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Climate, Culture, Challenges, and Interventions applicable to a business

organization

Introduction
The business organization that is discussed here is a company called Manila Mining
Corporation, a company founded “in 1949. It operates and controls almost 2,000 has. of prime
mineral lands in Surigao Del Norte, Southern Philippines, and has applications for another 4,850
has around its mines.”1 The information concerning the company given here is from a person
working in a managerial position in the company’s Human Resources department. It should be
noted that the information was not gathered through a formal interview, but only by personal
communication.

Climate and Culture

There is an ideal that has been set for the organization’s climate and cultural practices.
Although this ideal cannot be actualized in all aspects, having the ideal is one step already. In
the case of the Manila Mining Corporation, its ideals are reflected in the mission and the vision
statements put out by the company—for instance, by stating that the company wants to
“achieve productivity growth in both basic and human resources.” With this, the company
implies a culture where people look out for another such that mutual benefit can be applied to
all. However, this ideal is not necessarily perfectly concretized.
In this business organization, the climate and trend of the corporate group is similar to
most corporate groups. There is the understanding that the more one works hard, the more
one can gain rewards in the workplace. However, there is also that idea that building good
connections across the corporate ladder is the surefire way of being rewarded handsomely.
Some of the low-ranked personnel got the impression that no matter how hardworking they
are, they would have to really wait much more in order to gain any rewards.
On the negative side, there is also a kind of toxicity that was perceived in the culture
that is quite common among certain groups of people, and this is the crab mentality. There are
some cases where persons become toxic to other persons to discourage progress. However, on
the whole, the company has thrived generally speaking through the years despite some toxic
persons.
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All quotations in this paper are from the company site, manilamining.com.
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Nature and Focus

From the company name itself, one can know that this business organization is centered
on mining, the processing of gold, copper, silver, and other precious metals such that one can
secure investors and reap profits from the business operations. The nature and the focus of the
organization is reflected in the vision statement. Manila Mining Corporation says that it wants
“to be a global Filipino mining company by attaining world-class capabilities and becoming a
corporate model in the fulfillment of social responsibilities and optimizing shareholders
returns.”

The Individuals and the Departments

The individuals vary across the different departments, some of which exhibit hard work
and solid work ethic. Some of course are tempted to not give their all, and depend on
dependents. However, similar to most corporate structures, there are the relations established
by the individual with various departments, and not just the department to which the individual
belongs to.
The departments in the organizational structure are identified in terms of the specific
purposes that they serve. Of course, there is a board of trustees. There are various
departments: the administration department, the human resource department, the assay
department (‘assay’ as a term in mining), the safety department, the environmental
department, the finance and accounting department, and the exploration department.
To deal with things specifically, one can tackle the exploration department, for instance.
This department is in charge of surveying various areas (e.g., in Surigao) to see whether these
areas have harvestable metals, especially gold, and thus, as soon as an area is recognized as
viable, the department mobilizes itself to secure a permit—thus making sure the host
community does not object to the business’s mining operations. The individuals in this
department are therefore very keen and observant, and very motivated to move forward and
expedite processes that will ultimately lead to the execution and implementation of business
mining operations. They are also individuals who are well-aware of how the government for
instance causes delay in these operations, and therefore, these people must be quick enough to
issue responses and execute moves to avoid delays.

The Interactions of Individuals among themselves, and in relation to the various departments
The individuals, of course, tend to form groups and cliques within the Manila Mining
Corporation. As in most organizations, there is a tendency to form cliques with one’s colleagues
—that is junior colleagues among themselves, and senior colleagues among themselves. There
are also cases when the employees who wish to stay for a long time in the company—they
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chose to associate with those within the higher ranks. Generally, though, there are professional
working relationships across the board.
As with most systems and structures that involve different departments, a fair amount
of bureaucracy is to be expected. There is a due process as to many transactions such that at
times it would seem to be unnecessary. However, this process can be expedited by those who
take advantage of favoritism across departments.
Thus, one can see that even in organizations whose ideal includes a friendly
environment, there are still cases wherein division would be caused (intentionally or not) due
to perceptions of loyalty. Those who are in power are of course faced with the choice of
whether to be favorable to those whom they find amicable to them. Perhaps in the short term
or occasionally, the prioritizing of favorites when it comes to circumventing the long
bureaucratic due process may not cause much harm, but in the long term, it may destroy group
morale, and thus prove to be harmful to the company.

Effects on the Performance

Group interactions among individuals of course would increase knowledge and social
awareness of individual differences such that people of various stripes can adjust to the
personalities and temperaments one encounters in the workplace. In Manila Mining
Corporation, people would then have the ideas as to how to approach one another such that
work efficiency as well as effectiveness is achieved. Further, this intuitive understanding of
various personalities is enhanced by employee engagement activities such as team building.
On the other hand, as mentioned earlier, there is a tendency toward greater division
and favoritism. These effects can be seen because in a company, talks about who has been
favored and who wasn’t are not necessarily kept secret. Due to these then, group morale can
become unstable, and people would then create an atmosphere of complaining and discontent.

The Best Practices Practiced

Best practices practiced in Manila Mining Corporation can be seen as threefold: (1)
corporate social responsibility practices, (2) employee engagement and relations, and (3)
benchmarking.
Corporate social responsibility practices encompass those that relate to society and the
environment. Thus, these include programs that benefit the Earth such as tree planting, as well
as those that connect to the host communities, whose areas are to be the subject of business
mining corporations. Participation of the company in activities that promote health, livelihood
and good culture has also been present. Sponsorship for community activities were done in the
context of applying social responsibility.
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Another is employee engagement and relations. These include boosting group morale
and good work ethic among employees by the practice of team building. Holidays are of course
recognized, and there are family-oriented activities that give psychological and moral support
to employees as they continue to work in the company.
The last mentioned is benchmarking, which is a way of ensuring that the company is not
falling behind its competitors. Therefore, one can make comparisons and contrasts with regard
to the company in relation to other companies. This benchmarking is not limited to the practice
of business mining operations, but also to how companies deal with employees.

The Challenges and Problems Encountered

The challenges and problems mentioned by the source of this information can boil down
to four. In Manila Mining Corporation, these problems are (1) lack in terms of funds, (2) lack in
terms of employee benefits, (3) increasing competition in the field and industry, and (4)
possible potential for losing group morale.
The first challenge is lack of funds. Currently, as of 2023, funds are being directed to the
exploration activities of the company. However, these explorations have not as yet been fruitful
in terms of advancing approvals and implementing the operations. What is necessary include
the approval of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources as well as a positive
vote from the host communities that have already been surveyed. Therefore, the current
situation would show that there is the added expense without the profits necessary to achieve
a kind of rotational funding for the long-term maintenance of the company. Contributory to this
is the lack of efficiency in terms of government agency processes.
The second challenge identified in Manila Mining Corporation is the lack of work
benefits for the employees. For most employees in the Philippines, benefits are the reasons
that can provide incentive for the employees to work harder and of course, to stay with the
employer-company. Without a robust set of benefits, sadly, the employees would be inclined to
just “come” and then “go”—making the company a simple trial ground for employment rather
than as a long-term means contributing to the employee’s growth and progress.
The third challenge, a fairly common kind of challenge among corporations, is the
presence of many competitors that equally have the resources and history to be competitive
enough in the industry. This is what makes benchmarking a vitally important activity to
determine whether the company is still at par with its competition. To complicate the matter,
even potential host communities for mining can become competition. How? They can opt to
choose to become what is called minahang bayan, in which case the community will find its
own resources to mine on its own.
The fourth challenge is possible potential for losing group morale. This is brought about
by division and favoritism. As mentioned before, people can wrongfully use connections in such
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a way that favors are called in, and the sense of fairness that must apply to all employees can
be eradicated.

An Intervention Plan, or The Interventions

For the intervention plan, a four-pronged approach can be used. Thus, there are
basically four main interventions: (1) a thorough assessment of the current context in the
organization in terms of its operations, (2) the provision of a detailed solutions manual
addressing the issues, (3) expediting the execution of operations to address the first three
problems mentioned above, and (4) implementing a performance monitoring system to address
the fourth problem.
First is a thorough assessment of the current context in the organization in terms of its
operations. One can use various methods such as the five-why analysis tool to conduct such an
assessment. Identifying the bottlenecks and hindrances in operations, particularly the root
cause of problems is a vital starting point. For instance, with five-why, one can see the process
of what is going on–for instance, it may be that the permit was not given by the agency (DENR)
yet, and the potential host community has doubts about the operation. So–why–it may be
because the community has not thoroughly understood the benefits of conducting the business
mining operation, and the government is not pushed enough to also expedite the permit.
Then–why is such–it may be that personnel from the mining corporation were not thorough
enough to campaign for this among the community stakeholders, and that they were not
persistent enough in following up for the permit being secured. Of course, these instances are
among many possible issues. One can also conduct surveys and other assessment methods to
identify issues and root causes, particularly in the operational aspects of the business
organization.
Second is the provision of a detailed solutions manual addressing the issues. These
solutions must be expressed to employees concerned. Every issue that contributed to stifling
the start of the operations must be addressed. For example, if employees assigned to this are
unfamiliar with influential people at the host community–then this can be the problem. To
address this, a proper orientation can be given for them on how to approach these people
effectively with maximum efficiency–and then, they can be guided in terms of the things they
must do to communicate to said people. Thus after identifying root causes, the guide can
mitigate problems, (and this process must be documented properly). After all or some solutions
have been implemented, then there must be people assigned to monitor and review given that
an ongoing process review is necessary. If processes are laid out properly, expediting
operations can be handled more effectively.
Third in the plan is expediting the execution of operations. This can be done by giving
much focus to potential mining operations, and at the same time, exhausting all legal avenues
by which one can expedite the approval of these operations. Of course, safety and
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environmental concerns must also be given due care. As soon as approval is given, there must
be no delay in executing the operations (assuming risk management has been done well), and
so with maximum efficiency, the problems can be addressed. The corporation will gain the
funds; it can fund work benefits; and of course, it can have the competitive advantage by using
profits gained to invest in technology etc., and with this—improve itself yearly.
Fourth in the plan is implementing a performance monitoring system. This system can
serve as a form of checks and balances—such that not only are the managers and supervisors
doing the evaluation, but also those who are being managed and supervised. They can evaluate
one another, and hopefully, reduce the culture of favoritism. Having this mutual evaluation can
ensure that group morale is always stable and achieved, since rationally, people will want to be
evaluated well.

Conclusion
It seems that the problems faced by Manila Mining Corporation are not at all unique.
What seems clearer though is that a more specific understanding as to what is going on with
the challenges and problems of a company can lead to better specific solutions that can
particularly and specifically target the problems. By recognizing that people have to be ‘put
first’ also in the work environment, the corporation will have a greater chance of surviving
despite risks, since people who are happy with the company would be motivated and accept
the incentives given to make the company successful. As the cliché would put it, one does not
get there alone, and if the corporate members from top to bottom cooperate with one another,
then the challenges will certainly be surpassed.