Filipino Values Essay

Values are results of culture. They are internalized as ideas and feelings in the process of growing up and become intrinsic in our adult personalities. As such, values serve as rules and standards against which actions are organized and experiences are interpreted and evaluated. Hence, to understand an individual’s behaviour is to first to understand his culture that governs his thoughts, feelings, and actions. Some of the well-known values and traits of Filipinos are familism, hiya, utang na loob, pakisama, bahala na and manana habit.

The Filipino family is referred as the foundation of the nation (Article XV, Section I, Philippine Constitution, 1987). It is the smallest social, political, religious, and economic unit of the national system (Locanda, 1999). The family also serves as the source of moral consensus on the basis of which Filipinos organize their ideas, interpret their experiences, and guide their behaviour.

In a positive context, management think of itself as the family surrogate, providing support and security to employees. It must push this idea into every corner of

In Filipino terms it means “Mamaya na” or “Do it later”. Skipping deadlines is one of the effects of this habit. It also results to a much unorganized way of doing things that affects the overall performance of an employee. For example, an employee decides to do the report on the day of submission when it was requested from him a week ago. As a result, he may be cramming and could disregard some important details. Some procrastinators may deliberately delay the tasks because they may like to work under pressure and feel in control of their time. Procrastinators are less avoidant, have lower stress levels, and higher self-efficacy than passive procrastinators (Chu and Choi 2005). Mañana habit may have some positive effects but as what Benjamin Franklin once said, “Don’t put off until tomorrow what you can do