Today is Monday. Early morning TV shows had been graced by the pomp of the Queen’s 90th birthday celebration. Along with the morning rush, my husband wittily quipped that he didn’t know that Aussie sensation, Kylie Minogue, has sterling, angelic voice quality and is not just a popular singing sensation. What caught my youngest son’s eyes, though, had been the cute little pony doing his amazing tricks as the centre of attraction amidst the horse show at the beck and call of a horse whisperer.
TV screens flicked through and Dam Im became the attention getter with her win at the Eurovision Contest. She got only the second place and yet she has been dubbed as the “greatest winner.”
Yes, I am supposed to write a blog about people every Mondays. Yet, what is the significance of all these? What is/are the point/s that I am driving at? My blog title says “HR” so how could things be connected?
First reason – My most honest answer is that only one hour is left again before my self-imposed “1 blog every working day” personal goal. Yet, I still couldn’t come up with a piece to write, which should be:
1. Interesting and relevant enough to you, my dearest readers; and,
2. Finished before my time is up.
Second reason – I believe that having this theme as my topic will indeed be:
1. Interesting and relevant enough to you, my dearest readers; and,
2. Finished before my time is up.
Before I continue to bother you with my rhetorics and constant repetitions, let me expound further on my story for Day 1 of Week 2 of my official blog writing journey. Now here I go…
The Questions
“Reflect upon your present blessings — of which every man has many — not on your past misfortunes, of which all men have some.”
― Charles Dickens, A Christmas Carol and Other Christmas Writings
Last Friday, I’ve written some of my thoughts on how LinkedIn has assisted me with my current career and personal journey. Don’t get me wrong but I am not an employee of the company nor am I being paid to write anything complimentary. However, I just believe in giving credit where such is due. With this forum, I was able to connect and share ideas and knowledge with fellow HR and other professionals without the constraints normally imposed by time, other resources, distance, location, and what-have-yous.
Among the many questions usually asked would border on HR practices in the country as well as my place of origin. As a migrant, I’ve always been focusing on determining how my previous skill sets, exposures, knowledge and mindset would be of relevance to the local Aussie workplace, too. The following questions asked of me just recently, seemed interesting and relevant enough even for me, and not just to the one/s who asked such:
“How do you differentiate HR practice in Australia and in the Philippines? I believe that somehow you have experience being an HR practitioner in the Philippines. How is the culture? How is the approach? I hope you don’t mind me asking a lot of question because I really want to learn.”
My response
“Two roads diverged in a wood, and I –
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.”
I would not be restating the exact words I’ve used for the previous queries I had similar to those questions. With my current time constraint, the following is a version of an excerpt of my response:
“Those are good questions.
I’ve responded to similar questions asked by a former colleague before. It was easier to respond to him than to you, as I’ve worked for years in the same industry and organisation where he is now. However, differences should not be as stark and as greatly emphasised as I believe HR should work within general common principles of fair, balanced, fact-and-evidence-based, results-focused practices.
Today’s modern HR practitioner is a business partner but also should be an employee champion. HR needs to be aligned with the business strategy and should work towards creating value for internal stakeholders (employees, management, procedures, financial considerations, business continuity, etc.) while meeting standards/expectations of external stakeholders (customers, investors, partner/other similar organisations, outlying communities, those with ethical/legal/procedural interests/implications to the company).
Further, I am one who would rather be doing extensive research before I’d give some conclusive professional advice. However, in a nutshell, my theory is that the differences would be arising from/could be explained by the following two major sets of factors:
1. External factors – socio-economic landscape, legislations, national/demographic factors and the like.
-Generally, initial or obvious differences should be in technological advances specifically the internet, which affects the speed, accuracy, and quality that things are done especially but not limited to recruitment and selection, and HR data analysis. This is predictable for non-multi-national RP organisations as RP is more manpower intensive than AU since maybe because labour is not so cheap in AU thus perhaps automation of certain processes had become more commonplace. AU also has more capacity for infrastructures and non-human resource acquisition, as supply is more and cheaper due to the country’s purchasing capacity. However, I believe that RP should have already progressed over the years so my assumption may already cease to be entirely accurate so I need confirmation of this.
–Corruption may also be a stumbling block. Lack of transparency in HR and other practices may not only undermine an organisation’s credibility but also lengthen turnaround or service delivery timeframes, tamper with fairness of decisions, dampen employee morale, create problems in staff retention, among other HR concerns.
-Gender equality or equity, diversity, inclusiveness is also a focus here just as there. For example, I had been one of the lucky 5% in my Philippine Military Academy class who happened to be a female and there had been recent moves to increase female numbers into at least 20%. Here in Australia, defence, police as well as other uniformed organisations have even gone to the extent of working towards a male:female recruitment ratio of 50:50. This may or may not be achieved yet as current figures are still below this target but this goal is reflective of the extent of awareness and intent to encourage (and not to discourage) more females to explore their options, even if the fields are traditionally that of males.
–Flexible work arrangements are instituted here. I initially reckoned this is probably to encourage more parents to work, and be less dependent on government dole outs thus it could be good for the economy. However, the more important intended benefits of these arrangements are better work-life balance for the employee as well as benefits to the business due to increased staff retention, productivity and quality of work outputs, as well as health and safety in the workplace, among others. The Philippines also had something to have this effected but I am yet to confirm if the 2009 guidelines have already been widely adopted.
These flexible practices would be easier to implement though firstly due to manpower size, as there are only 20million Aussies compared to the Philippines’ 100million cramped up in a land area the size of just 1 Aussie state. “Beggars are not choosers” may seem an infamous and could even be an insulting by-line but competition may sadly make one go for less. However, unemployment rates in the Philippines have already eased over the years. 7.5% in 2009 to around 5.6% recently should already make it more conducive for better implementation of best practice principles to flourish.
Note: I have always remained apolitical given that I have mostly been in public sector positions so I have always been supporting the duly-elected government to do what it should for its constituency. So please take my comments as just merely based on what I know, and the facts and observations that I have come across with so far. They are not meant to politically endorse someone or go against another politician’s word. I still believe in supporting duly-elected authority, chosen by the people, for a common good. Thus, anything above that I have mentioned should be taken along the context with this “note” in mind.
2. Internal factors – unique organisational culture, capacities (size, budget, branding, success history, strategic plans, etc.)
HR professionals and experts alike already recognise culture as an unavoidable basis on how we come up with our short, medium and long-term plans and strategy that separates/differentiates an organisation from another. You know what? You’ve just given me a good topic to tackle. I might as well have your idea included in my possible blogs-to-write list. I’d keep you posted should I have more information for you on this. For now, I hope this helps somehow.
By the way, like you and as what I have written that I’ve learned from my mum, I’d also like to learn. Learning should not stop in the classroom but could also extend even up to that point in time of our last breath. I am open-minded so I would like to be enlightened. Are my assumptions right? What do you think?”
Cheers and regards,
Esperanza
Now, when I wrote my response to my professional contact’s questions, I still haven’t done some data searching yet. I know that this article should not be as stringent and as technical as what I am avoiding it to become but here are the data so far that I’ve collated.
Connecting the dots
Now how does my correspondence with a fellow professional relate to today’s news? The common grounds are the following:
We human beings could be affected by internal and external factors though we still need to make our choices.
“It is our choices, Harry, that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities.”
Dam Im’s win had been primarily because she already had the innate talent for singing. She would have already developed such “gift” through self-initiated practices, and honed by her own passions. She may already have had those unique qualities, which made her the “Dam Im” who could rise up to be that star. Her feat, however, will also be intertwined with her life experiences, situations and people in her lives – her family, friends and other people who believed in her as well as the jury/judges, coaches, trainers, beauty or image consultants, driver, fans, detractors, critiques, and others who directly or indirectly contributed to making her rise to that feat possible. She still needs to make her choices but all other factors will have a bearing on her decision one way or another.
Dam Im had also been the jury’s favourite at the start; however, subsequent judging procedures made her slide to just number 2. The irony is that the Aussie jury chose Ukraine which eventually turned to be the number 1, outshining Dam Im. We cannot control external forces around us but we can control how we perceive them. For instance, instead of becoming bitter and questioning the results, she even decided to say that Ukraine’s contestant deserves to be a winner. On a more macro level, it has also been said that Dam Im’s loss is still Australia’s gain and achievement, as she grabbed the 2nd spot even with the fact that the country is just on its second time to join and is the only country not located in Europe to do so.
This situation is basically the same in the context of the HR realm and management in general, which is why a SWOT analysis does come in helpful. Every person is different and has the innate potentials to become the best in the field or industry. Which industry or company or specific position that a person should be accepted to should be determined through fair and evidence-based practices. For example, in the recruitment process, internal and external factors interplay. Applicants may have their own unique qualities but only a few would become shortlisted for interviews not only because of what the candidate can offer and how the application was put through but also the needs of the organisation, the parameters used by the recruiting team in shortlisting candidates, among other external factors that the candidate has no control over. At the interview stage, a candidate may exert utmost preparation and execution of interview techniques which may affect the panel’s decision yet there would only be a certain extent that such could happen, and such would only be when the candidate’s circumstances properly intersect that of the organisation’s. Experience tells me that the best will also stand out during the final stages, but the chosen candidate need not be the original highest ranking applicant at the pre-interview stage. At the end of the day, rejection will initially be taken as something negative, especially from the unsuccessful applicant’s viewpoint. However, this could be a blessing in disguise as a mismatch between the applicant and the organisation may pose disadvantages not only to the organisation but also to the individual.
Diversity is in action.
“Different roads sometimes lead to the same castle.”
Dam Im has Asian roots like me, with foreign blood just like more than 43% of today’s Australians. She has brought honour to the country, despite her multicultural background. It has also been said that migrants even pave the way for Australia’s economic well-being.
Flexibility diversifies good.
“The measure of intelligence is the ability to change.”
Australia’s participation in the Eurovision competition is extraordinary. The country is the only non-European in the contest. In recognition of Australian audience appreciation for the show, the country became a special participant in 2015 and once again joined this year. This made Dam Im’s victory even more special.
The HR realm could be likened to this. We have independent, given, supposedly-constant standards, benchmarks and best practices yet there would be room for the dependent, changing, modifiable variables, which would suit organisational requirements corresponding to changing outlying conditions and temperament of the times.
Wrapping it all up
Finding a common ground is good.
“Peace cannot be kept by force; it can only be achieved by understanding.”
It would be easier to see differences. Identifying areas for improvement is the way to go in sorting out what needs to be done indeed. Similarly, we could see that HR in different countries may indeed differ due to factors like geography, climate, history, and other socio-cultural and socio-economic factors. Identifying these may help us identify trends and patterns based on which we could tailor solutions. However, identifying common grounds should also not be totally ruled out. There are ways and means that people, organisations and countries could find a common reason to work together for peace, fairness, equality, progress and hope for all. Filipinos have been acknowledged in the world scene to be musically inclined. Now, Aussies are having more of such musical feats as well. HR and organisations may be initiating different versions of best practices to address unique situations and circumstances yet these should all be geared to fairness, compliance to legal and ethical principles, in as much as they create the value being identified for the organisation, its people, its customers and its other stakeholders. There are more common grounds to explore. Let us do so. The world will be a better place if we transcend barriers and work together for the common good.
The innate goodness of the human spirit is real.
“The day the power of love overrules the love of power, the world will know peace.”
Before I forget, I would also like to stress that Australia is one of the top aid givers to the Philippines. One of that AusAID initiative is the Philippines Australia Human Resource and Organisational Development Facility (HRODF) which facilitated HR collaborative efforts between the two countries up to 2015.
**********
I know that I am trying to write “out of the box” and to even assume that “no boxes which exist.” However, this process of freeing my mind is still in progress and not fully complete. Although I do not have the same limited memory capabilities of Nemo’s pal Dory, I also do not have that immense superhuman mind capacity as Professor X’s Cerebro. Thus, in the meantime, I still see the need and will be opting to refer to exact facts and figures which could quickly be extracted from the following internet sources especially for my table of collated data above:
1. Wikipedia (You’d need to click the hyperlinks in the text so that you could be directed to the page/s relevant to each topic.)
2. https://psa.gov.ph/content/foreign-citizens-philippines-results-2010-census
4. https://www.dca.org.au/compliance/legislation-and-other-compliance.html
5. http://unpan1.un.org/intradoc/groups/public/documents/UN/UNPAN012415.pdf
Please note that this is not a research-based article. This is merely a spur-of-the-moment, brainstormed draft article turned into a blog. In as much as I would want to write statements backed by more logic and reason, a proper research should be a product of careful, deliberate effort and not like this hastily-written article.
**********
As always I’d like to know your thoughts once more.Have you been surprised lately? Was it a pleasant or unpleasant surprise? Would you have it any other way? How do you connect seemingly unconnected realms?
(Note: This article also appears in the author’s LinkedIn profile.)
**********
Discover more from Words of Hope and Optimism
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
Words of Hope and Optimism 