adminI indeed saw a few articles on the same subject in other newspapers subsequent to that article and I conjured that the interest had been sparked by the article that I had written.
I write for two main reasons, to share with others on a subject (HR) that should and does concern all of us in one way or another, and also as a hobby.
On the first front, I specifically want readers to see the social and work linkages of what we do as homosapiens and also the fact that all occurrences can and indeed should have an explanation.
On the hobby side, it is basically to engage my mind in a meaningful way outside of the work day (stress remover?) and once in a while the “Mr lizard” or ego stroking phenomenon gets satisfied! I am happy that these two broad objectives are being achieved by and large, through these articles.
Today’s article touches on a phenomenon which talks to individuals, families and indeed organisations in a big way. None of the above can function meaningfully without it. The phenomenon under siege today is known as a ‘database’.
What on earth is that, you begin to ask in amusement? Let me explain this phenomenon via the following general observation — I love our lot as a nation, for indeed we are creative in a number of ways.
The one area that comes to mind is jokes on e-mails — we are a cut above the rest, ie — we have a strong database! A database (not necessarily a dictionary definition) is an accumulation of historical data for use as reference material in the now or the future, when making decisions. Yes, every decision made must talk to a database on similar occurrences, if it has to be meaningful.
There are many areas requiring databases, social and work related.
Give us examples, columnist, it’s the beginning of the year, we are still cranking our engines after the festive season, readers plead in unison. As stated in the paragraph above, sharing is indeed one of the aims of writing these articles, hence I will oblige, happily.
A child growing up starts exploring their surrounds (I suspect this database originates from rural areas) as they start crawling. Sooner or later they start crawling towards a fire made by dear mother.
The child gets interested and wants to have a feel of this “glowing wonder”, with negative results, of course. The child soon crawls away from the fire direction, not before a loud wail, of course.
Indeed the child will never veer in the direction of the fire again, ordinarily, hence the “a burnt child dreads fire” saying.
A point to note is that databases vary in their nature and the occurrences required before they can be considered reliable and useful. In the above case the child makes one or two attempts at a fire before the database is one hundred percent reliable! Sorry kids, that’s the way of life!
Some databases have to be treated with caution, however! A good example is when it comes to sign language on the roads by motorists. Indicator light signals by motorists ahead of you — do not always trust these, for you can head straight for a head-on collision thinking the guy ahead is beckoning you to overtake.
The other tricky one is when a driver approaching you flashes his lights.
Is it a greeting, a warning sign of a speed trap arrangement in the direction you are going or just outright mischief? The rule of thumb is to always drive with caution whenever this happens. Several times I have ignored these flashing antics and have invariably been left with a deficit in my pockets after hitting a speed-trap arrangement, off course! Road related databases need to be user friendly madoda, I appeal to other road users!
Another interesting data base is on the names of our two cities Harare and Bulawayo, bambazonke/sunshine city and city of kings and queens.
Is there more sunshine in Harare or Kings and Queens in Bulawayo? My geography does not tell me so and my eyes certainly have not come across kings or queens but only one queen and her princess!
However, suffice to say these are databases developed over a long period of time and therefore likely to carry some truth!
As an individual, do a database on New Year’s resolutions you have made in the past.
Do an evaluation of the success rate of the resolutions you made in the last five years before you decide whether it is worthwhile for you to keep on making the resolutions and achieving the success rates you have been scoring!
Data bases in work settings. Agriculture, the lifeline of our nation. We used to be told that effective rainfall starts sometime in November, 15 November it used to be! Revise your database meteorologists — there must be some missing data in your compilation!
On a more serious note, farming in the lowveld — sugarcane farming that is — is based on a strong database on factors such as: hours of sunlight and rainfall in order to determine when to irrigate or harvest. Let me end there otherwise I will lose many a reader — agriculture is a noble profession only for the noble ones!
In our various companies/organisations do we have databases that we use to make decisions? Production and sales patterns over a period of a year, for instance.
Cash flow patterns? Breakdowns and maintenance schedules? By the way this is supposed to be an HR column, let me not stray further.
In HR one would typically need to accumulate databases such as; productivity indices, level of pay and benefits and worker morale, absenteeism, disciplinary actions, effect of training and development on production and productivity, off-sick patterns, quality of leadership/supervision, etc.
HR currently mainly relies on databases from other locations. Organisations should be relying on local validation of these databases to reflect local conditions and Zimbabweans as a people!
Lack of depth in curricula in our colleges prohibits this all important facet of national development. Research methodologies are not taught to any meaningful levels, hence the “in partial fulfillment” type research dissertations we generally come across!
Let us interrogate our economy, our production systems, our human resource, etc, in order to conjure a way forward based on a sound and reliable database, I argue. Ah, I am sweating, I realise — frustration, they call it!
Our systems need to be calibrated — I mean developed and validated, if we are to produce (whatever), reliably and consistently, I say. I promise to deal with issues of work study this year, if only to make you appreciate the vast potential that lies untapped in all things that we do.
Obviously this is an area that talks to statistics; data accumulation, analysis and interpretation (zi — statistics a Lecturer of Austrian origin used to call it).
Whether statistically minded or not, dear fellow nationals, we all need to accumulate and have a database of sorts, as it determines the quality of the decisions we make, as individuals or as companies/organisations.
Let me rest my case before the editor makes a decision on the article (length consideration!)
Send views to e-mail address hecandbe@ gmail.com or sms 0777556081.
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