Diamonds in the workplace

Shelter Chieza Change Management
A LOT has been said on the need for Zimbabwe to start focusing more on polishing and cutting of its diamonds as opposed to exporting them raw. There are other people that support this stance and argue that we do not have the equipment and expertise and that venturing into this would be tantamount to swimming in deep waters that might take us longer to realise returns.

Some people believe that selling raw resources usually leads to a more lively market because the purity level of the product will determine the price.

Recently, the price of rough diamonds went down by between 1,5 to 2 percent but the prices of polished diamond prices have been going up.
The Polished Diamond Index has reportedly gone up by about 40 percent since inception in July 2004.

The most believable findings rank Zimbabwe to be the seventh largest producer of rough diamonds, accounting for around 25 percent of the rough diamonds mined across the world.

It’s all well to invite polishing companies from China, Hong Kong, Dubai and Israel to come in and set up the industry for us but what about training our own graduates to learn the skill and set up companies that engage in that?

Logically, massive training from these different firms would be necessary. Surat Diamond Association president Dinesh Navadia was quoted as saying that it would be difficult to find skilled artisans around the world, like those in Surat.

“So, we are not worried on Zimbabwe’s decision to set up polishing units. If the world miners would have to do business with us, then they have to reduce the rough diamond prices,” he said.

Naturally, cutting diamond requires specialised knowledge, tools, equipment, and techniques because it is not an easy process.
Extracting value from the rough diamond into a polished gemstone is both an art and a science.

Diamond analyst Aniruddha Lidbide was also quoted as saying: “There is no threat to the Indian diamond cutting and polishing centre as such from Zimbabwe, but the fact is that the country is the seventh largest rough diamond producer of the world.

“If other countries are helping Zimbabwe to set up diamond polishing units, then you can imagine the scale of local beneficiation?”
The choice of cutting is influenced by many factors. The weight of the diamond has a bearing on the pricing.

There are some popular shapes among customers that will attract a higher value.
The original shape of the rough stone and flaws to be eliminated are also factors that determine pricing.
I found some interesting similarities of this to human resources management. Raw talent is viewed as natural and powerful, it is not learnt or acquired, it simply comes naturally and is mastered quickly without much failure.

Raw talent is much easier to adapt to change. Most of the employees that have undergone any form of education and successfully graduated to completing their education normally form the most loyal crop of employees.

However, issues of productivity may be subjective. Often companies have struggled to distinguish the type of employees to hire.
There is the raw talent with potential that demands less remuneration or the experienced, well-educated employee with the perfect CV that demand huge perks.

The raw talent fights very hard to learn because they have no prior experience to rely on, they are likely to accept changes at the workplace.
They are almost like the rough diamonds we discussed earlier on. So who will you hire? The raw or the refined.

Till next week, may God richly bless you.

Shelter Chieza is an adviser in management issues. She can be contacted at [email protected]