BONE OF CONTENTION

Bella has been with Food Corp for the past three years, working as one of the
finance staff. She joined the company right after graduation, and due to diligence, rose
from the ranks. She is a Certified Public Accountant from a reputable school in Metro
Manila. Apparently at the onset, she was happy and content with her work, regularly
receiving her monthly remuneration on time. She received added benefits accruing to
ordinary employees like her, such as 13th month pay, midyear bonuses, and uniform
allowances. She received average industry rates for her type of job.
Patty was a classmate of Bella. She recently joined Food Corp also as a finance
staff, being herself an accounting graduate. Unlike Bella, she had been to different
companies, transferring from one job to the other. Because of her various experiences,
she was offered a premium over her last salary upon joining the company. She received
a salary higher than that of Bella.
Office idiosyncrasies were plenty in Food Corp. Because of this, Bella was able
to get information on Pattys salary. Having been with the company for so long a time,
Bella felt depressed and demotivated upon learning of a big disparity in her salaries,
considering that Patty was a newcomer. Also, Patty was new in the field, although the
work was also related to her educational background and past work experiences. Despite
the benefits Bella was entitled to receive, she did not get sufficient periodic salary
increases in return for her loyalty and dedication. In fact, her present salary including her
past merit increases, is still lower than that being received by Patty.
Despite all these, Bella remained friendly with Patty, but maintained a distance
which could be felt by the latter. There seemed to be some silent hostility between the
two, the reason for which Patty could not understand. In fact, she was unaware of the
salary of Bella. Being only new in the company, she did not have any access to such
information.
After some time, friendliness was transformed into a mere civilized co-existence.
Behind the back of Patty, some things were heard. Competence was being questioned,
every move watched. Patty felt limited and unfree. She admitted she was new to the
company. But she was eager to learn. She tried to stay after office hours to learn the
ropes of the trade, inspite of her other activities such as school work.
Fortunately for the two, Bella was to be assigned to one of the companys foreign
branches. She was recommended by her former boss who was assigned also to some
other foreign office. However, while waiting for the time of her departure, she remained
as a finance staff, receiving the same salary. During this time, relations between the two
somehow improved. Patty sensed that there was something bothering Bella and so she
tried to be as cordial and patient as possible. Also, she had a hint as to what was causing
the anxiety of Bella. The situation, however, affected the performance of Patty. She
could not concentrate on the things she had to do. In the office, she became conscious
of what people might say. She was afraid to commit mistakes, and hence afraid to try to
do things unless she knew them. Since she was new to the company, most of the things
that had to be done were unfamiliar to her. Thus, her performance suffered.
 SUSIE WONG

In 1985, Susie Wong joined the largest corporation in the country as a Senior
Finance Analyst. She had quite impressive credentials: second placer in the local
Certified Public Accountants Licensure Exam, and MBA from the University of California
in Los Angeles. Her aptitude undeniable showed in her work. Whenever she argued a
point, she was, more often than not, right.
That was, however, her waterloo. It seemed that Susie Wong started to become
known as the terror of Finance in her Division. The task assigned to her required her to
request information from the finance groups of her Divisions operating units. Apparently,
the inefficiency of the information system irked her and she found it difficult to be patient
with finance personnel who could not give her the information she needed. This, aside
from the fact that she could not point out a fault diplomatically, made people wary of her.
It seemed that her precious job had given her the same problem. Because she
was grouchy with the rest of the staff, her father requested her to leave his freight-
forwarding company. But, she was not totally disagreeable. As long as conversation wat
not on the job, she had made successful attempts to be sociable.
The job, likewise, had certain flaws in the eyes of Susie. Aside from the difficulty
in securing data, she was not happy about having to do the binding of the Annual Budgets.
She had mentioned that when she worked for an auditing form, another department was
specifically assigned to do the work of binding reports.
Another source of dissatisfaction for her was her boss, the Finance Manager. She
was, however, not alone in this. Her immediate superior had received negative reviews
from other staff members both within and outside the finance group for his stringent
demands, aloofness, and inability to give ordered directions. Neither did Susie allow
herself to be cowed by him.
The job of Head of her section had been vacant for a year. When Susie was hired,
there had been an understanding that she would be considered for the job. And, except
that the other members of the section were not reporting to her, she was practically doing
the work of the section head. When her boss had observed that she had been making
significant advances in gaining rapport with the other members of the section, he went so
far as to say, unofficially, that the appointment would be given to her.
However, a Section Head in one of the operating units had requested to be
assigned to Manila for personal reasons, and the position was given to him. From the
start, it had become quite obvious that Susie was technically superior to her new head.
Arguments between them had come as far as to cause the new head to reprimand her
insubordination officially, in writing.
 The Finance Manager, too, had not been satisfied with the performance of the new
Section Head, but since it was not a corporate practice to fire people. He had him
transferred to another operating unit. Yet, the job of Section head was again given to
another Senior Finance staff from the corporate Head Office, and not to Susie Wong.
Not surprisingly, Susie had started to let her resentment for the Finance Manger
show in the deliberate half-hearted manner in which she accomplished her tasks. It is
unfortunate that the immediate recipient of the effects of her inefficiency was the new
Section Head, and not the Finance Manager.