The Management Club held yet another extremely valuable Management Programme recently at TMC Mount Lavinia – Berjaya Mount Royal Beach Hotel. The Guest Speaker for this Presentation was the prominent and well known personality in Sri Lanka, Bradman Weerakoon, who counts over forty years of dedicated service in the Public Service, having served as Secretary to seven Prime Ministers and as Senior Advisor to three Heads of State of Sri Lanka. Not only has he immense knowledge and experience in the Public Service, but also in the Private Sector too, having held the position of Chairman of a leading Shipping Line as well as our National Carrier Air Lanka during that period.

Desamanya Weerakoon’s talk was about the compulsions and concerns which affect management decisions that heads of organizations at high executive positions are called upon to make on a regular basis.

He stated that in Decision Making, the first thing one needs to do is to correctly identify the problem to be dealt with. As much information as possible should thereafter be obtained, then a decision made on the tactics and strategy required to address the problem, and finally implement the solution. Careful evaluation should also be done to ensure that the expected result is obtained.

As in decisions which have to be made by rulers of a country, even organizations face situations where decisions need to be made instantaneously or are forced to be made due to circumstances demanding an immediate answer. In such circumstances there is no time to obtain complete information and whatever that is submitted may also be biased, causing difficulty in making a correct decision. There is inevitably an element of high risk. It should also be noted that no solution would be accepted by all levels of people. Whatever decision was taken would have some section of the community against it. You would be therefore unpopular either personally or the organization itself would lose popularity. In situations of urgency there is no time to do – as the text books would say a SWOT analysis. The chief executive or leader has just to jump in and do the best he can.

Weerakoon’s presentation from here onwards whilst sharing his thoughts and experiences were based on five periods in the country’s recent history which highlighted the process of decision making by the Chief Executive of a country where he manages his affairs, amidst the many compulsions, influences, forces and challenges that face him or her in carrying out of those functions of governance. A detailed analysis explaining some of the reasons for these decisive actions was also provided by the speaker justifying as far as reasonably possible such critical decisions that were made.

The first scenario Weerakoon took up was where it was thought in the early years of our Independence, that the Sinhala majority in the country had been deprived of their position because of the predominance the English language enjoyed during the colonial period. As a result of Freedom/ Independence it was felt that the Sinhala language should have its due place. Thus came the political decision to make Sinhala the Official language. Everybody called it " the age of the common man". The rulers strongly felt that this was a very important change from the past. That period was very much like a social transition following on from the colonial period. However many have voiced their opinions now, that it would have been better had the minority Tamil section of the population also been considered and provision made for their language at the time.

The next situation Mr. Weerakoon took up was the unprecedented mandate given by the people in 1977 (a 5/6ths majority in Parliament) where the Head of State was able to change the Constitution and make several strategic moves. This led to the free-market system of economy which brought in overseas personnel and capital, intense foreign direct investment, export processing zones, freeing of import controls, privatization etc. All these had a tremendous impact on the economy. We climbed up the development ladder. This strategic shift saw the GDP rising and the per capita income levels become better. However on

the other side, the human development area, which the mass of people had benefited from earlier, started to decline.

At about the same time, two different insurrections from below (the JVP and LTTE) also started to rise, along with the favorable economic boom the country was going through. The Head of State had to make a crucial decision on the method of tackling this situation. On the one hand it appeared that the insurgencies were being supported externally. A very strategic move was made in bringing in the (IPKF) Indian Peace Keeping Force as peace keepers. So diplomatically we got the Indian Government on our side. This led to the Indo Sri Lanka Agreement which ensured that the northern insurgents had no support for their dream of a separate State from the Indian Government. It also enabled the Government to utilize later our own military against the other threat to the State – the southern insurgency – led by the then JVP.

In the next period reviewed, the Speaker saw a Leader, very much the likes of a CEO of a world class multi-national Company, extremely dedicated and committed, sparkling with new ideas and completely involved, as to how and who, could get the job done; - rules apart.

It was during this period of national leadership that it was felt that the IPKF (India) might have more than an altruistic interest in the country. It was in the face of this perceived danger the moves were made to send back the IPKF. It seemed inexplicable to some but, I believe this was the motive which drove the national leadership to take this step. Of course lots of other unexpected developments occurred. There was an attempt to bring the LTTE into the democratic process, the political leader was assassinated and so on. Finally, in the late 1990’s the LTTE became a very strong military group with help being received from their diaspora of supporters in many countries and posed a real threat to our armed capacity as the battles of Elephant Pass and Mullaitivu showed. Eventually we had to settle for a ceasefire situation under another political leader.

The final episode of our recent history the Speaker referred to was the period we are now in. This witnessed the emergence of a Leader who committed himself fully to eradicate terrorism, eliminate the threat of separation, in order to take the country forward. It appears this has been achieved in just the way he planned it.

Although he did respect and uphold the ceasefire agreement up to a point, he realized that it was not going to be viable in the long run. Here again some very critical strategic and tactical management decisions had to be taken. Fund, motivate, put together and strengthen the armed forces, mobilize and through highly professional media strategies obtain the fullest support of the people and as sometimes happens in the commercial world, the competition (ie the LTTE) was weakened by getting a former LTTE member who broke away from the group, onto the side of the Government. Thus, through a very efficient, planned, professional and very methodical manner, the objective of the exercise, namely the elimination process in area by area, first the East and then the North was achieved.

This elimination of terrorism was thought impossible by many here and abroad. However facing the many challenges – financial and otherwise – and resolutely making the critical decisions and following them through, ensured a paradigm change.

Every management decision has its consequences. The country has now a formidable armed force that has to be reckoned with. No force, inside or outside can threaten Sri Lanka with impunity any longer. The country may have lost some of its traditional aid donors but has built the capacity to attract a new group of international donors in addition to the traditional donors.

Mr. Weerakoon reiterated that his primary objective at The Management Club was to show how Purposeful Leadership, being focused on goals, and undeterred by temporary setbacks, having a solid, coherent and dedicated team who are able to handle a winning combination, could lead to the desired result.

He observed that this was an appropriate time for those in managerial and leadership levels in the corporate sector to put their plans together, select what type of mechanisms are required, mobilize the resources needed etc, and to take on the enormous opportunities that would now have opened up.

Desamanya Bradman Weerakoon commenced his presentation by saying "the secret of a good speech is to have a good beginning and a good ending and to have them as close to each other as possible". However this programme which was attended by a very large gathering of TMC members and their guests went on well beyond time with participants having the opportunity to clear any areas of concern, obtain views on situations and get expert advise, which thereby proved that the presentation was far greater than "good" and in reality beyond "excellent".

Fellowship followed thereafter at the TMC Club premises and here again it was observed that the Guest Speaker was surrounded by participants who needed clarifications or advise and wanted to share as much time as possible with a prominent personality that Sri Lanka has produced.

As a further attraction to the evening’s proceedings, TMC had organized the World T20 World Cup semi finals match which was telecast live on Wide Screen at the Club, thus enabling those present to carry on with a very relaxing and enjoyable time, cheering our National Team all the way to the Finals.