Refusal of the office-bearers of Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FPCCI) to introduce corporate culture in the apex trade body and run it on the pattern of leading national chambers is resulting in disenchantment in employees.
While over 20 employees left the Research & Development (R&D) department during the last two years, a frustrated Director General, Research & Development, Dr Ayub Mehar will also be leaving on November 20 after tendering his resignation. Federal government provides huge funds, Rs 7 millions were provided last year, for this department on the condition that it should be headed by a Ph.D.
"To perform core activities of a national chamber a symbolic R & D department is not a proper way of functioning," he said in his resignation. Dr Mehar was unhappy that his strong recommendations for restructuring of FPCCI on the pattern of leading chambers, where more than 10 departments perform R & D activities in their predetermined areas, were ignored.
"I fear that the high turnoff, frequent resignations, and the present state of affairs may spoil the image of FPCCI and it will also defame me at personal level," he said. He has mentioned in his resignation letter that 27 out of 35 departments in the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) belonged to R & D, their heads are eminent economists and all the departmental heads are professionally well-qualified.
Similarly seven out of 10 departments in TOBB (Turkey) and 10 out of 15 departments in the US Chamber of Commerce (USCC) belonged to R & D. Each department in TOBB, USCC and FICCI has two to three divisions and five to 15 employees. The important area of concern, he said, is the misleading perception of research activities in the minds of elected office bearers.
This perception is not only misleading but could also derail the entire core activities of FPCCI. The governing body members and the influential personalities determine the definition and scope of research. Core activities of R & D department include: news clipping, record keeping of fairs and exhibitions, listing the world-wide events, speech writing, preparing yellow pages directory, events management, cataloging the products, brands and businessmen, and net surfing or browsing.
Dr Mehar noted that the office-bearers either do not have sufficient time or they face serious difficulty in understanding the difficult concepts transformed by the R & D department into semi-technical and common language, to assist them in their policy dialogues and media statements. He regretted that no office-bearer read or discussed the contents of the article written by him, which was based on the role of national chambers of commerce in the contemporary world politics and economics.
In his parting message, Dr Mehar has suggested that human resources be developed in FPCCI on urgent basis to perform day to day peripheral activities like preparation of briefings, concept papers and comments on policy papers, USAID Competitive Support Funds, monetary and credit policies, public hearings by NEPRA and managing the e-library and data bank.
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