Professor Kwaku Atuahene-Gima, the Founding President and Executive Dean of the Nobel International Business School (NIBS), has urged the government to ensure that national decisions are made on evidence-based research to enhance policies and strategies in the country.

He said decisions without research would have long term generational impact, which would undermine the development of the country.

Prof Atuahene-Gima gave the advice at school’s third doctoral graduation ceremony where doctorate degrees were conferred on 44 graduates who offered a course in Doctor of Business Administration (DBA) in Accra.

The graduates comprised of one from cohort one, three cohort two, 15 cohort three, 18 cohort four and seven cohort five.

The graduation was on the theme: “The Future of Work and Workforce.”
Prof Atuahene-Gima said the key driver to development was research and that if Ghana wanted to develop, there was the need to find rigorous process of understanding conditions that would affect decisions regarding policies and strategies.

Prof Atuahene-Gima said it was important as it was the norm everywhere around the globe, adding that some of the policy decisions affected the country negatively because it was not backed by research.

He said one critical thing the executive body of the country needed to look at was theory to be able to explain the logical reasoning behind a decision.
The result would be an enhancement of the thinking capacity of people for proper decision-making.

“This is the reason for the establishment of the NIBS. That is to train people with the basic knowledge and skills to make decisions backed by researchable evidence as to whether it is workable or not, he stated.

He encouraged the graduates to go out and exhibit the leadership knowledge and skills espoused in the programme to empower them to discover, lead, share to take charge and launch and manage the NIBS alumni-academy of executive doctors.

Dr Mrs Stella Agyenim-Boateng, the Director, Human Resources of the Volta River Authority, said in order to build the workforce of the future, business leaders must think of revised hiring methodologies, varied learning channels, multi-tasking employees, use of third party agencies to re-organise work to minimise waste, stagnation and boredom.

She called on the NIBS to create a melting point that would bring together academia, industry, professional associations and policymakers to deliberate on how businesses could secure their relevance.

She said the title of a “Dr” comes with a lot of responsibilities and therefore made it imperative for the graduates to unite as practitioners and form a Think Tank to make a significant impact on society.

In attendance was former President John Dramani Mahama, the National Chief Imam, and the Ahmadiyya Muslim Mission among other dignitaries.