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AN EXAMINATION OF PERSONNEL MANAGEMENT

By

NEIL HILL

SUPERVISOR. PFRSONNEL ADMINISTRATION

Although much still remains to be
developed and improved in Personnel
Administration, I truly believe that
personnel "administration" is not the
greatest challenge facing me. Admin-
istration is, at best, the efficient
application of those mechanical and
clerical methods by which decisions
are implemented.

As I see it, my greatest challenge is
that of encouraging the College to
become deeply involved in upgrading
our personnel "management" or, more
specifically, the process by which
decisions relating to all employees,
both faculty and staff, are made. And
that means the process of decision-

-making at every level, from the

supervisor's "nose-to-nose" relation-
ship with those who are supervised,
through to the making of major policy
recommendations to College Council.

In its three years' existence, Douglas
has built up an annual investment of
almost $4 million in its employees. I
believe it is imperative that we now
consider how we might best manage this
sizable investment to ensure that
every employee, both in faculty and
support staff, has the opportunity of
experiencing personal as well as
financial satisfaction from his or her
contribution to the growth and develop-
ment of Douglas College.

From the outset, our faculty and staff
have been recruited largely on the
basis of their academic, teaching, or
“technical” skills.” With these skPils!
Douglas College has been built to its
present stature. We have now reached

 

DOUCLAS COLLEGE LIGRARY,

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Puivd ul VES

a plateau at which we are "operational."
But, before we can further progress, I
believe the point has come for us to
develop and implement a new type of
skill --- the skill of personnel
"management" as opposed to personnel
"administration."

Impetus for this must come from the
highest levels in the College. Given
our particular growth situation in
which so much remains to be done, it
is now a question of determining and
setting priorities. We should now be
considering giving higher priority to
the development and implementation of
personnel management skills. If we

do not jealously guard and nurture our
investment in our employees -- all of
whom are involved, in one way or
another, in almost everything to which
we aspire -- the best of plans will
fail.

Lest all this suggests the beating of
one's own drum, I will be very clear;

My aspiration, like that of every
conscientious personnel staffer, is to
actually work myself out of a job. In
its purest form, personnel management
is a very personal thing between the
manager, or the supervisor, or the
leader, and those who follow his
guidance and direction. Initially,
Managers or supervisors may seek my
"technical" advice as they develop
managerial skills. Once these skills
are acquired by training and experience
and are applied, the need for my
present role will largely disappear.

I therefore would like to see the
College establish a training and
development program for supervisors
and managers that would accomplish
this end. In the achieving of this
objective, perhaps technical input
would be my contribution. The truly
important input, however, will come
from top-level "management," such as
the Principal and the Deans, who
continue to set both the style and
the thrust of all our managerial
efforts.