Khamis, 15 Januari 2015

MEJA RUNDING: DARI KONFLIK KE SOLUSI STRATEGIK

Bahagian 1 – Kenali Situasi Berunding

“Dan jika mereka cenderung kepada perdamaian, maka kamu juga hendaklah cenderung kepadanya serta bertawakallah kepada Allah. Sesungguhnya Ia Maha Mendengar lagi Maha Mengetahui.”
(al-Quran, Surah al-Anfal: 61)


1.            Pengenalan

Sejak zaman-berzaman, manusia menghadapai situasi sumber alam yang terhad, sama ada kawasan tanah atau wilayah, sumber galian, air dan sebagainya. Oleh yang demikian bagi membahagikan sumber itu manusia sentiasa berunding di antara satu sama lain.

                Perundingan sentiasa menjadi aktiviti yang dilakukan dan proses yang dilalui di antara orang perseorangan, organisasi korporat, pertubuhan, anggota masyarakat, puak atau kaum dan entity kerajaan sejak dahulu hingga sekarang. Bermakna kebolehan berunding merupakan kemahiran yang penting bagi sesiapa atau mana-mana pihak yang ingin menjaga kepentingan mereka.

                Pakar perunding dalam apa jua bidang sentiasa dicari dan khidmat mereka sentiasa diperlukan bagi menyelesaikan masalah konflik atau pembahagian sumber atau memeterai perjanjian. Contohnya dalam persengketaan peringkat keluarga, anggota keluarga yang dihormati dan berwibawa diminta bagi menyelesaikan masalah yang timbul itu. Manakala dalam perselisihan faham melibatkan anggota masyarakat di kampung, sering kali ketua kampung yang menjadi orang tengah atau perunding bagi menyelesaikan masalah.

                Dalam situasi korporat pula, pakar perunding selalu menjadi komponen penting dalam memeterai perjanjian dengan syarikat lain dalam urusan perniagaan atau dengan pembekal dalam perolehan bekalan untuk syarikat.


Rundingan Nabi Muhammad saw

Nabi Muhammad yang diutus Tuhan bagi menyebarkan agama Islam kepada umat manusia adalah perunding terbilang. Terdapat banyak contoh rundingan yang beliau sertai sejak beliau belum menjadi Rasul dan selepas beliau menjadi Rasul. Antaranya:

·         Beliau menjadi orang tengah kepada pihak yang bertelingkah ketika memindahkan batu hitam di Kaabah;

·         Beliau cuba berdakwah di Taif, semasa beliau terlebih dahulu berunding dengan orang tempatan bagi memperoleh perlindungan bagi diri beliau semasa berdakwah di Taif;

·         Beliau berunding dengan delegasi penduduk Madinah dalam perjanjian Aqabah yang akhirnya menjadi batu asas kepada perpindahan (hijrah) orang-orang Islam dari Mekah ke Madinah.

Apabila kita meneliti sejarah Perjanjian Hudaibiyah antara pihak Nabi Muhammad saw yang memimpin umat Islam Madinah dengan pihak Quraisy Mekah, kita dapat memahami betapa berjayanya beliau merundingkan perjanjian itu kea rah mengembangkan dakwah Islam. Semasa beliau keluar dari Madinah ke Hudaibiyah, pengikut yang menyertai beliau berjumlah 1,400 orang, manakala semasa beliau masuk ke Mekah pada hari pembukaan Mekah beliau disertai oleh 10,000 orang pengikut.

Strategi perunding beliau begitu berjaya sehinggakan Suhail bin Amru, pakar perunding Quraisy gagal mengesan objektif jangka panjang Nabi Muhammad.

Bagi menilai kehebatan strategi dan taktik yang digunakan oleh Nabi Muhammad adalah dengan meneliti resume Suhail bin Amru. Dia ahli politik yang pintar, bersifat penuh diplomasi dan seorang perunding yang bijak dengan menggunakan taktik perundingan yang agresif dan tegas. Sekali imbas, kita merasakan butiran Perjanjian Hudaibiyah berat sebelah dan menguntungkan pihak Quraisy. Tidak hairan ramai di kalangan sahabat beliau yang merasa kecewa dan tertekan selepas perjanjian itu dimeterai, sehingga Umar al-Khattab bertanya Nabi “Kenapa mereka (orang-orang Islam) harus menerima kehinaan terhadap agama Islam?

                Tetapi Perjanjian Hudaibiyah adalah titik perubahan (turning point) bagi perkembangan agama Islam. Selepas dimeterai perjanjian itu, Nabi Muhammad saw berupaya memberi penerangan mengenai Islam kepada semua warga Semenanjung Tanah Arab dalam keadaan aman dan tersusun. Sebelum Hudaibiyah warga bukan Quraisy melihat pertembungan di antara pengikut Nabi Muhammad saw dan warga Mekah dibawah pimpinan para pembesar Quraisy, sebagai satu pertelingkahan keluarga di antara dua kumpulan bertentangan yang mahu mencari pengaruh masing-masing. Dari para pembesar Quraisy mereka mendapat maklumat mengatakan bahawa Muhammad seorang pemberontak yang memimpin kumpulan kecil yang terdiri dari orang-orang miskin dan tertindas. Oleh yang demikian mereka mengambil sikap tunggu dan lihat. Apabila Nabi Muhammad saw berpindah (hijrah) ke Madinah mereka masih terpengaruh dengan cerita-cerita yang disebarkan oleh media Quraisy pada ketika itu, khususnya para diplomat Quraisy yang tentunya sentiasa berhubung dengan pemerintah-pemerintah di wilayah-wilayah sama ada dibawah pengaruh dua kuasa besar pada ketika itu, Rom atau Parsi.

                Majoriti warga Semenanjung Tanah Arab tidak berpeluang mendapat maklumat dari pihak Nabi Muhammad saw dan oleh sebab itu maklumat ajaran Islam tidak sampai kepada mereka. Hasilnya mereka tidak dapat membuat keputusan yang tepat mengenai agama yang disampaikan oleh Nabi. Kalau ada pun orang yang berpeluang mendapat maklumat tepat mengenai Islam dan Nabi Muhammad, mereka terdiri dari beberapa individu yang mengambil inisiatif secara bersendirian. Mereka datang sendiri bertemu Nabi Muhammad saw selepas mengharungi perjalanan yang jauh. Individu seperti Salman al-Farisi dari Parsi dan Said al-Rumi datang dari Rom datang ke Mekah bertemu Nabi Muhammad dan mendapat maklumat mengenai ajaran Islam. Ternyata apabila mereka mendengar sendiri dari Nabi Muhammad saw dan melihat sendiri watak Nabi Muhammad saw mereka tertarik hati dengan Islam dan akhirnya memeluk agama Islam dan menjadi pengikut kanan Nabi Muhammad saw.

                Selepas Hudaibiyah, wujud suasana aman dan Nabi Muhammad saw berpeluang mengutus surat kepada ketua-ketua wilayah di Semenanjung Tanah Arab, manakala para pendakwah yang mendapat tauliah beliau dapat bertemu warga wilayah itu bagi memberikan maklumat menerangkan ajaran Islam kepada mereka.

                Tidak syak lagi Perjanjian Hudaibiyah menjadi titik perubahan kepada perkembangan Islam. Hakikat ini dinyatakan oleh Allah dalam al-Quran:

“Sesungguhnya Kami (Allah) telah memberikan kepada Engkau (wahai Muhammad) kemenangan  yang nyata. Supaya Allah mengampuni kesalahan engkau yang telah lalu dan yang akan datang dan mencukupkan kurniaNya kepada engkau dan memimpin engkau ke jalan yang lurus. Dan untuk menolong engkau dengan pertolongan yang kuat.”
(Surah al-Fath: 1-3)


Kemahiran Berunding

Pada dasarnya, berunding bererti berbincang bagi mencapai satu persetujuan. Berunding juga bererti dua pihak atau beberapa pihak duduk berdepan dan berbincang demi mencapai persetujuan dalam menyelesaikan satu konflik atau pertelingkahan. Dalam proses perbincangan itu akan berlaku proses tawar-menawar sehingga pada akhir perbincangan itu, terhasil keputusan yang dipersetujui bersama oleh kesemua pihak yang terlibat dalam perbincangan itu. Biasanya rundingan menghasilkan satu kompromi atau tolak-ansur atau kata sepakat yang memuaskan hati kesemua pihak yang terlibat.

                Proses berunding memang sentiasa berlaku dalam semua aspek kehidupan manusia, dari kes yang sekecil-kecilnya seperti rundingan diantara sepasang suami isteri hingga kepada kes yang besar seperti rundingan dua negara bagi menyelesaikan perebutan sesebuah wilayah. Bagi mengenali dengan lebih mendalam definisi rundingan kita perlu meneliti pelbagai contoh perundingan dalam konteks dan situasi serta proses rundingan itu dijalankan.


Rabu, 14 Januari 2015

CHINESE MILITARY CLASSIC – THE ART OF WAR (vol. 1)

“Sun Wu lived in the State of Wu during the period of the Warring States in ancient China. He was known as Sun Zi to later generations. He was not only a military genius, but also China’s first great military strategist. He established China’s military theory and practice which have become classics in Chinese military history.”


The Life of Sun Wu

Sun Wu better known as Sun Zi was a native of the State of Qi who lived and worked in the period of the Warring States (BC 476 – 221) in China. His most famous work was The Art of War in 13 chapters.


CHAPTER 1 – CALCULATION

Calculation
War is of vital importance to a country. It involves life and death. It also affects the country’s fortunes. Therefore, it needs careful study.

Moral Cause, Nature, Situation, Leadership Discipline
There are five things to consider in the study of warfare. The first is Moral Cause. The second is Nature. The third is Situation. The fourth is Leadership. The fifth is Discipline.

Moral Cause
Moral cause enables the people and the government to share a common belief. People can then work with the government through thick and thin, even at the expense of their lives.

Nature
Nature concerns the weather, seasons, etc., changes in climatic conditions and the limitations of time.

Situation
Situation concerns distance the nature of terrain, and whether the physical conditions favour escape from death.

Leadership
Leadership refers to the qualities a commander needs to fight a war. They include wisdom, confidence, compassion, courage and firmness among others.

Discipline
Discipline includes the system of reward and punishment, logistics, etc… These five fundamentals must be thoroughly understood by every commander. Those who know them well will win. Those who don’t will be defeated.

Seven Calculations
Look into all aspects, study the facts and then ask: Who can pull the people and army together? Who has a better commander? Who has advantage over climate and terrain? Who can command better order and discipline? Who has a superior army? Who has better trained men? Who has a fairer system of reward and punishment? From these answers the outcome of war can be predicted.

Deception
War is full of deceptions. The capable must pretend to be incapable. Appear inactive when one wants to activate the army. When attacking a close target pretend to be looking at a further objective. When attacking a faraway target, pretend to be invading an immediate objective.

Exploitation
Entice your enemy with the bait of small gains and crush them after throwing their forces into internal strife. Be vigilant when your enemy is alert and without weaknesses. Retreat temporarily when your enemy is strong. Provoke your enemy to cause its anger. Pretend to be weak so that your enemy will become complacent. Sow discord when your enemy forces are united. Attack when the enemy forces are unprepared. Attacking by surprise is the secret of success. But always be flexible in strategy. War is very unpredictable.

Deliberation

Before wars erupt, weigh the strengths and weaknesses of both your own and the enemy forces. If your forces are in an advantageous position the chance of victory will be good. If your forces are not in an advantageous position, the chance of victory won’t be good. Careful planning will lead to victory. Poor planning will lead to defeat. Worse if there is no planning at all! After such deliberations we can predict victory or defeat in war.

Purple Your People (vol. 1)

1. THE PEOPLE STUFF: WHY IT MATTERS

Who wouldn’t want and need their organisation to be as successful as possible? Put simply nobody. We believe that business success is truly dependent upon three key ‘I’s:

1. Ideas: compelling innovations around which you can create an easily marketable brand.
2. Investment: capital for start-up and growth plus cashflow; the life-blood of every organisation.
3. Individuals: the right talented people, in the right roles, delivering innovations and high levels of service, working to their potential – in a happy and inspired way.

These three are of equal importance yet the third ‘I’ is rarely given the attention, time, resources and investment it needs. There is a clear gap between recognising the power of people and delivering a robust people strategy in our fast-moving ever more demanding and diverse world.


Becoming people-centric is the way to go

We love the courageous, determined and high-impact human resource director (HRD) who positions him/herself in a triangular relationship with the chief executive officer (CEO) and chief financial officer (CFO). This is the way to get things done, secure the necessary investment and create commitment from the top.

But this book is not just for organisations that are large enough to justify an HR resource. Great people-centricity can still be achieved if you know how to make it joined-up and simple – that’s what this book is all about. One of our most successful SME (small and medium enterprise) clients, turning over in excess of £25m and winning many prestigious people awards along the way, has no internal HR resource at all.

Why does the people stuff, despite the best intentions, fall by the wayside so often? Because many business leaders and owners are often so busy dealing with the day-to-day stuff and fighting to survive and thrive that the subject of people just falls off the bottom of the list. Consequently people drop in and out of the organisation at an alarming rate costing time hassle and money. Most organisations don’t measure the cost of replacing a leaver – it’s just too difficult, too scary or both.

For a start there are the direct costs of recruiting a replacement, such as recruiting fees, time, interim cover, induction and so forth. The big impact, though, is made by the indirect costs – the expenditure people often don’t even pause to consider.

These include:
·         Knowledge loss
·         General instability
·         Service disruption/quality
·         Customer relationships/loss
·         Increased threat of competition
·         People leaving as a result
·         Drop in productivity
·         Effect on morale
·         Disruption to team dynamics
·         Effects on reputation
You can probably come up with some more if you really think about it . . .

There’s a great (true) story about a managing director who pitched the idea of recruiting a global HRD, for his board of directors, only to discover the thought they already had one! This shows that (a) the board weren’t giving much boardroom time to the third ‘I’ and (b) the expectations of said HRD must have been pretty low. We heard this from the person who was ultimately appointed to the role and then went on to take the organisation by storm. The board certainly knows it has a group HRD now.


So why isn’t everyone doing something about it?

Writing A Proposal (vol. 1)

PROPOSALS

A proposal is a persuasive message in which a writer analyses a problem and recommends a solution. The problem may be a need for equipment, services, research, a plan of action, or the other things. The recommended solution may be products, personnel, a business study, a description of work to be performed, or any of several other outcomes. Proposals are common in business and it is important that they be clear, be concise and meet readers’ expectations.
Business people look for initiative. They welcome suggestions about how to change things for the better. Customers and suppliers want to receive proposals that will benefit them and you. Successful organisations depend on the creation of ideas that will improve productivity and profitability.
Proposals are gambles. They take time to develop and are often rejected. Some proposal developers believe that they are doing well if they win acceptance of one of every ten proposals. Effective proposal writers are risk takers; they assess the probability of success and then decide whether to proceed.


Types of Proposals

1. External Proposals
-              Proposals that go outside an organisation to current or prospective customers, government agencies, or to private agencies.  These messages include proposals to supply products at given prices to build roads, or to perform audits. This category also encompasses request for grants of money or goods to support the work of non-profit agencies or other groups hoping to meet some societal or humanitarian need. Such requests are submitted to foundations established solely for the purpose of funding projects in areas such as the arts, education, environment, or human services. Receiving approval of external proposals is essential to the success of many profit and non-profit organisations.

2. Internal Proposal
-              Proposals sent to others within an organisation are internal proposals. These can be proposals to solve problems or to meet needs by improving procedures, changing products, adding personnel, reorganising departments, expanding facilities, reducing budgets, or making other changes. Ideas for internal improvement, creativity developed and effectively presented, are the lifeblood of organisations.

3. A Solicited Proposal
-              A solicited proposal is prepared in response to a request for proposal (RFP). The solicitation may be made face-to-face, by telephone, or in writing. Solicited proposals are generally submitted externally. When responding to solicitations for proposals, writers must provide all the requested information and use the specified format. Failure to do so may eliminate the proposal from consideration.

4. An Unsolicited Proposal
-              Proposals prepared at the writer’s initiative rather than in response to an RFP. These proposals represent an independent analysis of problems faced by others or needs and the creation of possible solutions. Unsolicited proposals may be internal or external. When submitting proposals to foundations or government agencies, writers must watch the goals of the writer’s organisation to those of the foundation or agency.

5. Informal Proposal
-              Informal proposals generally take the form of letters (external) or memos (internal). Some foundations, corporations, and government agencies encourage or require proposal writers to submit pre-proposals or letters of inquiry. These documents, which are submitted without attachments, provide a succinct description of the project. After review, the funding agency either rejects the proposal or directs the writer to submit a full proposal.


Qualities of a Successful Proposal

Although success sometimes depends on factors such as luck, politics timing and reputation, most proposals must have excellent content and be clearly presented to be accepted. The following qualities usually are required for a successful proposal:
·         The purpose of the proposal is stated clearly;
·         The problem or need is understood and defined clearly;
·         The solution is innovative and presented convincingly;
·         The benefits outweigh the costs;
·         The personnel implementing the solution are qualified;
·         The solution can be achieved on a timely basis;
·         The proposal is honest, factual, realistic, and objective; and
·         The presentation is professional and attractive.
To convey these qualities in the proposal, the writer must carefully analyse the situation and the receivers, use the you-viewpoint, and apply the principles of business communication.

The proposal should be a powerful, persuasive message. The receivers are going to be looking for the benefits to them their department, the company, the community, the society, or some other group to which they belong. The proposal should get the receivers’ attention, clearly show the benefits of accepting the proposal, give proof of those benefits and motivate favourable action.