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PWD-friendly G10 launched

SAIC Maxus Automotive Co., Ltd. on Thursday launched a Persons With Disability-friendly (PWD) variant of the Maxus G10.

The company expects to sell three to five units of the Maxus G10 Assist per month, as part of the 12-month overall target of 500 to 600 vehicle sales since they launched in the country in June.

“This is a niche market so right now there’s no car brand that currently offers it,” said Maxus General Manager Reginald G. See at an interview after the launch. “The reason why we launched is to let the public know that this is available, and that they get it from us.”

The Maxus G10 is a nine-seater multipurpose vehicle equipped with a 7-inch touchscreen radio with Bluetooth, a six-speaker system, a 220-volt power supply, and front and rear air-conditioning.

For PWDs and the elderly, the car has an added programmable swivel lifting seat that can be operated via remote control or mobile app. The swivel chair shifts to face the sidewalk and down to street level, then lifts the passenger into the vehicle.

It has position memory function, path recover function, path obstacle sensor, door interlock, low-power detection and warning, mechanical manual function, and anti-tip protection.

The G10 has a P1.68 million price tag, with an additional P399,800 for the Assist device.

“A conventional van, MPV, SUV, or sedan usually is not equipped to accommodate PWDs and their wheelchairs, which presents travel challenges. Boarding and disembarking them from their vehicles take considerable time and effort and these limitations further diminish their travel options,” Automobile Central Enterprise, Inc. President Felipe P. Estrella III said in his speech during the launch.

Mr. See said that the G10 Assist presents PWDs with travel options.

“It’s really how we feel — that the Filipino family would want to bring each and every family member when they go out of town. So I’m sure some of PWDs might be left behind because there’s no easy way for them to travel. That’s why we came up with this variant of the Maxus G10,” he said. — Jenina P. Ibañez

Victim or accomplice?

The Souvenir
Directed by Joanna Hogg

JULIE (Honor Swinton Byrne), heroine of Joanna Hogg’s latest film The Souvenir, is a fresh-faced youth whose every emotion registers as loudly as a fork dragged across rice paper; the film, on the other hand, is like obsidian glass, dark in tone and emotionally opaque — run a fingernail across its polished gleam and you leave not a mark.

Julie is a film student with a nicely white-walled apartment in Knightsbridge, across from Harrods. Rich much? Well — well-to-do; she keeps asking her mother Rosalind (Tilda Swinton) for money and her mother forks over, but not before asking what it’s for (her film project of course). Julie readily admits to having money to her film professors, sitting across from them defending her work and making the admission shyly, apologetically, like admitting she has webbed feet or a skin condition she hides with a turtleneck.

Enter Anthony (Tom Burke) who is by turns arrogant and charming, intimate, and aloof. He eases his way into her apartment then her bed; he doesn’t quite assume control but becomes a constant presence in her life — going out together, taking a trip to Venice, borrowing money, picking out her underwear (lacy black garters are his speed).

Then a party where everything is turned on its head: tactless fellow filmmaker Patrick (Richard Ayoade, hilarious) throws out the comment “I’m trying to work out where you two tesselate.” When Julie’s face responds with a blank he explains: “habitual heroin user and trainee Rotarian.”

There’s something of Ozu in Hogg’s style of storytelling: she does direct cuts from one scene to another, and you often have to work out what’s going on: if this is a continuation of the previous scene, if it takes place several days or weeks later, if it’s whole other event happening to the same characters. She skips the heavy drama — a robbery, a death — shows us the messy aftermath. She assumes–arguably the hardest effect to achieve — a simultaneous arm’s length distance and easy rapport, mostly medium shots that hold and hold and let you study faces and reactions, slow burns and simmering tensions, often with ambivalent results.

Anthony is toxic for Julie — that becomes clear as the film progresses. Is Julie a passive victim? A somewhat willing collaborator in her exploitation? Is Rosalind too permissive or too negligent? Does Anthony really work for the Foreign Office and did he have anything to do with the explosion heard in nearby Harrods (the 1983 IRA bombing)? Is Julie a talented filmmaker or dilettante playing with expensive toys?

Hogg has no psychology for us to crack open the characters and examine their insides, only surfaces actions images that we puzzle over and interpret to the best of our ability. The story is supposedly based on Hogg’s own affair with an older man but I’m guessing — or it feels like it anyway — that the basic facts are a mere springboard on which she fashions her own fiction, it’s not so much about what did or didn’t happen (which is besides the point) but how significant was this or that event, how she feels about it or thinks she should feel about it, and the consequences for the people involved.

Is the film a feminist work? One can argue that Julie grows over the trajectory of the plot, learning to confront and answer all the older male trying to ‘mansplain’ to her, and certainly Julie and Rosalind are the film’s main focus, but I’m not sure Hogg is much interested in the question. She’s a filmmaker with her own particular obsessions and the sexual politics work out whichever way they work out.

The film’s latter third is arguably its most complexly knotted (skip the rest of this paragraph if you plan to see the film!): Anthony asks to come back to Julie and Julie — against our better judgment —agrees. And for a while there it actually seems to work: Anthony is a milder kinder sweeter version of what he used to be, and they seem to be genuinely good together, despite the continued ominousness of the film’s tone. Again more questions raised: is Hogg suggesting that Julie is a fool for taking Anthony back, or that redemption is possible for a heroin addict and jerk like Anthony? Is it worth trying to live with addiction, even an addict that later suffers a relapse? Was Anthony’s sudden departure a tragic end or unexpected relief? Can we continue to hate Anthony, or were we too hasty in condemning him? Should we feel contempt for Julie’s gullibility or respect for her compassion? What about Rosalind, for enabling her daughter, later supporting her through crisis? Hogg gives us no easy answers.

Honor is Tilda Swinton’s daughter but the fact is almost immaterial: she’s a wondrous presence and you fall for her from frame one and stay fallen no matter what she does. Tilda is support here but when she steps in she does so with authority; Julie needs Rosalind for better or worse… well Hogg does imply probably for better. Tom Burke as Anthony is hilariously repulsive yet somehow appealing despite all that — by film’s end you’re not sure what to think of him, in my book an achievement not a failing.

What else is there to say? The Souvenir is one of the best and also one of the most singular films to come out this year — tightl-ipped and waywardly odd, yet able to draw you out to speculate endlessly on its inscrutable indelible face.

Fed shuns negative rates, looks to other tools to boost economy

FEDERAL RESERVE Chairman Jerome Powell and his colleagues are loath to follow Europe and Japan into negative interest rate territory — no matter what President Donald Trump might want or how bad the US economy might get.

Not only could such a move be deemed illegal, it’s also unclear how much of an economic gain it would yield given the likely disruption it could cause to banks and money market funds.

“I don’t see negative interest rates being a very useful part of our arsenal,” Fed Governor Lael Brainard said in a televised interview with Yahoo Finance in June.

Mr. Trump on Wednesday urged the Fed to “get our interest rates down to zero, or less,” arguing in a tweet that the move would allow the US government to bring the cost of servicing its debt “way down.” The tweet came a day before the European Central Bank is expected to cut its deposit rate by 10 basis points to minus 0.5%.

With unemployment near a half-century low and the economy still expanding, the Fed is a long way from slashing rates to zero or below. It is though widely expected to cut rates by a quarter percentage point next week to a range of 1.75% to 2% in response to muted inflation and slowing global growth.

The more pertinent question is whether the Fed would push rates into negative territory if the US economy tumbled into a recession. Based on policy makers’ public and private comments, the answer is probably not.

BOND BUYING
Instead, they’d look to other tools — such as large-scale bond purchases and forward interest-rate guidance — to try to provide the economy with a needed boost.

Negative rates are “way down the list of things that they would do,” said Johns Hopkins University professor and former Fed economist Jonathan Wright.

The gains are limited, while the political fallout — Trump to the contrary —could be large. When the Fed reduced rates to a range of zero to 0.25% in 2008 and kept them there for seven years, it was frequently criticized by lawmakers for short-changing savers.

The Fed studied the possibility of lowering rates below zero in the 2008-2009 financial crisis and its aftermath and found it “wanting,” Vice Chairman Richard Clarida told a Bank of France event in March.

Indeed, in an August 2010 memo, Fed staff members questioned whether the central bank had the legal authority to set negative interest rates in the US

The Fed in 2008 gained authority from Congress to pay commercial banks interest on reserve balances deposited at the central bank. It’s not clear whether that authority extends to establishing negative rates on those reserves.

In the 2010 memo, Fed staffers also raised concerns about the impact that sub-zero rates would have on banks and money market funds.

That’s still a reason for caution in some policy makers’ minds.

“I’m a skeptic about whether that’s a viable option,” Dallas Fed President Robert Kaplan said in February when asked about the possibility of lowering rates below zero.

The “big worry” would be “the impact on the financial system and the ability of financial intermediaries to actually be healthy and function,” he said at a Dallas event.

Some economists argue that there’s a limit on how far rates can be pushed down before they perversely start to hurt the economy by prompting profit-pinched banks to curb their lending.

“Negative rates definitely would play havoc with bank profitability,” said Fred Cannon, research director at investment bank Keefe, Bruyette & Woods.

If rates fall below zero, the funds’ first line of defense against investors yanking out their money would be to reduce the fees that the managers charge.

‘SUCK IT UP’
“If rates don’t go too far negative, the playbook says suck it up and survive on lower fees,” said Peter Crane, president of Crane Data, which tracks money-market funds. “If you go too negative like you see in Europe, then you need another plan.”

The Fed is in the midst of a wide-ranging strategic study of ways it can tackle what Mr. Powell has called the “key question” facing it: How can it best manage the ups and downs of the economy in a world of permanently lower interest rates.

But negative rates don’t seem to be high on the agenda. A listing of Fed research relevant to the review on the central bank’s website doesn’t include a section on negative rates, JPMorgan Chase & Co. chief US economist Michael Feroli noted.

What’s more, two of the academic papers presented at a Chicago Fed conference on the review — including one co-authored by Mr. Wright — cast doubt on how effective they can be.

“Negative rates provide limited stimulus at best,” Notre Dame University professor Jing Cynthia Wu, co-author of the other paper given at the June meeting, said in an e-mail. “At the same time, they could hurt bank profitability.” — Bloomberg

AirAsia PHL to mount daily Manila-Bacolod flights

AIRASIA Philippines is launching a new daily flight from Manila to Bacolod next month.

The budget carrier said in a statement Thursday it will start offering thrice daily service between Manila and Bacolod on Oct. 27.

“We are pleased to continue growing connectivity in the Philippines. The new Manila-Bacolod flights will provide access to Bacolod City and the Central Visayas, a region full of charming locations and local food delicacies,” AirAsia Philippines Chief Executive Officer Ricardo P. Isla was quoted as saying in the statement.

For the Manila-Bacolod route, the first 80-minute flight will depart Ninoy Aquino International Airport at 8:20 a.m., and the last one will depart Bacolod at 9:30 p.m.

Bacolod will be the 11th domestic destination that AirAsia Philippines will be operating out of Manila. Overall, the carrier has more than 500 domestic and international flights weekly coming from its hubs in Manila, Clark, Cebu and Kalibo.

The company posted a 777% growth in its profit after tax in the second quarter, expanding to P593.07 million due to the 22% increase in passengers it carried during the period at 2.225 million.

It is targeting to swing to profit this year from a net loss of P2.11 billion in 2018, with a revenue target of P30 billion by end-2019 and about P50 billion in the next three years.

AirAsia Philippines also plans to conduct before the end of the year its public listing at the Philippine stock Exchange. — Denise A. Valdez

What to see this week

9 films to see on the week of September 13 — September 19, 2019

THE Pista ng Pelikulang Pilipino runs from Sept. 13 to 19, in selected cinemas nationwide. The films in the festival are below.

Circa

A VETERAN film producer wishes to celebrated her 100th birthday by reuniting with staff and actors she worked with throughout her career. Directed by Adolfo Borinaga Alix, Jr., the movie stars Anita Linda, Gina Alajar, Laurice Guillen, Jaclyn Jose, Elizabeth Oropesa, Ricky Davao, and Enchong Dee, with the special participation of the late Eddie Garcia.

MTRCB Rating: PG

Cuddle Weather

ADELA, an experienced prostitute, meets Ram, a newbie call boy. They have paid sex in adjacent motel rooms. When Ram finds out about Adela’s skills, he ask if she can teach him in exchange for a fee. They become “cuddle partners” until their relationship turns into an odd romance. Directed by Rod Marmol, the movie stars Sue Ramirez and RK Bagatsing.

MTRCB Rating: R-16

G!

FOUR FRIENDS go on a roadtrip to fulfill the bucket list of their cancer-stricken friend. Directed by Dondon Santos, the film stars McCoy De Leon, Jameson Blake, Paulo Angeles, and Mark Oblea.

MTRCB Rating: PG

I’m Ellenya L.

ELLENYA exemplifies the stereotypical millennial who dreams of becoming an vlogger with a big following. Directed by Boy 2 Quizon, the film stars Maris Racal and Iñigo Pascual.

MTRCB Rating: PG

Lola Igna

AT THE age of 118, Igna wishes to die already. However, the neighborhood in her town wants her to live long enough to win the world record of “The Oldest Living Grandmother in the World.” She finds the will to live upon the appearance of her grandson, Tim. Directed by Eduardo Roy, Jr., the film stars Angie Ferro, Yves Yro Flores, Meryl Soriano, Maria Isabel Lopez, Royce Cabrera, Chamyto Aguedan, Rener R. Concepcion, and Soliman Cruz.

MTRCB Rating: PG

LSS

SARA and Zak find themselves in a series of almost-but-not-quite romantic encounters while following the rise of an indie-folk band. Directed by Jade Castro, the film stars Gabbi Garcia and Khalil Ramos, featuring the music of Ben&Ben.

MTRCB Rating: PG

Open

AS A couple in a 14-year relationship, Rome and Ethan decide to explore seeing other people. They agree to have sex with strangers, but not fall in love with them. Directed by Andoy Ranay, the film stars JC Santos, Arci Muñoz, Ina Raymundo, Sofia Andres, Vance Larena, and Ivana Alawi.

MTRCB Rating: R-13

Pagbalik

A TROUBLED OFW comes home to reconcile with her family. Directed by Hubert Tibi and Maria S. Ranillo, the film stars Gloria Sevilla, Suzette Ranillo, and Vince Ranillo.

MTRCB Rating: G

The Panti Sisters


THREE GAY sons are visited by their estranged and ill father who offers an inheritance worth P300 million to whoever among them is able to give him a grandchild. Directed by Jun Robles Lana, the film stars Paolo Ballesteros, Christian Bables, and Martin del Rosario.

MTRCB Rating: PG

Watch Me Kill

A FEMALE assassin’s plans are interrupted as she discovers that her target might be hiding more than she expected. Directed by Tyrone Acierto, the film stars Jean Garcia and Jay Manalo.

MTRCB Rating: R-16

Women gained in income and jobs in 2018 — US Census

WOMEN are landing more full-time jobs, bringing in bigger paychecks and rising out of poverty, according to US Census data released on Tuesday.

Strong economic gains for female workers were a bright spot in a report that also showed the number of Americans without health insurance rose for the first time in a decade. The Census figures also showed household income barely budged in 2018 from the previous year.

Income figures show working women earning more money than they did during the boom years before the 2008 financial crisis, surpassing the gains for men.

Median earnings for women working full-time were 5.8% higher in 2018 than in 2007, before the start of the recession. Earnings for men working full-time were not statistically different from 2007.

Women, however, were still earning substantially less than their male peers. Median earnings for women working full-time amounted to 82% of the median earnings for men, reflecting a gender pay gap that was essentially unchanged in 2018 from 2017.

The Census findings also echoed a trend highlighted in the August monthly jobs report, which found that more women are either working or looking for jobs, shrinking the gender gap in the labor participation rate to the lowest level on record.

The share of working women with full-time jobs rose to 63.9% last year, a full percentage point higher than in 2017, according to the Census data. That was greater than the 0.7 percentage point increase in the portion of working men with full-time jobs, which rose to 76.3 percent in 2018.

The gains are helping more low-income women become more financially secure. The poverty rate for women fell to 12.9% in 2018 from 13.6% in 2017, while the poverty rate for men was 10.6% in 2018, not statistically changed from 2017. — Reuters

Malaysia keeps policy rate unchanged

MALAYSIA’S central bank kept its benchmark interest rate unchanged for a second straight meeting as the economy posts steady growth despite mounting global risks.

The central bank held its overnight rate at 3% Thursday, saying current policy is accommodative and supports the economy. Sixteen of 24 economists surveyed by Bloomberg correctly predicted the decision, while the rest had forecast a 25 basis-point (bp) cut.

“Domestic drivers of growth, alongside stable labor market and wage growth, are expected to remain supportive of economic activity,” Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) said in a statement. “On the external front, Malaysia’s diversified exports will partly mitigate the impact of softening global demand.”

The bank kept its growth projection for this year unchanged at 4.3%-4.8%, but said it was “subject to further downside risks from worsening trade tensions” and other global uncertainties.

EARLY MOVER
Malaysia’s central bank was one of the first in Asia to cut interest rates this year with a 25 basis-point cut in May. While its peers have since moved ahead with bigger-than-expected cuts, Malaysia has stayed on hold with its economy growing above expectations and inflation low and stable.

“May’s preemptive, pro-cyclical ‘get ahead of the curve’ cut that was received positively by the market appears to have paid dividends, offering more scope for the BNM to hold off for now,” said Stephen Innes, an Asia-Pacific market strategist at AxiTrader Ltd. in Bangkok. “BNM are content to keep their powder dry for a rainier day.”

He also suggested the decision may have been influenced by Malaysia’s recent inclusion on a US Treasury watch list of potential currency manipulators.

Given the economy’s recent performance, “central bank governor Nor Shamsiah Mohd Yunus at this juncture might also be less inclined to drop interest rates to avoid the perception of embarking on competitive devaluation,” Innes said.

LOW INFLATION
The central bank said headline inflation is expected to inch up into next year but remain generally low, given the subdued outlook for oil prices and policy measures to keep food prices in check.

External risks such as the US-China trade war have remained a factor for Malaysia. The country may be benefiting from businesses relocating operations from China to Southeast Asia amid the trade war, but the greater risk of global recession could weigh on investor sentiment.

As one of the few net energy exporters in the region, Malaysia’s economy is also sensitive to geopolitical tensions that affect commodity output and prices.

Alex Holmes, an Asia economist with Capital Economics, said the Malaysian central bank is likely to resume easing as soon as its next meeting.

“With growth set to slow and inflation likely to be subdued, further easing looks likely,” Holmes wrote in a research note. “We are sticking with our forecast that interest rates will be cut by a further 25 bps later this year, most likely at the BNM’s next meeting in early November.” — Bloomberg

PHL to improve business data privacy standards

THE Philippines is taking steps to improve business data privacy standards, according to a National Privacy Commission (NPC) official.

This as the Philippines last month signed up to be the ninth country in the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation Cross-Border Privacy Rules (APEC CBPR) system. The NPC also plans to create Philippine national privacy standards.

The APEC CBPR is a voluntary certification mechanism that allows member-companies to safely transfer data across APEC economies. The certification is expected to lower compliance costs as it removes the need to meet domestic privacy requirements of other countries.

“The benefit there is your [company data] practices will be recognized by other countries so you prevent data privacy being weaponized against you because you know that your standards are at par,” Privacy Commissioner Raymund E. Liboro told reporters after a Makati Business Club executive briefing on Thursday.

He said that there is a three-month gestation period following the Philippine’s application to join the APEC CBPR.

The Philippines would then need to nominate Accountability Agents — public or private agents that certify the companies — which will make certifications in the country recognizable in all jurisdictions.

The NPC also plans to launch the Philippine Privacy Marks before the end of the year, a data privacy and accountability 32-point checklist.

National certification marks may be recognized by other countries. “Part of our agenda with Singapore in the MoU [Memorandum of understanding] is the mutual recognition later on,” he added.

The Philippines and Singapore on Monday signed an MoU to share data best practices.

Mr. Liboro said that one of the biggest concerns in the Philippines is business data negligence, where data breaches due to carelessness happen.

“Being hacked is not a crime, but being negligent is,” he said.

He added that privacy is now becoming a differentiator among businesses, and that Filipinos are more likely to choose a company that is more trustworthy when it comes to data.

“This is really to enable widespread trust among businesses. That’s the end-all of the law —that everyone will trust business here. So that it can create social stability and employment,” he said.

Current APEC CBPR members include the US, Japan, Canada, Korea, Singapore, Mexico, Australia, and Chinese Taipei. — Jenina P. Ibañez

Revisiting your vision and mission

“The pace of change has never been this fast, yet it will never be this slow again,” said the Prime Minister of Canada Justin Trudeau during the World Economic Forum gathering. We have never seen a world as volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous as it is now. Technology is progressing at break-neck speeds, giving rise to new competitors that grow exponentially. Consumer preferences are changing fast due to the entry of the younger generations who voraciously purchase online, forcing many traditional retailers to close shop.

If we examine companies which are losing out in the market, their vision and mission are not aligned to the entirely new environment where they operate. Hence, there’s a need to revisit your organization’s vision and mission, and revise or tweak it as often as possible to make sure it’s attuned to what’s happening in the environment.

Vision and mission serves as the anchor of your organization, from which your objectives, strategies, and execution are all aligned to provide value to customers and the organization’s shareholders. A well-crafted vision and mission drives loyalty across the organization, fosters customer engagements, and guides in the decision making and judgement of business leaders.

In our consulting work when revisiting a company’s vision and mission, I cite the example of Microsoft, a classical firm that lost out on several opportunities in the market due to its “old” VMV.

In 1980, when Bill Gates was at the helm of Microsoft, he had a clear vision: “A computer on every desk and in every home.” This had proven to be a powerful vision which resonated across the organization. Microsoft became a software juggernaut for the next couple of decades, with its operating system and productivity tools running in practically all computers in the world.

In 2000, Bill Gates stepped down and appointed his long-time right-hand man, Steve Ballmer as the new CEO. In a Microsoft conference then, Ballmer upheld the vision/mission of Gates, saying “We’re gonna put a computer on every desk in every home,” and described it as a “compelling vision.”

But the world has changed in early years of 2000. The internet started to flourish globally. Mobile phones led by Nokia was becoming ubiquitous, and computers are becoming smaller and smaller. We saw the growth of new tech players like Google with its Android operating system and device and mobile firms like Samsung, LG, and Apple.

Google had a compelling vision: “to organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful,” while Apple’s mission under Steve Jobs was “to make a contribution to the world by making tools for the mind that advance humankind.” Both were compelling with no mention of a product or specific device.

When Jobs launched the iPhone in 2007, Ballmer was quoted in an interview that it has “no chance” of gaining significant market share. But iPhone was an instant hit, making Ballmer eat his words.

In an interesting turn of event, Microsoft launched Windows 8 Phone in 2010, which received lukewarm reviews due to its clunky features. During this time, Microsoft’s browser was also losing out to Google’s chrome, until its eventual demise.

In the fourth quarter of 2012, Microsoft posted a net loss of $492 million despite record revenue. Its misses in the past was starting to weigh in.

That’s why in 2013, Ballmer changed Microsoft’s mission: “No more computer on every desk.” The new vision/mission was “to create a family of devices and services for individuals and businesses that empower people around the globe at home, at work and on the go, for the activities they value most.”

Interestingly, Ballmer was still fixated with the device as the media, in a time when cloud computing was at its nascent stage. New companies “born in the cloud” emerged like Salesforce.com, and Amazon Web Services (AWS). AWS had a compelling vision/mission: “to enable developers and businesses to use web services to easily build and be paid for sophisticated, scalable applications.”

But in the same year, Microsoft acquired ailing Nokia’s smartphone business for a whopping $7 billion. It was almost predictably the biggest mistake Ballmer had made. In just two years, Microsoft wrote off $7.6 billion, and Ballmer admitted that the Nokia acquisition was a failure.

Ballmer announced his retirement in 2013. Under his helm, Microsoft significantly lost its share value from 2000 to 2013.

In 2014, Microsoft installed Sataya Nadella as its new CEO. Nadella, a veteran in Microsoft, said that the original mission of Bill Gates “always bothered me.” During this time, new tech competitors are leading the pack — Facebook, Google, Apple, Salesforce.com among others.

That’s why in 2015, Nadella laid out the new mission and vision of Microsoft. Its new mission: “to empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more.” Its new vision: “to help people and businesses throughout the world realize their full potential.”

In 2015, the new headline was “Microsoft got its groove back.” In 2019, Microsoft breached the $1-trillion market capitalization, as earnings beat expectation.

It truly pay to revisit your vision and mission.

 

Reynaldo C. Lugtu, Jr. is President & CEO of Hungry Workhorse Consulting, a digital and culture transformation firm. He is the Chairman of the Information and Communications Technology Committee of the Financial Executives Institute of the Philippines. He teaches strategic management in the MBA Program of De La Salle University. The author may be emailed at rey.lugtu@hungryworkhorse.com

Your Weekend Guide (September 13, 2019)

Passion

THE PHILIPPINE Opera Company opens its 20th anniversary with Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine’s 1994 Tony and Drama Desk Award-winning musical, Passion, at the Carlos P. Romulo Auditorium, RCBC Plaza in Makati City on Sept. 15 to 29. Set in war-torn Italy in 1863, Passion tells a story of a love affair between a young soldier, a beautiful married woman, and a sickly spinster. Directed by Robbie Guevara, it stars Jasmin Fitzgerald as Clara, Vien King as Giorgio, and Shiela Valderrama-Martinez as Fosca. Tickets are available through TicketWorld (www.ticketworld.com.ph, 891-9999).

Company: A Musical Comedy

UPSTART Productions presents Stephen Sondheim’s Company: A Musical Comedy on Sept. 13 to 22 at the Globe Auditorium, Maybank Performing Arts Theater, BGC Arts Center, Taguig City. Directed by Topper Fabregas, the musical follows 35-year-old Bobby who struggles to commit to a relationship or marriage. Tickets are available through TicketWorld (www.ticketworld.com.ph, 891-9999).

PPO concert

THE Philippine Philharmonic Orchestra, under the direction of Yoshikazu Fukumura, opens its 37th Concert Season titled, “Gold Classical Music Treasures,” with a concert on Sept. 13, 8 p.m., at the Cultural Center of the Philippines’ Main Theater, with pianist Noriko Ogawa as soloist. The night’s repertoire consists of Mozart’s Don Giovanni Overture, Prokofiev’s Piano Concerto No. 3 Op. 26 in C Major, and Dvorak’s Symphony No. 7 Op. 70 in D minor. Tickets are available through TicketWorld (www.ticketworld.com.ph, 891-9999).

Manila International Book Fair

ON ITS 40th year, the Manila International Book Fair returns on Sept. 11 to 15 at the SMX Convention Center, Mall of Asia Complex in Pasay City. The book fair includes activities such as seminars, workshops, book signings and co-located events such as Fandom Fest. For more information, visit http://manilabookfair.com/.

Harry Potter Concert

AS PART of the “Harry Potter Film Concert” series, the ABS-CBN Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Gerard Salonga, will perform Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone in Concert on Sept. 14 and 15 at The Theatre in Solaire. Relive the magic of the film in high-definition on a 40-foot screen while hearing John Williams’ score live. Tickets are available through TicketWorld (www.ticketworld.com.ph, 891-9999). For more information, visit www.harrypotterinconcert.com.

Rak of Aegis

THE hit Pinoy jukebox musical Rak of Aegis returns to the PETA Theater Center, with ongoing performances until Sept. 29. The show uses the songs of the Aegis band such as “Halik,” “Sinta,” and “Basang-Basa sa Ulan” to tell the tale of a perennially flooded barangay. Tickets are available through TicketWorld (www.ticketworld.com.ph, 891-9999).

Non-competitive, inclusive marathon

THE World Health Organization Philippines will hold the first non-competitive and inclusive marathon, “Walk the Talk Manila: The Health for All Challenge,” on Sept. 15, 7 a.m., at the Pacific Rim, Alabanf, Muntinlupa City. The event is open to all ages and is free-of-charge. There will be running, walking, and non-motorized wheels (e.g., wheelchairing) in different distances (3K, 5K, 10K), as well as biking (10K).

Jeans sale

OLD NAVY’s will hold a big sale on Sept. 15, with “Buy One, Get One” offers on jeans and select dresses and shirts, as well as 30% off the entire store. Old Navy has branches at Bonifacio High Street, Estancia in Capitol Commons, Glorietta 3, Robinsons Galleria, Shangri-La Plaza Mall, and SM Megamall.

How to give task ownership to employees

You have been a long-time advocate of employee empowerment and engagement. The trouble with such an approach is that management and their workers are often sidetracked by their basic priorities. This prevents people from working on special projects that they can do from planning to actual achievement of tangible results, with almost zero intervention from management. Please give me your advice. — Matt Yellow Submarine.

You’re familiar with the oft-repeated phrase “If there’s a will, there’s a way” and its own Tagalog version in “kung ayaw may dahilan, kung gusto maraming paraan.” That’s my short answer to your baseless predicament. Of course, there are many ways to assign special projects to people. However, you must consider that giving special assignments is an unnecessary burden that interferes with the back-breaking regular tasks of your workers.

Besides, task ownership is not limited to special projects but includes all those routine tasks found in one’s job description. But going back to your predicament, sometimes there a few others who lack ambition or skill who balk at the idea of performing other assignments beyond the scope of their job descriptions. If it’s within their job requirement, people still complain that management is being unfair and claim that they’re already overworked and underpaid.

And so how would you manage all of these issues and at the same time motivate people to work on their regular tasks and special projects that they can truly appreciate as their tangible accomplishments from start to finish? There are few strategies that will help you overcome the most common issues:

One, understand the areas where you should stop micro-managing people. It’s always tempting to control people and say — “my way or the highway.” But that’s not how it works with many people who are often irritated being managed by helicopter managers or those who hover over their shoulders almost every hour of the day.

As long as there’s a prior and mutual understanding of the objectives, timelines, standards, and resources, among other parameters, there’s no reason why management should not give enough space and freedom for their workers to do their job on their own.

Two, require each worker to identify and work on their own special projects. You don’t have to copy Google that allows its workers to dedicate 20% of their time to side projects, in addition to their regular work responsibilities. As a start, you can settle for workers setting aside 10% or about four hours a week so they can work on their creative side.

This may include doing things that don’t need prior management approval and at the same time allows people to fail without any serious repercussion as long as they report and learn from the process and its results.

Three, allow employees to accept or reject any additional assignment. Or much better, require them to challenge the wisdom of having this additional burden being given to employees. Don’t take it negatively. Instead, management must create a system where employees volunteer for certain projects instead of forcing someone to do it.

This is particularly true if only to avoid the issue of complainers who will resent the fact that being hard workers must not be rewarded with additional work. By doing this, you may even be surprised to find out there are willing workers out there to take the job for you.

Four, let the workers know in advance about their authority on the project. Recognize the fact that almost everyone wants to experience working like a boss from time to time provided they are given reasonable and independent authority to work on certain projects.

This is one basic reason why there are certain employees who don’t want to volunteer for certain tasks because they don’t want to be burdened with so many unnecessary rules that constrict their movement. It is enough that they know the standards and timelines on what to report for their milestones or as soon as they have completed a certain project.

Five, recognize those who have completed difficult assignments. It doesn’t have to be in material form. Even something as simple as a sincere marginal note to a document or an email thanking those workers for the job they did can do wonders for their morale. Be specific and genuine as possible. Don’t resort to a template answer so it will not sound fake. And don’t do it as a matter of routine or it will lose its significance in the long term.

If the accomplishment is extraordinary, be generous with praise to those who have done a lot in making them happen.

Last, work jointly with each employee to develop his or her career goals. Usually, this is done as part of the formal performance appraisal. Just the same, don’t limit the discussion during the once-a-year evaluation exercise. Management must continually look for areas where existing employee skills can be improved or learned. This is not limited to attending a training program alone. Sometimes, the best approach is when management would assign a person to a different job, geographical location and work situations.

Even if you don’t assign special projects to people, you can still give the full ownership or title to workers to their tasks as defined by their respective job description. It is as simple as management limiting itself explain the “why,” then let the employees figure out the “how” part.

ELBONOMICS: Ownership is defined by one who has committed a lot of mistakes.

 

Send anonymous questions to elbonomics@gmail.com or via https://reyelbo.consulting

How PSEi member stocks performed — September 12, 2019

Here’s a quick glance at how PSEi stocks fared on Thursday, September 12, 2019.

 

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