Entry # 12

      Last September 30, I attended JP Morgan Chase & Company’s orientation/talk at the Tereso Lara Auditorium located at the LS building (L230). It was on a Wednesday so I immediately hurried to the venue as I had an Accounting class from 9:15-10:45. Thankfully, my class was held at the same building. I arrived ten minutes before 11AM, and I was surprised to see the long queue. The room was almost full when I got inside - I heard the student organizations responsible for the talk complaining as they weren’t given a bigger auditorium. I honestly did not expect the high volume of attendees as for all I know, students rarely attend these talks as these were meant for graduating students or those who truly want to know more about the company. When I was lining up, it made sense why there was a huge volume of students - besides professors and organizations who give incentives for attending, there were also 115 students, which didn’t really make sense to me as I thought they were too young for that (well, I’m ID 114 but I have CSRGOVE right now, so…) but it is not in my place to judge. While waiting, I could not help but feel disgruntled as the room really was too small and it was quite hot. Thankfully, the company I interviewed at the Job Expo awhile ago gave a fan as their freebie, hehe. 
I didn’t know what to expect from this talk. I know of the company but I don’t know it in-depth, as this banking company isn’t really well-known in the province as I come from Laguna. 
         

      I expected the talk to start on time, but sadly, it started thirty minutes late. Marcus and Ricardo, the moderators, greeted the attendees and they started the talk with a prayer. They then explained the purpose of the talk: which is to discuss ideas and opportunities about the company. They then introduced the speakers, Mr. Victor Nepomuceno who was an alumni of the CBE back then, Ms. Gae, and Ms. Ray Aparicio. Mr. Victor Nepomuceno is responsible for overseeing different groups of the retail site of JPMC and he also handles the Management Trainee Program. He has been in the company for more than seven years. I was not able to get a lot of information about Ms. Gae but all I know is that she is part of the Human Resources team of JP Morgan. Ms. Ray meanwhile handles the training for Investment Banking at the Manila Site for the last ten years. She is also part of the Corporate Development Progam at Hong Kong. 
    Besides learning about the company’s revenues, operating locations, and the history of JP Morgan Chase & Company in the Philippines, I also found out about it’s line of business. It is a financial service institution - I thought it was a call center agency as my roommate before who worked there told me that - turns out she is not exactly wrong. JP Morgan Chase & Company is actually made up of two companies that merged, namely: JP Morgan focuses on, particularly Equity, Investment Financial Site, Corporate Management, and Broker; and Chase which focuses on Retail Trade Site, Consumer-Community Banking, and Commercial/Middle-market banking. I will not go into details anymore with what these things are as I don’t think it’s that important in writing a journal, so I will move on to other things instead.            

       Mr. Vic then talked about their CSR activities. He only mentioned some, one of it regarding the economic crash in Detroit. He said they are helping Detroit in its economic recovery by donating $ 100 million to the state. They are also helping small or local institutions in growing their business. Their way of CSR is very financial-lined, but I really appreciate how they support the local businesses. In the Philippines, to be honest, it’s so hard to make local businesses grow because we have the tendency to prefer international or well-known brands and it’s really hard for small entrepreneurs to thrive sometimes.
            

      Ms. Ray then mentioned their CSR activity for the employees, where women and LGBTQ groups have meetings and they also mentioned that they are treated equally. They have weekly meetings and get-togethers which I thought was nice because employees get to know more about each other by bonding over something not job-related. Things like equality should already be a given, but at least the company makes sure this is known to its employees and they give them the chance to talk or bond over their well-being. They also practice meritocracy, wherein employees are given what they are due. 
        

      After moving on from the topic of CSR, they gave an in-depth talk about their program, the Operations Analyst Development Program (OADP). I have no plans of applying, as I am still not sure whether I want to work for a multinational company, a banking institution, be an entrepreneur, or even stay in the line of business. But i was intrigued by their program. I’ve always known that in order to have a successful career in the banking institution side, you must be competitive. And that is the word I’ll use to summarize the program. It is basically a 2.5=year structured learning program where they undergo various trainings, do peer mentoring, get the chance to interact with VP and other senior leaders, get coaching and feedback from management, be a part of different groups so that you are very well-rounded, and some are even sent abroad! The great thing about this program is that it may be heard but you get lots of experience from it. Plus the fact that you are able to talk to senior leaders is an advantage as you get to know about them and their field of work in a casual setting. Even if in the end, you aren’t able to finish the program, the fact that you were able to talk to senior leaders as if they’re your friends is already an advantage because the things they tell you are additional knowledge nevertheless. 
            

       After that, we had an open-forum wherein attendees were able to ask questions to the speakers. Students asked the usual: what do you look for? Was the program hard? How is workload? How do you manage stress? I was especially interested about the qualities they look for in a potential hire. Ms. Ray said that they are a competitive company - so hires who can handle heavy workload and pressure is a given and they are able to know who are able to handle the said factors through their program. They say that grades aren’t that important, yes it can be a good indicator of your attitude towards work but it does not mean that just because you have high grades, they will hire you immediately. They say that organizational and leadership experiences are a plus and they value Integrity very well. The open forum was very casual - it’s as if we were just talking or hanging out - but the speakers were very well-informed about their job and they were very clear about what they wanted to say. The presenting of certificate to the speaker happened around 12:25PM and it officially ended five minutes later.

            

      The talk went better than I imagined. I thought it was going to be boring at first but the speakers found a way to get the audience interested. It’s not every day that I hear from companies that high grades aren’t necessarily a plus point in being chosen. Though they do not have a lot of CSR activities as compared to other companies, it feels as if their activities are meant by the company and not just some lame excuse to say “Hey, we have CSR! That makes us better than other companies.”
           

      I appreciate that they are a company that values integrity and equality. I’ve always said to myself that I’d rather work for a small company that values my skills, values the truth and treats the employees fairly instead of working for a multinational company that does unethical asks just to succeed. And I think JP Morgan Chase & Co., based on the talk, succeeds at being a big company who share the values that I have. I may not be able to fit their competitive environment, but it’s always nice to know that there’s a company that shares the same values that I have and I’ll be able to join their team if I strive hard to fully fit what they’re looking for.


Entry # 11

The Parable of the Sadhu

     I remember this story being assigned to us based on our Service Learning group. After reading the story, we were then asked by Dr. Bonnet to answer some questions. Sadly, I have forgotten what the questions were. Going back, the story was about Bowen H. McCoy, a traveler who spent three months in Nepal and did some hiking at the Himalayas. There, he met Stephen, a fellow Westerner who is an anthropologist. As they went through their journey, they met other hikers and they all had one goal in mind: to leave before the ice started melting. However, they faced a dilemma when they found a Sadhu, a holy man, suffering from hypothermia.  They all decided to help but no one really wanted to take full responsibility. In the end, Stephen, who cared most about the Sadhu’s well-being, was forced to leave him behind as he could not support the Sadhu by his own. In the end, no one really knew whether the sadhu died or not.      

      Another issue that arises is that the hikers immediately thought that was what the sadhu needed? They already knew sadhus had easier alternative routes but haven’t they pondered on why this holy man took on the hard path? Have they ever thought that maybe the sadhu wanted to die there? How about the hikers? If the man was well-dressed and spoke in a language they understood, would they have treated him better? What if one of their group mates were in the same place as the sadhu, would they have left him/her the way they did to the sadhu? Everyone was so focused on their goal they forgot they took on a responsibility that they cannot completely commit to.

      You might think, “How does this apply to business ethics?” More often than not, the decisions we make affect other people. That’s why every single thing or factor is important in order to analyze better. The book mentioned that an organization made up by people that do not share the same values tend to bail for themselves when put on a stressful situation. And that was exactly what happened during the hike. Many of them were tired and all of them had limited supplies and the hikers all had differing cultures that hindered them from being able to set up ground rules. In a way, they failed to take into consideration the culture of the sadhu as they acted based upon what their culture would normally do in that situation. Business ethics, as defined by the book, “has something to do with the authenticity and integrity of the enterprise.” This means that in order for a business to be ethical, it must be able to follow the values of the business as well as the cultural goals of the corporation, its owners, employees and stakeholders. They shared a common value, which is to care for the sadhu, but their varying degrees of compassion and differences in culture has made their actions unethical. The end does not justify the means. Just because you helped doesn’t mean that your duty ends there. If your end is to help the man get back on his feet and you just expect him to survive with the material things you’ve given him, then you are completely blowing him out of the water.

       I think the reasons why many corporations fail is that its owners sometimes fail to share the same values. Things will never work out if two different people have no common shared values. I learned that it’s important to find a workplace that shares the same values that you have because values are the foundation for ethics and if you feel that the business ethics of the company you plan to work for violate the ones that you have, it will never work.

Entry # 10

       We finally visited our partner organization, Families and Children for Empowerment and Development (FCED) Foundation, Inc. last September 18. Because this was set on a Saturday, I wasn’t able able to go back to my province but it’s okay because I was really looking forward to this meeting.  The whole class met up at McDonald’s Taft and while we were on the way to FCED, I couldn’t help but feel nervous. I never really liked meeting new people, and once again this class is pushing me out of my comfort zone. I also thought about what brand new information my eyes would take in. I expected we would be sent to the community, but as it turns out we were just going to the main office. There, we were given an introduction by Ms. May about FCED, how it started, and its current activities. 

      We then talked about the distribution of activities we were going to do for the community. We chose to do the case study about John Paul where we were asked to do a success story video as what we have watched there awhile ago. I do not know the whole story of John Paul, but what I do know is that he was able to finish his studies because of FCED. I was awed from what I heard. Here I am taking my studies for granted when others have education as a luxury instead of a necessity. I wonder if he ever felt pressure from being a scholar and I wonder if there were any circumstances that made him almost give up with studying. 

       Also, I’m glad to see that there are still volunteers who want to help in organizations to help those in need. FCED has garnered many volunteers over the last years. I never thought that at this time and age, people will still choose to help without anything material in exchange when they could be doing something else that will benefit them. There really is just something about doing something good to others that no amount of money could ever bring in one’s life. 

      I went home feeling a bit tired, but I bring home with me new realizations I never thought I was capable of seeing.