Our Cebu Vacation

Finland...

I took part of a Master's Programme at the University of Turku in Finland in 1997 with fellow De La Salle lecturer Jimmy Jimenez. It was a most enjoyable and well fulfilled trip. Sometimes, I wish that I could go back there and just chill with the warm friends I have had the chance to meet there...

some of the pictures...

the brick wall...
my room...
going to class...
sight seeing... one of the former Russian Czar's winter castles...
chillin' under the sun with Jimmy...
at the local firing range and riding my bike
brrrrrr.....

But what I miss most is hanging around and playing in Three Beers' Bar owned and operated by JP Tyni... a most generous man and a good friend. We'd spend nights there and drink up to the morning hours. That's where we met good friends as well like Pekka and Janni who were so generous and hospitable as well. They were the people who made the coldness of the climate warm enough for us to have loved our stay there. Thank you guys... when I am rich enough, I'll return the favor. I hope that would be soon.

myself with jimmy and janni
jamming at Three Beers billiards with Pekka and Janni

the send off team before we went to the airport

the MARGINALS recovered videos

All these songs belong to the MARGINALS' 1st album "Insecurities".

Casie Villarosa -- guitars / piano / vocals
Nelius Pepito -- lead guitars
Elmer Diaz -- bass
Ric Vera -- drums (side a)
Noli Cuachon -- drums (side b)
Tony Robles -- keyboards (side b)

Produced by CASCON music, ltd.

Recorded at CINEMATIX Recording Studio
Engineered by Jeffrey Felix and Jun ______ (forgot his name)

Recorded from 1992 to 1994
(we had to earn money first before we can record any material at the time, i think we spent around Php 30++ k for the recording)

Released and Distributed by Aquarius Records and Tapes

There were lots of video materials we had, but unfortunately, we lost a lot of them and most were recorded in analogue format. I spent quite a lot to recover the old VHS, video8 and Betamax copies and had them digitally transfered so that I could preserve the moments of the band. I think maybe, Tony has some more materials with him like the recorded Dredd sets.

Insecurities (closing Billboard and Credits)
composed by noli cuachon




Cobwebs of the Heart
composed by casie villarosa



Longing
composed by noli cuachon



No Love Poems
composed by jet guerrero and casie villarosa

REMINISCING...

the MARGINALS...

The longest group that I've played and made music with. Two albums, Insecurities (1992) and Balang Araw (1995). The most fun group I've had. We rehearsed not in a studio but by the Pateros river bank with cheap amps and cheap drinks. The neighbors donated food and merienda. We dived into all sorts of gigs, mostly we were not paid... but who cares... the fun was in the playing!

the MARGINALS - loads
written and arranged by casie Villarosa
produced by cascon music, ltd.
recorded at cinematix recording studio, makati city
engineered by jeffrey felix (+)
released by aquarius records and tapes
for the album young angry bands unite

How I got acquainted with music

To my friend.... Marcel Magsino

My Batangueño friend Marcel Magsino and I shared a common dream for the longest time... I wanted to make music and so did he. I was the alleged musician between the two of us and himself the provincial poet. My friend has always been the demure type, the low-profile kind, the humble guy. I was the extravagant fella, the noisy one and the pessimist between the two of us.

flashback....

my first guitar teachers, Bong Billones and Abe Camado

I started my music at the age of fourteen. Envious of the playing prowess of my high school classmates Aries Santana, Joel Tanyag, Bong Billones, Jojo Ramos, Abraham Camado and some other guys...

It was the summer of 1982, I borrowed guitar from my cousin Kuya Jake and learned chords from Jingle Music Magazine. Most of the guys I mentioned turned their backs on me whenever I needed help learning guitar stuff except for two... Bong and Abe. (thank you guys... I believe that your patience with me didn't go to waste)

I guess it was harder for me to learn music at the time because I grew up without the benefit of any audio equipment in the house.

Two months after I held my borrowed guitar, I was able to buy a Pampanga-made Gibson guitar by not spending my allowance on non-essential items like food and transportation money. That meant that I didn't eat and I walked home.

A year after that, I had a second guitar. And it was with that guitar that I wrote my very first music... the Graduation Song of Batch '84... proud to say that we were the only batch with an original grad song. The others simply took Sharon Cuneta's High School Life or Raymond Lauchengco's Farewell.

I went off to College at De La Salle University and met a block mate named Jackson Martinez, a 21-year old college returnee who professionally played guitar. I learned more from him and bought my very first electric guitar from him for Php300. It was a bare naked Fender Jaguar which took me half the trimester to restore. (That Jaguar I eventually swapped for a local stratocaster... damn!)

One of our classmates, Maly Andres became a good friend of mine and we formed Clockwork Orange with a nice bloke named Raton, the band later became Violent Playground (minus me). I went on to form Insurgency with High School buddies Carlo Valdez and Noli Cuachon and met a lot of interesting characters and friends like Dominic Gamboa (Papadom) of Betrayed, Skavengers and at the moment Tropical Depression.

It was people like Maly Andres and Dominic Gamboa who essentially introduced me to band life and music in general. Though rich as they are, they were genuine friends and good persons despite the fact that I was way out of their league.

Insurgency did a couple of independent gigs in the mid 80's, we went into our majors in college making it difficult to keep up with music. Clockwork Orange was a stint and that was it. There was even an episode where a rich classmate of mine from a prominent family from Bacolod stole one of my songs and made it an entry to a contest and he walked away with the trophy and the prize. I didn't mind as I was happy enough to experience playing with "real instruments and amplifiers", and I guess that I was so dumb or naive at the time.

After college, I went off to teach at St. Scholastica's College and met Edwin Aguilar. Together with friends Raymond, Nonong Timbalope, Bong Lennon, & Sam Salazar we formed the Skalawags and played back to back with the Skavengers at Mayric's and later Club Dredd. It was the very first opportunity all of us had to record music in a decent recording studio (Greenhills Sound) produced by Noel Cabangon. (Album: Paalam Uncle Sam, 1990 -- track title: Thank You America)

After that, music became an addiction...

During the St. Scho years, I generally played with housemate and friend JC Frias who was a good instrumentalist, while playing at the same time with the Skalawags until we broke up in 1990 during Club Dredd's opening night. Dominic took half the band for Tropical Depression and I went on to form the Marginals with Sam Salazar (now with Color it Red).

The Marginals lasted a long time and I tried keeping it alive despite the hard times and despite the fast turn over of members. Nolic Cuachon (drummer) was replaced by Ric Vera and later returned to do half the album which took us almost a year to finish because of financial constraints. Bassist Elmer Diaz was replaced by Ronnie Manansala who engineered the second album. Nelius Pepito who replaced pioneer Emer Lacandazo, was a constant in the band, the only inconsistency he had was with his guitar playing. Tony Robles (keyboards), who joined us for side B or half the first album was the guy who provided the facilties for the rehearsals as well as the food for the band. Although I think that he just did it becasue he had nothing better to do.

There was a time when I thought it was going nowhere and I was right. So music for me essentially became a hobby and I gave up on whatever dreams I had left to be a real musician. At the same time, life was taking it's course on my sanity with all the problems that came with it. My mom being diabetic and all and crappy things which I'd rather not discuss at the moment.

By 1997 or '96, I bought my very first multi-track recorder. I did my fourth album on that scratch pad. I bought a cheap kawaii keyboard, accumulated more guitars and musical bling blings and eventually set up my first home studio in late '98.

I formed a hobby band called Roadhouse that year and we jammed at Tony's every weekends. I must admit that those years were the best of my life. Jun San Pedro, a brilliant musician who played with Emil Sanglay during the Pen Pen days was a good musical partner. A short fling on a new band ensued when Heber Bartolome wanted a "fresh" band in '97. We made "Nueve de Sais" with Jerk's Flor Mendoza on drums, Nosi Balasi composer and bassist Henry Cabatingo, Jun San Pedro on guitars, Gerry Torre on all wind instruments and myself on the vocals and guitars.

On the technical part, I owe what I know with Jun Domingo, a technically brilliant individual who allowed me to inherit all of his keyboard magazines and other musical accessories, home recording studio magazines and a lot of other reading materials which sent me on my way to self production. He set up my home pc free of charge and gave me softwares from his collection. Thank you Jun... you are a blessing!

During all this time, the only constant person in my music was a good friend of mine, Marcel Magsino. He produced a lot of my stuff and music. We collaborated on a lot of his songs and even made an album for Patricia Tuazon. He produced concerts, arranged gigs and generally tagged along like our manager during all these years. He helped me set up Sunset Records Limited, which we dreamt would make our dreams and other unfulfilled dreams of other musicians come true. It was set up like an NGO where anyone who wanted to record their stuff could do it for free... that is if you were over thirty, struggling, and frustrated. --- Just like we were.

During all of these years, he never asked for anything except that he dreamt that someday, he would be at the end of that darkness that seemingly always clouds up in our lives. I told him that one day, it would be. But first, one of us will have to be financially stable enough to make all our dreams come true.

This afternoon, I came about a video post on how pop stars are made... it was both inspirational and at the same time annoying to think that popstars could be manufactured that easy...

So to my friend marcel, our time has come... soon enough I will give you a call and you shall have to prepare your lyrics. If my Boss isn't jacking me off, this year he will build me a recording studio for whatever purpose it may serve... and then we can have fun... with a vision...

For soon enough we will manufacture a popstar together... and the next time I type Marcel Magsino on the internet... you will be there. -- the star builder!

The Field Trip

Yesterday, we had some sort of a field trip to check out Nayong Pilipino, where I used to take my kid for bike rides. The idea behind the trip is to look at its present state and the amount of decay it has suffered over the long period of neglect.

There isn't much we know of the place, except that the three of us (the Chairman, the President and myself) has seen it and been there at one time or another. And we all have memories of the place being "beautiful".

I took the liberty of taking some pictures of Nayong Pilipino from the Internet so that I may compare the pictures that we've taken yesterday.

At present, Nayong Pilipino now looks barren and abandoned and we all felt that it was such a waste having something like Nayong Pilipino neglected. I guess that it was the very same feeling we had the first time we saw the Manila Film Center five years ago... I wish that government would do something about it... I wish that some investor would come in and intervene in the demise of the place.

Before pictures (taken from the Internet)

Present pictures

The problem with POWER

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Political power (imperium in Latin) is a type of power held by a person or group in a society. There are many ways to hold such power. Officially, political power is held by the holders of the sovereignty. Political powers are not limited to heads of states, however, and the extent to which a person or group holds such power is related to the amount of societal influence they can wield, formally or informally.

Political scientists have frequently defined power as "the ability to influence the behaviour of others" with or without resistance.

NO, I will not start a political discussion. I think that my former colleagues at the Political Science Department of De La Salle will react violently if ever I do start one.

Just a simple note... that simply stated, there are those who can handle power and those who cannot. Being in the business sector for the last five years has afforded me the luxury of actively observing how power is wield by people who are supposedly powerful or those who just simply think that they are. During all those times, I have noticed that real power has a humbling effect on a human being... while "power" based on self perception has the opposite effect.

example 01

My car was rear-ended by some drunk dude in Sta.Mesa last year. The drunken man stepped out of his vehicle proclaiming his guilt as he confessed that he was texting somebody at the time. He however said that there will be no problem because he is "Chinese" and that he is rich being in the construction business. I called a friend who sent two officers on the scene in less than 5 minutes and we were all brought to PCP 8. The drunk dude, upon realizing that the damaged car wasn't "regular" pleaded "poor" on all counts.

example 02

Same night, the officers of the said PCP brought in two groups who were in a fight. One guy in shorts and yellow shirt claims that he has the cellphone number of the President... and that he should be treated with due respect being the friend of the President who was residing just a few blocks away in Malacañang. (that was the most fun I had that evening... but in retrospect, I think he meant the President of the Concepcion Aguila Fish Vendor's Association. he, he, he)

example 03

Some guys in a ktv slaps a waiter around for being inattentive to their needs... now that's what I call being powerful! Slap some helpless and powerless employee around.

-- My personal motto about this... never argue or fight with a waiter, a cook or the security guard. The more you piss them off, the more paranoid you would become as to what's in your food or drink, or how your car is doing out there in the parking area.

(If you want to prove your courage... pick on somebody more powerful than you are)

example 04

Ugly yet feeling beautiful, but supposedly rich club owner shouts around at all her employees simply to show off to her friends how powerful she is. Actually, that's her strategy to cover up on all her inadequacy as a boss since she hasn't paid anyone their salaries for six months -- now that's pathetically plain bad manner.

example 05

City official threatens closure to an establishment... that's power! Next question... Until when?

----------------------------------------------------
You see, nobody is exempted from brandishing their power around. And I mean, nobody. Every once in a while, some anomalous cricket in your brain wakes up and then you'd feel the urge to be an asshole. For me, this is normal. What is not normal, is the frequency of which your crickets overwhelms your sensibility as a human being. When it becomes too often, then it becomes your character. And a good character (reputation) is hard to come by these days... and a negative perception in one's character is difficult to erase.

So the next time you feel like exercising your power, think twice... and then think again. There are more ways to exercise power than the obvious... and as I always say... we are here to make friends... not enemies.

Today I will Not RANT... I still believe in the human spirit

or at least I will try my best...

Last November, I went to Fukuoka, Japan for a business trip. There is something I enjoy very much in oriental business settings, that is the seemingly overzealous attempts of orientals to please a business guest, specially one that has a high designation in the company's food chain. So there I was at the airport with a Japanese business partner and we were greeted by two guys who were practically wrestling my luggage away from me as it would be inappropriate for myself to carry my own luggage.

After having coffee at the airport's cafe, we headed off towards the exit for the ride to town. At this point, I teased my Japanese counterpart that his position deserves a better car. His response caught me off guard... "Sir, I used to drive a very nice big car but Filipino gangsters stole it." At an impulse, I felt I needed to shut up. Slightly recovering from the conversation, I asked how he can be sure that they were Filipinos? He casually said that they are very famous in Fukuoka and that he was quite sure.

The trip was one day business, the rest was one big party. They organized a welcome party for me, a walk through town get together, lots of eating... and definitely lots of drinking. My stay became one big bonding session with employees who were assigned in Japan. At the end of the trip, my Japanese business partners were frantically shopping for my pasalubong back home. Our employees did the same and I did not need to shop since all the bling blings and goodies were already labeled with names of my family members as well as my staff back in Manila.

Fast forward...

Some of the same employees returned to Manila and naturally, they would have to make a courtesy call to my office before officially filing for a rest leave so that they may spend some time with their families. Their faces were a bit gloomy so I had to ask them what was the matter. They said that they were cheated in a pyramid scam while they were in Japan. They (individually) lost around 350k to 1.2M in peso to a person they trusted. I made a comment on how bad I felt but could not believe that they also have such modus operandis in Japan to wit they replied... "Sir, Pinay ang nangloko sa amin."

Yesterday...

My maid has left about three weeks ago, so life was a bit difficult for us. Anyway, my aunt (my second mom) who goes to church everyday met someone in church looking for a job as a maid. Without hesitation and with all the noble intent of helping us out recommended her to us. We interviewed her and she seemed perfect for the job. Her life story was the usual married with a kid and widowed at a young age stuff... we asked her to do a little marketing for my favorite sinigang na buto-buto so that we can test her culinary skills. We gave her a Php 1,000 bill and she returned with the goods as well as the change. While she was cooking, she insisted that she do the other chores so that time would not be wasted.... then she disappeared.

She was a marvelous cleaning lady... she cleaned away from us 5 cellular phones including mine with all my contacts for the last five years, all my wife's jewelry, all the cash in the wallets and a lot of other bling blings amounting to about 200k. All this in a span of about an hour...

But I am not about to RANT... I am actually smiling that at least something like this has happened to me considering my thoughts of the fact that it could have been worse.... what if we trusted her enough to leave the kids with her? What if she waited for a month to implement her evil deed? What if I was put in a situation where I had to discharge my weapon on another human being? What if we caught her red handed and I had to lay my hands on a woman?

It came to pass... there were lessons learned. That was enough. The lost bling blings can be replaced. The cash can be earned again. And yesterday's incident will not deter me from my personal belief that man is essentially good... it is circumstance that makes us what we are.

And for those of us who are afforded the option to do good... by all means, let's remain good... because it's a MAD WORLD out there.

KIBUN

Working with Koreans for the last five and half years, and having had the experience of climbing the company ranks, I am still as baffled and as curious as the day I started working for the company September 1, 2001. My introduction to the culture of my Bosses, friends, subordinates and acquaintances has led to so many complicated and complex feelings about myself and about them.

Not only has it been largely difficult due to the language barrier between us, but also the cultural barrier as well. Several weeks ago, a friend who has just arrived from Korea after nearly a year's stint together with another who used to work in Korea visited me in my office. The entire night was spent on rants about living in Korea, rants that I felt I can relate too, but rants nevertheless I think deserved to be spoken somewhere else.

Part of Korean culture, or mostly those that I know of, I have learned to love, appreciate and respect... But I suppose that circumstances would be different if I actually lived in that foreign land. I have had the opportunity of visiting Korea twice but I suppose that the treatment was very different because I was already "pusajangnim" (vice president) at the time. Today, I wonder what was in me that made me pusajangnim in the first place in so short a period of time. I also wonder, up to what heights will I be allowed to climb given that I am not Korean.

I appreciate the fact that I have heard different perspectives from many different people about Koreans. I live in their midst as well so that basically provides me a closer insight into what they are and how things might turn out eventually. That same friend introduced me to a Korean concept which I have always used to exemplify the difference between Koreans and non-Koreans... that concept is called...

Kibun (기분 -- variously romanized, roughly pronounced 'gee-boon') has been translated into English as 'mood' or 'state of mind' or 'feeling', but these are pale concepts compared to the Korean one. In Korea, Kibun is regarded as much more important a matter than most westerners would regard mere mood. In another of those seeming contradictions of Korea, Koreans have a tendency to dwell, involute, on their more delicate feelings, despite their rough-and-ready, earthy exteriors. The degree to which they can focus on their emotional states can seem almost effete to a westerner, particularly one who, like me, grew up in a rough, tough northern town. Kibun is of overarching importance in social relations, is constantly discussed, and attempts are always made to ensure kibun is preserved.

It might be described as the part of you that goes beyond your physical presence, that not only permeates your being but surrounds you, invisibly, like a cloud. But it can be damaged, by unhappiness or disrespect, by losing face, by thoughtlessness or humiliation, by anything that's disruptive to the harmony you feel with other people. Damage to your kibun is damage to your essence, and can have negative effects both mentally and physically.

It is this consciousness of an inner life, one that is molded by the degree of harmony one achieves in one's relationships with other people to whom one feels any degree of responsibility, that gives Koreans their almost preternatural ability to sense peoples' mood, and their character, and modify their own behaviour to lubricate the social gears. That's the nice part. The infuriating flip side of that, though, for many foreigners, is the tendency to dance elegantly away from any potential confrontation. An angry waeguk-in, until they understand what's happening, is likely to become angrier when the Korean with whom they have a bone to pick says 'Maybe' when they mean 'No', or 'tomorrow' when they mean 'never', in order to try and re-establish harmonious dealings. The accompanying, ever-present potential too, is that when someone is pushed too far, and they lose face, in which case 'social harmony' can take a flying leap, and the only way to regain face and salvage personal kibun is to blow up and stomp and yell. This happens a lot, too.

In this consciousness of the relationships between people and its effect on your own wellbeing, rather than the 'correctness', 'objective truth', or self-interest of an individual or his arguments, there is a minefield of potential misunderstanding. Most foreigners to Korea trip through it over and over again, myself included, before they realize that putting the kibun of the people around you first, even in a situation of confrontation, will bring results.

(As an aside, this is what the Americans do not seem to understand, or care to, when they deal with North Korea. The patterns of seemingly-irrational behaviour on the part of the DPRK negotiators isn't (always) irrational at all, from their own perspective.)

The importance of kibun for Korean people should never be underestimated. It's not merely convention, it's baked-in. Koreans can make crucial, important decisions based on kibun. Business decisions, choice of a mate, career and employment choices, all may be taken on the basis of what feels right, or what will result in the most socially harmonious outcome for all concerned. Koreans will discuss kibun, but rarely attempt to analyze it in this way. To do so would perhaps damage their kibun.

This is not to say that decisions, important or otherwise, are made strictly on a non-rational, intuitive basis. Things like love and marriage, about which westerners can be decidedly irrational, are approached with a combination of cold, rational analysis and intuitive leaps here, for example. It is another of the contradictions that make up so much of what it means to be Korean.

In future, look for more on this from me. Kibun is only one of the six controlling concepts of the Korean psyche : chemyeon, neunchi, kibun, bunuiki, jeong and han, and the interplay between these guiding forces is what makes Koreans so unique, and, at times, so difficult for the non-Korean to understand.

[originally published January 2002, revised and updated 2006]

Posted by Chris on June 19, 2006 8:49 PM
http://outsideinkorea.com/inside/2006/06/on_kibun.php#more

I woke up to a rant day!

Actually, I slept on a rant as well...

I had quite a long day yesterday... I decided to give in to a request for a long road trip, minus my driver, and drive from eight in the morning to four in the afternoon. Everybody knows that I never get up that early except for the occasional golf games and out of town events I need to attend to.

The night before, I had a "bonding" session with members of the production division after ending the show at ten in the evening. Prior to it, I had some guests that I needed to talk to.

I slept for about three hours or so before the long drive and it wasn't pleasant at all. I was in the office before six in the late afternoon and my Boss and friend wanted to drink with me over some matters. It was as I was expecting, a rant session. Something that I miss a lot because we have not done it as often as we used to when we were starting this company. But unlike any other rant days we've had, he chose not to be polite and kind on the approach he made over the rants maybe because I felt the urge to poke him over it rather than letting him control the conversation in his mild-mannered style.

I knew as I was driving home that the day's activities has spread havoc to my bio system having had the tinge of sneezing and coughing bouts over the last 48 hours. I also knew that I couldn't let this day go by, being a rest day and all, without ranting about this week's "rantable" experiences. So, the day would have passed without incident if it wasn't for this pc crashing...

Ah, technology... the wrath of the blue screen...

I would love to write about this and all... but as I feel the virus seeping into my system, I have lost strength to appreciate the beauty of blogging... that's for now. Sometimes I feel sorry for having informed people of this blog because all of a sudden I feel freakish about having said the not-so-right things or to be as impolite as a rant should be. Which basically means that this blogspot has lost it's essence... and that essence is to remain honest to myself and the undisclosed readers of this blog.

But then again, honesty is only for those who can take it in the face and address the issue at hand with courage. I know of only a few who seems to have that character... myself not included.

The price of poor management 101

10 Apr 2006 from an internet article

According to a new study by the University of Florida, gossiping, pilfering, backstabbing and long lunch breaks become the norm not just for workplace malcontents but even for exemplary employees who feel a lack of respect and recognition from above.

"When employees feel they're mistreated, they get even," said University of Florida management professor, Timothy Judge. "If they think their supervisor is nasty toward them, they will find a way to restore that perceived level of injustice.

"Employees have a tendency to respond to mistreatment, which means that trying to identify and weed out 'bad eggs' in the selection process is not enough," he said. "It's not that simple."

The findings are important because employers often act as if workers' attitudes are irrelevant and have no effect on how well they perform, he said.

Judge said he and a consultant asked human resource professionals several years ago about the value of job satisfaction and were amazed to hear such comments as "it's a foreign term around here" and "the subject is never brought up."

Many companies assume employees are motivated only by opportunities to earn more money or by the threat of losing their jobs, not realising that positive management-labour relations influence how long workers remain with an employer and the extent to which they engage in helping behaviours, he said.

"Training supervisors to treat employees with respect is not something that costs employers a lot of money, and it can produce real dividends."

Professor Judge's team looked at how people's moods influenced their work attitudes. Their immediate supervisors also completed an online questionnaire indicating how often the employee had done things such as steal property from work, litter the work environment, curse at co-workers or leave work without permission.

The results, published in the January issue of the Journal of Applied Psychology, showed that all employees misbehaved under certain conditions, particularly if they were angry at work, disliked their jobs or believed their supervisors were unfair.

Most important was the amount of hostility employees felt, which was influenced by how they thought their supervisors treated them.

"If your supervisor is mean or rude to you, it increases your workplace deviance because it makes you angry and frustrated," Judge said.

Unfortunately, many human resource departments adopt police and practices designed to squelch bad behaviour rather than look for its root causes, he said.
"They may control one form of behaviour, but the problem is employees become deviant in other behaviours that are less observable and less easy to control," Judge said.

For example, if employees who find their supervisors unfair and mean-spirited retaliate by leaving work early and are disciplined for it, they might rebel by taking long lunch breaks, gossiping behind their bosses' backs or surfing the Internet during working hours, he said.

"How is the employer possibly going to observe and control all those behaviours?" he said. "That's not to say we're not responsible for own actions or shouldn't be punished, but employers need to look at whether they do things in a context to promote those behaviours."

Some business leaders may claim they cannot pay attention to how workers are treated if they are to keep a sharp eye on company profitability, Judge said, but one interest doesn't have to come at the expense of the other.

"You can be hard-nosed about business effectiveness and still be concerned with the attitudes of your employees," he said.

Sandra Robinson, chairwoman of the University of British Columbia business school's organizational behaviour and human resources division and an expert on employee-employer relations and workplace deviance, said the results "demonstrate that poor management can lead even the best employees to engage in dysfunctional and harmful behaviours at work."

The Death of Trust...

will most probably mean the death of a company.

In all societies these days, trusting everyone around you is probably one of the most difficult to achieve if one was to make an organization that is coherent and set for success. In the last five and a half years, we have seen managers and executives come and go. I have personally seen managers become as close to the Gods and then later lose all graces, recover the trust and then later quit. Relationships have been strained, tempers agitated and lives screwed over... for what??!

The Korean management style is peculiar to those who are unfamiliar to the culture. That is why, a lot of difficulties will have to be overcome at initial stages in building an organization in a country like the Philippines with Korean Investments and therefore, most probably Korean management.

But all these I feel, is just another fork in the road that ultimately means that one has to make a choice and later decide what to do or how to act upon an issue. It doesn't even mean that this blog will rant about being Filipino or Korean in the name of trust. It is what it is... TRUST. When lost, might become very hard to recover.

I wanted almost my entire career with the company the opportunity to be given the chance to manage at a much larger scale, But I suppose that the management style in itself is already of a dispute because of the differences in culture. Here is a simplified list of how it is like to be part of a Korean company.

Korean Management System (features)

Top-down Decision-making
Paternalistic Leadership
Lifetime Employment
Loyalty and Compensation based on Seniority and Merit Rating

Korean Management System
Adapted from The Rise of the Economy by Byung-Nak Song

Company as a family-type community
Sharp distinctions between owners, managers and workers
Weakly held lifetime employment ideal
Very strong emphasis on general hierarchical ranks
Emphasis on loyalty and cooperation
Age and service length recognized as important criteria
Specific authority and diffuse responsibility
Managerial authority limited largely by owner's policy and interests
Enterprise unions predominate
Extensive on-the-job and related training for a variety of jobs
Considerable job rotation and boundary flexibility
Company recruits on the basis of age, experience and education

The list above I think fairly exemplifies the difficulties a western oriented and educated manager will suffer from under Korean management. However, I do feel that a fair amount of mixture between what we know and what they think, goes a long way in achieving better results. But after, five and a half years in this company, telltale signs of uncertainty is in the offing given that the structure of the organization constantly changes without the expressed opinion or even consent by the remaining senior officers. Of course, it is Korean management so who the hell am I to be asked an opinion?..

everyone needs a break...

For myself? The best recreational activity ever is music... Two days ago, my Technical Director who is a budding video enthusiast, together with his staff of merry men decided to cut me a break and give me a gift. His directorial debut of a music video to my liking. He was suggesting to make a video of one of my original songs but then again we decided to do a cover song instead... That's primarily because you get less hits in youtube for originals and we just simply wanted to have fun anyway and enjoy the majestic view on top of the Manila Film Center. Took us about three hours to finish the shoot but it took them more than that to set up the rig and stuff we needed. The shots were great but I keep forgetting the lyrics to the song, but otherwise, everything went well.

From 3 Doors Down... here without you

casie villarosa - here without you