Introduction

Investing in people in human resources development(HRD), involves an understanding of the concept of talent management at the community, corporate and country level with due consideration of the broader issue of diversity. Talent management refers to all activities and interventions designed to build the capacity of a person to acquire and develop competencies to fill critical roles in the economy and wider society. Competencies is defined as the knowledge, skills, abilities and attitudes required by a person to perform a role effectively.(Schoonover 2000) Within the framework of public policy, talent management in HRD will mean access to quality educational systems, efficient health care systems, vibrant labour market and fair adjudication systems for protecting the human rights of individuals, groupings and sectors within the country. HRD is linked to the fundamental human rights of a person to realize his/her full potential.

In recent times the debate on diversity and human resources development in Ghana, has been limited to the age-old issue of gender in social and political relations due to the gross marginalisation of women in all spheres of life which indeed is a contributory factor to the structural causes of poverty. These discussions have been under-pinned by right based approaches in development that looks at poverty as a distancing from political, social and economic power.(Jackson 1996). This is understandable since it has to do with the marginalisation of more than half of the entire population.(Okwiry 2004 :6).

The discussions have been done from political, legal and development perspectives. One can find numerous books, articles, researches and papers on the topic of gender and how to mainstream it into development programs. Only a few have looked at the subject more widely within the context of HRD and even fewer still have discussed it from a wider human diversity perspective drawing from concepts from the behavioral sciences. Talent management as part of a holistic country HRD strategy also entails a conceptual appreciation of the broader concept of diversity within HRD. This offers an opportunity to look at HR issues from a broader perspective to complement the very useful research and discussions that have been done in the area of development studies with particular reference to gender and child poverty in developing countries.(Derbyshire 2002), Cornwall(2001), Goulden & Glyde 2004).

In this paper, diversity is defined as individual differences based on gender, race, ethnic origin/tribe, disability, age, sexual orientation, social class, education, religion and political beliefs within the workplace and the wider society A diversity perspective helps to identify the issues, prospects and challenges that must be addressed in a sustainable manner to promote talent management in Ghana. A diversity perspective takes due consideration of the needs and interests of the different and diverse social segments/ categories within the wider society. The potential advantage is the design and delivery of sustainable talent management solutions and policies in that regard.

This paper will discuss the following diverse variables that have an impact on talent management development in Ghana. These include gender, race, ethnicity, age, politics, HIV/AIDS etc. Understanding and integrating diversity in a country talent management program is a recognition of the fact that some individuals and groups face less acceptable treatment due to their gender, race, ethnic origin, disability, age, sexual orientation, social class, education, religion and political beliefs(a growing phenomenon in Ghana with the advent of multi-party democracy) in the labour market.

The Main Thesis

The main thesis of this article is that the 1992 constitution of Ghana protects the fundamental human right of every Ghanaian. Chapter Five is devoted to fundamental human rights and freedoms. Article 12(1-2) states that ?every person in Ghana, whatever his race, place of origin, political opinion, colour, religion, creed or gender shall be entitled to the fundamental human rights and freedoms of the individual contained in this chapter but subject to respect for the rights and freedoms of others and for the public interest.?

This clause simply means every Ghanaian has a right to realize his/her full development potential. It means no body should be disadvantaged in acquiring the relevant skills and potential to contribute to national development. It implies that a child born in Ghana should have the right to unearth his/her talent by having access to good education and health care, in order to acquire and develop skills to contribute towards national. This right to development must be promoted irrespective of individual, social or political background.

Section 87(1-2) , page 33 of the Ghana Labour Act(2003) provides succinctly that ?a trade union or employers organization shall not discriminate in its constitution or rules against any person on grounds of race, place of origin, political opinion, colour, religion, creed, gender and disability and the Chief Labour officer is empowered not to register trade unions and employers who flout this?. This provision represent the most clearest of clauses in the Act that is intended to recognize and respect individual and social diversity in industrial relations in human resources development in Ghana.

Two critical questions are posed: how have the social partners(unions, employers and government) fared in implementing these provisions? and how effective is the role of government agencies tasked to ensure their compliance?

The Conceptual Framework ? Why A Diversity Framework for talent management

A diversity perspective will enhance a thorough and holistic assessment and integration of the diverse issues, prospects and challenges that are embedded in any initiative to promote a sustainable country talent management program. This we will argue is within the framework of a the government?s desire to promote human resources development in Ghana.. This framework will help us to discuss the various diverse variables that must be considered if Ghana is to become a country that can continuously and in a rigorous, sustained and coherent manner, identify, nurture, develop, reward and retain highly skilled individuals whose competencies can be deployed in all sectors of the economy. A holistic talent management program must be generated in a non partisan manner, devoid of the usual vicious and negative culture of discrimination and intolerance that has characterized programs and initiatives to promote human resources development in the country since independence.

Gender, Public Policy and talent management

The International Context

A basic indicator of human development is the UN human development index(HDI). In the 1995 HDR report, Burkina Fasso, Niger, Mali and Sierra Leone were amongst the countries at the extremely lowest levels, placing 126,127,128,129 respectively out of a total population sample of 130 countries. Ghana placed 91. In the 2002, HDR, Ghana placed 129 out of 173 countries in the world on the (HDI) scale. Though Ghana?s HDI has been performing well in the last decade moving from 0.506 in 1990 to 0.548 in 2000 it is still below the average for the medium countries range within which it is categorized. The HDI is supplemented by a gender related index(GDI) which is seen as the reference for comparing as objectively as possible gender inequities between all countries. A complete chapter in the 1995 human development report, focuses on measuring gender inequality. There are two UN specific gender indexes, which are updated every year. These are the gender empowerment measure (GEM), which is a composite index measuring gender inequality in three basic dimensions of empowerment(economic participation and decision-making), political participation and decision-making, and power over economic resources. The gender-related development index (GDI) is a composite index measuring average achievement in the three basic dimensions captured in the human development index?a long and healthy life, knowledge and a decent standard of living?adjusted to account for inequalities between men and women. Indexes are available for almost all African countries.

An African Gender Development Index (AGDI) has been developed and it will be used as a measurement tool for assessing gender gaps and disparities between men and women in priority areas. This Index covers the 53 African countries and is intended to offer a tool for comparing women's and men's situations in the social, economical and political context, to monitor progress and achievements on the ratified conventions by African countries. It is in line with the African Union Summit of Maputo July 2003 which agreed on the need to have Gender Equity and Equality targets that should be monitored with the new index tool. Without doubt, gender has been realized as an important indicator for assessing social and economic development due to the fact that it constitutes one of the core structural causes of poverty and therefore needs to be addressed in any program to promote HRD. From the public policy perspective a diversity framework helps to critically review the numerous diverse variables, including gender, that have an impact on developing and retaining a quality human resource base for sustained national development. E.g. accessibility to quality education, better health, micro credit, vocational skills training and promotion of the rights of children.

Gender Diversity &HRD-The Country Context

Gender refers to the social attributes and opportunities associated with being male and female and the relationship between women and men, boys and girls. These attributes, opportunities and relationships are socially construed and learnt through socialization processes. Gender equality does not simply mean equal numbers of women and men, or boys and girls in all activities, but is seen as recognizing the specific gender differences in priority setting, needs, facing different challenges, views and opinion and how men, women, boys and girls contribute differently to the development process. (Okwiry 2004:6). In Ghana, historically and culturally, females have played a subordinated role in all spheres of society from the family, community, corporate to the country level. Females account for over 50% of the total population. The marginalisation of females and their inability to gain access to and control of resources and also participate in decision making processes have also been identified as one of the structural causes of poverty.(Okwirry 2004). In order to address this phenomenon, successive governments under the National Democratic Congress(NDC) and the current government of the New Patriotic Party(NPP) have made conscious efforts to promote the education of the girl-child.

As a result of economic reforms in the educational system, more girls are going to school, with shorter periods for completing vocational skills training and tertiary education. This has also created very challenging issues with implication for talent management in Ghana. A clear example is the complex link between reproductive health and human rights with regards to sexuality in the educational system. In Ghana the legal age of sexual responsibility is sixteen years.(Lithur 2006). According to recent statistics, there is an increase in sexual activities in schools. Forty percent (40%) of all pregnancies belong to teenagers and that girls are having sex at 18yrs and boys at 20yrs. (Ghana demographic survey 2003).

This dilemma became pronounced when a headmaster of a secondary school dismissed a number of female students, after finding out that they were pregnant. The issue attracted the headlines in the mass media and the battle lines were drawn between two strands of thought. One school of thought arguing from a rights based legal perspective, criticized the action of the educational institution and submitted that reproductive health issues are human rights issues. Following from this therefore, the action of the educational institution to dismiss the pregnant students and prevent them from writing their examinations, was a violation of their fundamental human rights. This is against the background of the legal sexual responsibility age of sixteen years. The argument posited is that dismissing these affected female will restrict their access to education, and affect their right to realize the full potential. Since they represent a potential talent pool, such an action will result in talent wastage or at best, talent under-utilization in the future.

The contrary view is that having sexual relations is un-acceptable in schools and contravenes the Ghana Education Service rules and regulations and there are limits to rights which goes with duties. The position of this author is that it is unacceptably and patently unfair to punish the female students alone while exempting their male counterparts or co-conspirators. After all it normally takes two to tango in a sexual act. However this one-sided sanctioning system is consistent with the age old historical gender equality issue which traditionally and institutionally, have disadvantaged females.

The above brief contextual background has highlighted the need to re-align educational, employment practices and public policy in any country HRD program. Failure to understand and address these issues can become, and indeed are, structural impediments towards realizing the government?s HRD program in Ghana. It must also been noted that due to the over-emphasis placed on girl-child education, there appears to be a gradual conscious or unconscious neglect of the boy-child and it is argued that this must also be looked at in holistic manner in order not to create another generational gender gap that disadvantages boys.

Gender Issues in employment

In an article in the 7&8th March 2006 edition of the Daily Graphic which was to commemorate the International Day of the Woman, this writer asked these rhetorical questions? Do the wording of job adverts include details that interests women(flexible working/maternity leave/career breaks etc?), are there non discriminatory selection assessment processes? are there flexible work arrangements within the organization? is there a maternity and paternity leave policy?, is there a child care and dependent care and support leave policy? is gender awareness included in job descriptions and performance standards/indicators? is there adequate and consistent staff capacity building in gender analysis? are talent management practices devoid of ?male-centricity? are there adequate systems for encouraging female staff to develop and climb the corporate ladder? are there enough safeguards against sexual harassment?

Articles 56-57 of the Ghana Labour Act, clearly provides protection against discrimination of women in employment especially in the areas of overtime and night work, in situations of pregnancy and maternity, annual and sick leaves. This paper also believes that the clause on maternity leave should be increased to at least 6 months to conform to the strongly recommended 6 months exclusive breast feeding practice advocated in the health sector. In the same vein the 1 hour nursing time is so little and most staff use creative ways to outwit this time framework and it is suggested at least 3 hours a day is reasonable. If public policy makers are advocating for increased girl-child education, then the law must also make provision to protect the right of women workers in the areas of child nursing care and support.

One of the major weaknesses of the Labour Act is a lack of clear clause on paternity leave for male employees to support their female partners to take care of their new born children. This is discriminatory and needs to be looked at. Some organizations especially in the development sector have such benefits for their staff but this practice is not uniform and in any case is not a minimum legal requirement under the labour laws of Ghana.

Career development, gender and talent management Career development opportunities also constitute another challenging issue for female staff. In Ghana for example it is not uncommon to find that senior executive roles are filled through the traditional ?male-bonding activities and old boyism culture?. This makes it difficult for female potential staff to equally get the same opportunities. There is un-equal division of child care and housework in the home which ensures that women have less time to participate in out-of ?hours networking activities at work. It is also a fact that some men are ?morbidly? jealous and suspicious of such networking opportunities and prevent or discourage their partners through veiled threats although they(men) are the first to argue on their right to ?network? this is unfair to women.

Also equally stressful is the often difficult situation where some female staff cannot seek mentoring and coaching support due to the either positive or negative perceptions and subsequent interpretations that may result as a consequence of this. In most cases there are two possible consequences either the successful female staff who eventually gets promoted as a result of such coaching will be seen as having used her ?woman power? and is therefore not there(at the top) on merit. This affects the perception of the legitimacy of the promotion. Alternatively, female staff (and on limited cases male staff but this is very rare) face the ominous danger of suffering possible unwanted sexual advances (from the coach) and when refused may result in ?sanctions? which could lead to a decision to freeze their development and create a conducive grounds for them to exit.

Female staff who decide to improve themselves professionally are always confronted with a work versus family life dilemma. Those who opt for career development often delay having children and this has an impact in fertility rates. The implication is that there is the danger that well educated women will decide to limit the number of children they will have and this can reduce the overall population and potential future human resource base of the country. The other dimension is that it can attract family pressures from un-supporting husbands and the wider extended family. The consequence is that women are structurally prevented from moving up career-wise and this results in earning low incomes which goes to perpetuate the gender equality gap. However there is also the counter argument that having children is a lifestyle choice and there will always be a need for compromise between having children and pursuing a career with the proviso that one cannot have both.

Some of the structural causes of the limited progress of women in the area of career development are discussed below and this we submit should be addressed in a sustainable and coherent manner, if the government?s is to realize its desire to promote HRD in Ghana.

They include family commitments as per the 24-hour gender analysis of division of labour(which in Ghana allocates more famil roles to women than men), unfavorable organizational environments that perpetuate male ?macho-istic? tendencies and lack of political will by top management to assume responsibility for women staff career growth. Employers have a duty to ensure that women are represented at all levels of the corporate ladder not only in quantitative(increasing the numbers of women staff) but also in qualitative terms(in visible leadership and decision making roles). At the corporate level, employers must encourage the adoption of management styles that respects work-life balance. Women and men should not be penalized for taking care of their family given the Ghanaian culture where the family as an institution is at the heart of society.

Globalization, Race Relations & Ghanaian Labor market There is no denying the fact that for so many years now, business ventures have moved from one country to another. This has also brought in its stead the movement of human capital across national borders. There is now a globalized labour market and businesses are either expanding their operations into other countries or widening their net to find the needed skilled labour.(Johnston 1996) and Ghana is no exception. The previous NDC government and the current NPP government, have all demonstrated political commitment to promote Ghana as the gateway to Africa. With the free-zone trade concept as well as the relatively stable political environment, more corporate bodies in the profit and development sectors have in recent times established operations in Ghana and the trend is still continuing. One obvious impact, is the influx of expatriate labour. This has implications for integrating cross-cultural sensitivity variables into private and public policy talent management processes.

Talent management also requires recognizing and respecting cultural and ethnic/racial differences and making sure these differences do not become the basis for disadvantaging any individual or social group from accessing HRD opportunities in all sectors of the economy. The globalization of the Ghanaian economy which has encouraged many multi-international organizations and institutions to locate in Ghana.. This has also started to alter the ?face? of the labour force which has become more diverse with foreigners working alongside Ghanaian in the private and public sector. This structural change in the labour market brings to the fore the issue of cross-cultural diversity management in HRD. There are many examples of race relations been at the center of workplace unrest in Ghana.

Article 87 of The Ghana Labour Act 651 clearly provides the legislative basis for anti-racist policies within Ghana. It makes direct discrimination unlawful in employment relations. This article argues that clear duties are imposed on the actors in industrial relations namely employers, trade unions and the state. Clearly the actors in industrial relations are required to promote race equality and to take action to prevent acts of race discrimination which clearly is legally justice able and enforceable for that matter. This means no body should be discriminated against in accessing HRD opportunities within employment relations by virtue of ethnic or racial differences. The question that arises is how can this clause be enforced?

The social partners should work in partnership to institutionalize work organizational standards that can periodically be monitored and evaluated to assess whether the requirements of the law and practice are been fulfilled. There is also a requirement for expatriate staff to be given thorough orientation o f Ghanaian culture and beliefs so as to ensure effective multi-racial work environment. In the same vein, Ghanaian workers should also be sensitized on the cultural backgrounds of their organizations or expatriate work colleagues to ensure a parallel diversity awareness process. Diversity awareness programs should be done within the framework of the laws of the land. These processes and steps will be required to promote human resources development.

This paper submits that there is a requirement for the sensitization of employers and employees to understand and appreciate the complex issues of human diversity and differences within the Ghanaian context. This is because these profound changes in Ghana?s educational, social, economic and political landscape, requires a thorough understanding of diversity as an important structural issue both at the corporate and country level for sustaining economic growth and stability. A comprehensive talent management program is a crucial independent variable for promoting and ensuring sustained economic growth and national development.

In the public sector for example one finds a significant number of foreign consultants who are brought in and paid huge sums of money for job which equally competent Ghanaians can perform but are sidelined possibly because of political differences.

Political Diversity and talent management in Ghana

One of the most controversial issues that have resulted in the loss of jobs for many talented individuals, and businesses for hardworking entrepreneurs, has to do with the free expression of divergent political opinion. In fact so serious is this issue that most people occupying senior public sector roles, for strategic purposes, dare not express their political opinions if this is contradictory to that of the appointing agency, i.e. government. Freedom of expression and a right to a different opinion is a fundamental human right protected under the 1992 constitution of Ghana. The consequence of this ?fear-complex? is the phenomenon of ?filling round pegs in square holes? both at the corporate level and at the national level. This negative culture of political cronyism, inhibits the expression of divergent alternative views and is a dis-incentive for harnessing the creativity and talents of diverse minds and opinions. Although the labour act and the constitution of Ghana, frowns upon this practice, civil society and the media have not done enough to pressurize successive governments to appoint people on the basis of competence and not solely on political loyalty.

The phenomenon of intolerance of diverse political opinion has caused the collapse of a number of hitherto viable business ventures simply because their owners expression of divergent political views or association with opposing political parties.

One can cite the period in the early 1990s when Ghanaians were ?advised? by the then President Rawlings to boycott products of businesses of prominent entrepreneurs like Appiah Menkah (whose company was producing local made soap), J.A Addision (whose company was producing cement). The immediate and long term impact was the loss of jobs to hundreds of workers in these companies. It also discouraged other potential individuals and groups from venturing into business due to this traumatic experience. In recent times during under the present regime of President Kuffor, one can also cite significant numbers of Ghanaians who have either been sacked from their jobs or requested to proceed on ?indefinite leave?, simply because they belonged to another political groupings or because the authorities suspected or were not sure of their political allegiance.

In Ghana there exists a law to prosecute public officials who willfully cause financial loss to the state in the course of their work. Although the law was passed under the Rawlings regime, Kuffor?s government have used it to prosecute ex government and senior public officers in the previous regime. There is a perception held by some sections of the Ghanaian society that these individuals are been harassed because of their political diversity. The government is quick to add that they inherited the law and are just implementing it, and even cite just one example of a case involving an ex minister of sports in the Kuffor regime who was jailed under this law. Some political analysts have described that example as ?cosmetic? since it involved a member of government who belonged to another minority party not the NPP as part of the concept of an ?all inclusive government? that Kuffor introduced when he assume power early in 2001.

So polarized is the Ghanaian political divide that any initiative from the government is opposed by the opposition, while the government also seizes the slightest opportunity to criticize the previous government. This development does not augur well for the development of a sustained HRD program for Ghana. An HRD program must be jointly owned by all sectors of the political divide in a non-partisan manner, in order to ensure sustainability and progress.

Political parties, civil society, employers and unions must work in partnership to ensure that political diversity does not disadvantage individuals, sectors of the economy and wider society people who express contrary political opinions from accessing human resources development opportunities. Failure to do so will be a recipe for conflict, chaos and political instability and in legal terms will violate the 1992 constitution of Ghana. Within the context of public sector HRD , this will potentially marginalize and exclude a huge talent pool of people who can contribute meaningfully to national development.

Investing in people requires that opportunities for HRD at the corporate and country level are based on proven competencies and not necessarily on political merit, euphemism for cronyism. If this culture of political cronyism is not addressed in a structural way and de-institutionalized, it will be difficult to attract, invest, develop and retain free thinking talented individuals who can contribute towards national development. Appointment to high level public policy positions that have huge long term impact on the destiny of the country should and must be based on technical and behavioral competencies and merit and not only on political affiliation, background or color.

Talent management means getting the best out of your people by helping them to acquire the necessary skills, attitudes, willingness and capability, and then in turn giving them the opportunity to deploy their invested talents back into the economic transformation process. Partisan politics is at best superfluous and anachronistic within this conceptual framework.

Industrial Relations As A Tool For Talent management

Industrial relations refers to processes and outcomes involving employment relationships. It is the interactions between the social partners, i.e. employers(represented by management), workers(represented by unions) and the state, (represented by government) that regulates all issues concerning HRD. According to Dunlop?s theory of Industrial Relations Systems, the outcomes of their interactions, produces substantive rules(compensation and benefits such as training, career development etc) and procedural rules (collective bargaining, redundancy, grievance and disciplinary procedures).(Coleman, 1996).

Peaceful industrial relations is a key requirement for a sustainable economic growth that can produce ?knowledge people? whose talents can be deployed in all sectors of the economy. This will mean showing a large measure of respect and tolerance for diverging views as well as making reasonable compromises in order not to drive away the investments that the economy must have. Economic growth will mean making Ghana the financial, commercial and production platform for investors, with access to domestic, regional and global markets. This would in turn result in employment opportunities and an improvement of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP), and help to move the country towards the anticipated middle income status.

However a major requirement will involve taking a critical look on salaries, wages, benefits and the pension scheme. Without a comprehensive pay structure, which can be improved exponentially in line with an improving economy, it will be difficult to ensure peaceful industrial relations and minimize industrial actions which will in turn not support the anticipated economic growth that can facilitate HRD. One must quickly note the initiative taken by the government to appoint a presidential commission to look at the issue of pension reforms. It is hoped that when its report is finalized, the issue of pension reforms will be addressed accordingly in a sustainable manner. This should not be another of those ?stale white papers? that are filled nicely inside the third drawer of the sector minister?s cabinet!!

Talent management means investing in people. It requires the need for government to play an active role in the creation of jobs for the large numbers of unemployed youth roaming the streets. Investing in people means that the government must join the other community of developing countries to demand for a better terms of international trade within the framework of the WTO. The inability of the government to collaborate with other countries will mean a less effective response to the threats of international policies on local policies and their effects on the workers and by extension all sectors of the economy. This will not help to promote HRD. It can be argued that in their attempts to join the global community, governments of poor nations are forced to accept the unfair rules of globalization through excessive deregulation of the labor market, trade liberalization, privatization, and provision of general concession to attract foreign direct investment. The consequences of such policies are that workers are often disadvantaged and the end result is high levels of unemployment. (Brown et al 2002)

A critical mass of unemployed people is not only a recipe for social and political instability but is also a waste of the country?s potential available talent pool. In Ghana underemployment and low incomes continues to threaten the survival of millions of people in the informal economy, including those in the rural areas. The issue of unemployment needs to be addressed in a holistic manner. The government has just inaugurated an ambitious program to address unemployment and it is hoped due diligence will be applied to ensure that the objectives of the program are achieved in a transparent manner.

One issue which could also potentially affect HRD if not handled well, is the effect of the new labour act which nullified the existence of the trades union congress(TUC) as the mother trade union in the country as provided by the previous Industrial Relations Act 1965(Act 299). With Act 2003, it is no longer a mandatory requirement for unions to affiliate to the TUC. The change has lead to a proliferation of more trade unions, and in some cases violent secessions like the break away of the Industrial & Commercial Workers Union from the TUC, which was caused by the disengagement of another group from Industrial and Commercial Workers Union (ICU) to form another union, to represent some sections for workers in the industrial sector. Some of these secessions have been violent and are clearly a dis-incentive to attracting local and foreign investment.

In as much as the constitution of Ghana guarantees the freedom of association, a united labour front will also ensure industrial stability by having a solid bargaining influence through a collective voice in the industrial relations processes. A united labor force will be a credible and functional partner to the government and employers to collectively promote HRD. A fragmented and weak labour front will not be in a good position to lobby and pressurize the other social partners to fulfill their obligations to invest in people in line with the country?s HRD program.

The government will have to exercise the necessary political will and determination to implement the negotiated salaries and benefits packages agreed upon with organized labour organizations. The educational and health sector have been hit in recent times by a spate of industrial actions. For example in Ghana it not a secret that insufficient remuneration of health and educational professionals has been the main cause of the brain drain. The use of effective dialogue with all the other social partners in industrial relations will promote a transparent medium of sharing information and understanding necessary for facilitating an effective and sustainable country talent management program that will feed into a comprehensive HRD policy. Ghana needs to have a culture of talent management where every body is given the opportunity to realize his/her development potential as far as he/she can go. This should be a priority for Ghanaian politicians.

HIV/AIDS & Talent management

The issue of HIV/AIDS has also attracted the attention of policy makers in the area of public health due to the growing numbers of people in the labor force contracting the disease. Going by the current prevalence rates of 3.1%, HIV/AIDS will in the coming decades, re-shape the Ghanaian labor market in both the private and public sector.(GNA story posted on Myjoyonline.com 17th November 2005)

The data shows that a significant number of people infected in Ghana with HIV/AIDS are young and middle aged adults who are in the most productive years of their lives, thus threatening the health and stability of the Ghanaian labour force. The anticipated impact in the next 10 years will include a loss of experienced personnel, increased absenteeism from work, turnover of staff, decreased productivity, the continuing need for hiring from a shrinking pool of human resources .

Employers in general regard the disease as affecting promiscuous people outside the company walls. In Ghana, there is lack of an accurate idea as to the impact of this disease on economic growth and business performance given the long incubation period of the development of the disease. As explained earlier on, diversity is about creating a culture that respects and values differences. It means encouraging and welcoming different views and experiences to inform work and relationships within employment relations. Discriminating against individuals from accessing HRD opportunities on the basis of their health status is a violation of the laws of the country.

In this regard most organizations will have to integrate HIV/AIDS awareness in all aspects of HRD. In the area of career development HIV/AIDS staff should not be discriminated when opportunities for development arise and this must be supported by an open working environment that recognizes and respects staff affected by HIV/AIDS. This area will increasingly be one of the issues most employers and HR practitioners must have to deal with in the coming years if the rate of infection is anything to go by.

Creating awareness on the need for a behavior change in lifestyles may help reduce the rate of infections. This will go a long way to reduces the stigmatization of HIV/AIDS infected persons. With an efficient and robust health care system, HIV/AID infected persons can enjoy a healthy life and thus participate meaningfully in the economic process. One can mention the efforts been made by the government to ensure the availability of anti-retro viral drugs and this must be sustained by allocating a significant percentage of the national budget in that regard. For example The World Bank has approved 20 million dollars credit to assist the Government in the fight against HIV/AIDS from its soft-loan arm, the International Development Association (IDA). The credit has a commitment fee of 0.35 per cent, a service charge of 0.75 per cent over a 40-year period of maturity, which includes a 10-year grace period.

The multi-sectoral HIV/AIDS programme is being funded as a follow-up to the IDA-financed Ghana AIDS Response Fund project. The multi-sectoral HIV/AIDS project would focus on several areas including policy, advocacy and enabling environment, coordination and management of the decentralized response, mitigating the social, cultural, legal and economic impacts and prevention and behaviour change communication. The response fund project is to maintain infection rates at the current levels among vulnerable groups and curb further spread among the general population.

It is also aimed at mitigating the impact of the pandemic on the health and socio-economic systems, as well as on the infected and affected persons by promoting healthy lifestyles, especially in the area of sexual and reproductive health. The project is a collaborative effort with all the major development partners in HIV/AIDS in Ghana, especially the British Department for International Development, Danish International Development Agency, World Health Organisation, UN AIDS and US Agency for International Development(GNA posted on Myjoyonline.com 17th November 2005)

A likely result of these initiative are that this segment of the labour force cane be potentially ?pulled into? the wider talent pool of the country and can contribute their skills, and also in turn access HRD opportunities. HIV/AIDS infected persons also deserve to benefit from people investment initiatives. They are part of the talent pool of Ghana and should be supported with the necessary HRD opportunities in the private, public, formal and informal sectors of the economy.

The HIV/AIDS pandemic constitutes a potential challenge that can, if not handled effectively in a sustainable manner, potentially derail the country?s HRD agenda. In talent management every single individual counts and failure to mainstream HIV/AIDS persons into the national HRD agenda will result in marginalisation and exclusion that goes against the spirirt and letter of the constitution of Ghana. At worse their exclusion will reduce the quantum of available talents whose contributions however modest are needed to move the nation forward. The social partners will need to scale up their collaboration to address this human rights and structural issue. The potential impact of HIV/AIDS on the labour market and wider economy is real.

Talent Management Crises in The Knowledge Production Sector

The universities are one of the key visible players in talent management. Their role is to produce ?knowledge people? whose skills can be deployed across all sectors of the economy. Unfortunately, the universities are also facing a ?talent squeeze?. This section will discuss the university of Ghana as a limited case study while noting that most of the issues equally apply to the other public universities.

The alarming staffing profile University of Ghana was highlighted by Professor Tagoe, Vice Chancellor of the university during the recent congregation of the university(14th March 2006, Ghanaian Times and posted on newtimesonline.com). The author followed it up by referring to the information in Human Resources in University of Ghana Annual Publication Basic Statistics (2006: p16-17).

Based on this, this paper will make some analysis of this situation to illustrate the enormity of the problem. The total number of senior members is 873 made up of 679 males and 194 females. All lecturers are considered as senior members.

In terms of the age distribution of senior members, 7 are below 30 years, 163 fall within the 31-40 category, 300 are in the 41-50 age bracket, 290 belong to the 51-60 year group and 113 are over 60 years. The paper will within the framework of diversity attempt an analysis of this statistics to illustrate some observations to be made on age, gender diversity variables.

Summary Analysis of Data

? Total gender distribution: 78% male to 22% females.

? Age diversity in percentage terms(% of young, old, very old etc)

? 0.8% (less than 1%) are below 30 years, 18.6%(less than 1/5th ) fall within the youthful age category of 31-40 years, 34% are in the 41-50 years group, and 46.1% belong to the above 51 year group12.9% (more than 1/10th ) are above 60 years.

? Gender % within age diversity ( % of females in each age category)- the drop out rate for female senior members is relatively higher to males from 51 years onwards and these may probably be due to the family/work life balance but this has to be investigated

All sectors of the Ghanaian society must critically assess the implications of these figures(which although may not be 100% perfect) demonstrates to a reasonable extent how serious the situation is and the need for a concerted holistic non-partisan approach towards solving this phenomenon of critical skilled labor shortage of ?knowledge people? who facilitate the production and transmission of knowledge, skills and competencies. Although the data has not covered the other public universities, the trend appears to be the same.

Managing the diversity of talent management- The Way Forward

Historically, discussions on HRD issues in Ghana, have often been narrowed to the phenomenon of brain drain(exportation) where large numbers of well skilled Ghanaians have left the country for ?greener pastures?, and the issues of poor compensation and benefits systems especially in the public sector which it is generally believed accounts for the skilled labor shortages in the health, educational, public and civil service sectors. Skilled labor shortage is defined as the inability to have the required quality(competencies) and quantity (numbers) necessary to play critical roles to promote national development. Skilled labor shortages has been generally seen as a bane towards developing and retaining quality HR. This migration phenomenon will continue unless sustainable measures are put in place to halt the brain drain.

Supporting systems- Talent Management Information Technology & Support

In order to prosecute an effective talent management program , it is important to have the necessary institutional supporting systems. One of the most critical aspects of developing an effective human resources development program is on the need to utilize information systems and technology. In this regard this paper wishes to mention the idea of the Ghana Skills Bank (GSB) which was launched by the Vice President of Ghana, Aliu Mahama. The logic of the skills bank, is to harness the intellectual capacity of Ghanaians around the world to ensure rapid socio-economic development and the reduction of poverty and encourage Ghanaians to return home to build their country.(Myjoyonline.com 8 April 2003).

The GSB Network, initiated by the Ghana Embassy in Washington, is an Internet-based interactive database that documents the skills, expertise and achievements of Ghanaian professionals and successful entrepreneurs from around the world. The Network, will provide a forum for the exchange of ideas on approaches to tackle the development challenges of the country, and also link Ghanaian professionals in all industries and disciplines with organizations in search of qualified personnel.

This example shows that an efficient country human resources information system(HRIS) infrastructure is also a key supporting system for the implementation of a country talent management program design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation. The HRIS must comprise well designed software that keeps accurate data on all aspects of development processes, their analysis, and actions taken thereafter within the framework of duly completed yearly reports to monitor and track progress. However at the end of the day, there is the need for ?facilitators? such as creating an effective environment that is ?frustration free? to empower Ghanaians to return home to deploy their immense, diverse and value adding skills to promote national development.

Periodic consolidated country HRD quarterly reports must consistently address skilled labour shortages in the short, medium and long term. Such reports must be submitted to parliament for debate and scrutiny and adequate resources voted to support the implementation of recommended actions to promote people investment. All of the above tools are means for identifying country talent management needs and they can then be prioritized and action plans developed to meet those needs in a fair, transparent and sustainable manner at all levels of the economy. Leaders in government, corporate world and other sectors of the economy, should collaborate and are responsible for joint problem identification, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of the country HRD program design and implementation. The social partners can also play a critical role to support this process.

In order to ?walk-the-talk? and get political commitment on a national talent management program, the CEO of the country, the President must be held personally responsible and rigorously assessed for the extent to which the country?s talent management needs and requirements have been addressed. This must be one of the most important competency criteria for either rejecting or renewing the mandate of an elected government.

If the government of Ghana is to seriously pursue the objective of investing in people in a sustainable manner, there will be the need for a holistic country HRD program strategy.

It must take the lead in the institutionalization of anti-discrimination family-friendly practices in employment. This can be established via an agreed corporate performance standards in partnership with employers and trade unions. These standards can promote a set of equal opportunities policies and practices which will ensure equality in recruitment and selection processes via unbiased assessment centers that assesses competencies over a broad range of issues that does not disadvantage female job seekers. For example as a rule, the constitution of appointment/assessment panel should be balanced in a way that recognizes and protects diverse backgrounds. There should be equality and diversity in talent management design programs, career development and performance management processes such so as to recognize and integrate diversity factors in assessment of skills, working styles and competencies in HRD.

Organizational systems for managing time affects females at work and within the wider economy in terms of the pattern of the working day and responsibilities at home. The family/work life debate is a gender diversity issue that is often under-emphasized and this affects future career development. The simple typical African 24 hour gender division of labor analysis proves that women more often than men are disadvantaged in the distribution and performance of household roles such as child care and housework .

The implication is that women have less time to participate in out-of ?hours networking activities at work that are also crucial for HRD purposes. The social partners(government, employers and unions) have a duty to ensure that women are represented at all levels of the corporate ladder in the public and private sector of the economy... This will require the adoption of management styles that recognizes and respects work-life balance.

Organizations in both the public and private sectors, can institute some family friendly people-centered policies that will create a favorable environment to promote the equitable career development of women and male staff. These may include: ? More flexible working time for parents i.e. both males and females ? Paid study leave to undertake professional development programs ? Paid paternity leave for male employees to support their spouses ? Encouraging women staff to be part of cross-functional project/roles as part of capacity building ? Home working to enable men and women staff to be able to work at home where the situation permits. ? Child educational care schemes where companies/organizations may have in-built subsidized nurseries or grant educational for parents

At the national public policy level, the government can introduce more incentives for employers who have such people centered policies since this will invariable feed into the wider macro human resources development agenda. The private international development sector in Ghana (International NGOs and development agencies) constitute a significant sector of the labour market where attempts have been made to incorporate some of these family friendly policies into HR policies, programs and practices. There is clearly a requirement for the government to build partnership with the civil society and the social partners to ensure an effective collaboration and sharing of best practices. This must be reinforced by proactive and sustained advocacy by civil society and the mass media to address these structural issues which can negatively hinder the realization of the government?s HRD program.

Age Diversity & talent management in HRD There is evidence from school performance records that girls, boys and young men and women are performing well in schools. But in the same vein there is a disturbing pattern which shows that in broad terms, the educational systems fails to sensitize and alert them on possible career choice opportunities and implications for their personal development.

One of the most innovative measures which recognizes and aims to mainstream age diversity into talent management is the concept of internship programs for tertiary students offering various courses in the country?s tertiary institutions. It is intended to satisfy the needs of the job market and prepare young graduates for the world of work. This is a practical example of a measure to invest in people as part of a wider HRD. There will be the need for all the stakeholders in education, business and industry, to collaborate and ensure a sustainable smooth program that provides critical and practical skills. Government must provide incentives to employers who employ young graduates to institutionalize this initiative in all sectors of the economy.

Conclusion - Putting A Stop to the Negative Threat Theory of Talent management

The statistics on the grim labour strength situation of senior faculty personnel in the universities must be critically looked at. The government should work in partnership with employers, unions and other civil society groups to find a holistic solution to the current low and ageing numbers of scholars in the universities. The universities are the ?production and reproduction? centers of knowledge. Knowledge facilitates empowerment and gives an individual the critical ability to rationalize and evaluate choices in order to make decisions that contributes towards overall national development. Knowledge facilitates the acquisition of competencies and skills that equip an individual to contribute towards national development. If our knowledge production centers are facing a dwindling in the levels of qualified experts who by their training are required to facilitate knowledge transmission, then there is need for urgent and robust steps to be taken to address this situation.

Poor talent management practices, have also been observed as one of the bane towards Ghana?s economic development. This writer will like to challenge national and corporate leadership in Ghana, to rise above the ?threat of losing my job theory?, jealousy, pettiness and backbiting which underlines, in a subtle and often covert manner, the psychological thinking of some people in senior management roles in Ghana as far as accessing HRD opportunities are concerned.

This dysfunctional phenomenon results in creating a culture of frustration to young and high potential people in all sectors of the economy. The ?threat theory? manifests its self in so many ways through often unnecessary, non-transparent, unscientific and selective bureaucratic processes in recruitment, career development and rewards management in all sectors of the public and private sector. The youth constitute a significant talent pool for the future development of organizations, institutions and the country. Corporate and political leaders should rise above such a narrow mind-set and promote a culture of leadership development by putting in place consistent, transparent and robust succession strategies and programs to enable the country ?reproduce? its knowledge, culture and systems in a systematic manner if Ghana is to achieve a sustainable HRD program.

The above issues if not properly conceptualized and addressed, can create talent wastage and poor talent management. This can affect the realization of the country?s human resources development agenda due to the perpetuation either covertly or overtly of the culture and politics of exclusion and marginalisation.(both at level of corporate governance and at the national level). An effective national talent management strategy will support human capital development and open up lifetime career development opportunities, at the corporate and country level. This will in turn, have a multiplier effect on the level of economic growth and political stability and go a long way to support the nation?s quest for development. We need to create a reservoir of talented Ghanaians now and in the future in a non partisan sustainable manner. In that respect, I once again assert that partisan politics, the one Ghanaians are witnessing now is superfluous and anachronistic if a sustainable human resources development agenda is to be prosecuted in Ghana.