CORPORATE VALUES AS DETERMINANTS OF WORKING ENVIRONMENT AMONG SELECTED

Harold V. Origines, Ed. D. Faculty of College of Arts and Sciences, Laguna State Polytechnic University, Sta. Cruz Campus, Barangay Bubukal, Sta. Cruz, Laguna, 4009 ...................................................................................................................... Manuscript Info Abstract ......................... ........................................................................ Manuscript History


ISSN: 2320-5407
Int. J. Adv. Res. 6(6), 31-38 32 them to succeed. To constantly create a productive workplace, there must be quality leaders with high moral values whose hearts are to create good governance that ensures the needs and interests of the whole organization taking into account balanced and transparent administration. Whereas, on the other side, members of the organization and other stakeholders should also have the same qualities as their leaders, geared to work hand-in-hand in achieving the desired outcomes that are in line with the organization"s vision, mission, goals and objectives.
According to Hughes, Ginnett, and Curphy (2006), leaders and organizations should appreciate the unique attributes, predispositions, talents, skills and personality of each leader and that leaders should employ social and personal values for the effective regulation of work (Articulo and Florendo, 2003). On the other hand, Ismarson and Villamizar (2009) expressed that corporate values are also necessary managerial tools through which culture can be engineered to achieve performance and excellence in organizations. Values stand at the very core of human decision-making. Strong core values increase productivity, decide with certainty, and boost organization"s morale. In SUCs, the leaders" decisions should be carried out effectively and are consistent with integrity, commitment, transparency and accountability gearing toward quality and excellence. Working in schools whose beliefs, culture, and expectations are aligned with accepted values, inspired its members to bring their full potentials, thus, enhancing their energy, creativity, enthusiasm, and commitment in performing their duties and responsibilities. In line with this, Parkkali (2012) emphasized that when values are communicated and internalized, they have the potential to be a powerful asset for the organizations.
Testing the personal values of higher education managers and teachers is not the purpose of this study but because it is believed that organizations, particularly the academe, have become increasingly complicated with some changes, conflicts are expected to occur. Looking into the performance of SUCs along working environment as predicted by university"s core values was the objective of this study.

Materials and Methods:-
This study utilized descriptive research design. A total of 365 respondents were used in this study consisting of 112 Higher Education managers and 253 faculty members. They were chosen using purposive sampling technique. A validated self-made questionnaire was used with 0.77 reliability value, tested using Cronbach alpha. A five-point Likert Scale with the following verbal interpretation as follows: 5 (always), 4 (often), 3 (sometimes), 2 (rarely), and 1 (never) was utilized. Statistical tools such as mean, standard deviation were applied to present the data descriptively while regression analysis and t-test were used to answer inferential questions. The figure shows that most of the faculty have doctorate units (109, 30%), followed with MA/MS degree holder (105, 29%), doctorate degree holder (69, 19%) and with MA/MS units (82, 22%). It is very noticeable that at least they hold master"s unit. The minimum education requirement to teach in the tertiary level as stated in CHED CMO, No.82, Series of 2017 under article VI, Section 14, as a general rule master"s degree in education or in allied discipline is required for teaching in the tertiary level. In Higher Education Institution, it is a prerequisite that faculty must be a Master"s Degree holder as stipulated in the Civil Service Commission (CSC), memorandum order number  It is very noticeable that both group of respondents, the higher education manager (M=4.64) and faculty members (M=4.53) observed integrity to a very high extent. It too appears that both groups have common perception with regards on how integrity is being practiced as manifested by small SD values. When an institution has a high degree of integrity, being decent, and honest goes along with it. Individuals with high integrity build trusting relationships with others (Duggar: 2009), and hence, it develops a harmony around shared values. A culture of integrity creates a highly valued work environment. Nuzz (2012) in his article, cited, that the purpose of education is more than just the acquisition of information on the development of intellectual competence but to enable students to mature and grow along several dimensions which include: developing intellectual competence, learning to manage emotions, developing autonomy, establishing identity, developing positive interpersonal relationships, developing a sense of purpose and developing integrity. The CHED likewise, as stipulated in its Strategic Plan for 2011-2016, stressed in one of its objectives in the next five years, is to efficiently and effectively manage the higher education system, ensuring transparency and integrity in its programs and activities as its commitment to moral ascendancy. Higher education managers (Mean=4.56) observed of being accountable to a very high extent, and faculty (Mean=4.47) observed of being accountable to a high extent. Being accountable manifest good governance, thus transparency and being answerable for mistakes done becomes apparent, hence, every member of the institution, must show a high degree of accountability. In the educational system (Leithwood: 2005) cited that what is to be accounted for most fundamentally is the welfare of individual students; organizational conditions and practices are effectively set up as these are believed to contribute directly to students" welfare. One prominent example is the characteristics or conditions of schools explaining variation in their effectiveness (e.g., collaborative professional cultures, high expectations for student achievement, clear goals). Osborne and Oakes (2015), likewise, stated that an organizations that are transparent inevitably support individual leaders in becoming accountable. It was stated further, that, if we want leadership accountability to become part of the fabric of the organizational culture, we must put organizational systems in place to facilitate honest feedback, detect negative leadership behaviours early and support individual leader development and/or consequences accordingly. A safe pathway must also be provided by which team members can responsibly and respectfully prepare and share honest feedback with their leaders. Talking of commitment, the result is quite perceptible that HEM (Mean = 4.58) observed commitment to a very high extent while faculty (Mean = 4.48) observed commitment to a high extent. The small values of standard deviation in almost all indicators are manifestation that respondents have almost similar or common perception with regards to the observance of accountability. Commitment to the university is one of the factors for its sustainability and effective growth. Being successful largely depends on the leadership styles that encourage employee commitment (Brockner and Scheneider: 1992), and directly points to competent and committed employees (Teshome: 2011). Studies in organizational psychology and organizational behavior have shown that leadership styles and employee commitment are the major factors for organizational success or failure. In reality, a good leader minimize commitment gap among stake holders, and hence, the first step in building commitment (Meyer, Becker, and Vandenberghe: 2004) is to improve the quality of management by strengthening employee commitment. . Social responsibility is the obligation of the school managers to act in ways to protect the school and improve the welfare of its stakeholders over and above their own self-interests. The result showed that both groups agree in all the statements that concerns performance regarding working environment. The overall mean on the other hand, shows that both groups perceived the performance of the university in terms of working environment as high. Small standard deviation values, indicates similar perception as to the status of working environment. The result of the study reflects that SUCs provides conditions that make it easy for every member of the organization to work easy, ensure an effective teaching and learning process to take place. This could be attributed to good management, and dynamic intervention to make people remain active and the notions of motivation and work environment (Stella: 2008). Likewise, workplace features and good communication 36 network at workplace have effect on worker"s welfare, health, morale, efficiency, and productivity (Ajala: 2012). To be productive, Shafiq-ur-Rehaman, and Nadeem Ahmed (2015), cited, based from the results of their study, that there is a positive relationship between all factors of work environment and job satisfaction in teachers. Their research also found that the employeremployee relationships is most important factor of work environment in private business universities of Pakistan. It is suggested that the universities" management should focus on favorable work environment particularly the factor of relationship between employer and employee to increase the job satisfaction amongst teachers, which may lead to higher performance. In a study of Pienaar & Bester (2009), were respondents are requested to suggest specific actions that could be taken to address the career obstacles were academics are confronted with, the most important solutions were related to better remuneration, more effective management of role overload, more effective performance management, more training and development opportunities, more support regarding individual career management, more effective general management, more support regarding research outputs, elimination of discrimination practices, transformation initiatives, encouraging of entrepreneurship, improvement of equipment and working conditions, creation of job security, and promotion of networking. The data treated show that there is significant difference in the perception of practiced of corporate values and observed performance along working environment. Significant differences are shown along integrity (t = -2.647, p = 0.008); commitment (t = -2.210, p = 0.028); and social responsibility (t = -2.532, p = 0.012). The same result was obtained along working environment (t = -4.476, p = 0.000). Results of the study showed that commitment (t = 2.520, p = 0.012), social responsibility (t = 2.590, p = 0.0105) and educational qualification (t = 3.170, p = 0.002) predict significantly the working environment. Further results showed, that for every 1 unit increase in commitment, social responsibility, and educational qualification, there is a corresponding 0.209 unit, 0.205 unit, and 0.087 unit increase in performance along working environment. The adjusted r 2 of 0.183 revealed that 18.3% of change (direct relationship) in the performance of SUCs along working environment is brought about by commitment, social responsibility and educational qualification. Integrity and commitment, however, were found not a predictor of working environment.

Conclusion:-
In any organization, core values play a very big part to achieve the desired goals. People in the organization are somewhat affected by the social atmosphere in which they worked. When the atmosphere is good, it positively influence individual"s work in a more efficient and competent manner. The result of the study showed, that of the four corporate values, social responsibility and commitment were found to have a significant relation with SUCs performance along working environment. This is a clear indication, that every member of the organization must be committed and socially responsible as a whole. Existence of supportive relationships with each other tends to enhance job satisfaction even when difficulty arises. It can boost good morale and be motivated to carry out positive outcome towards high work performance. It is therefore recommended for consideration that a team building activities and other related activities religiously be done among members to instill in their minds the essence of camaraderie to achieve and fulfill the desired goals for the betterment of the organization and its individual members. Allotment of funds for faculty scholarship is likewise encouraged as this would enhance long range opportunities, and levels of ambition. Strong goal orientation tends to encourage job performance and commitment.