Nurturing the Next Generation: Promoting the culture of Knowledge sharing and professional pride in Customs

TEXT: Institutional memory holdsa long thread of an established organizational culture. Thismemory shapes professional psyches andidentitiesof an organization’s employees in accordance with the set of values that adhere to the long-honored culture. At one hand, established institutional traditions work as guiding principles for the new generation of employees; but, on the flip side, they also come out as dogmas that hinder innovations by placing operational boundaries. It is obvious that the demands of the current century are different than the previous one.

Resultantly, novel challenges require novel solutions. This line of thought could not be truer for any other agency than the Customs administrations of all the nations. Today’s is a world of inter-connectedness where instruments of war and peace are all economic. The fact that thenationsare more economically connected than ever before makes the globe a single economic organism. It necessitates working towards holistic economic well-being of the world community because damage to the economy of one nation will result in damage to all. Hence, the need for making institutional culture of Customs administrationsmore inclusive and receptive to new challenges stands established.

Nonetheless, the argument that institutional culture needs opening up to new operational substitutes does not suggest outright renouncement of established norms. Rather, it implies that organizations such as Customs should not be archaic and be devoid of newly rising issues that come along with ever changing economic behaviors of nations. Realization of this behavioral change in Customs administrations will bring about a perfect nurturing environment for the next generation of employees whereby they will not only have access to generational knowledge of institutional norms but will also get the exposure to constantly train themselves for the demands of the 21st century’s intricate economic world.

Cultural openness does not only imply inclusiveness and reception to new ideas. It also means granting employees an indiscriminate access to institutional knowledge so that cohesion could be achieved which results in quality Human Resource at a larger scale. The necessity of the large pool of quality Human Resource can be gauged with the realization that Customs administrations cannot effectively take on the volume of responsibilities at their hands without it. Working tirelessly in line with the theme of World Customs Organization (WCO) to train the new generation of officers of Customs at par with modern international standards, Pakistan Customs has been unequivocal in its policies and efforts to continually train its officers of all ranks. Officers are provided platforms for capacity building through rotational training sessions. The institution also prides itself in providing numerous opportunities to its officers for academic scholarships for study abroad. With the vision to enhance capacity through innovation, Pakistan Customs keeps on marching to attain an institutional culture that is more inclusive and promoter of creativity and sharing of knowledge across the board.

Customs administrations are guardians of legitimate international trade and, thus, they bear responsibility of safeguarding economic interests of not only their own countries but the world community as a whole. To that end, under the guiding principles provided by the WCO, they not only facilitate cross-border trade by minimizing human intervention but also by enforcing international trade laws by keeping a watchful eye on the movement of tradable items across the borders. Self-evidently, Customs administrations are lead agenciesfor facilitation of world trade and the process of Globalization – a pride claimed by no other. Pakistan Customs is at par with the global standards of enforcing Customs regimes. It has, on that account, employed digitized method of managing risks to international trade in order to lessen the margin of human intervention.

Ever new pride of Customs administrations in contribution to complementing ease of trade begs the need for continual re-invention of institutional culture. To that end, there is a need to resolve forglobalization of Customs entities of individual countries. There is a need to achieve more through International Organizations like WCO. The speed at which global trade is taking an intertwined shape, it is the need of the hour to understand more closely the institutional psyches with which Customs administrations of all the countries operate. This will help closely identify diverging economic interests of individual countries that cause restrictions on free movement of goods across the borders. Once a more comprehensive understanding of politico-economic intricacies of all the countries is developed, it will help world community tocome up with solutions to address conflicting economic interests for the sake of opening international borders to international trade without undue restrictions.

To achieve that overlapping consensus over the idea of mutual economic interests, it is suggested that programs such as exchange of Customs officers between countries can be initiated under WCO. This will not only help develop a sense of amicability but also a sense of being a global civil servant among officers of Customs. Also, it will empathize the officers of Customs with economic needs of each other’s countries which will pave way for more inclusive and liberal trade policies at national and regional levels. Hence, it is high time that Customs administrations of all the nations take a step towards developing a global institutional culture and memory so that the next generation of officers of Customs could be handed over a global civil service in the interest of economic well-being of the world.

Ch. Muhammad Javaid,

Director, Directorate of I&I-Customs, Quetta

Copyright Business Recorder, 2023