By Barbara Tey
 
Ahmad Sarji: 'The true index of one's success is based on the
wealth of knowledge'

AN experienced business leader once advised that we should learn
from the experiences of others, simply because we don't live
long enough to learn on our own.

In this, an excellent resource is the Malaysian Institute of
Management (MIM) whose 40-year history has been carved by unsung
heroes who have dared to trail blaze against the odds to enhance
managerial knowledge, standards and practice to build the
nation.

One such torchbearer is Tan Sri Ahmad Sarji Abdul Hamid, a
Fellow member of MIM who is currently chairman of Permodalan
Nasional Berhad. It is well known that he is a simple man, and
his simplicity belies the wisdom he has amassed over 35 years
holding key positions in various Government departments and
Government-linked companies (GLCs).

From Ahmad Sarji's perspectives of his experiences, we infer
five key points that would offer a better understanding of
management, especially to the young and upcoming generation of
managers.

Management - then and now

"In the early 1960s, management, or rather administration as it
was then known, was not as complex as it is now," he says.

"In those days, the main concern of the civil service was on the
delivery system, i.e. to ensure proper management of the local
authority through town boards. At the district level, management
was concerned mainly with revenue collection, managing land
schemes as well as the administration of rural development
programmes."

Having also been involved in the civil service at the Federal
level, Tan Sri Ahmad attests, "The 1960s and 1970s were most
challenging in terms of establishing infrastructure, a task
which included the setting up of rules and regulations, as well
as the determination of an appropriate code of ethics."

KEY POINT 1: Management Evolution

Management focus evolves with the needs of the time, people and

"Now with a rapidly expanding private sector within the context
of globalisation, things have changed tremendously. Today's
clientele is very different. Organisations nowadays have to
grapple with global players. As such, the public sector has to
deal with a very demanding private sector. This is an especially
significant scenario since the private sector is the nation's
main engine of growth," says Ahmad Sarji.

From the management of physical resources to human resources,
inevitable change has taken place.

"The management of physical resources has expanded tremendously.
For instance, companies today possess a multitude of assets,
including global assets, all of which have to be managed
efficiently.

KEY POINT 2: Impact of globalisation

Globalisation changes many things - clientele, competitors,
company assets, and the way these are managed.

"Even from the perspective of human resources, there are now
many different forms of specialisation, each requiring a
different set of management principles!" Tan Sri Ahmad further
observes.

In meeting societal needs at the national level, the concept of
Malaysia Inc. (MI) was introduced by former Prime Minister, Tun
Dr Mahathir Mohamad, in 1981.

"The MI concept was mainly concerned with facilitating support
for the private sector through speedier approval of licenses,
de-brokering of public services, reduction of red tape, etc.

"As such, the Government produced books on dealing with the
Malaysian civil service. We outlined in a compendium form, for
instance, the route, rules and regulations for the private
sector in acquiring a licence or other facilities from the
Government," Tan Sri Ahmad explains.

"Only from there were we able to identify which steps had to be
obviated and which could be retained. We had to understand all
the existing processes first before we knew how to rationalise
them, helping to reduce the private sector's cost in getting
permits. But knowing the processes intimately is in itself a
great challenge."

Moral challenges

Contributing to the complexity of the management landscape today
are moral challenges.

"The underlying reason behind such moral challenges is that
there are people who are prone to corruption, especially as the
pernicious lure of materialism creeps in," says Ahmad Sarji.

"If you tell people that wealth is money, then people are going
to be persuaded by this kind of impulse. But if you impart in
people the fear of God and teach that wealth is not merely
material but spiritual as well, then the people who have been
imbued with these values won't forget them. It isn't that we
should not pursue material wealth, but we must not be involved
in corrupt malfeasance.

"The true index of one's success is not based on the number of
big cars, houses and other evidence of opulence, but rather by
the wealth of knowledge one possesses.

"To me, my health is my wealth. Happiness is my wealth. The
ability to think properly is wealth. Education is important, as
what we are now is the mirror image of not only our background
but also our education."

KEY POINT 3: Management Efficiency

Understand all existing processes before you rationalise them to
achieve efficiency

A keen reader, Ahmad Sarji advocates reading to "try to reduce
intellectual poverty. We need to read books about the subject
that we are given charge over."

KEY POINT 4: Overcoming Moral Challenges

True wealth is not the accumulation of material gains but the
enhancement of our spirituality through the fear of God.

And he practises what he preaches, a striking case being the
fervour in which he learned about lawn bowling when he was
elected president of the Malaysian Lawn Bowls Federation in
1997. In a few short years, he was able to raise the standard of
the game that was previously almost unknown in the country. He
even authored a book titled Lawn Bowls in Malaysia: The
President's Memoir last year.

Ahmad Sarji was charged with the responsibility of implementing
the "Look East" policy while reporting directly to then Prime
Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad. In that time, he ensured the
inculcation of work ethics by introducing the Clients' Charter
and applying techniques such as Quality Control circles, and
organising a campaign against unproductive practices as well of
clearance of arrears of work in the civil service.

A God-fearing man, Ahmad Sarji believes that unproductiveness or
low productivity stems from a lack of godliness.

"Today, although management has become a complex thing in the
private sector, the government has resolutely introduced best
practices in corporate governance, including the requirement of
quarterly reports, appropriate filling up of directorship and
introduction of key performance indicators (KPIs).

"KPIs constitute useful tools to measure productivity; they
represent landmarks in the evolution of management practice in
the GLCs, which are needed to evaluate performance and sustain
the best practice in management."

And KPIs, he stresses, must be carefully monitored.

"Reward and punishment is a useful mechanism. If a manager does
not perform, action needs to be taken on him. Bonuses should be
disbursed in relation to profitability - a policy that must be
honoured. There should be no mystique in running a company but
rather, transparency and accountability."

KEY POINT 5 : Performance Evaluation

Transparency and accountability are crucial, with no
compromises.

Ahmad Sarji who attributes his leadership and management
principles to the valuable lessons he learned from his parents,
grandparents and teachers, says, "I do not have any lofty or
pristine principles, but merely simple principles which my
elders have passed on to me."

In this increasingly complex world, simplicity in wisdom and
wisdom in simplicity might be the right moral antidote.

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