MIS Chronicles

The Tacit and Explicit Knowledge

2013-04-27T04:11:00.000-07:00

Knowledge plays a key role in the information revolution. Major challenges are to select the "right" information from numerous sources and transform it into useful knowledge.

Without the ready exchange of information, knowledge cannot be created, decisions cannot be made. Without knowledge, innovations cannot be adopted. The interconversion of tacit and explicit information provides the social interactions required for creating knowledge. Studying a cook, writing a recipe, creating a menu, and practicing a technique are all examples of interconversion of tacit and explicit information.

The "Iceberg" metaphor - Tacit and Explicit Knowledge Relationship

Each of those steps also requires interactions with others in order to proceed. Thus knowledge is created and innovations are adopted only through a web of social interactions.

Tacit knowledge is the kind of knowledge that is difficult to transfer to another person by means of writing it down or verbalizing it. For example, stating to someone that London is in the United Kingdom is a piece of explicit knowledge that can be written down, transmitted, and understood by a recipient. However, the ability to speak a language, use algebra, or design and use complex equipment requires all sorts of knowledge that is not always known explicitly, even by expert practitioners, and which is difficult to explicitly transfer to users. While tacit knowledge appears to be simple, it has far reaching consequences and is not widely understood.

On the other hand, explicit knowledge is the knowledge that has been articulated, codified, and stored in certain media. It can be readily transmitted to others. The information contained in encyclopedias is good examples of explicit knowledge.

Tacit knowledge based on common sense, and explicit knowledge based on academic accomplishment is both underutilized. Organizations must begin to create worker-centered environments to encourage the open sharing and use of all forms of knowledge

Conversion between these two forms of information by the interaction of human beings creates new knowledge, the ability to take an action. There are four possible processes on the path to knowledge creation:

1. Tacit-to-tacit (socialization) – the direct exposure, testing and acquisition of information between individuals. Learning by observing, imitating and practicing, or become ’’socialized’’ into a specific way of doing things, like learning from mentors and peers. E.g. watch someone.

2. Tacit-to-explicit (conversation) – the articulation of personal information into defined, decision-producing form. Record discussions, descriptions and innovations in a manual and then use the content to create a new product. Converting tacit knowledge into explicit knowledge means finding a way to express the inexpressible. E.g. write something.

3. Explicit-to-explicit (combination) – the combination of diverse pieces of information to produce new knowledge, like using numerous data sources to write a financial report. E.g. analyze results.

4. Explicit-to-tacit (internalization) – the subjective process of making new information one’s own. Re-frame or interpret explicit knowledge using a person’s frame of reference so that knowledge can be understood and then internalized or accepted by others. A person’s unique tacit knowledge can be applied in creative ways to broaden, extend or re-frame a specific idea. Tacit knowledge does not become part of a person’s knowledge base until it is articulated and internalized. E.g. memorize something.

Tacit knowledge is acquired, taught and shared through knowledge fairs, learning communities, study missions, tours, advisory boards, job rotation, stories, myths and task forces. Ways to teach both tacit knowledge and formal academic knowledge or job skills are similar. Experienced people teach tacit knowledge directly to less experienced people by ’’ showing them the ropes’’. Tacit knowledge is taught indirectly by writing down answers to these questions:

- What do you know about your strengths, weaknesses, values and ambitions?
- What are the strengths, weakness, values and ambitions of others with whom you work?
- How would you approach a similar job differently in the future?

People can be trained to use this newly acquired information to improve their ability to acquire and apply tacit knowledge. It is also important to locate the most valued people in the organization and determine why they are so highly valued.

Organizations that recognize and use their employees’ steadily growing wealth of tacit and explicit knowledge to solve problems and achieve goals have a major competitive advantage. However, many organizations need to improve how they acquire and share tacit and explicit knowledge. Supportive, interactive learning environments built on trust; openness and collective ownership definitely encourage knowledge acquisition and sharing. New knowledge is created when people transfer and share what they know, internalize it and apply what they learned. The value and worth of individual, group and corporate intellectual assets grow exponentially when shared and increase in value with use. Human inertia is the biggest obstacle to knowledge management.

Major concepts underlying the entire spectrum of knowledge, like knowledge sharing and open communication, should be tied to corporate financial variables. Monetary and non-monetary (intrinsic motivators,) should be used to rewarded people for their abilities to recognize, store and share knowledge. Monetary motivators are bonuses and percentages of corporate profits. Intrinsic motivators are non-financial rewards, like peer recognition and opportunities to do challenging work.

Ultimate judges of success are supervisors, team members, partners, shareholders and many others in the value chain. Vital tacit knowledge vanishes when companies reorganize, merge, or downsize.

The need for training in knowledge-based areas is endless. However, people welcome opportunities to teach others how to acquire and transform data and explicit information into tacit knowledge. ’’Learners’’ and ’’teachers’’ report that their most rewarding and meaningful learning experiences are one on one. These learner-centered ways to share tacit knowledge are examples of intrinsic, or self-motivators. The strong desire many people have to use and share their tacit knowledge will further increase the momentum and direction of the knowledge revolution.

Organizations that do not permit the easy conversion of information will create less knowledge and adopt fewer innovations. This is often seen by the inability of organizations to convert tacit information into forms usable by all. Some groups punish socialization and conversation in the community.

Wisdom can never be attained without the rapid flow of information in a community.

Tangible Intangible

2013-04-27T02:02:00.001-07:00

Microsoft recently released Windows 8 as their new Operating System. The platform focuses on touch technology; primarily it was designed to be used in tablet computers. The traditional “Start Menu” was already gone, and been replaced by the “Metro Style” menu. Due to legal issues, they renamed the term “Metro” into Modern UI. Although Microsoft receives a very fair rating on their new OS, because it has a lot of competitors, especially in mobile computing: IOS, and Android, by which are more stable and user friendly for consumers. Most consumers still prefer to use Apple, and Android phones, rather than to use Windows phones.

Windows 8 Modern UI

Microsoft has a bad reputation on its first releases of Operating Systems, that’s why most companies don’t want to buy Windows 8. Like Windows Vista, Windows 8 may seem to be very unstable, and there will be application compatibility issues. They have chosen to stick with Windows 7, which is the most stable OS to date.

Lots of ideas and great minds that were combined to create this new operating system. From planning, conceptualization, and programming, Microsoft came up with Windows 8. They even started developing Windows 9 as the successor, which is expected to be released in 2015.

These ideas, concepts, and knowledge are the intangible assets of the organization. Intangible assets can also become tangible. It can be in a form of a document, a website, a database, or a device that will serve as references or information resource of the company. These are the “tangible intangible” of the organization.

Computer programmers are paid to create new applications. Managers are compensated to solve problems. IT Specialist are there to solve problems on business applications, infrastructure, and to provide enterprise solutions for their clients.

Since the knowledge of a person is intangible, usually brought out when an employee go home, organizations came out with the use of a knowledgebase. Knowledgebase connects the firm’s experts, ideas, processes, guidelines, proven processes and templates, and regardless of geography or specialty and avoiding long costly hours of repeating work. In case that an employee left the company, there will be an available reference regarding his work, especially procedures that can be turn over to the new employee.

IBM Blue Pages

Another tangible intangible of an organization is the Corporate Yellow Pages. We call it “Blue Pages” in IBM. It is like an online profile/ resume, which contains the contact information of an employee, including the job description, expertise, and accomplished projects. Corporate Yellow Pages connects inquirers to experts to save time, reduce error and guess work, and prevents the reinvention of countless wheels (email, Skype, IM, Blogs, Search Queries, and similar tools). These are maps that show where the knowledge of the enterprise is located. Corporate Yellow Pages can be used as a tool for collaboration. By this tool, the organization can easily track those qualified employees to solve problems and capable of handling certain projects.

Next, is the Lessons Learned. Lessons Learned is a documentation of what went right and wrong, what worked and did not work, together with guidelines and / or checklist for others who are engaged to similar projects. Eliminates rework and prevents potential failure. This is useful in commencing a project so that those best procedures or practices are applied, and also prevent potential mistakes that may happen in the future. Lessons Learned is also relevant in events that happen from the past. It shows what good actions must be taken; eliminating inappropriate actions so that the failure won’t happen again.

The last tangible intangible considered a “must have” of the organization is the Competitor Intelligence System. Competitor Intelligence System talks across organizational boundaries that include continuously updated and organized knowledge about suppliers, customers, and competitors. Knowing your competitors strengths and weaknesses will be a great advantage for your organization. You can formulate your own strategy based on your company’s opportunities and threats. Gathering competitive intelligence is not an option, and most businesses can’t afford to dedicate resources to the function. CI system can help small and larger businesses become aware of their market and their competitors more efficiently and effectively.

There you have it, the four tangible intangible of the organization. Since these systems are interrelated, you can form a chain out of these systems, and create a knowledge portal reporting system for the organization.

Intangible assets can be tangible assets. Information and Knowledge can be converted into tangible assets which will give a lot of benefits for the organization.

“Using high-speed microprocessors, intranets, whizzy search-engines, you can automate, spiff up, hyperlink, and turbocharged the apparatus to preserve what might otherwise deteriorate, and catalog what might otherwise disappear.”

Everything Happens for a Reason

2013-04-12T05:48:00.001-07:00

Holy week is a solemn week of reflection about Christ’s passion, death, and resurrection, that’s why it is said to be a wonderful time to attend masses, bible studies, and retreats. Some people enjoy their vacation by going to beaches; do some extreme sports, nature tripping, and a lot more.

But, I’ve chosen to be with my relatives, contemplated about the Word of God, the blessings that I’ve received for the past years, and attended the Triduum Mass.

I also recalled my past experiences, my achievements, and the problems that I conquered. These experiences help me develop my leadership skills, and attained the job position that I desired.

A Blast from the Past

During my college days, I was one of the active students who always participate in school events. I’m an active member of AMA Microsystems and Philippine Institute of Computer Engineering Students. These two IT organizations help AMA students by providing training and seminars. As a one of the leaders, I conducted review classes, mentoring to students, and became an adviser for design projects.

My father died when I was in 2nd year college because of cancer. We were having a financial problem that time, which may result me to stop pursuing my studies. But I’ve decided to take a part-time job, and I was employed in a fast food chain as a service crew. Although I discern that it is difficult, I made this decision in order to help my mother in all our financial expenses. This setup greatly affects my performance. My grades went down; there are times that I didn’t have an adequate sleep, and I don’t have time to review my lessons prior to taking the exams. After six months, I made a decision to quit my part-time job and focus on my studies. I’m very grateful that my mother understands my situation. I resort to help her in our canteen business every morning before attending my classes.

As a Trainer, an Environmentalist, and a Choir member

Meeting new people is my passion, that’s why I really love to join organizations. At the age of 9, I was invited by our parish priest to join the Knights of the Altar and became an acolyte (altar server), and then later I became a choir member for our church. From that experience, I became closer to God and knowledgeable about the Bible. Serving God is priceless; I believe that you must put God first in your life than anyone else. Singing and praising Him is really great experience.


Allan Mejia with the Bukas Palad Music Ministry

I also got an opportunity to be part of the Bukas Palad Online Community Choir, met the Bukas Palad Music Ministry, and sing with them, especially on their regular church services, and events.

Our parish priest appointed me to conduct training about computer for the Silbi Libis Project. My students were our parishioners who want to develop their computer skills.

Teaching with different types of people is really a challenge. I have students who were younger and older than me. Still, the project became successful.

And then I became an active member and a volunteer for Mother Earth Foundation. I conducted training on Solid Waste Management, and participated in events together with other non-government organizations. I created and maintained the organization’s website, made brochures, pamphlets, and manuals.

Working at IBM

Working at IBM is a great opportunity. I was given a chance to lead projects, work with different nationalities, and excel in my profession.

I was assigned as technical support lead for 3 accounts; Airline, Online marketing, and Apple. Because of our dedication and good performance, our team received an IBM Ovation Award.

And then, I became a Desktop Engineering Specialist, my responsibility is similar to a Subject Matter Expert (SME). I’m the contact person for all support and production applications, and became the project lead for application and desktop deployments, as well as TSE Team Lead.

The Project Move

The Project Move is the most challenging project that I engaged with, wherein we have to move our entire infrastructure from EDSA Square to Hanston Square. The first challenge is that, we only have three weeks to accomplish the task, and we must move the accounts without disruption in the operations.

We transferred the accounts one by one, and making sure that upon transferring the accounts, there will be no problems on network, as well as in the applications. Unexpectedly, we experienced a lot challenge, since network specialists haven’t configured yet the accounts’ network. Even the domain services are unreachable, which caused the delay in the project.

And since I’m the lead for desktop deployments, I began to coordinate with the other specialists, and guided the Technical Support Team for testing and troubleshooting. Given that a lot of LOBs are already transferred in the new site, we have to support them 24/7, which had caused me a lot of extended hours and sleepless nights. Every time we encounter a problem we must immediately fix and coordinate the impacted constituencies within the IT team, and our clients.

Desire for Advancement and Expanding My Network

APC Buddies

I began studying new technologies, and became an IT Certified Professional for Microsoft and VMware. I also gained an ITILv3 Foundation Certification for IT Service Management. Gaining Microsoft Certification in Windows Server 2008 led me to become a Systems Administrator, and became an Operations Lead for Server Compliance Team.
I attended a lot of soft skills training, by which really help me develop my leadership skills.

Since I’m aiming for a Technical Management position; I’ve decided to pursue my Master’s Degree in Information Systems in Asia Pacific College.

I joined the Microsoft Partner Network to be more knowledgeable on Microsoft products, and became a Pre-Sales Technical Specialist for Private Cloud: Management and Virtualization.

Since I want to expand my professional network, I signed up and became an active member of the following organizations: Philippine IT Organization (Phil-IT Org), Philippine Computer Society (PCS), and Wikimedia Philippines.

IT Architect Mentoring Program

I was inspired by the Growth Market Units (GMUs), and became interested in the IT Architect profession. IT Architects have both technical and management skills/capabilities. Fortunately, I've got a mentor from Singapore. He is an Infrastructure Architect. I already took up the initial courses for IT Architect. I arrange meeting with my mentor every month in order to track my development. I’m very grateful because I have the support of my manager in pursuing this profession.

All these experiences mold me to become a good leader. It is truly, that everything happens for a reason. You will definitely learn from your experiences. Every challenge is an opportunity. And lastly, feedback is a gift, because it gives you a room for improvement.

The 4 Cs of leadership that shines in me: Character, Competence, Concern, and Communication.

“If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader." -- John Quincy Adams --

Alter Ego

2013-04-09T03:12:00.000-07:00

Last December, IBM Global Process Services celebrated their Christmas Party with a theme “Alter Ego” with a tag line “Each of us is Wearing a Mask”.

An alter ego is a second self, which is believed to be distinct from a person's normal or original personality. A person who has an alter ego is said to lead a double life. Alter ego is also used to refer to the different behaviors any person may display in certain situations.

We, Filipinos, are famous in being joyful. They often say, even we have a lot of problems; facing natural disasters, and calamities, financial problems, and emotional problems; we still make ourselves laugh, and always wear a smile. Bamboo’s song composition “Pinoy Ako” was truly inspirational. The song implies that we have a kind of “amulet” which we use as our shield to overcome all the problems in our life. And this powerful amulet is no other than our faith to God.

In the workplace, we often see smiles especially when you greet someone. We do not notice if the smile that is manifested by a person is real. In fact, a lot of them have different meanings. Perhaps, we still must wear a smile when working, especially when facing our clients and customers. Call center agents are very talented in terms of changing their disposition when handling calls; whether their caller is an irate or a nice customer.

I, myself is good in handling problems and difficulties in life. I forget my personal and family problems when working, because I believe it will greatly affect my performance. This is a great way of controlling my personal emotions in different situations, especially when facing and interacting with my colleagues.

Each of us possesses different personalities that we can play in our daily life. Maybe you have a different personality while working in your office, and you play a different personality when you’re at home. But the most dominant is our personality that we acquired from our parents and environment. This is not easy to change, because this is our own nature, our true self, by which makes us different from other person.

Human brains are capable of recording actual experiences of internal and external events, the most significant of which are recorded during the first five years of life. The states of being are not roles but psychological realities and phenomenological realities. The state is produced by the playback of recorded data of events in the past, involving real people, real times, real places, real decisions, and real feelings. Recorded events are inculcated in the subconscious mind and have automatic playback capability that can either be harmonious or unpleasant.

Although we have those recordings, we can choose what to play from those recordings. We can turn-off what are unnecessary, and or negative behavior that we acquired from those events.

An adult do not react to problems and challenges no matter how complex and great they are, but instead responds to provide solutions and innovations. We must respond like matured individuals and act with a systematic perspective in our life.

"I hide all problems behind my smile. Behind my smile is a world of pain. You think you know me, but you have no idea."

Two Cases – Reflections of Reality

2013-02-17T03:38:00.002-08:00

While reading the case study entitled “Susie Wong”, I began reflecting about my experiences as an employee. I met a lot of “Susie Wong” in the workplace, and honestly, I became like “Susie Wong” in the past. I have learned how to deal with this type of situation. I have made the best solution, as well as the best decision from this experience.

Truly, it is a great advantage to take a Master’s Degree which focuses on management, specially taking the course “Human Capital Management” which unlocks and reveals what’s going on in the management side; on how the management assess an employee, and what are the considerations of promoting an employee in the company.

The case of Susie Wong emphasized the importance of Emotional Intelligence in the workplace. No doubt, Susie Wong has impressive credentials, an MBA degree, and a 2nd placer in the CPA licensure examination, what else can you asks for an employee. Susie Wong has high levels of IQ, and unfortunately a low EQ. Studies have shown that EQ is more important than IQ. Emotional Intelligence is really what you need to succeed in work, as well as in life. Susie Wong has an attitude problem. She can easily discourage when there’s a problem within her team. She has a superiority complex, and she think that she is more effective than her manager, and anybody else. She is impatient and always bad tempered in the team causing her not to gain respect from her peers. She always compares her experiences in the current company with her past employer.

Emotional Intelligence

The story of Susie Wong reminds me of the film “Hanggang Kailan Kita Mamahalin” which starred Richard Gomez and Lorna Tolentino. This is a story of a couple who are both employed in the same company. Lisa (Lorna Tolentino) has shown exceptional skills in promoting the product lines of the company. She has a very good leadership and management skills that’s why the top management have decided to promote her, and become a Product Manager. On the other hand, Mike (Richard Gomez) is an opposite of Lisa, he is always irritated; he even treated her subordinates like slaves. He lacks professionalism, and he even shout in the workplace whenever he is disappointed. He felt dishearten when he knew that his wife has been promoted, and become his own manager. Because of feeling of resentment, he confronted a board member asking why he was not considered in the position, since he has been in the company for almost 10 years. His superior said “We haven’t considered you in the position by which you are not able to handle, and also because of your bad attitude.” Mike became frustrated, inefficient to his work, have decided to leave the company, and have started his own fishing business, and unfortunately, it was unsuccessful. The relationship with his wife was affected, because he envies Lisa for being successful.

Emotional intelligence (EI) is the ability to identify, assess, and control the emotions of oneself, of others, and of groups. It has five components: self-awareness, self-regulation, social skill, empathy, and motivation.

Self-Awareness means, “Having a deep understanding of one’s emotions, strengths, weaknesses, needs, and drives”. People who have a high level of self-awareness are very honest with themselves and others. They avoid the extremes of being overly critical and unrealistically hopeful. Furthermore, these people know how their feelings affect them, others, and their job performance.

Self-Regulation involves controlling or redirecting one's disruptive emotions and impulses and adapting to changing circumstances. People with a high degree of self-regulation are more capable of facing the ambiguities of an advancing industry than those whose degree of self-regulation is low. Furthermore, people with a high level of self-regulation can help to enhance the integrity of an organization by not making bad decisions through impulse behaviors. Self-regulation will help individuals stay in control of their feelings and make thoughtful decisions.

Social skill refers to managing relationships to move people in the desired direction. Individuals use their friendliness in order to have people do what they want. Social leaders are able to build a rapport easily by finding some type of common ground with everyone, thus establishing a broad circle of acquaintances. In addition, the social individual is an effective persuader and is able to manage teams effectively.

Empathy is considering other people's feelings especially when making decisions. The empathetic person combines employees’ feelings and other factors in order to make decisions. There are three reasons why empathy is important to leadership in today’s business world: “the increasing use of teams, the rapid pace of globalization, and the growing need to retain talent”. When using teams, empathetic individuals can be astounding leaders because of their abilities to recognize and understand other opinions. Empathetic leaders play a key role when globalization is a factor, because they can understand the importance of others’ cultural differences. Empathetic individuals are also effective in retaining talent because they are able to develop personal rapport with new employees or protégés during coaching and mentoring stages.

Motivation refers to being driven to achieve for the sake of achievement. Motivation makes people restless; therefore, they continuously explore new horizons to find better ways of doing their jobs. Highly motivated people constantly raise their performance expectations for themselves, their team, and their organization.

The story of “The Bone of Contention” is ubiquitous in workplace. Bella is a CPA, and an effective employee, and been working in the Food Corporation for the past three years. And then, Patty is a newcomer but has lot of experiences from different industries. The case shows the comparison between loyalty and experience. I believe Patty has a great advantage over Bella in terms of skills that she acquired from different companies. The behavior of Bella, being depressed and demotivated, is unjustifiable. She should not act that way, and made Patty felt limited. If she’s not contented on what she’s getting then, she must resign in the company, and look for the better opportunity. Another problem that has been identified is the confidentiality of the salary information in the company. The employee’s compensation and benefits information must be secure, and should be treated with high confidentiality.

These two stories reflect a reality, and truly happening in the workplace. It helps me to identify and evaluate different types of human behavior in an organization.

“The man of character, sensitive to the meaning of what he is doing, will know how to discover the ethical paths in the maze of possible behavior.” – Earl Warren -

Knowledge is Power

2013-02-16T06:47:00.000-08:00

Is knowledge really a power? Yes, of course, Knowledge is power. Every time I heard the term “knowledge” I always remember the late weather newscaster in ABS-CBN Channel 2 named “Ernie Baron”, also known as “The Walking Encyclopedia”. He regularly says “Kung Walang Knowledge, Walang Power”. After he’s done reporting the current weather condition in the Philippines, he shares trivia to the audience, like about the history, animals, inventions, or famous places. His trivia are very interesting, and every trivia that he present was like an “AHA!” moment for me. I may say that this segment in TV Patrol is one of my favorite.

Knowledge is Power

Knowledge is a familiarity with someone or something, which can include facts, information, descriptions, or skills acquired through experience and education. It can refer to the theoretical or practical understanding of a subject. Knowledge is the product of information which is originally came from data. Knowledge combined with experience will become wisdom. Wisdom is an applied knowledge. It is a deep understanding and realization of people, things, events or situations, resulting in the ability to apply perceptions, judgments and actions in keeping with this understanding.

In the Holy Bible, King Solomon was noted as being one of the wisest men that ever lived. Instead of asking for long life or riches or the life of his enemies, he asked for an understanding mind to govern his people that he may discern between good and evil. The true wisdom that came from Solomon was his prayer to God asking for an understanding mind. Solomon asked for knowledge and God gave it to him. God gave Solomon wisdom and very great insight, and a breadth of understanding as measureless as the sand on the seashore.

King Solomon

Solomon's wisdom was more his glory than his wealth. He had largeness of heart, for the heart is often put for the powers of the mind. He had the gift of utterance, as well as wisdom. It is very desirable, that those who have large gifts of any kind should have large hearts to use them for the good of others.

Some employees in an organization are self-centered; they do not want to share their knowledge with their colleagues. The reason is that they are afraid to lose their job, and be replaced by that person. This thinking is really pisses me off. Honestly, I met a lot of this type of person from my previous company, and IBM. They don’t like to delegate work to the members of the team. These people are insecure in thinking that the other person will be much greater or effective than him. If an employee doesn’t want to delegate his work, well, there’s no reason for him to get promoted. And I know this is true, especially in IBM, and the organization doesn’t tolerate this attitude because one of the IBM Competencies is to “Help IBMers Succeed”.

Knowledge is an intangible asset of the organization. It is a capability that needs to be managed and nurtured. Knowledge and ideas are meant to be shared and not be kept. As a person, you must be an instrument and become bread for others. Through sharing our expertise and extending our help to our colleagues builds strong relationship, and increases the team’s competence and performance.

“The idea that knowledge can be slotted into a data-to-wisdom hierarchy is bogus, for the simple reason that one man's knowledge is another man's data.” - Thomas A. Stewart, (2000) –

L.E.E.D. and Green IT

2012-08-15T10:44:00.000-07:00

I used to be a volunteer of Mother Earth Foundation way back year 2004, and at the same time an active member of the organization. Mother Earth Foundation is a non-government organization (NGO) of men and women from the Philippines who seek to raise the level of public awareness on environmental issues and mobilize people to act positively on the resolution of these issues. During that time, we have conducted trainings and seminars on Solid Waste Management. We tend to teach the Filipinos all over the country: civic leaders, ethnic groups, and professionals on how to use Materials Recovery Facilities (MRFs) to help lessen the waste or garbage that are being collected every day. MRF is the heart of Solid Waste Management, and I know this is a good initiative, and I realized that there is truly money that may be found on garbage. Through MRF, we can easily segregate biodegradable and non-biodegradable wastes. Those biodegradable wastes will serve as compost and must be returned to Earth so that it will become useful to plants, while non-biodegradable wastes will be re-used and be recycled. We may even make new products out of that garbage, makes these garbage as an income-generated or source of livelihood for Filipinos. By using MRFs, sanitary land fill and incinerators are no longer needed, since these initiatives really harm our environment.


The University of Texas at Dallas Student Services Building - LEED Platinum

Though I have no idea about LEED and Green Computing during my MEF days, I can say that LEEDS and Green Computing is related to preserving our natural resources.

LEED also known as Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design is an internationally recognized industry benchmark for green construction. It is a voluntary certification program for building owners and operators that provide a recognized standard for identifying and implementing practical and measurable green building design, construction, operations and maintenance solutions. LEED represents a holistic approach to building sustainability that can be applied to any type of building type at any point in its lifecycle. It consists of suite of rating systems for design, construction and operation of high performance green buildings, homes and neighborhoods. Points are distributed across major credit categories such as Sustainable Sites, Water Efficiency, Energy and Atmosphere, Materials and Resources, and Indoor Environmental Quality. LEED certification is obtained after submitting an application documenting compliance with the requirements of the rating system as well as paying registration and certification fees. In order to establish a building's point awards in each credit category, buildings applying for certification are compared with a theoretical baseline building defined by a LEED methodology or the more stringent of either ASHRAE/ANSI/EISNA codes or local codes.

Taipei 101 Building - LEED Platinum

LEED certified buildings are intended to use resources more efficiently when compared to conventional buildings simply built to code. LEED certified buildings often provide healthier work and living environments, which contributes to higher productivity and improved employee health and comfort. The USGBC has compiled a long list of benefits of implementing a LEED strategy, which ranges from improving air and water quality to reducing solid waste, benefiting owners, occupiers, and society as a whole.

Green Computing refers to environmentally sustainable computing. It is a study and practice of designing, manufacturing, using, and disposing of computers, servers, and associated subsystems – efficiently and effectively with minimal or no impact on the environment. The goals of green computing are similar to green chemistry; reduce the use of hazardous materials, maximize energy efficiency during the product's lifetime, and promote the recyclability or biodegradability of defunct products and factory waste.

The approaches for Green Computing initiative are product longevity, data center design, software and deployment optimization, power management, materials recycling, and telecommuting.

In terms of product longevity, desktops and laptops are well utilized in our organization. We prolong our equipment’s lifetime by proper maintenance. If our company will implement the Virtual Desktop Infrastructure or Desktop Virtualization, we will make use of our old desktops by converting it into thin clients or a lockdown PC.

Our data centers are very well maintained. The servers, network equipment, and other systems are energy efficient. We have the best cooling, and electrical systems, at the same time good air management which lessens energy consumption.

We already implemented server virtualization, and we’re using VMware VSphere as a platform. With virtualization we can easily optimize the server performance, resources and we can utilize the capacity of the high end server by consolidating 5 or more servers into one system. Servers are converted into virtual machines; this process is called P2V Conversion.

Our desktops and laptops have power management setting. IBM set a Power Management Policy to our systems.

IBM Boulder Data Center - Rated LEED Silver

Recycling computing equipment can keep harmful materials such as lead, mercury, and hexavalent chromium out of landfills, and can also replace equipment that otherwise would need to be manufactured, saving further energy and emissions. Computer systems that have outlived their particular function can be re-purposed, or donated to various charities and non-profit organizations. However, many charities have recently imposed minimum system requirements for donated equipment. Additionally, parts from outdated systems may be salvaged and recycled through certain retail outlets and municipal or private recycling centers. Computing supplies, such as printer cartridges, paper, and batteries may be recycled as well.

Teleconferencing and telepresence technologies are implemented in IBM to support the green computing initiatives. The advantages are many; increased worker satisfaction, reduction of greenhouse gas emissions related to travel, and increased profit margins as a result of lower overhead costs for office space, heat, lighting, etc. The savings are significant; the average annual energy consumption for an office building is over 23 kilowatt hours per square foot, with heat, air conditioning and lighting accounting for 70% of all energy consumed. Other related initiatives, such as hoteling, reduce the square footage per employee as workers reserve space only when they need it. Many types of jobs, such as sales, consulting, and field service, integrate well with this technique.

Voice over IP (VoIP) reduces the telephony wiring infrastructure by sharing the existing Ethernet copper. VoIP and phone extension mobility also made hot desking more practical.

Green IT is about more than just power consumption. It incorporates the entire environmental impact of technology, from the paper we load in our high-end networked printers to the hazardous e-waste we throw away.

Implementing Green IT, and at the same time, being a LEED certified institution are best practices which is good in preserving our natural resources. It promotes healthier work place, optimizing company resources, and aids for increasing our productivity.

Green is the color of nature, fertility, and life. Green symbolizes self-respect and well-being. Green is the color of balance. It also means learning, growth and harmony. So Go for Green IT and be a LEED certified!!!

Customer Service 101

2012-07-25T09:08:00.000-07:00

“Customer is always right”, this is the phrase that we always hear in most businesses. For me, in case to case basis, this is not true. There are customers that are not right for your business or service. And in some cases, customers may tend to abuse you, and be more demanding of the service that he wanted you to deliver. Like what happened in our previous account in IBM Global Process Services, we named it Whitney account. Whitney’s line of business is online marketing. The requirement that the account needs is a fast internet connection because they are using Citrix to connect to their servers.

We haven’t encountered any problem on this account during its first month. They have a smooth and productive operation. Then, after several months, the account experienced a lot of outages, and reported many Sev-1 incidents because of slow internet connection. The incident is repetitive and frequently happened every other week.

Since the reported problem is internet connection, we typically troubleshoot the problem by using the Speedtest.net website. And then we conduct continuous ping and use trace route to their servers. We also have a ping plotter tool to help our Network Team to trace the problem. Upon checking on our end, we do not find any problems, and we still provide the bandwidth requirement for the account. And then, we found out that the incident was caused by one of their servers. However, the client insisted that the Whitney servers are functioning properly, and they do not have problems in connecting to that server. They claimed that the problem is in our end. The client demanded for an increase in bandwidth, and since GPS cares for its clients, they gave what the client has required. But still, the problem still persisted, and they always deny that the problem was in their end. The management has decided to close this account and be replaced by another account. Forlornly, the Whitney account lasted for about a year.

Customer Service is a series of activities designed to enhance the level of customer satisfaction – that is, the feeling that a product or service has met the customer expectation. Before we can provide the best customer service to our clients, here are the first steps that you should track:

Step 1: First Impression Last

In order to entice customers, you must impress them by your credibility, as a great employee and as a great company. Make sure that you are ready to present and prove to them that you can deliver the service that they want.

Step 2: Courtesy Counts

As an adult, you are not going to receive constant praise for being courteous, but people will appreciate these behaviors. When you act courteously, you send a positive and powerful message. When you make a conscious effort to use courtesy words and phrases, they will soon become a natural part of your vocabulary and personality.

Partner for Client's Success

Step 3: Attitude is Everything

Customer service is all about human relationship – how you go about helping others to provide their needs as customers. To do this successfully requires the right attitude. That is, an attitude that is positive and sincere, thriving to give your best to assist your customers.

Step 4: Doing the Right Thing – Ethical Issues

Always be honest. Do the right thing. Do what you say you will when you say you will, and be accountable for your actions.

After taking these steps, you should consider familiarizing the Three Key Elements in Customer Service:

Expand Your Definition of Service

“Service” should provide the customer with more than a product or action taken on his/her behalf. It should provide satisfaction. In essence, the customer should walk away pleased at the result of the transaction – not just content but actually happy. A happy customer will continue to be a buying customer and a returning customer.

Who are Your Customers?

Customers, buyers and clients want to pay a fair price for quality service or products, and feel satisfied they have paid for a service/product and received what they have paid for in return. They also want someone to take care of them. They need someone to understand their needs and help answer them. They need someone to hold their hands and walk them through a process. Customer service starts with the ability to listen to the customer and find out through polite questioning what he/she needs or wants.

The other most important aspect to do is to listen to what the customer is saying. If people do not understand what is motivating the customer, they will not be successful in handling them. Do research on customers, their habits, and what they want and expect.

Develop a Customer Friendly Approach

One commonality among all companies or organizations that provide good service is the development of a system and attitude promoting customer friendly service.

Two critical qualities to the “Customer Friendly Approach” are communications and relationships.

And then in providing customer service you must do the following approach:

Respond to Clients As Soon As Possible

Check and answer your email regularly. Make sure that your phone is active, and reachable.

Keep Clients Updated

Make sure that your customers are well-informed about their account through reports. If you’re experiencing trouble with something, let them know right away. It shows that you’re keeping them in the loop and that you have things under control. If it’s something major, communicating your concern right away allows clients to plan for possible delays in the project’s completion.

Go The Extra Mile

If a client asks for you to do something that truly won’t cost you a lot in time and income, you have the option of going the extra mile and doing it for them. Not only will this result in an indebted and happy client, it can also go a long way in terms of keeping yourself in their radar for future projects.

Fix Your Mistakes

If you did something that didn’t end up working, you should repair it. A quick way to lose a client forever is not admitting that you are at fault and not fixing your own mistakes. You should always strive for a high-quality output; it shows that you have a high level of standards in your craftsmanship.

Not taking responsibility of your own blunders is a sure-fire way of gaining a bad business reputation. Transparency is important in any business; service work is no different.

Listen To Your Clients

It’s important to listen to what your clients are communicating to you. Understand what they are saying and ask for clarifications on things that might be ambiguous. Clients might be unfamiliar with certain terminologies in our profession, and what you think they mean might be different to what they actually mean.

Keep Your Promises

Reliability is one of the keys to any good relationship, and good customer service is no exception. If you say you’re going to do something, make sure you do it. It’s part of being a professional. If you need more time on something, you should let them know as soon as possible, not after you’ve already missed the deadline. Honoring your commitments is very important.

Don’t confuse clients with jargons

Try to explain whatever the problem is as best as you can without making the client feel stupid. When proposing a solution, make sure you state it in terms they understand. You could use analogies that are relevant to them.

Be Patient

I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve exhausted my patience on my clients. But I’ve never actually showed them my agitation. If you feel like the client is overstepping their boundaries, let them know in a cordial and professional manner. You just don’t want to start yelling and cursing at the people you make a living off of. Maintain professionalism at all times.

Know Everything You Need To Know

You are a paid expert. Someone is giving you their hard-earned money to do something they believe you have a high level of mastery of. You need to keep yourself up-to-date with the profession and always be ready to answer questions your client needs to know. If you exhibit signs that you don’t know your craft inside out, you risk the chance of ruining your professional reputation.

Put Yourself in Their Shoes

If you were in their shoes and were being treated the way you’re treating them, would you enjoy that experience? If so, you’re doing a good job. If not, you probably want to get a little better. It’s important to constantly evaluate the way you communicate with others. Our profession is heavily reliant on communication skills.

We should remember that the Customer is King. In any product’s design, production, distribution and marketing, we should have one central focus at the core of all decision-making: the customer. Without them, your business will not exist. We must give our best to serve and pleased them.

IBM believes that customers are very important. An IBMer like me is a “Partner for Client’s Success”. When you approach a customer in a partnership, and wanting to have a long term relationship, what happens is that the services or products become a natural by-product of the relationship. Learning what the customers want from you, having an appreciation for their business needs, understanding their business challenges, really getting underneath the covers of what their businesses is about becomes part responsive how you conduct yourself, and how to win for both the customer and IBM.

Effective communication is relevant in Customer Service, and communicating with clients builds a good relationship. In effective client relationship, we should focus on fixing the customer, and not just fixing the problem. Fixing the client is much broader, it also includes fixing the problem, and it talks about miniature that the client has the right skills so that they have the right processes in place, and they have the right people to solve the problem.

Most clients experienced the IBM brand through the IBMer, and it’s not just a single IBMer, it’s actually the whole team of IBMer. With partnering with the client’s success, it’s really important what role that you are playing within the team, and to ensure that you can deliver confidently that particular role, and be consistent in delivering the attributes, and the characters in the IBM Values.

I Think, I Work, and Therefore I Am an IBMer

2012-07-15T08:56:00.000-07:00

Cogito Ergo Sum is a famous philosophical statement proposed by Rene Descartes, which literally means “I think, therefore I am”. He used to prove his own existence by claiming that his ability to form thoughts made him a real and living human being. It means that “someone is wondering whether or not he or she exists”.

The IBMers - IT Team

I used to remember this statement whenever I am in a workplace during my early days in IBM. There are moments that I’m asking myself, “Why am I doing this and that? Why a person like me is required to work? Why is someone else asking me to do this and that?” I’m wondering if IBM really appreciates my efforts.

Allan, Olive and Karlo, with the IT Service Delivery Managers

And then, I saw an IBMer wearing an IBM jacket with a slogan stating “Working Hard to Earn These Stripes”. I recognized that the word “stripes” pertains to the logo of IBM. I found out that this employee is already on his fifth year in IBM. I asked him “How’s working with the Big Blue?” And then he said, “I will not answer your question, because I want you to find out what it means to be an IBMer”. He leaves me wondering and thinking about how he responds to my question. For me, it’s vague, and I wish that he will answer me in a usual or in a different way. Perhaps, he wanted me to explore rather than to make his own personal review about the company.

Then, I began exploring IBM, about its core values and culture, the company’s history, the functions of departments and offices, how to reach my goals, how’s like to be well-known in IBM, and how will my journey with IBM become worthwhile.

I realized that each of the departments has its own function that supports an organization. Within that department there are many people working together to achieve a certain goal. Imagine if one department is missing, or is not functioning properly, I don’t think IBM will stay and live in the industry for 100 years. It’s like a human body, if one body part is missing, for example, a leg, and then it will be difficult for you to stand up on your own. I began appreciating my role in the IT department as a back office and production support. IBM has chosen me because the company knew that I have a potential which they cannot find to other person. IBM believes that I can do and perform well in my job because of the experience I gained in my past employers. IBM makes me realized that my career will be meaningful if I will start discovering my other potentials, how to maximize my capability, and be familiar with the career opportunities inside the organization.

Through IBM Career Smart, I started to track my career progress, learning, and development. I used to present my records to my manager every four months; so that he could guide me on what else will I be requiring to attain my desired career path. I seek advises to my seniors and mentors, on how to be well-known and be an effective employee of IBM. I became proactive in my job, makes my manager to became happy and satisfied on my performance, and because of this, I got promoted in the company.

Thomas J. Watson Sr.

All I can I say is earning those “stripes” is not difficult if you know what you are doing, what you want to achieve, and how to understand your role in the team. Another important thing is that, you should never stop learning. That’s the meaning of the phrase “Working hard to earn these stripes”.

I’m very grateful to IBM, because IBM gives me a lot of opportunities, learning, and work experiences in my profession.

“We must study through listening, observing and thinking. All the problems of the world can be settled easily if men were only willing to THINK.” – Thomas J. Watson Sr.

I THINK, I WORK, and therefore I am an IBMer.

Super Mario and the New Economy

2012-07-09T09:11:00.000-07:00

Super Mario

Finally, I finished playing Super Mario Galaxy 2 on my Nintendo Wii. I was an avid fan of Nintendo games especially Mario games when I was a kid. I saw lots of improvements of Mario; from 2D into 3D platform, from 3 power-ups up to several power-ups, from land, sea, air, up to the universe, from sports, party, and dance, adventure, and RPG games. All Mario games were became part of my childhood fancy mind and even up to now. Although Sega launched their mascot Sonic, even though he is smarter and faster, I’d still choose the mascot of Nintendo; an Italian fat guy with a red hat and a mustache, Super Mario. For me, Super Mario is more likeable than any other game super heroes.

The only thing that was left behind is the story of his adventure games. His mission is always to save Princess Peach from the Evil Bowser, King Koopa, the antagonist in the game. Maybe gamers are not diligent of patronizing this type of story. They’re considering the advancement of the game technology, on how the games are made, and not the content or the story of the game itself.

The economy is like technology. Economy has changed drastically. Way back during our ancient times, our ancestors cultivate lands by planting vegetables and fruits. Another source of their livelihood is fishing, and poultry. Earlier economy focuses more on agricultural activities. They use barter or trade system to exchange goods and services. Earlier Filipinos has a business relationship with the other Asian countries because of the barter system. Another is that, Mexicans also trade their goods to the Philippines using their ship called Galleon Trade.

The Galleon Trade

Then, as time goes by, with the emergence of the manufacturing businesses, the Industrial Era was born. The primary tool for this era are machines for mass production. Employees were into constructions; buildings, railways, houses, schools etc. Others were in the manufacturing; production of canned goods, garments, equipment, etc. Industrial Era is more on mechanical labor. The economic indicator is the Law of Demand and Supply. The higher the demand the lower will be the supply. The higher the supply the lower will be the demand.

In our present day, companies are more into knowledge, skills, ideas, and expertise. Their focus is on data and information processing. We are now in the Knowledge Era. We tend to use IT-enabled innovations to create methods and business processes. The economic indicators are globalization and standardization. Companies were keen to automation, digitalization, coopetition, and service delivery, and are focused on customer relationship management.

The New Economy is the result of the transition from a manufacturing-based economy into service-based economy. This is the full effects on social, economic, and political systems of the information and communications technologies. Information Technology has evolved into a more rich industry by providing IT-enabled services and business processes. Organizational assets are composed of tangible and intangible assets. A tangible asset also known as physical capital is consists of machines that are used in operations and production. These assets are company owned, and highly maintained. On the other hand, intangible assets are the ideas. knowledge and talents of the people. These assets are also known as intellectual capital. The sources of intellectual capital are the employees, the customers, and the organization.

The New Economy is a high-knowledge industry. Employees are now required to prove and show their knowledge and expertise through professional certifications, not only in technical but also in managing Information Systems. This will give an edge to a company apart from their competitors.

The New Economy is the new face of the industry. New Economy is an economy where business firms have learnt to take advantage of both ICT revolution and globalization of business activities in ways which improve productivity. With its three major components: hardware (primarily computers) that processes the information, the communication systems that acquire and distribute information, and the software which, with human intervention, manages the entire system.

The New Economy is the New Super Mario game that we must be getting involved with. We must take advantage of it, and as it continuously evolving and changing, we must do our best to acclimatize and become part of it.

Informal Group of Workers in an Organization – A Total Misconception

2012-07-04T03:54:00.000-07:00

Informal group of workers is a hot topic during our debate last Saturday. It was started with the statement uttering that “Management should discourage informal group of workers in an organization.” Our group agreed that the answer should be “Mostly False” whereas Group 1’s answer is “Mostly True”.

For us, informal group of workers are those employees that are outsourced by another company, or we often say as “under agency”. The other group’s interpretation is that, informal group of workers are those workers which are members of a laborer’s union. Workers that are against the organization, and do not agree on its rules and regulations. That’s why they have preferred to answer the statement as “Mostly True”. Our answers don’t match because we have a different definition of the informal group of workers.

And then, our professor interrupted our debate, and he explained what informal group of workers really is. Informal group of workers is a group of individuals who are active in extra-curricular activities/organizations inside or outside of the company. An informal group may have written or unwritten rules and doesn’t encompasses company’s policies.

Informal group of workers should not be discouraged in an organization. Extra-curricular activities enhance the individual’s creativity. It promotes employee’s talents, ideas, and services that are beneficial for the community.

Informal groups exist in almost every organization. They are as real as the formal organization structure, but function independent of it. With their own leaders, values and behaviors, they can exhibit strong cohesion - group members will assist and support each other. In return, they expect loyalty to the group and its norms.

I identified myself as part of the informal groups because I’m a member of three IT organizations, and two choral groups, though all my affiliations are outside of IBM. I wish I could also join IBM Club in the future.

I would like to take this opportunity to introduce my affiliations, and their functions/roles in our society.

Here are my affiliations:

IT Organizations

1. Philippine Computer Society

Philippine Computer Society is a premiere organization of information technology professionals with over 700 members nationwide. PCS recognizes the invaluable contribution of IT to the advancement of our nation.

Through its activities, PCS actively encourages all who are interested in or professionally involved in IT, to join the PCS. With its vision of continually pursuing excellence in the IT profession, PCS members will be assured of the advancement of promotion of their individual careers.

2. Wikimedia Philippines

Wikimedia Philippines is a chapter of the Wikimedia Foundation (WMF) serving the Philippines and Filipino communities abroad. In line with its aims and objectives, the organization hope to promote and defend the use of free media and content in the Philippines, as well as those made by Filipinos on other countries.

3. Philippine Information Technology Organization

Phil-IT Org is a group of IT Professionals and Developers who are enthusiastic and passionate about technologies, learning, and sharing.

Choral Groups

1. Bukas Palad Online Community Choir - attends mass services every 2nd Sunday of the odd months in Our Lady of Pentecost Parish in Loyola Heights, Quezon City. We conducted outreach program once a year in “Bahay ni Maria – Home for the Aged and Street Children” in Laguna.

2. Alay Himig Chorale – attends mass services every 1st Sunday of the even months in EDSA Shrine.


Bukas Palad Online Community Outreach in Bahay ni Maria

Bukas Palad Online Community Choir in Our Lady of Pentecost Parish

As we celebrate the 75 years of IBM in the Philippines this July 2012, we are encouraged to participate in a series of employee engagement activities in a meaningful way. We have “Voices for a Cause” concert which will be held on July 19 in Eastwood City, Bagumbayan, Quezon City. This event was organized by the IBM Club. A portion of the proceeds will go to 10 MOVES, a program by the Department of Education, which aims to build 10,000 classrooms in 10 months across the country. This event will showcase IBM talents as they perform on stage.

On July 21, we will be having our “One IBM Service Marathon for Education”. This will personalized our mission to be truly essential to communities, where IBMers will be deployed across and beyond Metro Manila to help various programs that aim to better the state of education for the Filipino youth, in and out of school. Activities include Mentoring (Iskul Blue-Cool); Rehabilitation and refurbishment of classrooms/ school grounds (Brigada Eskwela), Outreach for out-of-school street kids in Cavite (Kariton Klasrum); Reading Program (Read to Lead) and KidSmart turnover to select public schools and non-governmental organization.

Soft Skills VS Hard Skills – What Really Matters?

2012-07-01T01:49:00.000-07:00

While we were discussing this topic during our debate, I recalled a story shared by our professor during my college days. This is about the two guys who are applying for an IT job position in an international company. Both of them have a Bachelor’s Degree in Computer Engineering but they came from different universities. The first guy is from AMA Computer University, and the other one is from De La Salle University.

The head hunter can’t decide which of the two will be considered for the IT position. By the way, the IT position is Systems Engineer. They were given an IT project scenario and they have given an opportunity to demonstrate their expertise. The AMACU graduate made a schematic diagram which comprises servers and network architectures, and since it was proven that AMAers are the best in IT technical skills, no doubt, and I’m very proud of that. That’s why it was so easy for him to do such project. On the other hand, the DLSU graduate wasn’t able to complete his work, and he is having difficulty in creating diagrams out of the given scenario. And then their time was up, and they were required to explain their work.

The student from AMACU was called and he was given enough time to defend his work. But unfortunately, he wasn’t able to explain his work. Although he is confident that his work is correct, he remained silent for the whole session. He also wasn’t able to answer the panelists’ questions correctly. On the other hand, the DLSU student was able to explain the work of the AMACU student. He didn’t use his schematic diagram because he knew that it was not correct, and incomplete. He decided to use the schematic diagram of the AMAer, and he explained it well in the panelists. Every questions raised by the panelists were answered correctly, and flawlessly. The panelists were happy and convinced about his presentation. Now, guess who was considered for the job position? Of course, the DLSU graduate. Ouch!!! We’re such a loser!!! : (

Being technically expert is good. However, technical skills are easy to observe. Technical skills are operational. You can acquire these skills on your job itself through experience. On the other hand, soft skill or people skills are hard to observe. They are needed for work and for everyday life.

Way back 3 years ago, when I’m just starting at IBM. I can’t understand why IBM has a lot of soft skill trainings compared to technical trainings. In my point of view, I recognize that IBM is an IT company, and this will attest that IBM must provide more technical trainings than soft skill trainings. “Do I really need soft skills in my profession?” I asked myself. While browsing our corporate website, I was navigated to read about the IBM competencies, and I found out that I was wrong. Technical skills are not reckoned to gain the IBM competencies, and because of this, I started to enroll in our soft skills training programs.

These are the soft skills training programs in IBM; it was categorized with the 9 IBM Competencies:

IBM COMPETENCIES

1. Build Mutual Trust

a. IBM Values and Building Trustworthiness

2. Act with a Systematic Perspective

a. Time Management

b. Conflict Management

c. Stress Management

d. Project Management for Non-Project Managers

3. Collaborate Globally

a. How to make Collaboration Work

b. Make Your Contacts Count

4. Embrace Challenge

a. Managing from Within: Self-Empowerment

b. Setting Goals and Objectives

c. Problem Solving and Decision Making Skills

5. Partner for Client’s Success

a. Customer Service 101

b. Leading a Customer Focused Team

6. Influence through Expertise

a. Discovering Your Strengths

b. Steps in Creating Your Most Successful Self

7. Continuously Transform

a. Creativity and Innovation

b. Adapting To Change

c. Coping with Criticisms and Feedbacks

8. Communicate for Impact

a. Effective Presentation Skills 101: Build Your Presentation

b. Effective Presentation Skills 102: Double Your Impact

c. Effective Presentation Skills 103: Optimize Your Presentation

d. Grammar Refresher (GSpa)

e. Effective Business Writing

9. Help IBMers Succeed

a. Business Coaching

b. Being Effective Team Member

Through these IBM competencies, I have learned that soft skills are more important than technical skills. “Soft skills really matters. Soft skills are the greatest!”

Organization and Management Self-Assessment

2012-06-24T21:28:00.000-07:00

1. "Vision/Mission is a paradox to new economy." – ALWAYS FALSE

Mission explains why the organization exists – its overall purpose. The mission statement also states what the organization does right now, in the most general sense. In this way, the mission also sets parameters for what the organization, through omission, does not do.

Vision articulates the future of the organization and the community that it serves. It implies the work still needs to be accomplished. In this way, it lends credibility and motivation to the mission statement.

IBM’s Mission and Vision

Mission: “At IBM, we strive to lead in the invention, development and manufacture of the industry's most advanced information technologies, including computer systems, software, storage systems and microelectronics. We translate these advanced technologies into value for our customers through our professional solutions, services and consulting businesses worldwide."

Vision: “Solutions for a smarter planet”.

2. "“Customer is King” is a paradox to new economy." – ALWAYS FALSE

“Customer is King” is the new age for marketing mantra. This means while planning the product or service, designing the same, and in producing, marketing, distributing and selling we should possess one central focus at the core of all decision making, “THE CUSTOMER”.

Customers are important in IBM. The company will not exist without them. That’s why one of our IBM values is “Dedication to every client’s success.”

3. "Cross Functional Team are effective and represent good form of organizational structure." – MOSTLY FALSE

I think IBM will disagree on this statement. So far, based from my observation, there’s no such cross-functional team that exist in IBM. Every team has its own individual expertise. Every team has its own function to achieve a common goal. If you’re an expert in IT, you should be in the IT Team. If not, you may consider your expertise with the other team, may be in Finance, Admin/Logistics, etc.

Cross-functional team is less unidirectional, needs greater scope of information, greater depth of information, greater range of users, and fewer goals are dominated.

4. "Workers are more interested in remuneration than challenging function." – MOSTLY TRUE

Employees are more interested in high remuneration because of high cost of living, especially here in the Philippines. They don’t care what type of work they are doing, whether challenging or non-challenging job. Although some employees prefer challenging work as well, because they want to practice their profession and knowledge in their chosen career.

I conducted a survey within the IT team, and I found out that most of them are in favored of high remuneration. Out of 30 people, I got 25 votes; and this will support my answer in this statement.

5. "Management should discourage informal group of workers in an organization." – MOSTLY FALSE

Informal groups are evolving constantly, grass roots, dynamic and responsive, excellent at motivation, requires insider knowledge to be seen, treats people as individuals, flat and fluid, cohered by trust and reciprocity, difficult to pin down, and essential for situations that change quickly or are not yet fully understood.

The negative aspect of informal groups is that they are resistant to change. Whether new company policies, new members forced on the group or current group members moving on, the group instinctively finds change menacing. Most people want to belong and will conform to group desires. The informal group structure controls its members and protects them from the enemy, which for workers is usually perceived as management.

6. "IT leaders should spend more time with colleagues, partners, and customers than with IT staff, and vendors." – MOSTLY TRUE

IT leaders are mostly in a client-facing role wherein they are always communicating with their colleagues, partners, and customers. Colleagues – for IT Projects, and decision making. Partners – for IT solutions, and expertise. Customers – dealing with client’s need and concerns.

Although they spent time with clients, they should not forget to spend time also with their IT Staff. Their IT Staff is working in the background to satisfy the needs and wants of the customers.

7. "IT leaders should have a voice at the executive table which key business decisions are made." - ALWAYS TRUE

All business transactions, decisions, plans and IT Staff concerns are raised in upper management. This will promote transparency and credibility in a company.

8. "Leaders are more effective if they are more concerned about people than task." – ALWAYS TRUE

Leaders should know the capacity and capability of their people before they will assign a task/job. They should also be sensitive about the feelings, opinions, and concerns of their staff.

9. "Leaders are more effective if they focus their efforts on improving external-facing processes than business functional processes." – MOSTLY TRUE

Leaders being the top-level personnel will definitely be more effective when they focus their efforts in external-facing processes. As leaders, they are not expected to get into the details of the business-functional (technical aspects) processes because it is usually the mid-level personnel who are adept in these processes.

Leaders will be much more effective if they also know the operations and business functional processes. Being an effective leader tend to have technical expertise in the business.

10. "Organizations are better off if CIO’s reports to CFO’s." – MOSTLY TRUE

Typically the IT department is seen as a cost center and as such they tend to report to the CFO. In such situation, the main focus is to make IT more effective and efficient by reducing operational costs.

If the CIO is to add business value by integrating the needed technology to the business processes, then they need to have the power to make board decisions along with the CEO, CFO and COO.

The CIO must be effective in "translating" IT technical terms/jargons to business-speak and thus I would argue that the CIO do not necessarily need to be from an IT background. The trust must be there from the other COs' that the CIO "gets" the business.

The CIO needs to understand finance, business process, marketing, customer management, sales and communications.

11. "IT-enabled innovations should be the primordial concern of management." – MOSTLY TRUE

In IBM, IT-enabled innovations are the primary concern of management. This supports one of our IBM values which states “Innovation that matters, for our company and for the world”.

We use Lotus Notes and Sametime as collaboration tools. For data access, we have a W3 website which contains the entire employee’s needed information about the company. IBM has a standard templates and automatic work flows. The company has ways to connect other functions to the innovative processes.

Companies aiming for the global market or mainstream economy must have their eyes set to IT-enabled innovations. It will definitely give the company edge over its competitors to have services and products which are out of the traditional solutions.

12. "Organization could careless in understanding business complexities and processes than developing technology innovation and strategy." – ALWAYS FALSE

According to a recent IBM survey of 1,500 business leaders, complexity was cited as the most significant issue facing leaders today. Traditional tools and methodologies have provided a platform for our continued learning and understanding of business and economic systems, but are no longer sufficient to address today's business challenges and opportunities. Understanding the organization and the economy as a complex and fluid system is one of the most important competencies for effective leaders today.

13. "Organizational initiative successes are dependent on technology." – MOSTLY FALSE

For me, not all organizational initiatives are dependent on technology. Technology may assist and be a tool for success, but it’s not a mandatory aspect.

Most organizational initiatives can be successful without the use of technology.

14. "Communications and relationships building skills are more important than technology skills." – ALWAYS TRUE

In the world of work, “hard skills” are technical or administrative procedures related to an organization’s core business. These skills are typically easy to observe, quantify and measure. By contrast, “soft skills” (also called “people skills”) are typically hard to observe, quantify and measure. People skills are needed for everyday life as much as they’re needed for work.

That’s why in IBM, we have a lot of soft skill trainings than hard skill trainings. Some of the soft skills trainings that I attended are Creativity and Innovation, Effective Presentation Skills, Time Management, and Effective Business Writing.

15. "Service level agreements are measures of inter-department performance and should be treated separately with the goals and objectives of the organization." – ALWAYS FALSE

A service-level agreement (SLA) is a part of a service contract where the level of service is formally defined. In practice, the term SLA is sometimes used to refer to the contracted delivery time (of the service) or performance. SLAs commonly include segments to address: a definition of services, performance measurement, problem management, customer duties, warranties, disaster recovery, and termination of agreement.

SLA is one of the Key Performance Indicators (KPI) which reflects the Organizational Goals. Key Performance Indicator is quantifiable. That’s why SLA should not be treated separately with the goals and objectives of the organization.

16. "Measures should be established across organization and to all departments to facilitate organizational effectiveness and productivity." – ALWAYS TRUE

Key Performance Measures are FACTS about the business which allows the Company to:

o Focus efforts towards meeting company’s goals

o Assess quality of the core processes

o Close gaps through corrective actions

o Track progress towards company’s strategic plan

o Support accountability and communication to the organization

MIS, MSORMAN, and IBM

2012-06-23T09:06:00.000-07:00

Last Saturday, I was so excited to attend to our MSORMAN class. It’s been already 10 years when I graduated from AMA Computer University with a Bachelor’s Degree in Computer Engineering. I’m longing for advance studies because I want to learn more about Information Technology, but this time I want to focus and learn more on IT management rather than technical skills.

I believe that technical skills can be acquired through experience, since I’m an employee of IBM, and my current designation is Systems Administrator. Technical skills can also be learned through online trainings, and training videos like CBT Nuggets, and Train Signal. I’m a Microsoft Certified IT Professional: Enterprise Desktop Administrator on Windows 7 and Enterprise Administrator on Windows Server 2008, and a Microsoft Certified Technology Specialist in Windows Server Virtualization, and since I’m a COE graduate, I have preferred to take Master in Information Systems as my advance course.

I’m very grateful to IBM for giving me this opportunity. We all know that Asia Pacific College is a joint venture of SM and IBM Philippines. I’m very thankful that I availed a 25% tuition fee discount.

I’m honored because I belong to a class of IT professionals with different roles and expertise. From teacher, technical consultant, IT auditors, to managers, our class has a very good blend of IT professionals. I started to make friends with them, and because I want to learn from their experiences, especially my classmate JC, who is a Technical Consultant from HP. I was surprised because I had a classmate who doesn’t have any industry experience because she only graduated last March of this year. For me, it will be difficult for her to relate with the topics that we will be discussing in the course.

When we began with the discussion of our first topic for the subject, our professor gave a quotation presentation slide stated that “If your mind is EMPTY, It is always READY for ANYTHING; It is OPEN to EVERYTHING. In the BEGINNERS’ mind, there are MANY possibilities, In the EXPERTS’ mind there are FEW.” This is true, especially to a student like me who is new to the subject, and there’s a burst of motivation and eagerness to learn more. For a beginner like me, I believe that there are a lot of possibilities and wonderful opportunities ahead of me. I’m aiming to become an IT Service Delivery Manager or an IT Project Manager. I hope that I will achieve this goal, and MIS course makes me qualify to be in the position.

In IBM, I have two managers, one from IBM Solutions Delivery (ISD), and one from IBM Global Process Services (GPS). We call our manager in ISD as People Manager, and our manager in GPS as Client Manager. Our ISD Manager defines our objectives and goals for the whole year. He always coordinates with our GPS Manager regarding on SLAs and Projects. Our GPS manager is responsible on planning our future projects, especially our Project MOVE that we will be implementing this year. MOVE in a sense that we will be moving our infrastructure from PBCOM Makati to Nuvali, Laguna. This is a very big project, and I will anticipate that it will cause me a lot of sleepless nights, and a bunch of overtime.

Usually, IT Managers are responsible in project planning, organizing, leading and controlling their team. However, in my case, by which I have two managers, my GPS Manager is more visible. Unlike with the other one which is working in the background. All functional areas of an organization are present in IBM: Finance, Admin and Logistics, Production, Sales and Distribution, and Marketing.

Finance – It is a duty of finance department of company to make the budget before actual providing money to any department. It will be helpful to fulfill each department with minimum cost. Finance department can take the past records from respective department. It will be useful for making better budget.

Admin and Logistics – Maintain complete and accurate records at all times to ensure a more efficient emergency response and recovery.

Productions – This is the operations. In IBM, we have 16 production accounts, and plus the support group.

Sales and Distribution – Responsible for ensuring that sales policies, programs, plans and activities are implemented. The department is accountable for monitoring and evaluating business performance based on set objectives and generating reports that evidence the level of performance and compliance.

Marketing – studies the market and the target customers, decides the best way to reach these customers, and works with the rest of the company to help determine the new product needs of the market.

Our professor also explains to us the “Levels of Organization”. In IBM, I’m part of the operational group, because of my technical expertise. The mid-level group comprises of our department managers, and the top-level group is the IBM executives (CEO, CIO, COO, and etc.). I do believe in the saying that the more you got promoted the lesser you become technical/knowledgeable in operations but, the more you become effective in interpersonal skills.

IBM is an emerging organization. IBM cares about their employees. IBM promotes work and life integration from which an employee can work at home. IBM has a sleeping area/facility for call center agents, which is very beneficial to those employees who rendered a night-shift work or overtime. They can take a nap during their breaks and after their shift schedule. IBM offers a lot of training programs to educate and nurture their employees; both technical and soft skill trainings are being offered for free. Another is that, we also have a Clinic per site that offers medical services. Over the years, IBM evolves into a great company of innovation, and expertise that makes me proud to be an IBMer.

At the end of our session, another quote was shared to us by our professor: “Every transition begins with an ending. We have to let go of the old before we can pick up the new, not just outwardly but inwardly.” I can relate this quotation to a principle of “Adapting to Change”. Change is everywhere. The quicker you let go of old, the sooner you find new. We can learn a lot of things through change. All we need to do is to accept that nothing is permanent in life. We all need to grow as an individual; professionally, and mentally. We have to let go of the old ways and learn to accept the new emerging technologies and innovative ways.