Motivation seen as key to competitiveness

Making workers multi-skilled, versatile and highly motivated is the key to enterprise competitiveness, according to Dr. Rene E. Ofreneo, professor at the University of the Philippines-School of Labor and Industrial Relations (UP-SOLAIR).

Ofreneo said competition can be overcome through increased investments on the skills of the workers and in the creation of work conditions that unleash their enthusiasm, creativity and productivity.

"A number of globally-competitive enterprises in the Philippines are succeeding precisely because they have found the way to survive and grow, by racing to the top," Ofreneo pointed out.

The challenge to industrial relations actors is how to help industry adjust to global competition by making product changes, organizational adjustments and work arrangement that do not lead to the erosion of job, income and union security of the workers, he said.

Fortunately, Ofreneo said more and more companies are becoming aware of the importance of investing time and money on ways to upgrade the skills of the workforce, improve employee relations and develop a world-class economy.

This increased awareness is partly in response to the labor unrest which swept the Philippines in the 1980s, and partly in response to the challenge of global competition and economic liberalization, which forced many companies in the 1990s to undertake painful restructuring programs.

However, according to Ofreneo, given the reality of the continuing economic crisis and the nature of competition under globalization, industry must continuously make adjustments in both HRD and industrial relations practices.

In the case of industrial relations and human resources management, many of the concepts and practices that local industry is familiar with have been developed in response to the need to stabilize and strengthen a labor relations system based on national markets and national industries built partly with the help of the visible hand of the government, Ofreneo said.

Today, industrial relations/human resource management concepts such as rigid work hierarchy and division of labor, specific job description and limited skill for each worker, guarantee job security.

These are undergoing intense re-examination by industry in its search for new, innovative and flexible industrial relations/human resource management practices that are supportive of the requirements of survival and growth in a highly competitive global economic environment, Ofreneo pointed out.

The UP professor cited the legitimate fear by organized and unorganized labor that the globalization-induced search of industry for flexible human resource management practices has become a "race to the bottom," – a competition among firms, industries and economies on how to avail of the cheapest and most productive labor.

Ofreneo warned that such race to the bottom eventually leads to the widespread casualization of labor, facilitated by corporate reengineering and downsizing exercise. This process has spawned a lot of industrial conflicts and has eroded some of the hard won gains of labor through a century of trade and union struggle. – Philexport News & Features