IHRM president, Dr. Munir Abbas, spoke at the beginning of the roundtable meeting about IHRM eagerness to pursue the latest professional developments in the field of human resources, and present it in front of the IHRM members in order to get their opinions and build on their experiences in a manner that serves the development of the HR profession in the private and public Syrian companies which is the primary objective of IHRM.

Dr. Abbas added that the topic of “Management Reform” is one of the most important topics that the companies in Syria must focus on it with an essential role of HR in it. The management reform cannot be implemented without preparing and developing human resources on adopting the reform and practicing the related procedures. Moreover, the acceptance of the reform by all managerial levels as a new methodology for keeping the competitive advantage of the organization since change becomes one of the most prominent characteristics of the modern business world.

On her turn, the lecturer, Mrs. Nuha Shweihneh, defined the “management reform – Japanese model” as a continuous development process through activating the system of providing suggestions by all workers in the organization and by organizing the internal working procedures and achieve the sustainable development and implementing the “5S” Japanese system in organizing and efficiency. The role of HR is essential in the success of the management reform since HR is the strategic partner to the management in improving the productivity of the company and in reducing expenses and wastes and increasing profitability. This is won’t be achieved without putting the correct procedures and training all employees on implementing them. It is not about writing the procedures and copying it from other organizations, but it is about the ability of adopting the appropriate and implementing it, and here comes the essential role of the HR department.

Mrs. Shuweihneh assured that the role of HR management became big and HR departments are no more merely responsible of personnel but they became a strategic partner in planning, organizing, and implementing management reform. It is now participating in achieving the mission and vision, and objectives of the organization through the creating of a management system which is effective and efficient and by developing appropriate working procedures, determines precisely duties and responsibilities and reducing operational expenses and wastes in the organization in a manner that results in increasing productivity and profitability.

Shuweihneh ended her lecture by saying that the implementation of management reform in the public and private Syrian companies requires a solid belief from the decision makers and top management. This would lead to the change of the culture of the organization and working environment and move to the concept of management by objectives. Moreover, companies must organize and reform its inner house during the current situation and conduct process re-engineering to put it on the correct bases to reach the standards followed by the similar pioneer companies. She explained that this is not a difficult work if the faith in and the appropriate willingness to change and its importance as an essential condition to continuity and competitiveness in businesses.