IPM 1st Research Symposium: Connecting HR Research and Practical Applications

The 1st Research Symposium 2016 organized by IPM Sri Lanka alongside its flagship annual event, The National Human Resources Conference 2016, endeavors to primarily facilitate the connection between HR related research and their practical applications in organizational settings whilst promoting dialogue amongst members of the HR fraternity. Held on the 21st of June 2016 at the BMICH in Colombo, the Research Symposium themed “Developing Strategies for Uplifting High Performance through HRM” attracted much interest from academics and practicing HR professionals to submit and present their research papers, case studies and findings at the Symposium. A new addition to the proceedings of the NHRC, the IPM 1st Research Symposium added more value and significance to the subject of research at this year’s Conference.

The calling of research papers to be considered for the Symposium started in April 2016 under the tracks of HR Sourcing, Labor Economics, Industrial Relations & Trade Unions, Contemporary Issues in HR, Human Resource Development, HR & Technology, Leadership Studies and Organizational Studies.

Secretary, Ministry of Labor and Trade Union Relations S. M. Gotabaya Jayaratne and Chairman United Motors Lanka PLC Sunil Wijesinghe were the Chief Guest and Keynote Speaker respectively at the Symposium which was the very first event of the NHRC 2016.

“The Symposium provided a unique forum for Policy makers, Professionals, Academics, Industry leaders, faculty and students to present their scholarly contributions and work on contemporary HR issues and aims at identifying and highlighting research findings of special relevance to the South Asia region” said Symposium Chair and Council Member IPM Sri Lanka, Dr. Bhadra J. H. Arachchige.

The importance of research has been stressed by IPM in recent years with the initiative of publishing a research journal titled “HR Perspectives”. Knowledge of research helps managers in decision making to generate viable alternative solutions to business problems rather than relying on experience, sixth sense, hunches or just speculating on good luck. The addition of the research symposium this year is a further acknowledgement of IPM’s commitment to promote a research culture.

The Symposium was an ideal forum for stakeholders to propose and share strategies for managing people for high performance in a challenging environment and also for stakeholders to share their experiences and research findings about various aspects of managing people, to find ways and means of striking a balance between high performance strategies and human aspects.