Every year, the president of Pakistan honours citizens and foreign nationals for excellence in various fields of activities on the country’s Independence Day.
This year, on Pakistan’s 65th Independence Day (14 August 2011), President Asif Zardari conferred the honour of Sitara-i-Imtiaz (Star of Excellence) on Dr. Jawad Sarwar Naqvi Syed, senior lecturer in Human Resource Management at Kent Business School, University of Kent, UK. Dr. Syed was awarded the civil decoration for his contributions and public service in the field of equality and diversity management in Pakistan. This is one of the nation’s highest awards.
Dr. Syed is amongst pioneers of research on equal employment opportunity and diversity management in Pakistan and other Muslim majority countries. He is also a co-founder of the South Asian Academy of Management, a professional association for scholars dedicated to creating and disseminating knowledge about management and organizations in South Asia. He has written more than 60 research articles, 20 professional articles and edited 4 books on HRM and diversity management.
Graduating with a bachelors in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Engineering and Technology, Taxila (Pakistan), Syed completed a Masters (with distinction) from University of Western Sydney and a PhD from Macquarie University, Australia.
In 2010, Syed received a Highly Commended Award in the Human Resource Management category of the Emerald/ The European Foundation for Management Development (EFMD) Outstanding Research Awards. These prestigious awards are offered in recognition of highest quality of international research in the field of management.
Syed is currently a program chair of Gender, Race and Diversity in Organizations Group of the European Academy of Management, which convenes scholarly symposia and conducts interdisciplinary and policy-relevant research that contributes to managing diversity in organizations in Europe and also internationally. He is also an active member of the US Academy of Management (GDO Division)
Syed is a member of the editorial review boards of several scholarly journals including British Journal of Management, Academy of Management Learning and Education, Gender in Management, Equality, Diversity and Inclusion, South Asian Journal of Global Business Research, and Lahore Journal of Economics.
Syed will formally accept the Sitara-i-Imtiaz award on Pakistan Day, March 23, 2012.