Currently I am connected and working as an instructor teaching entrepreneurship and marketing at

MSU-Naawan.
Mindanao State University at Naawan is an educational institution and one of the external autonomous
campuses of the Mindanao State University System. It was chartered on July 12, 1988 by virtue of a
Memorandum Order signed by then Pres. Cory Aquino, and subsequently by action of the Board of Regents
(BOR). The institute is located at Naawan, Misamis Oriental, Philippines. MSU-Naawan is widely recognized
nationally as well as internationally for its research and development activities pertaining to marine and
fisheries resources, especially in aquaculture, marine biology, and environmental assessment. In the present,
as an indication of its gradual growth, MSU-Naawan has add up and offered new curriculum or programs such
as, BS in Accountancy, BSBA Major in Entrepreneurial Marketing, BS in Hotel and Restaurant Management,
BS in Information Technology, and Bachelor in Secondary Education.
With its more than twenty-years as an institution providing scholastic knowledge and skills to the
community since the signing of its charter, and with the many good chancellors leading it, I can say that MSU-
Naawan does not lack off of management practices. And though within a year of my experience as an
employee in this noble institute it would be unrealistic for me to don’t have anything to notice or pickup some of
its management practices. And these are the following management practices that I have observed.
MSU-Naawan’s Office of the Vice Chancellor on Academic Affairs headed by Dr. Helen J. Vicente
always has had interviews of all the renewed contractual faculties before or at the start of the new semester. At
the interview Dr. Vicente usually ask questions pertaining to our working conditions such as, “How are you
doing here in MSU-Naawan?”; “How do you find MSU-Naawan?”; What are the things that you’ve done while
working here, that you have contributed to MSU-Naawan’s goals?”; and “What are your plans or the things that
you want to do that will contribute to MSU-Naawan’s growth and development?”. In addition, Dr. Vicente also
includes questions that is somewhat personal, for instance she ask one of our colleagues who is still single,
asking “You don’t have any boyfriends yet? Okay, I’ll have you find one here.”, and together they both laugh
about it.
I think this management practices used by the Vice Chancellor of Academic Affairs, Dr. Helen J.
Vicente adheres the human relations approach in management. The management through the Office of the
Vice Chancellor of Academic Affairs wants to know and update more information of its employees (production
efficiency) on how they are doing with their job and are they happy and satisfied with it. This also shows
employees (us) that the management is concerned with their needs. Because through the interview, the
management shows interest in their problems, comments, and or suggestions that later on will affect the
institute in achieving its goals.
For instance, when we have been transferred to our new office building, at that time there was no air
condition machine in the newly opened office making it warm and hot, as well as uncomfortable to stay with.
Most of my colleagues complain that before the day is over they are already short of energy or exhausted,
because in the classrooms during their class was already warm and hot, and also uncomfortable. And after the
class while staying in the office, to wait for the next class, the same predicament has been carried on. The
result was most of the faculties were hard to seek in the office or nowhere to be seen, because either they are
staying and resting on other nearby comfortable offices or somewhere outside catching some fresh air. So
when Dr. Vicente asks about our needs, every one of my colleagues in the office unanimously raised the
problem. Then after waiting for two months two air condition machines were installed in the office. However, I
cannot absolutely affirm that the management’s action on the problem wholly leads to increase in efficiency
and productivity of the faculty in MSU-Naawan, including the contractual. It is possible that there may be other
factors responsible for it. It could be that they are motivated by various needs and wants occurring at the very
moment; though at some point it could also have been one that leads employees (us) to be efficient and
productive to the job.
For me and my colleagues in the faculty, Dr. Vicente’s leadership style is like of a mother. As a mother,
Dr. Vicente not only sees us as employees but also treats each one of us as her child. She oftentimes refers
and calls us “anak”. And like any mother she would want us to grow and take responsibilities by accomplishing
the interest of the organization, through having us involved in some of the institute’s activities not only as an
observer but also as a participant. One of these activities was that I was given the chance to participate with
the committee responsible for the preparation of the implementation of the adoption of the new programs to be
offered this year in MSU-Naawan, such as, BSBA Major in Management, BS in Agriculture Major in Agronomy,
BS in Secondary Education Major in English and several others. She also wants us to improve and develop
ourselves by letting and encouraging us to pursue a master’s degree.
 During a group interview on all the contractual she share a little of her experience in teaching. One that
I have remembered is that she said, “As a teacher, you should not stop in studying. Instead, you should study
more, more than your student’s average rate of studying.” She also said that this is the profession that is with a
lifetime of refreshing and enhancing what you have learned.
And like any other organization, MSU-Naawan holds a Sports Competition and a Variety Show Contest
participated by its faculty, staffs and utilities, and its management every year in celebrating its Campus
University Foundation Day on December 4. MSU-Naawan’s Sports Competition and Variety Show Contest for
the management, faculty, and staffs is a management practice that also adheres to the human resource
approach in management. In this activity, not everyone is spared of the chance to participate and to cooperate.
The groupings of teams are in random order. The activity’s goal is not only for employee’s recreation but also
to enable social interaction between the management and the employees, thereby maintaining and
strengthening a good relationship. The activity also opens up opportunities for management and its employees
to socialize among each other. Employees can get to mingle and know more of their supervisors or section
head while the supervisors and/or section heads also gets to interact more with their employees or
subordinates, thereby, breaking that wall that separates employees and management from reaching each
other. Thus, this activity makes employee’s feel welcome and that they are now a part of MSU-Naawan family.
The management practices mention above has contributed purely to MSU-Naawan’s faculty in
satisfying its social needs and self-actualization needs however provided that their physical and economic
needs have already been satisfied.
And before assessing the management practices mention above in terms of efficiency and productivity,
we must first consider the organizational nature of MSU-Naawan. MSU-Naawan is a type of organization
whose product is purely services offering quality education to unfortunate but deserving students intended for
the community within the Minsupala (Mindanao, Sulu, and Palawan) Region. Base on that definition, MSU-
Naawan’s main clients are the students and to satisfy its clients it needs to have resources of good quality-its
human resources-which directly are its faculty.
In relation to the statement above, MSU-Naawan to achieve an increased in efficiency and productivity
of its employees it must also look into the human side of the organization. Yes, it is possible, that the intended
result of this management practices can be attained. Considering the fact that teachers are smart people, it
would not be hard for them to adjust and take initiatives.