PIA gears towards performance excellence

Reasserting itself as the country’s primary provider of accurate, relevant, timely, and empowering information to the Filipinos, the Agency took gigantic steps in reviewing and improving its work and management processes. This is with the use of tools that the Agency sees would enhance its overall performance as the government’s main communication and information arm.

Last year, PIA jumpstarted its application for two of the most sought after organizational certifications in the country: the Quality Management System (ISO 9001:2008) and the Philippine Quality Awards (PQA). These are two different and separate entities that are used by both public and private organizations to improve their business processes to enhance productivity and market performance.

Technically speaking, the ISO 9001 is a standard used in implementing a compliance and improvement system and assessing conformity in organization-selected operations; while the PQA provides an integrated, results-oriented framework for designing, implementing, and assessing all operations of an organization. Overall, these two are tools that if properly adopted, could improve the overall performance of an organization.

In the case of PIA, it could provide for a more efficient and systematic mechanism for the Agency’s mandate as stipulated in Executive Order 100, the law which created the Agency: “to provide for a free flow of accurate, timely and relevant information; to assist people in decision-making and identification of opportunities to improve their quality of life and to enable citizens to participate meaningfully in the democratic processes.”

A core team of PIA personnel, headed by Presidential Communications Operations Office Secretary Sonny Coloma and HRDD Head Belina SB. Capul, was tasked to review, document, and assess the Agency’s overall processes in line with the application to ISO and PQA.

Staff Director Belina SB. Capul said that “by participating in both programs, we would see how organized and effective our systems are and how the principles in both ISO and PQA could become become ingrained in our operations on a daily basis.”

SD Capul said that the Agency is ready to put the management and organizational principles to the test by participating in the rigorous application process for ISO and PQA.

Since the application process in the ISO, the Agency has seen changes in some of its systems. Some of these are the observance of the 5-S in the workplace namely:  Seiri (Sort), Seiton (Set in order), Seiso (Shine), Seiketsu (Standardize), and Shitsuke (Sustain).  The 5S Program which is based on the Japanese model in workplace environment defines the steps that are used to make all work spaces efficient and productive, help people share work stations, reduce time looking for needed tools and improve the work environment. ISO focal persons have been regularly visiting the Agency’s different division to check if each division strictly observes the 5S.

Another of the visible changes in the Agency’s processes is the use of a more comprehensive and organized records management tool that would make it easier for each division to track office documents.

PIA’s rest rooms are also seeing renovations using innovative waste and water resource management infrastructure that would help the Agency in lowering its water consumption as well as promote environment-safe waste disposal practices.

For the PQA, the PQA Steering Committee has been reviewing and reevaluating the seven areas that comprise the Agency’s overall functions, namely (1) Leadership, (2) Strategic Planning, (3) Measurement and Analysis of Services, (4) Customers, (5) Workforce, and (6) Operations which should work in harmony and in synergy with one another to get the desired organization (7) Results. PIA, with the appropriate approach and deployment these areas would provide for an integrated approach in delivering its services to its customers—who are identified as the President of the country, and the Executive Department.

This would then lead to a dynamic provision of information service to the true beneficiaries of PIA’s services—the Filipino people.

With the assistance of ISO consultants Conrad Favorito and Anna Marcelo, and PQA consultant Raymond Tan, the Agency would be able to gain external  perspectives on corporate strengths and areas of

improvement for PIA’s processes.

The PIA ISO and PQA teams are working hand in hand for this endeavor which the Agency hopes would pave the way for the realization of the Agency’s quest for excellence.