Advance Pharmaceutical Management and Administration

Krissha Marie C. Eracho                 Advance Pharmaceutical Management and Administration

Professor Glen R. Baria

 1st term 2016

Reaction Paper No. 1 Strategic HR Practices in some Organizations in the Philippines

Critical Reading

        In the study titled Strategic HR Practices in some Organizations in Philippines, the author Vivien Supangco, a College of Business professor in University of the Philippines, describes how the knowledge of prevailing Human Resource practices plays a significant role in the human resource management in several organizations in the country, the factors involved why the system was being ineffective, and the different approaches that emerged in the years between 2003 and 2008. Although there were new approaches that surfaced, there were also those that remained unchanged -- the head of human resource has to come from the outside of the organization and the activity of defining Human Resource policy involves both the Human Resource and the line managers. There were also several positive changes in the system that occurred in the year of 2008; one is the increased in application of Human Resource Information System in several aspects namely as payroll, time and attendance, and the increased in the performance assessment among all staff groups.

In 2008, the GDP growth rate was at 3.7% which is evidently lower compared to the rate 5 years prior (4.9%) due to the crisis that hit the globe in 2007. The statistical information presented in tables 2,3, and 4 under Characteristics of Sample Organizations shows a decline in employment rate of the company respondent from year 2003 to 2008. However, despite of this decreasing trend in employment, the total employment rate of the selected economic indicator is actually higher in the year 2008 than 2003 due to the changes made in 2005 regarding the definition of employment. In addition, the strategic formulation activities continued to be low since 2003 that led to above results. However, poor utilization of Human Resource Information System is present specifically because it’s only being used in payroll, personnel records, benefits, time and attendance and small number recruitment, health, safety, work and succession planning. To further understand, the following are the highlights of changes in strategic Human Resource management from 2003 to 2008:

• In 2008, the Human Resource department became the spearhead of policy decision making with respect to pay and benefits.
• Application of Human Resource Information System were better utilized in payroll, time and attendance, and scheduling but worsen in recruitment and selection.
• Human Resource crucial functions namely as payroll, benefits, pensions, outplacement reduction are still undertaken by the Human Resource department while training and development are partially outsourced to external providers.
• Employees characterized by management, professional/technical, and clerical jobs are sourced from internal employees while the source of manual employees comes from word of mouth.
• In 2008, performance appraisal is widely implemented across all staff categories resulting in improved practices in employee development.
• Most employees, except manual employees, enjoy more training days which helped narrow the performance gap.
• There is a significant increase in annual turnover rate as well as labor cost and a decrease in average days absent resulting in a more cost-effective Human Resource.
• In conclusion, strategic Human Resource practices and management remained the same because it didn’t change statistically significant in terms of process and as a set of activities.

Critical Thinking

For starters, the statistical results of the factors shown in the study might have been inaccurate, bias and significantly influenced by the chosen time period in which the study was conducted because the trails and effects of recession were still evident during year 2008. Although Professor Supangco recognized and admitted the impact of global crisis on Human Resource, it is still hard to confidently look at the results without questioning its accuracy because such economic decline certainly affected several factors that were used to generate the statistical information in this study. However, I do understand that a Human Resource department should and must function at its best at all times and its effectiveness shouldn’t be an issue even during an economic crisis because it plays a vital role and is valued as important asset in any organization. Therefore, the global crisis shouldn’t be used as an excuse for its lack of effectivity and shortcomings.