Canada’s 100-and-some-year-old public-service association has come a long way in the just the past few. Shortly before the new millennium set in, the International Personnel Management Association-Canada (IPMA) underwent a name change, expanding membership and services and branching wide into the international HR scene.
IPMA-Canada, formerly the Canadian Public Personnel Management Association, calls itself Canada’s only national HR association. And it is, with a strong public-service contingent. Its ranks number close to 1,000, representing various sectors in every province, including public (municipal, provincial and federal), health care, educational institutions, crown corporations, public utilities and students.
In addition to providing a small but tight forum for the growth of HR, the bilingual association has been offering the only national HR certification for the past few years. It plans to develop an international certification with the other 27 IPMA associations across the world by this fall.
IPMA-Canada — with its aim at promoting excellence in the practice of HR management — has a few members working in the private sector too, and attracts more each year. A number of private-sector HR professionals, some of whom were not even members, attended this year’s annual national conference, Alberta 2000 — Reaping Human Dividends: Realizing Your Organization’s Wealth, held in Edmonton, May 14-17. The 170 participants attended sessions on training, developing leadership and safety, among many others. The private-sector professionals were there to tap into the event, and find out more about the association.
IPMA’s leadership is confident the organization has the potential to grow much larger. The president, Patricia Power, hopes to double membership this year. And with its change of name and affiliation with IPMA, it has been exposed to HR on an international scale.
While IPMA has associations in 27 countries, the U.S. and Canadian groups are the strongest. Various associations also participate in foreign exchange programs.
IPMA-Canada is riding the wave of global HR, and found at three international conferences it was represented at during the past year that HR professionals face similar challenges on a worldwide scale.
For that matter, the gap between public- and private-sector HR has narrowed over the last few years, says Ken Kowalski, former president of IPMA-Canada and current HR professional with the Royal Canadian Mint, in Winnipeg. “There’s no difference between (Canadian Council of Human Resources Associations) members and ours, expect perhaps in political aspects. But in terms of substance, there is none.”
IPMA-Canada is run by provincial chapters — an efficient approach to maintaining a “national” organization, says Power, with the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat in Ottawa. Chapters form councils and manage their members, which includes developing and promoting networking and professional development sessions, celebrating accomplishments, and offering national and local conferences. Provincial chapters meet back with the national council at least three or four times a year.
Currently there are chapters for Alberta & North, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Greater Toronto, Ottawa-Hull, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Newfoundland and Labrador. While there are IPMA members in every province, they don’t always have the time to volunteer as executive members. Consequently, British Columbia has been without a chapter for a few years. However, Power hopes to develop councils in B.C., and for the first time, in Nunavut before the end of this year.
Kowalski says the association plans to delve further into HR research this year also, especially using the Internet to tap into members’ views and ideas to create benchmarks in areas of HR.
IPMA-Canada strongly values ethics in HR, and members must pledge to follow a code of ethics (see sidebar). It also believes in leadership, service excellence, integrity, interdependence and recognition. These values underpin the association’s national designation, CPP.
Currently, about 249 IPMA-Canada members are certified with CPP designation. The program offers a consistent and unified national benchmark for individual professional development and performance from province to province. IPMA-Canada’s national certification committee identifies educational programs that are suitable for certification, and assesses the merits of each against nationally recognized standards.
Re-certification is required every three years, and can be achieved through structured learning or self-directed learning. The emphasis is on continued professional development.
The U.S. association, with more than 5,000 members, is beginning to create its own certification, modelled on the CPP, says Susan Toy Stern, president-elect of IPMA-U.S., and employee with the HR department at the County of Los Angeles. However, they prefer to incorporate a behaviour-based testing component, which has, in turn, Canada’s association considering doing the same.
Together, they are working on developing an international certification, and are aiming for a completion date of October 2000. (IPMA-Canada has been sitting on the Canadian Council of Human Resources Associations, providing input in the ongoing development of the national standard for a professional HR designation.)
IPMA-Canada welcomes HR professionals from any sector. With its strong international outreach and the challenging new frontier of global HR facing the community, HR practitioners from all walks of sectors should stay tuned.
IPMA code of ethics
Members of IPMA-Canada pledge to support the association’s goals and objectives to promote the application of professional and ethical standards for public HR professionals, to contribute to the development of HR management and to encourage professional development, in addition to the following.
•Respect the dignity and integrity of all individuals and ensure fair and equitable treatment in all aspects of HR management.
•Endeavour to instill in the public, a sense of confidence and trust respecting the conduct and actions of my employer and myself in the course of my duties.
•Adhere to all applicable federal, provincial and local laws, regulation or by-laws respecting the management of HR.
•Refrain from any activity which may be perceived to be a conflict of interest, or which could prejudice ability to conduct duties and responsibilities in a professional manner.
•Use information acquired in the course of duties prudently and avoid using confidential information for personal gain or in any other way which would be detrimental to employers and the profession.
•Foster professional growth in human resources management.
IPMA-Canada, formerly the Canadian Public Personnel Management Association, calls itself Canada’s only national HR association. And it is, with a strong public-service contingent. Its ranks number close to 1,000, representing various sectors in every province, including public (municipal, provincial and federal), health care, educational institutions, crown corporations, public utilities and students.
In addition to providing a small but tight forum for the growth of HR, the bilingual association has been offering the only national HR certification for the past few years. It plans to develop an international certification with the other 27 IPMA associations across the world by this fall.
IPMA-Canada — with its aim at promoting excellence in the practice of HR management — has a few members working in the private sector too, and attracts more each year. A number of private-sector HR professionals, some of whom were not even members, attended this year’s annual national conference, Alberta 2000 — Reaping Human Dividends: Realizing Your Organization’s Wealth, held in Edmonton, May 14-17. The 170 participants attended sessions on training, developing leadership and safety, among many others. The private-sector professionals were there to tap into the event, and find out more about the association.
IPMA’s leadership is confident the organization has the potential to grow much larger. The president, Patricia Power, hopes to double membership this year. And with its change of name and affiliation with IPMA, it has been exposed to HR on an international scale.
While IPMA has associations in 27 countries, the U.S. and Canadian groups are the strongest. Various associations also participate in foreign exchange programs.
IPMA-Canada is riding the wave of global HR, and found at three international conferences it was represented at during the past year that HR professionals face similar challenges on a worldwide scale.
For that matter, the gap between public- and private-sector HR has narrowed over the last few years, says Ken Kowalski, former president of IPMA-Canada and current HR professional with the Royal Canadian Mint, in Winnipeg. “There’s no difference between (Canadian Council of Human Resources Associations) members and ours, expect perhaps in political aspects. But in terms of substance, there is none.”
IPMA-Canada is run by provincial chapters — an efficient approach to maintaining a “national” organization, says Power, with the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat in Ottawa. Chapters form councils and manage their members, which includes developing and promoting networking and professional development sessions, celebrating accomplishments, and offering national and local conferences. Provincial chapters meet back with the national council at least three or four times a year.
Currently there are chapters for Alberta & North, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Greater Toronto, Ottawa-Hull, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Newfoundland and Labrador. While there are IPMA members in every province, they don’t always have the time to volunteer as executive members. Consequently, British Columbia has been without a chapter for a few years. However, Power hopes to develop councils in B.C., and for the first time, in Nunavut before the end of this year.
Kowalski says the association plans to delve further into HR research this year also, especially using the Internet to tap into members’ views and ideas to create benchmarks in areas of HR.
IPMA-Canada strongly values ethics in HR, and members must pledge to follow a code of ethics (see sidebar). It also believes in leadership, service excellence, integrity, interdependence and recognition. These values underpin the association’s national designation, CPP.
Currently, about 249 IPMA-Canada members are certified with CPP designation. The program offers a consistent and unified national benchmark for individual professional development and performance from province to province. IPMA-Canada’s national certification committee identifies educational programs that are suitable for certification, and assesses the merits of each against nationally recognized standards.
Re-certification is required every three years, and can be achieved through structured learning or self-directed learning. The emphasis is on continued professional development.
The U.S. association, with more than 5,000 members, is beginning to create its own certification, modelled on the CPP, says Susan Toy Stern, president-elect of IPMA-U.S., and employee with the HR department at the County of Los Angeles. However, they prefer to incorporate a behaviour-based testing component, which has, in turn, Canada’s association considering doing the same.
Together, they are working on developing an international certification, and are aiming for a completion date of October 2000. (IPMA-Canada has been sitting on the Canadian Council of Human Resources Associations, providing input in the ongoing development of the national standard for a professional HR designation.)
IPMA-Canada welcomes HR professionals from any sector. With its strong international outreach and the challenging new frontier of global HR facing the community, HR practitioners from all walks of sectors should stay tuned.
IPMA code of ethics
Members of IPMA-Canada pledge to support the association’s goals and objectives to promote the application of professional and ethical standards for public HR professionals, to contribute to the development of HR management and to encourage professional development, in addition to the following.
•Respect the dignity and integrity of all individuals and ensure fair and equitable treatment in all aspects of HR management.
•Endeavour to instill in the public, a sense of confidence and trust respecting the conduct and actions of my employer and myself in the course of my duties.
•Adhere to all applicable federal, provincial and local laws, regulation or by-laws respecting the management of HR.
•Refrain from any activity which may be perceived to be a conflict of interest, or which could prejudice ability to conduct duties and responsibilities in a professional manner.
•Use information acquired in the course of duties prudently and avoid using confidential information for personal gain or in any other way which would be detrimental to employers and the profession.
•Foster professional growth in human resources management.
