Cases in

HUMAN RESOURCE
MANAGEMENT

Kim Rommel Panaguiton

Chrismie Patrick Alelis
Herbert Nalagay
Ryan Rasgo

Master of Management (Business Management)

College of Management
University of the Philippines Visayas

Submitted to:

Prof. BELLA GRACE L. BARRERA, DPA

Department of Management
College of Management
University of the Philippines Visayas

20 April 2018

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 The Governor and the Lowly Servant:
A Case of Personnel Movement in the Civil Service

Below is a real-life case of personnel movement in a provincial LGU in

Wester Visayas. The case was decided by the Civil Service Regional Office
sometime in early 2017. For confidentiality reasons, the names and other
identifying information on the characters were slightly modified.

By Kim Rommel Panaguiton

In a system of government where partisan politics can virtually overshadow

a public servant’s dedication and enthusiasm for service, the fundamental
principles of merit, fitness, and security of tenure, as well as the rules and
procedural guidelines set forth by the Civil Service Commission, are often on a
collision course with the demands of politicians.

Over the last few years, the employees of the provincial government of
Anahaw in Western Visayas have witnessed people in the upper echelons of power
who would run the affairs of the local government unit based on personal whims
and caprices, and who would take undue advantage of their powers to hound and
harass their “political opponents,” often thru personnel movements disguised as
acts made in the best interest of the public.

Mr. Andres Bigutan, a 53-year old rank-and-file government employee,

occupies the position of Administrative Aide VI (SG 6-1) at the Provincial General
Services Office (PGSO) of the Anahaw provincial LGU. Mr. Bigutan has been
working under the procurement section of the said office for almost 30 years now.
His is known to his co-workers as a very efficient and diligent public servant who
exhibits mastery in his work. Furthermore, Mr. Bigutan’s service record shows
that from his entry to the LGU as a daily wage earner during the late 1980’s, until
he got his tenure in the mid-90’s, up to the present, he has never been involved in
any issue or controversy concerning corruption or other unlawful practices. For
some reasons, however, promotion has been quite elusive to Mr. Bigutan.

pg. 2
 On the downside, Mr. Bigutan is quite outspoken and very much
opinionated. He is always the “antagonist” and the “activist” in the workplace who
would always hurl criticisms against the local chief executive—both in public and
in secret—and would always have complaints against the system in place.
Likewise, Mr. Bigutant is so blunt and candid that some of his words are getting
quite hurtful at times. In several occasions, a few his co-workers have been
offended by his words.

In one August morning, Mr. Bigutan received a memorandum from the

governor. The memorandum reads:

“You are hereby assigned to the Culasisi Satellite Office to augment its
manpower service for efficient and effective delivery of quality public
service, and you are expected to properly execute your task along with
other related responsibilities assigned from time to time. Your
reassignment will be valid for six (6) months unless sooner revoked.
This order shall take effect immediately.”

As to Mr. Bigutan’s reassigned post, the Satellite Office in Culasisi is

approximately a hundred kilometers (two-hour ride) away from the provincial
capital where his home office, the PGSO, is located.

This is not much of a surprise to Mr. Bigutan anymore since he has been
openly criticizing the governor for her allegedly corrupt practices in the
procurement process. Nevertheless, believing that his reassignment was
politically-motivated and grossly out of order, Mr. Bigutan wrote a letter of
reconsideration to the governor. He alleged that his reassignment constituted
“constructive dismissal” which is a violation of his right to security of tenure in the
government service. To support his claim, he cited the following reasons:

1. It will cause a significant financial dislocation on his part, since he

receives only a net amount of ₱ 3,500 per month because deductions from
multiple loans, and his wife doesn’t have a stable source of income.
2. It will be detrimental to his present state of health considering that he is
suffering from hypertension, mild stroke, and persistent nasal problems.

Mr. Bigutan submitted relevant documents to prove his claims (pay slips,
medical records, etc).

pg. 3
 On the other side of the story, Mr. Bigutan heard through the office
“grapevines” that the reason why he was reassigned was that the governor
suspected him of engaging in vote-buying and other electioneering activities in
favor of the governor’s opponent during the last local elections. Also, the governor
was reportedly angered when she received the news regarding Mr. Bigutan’s
criticisms of her management style. Of course, such “behind the scene” motives
were all unproven allegations as of the time being and were not cited in the
memorandum order.

In accordance with a number of legal precedence, administrative orders that

were protested upon in a timely manner cannot become “immediately executory.”
As such, Mr. Bigutan did not report to the Culasisi office while he patiently waited
for the governor’s reply. During this period, he continued to report to the PGSO
day-in and day-out. However, a new person has been assigned to his former post
in the procurement division, so he was effectively placed in a “floating status.”

Weeks after, the governor, thru her legal officer, denied the appeal of Mr.
Bigutan, and upheld the validity of the order reassigning him to the Cuasisi office.
The governor argued that the reassignment of a public officer or employee is a
management prerogative expressly conferred to her by the Administrative Code of
the Philippines (E.O. 292, Book V, Title 1, Subtitle A, Chapter 5, Section 26, 7).
Furthermore, the governor maintained that his reassignment was regular and
made in the interest of public service since his skills and expertise are badly
needed in the satellite office, and that the said office is experiencing manpower
shortage.

Mr. Bigutan was greatly disheartened by the response he got from the
governor; but since he doesn’t have much of a choice, he took his things and went
to the Culasisi satellite office.

Also, he filed a formal appeal to the Civil Service Commission Regional

Office in Ilogilog City. He asked the commission to nullify his reassignment.

pg. 4
Questions:

1. What is the meaning of security of tenure in government service? Is it a

right or a privilege?

2. What is constructive dismissal? Give a few examples of situations that may

result to an employee’s constructive dismissal from service.

3. If you are an adviser to the governor, would you advise her to do the same
(assuming all allegations against Mr. Bigutan are true)? If yes, what
arguments aside from the one provided will you use to support your
suggestion? If no, what alternative courses of action will you suggest?

4. How can political preferences be successfully removed from personnel

decisions in the public sector? How about in the private sector?

5. If you are the Regional Director of the Civil Service Regional Office, how
would you resolve the case?

pg. 5
 The HR Chief in the School You Work for Is Still Not Your Friend

Below is a real-life case of human resource management in a Philippine

state university. For confidentiality reasons, the names and other
identifying information on the characters were slightly modified.

By Herbert Nalagay

Ms. Ellie Tirador, a 62-year HR practitioner, has been serving as the chief
of the Human Resource and Development Office (HRDO) of the University of
Philipps for more than 20 years, and counting. Often cited as the country’s best
tertiary educational institution, the University of Philipps is a very big institution,
home to over a thousand employees. In terms of structure, the University of
Phillips is governed by a central administration and has five colleges. Each of the
five colleges has two (2) to five (5) divisions or departments.

Ms. Ellie has been a good and efficient head of the department ever since—
if that is measured in terms of keeping records and implementing rules set by the
Civil Service Commission. Without doubt, her decades of stint as a human
resource practitioner gave her solid communication skills and decision-making
capabilities based on analytical skills and critical thought processes—two of the
core values any HR manager should possess. She knows most of the rules—written
or otherwise—and, on the downside, she also knows how to find loopholes and
circumvent these rules to make it to her own advantage.

The HRDO in the University of Phillips has no direct control over each of
the other department’s hiring processes. Each office, department or division forms
a committee in-charge of recruiting, screening, and hiring applicants for new and
vacant positions. With this set-up, it would be normal for employees to think that
the HRDO is only responsible for processing the employee’s papers, benefits, and
sometimes, employee training and workshops.

pg. 6
 Ms. Ellie has a very skeptical and subjective attitude towards work, and
people too. She doesn’t trust other units, and would even “question” their
performance if a specified unit or department excels. She puts on hold personnel
documents she finds “questionable” without consulting and informing the people
involved. As such, some requests would stay in her office for quite some time. At
worst, some requests would even take years before any action has been released.
She doesn’t reply to requests or queries sent via electronic messaging
(notwithstanding that her office has an official e-mail account), nor acknowledges
any data request, particularly by rank and file employees.

Ms. Ellie makes promises she can’t keep, which often results to the
disappointment and low performance of the rank-and-file personnel. For instance,
the university purchased an expensive biometric daily time record; but for almost
a year that the system has been delivered, it has not been installed, and worse,
the warranty provision of the equipment has already lapsed. In one occasion, she
made a promise to the employees that the biometric system would be installed—
and this remains a promise until now. The equipment just placed in one corner
collecting dust, as the employees still use the manual Bundy clock daily time
record day-in and day-out.

Over the years, Ms. Ellie has been through several complains and attempts
to oust her from the position she occupies. Ms. Ellie has been very firm and strict
in implementing various personnel-related rules, to the point that employees
would begin to think that she is only serving the needs and interest of the
organization (and the organization alone!). Some employees would even consider
her unfriendly and unapproachable, and would choose to avoid her most of the
time. For example, every Monday during the university flag ceremony, no one
seems to dare to stand beside her, but a few of her staff. In fact, even the HR staff
under her would rather leave if given a chance to work on other departments with
the same level of compensation.

pg. 7
 The conditions on how the management functions are being performed are
worse than they seem. For example, issues on other departments concerning the
HR department are kept in silence, rather than being discussed and resolved in
the proper forum; employees who leave the organization don’t go through an exit
interview; and the employees are subject for evaluation, but the HR Chief is not.

Over-all, the university employees generally perform well in terms of

complying with requirements imposed by the HR department, and specifically, by
the HR Chief herself.

Questions:

1. What qualities should a good HR chief possess? Should there be a balance

of “good” and “bad” qualities that an HR chief must possess to effectively
and efficiently discharge her duties?

2. What functions or services did the HR department of the University of

Phillips failed to deliver to its stakeholders?

3. If you are a 35-year old high-ranking official of the university, how will you
resolve the alleged misdeeds of your HR chief? Consider that Ms. Ellie is
almost twice your age and has served the organization longer than you do.

4. If you are a newly-hired employee assigned under Ms. Ellie, is there

anything you can do to help solve the HR dilemmas of your organization?

5. How can an organization evaluate its appraisers? What systems should be

in place?

pg. 8
 VGS Company:
An Industry Leader with a Very High Employee Turnover

By Chrismie Patrick Alelis

You have just been hired as the Human Resource Manager at VGS Co., an
audit and financial services firm that has become a premier destination for young
talent, most especially fresh graduates.

As a backgrounder, VGS Co. is the Philippines’ largest multidisciplinary

professional services firm with eight offices across the country. The firm employs
nearly 6,000 professionals from various disciplines, but most of which are Certified
Public Accountants (CPAs). The firm provides integrated solutions that draw on
diverse and deep competencies in assurance, tax, transaction and advisory
services. VGS uphold the highest standards of quality, and its assurance service
line has been ISO 9001-certified since 1996.

VGS’s track record in terms of employing topnotch CPAs remains

unmatched in the region. The firm has very aggressive recruitment programs and
is highly committed to the career growth of its employees. Likewise, the nature of
the work itself would be a very good training ground for new CPAs since they are
being sent out into the “field” to immerse themselves and be given a chance to
expose themselves into the different areas of accounting, finance, and
management consultancy.

On the other hand, common complaints among employees are the extended
work hours (some employees would even sleep in the office during busy seasons),
low starting salary levels (averages at PhP 19,000 per month for a CPA), and a so-
called “toxic” work environment.

Despite these factors, the company still manages to hire a significant

amount of fresh graduates every year—including a good number of CPA board
topnotchers.

pg. 9
 For an employee’s first few weeks, they undertake special training seminars
in various auditing and accounting concepts and practices, and at the end of it,
they are awarded an official certification that effectively expands and increases
their value to other companies. In exchange for this, they are made to sign a bond
that keeps them in the company for a minimum of 1 year or otherwise be forced to
pay a hefty sum.

Despite this, however, the firm still suffers from a very high turnover ratio,
so much so that it is at risk of losing a significant percentage of its workforce in
the coming years.

As the new HR Manager, you are hired to right the ship and find a way to
retain the employees that were so heavily invested upon by the company.

Questions:

1. What do you think are the main causes of the high employee turnover?

2. As the HR chief, how would you go about in finding the cause of the high
employee turnover?

3. What are your proposed solutions to improve your employee retention,

taking into consideration time and cost constraints?

pg. 10
 Haenan Motors Philippines:
The Case of Unhappy Labor-Management Relations

By Ryan Rasgo

Haenan Motors Philippines, formed in 1970, was a part of a large South

Korean Conglomerate. In the last four decades, Haenan managed to establish
itself all over the world as a company producing reliable, technically sound and
stylish automobiles.

In the early 90s, the company started aggressive overseas expansion

programs. By the late 90s when the Southeast Asian crisis struck, the company,
like all the other Korean companies, faced serious financial problems. To survive,
it had to downsize its massive labor force. The company started offering “early
retirement” schemes and various incentives to workers, and publicly expressed its
inability to support its entire workforce in the slack period.

The existing labor unions refused to compromise, and the firm’s top
management, too, held its ground. Finally, the government intervened to force a
negotiated settlement between the union and the management. However, as of
early 2018, a local newspaper reported that the labor disputes are still unsettled
at Haenan Motors. Based on the report, the local auto industry in general is still
reeling from unsettled labor disputes that are likely to extend this year amid
sluggish sales. This bad publicity further worsened the company’s market
performance.

Unionized workers at Haenan Motor suspended operation of the carmaker’s

plant in Laguna for 24 hours last November of 2017, with partial strikes also
carried out early this 2018. Labor and management have further locked horns over
the range of wage increases.

pg. 11
 For the reason that the company recorded billions in net sales last 2017,
Haenan’s labor group wants basic salaries increased by ₱ 150.00 per day from the
current statutory minimum wage, plus an additional 15 percent of the company’s
net profit in the form of pay incentives. The management has refused to accept
labor’s demands, offering a monthly pay raise of ₱ 65.00 per day plus a total of
₱ 5.4 million in incentives annually. Notably, management’s offer is way lower
than the demands of the union.

In January of this year, Haenan’s labor union and management reached a

second tentative wage deal—a move that could conclude the long-drawn-out
negotiations. If approved, the deal would raise workers' basic wages by ₱ 110.00
per day, and provide year-end bonuses worth 90 percent of their basic monthly
pay, plus a total of ₱ 6 million in annual extra compensation. The deal was reached
in a meeting at Haenan’s head office in Makati City. This came a few hours after
laborers in the early morning shift once again walked away from their production
lines for six hours. Despite the presence of a second tentative wage deal, those on
the evening shift still put down their tools at around 7:40 p.m. and this lasted for
another three hours.

On the part of the labor union, it said that its 7,500-strong members
nationwide are set to vote on this coming labor day, 1 May 2018, on whether to
approve the deal.

Questions:

1. What are the common causes of labor-management conflicts?

2. What are the benefits/advantages gained by the employees in having an

organized labor union? How about on the part of management?

3. The formation of unions is more of a right, rather than just a privilege. If you are
a human resource executive at Haenan Motors, what are the strategies that
you might employ to prevent another conflict with the labor union (e.g.
disputes on wages and benefits)?

pg. 12