A Strange Visitor

I was turning on my computer last night to start doing my plates (projects) when I heard the voice of my father over my shoulder. I didn’t pay attention ‘coz I thought it was nothing. But he came in and showed me a little bird. He said he found it near our dirty kitchen. We thought that somebody, perhaps a kid, had captured and lost it. So he handed me the little creature and intended to keep it until tomorrow. It seemed tired and exhausted, obviously looking for its mother, I guess.

I don’t exactly know the name of its species, but it is one of the common types of birds I see in our yard. (Actually, we call it “Tamsi” (local term), the kind of bird that clings in small branches of plants.) It’s a long-beaked bird with dark gray-and-green feathers with a black spot on its yellow breast. Oh, just take a look at the picture. It’s a good thing I didn’t forget to capture the moment. 

The tiny creature doesn’t seem to be very friendly. As if I had expected! Well, I never had any experience of having birds as pets for a long period of time. But I still give tender loving care to any creature of Mother Nature. (--.) This cute little bird just behaved as I examined it and introduced myself. (Haha, I actually talked to the birdie. It’s just me, you see. That’s how fond I am to animals. ) About a couple of times too, that it tried to fly away from my gentle grasp while I took its pictures. No, I should say our pictures. I kept seizing it back. I could see that it’s catching its breath. Poor birdie, I guess he’s hungry.

So I handed the bird back to my father when he came in. He said we should let it fly but I guess it couldn’t fly away that much coz it has to restore its energy to go back outdoors the next day. I told my dad to spare him some food, (and I don’t even know what should be given to the bird coz I think a small grain of rice would make it hard for him to swallow). But my father brought the bird outside and placed him near the plants. The little creature jumped to a small branch of a certain shrub and it disappeared from my father’s sight, never to return again.

[HRM]: The First Experiences in NEDA XI

I just want to share the first experiences of our group in our adopted company...

NEDA XI [National Economic and Development Authority-Region XI] is our adopted company for Human Resource Management(HRM) subject field study.

The First Visit

Perhaps a memorable day to us. Because we didn't had a glimpse of what would happen as much as we don't really know the exact location of our adopted company - except the address of their building. You see, none of us had been there in such place. So we were all scouting for the perfect spot. Because of the uncertainty we felt during the moment we were riding in the jeepney, we stopped at a certain spot where I knew we can 'trace' the building - by walking. Sigh. There are no particular jeepney which could pass by the said road. And so, we hiked. Each of us looking for roadsigns in crossings we passed. Whew! We never expected it would be a looong day. What made it 'memorable' was that one of my groupmates ruined her shoe in the long run. She was complaining that she can't walk long enough and so we bought a rugby in on of the hardwares on the street. After that we continued our journey. (-_-) Finally, we got into the office (it was on a not-so-exposed location - so unfamiliar place) and handed the letter asking permission to let us do a study to their HR department. "-) The person who received the letter told us to call again for the schedule of the interview. Boy, they thought we were applying for an OJT.

The Day of the Supposed-to-be Interview

My groupmates and I had already prepared for the 'actual interview' in NEDA XI. I must admit its not actually a perfect timing for all of us. The company made the schedule for the interview, and so, since we didn't have a choice, we have to consider their vacant period. But when we got there, the person-in-charge of the interview referred us to another person to be interviewed who, at that moment, was nowhere to be seen. [We should finish the interview in time, you see, coz we still have classes after.] We just spent time there waiting - in vain. The person-in-charge of us (what I mean is the person we just called to) came out and announced that the interview would be postponed because the person she was referring to was not around and was not sure if he could come. In short, the interview was postponed on the next Monday. (-_-)

The Day of the Actual Interview
July 7, Monday

Only four of us (one of my groupmates had a class and she couldn't come) went to NEDA. But with us is a 'companion', the incharge of the documentation procedure. Lol. I'm referring to one of my classmates who was not actually enrolled in the subject but volunteered to help us. Thanks to her, we focused on the interview and she managed to capture the moment - on cam.

The one who made the appointment, NEDA XI Administrative Officer IV of the said institution, greeted us and asked for some sample questions about our interview. She then referred us to their boss, the Chief Administrative Officer, who would be our interviewee. (--,) Gee, we expect to have the HR manager (who happened to be the Admin Officer IV) as our interviewee since we want the HR Manager / Dept. Head of the institution but well, her reason was that he knows everything. (",)

The unexpected twist happened when NEDA XI Admin Chief said to us that he just wanted to give us the printed copy of whatever questions we had in our paper (actually that was made by Kate for the interviewer and NOT for the eyes of the interviewee). But since the HR Manager inspected the questions beforehand and passed it to him so we didn't have any choice. Plus, we thought that it would be an advantage to our part since we will be having a hard copy of their opinion. Chief's concern was that he wanted to see to it that whatever we will be discussing would be exactly what they imparted to us, so to say, the word-for-word statements he would be saying. Well, I understand their part, but maybe they just wanted to play safe you know.

So to cut the story short (now that this has gone long) we just 'played' as if we were actually interviewing Chief on cam. That was for the sake of documentation however. But it was the better part than the verbatim hard copy he gave to us. Later you will know the rest of the story about the outcome of our interview with NEDA XI.

Web Forum[HRM]: .."Human beings are the most important, potent and critical, resource of any organization..."

[Note: This is a reflection based on the posted quote in Mr. G.'s Web Forum[HRM]- Assignment 6: Make a reflection on this statement .."Human beings are the most important, potent and critical, resource of any organization, and yet the least understood and the worst managed of its resources"]

The HR department is the information center for the most important assets of any organization – the employees. (http://humanresources.about.com/od/new/Most_Recent_Articles_and_Site_Recommendations.htm) Truly because they composed as the most essential aspect as the workforce of the company. And so, they are the most influential and critical resource of any organization. Yet maintaining a well-organized HR department is, I guess, the most tedious task to do. For manpower is the worst managed of all resources. Unlike documents and computers, people have their own minds, emotions, and principles, especially at work. You can't just tell them to shut up when they wanted to brag about the tons of officeworks you gave to them. Much more, they are a lot more than machines which can't voice out their grievances and just do exactly what you tell them to do. Echoing the words of Mr. Stephen G. Basilio, Chief Administrative Officer of our adopted company, NEDA XI, it's not impossible to have cases like that, especially if you are dealing with HUMAN resources. Knowing people, each has his/her own personality/character. They differ in their own ways. Much alike, they have also their own behavior at work - their skills/potentials, and how they perceive your instructions. One can't actually impose this or that kind of management style without taking into account the kind of people he/she is dealing with, particularly the behavior of his employees. For when you hire this person, it's not only the skills and abilities of this person which you needed in work and have to address with. It's an all-in-one package. Admit it or not, you have to deal with them professionally, AND personally. Leading a team is a difficult job. (Experience tells!) You must first be a follower before you could win the hearts of your subordinates and earn their support. And you just can't put limitations to them. It's their human rights. And that's how hard it is to manage human beings. It's complicated.

Web Forum[HRM]: HRM is included in the curriculum bcoz...

[Note: This is a reply to the post in Mr. G.'s Web Forum (HRM). Assignment 5: Why do you think HRM is included in the BSCS / BSIT curriculum?]

Based primarily on the meaning of each word, "Human Resource Management" is the managing or directing / controlling the human resources or shall we say, the manpower essentials of a certain company. Now, why is the subject IT-314 (Human Resource Management) included in the BSIT / BSCS curriculum? Well, for a fact that HRM is also included in the curriculum of other course, I must say that this we, as IT (and CS) students have the rights to have this as one of our subjects. One major factor or reason, I shall say, is that the subject provides us the knowledge of how human resources are being taken of, for example, in a company. Here we study and learn the value of human resource in the industry. But it's not the mere experience of having knowledge about how the human resource operates or manages. It's how we apply these learnings to the actual side when we will be having our jobs in the future. We know that HRM deals more about PEOPLE - as the essentials or the workforce of the company. Thus, included here is how to deal with manpower, its various roles and functions, how to maintain and develop it, etc. In the near future we would be dealing with our own boss(es) and colleagues. For sure what we have learned basically about this subject will equip us with information on how to be: a 'good player' in the field of work where we may be assigned, on how to maintain harmonious relationship esp. between the boss (superior) and employee/s. This matters to us, students for we will be dealing with our own employers and co-employees when we get to our jobs.

Oh c'mon, where has all the smileys gone?!

Web Forum[HRM]: 21st Century Corporations...

[Note: This is a reply to Mr. G.'s post in the HRM web forum. Assignment 4: What do you think will the 21st-century corporations look like?]

A Reflection: Concern on the New Technology Brought About by the 21st Century
My concept of a 21st corporations is within the following paragraphs.

"Break down a larger problem so you'll know how to solve it. So let me take it slow."

Wikipedia defines a corporation as a legal personality, usually used to conduct business. Corporations exist as a product of corporate law, and their rules balance the interests of the shareholders that invest their capital and the employees who contribute their labour. People work together in corporations to produce. In modern times, corporations have become an increasingly dominant part of economic life. People rely on corporations for employment, for their goods and services, for the value of the pensions, for economic growth and social development.

By that definition alone, it's crystal clear that human resource is a major factor in the development of business especially in larger ones like corporations.

[Thanks to Ate Hannah's post, I now know the exact date when the 21st century really started.]
We are aware that we are now in the early phases of the 21st century - where everything changes in the height of technology advancements. Big companies nowadays adapt new innovations through the latest technologies ever available in the market so to catch with the newest trend and eventually, make bigger income. Even small enterprises and corporations alike take advantage of what is brought by technology to help make their gross income higher. Say, computer-operated machines instead of purely manual manpower production. I'm not saying this is bad. It's actually a big help to produce more yet lessen the effort of companies with regards to their productivity. But reducing efforts in limited time may also reduce the workforce.

In my general point of view, although I don't really have a perspective of how much or how less a company recruits or layoffs its manpower. With this latest innovations, less human resource are needed to make productions manually. All because it is already provided by these gadgets brought about by technology especially now in the 21st century where it is used widely.

Why am I stressing about the workforce, say the manpower? Because it is what I think, the most affected in a company's adaptation of technological innovations - especially in this century. You see, 21st century corporations look like more globally competitive, more creative in process, more adaptive to changing environment. Because they have to get with the standards set by the century itself. I visualize corporations like this in the future. Human resources will not be anymore the MOST major concern of the company's productivity. Well, it is still there to oversee or to use the computer-operated machines but my point is, major production is not done at least, manually. I agree with Jade Mijares' point that unemployment would be a problem in the growing population. Manpower is still there but only in the rank and file and not those who operates the production activity. I couldn't help thinking of the time that would come where there would be less people comprising in the world. In the birth of higher innovations, earth will be filled up with more machines than real humans.

My appreciation to the previous posts in this topics and the internet wiki, as well. Thanks for the ideas. It's great to know your opinions regarding this topic.

Meet ChEcKiE!

Hi. Let me have this bronze opportunity to introduce you to my all-time friend, my saver-hero - a fellow I can trust through THICK-and-THIN, who's always there, ready to GRAB - RAIN or SHINE. He has never failed me. [char..]

Allow me to be exaggerate this time, folks. He can actually do THAT. In fact, he's the one whom I can always trust. Round-the-clock. Hehe.

"Feeling blue..." Yeah. I feel blue when I'm with Checkie. Because Checkie is blue! Lol.

Okay. Checkie is actually my UMBRELLA (ella..ella) hahaha! He's my folded umbrella which I always carry in my bag wherever I may go. He's actually the first thing I put in the pocket inside whenever I change bags. He's checkered blue-and-li'l white that's why I named him Checkie. (^_^)

THE NAME
Wonder when it all started? I was strolling in my campus with my classmates when we had this 'not-so-corny-but-a-lil-childish' stuff. The weather was hot and the golden sun was up so we opened our umbrellas. And, each of us have different designs of umbrellas so we were naming our umbrellas with tags related to its colors. And that's how Checkie got his name. Hehehe.

RAIN-OR-SHINE OUTSTANDING DUTIES
Checkie was actually one of my mother's 'recycled giveaways', you know. He's from my mom. As in, he was. So just imagine how OLD he is. But take note, he's not that weak. I can use him as a defense tool. Hahaha. Even though he's more than 3 yrs. old right now, his colors has not yet faded thoroughly. He's still blue. Cool color he's got, hasn't he? And he's my hero. I can always count on him rain or shine. Just ask Yeye about it. She's got more to say about Checkie. Right, Ye? :-)

[okay, right at this moment, i think Checkie has to fulfill his duties. it's raining outside. got to go.]