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Professional Services in CARICOM Single Market and Economy (CSME) Grenville Phillips II BSc BEng MASc MURP CEng MIStructE MIHT MAPM MCSCE MBAPE
Professional Servicesin
CARICOM Single Market and Economy (CSME)
Grenville Phillips IIBSc BEng MASc MURP CEng MIStructE MIHT MAPM MCSCE MBAPE
Three Principal Challenges
1. Negative branding
2. Declining standards of professional
services
3. Government procurement practices
Negative Branding Perceptions
• ‘laid back’
• Lazy
• Slow
• Inefficient
• Incompetent
• Corrupt
• Sub-standard
• Novices
• Inexperienced
• Unprofessional
Negative Branding can be Taught
• CNN
• ABC
• FOX
• NBC
• MSNBC
• CBS
• BBC
• Hollywood
Negative Branding can be Experienced
• Lawyers – property transactions• Architects – damaged houses• Doctors – medical complaints
A trend of failed expectations on the quality, cost, and time of services
received can establisha negative brand.
Negative Branding can be Reinforced
• 2005, Aruba, Natalie Holloway – Incompetent
• 2006, Bahamas, Daniel Smith – Inefficient
• 2007, Bahamas, Nicole Smith – Corrupt
• 2009, Bahamas, Jett Travolta – Corrupt
• 2009, Antigua & B, Allen Stanford – Corrupt
Recommendation: retain a publicist in New York
Developing a Positive Brand
1. Enable high standards of local services
2. Export high standards of services
3. Most local goods and services have a
psychological advantage of ‘excellence’
by association. Eg. Italy, Germany,
France
4. It takes a major scandal to break a
psychological link with excellence
Accounting Scandals• 2000, Xerox KPMG• 2001, Enron Arthur Anderson• 2002, Adelphia Deloitte & Touche• 2002, AOL Ernst & Young• 2002, Bristol-Myers PriceWaterhouseCoopers• 2002, ImClone KPMG• 2002, Merril Lynch Deloitte & Touche• 2002, Worldcom Arthur Anderson• 2003, Health South Ernst & Young• 2004, AIG PriceWaterhouseCoopers• 2008, Bernard Madoff Friehling & Horowitz• 2008, GLOBAL CRISIS Standard & Poor’s• 2009, Satyam PriceWaterhouseCoopers• 2009, CL Financial PriceWaterhouseCoopers• 2009, Stanford CAS Hewlett (Antigua & Barbuda)
Developing a Negative Brand
1. Enable sub-standard local services
2. Export sub-standard services
3. All services suffer from guilt by negative
psychological association. Eg. Nigeria,
North Korea, Iran, Sudan
4. It takes a trend of excellence to break the
psychological link with sub-standard.
Who pays for Negative Branding?
REGION
NATION
PROFESSIONAL BODY
PROFESSIONAL
2008 Global Financial Crisis
• Standard & Poor’s did not value the financial instruments accurately.
• The accountants and economists advising
companies purchasing the instruments did
not value them accurately either.
• AIG provided retention bonuses to staff
who understood the mathematics.
Quality Standards
• Academic Qualifications (Accredited)
• Professional Qualifications (Chartered)
Declining Standards
University Graduates
• Weak scientific analytical skills
• Weak mathematical skills
Universities blame secondary schools
Secondary school graduates
• Weak scientific analytical skills
• Weak mathematical skills
Major Changes in Education
• 1960’s – Bruners’ Spiral Curriculum• 1972 – US Law - Co-education mandatory• 1974 - Computed Tomography scans• 1987 – Keirsey personality type testing• 1990’s – Learning styles• 1990’s – Studies showing that students
performed better in single sex learning environment.
• 2002 – US 1972 Law revoked. Funding available for single sex schools.
Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test - Proficiency
SingleCoed
•Boys 86% 37%•Girls 75% 59%
Stetson University, 2008
Jamaican Study
• Marlene Hamilton, studying students
in Jamaica, found that students
attending single-sex schools
outperformed students in coed
schools in almost every subject
tested. (International Science Education, 1985 )
Different Brain Physiology• there is no overlap in the trajectories of brain
development in girls and boys.
• boys’ brains develop differently in order, time,
and rate, than girls’ brains do.
• the areas of the brain involved in language and
fine motor skills mature about six years earlier
in girls than in boys.
• the areas of the brain involved in targeting and
spatial memory mature about four years earlier
in boys than in girls.
Puberty
Puberty (years 10-15 in secondary school) is the critical learning period for both sexes with the:
• novel attraction between sexes;
• advanced development of girls; and
• limited concentration of boys;
• teaching of fundamentals.
Personality
• Four dominant personality types.
• 25% of students typically have the personality directed discipline to do well in any learning environment
Learning Styles
Audio, visual, kinaesthetic.
Students typically retained: • 10% of what they read;• 20% of what they heard;• 30% of what they saw;• 50% of what they saw and heard;• 70% of what they said; and• 90% of what they said and did.
CXC 2008 (Grades 1&2)
0.0
25.0
50.0
75.0
100.0
2008 CAPE 1 (1&2)
0.00
25.00
50.00
75.00
CAPE Unit 2 (1&2)
0.00
25.00
50.00
75.00
100.00
Results of Current System
• 25% are expected to do well regardless.
• For many subjects, the current system has failed more than 100% of the students for whom it was designed.
• The hands-on subjects (art, computer science), where students are less vulnerable to distraction, show significantly better results.
Florida Assessment TestCXC Maths Grades 1-3
Single Coed CXC
• Boys 86% 37% 43% (30)
• Girls 75% 59% 38%(24)
Stetson University, 2008
Government Policy Actions
• Mandate single-sex classrooms for subjects
where 75% of students fail to achieve CXC
grades 1 & 2.
• Critically review the effectiveness of the
current teaching methods.
• Specify that any university in their country
can only offer fully accredited professional
degrees.
Government Policy Actions
• Ensure all senior professional staff in
the civil service are qualified to the
Chartered or equivalent level.
• Review procurement policies.
• Avoid misinterpreting professionals’
public comments of genuine concern
as a threat to their position.
Professional Associations
• Establish joint agreements with
internationally recognised professional
institutions.
• Improve entry standards - examination.
• Discipline sub-standard service providers.
Coalitions of Service Industries
• Promote the highest professional (Chartership) and management (ISO) standards in private and public sectors
• Provide ISO internal and external auditing services to private and public sectors
• Strongly encourage professional associations to discipline providers of sub-standard services
• Caribbean Coalition to retain a publicist in NY
