Being in an Information Environment

This is the information age of the digital society. A sudden explosion of emails, chat, blogs, IM's from ubiquitous computer screens can be seen just about anywhere. Due to the fast development of technology these days certain enigmas puzzled the community and as a solution few information environments are formed to bring answers and to further plow the information field.

An information systems environment is an area in which information systems professionals apply management systems and technology skills professionally in an organization. An environment does not and cannot constitute a single, focused knowledge area such as applications in mathematics, art, technology, law, statistics, or desktop publishing. Instead, an environment represents an ecosystem in which information systems are employed. The environment surrounds and impacts the systems and technologies that support it and whose inputs, processes or outputs are closely intertwined with their information system.

An aspiring IT professional, like myself surely sees himself/herself to be one day be in the “inner circle of technology”, to be a part of a prestigious IT environment or organization in which he/she can show his/her full potential. But through that journey a lot of problems arise.

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HRM in the eyes of an HR manager

When I was told that we were required to interview a personnel/human resource manager, the first person that came to my mind was Mr.Carlito S. Llano, the HRM manager of LYR Marketing. Even though we haven't scheduled an interview for that day, actually it was more of an ambush interview, he was kind enough to accommodate us. Mr. Llano is an accomplished HR manager and instructor so he always welcome students who would like to learn about the craft that he loves the most.

For him, the role of human resource management deals with issues like compensation, hiring, performance management, organization development, safety, wellness, benefits, employee motivation, communication, administration, and training of the people employed in the company. According to Mr.Llano, the HR manager has provides significant support and advice to line management or the administration. HRM is concerned with all the decisions, strategies, factors, principles, operations, practices, functions, activities and methods related to the management of people as employees in any type of organization.

As what I have understood from Mr.Llano the nature of human resource management is to effectively make use of the talents and abilities of employees to achieve the operational objectives that are the ultimate aim of the organization. The role of HRM is to ensure that the individual employee is satisfied with both the working environment and the compensation and benefits that he or she receives. Yet, the human resource management doesn't have any power to tell off or suspend an employee that isn't in their own office.

From our recent company visits and observations, I can say that LYR Marketing's HRM functions in the manner that Mr.Llano have described. The company really takes care of their employees and they even give their employees a chance to be a stockholder. Its a bit rare for a company to make their employees to be stockholders and from that point of view alone, you can say that they value their people a lot.

HRM: Company Visit 4

The date of this visit is: August 30,2008

After visiting our MIS adopted company, DLPC, earlier in morning and going to the ICT Convention from 12 nn-1 pm and finally having lunch at 1:30 pm, we headed to our next destination, LYR Marketing.

Like in our MIS subject, a technical paper was to be made for our Human Resource Management subject. This technical paper is an Information Systems Development Plan that my group and I have to formulate for our chosen company. Unlike, our MIS technical paper, which has outlined components, this paper, as quoted by our professor is an open philosophy paper. It means it can have any components we want to add as long as we achieve/state our main goal, and that is to devise a ISD plan.

We were sidetracked by our other activities, that’s why we started acting upon the paper this late than of what was scheduled. jejeje..!!

The purpose of the visit is just to gather information such as the company background like its history, their vision, mission, and their future plans. We also asked about the existing systems in their company. Funny thing is, like in DLPC, the organizational chart of LYR can't be given to us because it was a confidential file. Mr. Llano said that they can't possibly release information such as the organizational chart and their goals because they are a business organization and not a philanthropic organization. Even with promises of confidentiality, they dare not release such information because they are afraid that it may leak out to their competitors.

Mr.Llano was engrossed in making to us about what is the importance of goals and what success really means. These sudden discussions, for me, really make Mr.Llano a good mentor, because he shares us a lot of useful information and he really exceeds our expectations. He even advised us to study other computer languages that what is taught in school so that we can be better than other students.

HRM: Company Visit 3

I was torn between posting this or not.!!

Why??
Well because, we just visited the company just to take pictures of Mr.Llano that we can use when we do our sharing in class.

I even forgot when was this dated (I think it was last July 17,2008, but not quite sure). All I can remember was this happened in a Saturday, the weekend before we do our HRM sharing in class. We waited for about 30 minutes before we were entertained by Mr. Llano and it only took us about 5 minutes to take the pictures. Kinda useless visit right.?? But still pictures are for documentation purposes also so its necessary. jejeje

MIS: Company Visit 3

Before July has ended, we were given the green light to start working on our MIS_ISDP technical paper, but due to some irregularities (eg. making our accounting system, discovering MS SQL, and other stuff), we began to gather data for our paper just this August.

We visited our adopted company, DLPC, last August 30,2008. We tried to visit and schedule an interview in a much earlier date but due to the various functions Mr. Albutra was attending we were rescheduled to that date.

To finish our paper faster, we decided to divide the chapters amongst the three of us. Angel is incharge of the "Strategic role of Information Systems in DLPC", Karen (or Lady Vuh as I fondly call her) is responsible for the "DLPC's hardware, software and its applications" while I was handling "Company Background". And I think it was a wonderful idea because when we came to interview Mr. Albutra, each of us have developed questions that would answer and be useful for our individual chapters, making our work more efficient (am I bragging or what.!! jejeje).

Mr. Albutra was (as always) very entertaining and knowledge filled. There is no dead air when we interview him because he always make (corny but entertaining) jokes when he thinks we forget what we want to say or ask him. He answered most of the questions but didn't allow us to have the organizational chart of the DLPC. He says that the said file was highly confidential and the company is still a business that have its limitations especially when taking about the company legal and important documents and company structure.

The interview took place at the ISG Conference room from 10:30 am-11:45 am. Even though we still have a lot of unasked questions we decided to leave the discussion at that moment not only because we were all starving (including Mr.Albutra, it was almost lunch for heavens sake.!!), but also because Mr.Albutra surely has a lot of things to do even in a weekend and we still have other appointments to go to later that day, namely, we have an interview/company visit at our HRM adopted company, LYR Marketing and we also have to visit the ICT Conference in the Sangguniang Bayan. Busy, busy, busy.

Sadly, the things we discussed in this interview can't be written in this post because it contains important information about the company, that we, the proponents of the research promised not to divulge.

MIS: Company Visit 2

This visit was actually dated last July 16, 2008 (if I remember it correctly.jeje). Due to the turn of events I kinda forgot to write about it. Enough excuses already, right?! haha..

Angel, Karen, Kate, Jalil (our hired photographer) and I went to DLPC early that day because we still have some clarifications to ask to Mr. Albutra, the head of the Business Solutions in the ISG department of DLPC. We were going to report or do our "sharing" in our MIS class later in the afternoon so we decided to visit DLPC to ask some questions that weren't still clear to us. Our aim is to make our sharing more fact filled.

We went straight to the Business Solutions office and Sir Albutra welcomed us in. It was kind of ackward to go there during weekdays and during work hours because we know that we were invading their office time especially that we didn't scheduled an interview that day. Good thing Mr. Albutra and his team were really warm and kind people.

We just asked about their IT infrastructure and took pictures around the whole BSD office. We thanked Mr. Albutra and left.

Outsource or Insource?

Every business, university or organization has to determine whether they should perform a service themselves in-house or outsource that particular service to an outside supply chain partner. In the university, I noticed that we are more in-house based. Why? Because based on my observation, Mr. Cagape is the one who creates and manages the databases in the school but a friend of mine said that the VAQsys software was outsourced (or a FOSS, not really sure..).

Let’s first make the distinction between outsourcing and insourcing because they are often used interchangeably. Outsourcing refers to the subcontracting practice of taking company business functions and contracting them out to a third party. While, insourcing, is the opposite of outsourcing; it means “contracting in”. In insourcing, an entity or a company personnel who can be said to be an expert in the field to be tested is the one who will deliver/create and manage what the university needs (eg. Creating databases or websites).
If I am in a situation wherein I am to take a side between insourcing and outsourcing, I would choose to outsource.

Why?
True, insourcing have its own advantages like company security and integrity is much more ensured and there will be less irregularities and faster data compilation can be done because the person who is gathering it works in the company, thus he knows how the company functions and what is its exact needs than an person outside the company but I believe that outsourcing offers a lot more.

What does it offer?
Outsourcing is..
less costly.

Skilled manpower at affordable prices:
Since it deals with searching an outside provider, the university can chose the best
from a lot of the qualified candidates outside than in the limited candidates inside the
university, thus can select a more suitable and smarter man for the job.

Concentration on core business areas
the university can still continue to do its daily tasks without interruptions unlike in
insourcing that the chosen personnel may have to stop all his recent activities, like
cancelling a class just to finish the project at hand

Increased productivity
By employing skilled manpower in larger numbers at lower costs organizations can
really increase their productivity.

Popularity of outsourcing has really taken its toll but in the end, I believe that the decision on whether to outsource or insource the needs of the university or any other organization depends on what is required and what is needed to be done.

ICT Davao Convention

Last August 30,2008, the ICT Davao Convention was held in the Sanguniang Bayan. My friends and I arrive there exactly 11:30 am. We just came from our MIS adopted company, the DLPC ans we thought to drop by the convention. As we entered the building we saw our professor, Mr Randy S. Gamboa in a booth, trying to hang a tarpaulin with his colleague. Since we were already there we took the responsibility of hanging the rather large ICT tarpaulin to the rather non-sticky booth panel.

After ensuring all adhesives were in the right spot and sticky enough, we successfully hanged the tarpaulin. We were about to eat lunch when Sir Randy asked us to watch the booth for a while.

As we were watching the booth, I took note on the activities being held in the building. A lot of IT related or IT based companies like MTC Academy and Surecuit, were there and giving out their company profiles, searching and interviewing applicants and a video of the development of ICT and the ICT businesses here in Davao today was shown in the Assessor's waiting room.

For me, it was a large gathering of people and businesses that shows how large and developed is the IT community here in Davao City.

The article below was made by Sunstar Davao about the ICT Davao.

“TO PUSH for the development of the ICT industry in Davao City, the regional office of the National Economic and Development Authority (Neda) in Southern Mindanao has inked partnership with the ICT Davao Inc. during last week's conduct of the BPO Human Resource and Recruitment Forum at the Royal Mandaya Hotel.

Neda-Southern Mindanao Regional Director Nicasio Angelo Agustin and ICT Davao Inc. president Lizabel "Wit" Holganza signed a cooperation agreement to formalize their partnership for the city's ICT development during the forum.

Neda and the ICT Davao Inc., the umbrella organization of all ICT enabled associations, committed to explore ways and means to promote trade, technical and industrial cooperation, joint venture agreements, market networking and linkages, and similar agreements between Davao City's ICT industry and global outsourcing and offshore markets.

Both agencies also vowed to undertake advocacy work to expand appreciation and understanding of ICT-enabled business practices and policies.

Aside from these commitments, the two entities vowed to aggressively address issues and concerns facing the ICT industry, particularly those that affect IT-enabled businesses and the academe and other ICT training institutions, and to jointly formulate corresponding policy recommendations..."

For the continuation of this article just click this link..

http://www.sunstar.com.ph/static/dav/2008/09/03/bus/neda.ict.davao.ink.partnership.html

Things Girls Should Know About Guys(DAW).!!!

2. If you think you're fat, you probably are. Don't ask us.

3. Learn to work the toilet seat: if it's up put it down.

4. Don't cut your hair. Ever.

5. Birthdays, Valentines, and Anniversaries are not quests to see if he can find the perfect present, again!

6. If you ask a question you don't want an answer to, expect an answer you don't want to hear.

7. Sometimes, he's not thinking about you. Live with it.

8. Don't ask him what he's thinking about unless you are prepared to discuss such topics as navel lint, the shotgun formation and monster trucks.

9. Get rid of your cat. And no, it's not different, it's just like every other cat.

10. Dogs are better than ANY cats. Period.

11. Sunday = Sports. It's like the full moon or the changing of the tides. Let it be.

12. Shopping is not a sport.

13. Anything you wear is fine. Really.

14. You have enough clothes.

15. You have too many shoes.

16. Crying is blackmail. Use it if you must, but don't expect us to like it.

17. Your brother is an idiot, you ex-boyfriend is an idiot and your Dad probably is too.

18. Ask for what you want. Subtle hints don't work.

19. No, he doesn't know what day it is. He never will. Mark anniversaries on a calendar.

20. Yes, pissing standing up is more difficult than peeing from point blank range. We're bound to miss sometimes.

21. Most guys own two or three pairs of shoes -- What makes you think we'd be any good at choosing which pair, out of thirty, would look good with your dress?

22. Yes and No are perfectly acceptable answers.

23. A headache that lasts for 17 months is a problem. See a doctor.

24. Your Mom doesn't have to be our best friend.

25. Foreign films are best left to foreigners.

26. Check your oil.

27. Don't give us 50 rules when 25 will do.

28. Don't fake it. We'd rather be ineffective than deceived.

29. It is neither in your best interest or ours to take the quiz together.

30. Anything we said 6 or 8 months ago is inadmissible in an argument. All comments become null and void after 7 days.

31. If you don't dress like the Victoria's Secret girls, don't expect us to act like soap opera guys.

32. If something we said can be interpreted two ways, and one of the ways makes you sad and angry, we meant the other one.

33. Let us ogle. If we don't look at other women, how can we know how pretty you are?

34. You can either ask us to do something OR tell us how you want it done -- not both.

35. Whenever possible, please say whatever you have to say during commercials.

36. Christopher Columbus didn't need directions, and neither do we.

37. Women wearing Wonder bras and low-cut blouses lose their right to complain about having their boobs stared at.
38. Consider Golf a mini-vacation from you. We need it, just like you do.

39. Telling us that the models in the men's magazines are airbrushed makes you look jealous and petty and it's certainly not going to deter us from reading the magazine.

40. The relationship is never going to be like it was the first two months we were going out.

AND FINALLY, THE NUMBER ONE RULE:
1. don’t rub the lamp if you don't want the genie to come out.

Why do boys fall in love with girls????

Why do boys fall in love with girls????

(This was written by a guy)

Don't break this; it's so sweet! :)

1. They will always smell good even if it's just
shampoo.
2. The way their heads always find the right spot
on our shoulder.
3. How cute they look when they sleep.
4. The ease in which they fit into our arms .
5. The way they kiss you and all of a sudden
everything is right in the world.
6. How cute they are when they eat.
7. The way they take hours to get dressed but in
the end it makes it all worth while.
8. Because they are always warm even when its
minus 30 outside.
9. The way they look good no matter what they
wear.
10. The way they fish for compliments even though
you both know that you think she's the most
beautiful girl on this earth.
11. How cute they are when they argue.
12. The way her hand always finds yours.
13. The way they smile.
14. The way you feel when you see their name on
the call ID after you just had a big fight.
15. The way she says "lets not fight anymore"
even though you know that an hour later....
16. The way that they kiss after you have had a
fight.
17. The way they kiss you when you say "I love
you".
18. Actually...Just the way they kiss you...
19. The way they fall into your arms when they cry.
20. Then the way they apologize for crying over
something that silly.
21. The way they hit you and expect it to hurt.
22. Then the way they apologize when it does hurt
(even though we don't admit it).
23. The way they say "I miss you".
24. The way you miss them.
25. The way their tears make you want to change
the world so that it doesn't hurt her anymore...

Yet regardless if you love them, hate them, wish
they would die or know that you would die without
them it matters not. Because once in your life,
whatever they were to the world they become
everything to you. When you look them in the
eyes, traveling to the depths of their souls and you
say a million things without trace of a sound, you
know that your own life is inevitable consumed
within the rhythmic beatings of her very heart. We
love them for a million reasons, no paper would do
it justice. It is a thing not of the mind but of the
heart.
A feeling.
Only felt.