SULEMANA ZUHDAH

SULEMANA ZUHDAH KASI 

WORDS OF WISDOM

The Greatest Gift

The Greatest Gift God can grant man is a blessed child. The origin of a progeny is a child. A child is a gift of the Almighty God. Wherever we are and whatever we do, we are all gifts to the world through our fathers and mothers. We are gifts who shall be useful to ourselves, to our families and to the whole world – a commitment to fulfill the social contract in the environment in which we are. 

Fathers and mothers must be torch bearers to brighten the path of their children. In the words of John F Kennedy, ‘A child mis-educated is a child lost’.

After parents have paved the way for their children, pouring splendor on their path ways, the children will remain teachable. An anonymous writer has tutored that man should never try to teach a pig to sing, because this action will waste the man’s time and annoy the pig. It is only when children are teachable that there can be a complete paradigm shift from a state of ignorance to light. In such an ‘Eden of capability’ an ideal transformation of a child can take place.

As a teacher I shall do my best to light the path of my progeny and it shall remain the best legacy I will bequeath to them. Ben Sweetland once said that ‘we cannot hold the torch to light another’s path without brightening our own’.

WISE SAYINGS

DAGBANNI PROVERBS AND WISE THOUGHTS TRANSLATED INTO ENGLISH

1. Wisdom is not the preserve of one man – By Tolon Naa Alhassan

2. No one will reject a gift that does not attract blows.

3. Pain to the heart reaps tears from the eyes.

4. A wise youth is thought a proverb and not its meaning.

5. All human beings are the work of God. None was fashioned out by a blacksmith.  – By Alhaji Haruna Abu (Kpalsi Yipelnaa).

6. We do not shy away from a goat to the detriment of our lives if the oblation of the gods so demand of it.

7. An evil bird of the night will surely waste the hunter’s gunpowder.

8. A butterfly resents a joke that throws it near a fowl.

9. A willow is found at the river side because it is the only tree endowed with firm roots to withstand the turmoil.

10. The misfortune that left a vulture without hair will claim the life of a fowl for once.

11. The mouse can only venture out into the comfort of its home in the absence of the cat.

12. We do not show off before our accomplishments.

13. No matter the situation, the ‘go-to-hell’ is never stung but its bearer.

14. Passengers on board a canoe should not laugh at the dead.

15. We do not buy fish until it is caught.

16. A bird that has never experienced the stone sent from a child’s catapult continues to fly lower.

17. Repeated strikes kill a snake quickly.

18. If you want to share the yam that is given to a child, you must first contend with his tears.

20. If you continue to feed a goat that belongs to a lazy man, the goat forever remains his.

21. The crowing of cockerels does not prompt daybreak.

22.  An eye wink is premised on a promise.

23. To break the head of a housefly is to kill it.

24. When dogs are at a dance, it becomes none of a monkeys business.

25. If a blind man says he will pelt you with a stone, he has already stepped on that stone.

26. Fingernails are part of the instruments in a fight.

27. The smell of burnt hair is better sensed by the man who burns his own hair.

28. A wandering child is master of all seasons. Ironically, he is said to be older than his father.

29. It is the Almighty God himself who drives away flies from the wounds of a tailless cow.

30.All babies are tender, no one can tell which one is an idiot and which is wise.

31. We gain by investing

32. The misfortune that killed a goat is likely to spoil the hide at the leather maker's residence.

33. You can only reap what you have sowed

TRANSLATED BY SULEMANA HARUNA

    

SULEMANA ZUHDAH

THE ROLE OF HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT

From a traditional point of view, activities such as selection, training, and compensation were considered the basic functions of HRM and were performed without much regard for how they were related. HRM in modern management thought is considered as the execution of the traditional requirements of managing personnel effectively.

HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT

The Hawthorne study was conducted in Chicago by Elton Mayor, Roethlisberger and Dickinson to examine productivity factors. The study galvanized efforts to humanize the work place and to find more sensitive ways to motivate workers rather than to continue to regard them as assemble-line robots that could keep producing through fear and manipulation. The Hawthorne studies gave rise to the Human Relations Movement by providing insight into human behaviour. This movement focused attention on

1. Individual differences among employees

2. The influence of informal groups on employee performance and behaviour.

3. The need for a more participative and employee centered form of supervision

4. The need for managers to improve their communication and to be more sensitive to the needs and feelings of their subordinates

5. Compensate management

6. Employee labour relations

MAN-POWER PLANNING

Man-power planning therefore is the acquisition, utilisation, improvement and retention of the human resource of an organisation. (source: “Department of Employment 1974” and IPM 1936). In a typical Business Organisation in Ghana, the acquisition of human resource may include professionals, people with experience, security personnel, cleaners, competent eloquent secretaries and administrators and God fearing finance officers and auditors to match.

Man-power planning should again be considered on the retention of employees in an organisation. In fact, labour turn over in an organisation is not the best and is often caused as a result of poor remuneration, lack of motivation, recognition, disrespect and enslavement of employees. In as much as to curtail this unfortunate canker, planning should cover the satisfaction of provision of needs of employees so as to retain them.

In the man-power planning process, there are four main categories of staff who are very important. These categories include:

1. The Existing Staff – Decisions required of them will include productivity, development, equal opportunities, training, remuneration, promotion and career development.

2. New Recruits – Decisions required of them include, recruitment methods, public relations, selection procedures, induction, training and terms of contract.

3. Potential Staff – Decisions required of them include recruitment methods, public relations, wages and salary levels and employment benefits.

4. Leavers – Decisions required of them include, dismissals for poor performance, retirement, redundancy procedures and labour turnovers.

The Institute of Personnel Management in its statement on manpower planning argues that personnel functions re as follows:

1. To stimulate awareness among management of the importance of planning the manpower resource policies and programmes for the future well being of the organisation.

2. To work closely with management and advise on the development and implementation of up-to-date approaches to planning the human resource.

3. To encourage the allocation of appropriate resources to training, retraining and development of staff to meet organisational and individual needs, rather than relying mainly on sources of recruitment.