SL Journal Part II

Doing community service isn’t something new to me.  All throughout my educational years, I have already done a lot of such activity—sometimes even outside of school.  I participated in feeding programs during high school, took NSTP courses during my freshman year, and also got involved in a couple of community services for my Theology subjects.  However, our community service for CSRGOVE is different from the rest I partook in. This time, we, La Sallian students, partnered up with another organization to achieve the same goal—to help out our less fortunate brothers and sisters.

           

Our partner organization is Concordia Children’s Services (CCS).  Honestly, I have never heard of this organization before.  I didn’t even know such organization exists and I believe it was the same case with the most of my group mates.  But when I found more about CCS’s goals, I was amazed.  I have always been sympathetic towards street children.  Whenever I see young ones in the streets asking for money, selling flowers, or what not, I always thought: Where are the parents of these children? Why are these children not in school? What if they get caught in an accident? And the worst of all, what will happen when evil strikes these children’s vulnerability?

I know I didn’t have the right to judge.  After all, I would never know why such sad situations happen.  But as hard as I try not to think this way, I always end up wanting to blame these street children’s parents.  But then, at the back of my head, I also knew it was because of the lack of education—because of poverty—so I really couldn’t blame them, could I? Reflecting about this, I realized that maybe, at the end of the day, there really is such thing as luck.  And if there’s one thing I’m sure of, it’s that I’m lucky—maybe even more than I think I am.  This community service might not have been as “out there” as how it was like in NSTP but it was a reminder of how I have been taking things for granted.  This made that I don’t and will never have the right to treat the little things like that.    

I commend CCS for being involved in something as beautiful as this—for taking action and helping the youth who is the future of our society.  And in certain ways, they are also helping other organizations with their Corporate Social Responsibilities.  De La Salle University is one, for example.  Without CCS, us La Sallians would not have been able to contribute in answering such existing problem involving the youth.  Thanks to their organization, not only was I reminded of my blessings, I was also able to share the knowledge we have gained from our education.  

Honestly speaking, I was not as inclined about this community service as much as I wanted and expected myself to because I have been preoccupied by my thesis for this term.  I know it may seem to be an excuse—maybe it unconsciously even is—but nonetheless, this had been a very good reminder that instead of wondering, I have to take action if I wanted change.  Instead of wondering about what might happen to those children or why such situation happened in the first place, I realized that I should do something about it especially that I am a very fortunate person.  The service learning was a great reminder that every little thing counts—every bit of what I have because there are people out there that do not even have a single piece of it.  I may not have been able to exert that much effort for this CSRGOVE community service, but it definitely sparked something within me.

Journal Entry # 6

Session 12 - June 30, 2014

Nobody wants to be liable for something bad. That is a fact—almost. “Almost” because maybe there are those who feel the rush and adrenaline of being blamed…but that is another story. Anyway, most people do not like to be “the one to blame” when a problem arises. For our group activity in this CSRGOVE session, we talked about liabilities and contemplated, as a group, as to who’s the one to blame.   

The case study was about a misuse of a certain product that led to physical injuries.  At first, my group mates and I actually found it quite easy to see who was the rightful one to be blamed. But as we discussed further, we realized it was much more complex than simply concluding that this certain group was liable to the damages.  Because each of these groups of stakeholders has their own list of responsibilities they had to partake to prevent problems from arising.  In the case study, it was clear that one group of stakeholders failed to act on their responsibility. However, I realized that while this certain group acted carelessly, there was a reason behind it. Maybe the other group of stakeholder also failed to act responsibly that caused the other group to fail on their responsibility as well.

Sure, it was just a simple group activity that we had to do during class but this certain activity made me realize that I couldn’t put the blame to just anyone who is clear to have acted wrongly.  I realized that some people fail to act responsibly because maybe the others weren’t also able to act the same way.   This class activity in CSRGOVE made me reflect on my actions.  I was reminded that it is not easy to assign guilt to someone.  I realized that sometimes, wrong actions could possibly be a cause of domino effect among people. And I am glad that the lessons we were taught in class couldn’t only be applied to businesses but to our personal lives as well.  

Journal Entry # 5

Sessions 10 & 11 - June 23 & 25, 2014

I am already on my fifth year in college. And looking back, I am sure I have lots to miss about being a student when the times comes I march on April next year and receive my diploma.  While it is a challenge for me to drag myself to school, I’d also miss having that motivation to wake up extra early. While I’m pretty sure I am already too tired of countless reflection papers and research, I also think I’d miss forcing creative juice out of my system just to write something on paper.  Sure, finally leaving college means freedom for me but then again, leaving college also means I have to constantly reminisce the life of a student. But if there is one thing that I definitely would not miss about college, it’s the role-plays that we have to do in class. Because for starters, I am not a natural in acting—I always find it awkward to stand in front of the class and act. So when we had to do yet another role playing session in class for CSRGOVE, I couldn’t help but roll my eyes to the back of my head because after all these years, I still have to participate in a role play and I am already on my fifth year.

On the brighter side, though, it was always entertaining to watch people act in front of the class. It’s always surprising to see your classmates do stuff you never imagined them to do. So our role-playing session in CSRGOVE was rather funny. However, not only was that session humorous, it was also informative. Then I finally realized why professors usually give their students role-playing tasks. Human beings are naturally visual creatures and because of that, it is easier to learn something when it can be seen rather than just being listened to.  I was able to compare that because we were tasked to read the lesson beforehand and found the concepts much easier to understand when I was watching my classmates act than only reading the book.

While it was such rather a late realization…I mean 4 years late, that is…I guess, it really is better late than never. Because such revelation, I guess I’m also going to miss role-playings in college after all.

Journal Entry # 4

Sessions 8 & 9 - June 16 & 18, 2014

While we only had one class in CSRGOVE this week, I still learned new knowledge about Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) in 90 minutes.  The 4 models of CSR were discussed during class: Economic model, Philanthropic model, Social web model, and Integrative model. However, of these three, the most that stuck to me was the Social web model. The reason is because as we discuss this particular model, I was again reminded of the phrase, “just because something is legal does not mean it is ethical”, and the further we discussed in this topic, I was able to form yet another phrase about law and ethics in my head: “just because the law doesn’t say it doesn’t mean you can ignore being ethical”.

As discussed in class, businesses have a social responsibility to respect the rights of their employees and an ethical duty to consumers even when not specified by the law.  For me, this is truly so as it is basic moral to give respect to the rights of the people who surround us.  And this lesson was such a nice reminder to business students especially now that we are already working towards our future careers where material things such as money and fame could be blinding for some. It was good that lessons like this remind us every now and then that while material things provide us our wants in life, humanity still exceeds all.

Journal Entry # 3

Sessions 6 & 7 - June 9 & 11, 2014

This week, we discussed the Decision-making Model for Business Ethics in our CSRGOVE class.  I have gone through many lessons about decision-making already but this was the first time that I was taught steps on how to logically and critically make decisions.  I realized that decision-making is much more meticulous than I have perceived it to be.  Learning the six steps of Decision-Making Model for Business Ethics, I became much more aware of the impacts of making business decisions and how the tiniest of fault could give rise to problems. For example, when one fails to identify all the stakeholders involved when making business decision, taking any course of action while excluding that one group of stakeholder could create conflicts. It is possible that that certain excluded group does not accept the business decision made and hence, will produce problems.   

I admit I have taken my CSRGOVE class for granted because I thought Corporate Social Responsibility and Governance is already a very familiar concept to me given that I am majoring in Applied Corporate Management.  But after weeks of attending sessions for this class, I realized that I have much more to learn about this certain subject and definitely have much more areas for knowledge expansion. Because after all, I believe that as human beings, we can never stop learning—there is just so much knowledge out there and limitless chances to continue growing.

Journal Entry # 2

Sessions 4 & 5 - June 2 & 4, 2014

For this week, we tackled two different concepts on CSRGOVE: Values and Ethical Dilemma. Our classroom activity for the topic Values was very memorable to me because I had to rank which of the values is most important to me up to the least important.  It was very difficult because all of the listed values seemed pretty important when one is pursuing the “ideal”.  I have never put that much thought about what the most important value is for me but after our activity in class, I realized that fulfilling “contentment” and “genuine happiness” tops my list.  And in pursuit of those two, I have also realized that giving great importance to my family becomes an unconscious act.     

On the other hand, tackling ethical dilemma reminded me that not everything that is “right” is automatically “ethical”. Just like how the saying, “just because something is legal does not mean it is also ethical”, goes. As a student majoring in the field of business, business ethics is definitely not something that is I am not yet familiar with.  I have had subjects where business ethics has already been discussed in-depth so having another lesson about it in CSRGOVE class honestly felt like a drag.  However, one line caught my attention during class: “no one cares, why should I?” We were talking about unreported misconducts then and I was able to relate to it when I heard that phrase the first time. And I confess that I am guilty of thinking that way sometimes. Because really, where would be the motivation to take an action when everybody else is not taking any? And more often than not, it is simply because I prefer not to get involved with a lot of issues so I tend to “not care” at all or in tagalog, “patay malisya”. I am not proud of it but I am only telling the truth. And frankly, I think a lot of people also do the same thing. Because most, if not all, choose to avoid problems and being involved with issues could lead to difficult situations.  However, having learned that not reporting misconduct just to avoid having problems made me realize how selfish act it was. And I am not happy that I have been selfish a couple of times myself. So at the end of the day, going through another lesson of business ethics wasn’t that much of a waste actually. Because I am now more aware of my actions and its consequences—the same with the actions I refrain to partake in and its own set consequences. 

Journal Entry #1

Session 3 - May 28, 2014

As an Applied Corporate Management student, the concept of business and ethics into one context is no new notion to me.  I’ve already taken in two major subjects where the importance of ethics in businesses has been considerably emphasized.  However, our 3^rd session in CSRGOVE was a nice refresher of the topic at hand and more importantly, I found new even more new information about an already familiar concept to me.

Part of the lesson was the breakdown of percentages of what being ethical mean to a number of businessmen. Now, this was a new thing for me because we were always taught a certain description of what being ethical means.  While the figures weren’t a shock to me, it was great to find out that 50% of those who participated the study felt doing what their conscience tell them to do; 25% do what is in accord to their religious belief; and only 18% conforms to the golden rule.  That gave me a chance to reflect on my own definition of “being ethical”.  Having grown into a religious family, it would be logical for me to be part of that 25%. However, looking back to situations I have experienced before where I have to make an ethical choice, I am actually part of that 50%--like most, I, too, use my conscience most of the time when making such decisions.   

I think the majority of us consider our consciences first and foremost because conscience is a natural part of our being.  Unlike religion and the belief of such golden rule, everybody has conscience, which I believe is the reason why 50% of those who participated in the study base their ethical decisions on conscience. Still, I am no one to judge other’s preference because at the end of the day, there is no perfect basis on making ethical decisions. As discussed in our class, our consciences do not always coincide with our religion or with the golden role. The same goes with religion and the golden rule.