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Thursday Dec 12, 2024
Friday, 11 July 2014 00:00 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}
He said that quizzing is fun, but we need to constantly ask questions about our work too: How can we better develop and use the skills in our workforce? How can we improve our information flow? How can we better deliver our goals? These he said were questions he asks himself every day at the British High Commission in Colombo, and these were questions that are likely to be asked – and tackled – in any organisation that strives to be successful and improve constantly.
He recalled that CMI’s predecessor, the British Institute of Management was in operation since 1947, delivering training and professional qualifications in management and that it was in recognition of its excellence in this field, and the importance of this work, that the Royal Charter was granted in 2002 to what then became the Chartered Management Institute.
He said: “The CMI remains the pre-eminent body in its field, not just in the UK but also internationally. I am delighted that the Sri Lanka branch continues to thrive and grow successfully, ensuring excellence in management here, and serving as an important part of the professional links between the United Kingdom and Sri Lanka.”
Role of managers
Speaking on the role managers can play in promoting diversity he praised the efforts of supporting the needs of the disabled and stressed on the importance of welcoming and embracing staff of different genders and sexuality, staff of different ethnic backgrounds, and staff of different religious backgrounds.
He said: “At the British High Commission we do our utmost to ensure that we respect each other’s religious beliefs and faiths, and we try to celebrate each other’s festivals, for example Sinhala and Tamil New Year, Eid and Christmas. Through such celebrations we share goodwill and also learn, including understanding that in our different faiths there is much more that we have in common than might divide us. I am clear that as an organisation, such diversity is one of our strengths, with different experiences and approaches helping us to make better informed decisions.”
Continuing his interesting address John Rankin said that the Chartered Institutes, including the Chartered Management Institute, remain an important part of the links, in business, in the field of education, and in our cultural and people to people links that UK and Sri Lanka share.
Indicating that he was proud to be their Patron he concluded his speech by wishing ‘that the Chartered Management Institute here in Sri Lanka will go from strength to strength’.
The Chief Guest John Rankin then presented the recognition certificate to Sega Nagendra CCMI, who was recently awarded the Companion Member status by CMI UK. Companionship is the highest level of recognition that CMI confers on its members for outstanding contributions made by them in the field of management.
The Sri Lanka branch traditionally felicitates members who complete 25 years of membership with the award of special recognition certificates at the Annual General Meetings every year. This year the recipients of such recognition certificates were Varuna Ratnaweera FCMI and Col. Sunil Peiris FCMI who received their certificates from the British High Commissioner.
The President of CMI Sri Lanka Branch Rohitha Mendis thanked KPMG Sri Lanka, with whom they had a series of Evening Panel discussions on varying, and current topics which were well attended, thus helping ‘sharpen the saw’ and upgrading professional skills of Sri Lankan Managers. This he said helped them achieve the target of sharing the knowledge, as well as creating awareness on CMI. He also thanked all those who had helped CMI during his tenure as President of the Sri Lanka Branch.
The newly elected President of CMI Sri Lanka Branch, Varuna Ratnaweera in his speech indicated that he hopes to continue with the good work of his predecessors, Rohitha Mendis and Keethi Jayaweera and stressed on the importance of good teamwork to make that a reality.
The new Executive Committee of CMI Sri Lanka Branch for 2014/15, that was elected unanimously at this 13th AGM comprises of Varuna Ratnaweera FCMI as President, Sunimal Weerasooriya FCMI and Malraj Kiriella FCMI as 1st Vice President and 2nd Vice President respectively. Gihan Jayasinghe FCMI was elected as Honorary Secretary while K. Dharmasena FCMI was reappointed as the new Treasurer. The other office bearers elected at this meeting were Muraly Prakash FCMI (Assistant Secretary) and M.M.S. Quvylidh FCMI (Assistant Treasurer) while Dr. S. Udayakumar FCMI, Trevor Mendis FCMI, Nimal Mamaduwa FCMI, Sanjeeva Jayasinghe MCMI, Kaushal Rajapakse MCMI, Ryan Perera FCMI, Ramesh Dassanayake MCMI and Lakmal Senanayake MCMI were elected as the rest of the Executive committee members.
