TABLE OF CONTENTS

Page
Executive Summary....

Acknowledgement

PART I. COMPANY BACKGROUND

1. Background of the company.... 3
a. History of the company..

b. Products Offered

2. Names of Employees and Supervisor....

PART II. PROBLEMS IDENTIFICATION

1. Communication......

2. Leadership......

3. Motivation....

4. Conflict.....

5. Teamwork....

PART III. COURSES OF ACTION

1. Communication......

10

2. Leadership......

11

3. Motivation....

12

4. Conflict.....

13

5. Teamwork....

14

Appendix

15

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

PART I Company Background

1. Background of the Company
A. History of the company
B. Services offered
Kerry Logistics (Phils.), Inc. engages in and conducts the business of
international freight, non-vessel operating common carrier and cargo forwarding
as a freight forwarder, cargo consolidation and breakbulk agent; hailing,
conveying, carrying, handling, distribution, loading, and unloading of general
cargoes and all classes of goods, wares, and merchandise by mode of sea or air
to any point or place of destination into and outside the Philippines as may be
permitted or authorized by the laws of the Philippines and/or the laws of any
foreign country. They also provide support services to assist licensed customs
brokers in securing customs clearances or permission from the customs
authorities for goods to be brought in or out of the Philippines and to perform
such allied services in the course of providing such assistance, and to do all
things, transact business, and exercise such power and authority as maybe
indirectly necessary, suitable, or proper for the accomplishment of any of the
purposes or the attainment of any or more of the objective enumerated. This
was based on the primary purpose of the company written in their SEC
registration.
2.

Names of Employees and Supervisor

The employees I have interviewed are Mr. Kim Harold M. Umandal, Ms. Krizin
Gonzales, Ms. Gretchen C. Brillantes, Ms. Gen Arellano and Ms. Josephine Gabi. The
five of them are Customer Care Specialists and are in charge of the monitoring of
shipments and the one who assists customers on every shipments, concerns, problems
being given or awarded to the company. They are under the guidance of their
supervisor, Mrs. Margarita A. Acosta, the customer care supervisor. She assists clients
in their requirement in air and sea exports and imports.
PART II Problems Identification
1. Communication
Communication is the transfer of information and understanding from one
person to another (Newstrom, 2015). Communication is an essential element in an
organization because without communication, there would be a lack of coordination in
work and no transfer of information to the members which would lead to a collapse in
the organization.
In this team that I have interviewed, communication is always present. I asked
the supervisor and her employees on how they communicate. The supervisor, Ms.
Acosta, told me that she communicates to her subordinates regularly through phone,
email, and also face-to-face. Ms. Gabi, one of the employees interviewed, said that she
communicates through good words and clear communication, using a lovely tone, and
calling them by their name. She ensures that the other party (other people who she will
be talking to) would understand what she is trying to say. She also says that they
always communicate as long as everything is already clear and understood. Ms.
Brillantes, another employee interviewed, answer was similar to Ms. Gabi that she
communicates using tone voices and friendly voices, so that the receiver of the
message would feel her sincerity. A different perspective with the question of how she
communicates was answered by Ms. Arellano. She said that she communicates using
emails, phone calls and through text messages. According to Mr. Umandal and Ms.

Gonzales, the remaining two employees that I have interviewed, had a different
approach in terms of communicating with their co-workers. Mr. Umandal said that his
way of communication is being talkative, while Ms. Gonzales said that all of them
always find time to communicate with each other.
Downward communication is the flow of information from higher to lower levels
of authority (Newstrom, 2015). I also asked all of them how the supervisor transfers
information to her employees. Ms. Acosta, supervisor, told me that she transfer
information through email, learning sessions and cascades. Most of the employees
agree to what Ms. Acosta said when I asked them. Ms. Arellano also adds that their
supervisor communicates with them by means of direct communication with each other
especially when there are any concerns or problems.
Upward communication, on the other hand, is the vice versa of downward
communication. It is the flow of information from higher to lower levels of authority.
Every month, the employees are given job satisfaction surveys which are sent through
their emails. This is a dilemma of the firm since it would be hard for the management to
know almost all of the problems of the employees because some of the emails would
surely be skipped because of the number of employees.
2. Leadership
Leadership is one of the most important concepts that every person or group of
people who lead an organization should have. It takes a lot to be a good leader. One
should have different characteristics such as the desire, willpower, and more to be a
good one. He/she should be physically, emotionally, socially, and mentally healthy in
order to carry out his/her tasks and obligations. Basically, leaders are the ones
responsible for motivating and inspiring his/her subordinates; and to be called a good
one, he/she should be able to influence and give command to them. It is the process
managers use to influence others in order to achieve the organizational goals through
their work efforts (Dyck & Neubert, 2012).

As I have observed, their team follow both formal and informal organization, but
emphasizes more on informal organization. Informal organization is a network of
personal and social relations not establish or required by formal organization but arising
spontaneously as people associate with one another (Newstrom, 2015). Based on how
the employees described Ms. Acosta, she is more of an informal leader. An informal
leader emerges from within the group, often requiring considerable informal power and
an informal power attaches to a person which means that they do not follow the chain
of command. Ms. Acosta is described mostly as a friend by her employees. There are
many benefits of following an informal organization since there socialization is more
emphasized, but there also problems in following it. A problem that might be possible
and also have check if it is actually happening, is the undesirable rumors. Although this
can also be a communication dilemma, it is more of a leadership dilemma as will be
discussed since favoritism may also occur in their team because of the social
relationships between the supervisor and the employees.
3. Motivation
Leaders and managers in particular use different strategies in order to motivate
the employees. By doing so, employees will be encouraged to work harder and the
burdens would be lighter. Work motivation is the result of a set of internal and external
forces that cause an employee to choose an appropriate course of action and engage in
certain behaviors. Work motivation is a complex combination of psychological forces
within each person, and employers are vitally interested elements of it: Direction and
focus of the behavior, level of the effort provided and persistence of the behavior. The
employees answer when I asked them about how their supervisor is motivating them,
their answers were similar to moral support and guidance during work. When asked
about why they work, almost all of them, the supervisor and the employees, answered
that it is because they wanted to earn money.

Money is a medium of exchange and it represents to employees what their

employer thinks of them (Newstrom, 2015). If the employees realized that they are
working more than what they are receiving, there is a possibility that they would think
that they deserve a better or higher pay. The dilemma in motivation may include an
increasing number of employee turnover which is bad for the company since they might
lose possible great leaders from the employees who might leave the company.
4. Conflict
Conflicts will always be part of the project, Ms. Gonzales answered when I
asked her if there were conflicts that happened during the making project. Conflict is an
interpersonal process that arises from disagreements over the goals to attain, the
methods to be used to accomplish those goals, or even the tone of voice used as
people express their positions (Newstrom, 2015).
To know what might be the possible dilemma in conflict that the team may
experience or may have experience, I have asked them how they handle criticisms.
Three employees answered that they ignore these criticisms because they think that
they dont need to give the attention and so that they would not get affected. On the
other hand, the remaining two employees and the supervisor answered that they treat
criticism in a positive way. The supervisor adds that Being criticized shows room for
improvements. Clearly, this shows that they have different sets of values or beliefs
which as stated in the book, may be a source of conflict.
5. Teamwork
A customer care specialist usually work independently because of the number
customers that they will be handling throughout the day. The supervisor also assists the
employees by reminding them every day what shipments are already urgent. The
supervisor also monitors their communication with internal and external clients through
e-mail. This job description might seem that teamwork is only present in the supervisor-

employee relationship and not within the employees, but when I asked them about what
characteristics they would describe their group, all of them answered that they are all
united. I asked a follow-up question on how they are united, they told me that they help
everyone in meeting the teams quota by motivating them since everyone is important
and everyone will be affected if they would not help them.
A task team is a cooperative small group in regular contact that is engaged in
coordinated action. When the member of a task team know their objective, contribute
responsibly and enthusiastically to the task, and support one another, they are
exhibiting teamwork. (Newstrom, 2015). In my description, they seem that they are
doing good in terms of teamwork, but there were actually inconsistencies in their
interviews. I asked them what they think would help in making your team better, one of
the employees answered that she thinks that they need more training and team
buildings. Included in my questions to them is if they set goals for themselves to meet
the quota. One of the employees, Ms. Gabi, answered that she doesnt set goals
because she is a CCS (customer care specialist) while other employees answered that
they set goals. Included in the ingredients of effective teams are supportive
environment, skills and role clarity, superordinate goals, time rewards, empowerment,
and positive norms. The answer of Ms. Gabi might mean that not all of them know the
roles of all others whom they will be interacting with even though all of the employees
have the same designated job. She also answered in my question, What do you think
would help in making your team better, that they need to help each other. This lack of
skills and role clarity is their dilemma in teamwork.

PART III Courses of Action

1. Communication
In the 21st century, almost everyone in the business world would need to have emails since it allows you to transfer information to someone or a group of people in a

matter of seconds. In Kerry Logistics, job satisfaction surveys are sent through email.
There are numerous of employees in the company and there is a possibility that when
the surveys are sent, not all are given emphasis and tendency is that they skip some of
the surveys sent. What if the survey which are not sent, were crucial to what the
employees feel in their job.
My advice for this dilemma is to see to it that every survey I read. If possible, job
satisfaction surveys should be answered in written and after they are answered, there
should also be counseling to those who have potential problems in the team. Possible
outcomes that may happen if my advice is to be implemented, lesser conflicts and
misunderstanding among the higher and lower levels of authority since they would
finally understand one another and what their problem is instead of keeping it within
themselves.
2. Leadership
Rumor as described in the book is a grapevine information that is communicated
without the secure standards of evidence being present. As I have mentioned before, it
can also be a leadership dilemma because of how Ms. Acosta, the supervisor, leads
them. One of the factors that encourage grapevine activity is work that allows
conversation, and with the teams informal organization and the supervisors leadership
that is more likely described as an informal leader. This is the reason why rumors might
be present in the organization.
My advice is first to deal with the rumor itself as soon as possible. The people
involved should know the whole detail of the rumor, and refute it with facts. Also, they
should remove its causes in order to prevent it from happening again. The possible
outcomes if this advice is to be implemented is that there would be lesser conflicts
among other teams and within the team itself especially if the rumor would be about
how the supervisor treats their employees.

3. Motivation
Employees should never feel that they are not rewarded very well because there
is always a tendency that they would think that they would receive a higher pay with the
same amount of work. If employee turnover increases, profit of the company would
decrease because of the manpower needed like in the case of Kerry Logistics who also
handles the storage of items being shipped. Although some of them would rather think
of the experience and knowledge than their salary, sooner or later, they would feel the
same way and might use those experience to be hired to a better company. If this
happens, the potential leaders who felt that they are not rewarded well and have left the
company, would be a loss to the company itself. To avoid this dilemma, an approach
mentioned by the book is called a comparable worth which seeks to guarantee equal
pay and equal work (Newstrom, 2015). Another program to avoid this dilemma is to
have wage incentives. Wage incentives are a form of merit pay which provides more
pay for more output or results. These program are also referred to as pay for
performance. The book states that in order to be successful, a wage incentive needs to
be siple enough for the employees to have a strong belief that reward will follow
performance. If this would be implemented, there would be a possible increase in
productivity and would actually reduce the turnover.

4. Conflict
The dilemma present in conflict is that they have different sets of values or
beliefs. As stated in the book resulting disputes can be difficult to resolve, since they
are less objective compared to having disagreements over alternative product, inventory
levels, or promotional campaigns. My advice for this dilemma is if it is possible, prevent
this kind of conflict. Another approach is through confrontation by parties who would
have this conflict and for them to understand the difference of their beliefs instead of just
ignoring it. The books stated that the confronting strategy can truly be viewed as a
resolution approach, since this method addresses the basic differences involved and

eventually removes them through creative problem solving. If this approach is to be

followed, self-respect and gain new respect for the other party would be followed.
Another possible outcome is that problem solving and collaboration will help integrate
the positions of both parties (Newstrom, 2015).
5. Teamwork
The dilemma present in teamwork is the lack of skills and role clarity of one of the
employees. Ms. Gabi was the only one answered that she does not set goals to meet
her quota and she believes that her designated position do not need quotas. My advice
is for every one of them is to have more team buildings that would focus on the team
members knowledge about the purpose of the team. When the understanding [finally]
exists, members can act immediately as a team on the basis of the requirements of a
particular situation without waiting for someone to give an order (Newstrom, 2015).

APPENDIX