The President of the Institute of Directors, Rockson Kwesi Dogbegah has advocated a renewed mindset for board membership of corporate institutions, saying board membership should be considered an opportunity to serve but not to amass wealth.
According to him, many boards have failed to provide the needed quality leadership because board members consider their positions on the board as a status symbol and wealth creation avenue rather than providing a service with integrity.
“In some cases, it has become an avenue for political compensation. This invariably affects the quality of leadership of organizations and for that matter affects the ability of the organization to achieve its intended objectives,” he said.
Speaking on the theme; Corporate Governance – the Role of the Human Resource Management, at the just ended Annual General Meeting of the Institute of Human Resource Management Practitioners (IHRMP) in Accra, Mr. Dogbegah called for a good corporate governance architecture in Ghanaian institutions.
Attributing the recent collapse of many banks and other financial institutions in the country to absence of good Corporate Governance architecture, Mr Dogbegah urged company boards to uphold the tenets of transparency, accountability, integrity and fairness, which he described as four key pillars of corporate governance needed to promote organisational productivity and credibility.
Mr. Dogbegah maintained that a good corporate governance architecture developed by the human resource through the Board, would help to guide the behaviours of employees as well as the culture of the organisation, to set the tone for organizational success.
“A good Corporate Governance architecture is necessary to streamline the activities of individuals, teams and the entire organization, to be efficient and effective in their roles to prevent negative occurrences such as corruption, embezzlement, tax evasion, sexual harassment, and victimization, among others,” he stated.
Acknowledging the importance of human resource in setting the tone for organizational success, he noted that such importance is enhanced to the extent that HR practices are successful in developing organizational capabilities that enable an organization to adapt to progressive change.
“These practices provide the infrastructure necessary for the organization to create value,” he added.
Expressing his view on the argument that the HR function must be involved not only in strategy implementation but also in strategy formulation, Mr. Dogbegah believes that focusing HR’s involvement in strategy formulation and its implementation is not even enough for an organization to create value and sustain its competitive advantage.
