HERNANDEZ, JEANNE CAMILLE T.

MPA 672 – LEADERSHIP AND ORGANIZATIONAL CHANGE

Dr. SANJAY P. CLAUDIO, MNSA, CESE

MID-TERM EXAMINATION

1. A management guru has advanced the opinion that the Chief Executive of an
organization needs “managerial competence” to deal with the problems of complexity
but “leadership skills” to deal with the management of change. Explain or illustrate as
comprehensively as possible the validity of this contention.
Answer: Considering the impact of the problems of complexity in any organization,
the Chief Executive needs managerial competence in order to strategize plans and be
task-oriented to focus on the process as a whole so the organization can better
recognize and control its emergence and develop the right tools to manage it. On the
other hand, in dealing with the management of change, the Chief Executive needs
leadership skills, he must work alongside the staff and guide them to adapt to those
changes and provide support and encouragement to do their best work toward
achieving organizational goals.

2. Each organizational theory is premised on some understanding of motivation. What

are the main factors in developing motivation for employees? How will you as a
manager promote these factors?
Answer: I think the main factors in developing motivation for employees are:
leadership, work itself, reward and recognition, and promotion. For leadership, I will
use different leadership styles depending on what the employee needs under different
circumstances that encourage professional development. For the work itself, I want to
provide work that involves communicating, negotiating, and interacting with other
people to gain their cooperation to get the job done quickly and bring out the best
energies of the individual. For the reward and recognition, I want to use it to motivate
employees and demonstrate that they are appreciated for their exceptional work. And
lastly for the promotion, I want my employees to have advancement of their rank or
position especially when they completed a certain stage in their career.

3. Public bureaucracy is noted to resist organizational change. Do you agree or not?

Explain your answer in the light of the success and failure of the Performance-based
management system, (SPMS, PBB, etc.) currently implemented in the Philippine
Government.
Answer: Though associating bureaucracy with change would be contradictory, I still
don’t agree that public bureaucracy resists organizational change. Because whenever
there is a new system being introduced and implemented by the Civil Service
Commission (CSC) in the organization, a change is necessary toward achieving the
goal. It is a continuous process alongside the development. For instance, in the
implementation of Strategic Performance Management System (SPMS), we have
taken into account planning, streamlining, and aligning, and it implemented changes
on how we work as well to link the employee performance with organization
performance. But what also matters is we have common goals and are working
towards the same direction and that is to greater transparency and accountability, and
improved service delivery to the public.

4. Workplace politics is present in all organizations, consequently many thinks that

politics is favoritism, back-stabbing and self-promotion. How must a politically skillful
administrator handle this? Is politics really a necessary evil in the bureaucracy?
Answer: A politically skillful administrator must treat all employees as equal. It is
essential to look at what is right rather than who is right whenever controversies arise.
A politically skillful administrator must also listen to all sources before making a final
decision and must build a healthy organizational culture and climate to bridge the gap
between employees. Further, I think politics is indeed evil in the bureaucracy as politics
produce myriad effects, including tension among employees as they engage in mutual
fights rather than perform.

5. Not all leaders are managers and similarly, not all managers are leaders. Explain
this statement by citing specific roles of each.
Answer: The primary difference between leaders and managers is that leaders don’t
necessarily hold or occupy a management position. A leader doesn’t have to be an
authority figure in the organization. A leader is a person who directs, guides and
influences the behavior of his followers towards the attainment of specific goals. On
the other hand, a manager is a representative of an organization responsible for the
management of a group of employees and takes requisite actions whenever required.
A manager focuses on meeting organizational goals and objectives as a formal part
of a manager’s job description.

6. At the start of President Duterte’s administration in 2016, many sectors were

expecting radical positive changes in governmental directions, systems, structures,
and culture in order to best serve the Filipino people.
A year before he ends his term, please describe President Duterte’s leadership style
and discuss one of his reform/change priorities using the following framework:

1. Establishing a great sense of urgency

2. Creating a powerful guiding coalition
 3. Developing a vision and strategy
4. Effectively communicating the vision
5. Removing the obstacles/Empowering action
6. Planning for and creating short-term wins
7. Not declaring a victory too soon/not letting up.
8. Sustaining/Making the changes stick.

Answer: Former President Duterte used a combination of different leadership styles.

He was known for his firmness in decisions, taking responsibility for all actions made
and the ability to accomplish the desired outcomes. He actively monitors the work
performed by subordinates and executes corrective actions if deviations from
expected standards occur. His autocratic personality required the police and military
personnel to follow him without question to create a safer country. He also relied
sometimes on his spokesperson to clarify any misunderstandings and get his point
across after his statements. Like every other president of the Philippines before him, I
think Former President Duterte has both positive and negative traits in his leadership
style.
I would like to discuss one of his reforms which is to provide a better life for
all Filipinos. According to the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA),
the Duterte administration accomplished several reforms that took decades to be
enacted that helped the country attain its lowest poverty rate in 2018 and will pave the
way for the achievement of its 2040 vision. These are strong economic management,
the Philippine Identification System (PhilSys) or national ID program, the Rice
Tariffication Law (RTL), the Infrastructure Program, and the Ease of Doing Business
Law. The national ID program was first attempted in 1973 and was finally enacted 45
years later in August 2018. It provides all Filipinos with a unique proof of identity to
facilitate financial inclusion and the more efficient provision of key services. The RTL
was only legislated in 2019 or 32 years later since it was first attempted in 1987. The
reform helped lower rice prices due to more open importation and increased farmer
productivity due to the Rice Competitiveness Enhancement Fund. Moreover, under
the Duterte administration, infrastructure spending tripled and created millions of jobs,
contributing to the lowest unemployment and poverty rates before the
pandemic. Meanwhile, with the implementation of the Ease of Doing Business and
Efficient Government Service Delivery Act of 2018, the Philippines’ global ranking in
ease of doing business improved by 29 notches from 2019 to 2020, the largest
improvement in recent history. Further, there are still remaining reforms that have
been certified as urgent. For ordinary Filipinos, this means creating more and better
jobs.
7. Analyze major change or reform program (eg. K-12, Conditional Cash Transfer
Program (CCT), etc.), explain and comment on the choices made in each of the
following key considerations:

Strategic Intent Precise Broad

Substance Soft Hard
Scale Small Large
Scope Isolated Org. Wide
Speed Slow Fast
Sequence Hard-Soft Soft-Hard
Style Top-Down Bottom-Up

Answer:
Executive Order NO. 70 otherwise known as “Institutionalizing the Whole-of-Nation
Approach in Attaining Inclusive and Sustainable Peace, Creating a National Task
Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict, and Directing the Adoption of a
National Peace Framework” is signed by Former President Rodrigo Roa Duterte on
December 4, 2018.
For the strategic intent, it is broad considering that the EO No. 70 aims to reframe and
refocus the government policy for achieving inclusive and sustainable peace by
recognizing that insurgence, internal disturbances and tensions, and other threats are
not only military and security concerns, but are symptomatic of broader social,
economic, and historical problems.
For the substance, it is hard as the EO No. 70 aims to address the root causes of
insurgencies, internal disturbances and tensions and other armed conflict and threats
to end the 50 years of deceit, lies and atrocities committed by the communist terrorist
group against the Filipino people.
For the scale and scope, it is large and organization wide, as we are talking here of a
whole-of-nation approach, it synchronizes the government’s instrumentalities of power
for the attainment of inclusive and sustainable peace in the country.
For the speed, it is fast as the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed
conflict (NTF-ELCAC) accomplished more than any other administration in
neutralizing the Communist Party of the Philippines – New People’s Army – National
Democratic Front (CPP-NPA-NDF).
For the sequence, it is hard-soft, considering that there are necessary steps that need
to be accomplished to ensure efficient and effective implementation of the Whole-of-
Nation Approach. For instance, a task force was first created and national peace
framework was also formulated prior to the implementation of the Whole-of-Nation
Approach
For the style, it is top-down, considering that the top executive of the NTF-ELCAC
makes the decision and disseminates to lower levels of the hierarchy.

8. What are the most important lessons that you learned about leadership during this
pandemic? Discuss in the context of your specific sector or agency.
Answer: I am currently working in the Department of Public Works and Highways
under the Bureau of Construction. During the pandemic, our Office implemented
various healthcare facilities to augment the existing hospitals during influx of COVID-
19 Patients. What I learned about leadership during that time was the positive qualities
I observed with our Director. Despite having comorbidity, that does not stop him from
doing his job. He set the standards so high and was a role model to us that made us
emulate him. Through his leadership, we were able to construct the healthcare
facilities which play a key role in helping the country manage the pandemic especially
in the National Capital Region (NCR) where a surge of COVID-19 cases was
experienced.