Emerging Themes Derived from the Data

Bantz (1993) defines a theme as a general idea that re-occurs within the organizational

culture, which must appear repeatedly and contain related ideas, rather than occur once and

address only a singular thought.

The following are some emergent themes in the communication processes of

XYZ University:

Search for Excellence

The idea of excellence is common among all organizations, most notably academic

institutions like XYZ University. Consistently, XYZ University’s struggle to achieve excellence

is explicitly exhibited in its communication processes. For example, being a “center of

excellence” is a vision that is always emphasized in several communication materials like

memos, posters, brochures, symbols, and logos.

Analyses of the content of XYZ’s rituals and practices such as academic council

meetings, faculty meetings, and everyday conversations also reveal the University’s

predisposition to achieve the best status in the community. It has consistently reiterated this

value in its transcripts of communication like dialogues and meetings.

In the following excerpt, the school administrator highlighted the idea of excellence

during the administration-faculty consultation regarding the implementation of a new policy for

faculty monitoring.

Excerpt 1 from administration-faculty consultation

F1: So continuing…as we continue with the SEARCH FOR OUR

EXCELLENCE, although it is true that the university attained its

present stature even without Biometrics technology, however, in order

 to sustain the university’s competitive edge and strategic niche in one…

as one of the lead higher education institutions in the country today,

university management is continually exploring means to facilitate

continuous process, improvement, and total quality management.

Similarly, this idea is consistently reiterated in XYZ faculty meetings. For instance, when

accreditation is part of the agenda, the department head would always emphasize the idea of

excellence to motivate faculty members to take an active role in the preparation for accreditation

and conform with the university’s standards.

Excerpt from faculty meeting

F2: to...SUSTAIN WHATEVER GAINS WE HAVE...the first major gain that we

have is in terms of instruction. So...right now, our faculty qualification is the

highest in the university...so we want to keep it that way...and we also...request

that we continue...with the regular updating of our syllabus...of our teaching

instruction... materials, and so on...

Even among higher-level managers, excellence is the core value that they use to guide

their actions and decision making.

Excerpt 2 from management meeting

F3: … all of us in the university are committed to demonstrate passion for

excellence, personal commitment, loyalty and discipline…that every faculty

member shall commit himself or herself in the building of a culture of excellence

in XYZ University.
Culture of Dichotomy

A culture of dichotomy may also be noticed within the university. Although

administrators, employees and faculties agree that the university should aim for excellence, each

member deals with it in different ways. Some do it with sincerity and some with hypocrisy,

which means the organization can be seen as consensual or dissensual. In short, consensus-

dissensus (Deetz, 2001) coexists within the university.

Dichotomy, in this study, does not refer to the division between the management and

faculty. Consensus and dissensus can happen at any level in the organization.

Consensus is exhibited in organization by the fact that there is an existing organizational

chart or structure that guides its coordination, planning and strategy, conflict resolution,

training, and reward systems, and even reengineering. A system for management is in place and

is reiterated in its Administrative Manual, Faculty Manual, Guidance Manual, Enrolment

Procedures, Faculty Monitoring and Evaluation, Faculty Development Program, Merit Point

System, Policy for Ranking and Promotion, College Planning, and Collective Bargaining

Agreement.

Likewise, consensus of members in their talk on job-related issues brings camaraderie in

the group and builds friendship among members. Bridge and Baxter (1992) coined the term

“blended relationship” for “friendship” among peers in the organizational contexts. They

pointed out that friends at work essentially blend or combine role relationships and personal

relationships. The blending in their relationships is inherent even in their everyday talk about

petty things.

This is exhibited in the following excerpts where topics vary from personal to

professional.
 In Talk 1, a petty discussion regarding the health of a family member made possible for

faculty members to interact and build a connection with one another. Not so important topics

usually spark the discussion for most faculty members. From there, various topics could already

arise such as issues regarding their student’s performance (Talk 2) or concern for a co-worker

(Talk 3).

Talk 1. Discussion about family health

F1: Parang namayat si = (Seems to have lost weight=)

F11: =Ay SUS MARYOSEP ay kagabi(.) Kagabi’y tutulog na ay nagro-roast kami ng

chicken sa turbo ay bumaba pa at siya daw ay lalafang pa at kumain ng kanin(.) Totoy

wag ka nang kumain pa (.) baka ikaw mamaya [ay…

(=My goodness gracious, last night(.) Last night, he was about to sleep but we

were broiling chicken so he went down to eat. And he ate it with some rice(.) Oh boy,

don’t eat anymore (.) you might…)

Talk 2. Discussion on school performance of the child of co-worker

M2: =Sira ulo yung skul= (=That school is stupid=)

F11: =Alin alin?= (=Which one?=)

M2: =Yung skul na pinapasukan ng anak ko… (=That school of my daughter…)

F11: bakit?= (Why?=)

M2: =E sabi nung teacher(.) Ikaw ang kakanta (.) ayun automatic yung bata (.) sige

kakanta ako sabi nung bata(.) tapos ngayon di na kasali (=Well, her teacher

said (.) You will sing(.) So my daughter immediately agreed(.) Yes, I will sing

the kid say (.) but now she’s not included.)

Talk 1 and 2 illustrate members discussing about family matters. F11 was the superior of

the group and yet in both conversations, she was willing to share family issues as well as give

advice to a subordinate who is having a problem with his child’s performance at school.
 Conrad (1991) averred that the quality of the relationships employees form with those

around them (including the boss) affects their job satisfaction, ability to gain information and

support they need in order to perform the job, the willingness to provide similar information and

support to co-workers and their ability to understand and carry out the message.
 Thematic Reflection

Table 2

Theme for Each Co-Researcher’s Story

Co-Researcher Theme for Each Co-Researcher’s Story

Student-mother # 1 Complexities of life issues
Student-mother # 2 Resourcefulness and maturity
Student-mother # 3 Molded by experiences
Student-mother # 4 Chance to set things right
Student-mother # 5 Anything but ordinary
Student-mother # 6 Pursuit to graduate
Student-mother # 7 Age comes with maturity
Student-mother # 8 Struggle to achieve goal

The table above shows the different themes extracted from the co-researchers’ stories.

Each story’s themes are extracted through an insightful and reflective process and it began with

the presentation of my own story as I relate my counseling experiences to the lived experiences

of my participants.

The themes extracted from the stories of my co-researchers are reflection of their whole

stories. Several field visits and observations also composed the extraction of themes. Gathering

of each co-researcher’s story was not that easy because it entailed patience and determination

for me to be fully exposed to their distinctive world. Conflicts during scheduling of interviews

and observations were one of the most challenging parts in my data gathering. Perfect timing

and good communication with the participants and other persons concerned were also

significant in the whole process. As a researcher, I consider several field visits as very important

in a phenomenological study because these are the avenues to validate what have been said or
expressed during the interviews. Thus, the observations and immersions conducted at home, in

school and in other places helped me validate what have transpired during the in-depth

interviews.

Furthermore, the themes extracted were strengthened by appropriate theories and related

literatures gathered. In addition, I had to examine if the scenarios or lived experiences presented

by my co-researchers are similar with that of the experiences of other student-mothers in the

past researches.

As reflected in the table, the themes for each student-mother’s lived experiences can be

summarized as complexities of life issues, resourcefulness and maturity, molded by

experiences, chance to set things right, neutral life, striving hard to graduate, age comes with

maturity, and continue achieving goals.

Co-Researcher 1

Student-Mother # 1 “Complexities of Life Issues”

Co-Researcher 1 is an 18 year old single parent. She is taking up a course on

entrepreneurship in a public school. Her parents are separated and she is working at the public

market to earn a living. She shared several remarkable experiences as a student-mother. She

said that she got pregnant when she was 16 years old. At the age of 18, she is now faced with

complex issues of being a mother, student, and daughter. Part of her experiences is

overwhelming but she manages to deal with it to survive every day. She continued her studies

because she wanted to be a proud mother.

She said:

“…mag-aral pati gusto ko na… maging proud na ina na.”

 However, despite all the hardships she is doing for her son, she cannot forget the

judgments she experienced before and after she gave birth to her son until she reached college.

She quipped:

“…naranasan kong husgahan, kesa naman yung ibang tao hindi nila

alam mga karanasan mo, sila nga manghusga kung alam mo yung mga

karanasan nila.”

“Na-tsismis ako… ganun syempre. Sabi ko nga pasok na lang dito sa

kabila… labas na lang dito sa kabila…”

“… na hindi ka nagpapa apekto…pero sa loob-loob mo ayun…

nasasaktan ka…kasi lalo na kung ang magdya-judge yung mga kamag-anak

mo…”

“Sa’yo masasaktan ka pero... iisipin mo ano, pakita mo na lang sa kanila

na hindi tama sinasabi nila.”

Co-Researcher 1 disclosed how she was treated by the persons around her upon knowing

she was pregnant. She was judged by them but she tried to ignore everything and keep on

moving forward. However, despite all the efforts to ignore those judgments thrown against her

and the display of a strong personality in handling such situation, she still admitted that it still

hurt her.

Literatures show that other teen mothers also experienced being judged or stigmatized

by others. In the study conducted by Sloan and Brighton (2014), they reported that young

women who participated in their study repeatedly shared some experiences of being judged and

stigmatized. One of the respondents said, “Yeah, thinking you’re a worse mum just because

you’re young… But that doesn’t mean you’re going to be a bad mum. There can be a forty year
old that’s a terrible mum.” Another participant shared, “…people look at you like on the bus

and stuff in town they all look at you as if to say…oh you’re a teenage mum and you can’t do

this.” This supports the statements made by my first co-researcher. It reveals that student-

mothers experience judgments from others that they are totally not capable of doing mother

responsibilities just because they are still young.

Meanwhile, when I asked her about her perception of a student-mother she said:

“Masasabi ko na ano, na kumiri agad ganun…”

There is a possibility that she came up to this judgment because of the lack of experience

on being a mother and level of judgment capacity was not that totally developed due to her age.

But her perception on her situation changed when she experienced the same. Like me, my

understanding of a situation deepened when I started to listen and get into the world of my

counselee.

Co-Researcher 1 also expressed that:

“Yun ang unang masasabi pero noong nagkaanak naman ako….masamang

manghusga…”

She added:

“Sabi nga, manghusga ka kung nakakasama mo sila araw-araw.”

Obviously, Co-Researcher 1 changed her view on student-mothers when she already

experienced it. In our conversation and based on some observations, I can say that she really

learned a lot from her experiences. She is very optimistic in life especially when she came back

to school. According to her, “parang pursigido (seems persevering).”

Seeing her working at the public market to support not just her studies and her child’s

expenses but also all the expenses of the entire family, I could say that Co-Researcher 1 is really
experiencing difficulties although she told that she is strong. There were even times that she

contacted me when she had a problem, when she felt like giving up particularly because of

finances. This aspect of her showed her need for emotional support, for her to cope with this

dilemma. As explained by Taylor and Wise (2002) as cited in Maximo et al. (2010), it is a

natural tendency to see a negative emotion on a 16-year old mother who was rejected both by

her boyfriend and parents and who has to accept blue collar jobs for the needed income. Same

with the scenario my co-researcher is currently facing, she had to ask for someone whom she

can tell her problems with so that it will not be so heavy for her to carry all the overwhelming

concerns she faces as a young mother. This is how she cope emotionally, having someone who

will listen to her stories genuinely.

This happens because she receives minimal support from her mother who is already

living with another family. Despite all these things, she recognized the struggles she may face

when she came back to school and remained strong and hopeful.

“…may utak na ano…yung panu yung pagpapagatas ko. Yung pinansyal

namin. Ganun, iniisip ko kasi hati yung oras mo… may pasok ka ng maga…tapos

tatrabaho ka ng hapon, t’as gabi uuwi ka na…pero magta-try akong…

magtrabaho ng pang-gabi..”

Meanwhile, Co-Researcher 1 also shared her experiences with the people in her school

community. She talked about the reactions of the teachers and her classmates when she

disclosed her being a student-mother. She narrated that:

“…teachers ko, uhm, nag-react sila, ha? ...may anak ka na?”

According to her, she dispenses being defensive to other’s judgments about her. She

would instead answer:

 “Opo, may anak na ’ko…ganun…tinanong nila ako kung magkakasama

kami, sabi ko, hindi po, ay di ang sasabihin nila…isang pagkakamali yun…sabi

ko naman ano,ba’t naman po pagkakamali ay ginawa n’yo yun…di ba?

This character exhibited by the participant whenever she faces a threatening scenario

result to imposition of defense mechanism called rationalization. She rationalized the issue of

committing pregnancy at a very young age. For her, this is not a mistake because she wanted it

in the first place. According to Corey (2013), rationalization is a way of manufacturing ‘good’

reasons to explain away a bruised ego. He further explained that it helps justify specific

behaviors and aids in softening the blow connected with disappointments. This was how she

reacted to the reactions of other people upon knowing her being a mother.

The way she relates with friends, carries her self, talks and acts as I can see is an

evidence that my Co-Researcher 1 is still a youth that needs to fit in. This was shown when she

mentioned:

“Ano lang, naglalagay lang ng eye liner, polbo…tapos nagli-lipstick.

Tama lang yun kesa naman yung magpakapal pa ako ng make-up sa school hindi

naman ako rarampa sa pageant di ba…”

“pag ano… birthday nila…kami ang pumupunta kasama ko yung baby

ko…”

These actions are manifestations of an involvement to social activities that her

stage still demands. Erikson proposed that adolescent’s desire to ‘fit in’ is their way of

making an identity for them to conform to the standards of the group and eventually

accept them (as cited in Ciccarelli & White, 2012). Hence, even though she is a mother,
she still considers socialization an important aspect of her life. It means that to fit in is an

important way to have an identity and be accepted by other people.

On the other hand, others have expectations on what she is doing now. She shared:

“…sasabihin nila ay nag-aaral pa ‘to may anak na…parang ganun di na

lang i-focus yung pagha-hanapbuhay mo, yung pag-aalaga sa anak mo

ganun…”

Even though she experienced judgments and negative expectations, she remained positive

and sees herself as a stronger person. She said:

“syempre…nasasaktan pero...chin up lang ako…”

Co-Researcher 1 faces many difficulties but she is capable of handling the challenges

through being optimistic. No matter what people say about her, the most important thing for her

is to finish her studies and prove to them that she deserves to be successful even though she had

a child at an early age. This serves as her motivation to fight the everyday storms in her life.

The negative expectations given to her by others are treated as motivations to move

forward. Motivation is what moves people to do the things they do (Ciccarelli & White, 2012).

In the case of my co-researcher, she utilized an intrinsic motivation, a type of motivation in

which a person performs an action because the act itself is fun, rewarding, challenging, or

satisfying in some internal manner. She used the criticisms as challenges to prove them that they

are wrong about their judgments about her.

Meanwhile, the subject considered family factor as contributory to committing early

pregnancy.

“Parang ano…ang iniisip ko...hiwalay family ko...ganun…na yung nanay

ko may time dun sa mga anak n’ya lang…ang sa ‘kin puro insecure… syempre…
 di naman maiiwasan sa isang anak na maging insecure kung...parehas yung

pagmamahal ng magulang mo sa iyo di ba…”

“kasi ako yung taong…rebelde…kaya nagka-anak kaagad ako.”

Co-Researcher 1 considers the influence of family to what she is experiencing right now.

We all know that family is the basic unit of society. The parents are the number one teachers

who should be there to guide and raise their children properly. Her testimonies of her parents’

separation during the interview support several studies that family structure is really a factor to

early pregnancy.

According to the study conducted by Agusto et al. (2006), teenage moms are either

spoiled or rebellious making them vulnerable to their environment. Some of them have

separated parents. In connection to Co-Researcher 1’s experience with her family, she uttered

that family problems were one of the reasons why she got pregnant early. The separation of her

parents and the lack of attention given to her by her mother made her a rebellious daughter.

Even though Co-Researcher 1 saw her experiences as a mother positively, she still

considered her maturity to only about 25 percent because for her she still has to experience

various things to reach 100 percent. For her, it is also a factor that although she chooses to be

with older friends to gain maturity, it is inevitable to be with younger ones because she is in a

class where her classmates are definitely younger than her age. She considered maturity as a

process that entails ample experiences to learn life and face all challenges. To cope with this

challenge of gaining maturity, she found her friendship with older people useful as she can gain

tips and probably advices from them.

She shared:
 “…parang ano pa lang kasi eh…kasi may time ako na...may nakakasama

akong mga bata…kasi school..mga kadalasan...mga kaklase ko kasi…mga 16,

17...tapos iilan lang kaming mga...may isa akong kaklaseng 26…tawag pa rin sa

‘kin ay ate o mommy…”

Her experiences with her classmates added to her confidence especially when they are

referring to her as mommy and she feels comfortable with it. She said:

“…parang ang gaan sa loob...kasi ano…hindi ka nila hinuhusgahan…”

“…parang proud ako sa sarili ko kasi…hindi pa naman proud na

proud...kung makakatapos ako lalo na…”

Respect from other people through giving her another name in school gave her a good

feeling of recognition. There is a possibility that the recognition she receives from them

enhances her confidence which she uses in dealing with everyday stressors.

On the other hand, she is proud that she is studying despite her difficult situation

because she believes that through education her life and her son’s future will become secured.

However, she would like the idea of having a program that would support student-

mothers like her. She uttered:

“Parang maganda yun...yung idea na magkameron ng...kasi ano…‘di

kasi naman pare-parehas kami...may magandang position yung iba may

magulang na nagsusuporta… na kahit single mother ka may nagsusuporta sa

‘yo...t’as parang ano...parang magandang ipamalakad…”

In addition, according to her, she still cannot accept the reality of being a mother because

she still has a lot of things to experience. She mentioned:

 “ang masasabi ko sa sarili ko...di ko pa natatanggap yung pagka-ina…

yung bagang parang di ko pa lahat…kasi parang gusto ko maranasan lahat…”