M O N D AY : O C T O B E R 1 2 , 2 0 1 5
BUSINESS business@thestandard.com.ph extrastory2000@gmail.com
B5
Leadership and management lessons from Heneral Luna HENERAL Luna is a huge hit, raking more than P230 million in tickets sales. This is probably the REYNALDO C. LUGTU, JR. first movie ever that had REEN IGHT struck emotional, cultural, and historical chords among all classes of Filipinos, including management students like me. It shows the complex interplay of power, politics, and leadership in much the same way we are experiencing today.
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A great planner and organizer
We learned in MBA class various concepts in business and management such as planning, organizing, leading, and controlling. General Luna is not the perfect example of a great leader or manager but the movie is rife with examples of what a great leader and manager is and what is not. For one, General Luna showed excellence in planning and organizing the assaults and defense mechanism of the Philippine military gained from his studies in military science from Belgium under Gen. Gerard Leman, a World War I hero and training in guerrilla warfare and defense fortification. He would always plan for and prepare alternative actions to engage the Americans. He was an astute planner who even gets into the intricate details of things. He even commissioned his brother, Juan Luna, a renowned painter, to design the military’s uniform.
A complete disciplinarian
As a leader, General Luna was a complete disciplinarian and autocrat. In the movie, he said to the President Emilio Aguinaldo— “Kung ganun pabayaan mo akong mamuno! Pabayaan mo akong magturo ng tamang disiplina!“ (In that case, let me lead! Let me teach the right discipline). In one scene, General Luna got hold of a captain’s private organ and drag the officer in front of his soldiers. This is literally and physically controlling the captain in order for him to understand the importance of chain of command and obedience. In the corporate setting, we don’t do this. We do it through measurable metrics guided by steps in control process. But General Luna was able to lead his troops despite their limited skills, experience, and maturity. In one scene, he said “Nasa maling ulo ang utak ng inyong pinuno” (Your leader’s brain is in the head). This was General Luna’s brutal rebuke to a captain who disobeyed him. From this, we can say that empowering the wrong person to lead and manage will definitely compromise the goals and objectives of an organization. Insubordination may arise because of the inability of the follower to understand the mechanics of followership. They don’t understand that those followers who effectively perform the tasks assigned by their leaders are the most likely to be promoted or assumed a leadership role when opportunities appear. But nonetheless, General Luna capitalized on his followers’ ability and experience to successfully lead them to their goals.
An effective manager of resources and image
General Luna also showed how he managed his limited resources. He said “kaunti ang salapi ng hukbong sandatahan pero, kelangang ipakita sa mga Amerikano na kagalang-galang tayo” (the armed forces has limited financial resources, but we need to show the Americans that we are worthy to be revered). He knew that respect of enemies in times of war is as important as gaining victory. This is also a requirement in the corporate setting to dress appropriately known as impression management. But this goes beyond wearing the right dress, it includes speaking and behaving acceptably.
An expert strategist
General Luna also displayed skills in strategy and tactics. He said “Hindi natin sila matatalo sa teknolohiya, pero matatalo natin sa taktika.” (We cannot defeat them with technology, but we can defeat them with tactic). He had a strategy to defeat the Americans by staging a guerrilla warfare in the Cordillera Region. But this strategy was never implemented. He was not able to overcome the organizational obstacles and challenges in the early stage of the Philippines. Despite the untimely death of General Luna in the movie, he was able to impart invaluable lessons to us that we can use in our professional and personal lives. The author is a senior executive in an information and communications technology firm. He also teaches management and marketing courses in the MBA Program of the Ramon V. del Rosario College of Business, De La Salle University. Jerry Victorio is a student in the MBA Program of the Ramon V. del Rosario College of Business, De La Salle University.
PLDT partner. Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. president and chief executive Napoleon Nazareno and Phunware chairman, chief executive and co-founder Alan Knitowski (seated from left, respectively) formalize the partnership between the PLDT Group and Phunware during a signing ceremony in El Segundo, California. The partnership involves a direct investment by PLDT Capital in US mobile platform leader Phunware and the creation of a joint venture that will allow PLDT’s ICT unit, ePLDT, to market and exclusively distribute Phunware targeted mobile and multiscreen solutions in Southeast Asia.
PAL subcontracts ground operations By Darwin G Amojelar
PHILIPPINE Airlines expects to turn over its ground handling activities in domestic stations to a third party service provider by next month after laying off 117 employees. “We are still finalizing it, maybe by November,” PAL president and chief operating officer Jaime Bautista said over the weekend. Bautista said the company expects to incur savings with the manpower reduction as well as operational efficiency. He added no other employees would be laid off. The layoffs will take effect November 9 and involve the payment of a separation package of 125 percent of monthly basic salary per year of service and a gratuity pay of P100,000. The Philippine Airlines Employees Association last week filed a notice of strike with the Department of Labor and Employment after PAL terminated 117 employees
“We ask for the understanding of the public but a strike is necessary to defend the working conditions of PAL workers as the company is illegally interfering and coercing employees in the exercise of their constitutional right to self-organization,” Palea president Gerry Rivera said earlier. “Also the mass termination of more than 100 Palea members constitute another element of unfair labor practice.” The union cited alleged unfair labor practice as basis for the strike. Palea under the law has 15 days before it can actually hold a strike. PAL on Sept. 2 sent notices of termination to 117 employees, almost all Palea members. The
notice cited an alleged organizational restructuring which had rendered “several positions in the company redundant.” Rivera dismissed the redundancy claim, saying the workers to be retrenched would be replaced by new employees from agencies. “The new round of layoffs is another wave of contractualization, changing regular unionized workers with contractual employees using agencies who will be paid less in wages and benefits,” he said. Rivera said PAL was laying off workers at a time when PAL was registering huge profits. PAL’s parent firm, PAL Holdings Inc., recorded a consolidated total comprehensive income of P5.94 billion in the first half of the year, up 1,500 percent from just P362.4 million year-on-year. Total revenues in the first half rose 14 percent to P55.95 billion from P48.95 billion a year earlier. Revenues in the second quarter reached P28.09 billion, up 2.9 percent from P27.23 billion.
Silahis hotel takeover illegal—Panlilio OWNERS of Silahis International Hotel Inc. and Pacific Hotel Corp. urged the Supreme Court to review the seizure of the five-star hotel, saying they were deprived of their properties without due process of law. Jocel Panlilio, scion of the owners of Silahis Hotel, alleged that Judge Lyliha Abella-Aquino of RTC Manila Branch 24 railroaded the cancellation of the SIHI and PHC ownership titles of the family to the properties. The Manila sheriff backed, by a 15-fully-armed men of Pacific Wide Realty and Development Corp., wrested the properties of SIHI and PHC with an illegal court order of execution that had a pending appeal. “We filed an administrative
complaint against Judge Aquino and the sheriff of Branch 24 and petitioned the court for a change of venue,” Panlilio said. Panlilio said Aquino’s court order was illegal as he was merely asked to rule against the winning bid of Pacific Wide Realty. The case, he said, did not involve the possession and ownership of SIHI’s and PHC’s properties. SIHI and PHC were not parties nor were they summoned as parties or informed of the pendency of the case in Judge Aquino’s sala, Panlilio said. “I believe it is basic in the rules that a co-equal branch of court cannot intrude into the sphere of another on a matter already pending before it,” Panlilio said. The issue of possession and ownership
is pending before Judge Alisuag of RTC-Manila Branch 1. Panlilio claimed that his family was in a no-win situation in Manila courts owing to the alleged close relationship of plastic magnate William Gatchalian, who owns Pacific Wide Realty, and Manila Mayor Joseph Estrada. Gatchalian was presidential adviser for OFW Affairs and among the personalities involved in the plunder case filed against Estrada when he was president, Panlilio said. SIHI and PHC appealed the case with Court of Appeals, which denied it. The Panlilios then filed with the Supreme court a petition to review for Certiorari before the SC. The high court also denied the petition.