human capital paper

8/13/2019 Human Capital Paper

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Alexa Belen Nov. 22, 2013110493LS100 DSiojo

Ateneo DReaM Team: Relief Operations for Super Typhoon Yolanda/Haiyan

Being part of the relief operations last Nov. 22-23, 2013 (Friday and Saturday)

was a different experience for the two days. In contrast with operations on Friday,

Saturday had a much better flow to it. There were fewer volunteers on Saturday but

everything was much more organized and goal-oriented as opposed to the previous

day.

Value

It was probably the deadline that was set, 80,000 units of packaged relief

good by the end of the week, but as well as the people who were running the

operations. In my experience as part of one of the supply lines that had to pass the

boxes of canned goods from person to person to get into the covered courts, there

were a group of boys along the line who were not cooperating. They were a

hindrance to the line and often made our line have to halt and burden the people

before them by making them carry the boxes for extended periods of time, which

was unnecessary. They were not driven and not capable of understanding the nature

of operations. They were too afraid to step into the sun and pass the boxes under

the heat whilst girls in the line were suffering before them by waiting for them to

move closer to pass the box along. There was a surplus of volunteers on Friday and

this probably led them to have felt that they were not needed or they were just forced

to go to the covered courts by their professors. Whilst there were plenty who were

happy to help, it was the lack of filtering the volunteers that hindered operations.

They didnt care for the end goal and therefore, they affec ted the operations in a

great way. The line had to be stopped way ahead of schedule because of their lack


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of cooperation. The students should not have been forced to go to the covered

courts but ratheronly encouraged, to ensure that the people who were there were

the right ones.

Rareness

On both days, some professors and mostly Atenean students headed the

operations. What made Saturday much better than the previous day was how the

operation heads were differentthese were now some Atenean alumni and some

professors. The most notable was an AB COMM alumnus of 2011, who was now

directing and orienting new volunteers and adjusting the recruiting scheme in order

for every area that needed tending was addressed. The volunteers were properly

lined up in Court 1 awaiting orders whilst being given instructions on this day,

whereas previously were scattered and did not know where to go or what to do. The

AB COMM graduate had the skills of motivating others (who were somewhat irritable

for the wait) and focusing others in order to get the goal accomplished in the most

efficient way. He commanded respect without needing to ask for it by his ability to do

these. If the earlier days of operation were led by people who were more like the AB

COMM alumnus, the operations would have probably been more efficient, less

cluttered and left less irritable volunteers.

Imitability

I have no other first hand experience of the flow of relief operations but from

what I have seen on television for relief operations abroad and how efficient they are,

the Ateneo DReaM Team relief operations were below par. In terms of how the

people operated the program, there was nothing unique about it and it was a little old

fashioned. Lacking the technology to aid the human capital understandably helps us

understand why it took longer for us to accomplish the task, but had there been more


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trolleys (I only saw one in use to transfer goods from point A to point B), less

physical strength would have been needed and less volunteers in order for that

specific task to be completed. Its not about how many volunteers are present, but it

should be how efficient each one can be. If the practices were to be imitated by other

smaller relief operations in the Philippines, however, I would be able to say that

although they may not reach global standards, they were good enough to reach the

goal by the end of the week but easy enough for other relief operations to replicate, if

they had the right people.

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