By: Dr. Tomas Q. D. Andres, BLUE COLLAR, OCTOBER 1988 issue.
Many times, the three (3) T's in the work place: tanga, tamad and tarantado (stupid, lazy and crazy), kinds of workers cause the production of defective products.
When a worker does his best and poduce a quality producngan, he becomes a victim of tsismis or gossip. They pass around groundless rumor of some trifling or petty scandal about him. A Filipino saying goes like this: "May tainga ang lupa, may pakpak ang balita" (The earth has ears, rumor has wings). The quality producer is unfairly branded by his peers as sip-sip, the same term used to refer a worker who tries to put up a co-worker in bad light in the eyes of his superiors in clandestine ways, just so he can appear to be better (nagpapalapd ng papel).
n "Hindi ca maghilabot sa akon".
The "wala kang paki value" (mind your own business) can be adversarial in mainting quality product. In Ilokana, i.e., it is "Awan ti pakibibiangan"; in Visayas "Hindi ca maghilabot sa akon"!
The above mentioned Filipino values have positive dimensions which can be harnessed for quality assurance and control. "Gaya-gaya", for example, can serve as inspiration for works to strive to produce the best product and thus better their own standard of living. Quality controllers criticize but not condemn; show the defects but have trust in the Filipino's capacity for self-reform to produce quality workers. "It's a commitment to our customers" - can be a slogan.
Filipinos conduct their personal life and observance of law based on sanctons of shame, dishonor, ridicule or horror of improprierty. For them, it is important to consider what and how truth is said and when and who says the truth. Concealing defects in a product can be avoided if criticism is done in the right and nonhurting way. This is the positive value for filling up the gap.
