Challenges to Puerto Princesa as the Lone Green City

Lynch May H. Ulsano
Palawan State University
Puerto Princesa City

Looking at the City’s Current Situation
Recent media reports state that the inclusion of Puerto Princesa’s Underground River as one of the New Seven Wonders of Nature has increased the arrival of tourists from 160,000 in 2007, to 514,000 last year.  Mayor Edward Hagedorn said that it would likely hit 625,000 this year and 1.2 Million a year by 2016.  From only four flights daily, the city’s small airport, now has to accommodate twenty flights daily.

Hagedorn attributed this not only to its jewel, the underground river but but also to other places of entertainment being developed in the city.

“Dati wala kaming zip line, ngayon ang dami na. Dati hindi masyadong popular and trekking, ngayon popular na,” Hagedorn said, adding that the city now has floating restaurants, and shark and dolphin watching facilities, among others.

He said that while not all of the 514,000 visitors recorded in 2011 actually went to see the underground river, around 60 percent to 70 percent did.

With the sudden influx of tourists is the question and challenges of sustainability.  Tourists are now every where.  One out of every three vehicles on city streets is a van packed with tourists, crawling behind tricycles buzzing around like flies.

To accommodate them resulted with the construction of new tourist facilities which are going on simultaneously all over the city.  Dust has no time to settle.  Rapid change is everywhere; the city is aggressively in expansion mode.  I fear that time will come that I could no longer recognize it.

Already evident are the traffic, urban congestion and visual chaos that follow the rush to build up a city known to be the greenest in the country.

Puerto Princesa nowadays has that boomtown feel.  The city is changing right before your eyes, and in a year or so it will be practically unrecognizable.

Borrowing from my reference, the Puerto Princesa that I know way back in my elementary days and a few of my high school days as they say and I could compare based on what I can see on TV and movies is a unique city.  It is city with a rural identity because it is green unlike others.  Fully grown trees shaded its broad main avenues, a perfect green foil to the low-rise structures along the streets.

Now, those endangered avenues are harder to find now.  New development is homogenizing the look of the city, soon to look like all other newly developed areas in any other Philippine city where one-strip mall after another lines streets with no sidewalks and no trees.

I fear that current changes have also affected the life style and norms of the common folks.  With this is the fear that the introduction of mall culture might endanger the simple life style and morality that Palawan people are known for and that with this, because of materialism, the environment is highly at risk particularly the southern part even the northern part even when the law is strictly being implemented.

How will they go against the temptation of wanting more? Of over stretching their budget just to buy this and buy that? Or, so that their will be more money to finance unnecessary wants, to look for other sources commonly against righteousness.

Recommendations
Strict planning and zoning should be instituted and implemented to preserve Puerto Princesa’s identity that sets it apart from any other place in the country and that makes the city a tourist attraction.

It should maintain what is it known for, the green city and the province on its part, worthy of being called, the last frontier.

Aside from allowing maximum development to happen in a regulated manner to prevent overdevelopment, zoning and planning measures control traffic, pollution; and while allowing the city to grow, control measures maintain growth at sustainable levels.

Determining and maintaining sustainable levels to effectively manage tourism growth are essential to keep alive the goose that lays Puerto Princesa’s golden eggs.  The goal is to sustain rather than deplete tourism resources.

The question of the human impact particularly on the underground river should also be studied and of primordial concern.

How does the increased carbon dioxide from human exhalation impact on the ecosystem balance within the cave?  There were reports that the number of bats living in the cave have decreased, an indication of a change in the ecosystem balance within the cave.

Humans introduce lint that flies around, attaches to the cave walls, and impedes the natural formation of stalactites and stalagmites.  Think of how much lint an average of 45,000 humans who enter the cave per month can give off.  How do the rock formations combat lint?

Being inscribed on the World Heritage List requires managing and maintaining the natural equilibrium of the park, assuring its sustainability and its future, while allowing tourists and visitors to enjoy its natural beauty.

A Management plan to protect and guide all impacts in the entire Puerto Princesa Subterranean River Park is what the city is committed to.  And it should insure by all its might and of the law that it is strictly implemented without pause.

The tourist buzz is expected to bring more benefits to the Puerto Princesa community, and it should.

However, unless sustainability guides the tourist boom, in the end the benefits could turn out to be not only short-lived, but also harmful to the city’s tourism assets, providing only temporary relief for the community.

Tourism is normally double-edged:  beneficial when well-managed, and disastrous when tourism assets are exploited.

If not hatched sustainably, those golden eggs may turn out not be golden in the long run.

References:

Elona Jamie Marie, Tourist arrivals in Puerto Princesa likely to hit 700,000, INQUIRER.net
5:16 pm | Wednesday, April 18th, 2012

Villalon Augusto F., Augusto F., Is Puerto Princesa’s tourism boom sustainable? Philippine Daily Inquirer 1:08 am | Monday, March 12th, 2012

Behavioral and Contemporary Theories of Management

By:  Gilbert M. Forbes 
 
II.    Behavioral School
The behavioral management theory is often called the human relations movement because it addresses the human dimension of work. Behavioral theorists believed that a better understanding of human behavior at work, such as motivation, conflict, expectations, and group dynamics, improved productivity. The theorists who contributed to this school viewed employees as individuals, resources, and assets to be developed and worked with — not as machines, as in the past. Several individuals and experiments contributed to this theory.

The key scholar under this category is Elton Mayo. The origin of behavioralism is the human relations movement that was a result of the Hawthorne Works Experiment carried out at the Western Electric Company, in the United States of America that started in the early 1920s (1927-32). Elton Mayo and his associates’ experiments disproved Taylor’s beliefs that science dictated that the highest productivity was found in ‘the one best way’ and that way could be obtained by controlled experiment. The Hawthorne studies attempted to determine the effects of lighting on worker productivity. When these experiments showed no clear correlation between light level and productivity the experiments then started looking at other factors. These factors that were considered when Mayo was working with a group of women included rest breaks, no rest breaks, no free meals, more hours in the work-day/work-week or fewer hours in the workday/work-week. With each of these changes, productivity went up. When the women were put back to their original hours and conditions, they set a productivity record. 

These experiments proved five things.  First, work satisfaction and hence performance is basically not economic – depends more on working conditions and attitudes - communications, positive management response and encouragement, working environment. Second, it rejected Taylorism and its emphasis on employee self-interest and the claimed over-riding incentive of monetary rewards. Third, large-scale experiments involving over 20,000 employees showed highly positive responses to, for example, improvements in working environments (e.g., improved lighting, new welfare/rest facilities), and expressions of thanks and encouragement as opposed to coercion from managers and supervisors. Fourth, the influence of the peer group is very high – hence, the importance of informal groups within the workplace. Finally, it denounced ‘rabble hypotheses’ that society is a horde of unorganized individuals (acting) in a manner calculated to secure his or her self-preservation or self-interest.

These results showed that the group dynamics and social makeup of an organization were an extremely important force either for or against higher productivity. This outcome caused the call for greater participation for the workers, greater trust and openness in the working environment, and a greater attention to teams and groups in the work place. Finally, while Taylor’s impacts were the establishment of the industrial engineering, quality control and personnel departments, the human relations movement’s greatest impact came in what the organization’s leadership and personnel department were doing. The seemingly new concepts of “group dynamics”, “teamwork”, and organizational “social systems”, all stem from Mayo’s work in the mid-1920s.
Theory X” and “Theory Y”.

Douglas McGregor (1906-1964) postulated management ideas as contained in “Theory X” and “Theory Y”. Using human behavior research, he noted that the way an organization runs depends on the beliefs of its managers. “Theory X” gives a negative view of human behavior and management that he considered to have dominated management theory from Fayol onwards – especially Taylorism. It also assumes that most people are basically immature, need direction and control, and are incapable of taking responsibility. They are viewed as lazy, dislike work and need  a mixture of financial inducements and threat of loss of their job to make them work (‘carrot and stick’ mentality). 

“Theory Y”, the opposite of “Theory X”, argues that people want to fulfill themselves by seeking self-respect, self-development, and self-fulfillment at work as in life in general. The six basic assumptions for ‘Theory Y’ are: work is as natural as play or rest – the average human being does not inherently dislike work, whether work is a source of pleasure or a punishment (to be avoided) depends on nature of the work and its management. Second, effort at work need not depend on threat of punishment –  if committed to objectives then self-direction and self-control rather than external controls. Third, commitment to objectives is a function of the rewards associated with their achievement.

Satisfaction of ego and self-actualization needs can be directed towards the objectives of the organization. Fourth, the average human being learns, under proper conditions, not only to accept but to seek responsibility. Fifth, high degrees of imagination, ingenuity and creativity are not restricted to a narrow group but are widely distributed in the population. Lastly, under the conditions of modern industrial life, the intellectual potentials of the average human being are being only partly utilized. 

Abraham Maslow, a practicing psychologist, who developed one of the most widely recognized need theories, a theory of motivation based upon a consideration of human needs. As a practicing psychologist, he observed that his patients are motivated by a sequence of needs, including monetary incentives, social acceptance and others.  Maslow’s theory of hierarchical needs was a primary factor in the increased attention that managers began to give to the work of academic theorists.  His theory helped managers visualize employee motivation.

III.    Management Science School
The management science school provides managers with a scientific basis for solving problems and making decisions. This school grew directly out of the World War II groups (called operational research teams in Great Britain and operations research teams in the United States).

Churchman, Ackoff, and Arnoff define the management science approach as an application of the scientific method to problems arising in the operation of a system, and the solving of these problems by solving mathematical equations representing the system.  Its distinguishing characteristics separating it from that of Taylor’s Scientific Management Theory is the fact that efficiency comes from proper planning and making the right decisions.

• Mathematical models In management science, mathematical model attempts to reduce a managerial decision to a mathematical form so that the decision-making process can be simulated and evaluated before the actual decision is made.
• Computer applications.  It’s use has been the driving force behind the emergence of the management science approach.
• Evaluation criteria model have been evaluated against a set of effectiveness criteria (e.g., revenue, return on investment, and cost savings).
• Operations management refers to the various models and techniques in use. Some of the commonly used methods are forecasting, inventory modeling, linear and nonlinear programming, scheduling, simulation, networks models, probability analysis, and break-even analysis. Operations management specialists use these techniques to solve manufacturing problems.
• Management information system (MIS) is the most recent subfield of the management science perspective. MIS is a system designed to provide information to managers in a timely and cost-efficient manner. It entails and integrated data base (usually in a computer), a hierarchical information structure, and an orientation toward decision support.

Because management science thought is still evolving, more specific technique can be expected.

IV.    Recent Developments in Management Theory (Contemporary Management Theories)
Under this category of theory are the Systems Approach, Situational or Contingency theory, Chaos theory, and Team Building theory.

The systems theory has had a significant effect on management science and understanding organizations. A system is a collection of part unified to accomplish an overall goal. If one part of the system is removed, the nature of the system is changed as well. A system can be looked at as having inputs (e.g., resources such as raw materials, money, technologies, people), processes (e.g., planning, organizing, motivating, and controlling), outputs (products or services) and outcomes (e.g., enhanced quality of life or productivity for customers/clients, productivity). Systems share feedback among each of these four aspects of the system
The Systems Theory may seem quite basic. Yet, decades of management training and practices in the workplace have not followed this theory. Only recently, with tremendous changes facing organizations and how they operate, have educators and managers come to face this new way of looking at things. The effect of systems theory in management is that it helps managers to look at the organization more broadly. It has also enabled managers to interpret patterns and events in the workplace – i.e., by enabling managers to recognize the various parts of the organization, and, in particular, the interrelations of the parts.

The situational or contingency theory asserts that when managers make a decision, they must take into account all aspects of the current situation and act on those aspects that are key to the situation at hand. Basically, it is the approach that “it depends”. For example, if one is leading troops in Iraq, an autocratic style is probably best. If one is leading a hospital or University, a more participative and facilitative leadership style is probably best.

According to this model, the formal structure of an organization defines the roles of its members in a specific way and thereby directs their behavior to a certain degree. The performance of the organization depends on the degree to which these role definitions enable members to cope with the requirements resulting from the context of the organization. For example if there is strong competition and a high degree of technological change, decisions about new products and marketing strategies have to be changed frequently and be taken close to the market. A formal structure with a high degree of centralization, specialization and formalization would not fit to the requirements resulting from this situation, rather roles defined by a low degree of these structural dimensions would enable members to act in the required flexible way.

The Chaos theory is advocated by Tom Peters (1942). As chaotic and random as global events seem today, they are equally chaotic in organizations. Yet for many decades, managers have acted on the basis that organizational events can always be controlled. Thus, a new theory, known as chaos theory, has emerged to recognize that events are rarely controlled. Chaos theorists suggest that systems naturally go to more complexity, and as they  do  so,  they  become  more  volatile and must, therefore, expend more energy to maintain that complexity. As they expend more energy, they seek more structure to maintain stability. This trend continues until the system splits, combines with another complex system or falls apart entirely. It will need an effective manager for the latter worst scenario not to happen. 

Team Building approach or theory. The last management theory is the Team Building approach or theory.  This theory emphasizes quality circles, best practices, and continuous improvement. It is a theory that mainly hinges on reliance on teamwork. It also emphasizes flattening of management pyramid, and reducing the levels of hierarchy. Finally, it is all about consensus management – i.e., involving more people at all levels in decision-making.

Total Quality Management.  In this category are the works of Edward W. Deming and Douglas McGregor. Edward Deming is the founder of modern quality management and is regarded by the Japanese as the key influence in their postwar economic miracle. He postulated several assumptions: create constancy of purpose for continual improvement of products and service; adopt the new philosophy created in Japan; cease dependence on mass inspection; build quality along with price; improve constantly and forever every process planning, production, and service; institute modern methods of training  on-the-job for including management; adopt and institute leadership aimed at helping people to do a better job; drive out fear, encourage effective two-way  communication; breakdown barriers between departments and staff areas; eliminate exhortations for the workforce – they only create adversarial relationships; eliminate quotas and numerical targets; remove barriers to pride of workmanship, including annual appraisals and Management by Objectives; encourage education and self-improvement for everyone; and define top management’s permanent commitment to ever improving quality and productivity and their obligation to implement all these principles.

The Quantitative Approach is hardly used and known by managers. It emerges from operations research and management science. It is a mathematical and statistical solution to problems using optimization models, and computer  simulations. It is most effective 21management decision-making rather  than managerial behavior. The management theories that have been discussed, important as they are, have to be translated in practice by managers.

• A quantitative approach to management involves a systematic and scientific approach to decision making and problem solving in complex situations and environments that may involve uncertainty and conflict. Those carrying out the approach will search for an optimal answer for a problem by applying quantitative models. The use of these mathematical models help the decision maker understand the problems better and enable them to make a calculated, informed and reasoned judgment.
• Use of statistics in quantitative research. Statistical methods are used extensively in the field of management and begin with a collection of data. This data is required to be verified, validated and recorded before the analysis takes place. 
• Measuring quantitative research. The best way to measure quantitative research is debated by many. In most cases, measurement is regarded as being the only way that observations can be expressed numerically so that causal relations or associations can be investigated. Many believe that measurement plays a more important role in quantitative research than this. Some suggest that it is important to look at the abnormalities within quantitative research as well.

A quantitative approach to management allows researchers to use numerical models in order to collect and analyze data for a business. This information can help the management make informed and reasonable judgments.

(Mr. Gilbert M. Forbes had his Bachelors Degree and MA in Educational Management (CAR) from the Philippine Normal University.  A campus paper adviser and trainer for 13 years.  Currently, he is a school principal in one of the central schools in the Division of Quezon.) 

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References:

http://www.demo-net.org/get-involved/glossary/theories/contingency-approach-in-organizational-theory/?searchterm=Contingency%20approach%20in%20organizational%20theory

http://managementhelp.org/management/theories.htm

Dr. Yasin Olum, MODERN MANAGEMENT THEORIES AND PRACTICES, a paper presented at the 15th East African Central Banking Course, held on

12th July 2004, at Kenya School of Monetary Studies.

http://www.netmba.com/mgmt/scientific/

http://www.vectorstudy.com/management_schools/classical_school.htm

Classical Organizational Theory, Behavioral School and Contemporary Theories of Management

By:  Gilbert M. Forbes
(A paper or material presented at the Philippine Normal University by Gilbert M. Forbes as part of the required activities of the course ED M 506 Research Seminar in Education with Dr. Roderick A. Tadeo as professor.)

I. Classical Organizational Theory/ School
The classical school is the oldest formal school of management thought. Its roots pre-date the twentieth century whose general concerns are ways to manage work and organizations more efficiently.  Body of the classical school's management thought was based on the belief that employees have only economical and physical needs, and that social needs and need for job satisfaction either don’t exist or are unimportant.  Accordingly, this school advocates high specialization of labor, centralized decision making, and profit maximization.  Three areas of study that can be grouped under the classical school are scientific, administrative, and bureaucratic management.

Scientific Management 
It is popularly referred to as Frederick Taylor’s Scientific Management (1856-1917).  In his book The Principles of Scientific Management, he describes how the application of the scientific method to the management of workers could greatly improve productivity.  Scientific Management called for optimizing the way that tasks are performed and simplifying the jobs enough so that workers could be trained to perform their specialized jobs that are being performed.  Scientific management adheres that it is more effective than the “initiative and incentive” method of motivating workers.

Taylor was being affected by some moral principles; therefore, he had a profound respect for the following principles:

•  Brought up scientific working methods for basic formative section of each staff’s job.
• Scientifically selected, trained, fostered and cultivated the workers.
• Cooperated with staffs enthusiastically so that ensuring jobs done are suitable to scientific theory which has been set forth.
• Basically actualized equal division of labor between jobs and responsibilities of the managements and the workers.
• All work processes should be systematically analyzed and broke down into specialized discrete tasks.
• Payment depended on piecework basis which taken as an incentive to maximize productivity and produce high wages for the workers.

At the same time, his insufficient understanding towards organizational behavior gave rise to the following situation:

1.  Changed workers role into that was required to strictly abide by methods and procedures of affairs on which they had no discretions.
2. Fragmentation of work due to its emphasis on the analysis and organization of individual tasks and operation,
3. His thought over payment that was mainly reliance on output performance rather than giving remuneration to workers in accordance with overall performance of the workers.
4. His inclination to consider planning and control of workforce activities which were only in the management’s hands rather than allowing staffs to involve.
5. Every job which was measured, timed, and rated.
6. Occurrence of boredom stemmed from repetitive jobs and tight management control.
7. Poor understanding between grass-roots workers and managements.s:

FOUR PRINCIPLES OF SCIENTIFIC MANAGEMENT

•  Replace work-of-thumb work method with methods based on a scientific study of the tasks.
• Scientifically select, train and develop each worker to be first class at some specific task.
• Science of work to be brought together with scientifically selected and trained people to achieve the  best results.
• Work and responsibility to be divided equally between workers and management cooperating together in close interdependence.

It has to be acknowledged that from an economic standpoint, Taylorism or Scientific Management was an extreme success for it yielded significant improvements in productivity.
Limitations

• Although it maximized efficiency and productivity but its main limitation was ignoring human aspects of employment.
• Work has become monotonous.
• The core job dimensions of skill variety, task identity, task significance, autonomy and feedback all were missing from the picture of it.

Administrative Theory 
Henri Fayol’s administrative theory mainly focuses on the personal duties of management at a much more granular level. In other words, his work is more directed at the management layer. Fayol believed that management had five principle roles: to forecast and plan, to organize, to command, to co-ordinate, and to control. Forecasting and planning was the act of anticipating the future and acting accordingly. Organization was the development of the institution’s resources, both material and human. Commanding was keeping the institution’s actions and processes running. Co-ordination was the alignment and harmonization of the group’s efforts.  Finally, control meant that the above activities were performed in accordance with appropriate rules and procedures.

Fayol developed fourteen principles of administration to go along with management’s five primary roles. These principles are: specialization/division of labor, authority with responsibility, discipline, unity of command, unity of direction, subordination of individual interest to the general interest, remuneration of staff, centralization, scalar chain/line of authority, order, equity, stability of tenure, initiative, and esprit de corps.
Fayol clearly believed personal effort and team dynamics were part of an “ideal” organization.

Fayol’s five principle roles (Plan, Organize, Command, Co-ordinate, and Control) of management are still actively practiced today. The concept of giving appropriate authority with responsibility is also  widely  commented  on  and  is well practiced. Unfortunately, his principles of “unity of command” and “unity of direction” are consistently violated in “matrix management”, the structure of choice for many of today’s companies.

Limitations

• Only acknowledged and focused on the structure of formal organizations;
• Took management as critical paternalistic and was stiff to desires and needs of both individuals and groups;
• Lacked suitability towards structures and behaviors of people as individuals and groups as such the 14 universal principles set forth were not will fit into an organic organization;

Bureaucratic Management can be viewed as an attempt to build up a reasonable and legal basis for the authority and an arrangement for the purpose of selecting people and undertaking various sorts of activities. Bureaucratic type of organizational structure has the following characteristics:

• Works of specialization. It decomposed works into different kinds of simple, daily, and detailed tasks.
• Hierarchy of authority. Responsibilities and positions were organized by hierarchy. Each low-grade position was monitored and controlled by the high-grade position.
• Formal selection. All organizational members were selected on the basis of qualification of technique, which certified by training, education, formal examinations.
• Impersonality. When applying rules and regulations, it was required to avoid involvement of character and personal preference.
• Orientation of occupation. Managers were professional leaders. They worked for steady salary and developed their careers within the organization.

Key Features of Bureaucracy
 Clear division of labor:  each task performed by employees is formally created and recognized as an official duty (yours and no one else’s).  Specialization.
 Hierarchical arrangement of positions:  each lower position controlled and supervised by a higher one.  Chain of Command
 Formal rules and regulations:  uniformly guide employee behavior.  Provide continuity and stability to work environment.  Reduce uncertainty about task performance.
 Impersonal relationships:  managers don’t get involved in employees’ personalities and personal preferences.
 No emotional attachments.  Provides for fairness.
 Employment based entirely on technical competence:  get job because you can do the job, not because of who you know.  Rigid selection criteria.  No arbitrary dismissal or promotion.

Limitation 
The more fully realized itself, the more bureaucracy “depersonalizes” itself – i.e., the more completely it succeeds in achieving the exclusion of love, hatred, and every purely personal, especially irrational and incalculable, feeling from execution of official tasks. Indeed it has become a completely impersonal organization with little human level of interaction between its members.

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(Mr. Gilbert M. Forbes had his Bachelors Degree and MA in Educational Management (CAR) from the Philippine Normal University.  A campus paper adviser and trainer for 13 years.  Currently, he is a school principal in one of the central schools in the Division of Quezon.) 

References:  

http://www.demo-net.org/get-involved/glossary/theories/contingency-approach-in-organizational-theory/?searchterm=Contingency%20approach%20in%20organizational%20theory

http://managementhelp.org/management/theories.htm

Dr. Yasin Olum, MODERN MANAGEMENT THEORIES AND PRACTICES, a paper presented at the 15th East African Central Banking Course, held on 12th July 2004, at Kenya School of Monetary Studies.

http://www.netmba.com/mgmt/scientific/

http://www.vectorstudy.com/management_schools/classical_school.htm