Stephane Garelli, professor at the International Institute for Management Development, will speak at the Institute of People Management’s (IPM) annual convention, to be held this year from August 26 to 28 at Sun City.
Garelli is the director and compiler of the Global Competitiveness Report, an annual series of reports that evaluate the competitiveness of 49 nations sampled from key economies around the world.
“The IPM has invited Garelli to the convention in the context of this year’s theme — Africans Making Waves in the Globe,” says IPM president Mpho Makwana. “Africa needs to review where it is in the context of the challenges we face as a nation and continent, in the wake of the New Partnership for Africa’s Development [Nepad]. An authority on world competitiveness, Garelli will prove worthy to listen to, so that, as Africans grappling with our own model of competitiveness in the context of Nepad, we do not tackle these issues from an insular perspective.”
Garelli is the author of numerous publications on competitiveness, international trade and investments, and was the senior adviser to the European management of Hewlett-Packard for 12 years. Between 1974 and 1986, he was MD of the World Economic Forum and the Davos Symposium.
He is currently chairperson of the board of the FF Sandoz Finanacial and Banking Holdings, which is part of the Sandoz Foundation, a prominent European investor in the pharmaceutical, telecommunications, hotel, watch and financial industries.
“The IPM is the champion of people development and human resources management,” Makwana says. “This year the IPM’s annual convention is taking a serious look at how Africans are transforming the business landscape of the world and South Africa’s leadership role in Africa. So too we would like to look into the question of appropriate models for integrated human development.
“We have among our speakers Eric Chinje from the World Bank, to share models of growth and development and the role of human capital. South Africa is one of the few countries that has very complex human capital problems to resolve and yet has the worst fragmentation, with in excess of seven to 10 organisations representing some aspects of people management that are all pulling in different directions.
“The IPM calls on all key stakeholders in the people management and human resource development professions to take this matter seriously and join us at the convention for a serious conversation.”
Building careers
The University of Port Elizabeth’s new master’s degree in the built environment aims to advance the careers of professionals in the construction and property industries.
A first in South Africa, the programme combines modules from the departments of construction management and quantity surveying to present a unique degree for professionals in the industry. The combination of core modules in areas such as corporate strategy, project finance and information systems, with a wide selection of electives, allows professionals to attain a holistic view while also developing specialist expertise in their field of interest.
“The programme is designed to emphasise the common knowledge areas of the various professions that serve the interest of the construction client,” says the head of the university’s department of quantity surveying, Professor Raymond Nkado.
The built environment programme is offered as a coursework MSc or postgraduate diploma with specialisations in project management, facilities management, construction management and property economics and valuation.