even generate panic buying. It can even trigger an increase in the cost of production and therefore the price for the end-users.

Societal Change: Social changes may be dynamic in demography, social and cultural changes that can alter the competitive landscape of any corporation. In demography, a youthful population means that dependency ratio will be high, there will be high demand for the production of social infrastructure such as education, recreation, health, sports new fashion, cases of juvenile delinquency, high crime rate etc. A corporation that manufactures cell phones, computers and computer gaming, books and sports wears will maximize profit (Karen, 2016).

Technological Change: For some time now, the pace of technological change is supersonic. It is even more noticeable in informatics. The rapid expansion of information and communications technology has given rise to e-commerce, e-marketing, e-education, e-journalism etc. Technology and globalization have combined to create electronic platforms for sourcing, selling, leasing, battering, and the incursion of the multinationals especially in the manufacturing and oil sectors. Technological changes have altered modes of production, service provision and the entire operations of the economy.

Economic and Political Challenges: In the interconnected world economy, companies are affected by economic and political challenges from abroad. The Arab Spring threw up a lot of issues in dictatorships in the Maghreb. The American invasion of Iraq affected the price of oil on the global oil market, just as the global economic recession created mass unemployment. The Wall Street crisis sent shock waves around the world, affecting the stock market indexes, and prices of important commodities in most countries.

Regulatory Complexity: Economies face an increasingly complex regulatory web of relationships. Compliance with regulations on hazardous material disposal, human resource practices, and taxes can be challenging for small companies. Small economies are an important part of the economy, and governments try to stimulate their formation and growth. Making sense of these incentives is also vitally important for small-economy managers.

Source: http://www.referenceforbusiness.com/management/Mar-No/Mission-and-Vision-Statements.html#ixzz41X0A33Rh

One way of overcoming a dynamic economic environment is planning. Planning can be defined as “thinking in advance what is to be done, when it is to be done, how it is to be done and by whom it should be done”. Planning bridges the gap between where we are standing today and where we want to reach.

Mission: A mission statement is the broad definition of the organizational mission. It is sometimes referred to as a creed, purpose, or statement of corporate philosophy and values. A good mission statement inspires employees and provides a focus and direction for setting lower level objectives. It should guide employees in making decisions and establish what the organization does.

Strategy: Strategy means how to use organizational resources skills and competencies to create competitive advantage. Strategy exists at three basic levels namely corporate Business and Task strategy. Corporate Strategy: refers to the overall strategy of an organization which determines how the corporation supports the value of business. It addresses the question of how the structure of an organization creates more value for the individual and the organization. Corporate value enables an organization to know the resources to be deployed, to create the greatest possible value skills to be used and a combination of all variables to support the strategy goals of an organization.

Goals: Expresses an ambitious, but specific commitment. Always starts with a verb/action. Each goal should be an ambitious commitment that presents a single challenge with great impact. It should be universal, comprehensive, operational, and easy to understand. Goals should address common but differentiated responsibilities. They should create a more coherent global approach by framing global goals.

Targets:This is a specific, measurable, attainable, time-bound outcome that contributes to the achievement of a goal. It should be defined at all levels of the organization. Ideally, goals should be focused on outcomes, but in some cases, input, output or process goals and targets could be appropriate.

Also vital to the role of the professional manager in a dynamic economic environment is SWOT and PEST analysis. SWOT means; Strength, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats of an organization. PEST means political, Economic, Social and Technological factors that affect organizations.

SWOT ANALYSIS FRAMEWORK
ENVIRONMENTAL SCANNING
External Environment: Internal Environment

SWOT includes prices increase, inputs/raw material, Government Legislation, economic Environment and searching for new markets, internal limitations include: inadequate research, faculty product due largely to poor quality control, poor industrial relations and lack or skill/efficient labour.

Source: SWOT Analysis Sos-Definition, Advantage www.managementstudyguide.com/swot,

PEST Analysis: *Political Environment

*Economic Environment
*Social Environment
*Technological Environment
The Micro-environment
The micro-environment includes the company itself, its suppliers, marketing intermediaries, customer markets, and competitors. It also includes consumers, collaborators, and centers of influence. An organization’s aspect of micro-environment refers to the internal environment of the company. For example, research and development has input on the features a product can have, and accounting approves the financial side of marketing plans and budgets .The suppliers of a company are also a part of the micro-environment because even the slightest delay in receiving supplies can result in customer dissatisfaction. Marketing, physical distribution, retailers and the end users belong to this group.

Competitors and collaborators also constitute the micro-environment. To remain competitive, a company must consider who their biggest competitors are and simultaneously consider its own size and position in the industry. The company should aim to develop a strategic advantage over their competitors.Collaborators are key marketing partners that create higher efficiency. Examples of collaborators include shipping providers, credit card processors, or online shopping cart providers.

The Macro-environment
The macro-environment includes concepts such as demography, economy, natural forces, technology, politics, and culture.

Demography refers to studying human populations in terms of size, density, location, age, gender, race, and occupation. This helps to divide the population into market segments . The economic environment refers to the purchasing power of potential customers and the ways in which people spend their money. The natural environment includes the natural resources that a company uses as inputs. As raw materials become increasingly scarcer, the ability to create a company's product gets much harder.Technology includes all developments from antibiotics and surgery to nuclear missiles and chemical weapons to automobiles and credit cards. These markets create a value chain and multiplier effect on other areas.

The political environment includes all the laws, government agencies, and groups that influence or limit organizations and individuals within a society. The cultural environment consists of institutions and the basic values and beliefs of a group of people. The values can also be further categorized into core beliefs and secondary beliefs.

Social Environment Defined
The social environment consists of the sum total of a society's beliefs, customs, practices and behaviour. Every society constructs its own social environment. Some of the customs, beliefs, practices and behaviors are similar across cultures, and some are not. This social environment created by a society in which aneconomy functions can be referred to as its external social environment. If theeconomy operates in a multicultural society, then the social external social environment is even more complicated because the environment will consist of diverse sub-populations with their own unique values, beliefs and customs. Aneconomy also has its own social environment namely the internal social environment, which is simply the customs, beliefs, practices and behaviors within the confines of the economy. Aneconomy has much more control over its internal social environment thanits external social environment (Ginsberg, 1988).

Every dynamic economy adapts to its external social environment or it will atrophy. Aneconomy must be keenly aware of the society's social preferences regarding its needsand wants. Aneconomy also creates a social environment consisting of its own organizational values, norms, customs and practices. Many of these values, norms and beliefs will mirror the external social environment. Economies need to operate as a cohesive unit hence the need to build a strong and productive organizational culture. Both the external and internal environments affect the economy and the organization.

PROFESSIONAL MANAGER IN A DYNAMIC ECONOMIC ENVIRONMENT

Professional Managers have a herculean task in managing turbulent economies. A professional manger is expected to do the following:

  • Anticipating labour market and economic trends

  • Coordinating workforce investment activities with economic development and

Education strategies.

  • Bringing relevant parties together to address workforce and competitive challenges in a sustainable and collaborative way.

  • Promoting the participation of employers in the public workforce investment system.

  • Ensuring the effective provision of connecting, brokering, and coaching activities,

through intermediaries to help employers meet hiring needs and competitiveness concerns.

  • Developing linkages with economic development activities including available state and local economy retention and recruitment activities.

  • Devising and overseeing strategies for incumbent worker training.

  • Developing layoff aversion strategies.

  • Exchanging information about potential dislocations.

  • Exploring early interventions and pre-feasibility studies for alternative

Ownership/financing.

  • Delivering effective rapid response to ease transition of laid-off workers to new industries and occupations.

  • Identifying new governance structures and other creative strategies, reaching across jurisdictional boundaries, and launching targetedinitiatives to advance the ability of workers, companies, and communities to adjust in arapidly-changing environment.
  • : Managers should clearly identify problems for what they are and immediately assess them for the damage they potentially can cause the organization.
  • : Managers should assign to the stomach what it can do and to the head what the head can do---Specialism
  • : Let’s address issues early, directly, and often.
  • : Let’s see problems all the way through to solution, especially now, when the trough seems very deep and the endpoint seems far away.
  • : This economy cycle will require resilience — the ability to adapt and adjust to extremely challenging circumstances.

ISSUES ARISING FROM MANAGING A DYNAMIC ECONOMIC ENVIRONMENT

Deficit Financing: When the economy is in a State of flux, government spending and deficits automatically increase during economic demands on social-safety-net provisions and falling tax revenues. Such spending can have a stabilizing effect on the economy because it happens automatically rather than through legislative acts.

Dynamic economic environments may be very painful but they do also afford an opportunity to root out waste and inefficient spending in organizations. This is because the opportunity cost of making fundamental reforms is lower during downturns.

Deficits Matter: As with all of economic life, there are trade-offs. Deficits have both positive and negative effects. Debt is a powerful tool that can magnify gains if it is properly utilized. Debt should be used to finance income-producing assets that will be used to pay back the debt. Using debt financing to pay for consumption or unproductive assets can lead to a sinkhole as the outflow of interest and principal payments becomes larger than the inflow of income. An increase in the deficit will negatively add to organizational debt and this overwhelms any positive effects.

The Danger of the "Kitchen Sink" Approach

In most public organizations, there is the belief that there is a danger of doing too little. In fact, the danger probably lies in trying to do too many different things in the hope that one of them will restore economic growth. By doing too much there is a greater chance that policy effects will offset one another (1999).

In a developed economy, strong and well-run government institutions are no less important. Effective government institutions ensure that those employed in the public sector are doing their jobs effectively, with the goal of supporting the private sector, not competing against it. In that case, rather than borrow more money to fund more new layers of inefficiency, organization may focus on:

  1. Rushed deficit spending projects with no risk-return evaluation;

  1. Focus on financial regulatory reform;

  1. Reform the tax system; and

  1. Demonstrate commitment to trade rather than protectionism.

  1. Demonstrate a commitment to fiscal responsibility and give an opportunity to review the purposes of agencies in light of current needs and changing technology.

  1. Modernize the financial regulatory system so that it can meet the challenges of today rather than reflect the structure of a market that no longer exists.

  1. Managers should focus on transparency of the tax burden, broadening the base, and lowering overall rates. Reducing the layers and complexity of the tax code frees up resources that can be put to more productive use.

Organizational survival requires that the methods professional managers use to learn and to impart operational knowledge must change faster than the environmental changes that threaten viability. In the scheme of things, understanding the role and responsibility of the organization in the context of the entire environment is very critical. The tasks of the professional manager then will focus on the following:

  • Providing direction to the firm: The professional manager should not delegate the task of envisioning and defining overarching goals that serve to unify people and focus energies. This is what makes for organizational effectiveness.

  • Managing survival and growth: To ensure the survival of the organization, the manager must also seek growth both internally and externally. Internal growth is facilitated by factors which are internal to the firm and are largely controllable.They include the technology, efficiency of labour, competence of managerial staff, company image, financial resources, etc. The external factors include government policy, laws and regulations, changing customer tastes, attitudes and values, increasing competition, etc.

  • Maintaining firm’s efficiency: A professional manager must use minimal resources to attain maximum goals. This is the efficiency criterion, which guarantees profitability.

  • Meeting the competition challenge: A manager must anticipate and prepare for the increasing competition. Competition is increasing in terms of more producers, products, better quality, etc.

  • This is finding new, different and better ways of performing existing tasks. To plan and manage for innovation is an on-going task of a manager. The manager must maintain close contact and relation with customers. Keeping track of competitor’s activities and moves can also be a source of innovation as technology improves.

  • Building Human Organization: Man is by far the most critical resource of an organization. A good worker is a valuable asset to any company. Every manager must constantly look out for people with potential and attract them to join the company.

  • Change management: A manager has to perform the task of a change agent. It is the managers’ task to ensure that the change is introduced and incorporated in a smooth manner with the least disturbance and resistance.

  • Selection Information technology: Because of informatics, managers are faced with a bewildering array of information technology choices that promise to change the way work gets done. Computers, the Internet, intranets, telecommunications, and a seemingly infinite range of software applications confront the modern manager with the challenge of using the best technology.

LAST WORD:
With the CBN potency being eroded and In Nigeria, it does appear that the oil dependency syndrome will continue for a long while. If this scenario will not change, we may bow to the “Baal” of IMF by devaluing our currency. Nigeria now posts its worst GDP in 15 years. Nigeria needs to curb inflation and diversity her economy. For Nigeria’s economy to find her footing, there should be stronger macroeconomic policies and synergies between government and the private sector. Stronger institutions must be developed to carry the capacity of reforms. Building an all-inclusive economy in the real sector.

Professional managers cannot control the weather, but they can design and build a ship, and equip it with a leadership team, that can navigate the ocean under all weather conditions. Organizations that become more flexible and skillful at making critical decisions when the timing is right have enormous opportunities to capture markets and profits from companies that persist in managing as if the future economic environment is reasonably predictable.

It is difficult to create a Nostradamus out of a professional manager because whatever they do is within the confines of bounded rationality. No one can forecast, with scientific accuracy, what events tomorrow brings. What is critical however is that investor’s need assurance that they have made the right investment choices. That does not remove the uncertainties in life’s endeavours. But more information and education helps the professional manager make better decisions. Even if the future is not always certain, intelligent planning does help. Uncertainty of life sometimes causes glitches in what could otherwise be a foolproof forecasting formula.Professional managers are no prophets after all.

Thank you for your kind attention.
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Annexure 1:
RULES OF MANAGEMENT
Rule 1: There’s never enough money. Invest differently to optimize results: There’s never enough money — in good times and bad. Instead of spreading the wealth evenly, employers need to segment their talent pools and invest differently in each segment.

Rule 2: If it doesn’t measure business impact, it’s just a distraction: Companies need to measure outcomes — whether in production, sales or talent management — that affect business success. However, despite its importance, performance management is often inadequately executed and poorly measured.

Rule 3: Let the numbers drive talent decisions: Most talent decisions are made on gut instinct. Not only are there few systems out there with good data on recruitment, promotion and job performance, the management culture in many organizations permits an intuitive approach to hiring.

Rule 4: Build adaptable skills. Prepare future leadership for any situation: A successful leader must have a succession plan.Leading organizations have adopted a new set of competencies and skills that go beyond a person’s current position. This focus on adaptability and future skills requires a significant shift in learning and development, but also in other processes such as recruitment, selection, promotion and succession.

Rule 5: Simplify performance management, and measure impact instead of goals.

Getting day-to-day performance management right helps clarify an employee’s role, while focusing employee development on competencies that determine the organization’s success.

Rule 6: The 80/20 principle: This is also known as the balancing act. The 80/20 rule states that that approximately 20 percent of your efforts produce 80 percent of the results. Learning to recognize and then focus on that 20 % is the key to making the most effective use of your time. The professional manager does not focus on the 80%; he focuses on the 20% for maximum productivity.

Rule 7: Don’t recruit: initiate relationships and engage the best talent: Advertising to attract young talents is a waste of time and money. Companies can use social media to influence potentials hires by engaging them using challenges, projects, part-time jobs, internships, summer employment and the like to get to know the best and brightest. When it’s time to hire them there is no “recruiting” to be done, as you have already engaged the people who you want.

8. Don’t manage: collaborate: The structure of an organization shows that at the top is the governor and at the bottom is the governed. Employees are supervised and isolated in silos where knowledge is not shared. Good managers build teams and engage employees through distributing authority, power and accountability. In doing so, they are creating a new corporate meritocracy that is sweeping away the hierarchical silos in its path and connecting internal teams to a wealth of external networks. Collaboration may be through Work styles, workflow models, workday and workplace parameters, career paths and professional development offerings should be examined and potentially retooled by organizations to maximize fit with the generational mix of employees. Collaboration is the general rule.

9. UNITY OF COMMAND: Workers should receive orders from only one manager.

GOVERNMENT SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT
His Excellency, Hon. Henry Seriake Dickson, Governor of Bayelsa State has approved the appointment of 3 Honorary Special Advisers

They are:
1. Professor Steve Azaiki - Agriculture
2. Chief Francis Doukpola - Revenue Generation
3. Chief Joshua P. Fumudoh - Ijaw National Affairs
The Bayelsa State Chief Executive has also approved the appointment of EbarakumoOtobo as Coordinator of the Bayelsa Volunteers, John Idumange as the Director of New Media and Joseph Alla as the Director-General, Cooperatives.

In keeping with the new direction and focus of the administration, Governor Dickson has directed the Head of Service to appoint Permanent Secretaries to head the State Environmental Sanitation Authority and the State Revenue Board, pending the formal constitution of the management boards of the two establishments.

Daniel Iworiso-Markson
Chief Press Secretary to the Governor of Bayelsa State

GOV. SERIAKE DICKSON: PASSIONATE ABOUT DEVELOPING RURAL COMMUNITIES IN BAYELSA STATE

The United Nations System Conference Action Plan (UNSCAP) designated poverty alleviation as the integrating theme for follow up to world conferences. It called for UN system action in five areas:

  • Jobs and sustainable livelihood.
  • Regenerating the environment issues.
  • The enabling environment.
  • Social service for all.
  • Arrangement of women and gender mainstreaming.

UN development organizations have their own individual mandates.

  • Microfinance is one tool for poverty alleviation. The enabling environment influences the effectiveness of microfinance in the other four areas of poverty alleviation interventions. The UN organizations’ mandates in the area of microfinance primarily lie in the area of technical assistance and demonstration of models that contribute effectively to poverty alleviation. The responsibility for provision of capital rests with governments, with support from bilateral donors and international financing institutions

FEW SCHEME OF THE GOVERNMENT OF NIGERIA

  • Microfinanceschemes for the upliftment of the poor falls majorly under the formal model.
  • The informal microfinance scheme includes savings clubs/Pools, Esusu, Ajo and Money lenders. However, ‘Esusu’ is the most popular informal
  • Microfinance scheme in Nigeria.

Governor Seriake Dickson, in his campaign promises emphasized taking development to the rural folks. Thus rural development ranks very high on government’s agenda. One of the means government hopes to achieve this is through the award of soft loans through the IZON-IBE MICROFINANCE BANK

BASICS OF IZON-IBE MICROFINANCE BANK

  • Microfinance institutions exist to alleviate poverty. They do so by making loans with relatively low interest rates to people who are not able to access more traditional forms of financing. Requiring no collateral, the organizations rely upon several different mechanisms to guarantee repayment.

Lending to Groups

  • Lending to groups is the most common way a microfinance institution ensures that they will be repaid. They require that a person who is seeking a loan band together with several other people who are also seeking credit and make each member of the group guarantee the loans made to the other members. Through peer pressure and cooperation among the group members, there exists a rate of repayment that is higher than that of more traditional commercial banks.

Education

  • In addition to lending to groups, microfinance institutions will also provide some basic education on running a business and managing money. Quite often they will mandate that the borrowing group must complete the education before they are able to receive their first loan.

Emphasizing Women

  • Microfinance institutions also emphasize lending to women. Part of the intent is to promote gender equality, but also it is based on research that shows lending to women is better for the broader community. Women are more likely than men to use the proceeds to pay for an education for her children, make improvements to the home or buy better quality food for the family.

Not Just Credit

  • Microfinance organizations don't only provide money, they also provide access to ideas, technology and new business ventures for their members. One of the best examples is the introduction of cellphones to rural villages in Bangladesh. Communication between families in different villages and among suppliers and markets in different areas were very difficult. Days were often wasted traveling back and forth to get information. Introducing cellphones is just one of many examples of non-lending efforts made by microfinance institutions to improve the lives of their community's impoverished citizens.Bayelsa can replicate such a laudable initiative.

The Restoration Administration means well for the rural folks where more than 80% of the population dwells. We all know the bad statistics harassing the economy but Governor Seriake Dickson will explore every avenue to do community development.

Bayelsa State shall be Greater than we met it.
God bless Bayelsa State!
Director, New Media to the Governor of Bayelsa State

6th March, 2016

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Articles by Idumange John