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Upon reading the book, our group came up to a realization that no matter how great a company is, it will face problems -- turbulence, as the author called it. A company, during turbulent times, has only the manager to resolve it. The manager must be ready and capable of managing the company as a whole, of handling the employees whose lives and living are dependent on the company, and of utilizing the resources that are vital during times of crisis.
MANAGEMENT (by Raphael Desoyo)
Reading the book “Managing in Turbulent times” and having the Nursing Administration course, made us novice leaders understand how it is to be an effective and efficient leader. The present time we are in is very turbulent and we clearly need leaders to lead us into the future; turbulence is found in government, labor force and most especially healthcare. Commitment and conviction is key to the proposed components that the author suggested in order to establish change they will be the fire that fuels the change needed; the path to a bright future is difficult thus the commitment and conviction of our leaders is essential.. The book made us realize the things that are essential to produce an organization into a viable organism.
A step that we realized is essential to management in turbulence is that we have to plan effectively; we have to take everything into consideration and utilize everything that would help the organization move forward. Without planning effectively the whole initiative would be in vain; everything would be in chaos thus leading into collapse of the organization. This can be applied to the situation we have in the Philippines; we do need an effective plan that would address the problems we have like poverty, unemployment and corruption.
The priority in planning is the management of resource whether it would be manpower, financial or logistics. It would be the essential to the organization because this is the intrinsic fuel that burns for the goal. Without resources utilized effectively, it would lead to waste and thus leading to the failure of plan, wasting time and effort of the people. Most plans fail because they do not utilize the resource that they have abundance of, the Philippines is a prime example, we have an abundance of manpower, natural resource, land, etc. Our leaders overlook this fact and tend to focus on other things less important. If we lean towards what we have advantage or have an abundance of, the members and the organization would grow and become self-sufficient.
The most important lesson that we learned from the book and the Nursing Administration Experience is that we must never be afraid to assert leadership. If being a leader is makes you unpopular, then be unpopular, the end goal is to bring the organization to a better place not to make friends with everybody; nobody said that being a leader is easy, you must always challenge yourself and be an asset to the organization. That’s why P-noy is losing popularity fast, he is putting a lot of departments out of their comfort zones and challenging them to be an asset to the Republic of the Philippines. He is asserting his leadership to everyone, no one said it’s going to be easy to build a better Philippines but it is a start and I do hope everyone would realize that we must work to make the country better.
EMPLOYEES (by Klarisse Esteban)
As Drucker stated in the book, “Whether university, hospital or business, the employer will have to move from managing personnel to managing people.”
This statement emphasizes the constantly changing role of the leader. The leader’s role is a dynamic process that should be constantly adjusted to fit the changing needs, attitudes and perception of the society. When dealing with employees, they should be viewed as a whole along with the other components of the society. It should not be viewed as young adults, adults and people among the retirement age. They should be viewed by the leader as a whole for, in a way, they influence on another.
Turbulent times as influenced by the employees may be due to the following factors: they demand for their benefits, they reach certain retirement age, their capabilities and job backgrounds and they depend on another employee rather than on the institution itself. As the society changes, as they learn more about the law, and as more laws are being passed for the benefit of the employees, employees tend to be more difficult to manage and control. Company policies should be tailored to fit the needs of every employee and should be updated form time to time.
As the company ages, the members of their work force ages as well. New employees must be hired but must be trained according to the guidelines of the company. The employees who are aging are mostly the employees who are well-trained and well-experienced that brings the stability of the company. Proper retirement age should be well identified for as the employees reach their retirement years, the company must be ready to let go of them and hire new employees.
RESOURCES (by Mark Prado)
According to Drucker, "to manage in turbulent times, therefore, means to face up to the new realities. It means starting out with the question: 'What is the world really like?' rather than with assertions and assumptions that made sense a few years ago".
That assumption means that managers must learn to accept reality first in order for them to start to think of an action plan. A lot of managers are blinded by figures that were there for quite some time without realizing that those figures are already obsolete and what they are facing is beyond their control.
It is their job, however, as managers first and foremost to "manage" the situation. It is, after all, their primary task. It is their job to handle depletion in resources by doubling up the productivity if the situation calls for but more importantly to have a production enough to sustain and keep the company afloat through times of turbulence.
Drucker suggests that doubling up productivity in times of turbulence is what makes a company stand out. Managers need to commit themselves in increasing productivity without increasing the number of employees. It is a hard work but to be able to manage a turbulent time, managers need to make hard decisions. The author identified 4 key resources to be managed consistently, systematically and conscientiously and these are: capital, crucial physical assets, time and knowledge. A good manager knows where the money is and what a good strategy to invest it in is.
Guide Questions
1. When was the last time you exerted leadership? How was it turbulent?
2. Was there reluctance with your members or with yourself? How did you handle it?
3. How should the manager handle the sea of change brought by the workforce?
4. What do you think is the most effective strategy to approach the turbulence among the work force?
5. Do you agree that a good way to manage a turbulent time is to double up the production without increasing the workforce? Do you think it is feasible for both parties?
6. Do you think making unpopular decisions in turbulent times like cost saving would benefit the company more even if it would possibly hurt the employees?
Posted by:
Raphael Desoyo RN
Klarisse Esteban RN
Mark Prado RN
