CLUSTER D: Human Resources Development

1. One dimension of administrative reform pertains to the need to change or

reorient the behaviour and even value systems of the people in the
bureaucracy. Philippine Administrative history has seen programs aimed
precisely at that. Various institutions such as the Civil Service Commission
and the DAP have been implementing training programs for various levels
of the bureaucracy. Also built into these training efforts are methodologies
to immerse the bureaucrats in local situations. But, it is common
knowledge that in spite of all these efforts the bureaucracy has essentially
remained the same.
From the point of view of a development administration student, discuss
the problem/s with possible recommendations to improve the situation.

Nowadays workplaces are changing fast because environment and consequently nature
of work and strategy are changing. Organizations across all sectors are implementing
new technologies and work practices. Change is an integral part of working life and
cannot be viewed as something that happens every now and then (Dawson,
Andriopoulos 2014). Successfully managing workplace change is critical to
organizational success and competitiveness, still many organizations experience
change as a challenge (Rashid et al. 2004).

Change initiatives cannot succeed without support and enthusiasm of the employees
(Seijts, Roberts 2011) since people are the most important as well as the most
challenging factor in making change work (Rashid et al. 2004). Organizational
acceptance of change and the willingness to embrace it is largely dependent on
employees and their experiences. Understanding employees’ reactions to change is the
first step in dealing with it.

According to a recent assessment around only 54% of change initiatives by the

Philippine government agencies are successful and considering the effort, time and
resource used for the initiatives that is relatively small. From what I have gathered DAP
conducted 63 trainings and seminar while CSC had 37 programs targeting numerous
topics now the real question here is how is it that despite the Philippine Government’s
effort little to no change happened within the participants and their respective offices?
The main reason for this lies in the concept called “change fatigue” explained simply, it
is the exhaustion that is felt by individual feel when there are too many changes that is
being introduced without prioritization of said changes. Which is a justifiable reason for
the ineffectiveness of the trainings and programs implemented considering that a
handful of the programs target the same offices and departments.

Another reason is the mistake done by the participants of the programs who are usually
department heads or supervisors. Often times, department heads just dictate what
should change and not exactly practicing what they preach thus, it leads to subordinates
resisting the change until the heads themselves grow frustrated and ignore what they
were taught in the training programs.

There is also a misconception that with some trainings and changing work systems it
would be enough to move an organization to another place which is not the case as
observed from the lack of change brought by the training programs as mentioned
earlier.

In order to solve this issue, as development administrator students it is our prerogative

to effectively promote change within the office and for that we must understand change
management and the human reasoning behind resistance to change to fully
comprehend and counter it.

First, we should take culture to our advantage as crucial as it is; it is often disregarded
and forgotten during change management, culture is the ‘how things work here’
concept. Filipino culture often involve respecting higher ups in great degree but they are
very passive-aggressive, thus instead of trying to implement change full-out we should
first target and utilize special forces in the office. They are the informal leaders in an
office they don’t necessarily have big positions but they are well liked, respected and
trusted by the majority. So if you have the compliance and support of special forces the
easier it is to introduce and implement change since you have subordinates that are
spreading the change for you.

In handling resistance many managers underestimate not only the variety of ways
people can react to organizational change, but also the ways they can positively
influence specific individuals and groups during a change. One of the most common
ways to overcome resistance to change is to educate people about it beforehand.
Communication of ideas helps people see the need for and the logic of a change. The
education process can involve one-on-one discussions, presentations to groups, or
memos and reports.

If the initiators involve the potential resisters in some aspect of the design and
implementation of the change, they can often forestall resistance. With a participative
change effort, the initiators listen to the people the change involves and use their
advice.

3. MERIT
The merit system is an embodiment of the “culture of competence and
commitment to the public service” is highly desired and esteemed by the civil
service personnel. Unfortunately, the political patronage system serves as a
“counter culture” which impedes the positive development and
institutionalization of the culture of the merit in the bureaucracy. What action
measures can you recommend in order to improve the administrative capability
of the bureaucracy?

Good governance is almost always a contentious topic. The way public institutions
manage public affairs and public resources is something that draws controversy and
criticism. Recent polls have shown the average citizen especially the youth harbours a
strong mistrust towards government officials and employees. Because of this mistrust,
there are ethics and values in place to provide much needed accountability between the
general public and the local, state and national administration. This solidifies the well-
known fact that public administrators are held at a much higher standard with regard to
ethics than your everyday citizen.

Mentioning the crucial role of public personnel, it is only fair we mention the premiere
human resource institution of the Philippine bureaucracy, the Commission on Civil
Service. The Civil Service Commission (CSC) is the central personnel agency of the
Philippine government. It is one of the three independent constitutional commissions
with adjudicative responsibility in the national government structure, it is tasked to lead
and initiate the professionalization of the civil service; promote public accountability in
government service; adopt performance-based tenure in government; and implement
the integrated rewards and incentives program for government employees.

Historically, the CSC was created to uphold a merit-based recruitment system. With the
aims to reverse the growing culture of corruption in the Philippine government, where
positions could be bought and officials could be bribed as promoted by the Patronage
System. The merit-based recruitment system to simply explain, prioritizes the skills and
experience in terms of recruiting and employing individuals. The rationale behind this is
that only the best and the brightest should be in the government service as to maximize
the productivity as well as value the taxes received from the citizens.

The phrase “public office is a public trust” is often reiterated and emphasized in public
service, further establishing the need for honesty and accountability to be embodied by
the public servants. However, as history have shown, that is not always the case, the
prevalent Political Patronage System which is a practice where a political party, after
winning an election, gives government civil service jobs to its supporters, friends, and
relatives as a reward for working toward victory, and as an incentive to keep working for
the party—as opposed to a merit system, where offices are awarded on the basis of
some measure of merit, independent of political activity.

The patronage system has long been a thorn for the CSC as it opposes the main
foundation of public service unfortunately despite numerous attempts from CSC, NGOs
or even Civil Societies the patronage system seems to be deeply ingrained in our
country. However, this doesn’t exactly mean that every individual that is appointed from
spoil system is unqualified or unskilled we have seen multiple times where appointees
have stepped up to fill their roles. But as good as that may be sound, it doesn’t deny
that the cons for this system overweighs its pros. Not only does it deprive other more
qualified and skilled individuals for the job, this system often serves as a scheme for
political parties to conduct their hidden agenda in groups without getting caught.

The web of corruption has different layers, many tentacles, and may spread like a virus
if not contained. As public administrators it is often our duty to construct new strategies
or methods in battling corruption in the public service so how can we solve it?
Before anything else I would like to establish the facts first, patronage system as
problematic as it is, studies have shown that this system shows no signs of weakening
therefore it is given that we simply cannot eliminate this practice in the Philippine
Government. So how do we from there? Well, if we can’t eradicate such system, the
best course of action will most definitely to decrease the cases of appointments of
unqualified individuals in offices or departments that hold critical decision making in the
local or national government. In order for this to succeed we must go to the root of the
problem, and that is the appointing official often of times the elected official.

As mentioned before, this system promotes employing individuals that are affiliated to
the winning political party despite their lack of skills, education or experience It is a
known fact that elected officials have the discretion to appoint whom they have
confidence to however they must be accountable for their decisions especially when it
leads to the public funds being wasted by their appointees. I believe that it is high time
that these officials should be held in a greater accountability for their choice in
appointments and not just through public and social media backlash legally accountable
as well.

One way to achieve this is to add another task to the commission on appointments
where during the submission of the list of appointees the appointing official will sign an
agreement with the commission affirming his confidence and faith to the individuals he
appointed. If given the chance they were to conduct any anomaly while in office the
official will be accountable as well this is to ensure that the official will be more critical in
choosing his appointments.

Another action I can recommend will be to create a temporary entity after the election
period this entity will be an extended arm for the commission on appointments that will
specialize in investigating the appointees, as observed the ComApps often overlook the
past controversies or actions of the appointees instead prioritizing only that the
requirements are completed. I believe this entity will be also be beneficial during the
cabinet appointments since the entity may also handle protests and petitions coming
from the Philippine citizens when certain controversial individuals are in the process of
being appointed in the national office.
In today’s day and age of highly competitive job selection, merit plays a very heavy role
in the placing of qualified individuals in each position. Our very own Civil Service
Commission provides basic qualification examinations to certify that a potential hire is
equipped with the required knowledge and technical know-how to provide quality
service both for public and private sectors. Merit provides the baseline in which human
resources personnel can justify the hiring or promotion of an employee, without the fear
of being accused of nepotism or any other forms of bias.

Especially in the field of public service, where not only do we represent the face of the
state, but also are responsible for the expenditure and performance of aforementioned
public services, in such venue, merit should be the primary consideration in selection of
individuals as not to spite the trust of the people who pay taxes. Furthermore, it allows
the person tasked with selection of new hires or submission of candidates for promotion
to be free of the burden of looking at who the applicant is or who his family members
are.

With an efficient merit system being the backbone of a selection process there can be
positive gains both for the selector and selectee in the fact that the former will have a
motivated work force due to the fact that good work is acknowledged and rewarded.
Meanwhile for the selectee, it gives them the chance to be selected for a better position
by performing efficiently. However, due to such motivation from a merit based system of
selection, this can also give rise to cutthroat competition between coworkers and may
discourage cooperation as each worker wants to be noticed as the best among his
colleagues.
 1. It is an accepted principle among practitioners that the management of
human resources is not an exact science. Nevertheless, since
management of people must be integrated with the management of an
organization, whether public or private, it is primarily the function and
responsibility of all levels of management. How can understanding of this
principle help a management consultant in developing a personnel
development program that will boost motivation and productivity of
employees? Discuss from the following dimensions:
a. Relationship of employees with the organization.
b. Relationship with the top management.
c. Relationship with the lower levels of management.

In today’s talent-based economy, the workforce itself is arguably the most important
tangible asset of most organizations. Despite its importance, this asset is often not
carefully planned, measured or optimized. This means that many organizations are not
sufficiently aware of the current or future workforce gaps that will limit execution of
business strategy.

Yet at the same time, boards of directors, CEOs and chief human resources officers will
frequently declare that workforce planning and data- driven decision-making is a top
priority for their organizations. While it is difficult to understand this apparent gap
between intent and execution, the most obvious cause is a lack of consistent objectives
regarding the outputs of workforce planning, and a lack of consistent process by which
organizations conduct workforce planning and predictive modelling.

Human resource management is the organizational function that manages all issues
related to the people in an organization. That includes but is not limited to
compensation, recruitment and hiring, performance management, organization
development, safety, wellness, benefits, employee motivation, communication, policy
administration, and training.

With that said, let’s identify the role of Human Resource Management with the following
stakeholders in a company

a. Relationship of employees with the organization. - HRM can be considered

as the bridge that closes the gap between the employees and the
organization, as HRM is mainly tasked with hiring, motivating and maintaining
workforce within businesses. Thus, it is within the HR’s role to collect
grievances and concerns from the employees that may be the reason as to
why certain dissatisfaction and decrease of morale is rooted from after
collecting said concerns it is the prerogative of HR to create solutions for these
problems in order to maintain the cohesive and productive environment within
the workplace. Thus, boosting the employees’ trust and loyalty to the
organization and encourage them to work seeing that they are being valued.
b. Relationship with the top management. – The relationship with Human
Resource Management can be best described as the top management’s
highly valuable tool when understanding the system in the lower levels of
management as HR professionals always interact and witness firsthand the
routines and how people react and work together they are essential in
gathering grievances or even trying to implement organizational change
within different departments.

c. Relationship with the lower levels of management. - The role in Human

Resource Management with the lower levels of management is extremely
crucial as dissatisfaction of the rank and file employees and lower
management often create a domino effect in terms of the quality of output.
Thus human management in this aspect must be handled carefully and
critically, the workforce must be considered as valuable resource and not
merely as individuals being paid to do their job they should be motivated and
disciplined correctly.