Who should lead the turnaround of the Jamaican political economy?

Dr Densil A. Williams, Contributor

The Jamaican political economy is in shambles. The events over the last nine months have sullied 'Brand Jamaica' in the international marketplace. It has also weakened local confidence in the brand.

The evidence of this damage is manifested in the reports of cancellation of bookings for hotel rooms, rough estimates of US$350 loss of revenue from the already fragile tourism industry, international media making all sorts of accusations about the leadership of the state and, using all sorts of derogatory adjectives to describe the state, among a plethora of other issues.

In a globalised world where markets have become increasingly integrated and information flow is almost perfect, these are big issues that can lead to the virtual collapse of any state. As such, they must be addressed with urgency and forthright leadership.

The crisis in the political economy in Jamaica can be viewed through the lenses of the turnaround in private enterprises. Businesses go through boom and bust cycles like an economy. When they are going through the bust aspect of the cycle, they do not roll over and die. If there is value to be extracted, businesses generally implement turnaround strategies which help them to get back on the right path in order to improve their growth and survival.

If we parallel Jamaica to a corporate enterprise (which by the way, is the philosophical leaning of the current Government), there is no doubt that tremendous value can be extracted from this enterprise. Jamaica has a lot of potential for growth and the sustainable development of its population. Investment opportunities in agriculture, energy, infrastructure, financial services through further development of our capital market, human capital training, among other areas, are still not fully exploited. However, to capitalise on these opportunities, it will require decisive leadership to drive the turnaround process. At a later stage, for sustainable growth, after the turnaround, there will also need to be renewal. Who should be leading this turnaround and renewal of the political economy at this stage in its life cycle is the million-dollar question.

Assessing the most appropriate leader

In most organisations when there is a crisis, shareholders and stakeholders bring pressure on the management team to make changes in order to effect the turnaround. The argument that is put forward is that the persons who got the firm in trouble are not the right people to get it out of trouble. Indeed, most academic studies have shown that successful turnaround in corporations occur when there is a change in management. This, however, is not conclusive as there are instances where there is a change in management and the problem gets worse or remains the same.

The whole issue of who should lead the turnaround is not as simple as ABC, it is a complex issue and there is no one formula that can be applied. However, some critical questions, if answered, can provide insight into who should lead this process.

The leader who will drive the turnaround must have the right attitude and capabilities to implement the turnaround strategies. The appropriateness of this leader must be judged by the following questions:

Does the leader recognise all the difficulties that lie ahead?

Is there a congruency of purpose between the leader and his team to do the right things to deliver the turnaround?

Is the leader prepared to readjust priorities and reallocate resources to deliver the turnaround?

Are there examples of previous crisis situations where the leader showed leadership in weathering the storm?

Is the leader willing to admit that help is needed externally to enable the team to deliver the turnaround?

Is the leader willing to balance short-term imperatives with medium- and long-term aspirations?

Is there an atmosphere of frank and mutual support for the leader from stakeholders and shareholders alike? In the case of Jamaica, we can assume that the stakeholders are us, the citizens and shareholders are the Cabinet members and other MPs who form the Government.

Does the leader have a medium for accurate and timely flow of relevant information?

Can the leader identify who within the team is part of the problem? This, in my mind, is the biggest problem facing us at this juncture in our turnaround efforts.

The questions above are critical self-evaluation questions that anyone who wishes to lead the turnaround in Jamaica's political economy must ask. This scorecard can better help us as stakeholders to objectively decide on who should be leading the fight to repair the damage done to Brand Jamaica over the past year. The US$10 million that is reported as being targeted to rebuild the country's image in the international marketplace is a necessary but not sufficient condition to turn around the political economy.

Leadership will have to be at the centre of this effort. We cannot afford not to rebuild the value in Brand Jamaica. It will, however, require the right turnaround manager to lead this effort.

Densil A. Williams is a lecturer of International Business in the Department of Management Studies at UWI, Mona. He may be contacted at densilw@yahoo.com