Katrina Rose S. Mendoza
MGT 202 – Wednesday 1:00-4:00 PM

Effective Leadership and Management on the Eight to Five Jungle

Founded on November 28, 1928, Philippine Long Distance Telephone Company (PLDT) is the leading telecommunications provider in the Philippines. Its mission is to be the preferred full service provider of voice, video and data at the most attractive levels of price, service quality, content and coverage, thereby bringing maximum benefit to the Company’s stakeholders. Its core values of ACCOUNTABILITY, INTEGRITY, FAIRNESS and TRANSPARENCY are integral to work as it defines the quality of service to the company and its various stakeholders.

When PLDT was incorporated and given franchise to establish and operate telephone services in the country, a typhoon had just ravaged Eastern Visayas, Bicol Peninsula, and Samar. The ability to communicate amongst loved ones and across the Philippines became crucial. Sadly, phone networks then were like disconnected intercom systems and you could only call people within your own small city. Filipinos were disconnected from neighboring towns, disconnected from friends in the other island and, needless to say, disconnected from the rest of the world. It was under this scenario that the law was signed giving birth to PLDT which hoped to achieve to interconnect these “intercom” systems into a seamless nationwide network that would facilitate communication and delivery of services to people, as well as spur economic development in the countryside.

Under the American owners of PLDT, many small phone companies were acquired to speed up the rollout connection of different phone systems all over the country. The management of PLDT was then set towards linking Filipinos to each other and, more importantly to the world. By 1968, a new era of PLDT leadership was ushered in as it finally became a Filipino-controlled corporation when Ramon Cojuangco and his group of Filipino industrialists and businessmen bought the controlling stake of General Telephone And Electronics Corporation of New York. It was a symbol of national pride and a moment of triumph for Filipinos. Under Cojuangco’s leadership, PLDT embarked on expansion campaigns that led to more Filipinos owning and benefiting from phones. The late 1990’s was a time of formidable challenges for PLDT, especially after the 1997 Asian financial crisis. Inauspicious as it may seem at the time, however, Manuel V. Pangilinan of Hong Kong-based First Pacific Co. Ltd. saw a great opportunity in taking control of PLDT. Its entry brought in a new culture and new enterprise that continuous to change the lives of Filipinos.

The Company’s Treasury Operations are mainly classified as follows:

* Disbursements – This process pertains to the handling, issuance and releasing of Company checks, payment intentions, and processing of foreign exchange transactions.

* Receipts – Refers to the process of receiving and handling of payments for all PLDT products and services. Involves arranging payment channels for our collections and bank pick-up of deposits in various PLDT business offices.

* Cash Planning – Involves planning and monitoring of the Company’s liquidity position, based on forecasted operating activities, capital expenditures, maturing debts and other obligations.

* Financing – This process involves sourcing of funding for our various operating and capital expenditure requirements, negotiation of financing terms and conditions, review and processing of loan documentation, handling of debt servicing requirements and monitoring of covenant compliance.

* Investments – These transactions comprise of investments of Company’s excess funds in money market instruments and other approved structured products while awaiting payment dates of the Company’s obligations.

* Hedging / Derivatives – These pertain to hedging transactions which the Company enters into in order to reduce and/or manage the adverse impact of changes in foreign exchange rates and interest rates on the Company’s operating results and cash flows.

Treasury Center is configured under the Corporate Finance and Treasury Sector, and has Treasury Management Division and Treasury Operations Division under it.

The Treasury Management Division formulates, recommends and implements treasury risk management policies and guidelines. It monitors and manages foreign exchange, interest rate, and treasury counterparty exposure risks so as the overall cash flow and liquidity of the Company. It evaluates, recommends and executes financing facilities to achieve the PLDT’s funding requirements. It maximizes utilization of Company and selected subsidiaries and affiliates’ (S&As) funds through money market investments. It also assists the Beneficial Trust Fund Trustees in monitoring and managing the overall performance of the various investments of the Beneficial Trust Fund and ensure that the financial objectives as determined are met.

The Treasury Operations Division, which I belong to, prepares, delivers and monitors documentation to execute various treasury transactions. It manages and executes the peso and foreign currency payments and disbursements of PLDT and Selected S&As. It monitors, manages and assists in the reconciliation of all local and foreign currency bank accounts. It evaluates, recommends, and executes cash management systems as well as ensure compliance by our counterparties to the agreed terms and conditions. It also performs cashiering functions for the company’s collections and disbursements.

The Treasury Operations Division has the following Sections under it: * Treasury Settlements and Cashiering Section * Corporate Disbursement Section * Cash Management Support and Check Custodianship Section

Our team at the Corporate Disbursements Section processes and monitors payment instructions for non-trade foreign currency disbursements and local payments. We are responsible for managing all payment arrangements including those covered by check outsourcing arrangements for PLDT and selected S&As and also for reconciling and monitoring bank balances of peso accounts.

The nature of work under our section is routinary. Everyday, we process Accounts Payable Vouchers to facilitate cash advances and petty cash of employees, payments to suppliers, government remittances and other third party transactions. On my end, I’m also part of doing the fund transfers of PLDT and its subsidiaries and affiliates for the proper utilization of the company’s daily collections. At some point, I can feel that we are bored of doing the same thing. We are always pressured and stressed because we have to meet the banks’ cutoff where the latest is 2:00 PM. In effect, most of us don’t have the regular 12:00 PM to 1:00 PM lunch break so having heavy breakfast is really advisable if you want to get through the day.

Since we have daily transactions, our department is organized by using the back up system. Meaning, there must be someone who should do the work of the person on leave to avoid delay and get through the process. This is a good idea as it also enhances and helps employees to familiarize themselves from the workflow of its operations. It educates workers and not let them be trapped on their own work. However, after working at PLDT for more than a year and a half, I was able to observe that the pinpoint person every time there is someone on leave or there is a new task to be done, the boss delegates it to those who are new or to those who have stayed at the company for only a few years. Let’s take for example Lester, an employee for four years. Whenever one member of our team is on leave, he is the back up. I find it unfair on his side because he is finding a hard time to be on leave whenever he likes since he should be around whenever one is not. Those who are working for more than 20 years are not as obligated like us in doing the said system.

Also, after interviewing my co-employees, I was able to realize an issue regarding promotion. Most of the treasury assistants on our section are already working for many years and yet they are still treasury assistants taking into account that most of them are Certified Public Accountants. The criteria and considerations to be promoted are not clearly defined and are vague. Aside from the monetary benefits already given by the company to all of its employees, not much source of motivation is present to further trigger their efficiency and effectiveness. As a result, they just tend to finish the assigned task. They are not that active to think of ways that will further improve the process of their work.

Building a team is somewhat like building a house. It takes organization, effort and skill to make one that meets the needs of the people that inhabit it. When a construction crew gets together to start working on building a house, they are working on one house. There are plans drawn up that show all the intricacies of the work to be done. There will be carpenters, electricians, plumbers, and other specialist that will do their part, but there is one plan. Everyone works from blueprints for the same house with the same goal in mind.

Due to the repetitiveness of tasks, employees lend themselves to boredom and drudgery, causing them to become unmotivated to perform at a high level like what is happening on our case. While it’s natural to become disinterested after doing the same thing over and over, managers have the responsibility of making sure workers approach their job with motivation. First is to help them feel good about their regular work. Advice about workplace motivation often suggests purposely assigning a challenging or unusual task to an employee who seems unmotivated. The reasoning is that it is a way to help him or her become more enthusiastic. However, the employee should first see that the regular work he or she was hired to do is worth doing well. When that is happening regularly, then more fun, interesting or challenging work can be assigned, if appropriate. Once set, offering employees the option of taking on new positions, urging them to accomplish new goals and allowing them to participate in an enjoyable workplace can further result in a motivated and inspired staff. The manager could cross-train employees, which allows to place employees in different roles should there be one who call in sick or resigns without notice. I think this can be effective on our end if the back up system is on a one is to one basis. Meaning, I will do back up on one person and shift to a different position after a specified period. With this, each staff is no longer that bothered in taking leaves and as a plus, this new tasks would increase their awareness in the workplace and improves motivation and morale. Managers should think about how their workers can complete daily tasks and at the same time accomplish something new. Make them realize that they are not working for their own results, but for the end results that come from their combined contributions.

A leader or a manager should also get to know the person, not just about them. Build a relationship with the team members so that they understand their situations, their concerns, their dreams, their motivators, their de-motivators, their passions, their frustrations - and all this not as a result from a survey or test, but from spending time with them and developing a caring, nurturing relationship that goes both ways. Build their people by valuing them, listening to them and being open enough to take suggestions both for the team and personally. When a person feels safe to make contributions and valued as an intricate part of the team there will be mutual respect and admiration for each team member and this starts with the example of the leader.

Another key element is for leaders to serve the team. This means working to make sure they have all they need to do their job to the best of their ability. It may also mean investing in employees so they can expend their abilities. Applying this on the situation, making the staff feel that their manager has plans for them could lead to motivation and not make them settle on their status quo. Since our section is more on bank relations and third party transactions, seminars about Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas rulings and trainings for accountants should be taken into consideration. Promotion criteria should be clearly defined by discussing what is expected of them and by showing a clear view of the career path of each employee. Leaders or managers need to consider their team and how they can best get the best effort from each one. That means looking at each individual and recognizing their contributions and talents. It also means going out of the way to make sure the individual team members are growing in ways that will benefit the individual and the team. Quite simply - they need to make sure that they are building the people on their team. For it is not enough to be the best, if there is the potential to be great!