Management no comfort zone but to be transformative: Dr Amunugama

Minister of Special Assignments Dr. Sarath Amunugama pointed out that Managers must look upon their positions not just as a comfortable cushy job, but as something transformative.

“You must change your associates and you must change your society. So that, it is a very wonderful p ro s p e c t , ” said Dr Amunugama, in his address as Chief Guest at the inauguration of the Certified Professional Managers ( CPM) Regional Management Conference held at the BMICH recently.

He said that, "With proper issues not being addressed and by not taking correct decisions to transform our economy, the country is deliberately choosing to be poor."

“The only way out of it is by bringing in better management”, he added.

“In South East Asia or South Asia, we all choose to be poor, as we refrain from taking decisions which can help our countries to be better off. As many decisions that were necessary, particularly in the area of administration, were not taken, we are today, where we are,” he explained.

Dr Amunugama said, "As we are bound together by the SAARC Charter, the advances in one country is always advances for other countries in the region. So, any improvement in the SAARC region is, I think, of great interest to all its members," he added.

He said, "We can be much more responsible to the poorer people of our societies and, to some extent, we can say that several generations have, in a sense, let down these large numbers of poor people in our countries."

“The heart of that crisis is the question of management," he added.

He said, "Our economy is now on a growth trajectory which was impeded for about 30 years by an internecine war. Since terrorism was comprehensively defeated 6 or 7 years ago, Sri Lanka has become one of the safest places in the world, which enjoys a long period of peace and ethnic reconciliation.”