Management conference on people engagement, social responsibility

The annual conference of the Malta College of Arts, Science and Technology's (Mcast) Institute of Business and Commerce recently addressed HR empowerment for business excellence in the framework of total quality and environmental management. Focus was on social responsibility in business management.

The participants were students attending the Edexcel BTEC Higher National Diploma in Business. The main speakers were international management specialist Tonio Portughese and UK specialist in emotional intelligence David Pardey.

The issue of people effectiveness for business excellence was addressed by Mr Portughese in his presentation on 'People Engagement for Business Excellence and Social Responsibility'.

Among other subjects, he dealt with the business and financial and social challenges characterising the current global socio-economic turbulent phase. He also addressed the fundamental evolution of the revalued HR function as a key driver in business decision-making, the vital re-engineered roles for the manager/leader of the 21st century and evolution from the traditional management style to a new profile based on team performance and dialogue. In addition, he analysed the four major issues of engagement to which employees will respond and from which any organisation stands to benefit, namely career development, inspirational leadership, empowerment and image.

Mr Portughese explained field methodologies and best practices applied across various work cultures in Europe, North Africa and Asia.

These included a two-way communication model for positive people motivation, application of the Swot Analysis approach (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats), and HR performance evaluation through surveys and direct feedback.