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Whiteman Highlights Importance of Strong Interpersonal Skills

March 21, 2004

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Information Minister, Senator Burchell Whiteman has said that persons with strong interpersonal skills could form social cohesion, not only in the workplace but in the broader society as well.
The Minister said he was supportive of the view that “when the interpersonal skills of persons are very strong, they are able to affirm themselves and others”.
Senator Whiteman was addressing a gathering of credit union officials for the launch of the Jamaica Co-operative Credit Union’s automated human resource software service, at the Jamaica Pegasus Hotel, recently.
Citing a recent research, the Minister noted that 85 per cent of successful businesses credited their achievements to “the quality of their interpersonal skills”.
“It seems to me that an emphasis on building confidence, apart from building skills, is critical to our competitiveness in today’s world,” Senator Whiteman said.
The Minister argued that the failures experienced in partnerships, business, and society at large “are due to the fact that people are functioning in environments for which they are not prepared, and engaging in relationships for which they do not have the skills and indeed have lost that consciousness of their own value and are therefore unable to respect and appreciate the values of others”.
A good industrial relations practice, he said, was building trust among employer and employee. “Therefore, when the employee understands that management will assist him or her to improve himself or herself on the job, a level of trust is developed and respect for each other’s role and responsibility,” the Minister said.
Senator Whiteman lauded the Credit Union League for its introduction of an automated human resource software service, which employed psychometric testing to measure the efficiency and aptitude of prospective employees as well as the suitability of persons in positions who were already employed.
He said the software service was a modern approach that could improve the quality of human resource management, “which may in due course form part of the retraining package for managers and supervisors in the public sector too”.
The Jamaica Co-operative Credit Union League offers a myriad of services to credit unions, ranging from management consultancy and internal auditing to training.

Last Updated: March 21, 2004

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