The WFPMA was founded in June 1976 with five main objectives:
- To improve the quality and effectiveness of professional people management, and to demonstrate the importance of the HR role in all employing organisations, both public and private.
- To stimulate and assist in the establishment and development of regional and national personnel man-agement associations in those parts of the world where a continental or regional association does not exist.
- To create and maintain contacts with all WFPMA member associations as well as with other organisations which have some activity in the same or similar field.
- To support or represent personnel management associations in their contacts with world organisations such as ILO, UNESCO, the UN, etc.
- To commission or undertake research which will further broaden understanding of personnel issues.
A quarter of a century on, with a membership that represents more than 300,000 people management professionals in over 50 national personnel associations, the Federation can point to considerable progress in the achievement of its aims and, at the same time, to a greater need for and appreciation of its contribution.
For, against a backdrop of unimaginably rapid globalisation and the on-going quest for competitive advantage, there is a growing awareness of the role of professional human resource management in helping to deliver that vital edge through people.
Accordingly, the WFPMA has undertaken a major new research project to define HR competencies that are globally meaningful; this should facilitate HR training and development throughout the world, and not least in those countries still at an early stage in establishing professional HR programmes. Meanwhile, members of the longer-established personnel associations are increasingly finding value in the lively and still growing professional network the Federation has become.
Communications and information exchange are aided by a biennial international congress, the quarterly newsletter, WorldLink and a website: www.wfpma.com
