Harming human resources

Like Ing. Philip Micallef (The Sunday Times, February 4), I agree that there is a lot of room for improvement when it comes to valuing our human resources in Malta. Many organisations are choosing to strengthen their workforce by establishing specialised human resources sections, but unfortunately there are still many important organisations without such professional sectors.

Some people tend to put their partisan (any affiliation) interests before the common good, both when it comes to appointing persons to particular posts, and also when it comes to the dismissal of employees in certain occupations. These may not realise the repercussions that such actions may have. Not only can this damage the quality of human resources in our country, but it can also upset the life of an individual and his/her family. Where are our Christian values?

When people act in a partisan manner, they could also be reinforcing a destructive vicious cycle - a culture, which is based on parochialism, a society in which quality employees could be left out at the cost of promoting one's selfish interests.

So let there be real competition, and not fear. Some people say they want and enjoy competition, when in the same breath, they exhale fear - they are out to damage whoever poses a challenge.

I would like to see more tolerance and flexibility among our workforce, and an annihilation (or at least substantial reduction) of our blame culture. Unfortunately, some people tend to magnify mistakes, disregarding the lifetime achievements of a quality employee.

What is called for is a fresh attitude when looking at mistakes - mistakes often help us improve and grow. Let us focus more on the positive attributes that matter, and demonstrate our appreciation with positive feedback - this is the true nature of fair play, valuing others that contribute not just to our world, but, most importantly, to that of our children.