CERTIFICATE OF CANDIDACY

GENERAL INFORMATION

Name of Candidate
Jomel Maroma

Year & Course 5 BS Physics

Position Aspired For VP for Organization Strategies and Research

Cluster
(for Clust er Head and N/A
Secret ary-Treasurer
Candidates)

Coalition N/A
(if none, write N/A)

ESSAY
Explain in 100 words or less why you want t o run for t he posit ion and t he key
point s of your plat form.

My platform is centered on two things: crafting qualitative and quantitative structures

(e.g. metrics, assessment methods, comparative studies, etc.) that will assist the orgs
in becoming the best version of themselves; and establishing OSR’s credibility as
COA’s premier research and consultative firm for organizations with regard to dealing
with performance management systems.
PLEDGE

Jomel Maroma
I, , attest to the facts contained in this Certificate
of Candidacy and in all other documents required by the Commission on Elections
of the Council of Organizations of the Ateneo (COA). I thereby giv e COA and the
Office of Student Activ ities permission to ev aluate the facts contained in all the
documents I hav e submitted to the COA Commission on Elections.

I sw ear to uphold the rules stipulated in the COA Code of Electoral Procedures and
by the COA Commission on Elections w ith full aw areness that the v iolation of the
said rules w ould result to possible sanctions as stipulated in the COA Code of
Electoral Procedures.

I t is my sincere intention to promote a free, honest, and clean election.

Jomel Maroma May 17, 2016

Signature Over Printed Name Date

*Submission Qualifies as Candidate’s Signature*
PLATFORM
Empowering the orgs as agents of change through the
Main Point 1 nation-building evaluation study

Details:
The Nation-building evaluation study was crafted in order to gauge how each
organization adheres to the 10-point thrust established by the Ateneo and responds
to the call of being men-and-women-for-and-with-others. It defines what the
principles the idea of nation-building will revolve around and operate under, and
assesses the organization from a macro-scale following five points derived from the
10-point thrust. These five points are: ignatian formation, social involvement and
immersion, sustainable practices and development, responsible governance, and
global awareness. The study is quantitative in nature, i.e. relies on department key-
point indicators and preset metrics, but also integrates system thinking to assess
impact. The goal of the study is to guide current and future org leadership towards
initiating and sustaining efforts toward nation building. The data required to
accomplish the study include the following: consultation with leaders, three (3)
flagship project data, survey and FGDs, self-perception ratings by orgs, assessment
by OSR.

The study has three phases:

 Phase 1: Definition
- Refinement of what nation-building is across a common org context, as
well as a research and development of the tools to be used
 Phase 2: Evaluation
- Assessment of COA OSR using developed definition and tools, and self-
perception evaluation and member survey of orgs
 Phase 3: Recommendation
- Evaluation reports towards orgs, and consultations and recommendations
to future leadership

Last year, we were only able to accomplish phase 1 of the study. The development
of the matrix took us the whole year to accomplish due to lack of manpower,
unrealistic deadline setting, and difficulty scheduling consultations with the org
presidents.

This year, I intend to continue with the evaluation phase. At the moment, we’re
checking whether it is feasible to get all the data we’ve set for the matrix from the
YES reports. Judging from some preliminary results, more data gathering is required
to develop statistically sound “assessment” scales. I’m also looking into the
possibility integrating the nation-building into the YES report.
 Fostering a sense of community among the orgs through
Main Point 2 the OSR blog and Journal of Best Efforts

Details:
Organizational practices are a source of competitive advantage and can either be
internal (within the org) or external (how the org interacts with other orgs). An
outcome of knowledge management, they are something that can be replicated
and reused. To develop a culture of creative collaboration where orgs actively learn
from each other's strengths and weaknesses, we launched the OSR blog where
presidents of outstanding orgs shared best practices and tips on effective
leadership, member engagement, skills development, and finding the right
successors. Due to lack of manpower and skills-training, however, our articles read
like redundant feature articles focusing on what the org is rather than the org's best
practices.
This year, I intend to continue the OSR blog, shifting the focus from discernment
and election practices to internal practices--inner workings that significantly affect
member relationships, interactions, and org accomplishments. This includes but is
not limited to organization structure, job descriptions, performance management,
internal communications, and how tasks are delineated across the positions. The
importance of cultivating best practices can hardly be overstated as they can make
or break an organization. They will be of great help to organizations having a hard
time with the aforementioned areas. The orgs to be featured will be selected by the
cluster heads and secretary-treasurers based on merit. The goal is to feature at
least two orgs per cluster per semester. To gather the required information, the
presidents as well as the VPs for organization development (or equivalent) will be
interviewed to extract as much information as we can. As this project is designed to
cater to the officers first and foremost, I intend to increase our publication's reach
by collating our articles every two months and distributing this in the form of
pamphlets to the org EBs. I will also look into the possibility of partnering with
Guidon to see if we could get a space for selected articles.

Aside from the weekly updated blog, I also intend to launch a journal of best efforts
at the end of first semester, with the "Best Efforts for the School Year" of the YES
Reports section as the primary source of information (details yet to be finalized). I
feel that this section of the YES report just goes to waste, and collecting and
publishing selected best efforts would put them to good use.

Celebrating diversity among the orgs by conducting

Main Point 3 cluster-specific studies

Details:
Every org is unique in its own special way, and sometimes I feel that COA fails to
see that, e.g the feedback that the COA Awards favors the popular orgs and is
biased towards events and projects that have a visible social impact and that cater to
the marginalized sectors of the society. I know firsthand from my experience of doing
the nation-building study how easy it is to fall into the trap of making hasty
generalizations and issuing sweeping indictments about the orgs with regard to their
goals and advocacies. Thus, with the help of the cluster heads, I plan to design and
implement cross-sectional studies that aim to understand the needs of the different
organizations on the cluster level, and create targeted efforts to address them. In
modeling the organizations, the Burke-Litwin model that provides a framework to
efficiently analyze, interpret, develop recommendations, communicate and manage
changes within an organization; will be used.

Fig. 1. The Burke-Litwin model of individual and organizational performance. Image taken from
http://archives.drugabuse.gov/about/organization/despr/hsr/images/Figure8.gif

In assessing the orgs, I plan to follow the organizational assessment approach used
by MITRE, which is designed to help leaders gauge where their organization is in
terms of achieving the goals they set for themselves, identify organizational gaps
and determine what they need to do to take them closer to their goals. An outline of
the assessment approach to be used is presented below:
 Project Mobilization: conducting background reviews, project planning and
preliminary data gathering by studying and finding common themes on the
YES reports
 Phase 1 Data Collection: preliminary interview with the CHeSTs to narrow
down areas of interest, developing interview 1 protocols, conducting phase 1
interviews, preliminary analysis, problem formulation
 Project proposal to the presidents and CHeSTs
 Phase 2 Data Collection: developing data collection strategies to assess key
issues in more depth, conducting phase 2 interviews (additional interviews
and/or focus groups)
 Analysis and Identification of Strategic Changes: data analysis, developing
key findings, conducting and/or working sessions with the cluster, CB and/or
OSA to present discuss findings and identify strategic priorities
Main Point 4 Promoting the Mental Well-Being of the Org Member by
conducting a depression study

At the heart of every organization is the member. The member is the building block
of the organization, thus the stability of the organization depends on the stability of
the members that comprise it.

For the past school year, the administration has documented an alarming increase in
the number of depressed, suicidal and overworked students. Org members,
especially the officers, are at risk of developing anxiety, depression and somatic
complains due to the org work they have to accomplish on top of their academic
requirements and other commitments. That said, and with the help of the Office of
Guidance and Counseling, the VP for Training and Development, and possibly
Ateneo Psyche, I plan to conduct a semester-long study that aims to identify
organizational areas (task allocation, coordination, supervision, project management
systems) that contribute to the burnout and mental collapse of some org members.
The end product of the study will be a set of recommendations on what the org
leaders can do, behavioral and structure-wise, to minimize overwork and stress.

Main Point 5 Restructuring and External Communications

Details:
In order to serve the orgs better and accomplish the tasks we have set for OSR this
year, I believe that a restructuring of the OSR ExTeam is in order. Below is my
perceived structure of OSR next year.

Fig. 2. My perceived structure of OSR this year.

The secretariat will preside over, take minutes, and create official records of the
ExTeam meetings. The research and development head will oversee research
activities as well as the managing and the deployment of project strategists. The
external relations head will be in-charge of creating a positive public image for OSR,
and will handle the OSR blog, Journal of Best Efforts, and OSR e-mail account and
Facebook page. He/she will be at the forefront in finding ways to promote the
department, and market the services of OSR to the orgs. Under the external
relations head are the communications and promos head, which will be in-charge of
brainstorming and creating infographics, teasers, and pamphlets; the editor-in-chief
which will be the principal architect of the content of the OSR blog and OSR Journal
of Best Efforts, and has the final say on what gets published; and the technical
operations head will manage the department’s IT systems and will focus on creating
efficient structures for data management.

Moreover, I intend to be more aggressive in terms of rebranding efforts. I really want

to break the stereotype that our work in OSR ends after the RecWeek Study, and
attract more people to join the ExTeam by preparing a pamphlet we could distribute
during RecWeek and publishing online infographics on what OSR is, our main
efforts, and what differentiates us from consultancy orgs such as CODE and MEA.

We’re also currently working on a new logo for OSR that will anchor the
department’s brand and become the most visible manifestation of the department
within the orgs.