Procurement Professional is the official publication of CIPS Australasia

#83 - Why is the procurement profession good at PROCESS and bad at PEOPLE development?

21 Oct 2009

The CIPSA annual PP Awards on Wednesday night (14th Oct) at CROWN were quite a show – and a good time was had by all.

It was quite an occasion in fact. The charming CIPS President, Dr Bola Afolabi, stole the show with his eloquence and his good grace, the ‘King Gee’ dancers were fun and when PNG won The Leadership Award there was barely a dry eye in the house.

But there were a few things that astute observers noticed during the evening;

Firstly, it was a shame that there was no one there to collect the award won by Qantas for the best supplier partnership. Apparently, The Buyer is told, the person chosen to receive the glory was off sick.

Secondly, it was a good thing that two awards were not presented at all – it raises the integrity of the PP Awards themselves, the level of the recognition and the judging process itself. 

Thirdly, as the MC on day two of the conference noticed, there were five PP Awards for process improvements awarded – but none for people development. Hardly  resounding evidence of investment in the three levers to improve procurement capability ..... people, processes and technology.

Finally, there was no PP Award category at all for technology?

The Buyer – posted 21st October 2009    

The views of THE BUYER are personal and are not necessarily those of Procurement Professional magazine, BTTB Marketing nor CIPS.