At a young age I have been fortunate enough to be exposed to top management. I have learned how policies are made and how hard decisions, especially involving personnel, can become. Perhaps it’s because I have grown up as a student leader and perhaps because I am clearly interested in how our country is ran, that I find myself to have this natural inclination for anything management-related.
I have witnessed various management styles both first-hand and from reading various case studies as required by MBA courses I’ve taken in my lifetime.
I have also had my stint in management – and not in the junior management level – but in a upper senior management level handing various levels of staffs and navigating the waters of company politics. I can’t say I emerged unscathed. In fact, I’ve been black and blue with the bruises of battle. But I’ve learned, enough to form my character and prepare me for my next role.
Albeit right now I’ve taken a breather. Call it backwards but I’ve actually experienced being in top management, first an observer then as an actual practitioner before I’ve learned what it means to actually be at the bottom. Not that I am bragging or not that I am saying it’s what I rightfully deserved but circumstanced has a funny way of showing me the two sides of the coin.
Today I’ve been fortunate enough to have witnessed and been privy – even participate – in an exercise involving different aspects of management – even calling to mind my learnings in Business Ethics.
The dilemma has been thus simple: should you pay workers who are unable to report to work due to extreme, perhaps life threatening, weather conditions.
The question of whether workers should work during the same set of weather conditions is a no-brainer. Of course, they are given the option not to report to work. In this age of globalization, work done in one part of the world, if left undone for even just a fraction of a second, could very well hamper a company in another part of the globe. Hence, extreme weather conditions has cease to be an excuse for not reporting to the call of “corporate” duty. Instead, workers are given the option to report to work should they, in their best judgment, be able to assess the safety of them doing so.
In a purely industrial sense, no work then equals no pay. It’s the fair ruling according to law. The company did not benefit from the absence of the employee and hence will in return not pay the employee for work not rendered.
It’s ruthless. It’s heartless. But it’s the law.
Yet, apparently there’s a way to show heart in the midst of this ruthlessness world. Apparently, management, with all due respect, need not be as ruthless as I had once thought it should be. Management, apparently, can have a heart and still maintain and remain true to its primary goal of ensuring the company’s overall profitability.
With the new policy enacted, I’ve witnessed management with a heart at work. A delicate balance has been struck. The company still wins and the worker wins as well. It’s a win-win without the ruthless drama. A win-win vs. a lose-lose.
Why a win for the company? Employee morale remains high which translates to productivity. Why a win for the employee? Life remains secured so does the promise of a pay.
Becoming a manager is a tough call. No wonder these people are paid for the responsibility they bear and the decisions they make. One thing’s for sure though, I have what it takes but I still have a long way to go.
