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There is
a quality to the social environment, maybe even to the
historical culture of the Philippines, that perhaps
Filipinos are not aware of.
This
factor transcends and cuts across nearly all facets of
Philippine society, politics and industry. It manifests
in the way Filipinos drive their cars, conduct their
business, even how they speak. As with most individual
and societal characteristics, it has its benefits and
disadvantages. When it operates positively, it should be
a source of national pride. When it goes wrong, it can
create a variety of instabilities and limit individual
and national success.
The
Filipino strongly embraces and, therefore, the
Philippines in many ways embodies a philosophy of
pragmatism. This is a nation and a people that often are
more concerned with practical results than with theories
and ideology.
Simply
expressed, a pragmatic person views an act or behavior
and makes a judgment on whether or not that action is
effective. Or, put another way, a pragmatic person
believes that an action makes sense if it accomplishes
the desired results.
During
certain times of the day, most of the traffic on a
particular street is moving in one direction, while cars
coming the opposite are few and far between. Filipinos
drivers decide that it makes more sense to turn that
road into a virtual one-way street. It makes sense that
the street should be used in a way that is more
effective for the greatest number of road users.
The
downside to this aspect of pragmatism is that the “rule
of law” then becomes very flexible also. The law is seen
to be fluid, to be applied when it “makes sense” and
ignored when following the law appears inefficient.
This is
a dangerous phenomena because, then, the standard of
behavior becomes too personal with everyone doing what
they believe is the most efficient.
One
quality of Filipino businesses is that they are
characterized as being flexible and adaptable to
changing times. This is not true in all cases. However,
many of our major companies have shown this ability as
another example of being pragmatic.
Perhaps
a somewhat silly but accurate example would be the
conversion of many warehouses to badminton courts
several years ago. Large spaces that were not used for
storage suddenly became vibrant businesses catering to
badminton enthusiasts.
Did the
consumers’ desire to play badminton create the
conversion to courts, or did the springing up of so many
court facilities create the enthusiasm for the sport?
Either way, it is unlikely that badminton would have
become so popular for a time had not these buildings
quickly adapted to meet a consumer need.
Interestingly, now we see many courts closing down and
the buildings being used for other purposes, with some
even being converted into dormitories, partially to meet
the current needs of call-center workers.
Businesses face a planning disadvantage when they are
always open to change based on short-term conditions.
The risk of too much flexibility hampers long-term
continuity and can lead to a company being behind the
trend.
In all
areas of Filipino pragmatism, no example is so ingrained
as in local politics. Of course, all politicians the
world over will do most anything to reach the only
important goal of being elected. However, in the
Philippines, the political process is perhaps so
pragmatic that there is little ideology at all.
In most
countries, major political philosophy is clearly divided
along lines that we commonly describe as conservative or
liberal. Conservatives believe the government’s role
should be limited, while the liberals believe the
government’s role should be expanded. Problem-solving by
these two political groups comes first from their basic
core principles of governance. Political parties first
set the principles then the agenda, and then the
specifics of what actions to pursue.
The
Philippines is somewhat unique in that there is little
public discussion of the ideology between the various
political parties. Of course, every party, as well as
politician, has the same agenda: less poverty, more
prosperity, better peace and order. There is almost no
talk of the basic ideology to achieve those goals. It is
all based on simplistic pragmatism that says the goal
will be achieved by whatever means. Even individual
politicians rarely talk of their specific plans; only of
their personal commitment and personal qualities to
attack the problems. The result is that the voter votes
“pragmatically,” deciding on who they like more.
Many
nations are hindered by their lack of pragmatism.
Perhaps the Philippines is a bit too pragmatic.
On a
personal note, I want to clarify a point I made in a
column on intellectual-property rights last week.
Several web sites republish my columns or link to these
columns at the
BusinessMirror web site. For example, BusinessMirror is
a content provider to the ABS-CBN news web site. And I
am honored and a little humbled when ABS-CBN uses my
column in their views and opinion section.
My
objection is that other web sites require one to pay to
read my column or obtain the link to BusinessMirror. If
you desire to republish my “intellectual property” on
your web site or blog, that is perfectly acceptable as
long as there is no charge for the public to access that
web site.
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