What If He was Meant to Win the Elections?

In a few hours, we would have our new president of the Republic of the Philippines. I know for certain that this does not sit well to millions of Filipinos who did not vote for Bong Bong Marcos and are scared that possibility of another dictatorship, further economic downfall and the trauma the victims of the Martial Law would once again resurface.

Some people might have scratched their head and said that why would the Filipino people allow such thing to happen to them. The advocates of Anti-Martial Law would have been thinking that isn't teaching and making the eyes of the younger generation or even the ones who are alive during the said era realize the harsh reality the Marcos Regime imposed on the nation. Are the people too brainwashed to the fact that they cannot see the reality that the Marcos Presidency Era killed and tortured millions of Filipinos? There are a lot of victims who already spoke against the said regime during their time yet they'll think why isn't it able to sink into the minds of the people. Why are people still unaware of the fact that they voted a monster who would do the same evil things as what his father had done to the nation?

However, 31 million votes for Bong Bong Marcos was too much. Even if all the voters who did not vote for him voted for Leni Robredo, it wasn't enough to dethrone him on getting the highest vote. Are the 31 million voters seeing something that we don't?

I then realized something days going towards election, what if he was supposed to win? Some might think, of course he would win because he gave grease money to the class C, D and E voters or they manipulated the election. I don't know if the claims are true or not but it is what it is - the results showed that he won.

Now back to the headline of my blog, why did I ask that "What if He Was Meant to Win?". As a trying to be more devout Catholic, I usually read the Bible Diaries 2022 (given to my dad, but my dad gave it to me) where the contents consisted of the 1st reading, Gospel and a short reflection. If I was busy or wanted to multi-task (although it's not proper as we have to focus solely in spending time with God), I just listen to Catholic Daily Reflections by John Paul Thomas on Spotify where only the Gospel mixed with reflection and a short prayer was the content. It happened a few days before election that I happened to be more devoted enough to read the Bible Diaries and I came across parts of Acts Chapter 8 and Chapter 9 which tells the story how Saul was trying to destroy the church until his conversion to be a follower of Jesus and spread the good news of the Lord.

You might say why the heck would you incorporate Bible to a son of dictator who might do the same things his father have done to the nation? Well, we know that Saul was a known persecutor of Church and anybody who believes in Jesus would be jailed until...

On his journey, as he was nearing Damascus, a light from the sky suddenly flashed around him. He fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? He said, “Who are you, sir?” The reply came, “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. Now get up and go into the city and you will be told what you must do. The men who were traveling with him stood speechless, for they heard the voice but could see no one. Saul got up from the ground, but when he opened his eyes he could see nothing; so they led him by the hand and brought him to Damascus. For three days he was unable to see, and he neither ate nor drank. (Acts 9:3-9) ^[1]

And then we continue to Acts 9:10-19 where Ananias, a disciple in Damascus, was told by the Lord to look for Saul to place his hands upon him so Saul could restore his sight. When Ananias showed his doubt by informing the Lord of the things Saul had done to His saints, what did the Lord say? 

"Go! This man is my chosen instrument to bring my name to the pagan nations and their kings, and the people of Israel as well. I myself will show him how much he will have to suffer for my name." (Acts 9: 15-16) ^[1]

Upon reading this, it made me wonder, why would God choose Saul then? Like of all people why would he choose a persecutor of church? Then I came across an article explaining why the Lord has chosen Saul. In the article of Matthews (1987), ^[2] I will quote what he stated below: 

"A person was needed who could bear the name of the Lord Jesus Christ to the gentiles in non-Jewish lands, who could withstand the criticism of his own countrymen (even in the Church), and who had the knowledge and training to teach both Jews and gentiles of all social levels throughout the Roman empire what the gospel of Jesus Christ really is and what man’s responsibility is concerning it. There were many who could do some of these, but Paul could do them all magnificently well.

Paul was born of Jewish Pharisee parents in Tarsus, a gentile city. His parents sent him to Jerusalem as a youth to become a rabbi. He was well acquainted with Jewish and gentile customs and beliefs. His father was a citizen of the Roman empire; how he acquired this is not known, but Paul inherited this citizenship from his father, which was a great aid to preaching in Roman areas. (See Acts 16:37–39; Acts 22:25–30.)

Paul spoke and wrote in Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek, which gave him an indispensable cultural advantage living and teaching in the Mediterranean areas. He knew the Old Testament thoroughly, having learned it not only as a child at home and in the synagogue school at Tarsus, but also at the feet of Gamaliel in Jerusalem as a rabbinical trainee."

I know you'll say that Bong Bong Marcos was not even a college graduate. Why in the world would I compare Saul (then named Paul) to him? Simple, because although the non-college graduate may be true, some people still think that he is smart and has the capability to lead the country. After all it's been 36 years since the first Edsa Revolution, and people would ask how come there is still not progress if any family member of the Marcoses was not the President or Vice President during those 36 years?

Also this. Let's say you were alive during the times Saul persecute the church and you never heard that Saul could not see for days and heard that Ananias was able to restore his sight. It's just plain Saul spreading the good news of the Lord, would you believe him during the time that he already changed for good and he too is a believer of Jesus like you?

The reason I'm saying this because it is similar in the sense. If we go along with the narrative regarding what the Marcos regime did to the victims of Martial Law and Bong Bong Marcos, the son of the dictator who also won this year's elections would spread hope for our country to rise once again, would you also believe? I'm sure most of us would not. Perhaps some would even become hesitant like Ananias and other fellow believers.

So here is the thing, the only thing we could do now is to hope the impossible that Bong Bong Marcos would be true to himself that he would redeem the country without the need for the people to become haunted once again by what Martial Law, economic turmoil, unending gas price hike, etc. Perhaps, this is the time where we actually have to pray harder to God by entrusting Him that there is something good in store for us in this upcoming administration. Lastly, maybe we have to pray and hope differently. Because instead of hoping and praying that the incoming president be impeached or that we let our fears and anxiety get in our way, we probably should pray that he would do what is right for the country so that people would finally be given the justice and peace that they deserve.

Sources:

^[1] https://bible.usccb.org/bible/acts/9

^[2] https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/ensign/1987/09/saul-of-tarsus-chosen-for-a-special-need?lang=eng

I am at Peace (in relation to Philippines' 2022 Elections)

As the voting for the May 2022 election already closed, stakeholders involved in the election would start to count and confirm the ballots as we await for the results of who will our next president be.

Different emotions are felt at this moment, some are praying that the one they voted would make it to be the change that they desired to be after the perceived hardships they've experienced in the current administration. Others are afraid that the son of a former president would rise once again and the trauma that the people experienced during the Martial Law would once again surface.

Personally, I was in mixed emotions from the time that candidates starts declaring their intention to run. There is fear, confusion, uncertainty that pertains to various candidates. Add to the fact that I'm making my own conspiracy theories because of the feelings that I'm experiencing. It also doesn't help when majority of people think this is a two-horse race while there are 10 candidates who are running for the same position. Add to the fact that when you told someone that you wouldn't vote for Candidate A, they assume you're voting for Candidate B that they truly despise or vise versa (e.g. you don't like Candidate B, so they think you are for Candidate A). For some out-of-place candidates, they are there either to try to make a change in their little ways or to give some masses a chance to vote for somebody else who were not considered part of the so-called "two-horse race".

For my part, I didn't vote for any of the top two candidates in the survey. I'm glad we're not following the system of the United States where there's only two viable candidates to choose from, because I might end up choosing my own poison (for some it might looked stupid - but that's my personal reasons that people in general may not understand).

For the candidate that I voted, some people may have said "you're just wasting your vote on somebody who's not going to win anyway, might as well cast your vote on a candidate that has a high chance of winning." or there are controversies surrounding this said candidate. You can even throw the idea of the campaign manager of this candidate is the one who's causing headaches - especially to the business sector. Lastly, people would be wondering, why don't you vote for the model candidate where this candidate has a good track record, really did something to make the country a better place, the person who businessmen loves having as a president so the economy would keep growing like what the previous president did?

And I think I got my answer on the last week leading to today's election... It all came from one tweet of a verified source with the candidate saying this will be the last time this candidate will run for a government office. In my weak intuition, I already know who's going to win - and yes, it's not the candidate I voted. Wasting my vote? Maybe not voting for this candidate might even be a bigger regret for me because this is the same candidate I wanted to vote for 2004 elections then except I was a minor back then.

That's why no matter what the results of this election would be, I know that I'll be in peace. I'll be in peace knowing that despite of a slim chance this candidate might win, I know that I wouldn't regret this vote. I am at peace knowing that my decision was not swayed by outside forces - no matter how credible or factual they are. Yes, other voters who vouch for other candidates might have to find ways to change your mind through their own convincing powers. I am at peace knowing that I did not bash other people nor prohibit their freedom of speech in choosing their favorite candidate while I did not sway them away from their preferred candidate. I am at peace knowing that I allowed them to give their own reason on why I should not choose their preferred candidate without them being afraid of whatever I would give rebuttal against the said candidate or not. I may had looked like a people pleaser whoever a very vocal person might be vouching for, but in the heated moment of huge political differences, that's the only way to get through a conversation without losing your own stand of being affected by other people's ridiculousness or guilt tripping.

Again, based on how the current situation unfolds, my mind knows who is going to win - it was not the candidate I voted for, but I know I can sleep at peace like the same people who voted for the candidate that I know that's going to win. I'm not going to regret this - not at all.

Nota Bene: Blog has been posted from another blogsite that I also owned last May 9, 2022.

Different Kinds of Groupmates

During first day of every class, the professor would ask the class to either group yourselves into smaller groups or by count off to determine your group. Regardless of the outcome of the groupings, the same question usually arise. How are you going to contribute to your group? If you were grouped according to your own free will, chances are you already know how each of you work in a group. However, there are also those so-called uncertain territory where despite the free will to choose, you still do not have any idea how your group members will operate.

During my stay in the MBA program, I think that there are at least three kinds of roles students perform upon when it comes to dealing with group works or reports. Initiator, Finisher, Follower and Loafers. Having these kinds of roles have its own advantages and disadvantages, and sometimes there are cases where you would be classifying yourself in any of them, but not more than one type at the same time and on the same subject.


A. The Initiator

The initiator is usually considered as an alpha group mate among his/her group mates. These types of people are most likely not a huge fan of procrastination as they would most likely not work well in a pressure-cooker situation or doing things at the deadliest deadline. An initiator can be classified into two types: Active and Passive.

Active Initiators are the ones who are very vocal and assertive in the sense they know how to direct their group. There may not be a consensus assigned leader, but the way they speak or direct the group, you know that you already have a leader without the need to protest against them. 

Passive Initiators on the other hand are the ones who will silently do their part especially when there is no consensus leader among their group. They will be the first ones to start doing the project until the other types of group mates will notice the progress.

Initiators can be considered "risk-takers" in the sense that they are not afraid to make mistakes. They may or may not be forced to be certain with what they are doing just so that they could at least somehow see progress in their group work.

B. The Finisher

The finishers are the opposite of Initiators. If initiators work well when time is on their side, finishers work well when time is against their side. These people usually classified as someone who can only be productive when time is against them. Also, they are also considered perfectionist in some form since there is a tendency that they will correct their group mate's input in the group in order to make the output better. Because they may have perfectionist tendencies, they will most likely not make the first move in contributing their ideas unless they see somebody else make the move. By observing that someone within their group already contributed, they can now use the ideas of their group mates, who placed their input first, as their basis on how to effectively place their input to their group and see if there is something they can improve upon based on the available information or data.

C. The Follower

They are usually cooperative for as long as instructions are given by the so-called leader in the group. If in case there is no clear leader in the group that gives or assigns tasks, they will not do anything unless they see somebody else takes the first step. However, whenever somebody took the first step in completing their group work, they will eventually do their part.

Since they are followers, the pacing depends on either the majority of his or her group mates or whether there is an alpha classmate who will take charge. If the pacing of the group is fast or if somebody already started contributing, there is a high probability that they will immediately do their part. Same goes if the pacing of the group is slow or if the group decides to procrastinate. People who chose this option could never dictate their group's pace unless they decided to take charge to become an initiator or finishers. 

D. The Loafer

Loafers are the type of people who either intentionally or unintentionally categorized themselves into depending on the situation. 

Unintentional Loafers are the ones who really have the intention to do their part before the deadline, but because of the mismatch of pacing from the initiator and other work-related stuffs that caused them to delay doing their part, they ended up being loafers. These type of people are usually genuinely remorseful that they did not do their part and would try to exhaust all possible ways to still help even if they already deemed a minor one. Such examples are volunteering to print the output or create a PowerPoint presentation to ease the burden of those who contributed a lot.

Intentional Loafers are obviously the ones who are really making excuses that looked like an unintentional loafer, but when you come to think of it they intentionally loaf. These types of people you technically do not want to be with since you are expected to exert more effort for the sake of submitting your group's output. Also, if these types of people know who they are dealing with (e.g. they are aware that they have a group mate who is grade or obligation-conscious), they can immediately make excuses of failing to contribute or making excuses such as work-related or the other subject they took is taking a toll on their time in doing their part for the group.

Knowing these kinds of groups, which one are you?

Lessons of Procrastination from an Inexperienced Procrastinator

Have you ever felt the feeling of doing everything in the last minute just to comply with the necessary requirements or just to beat the deadline? For a certified procrastinator or perfectionist, that would be nothing new for them. But how about those people who are forced into the situation due to fortuitous event or encountered a mishap along the process?

This was what I had encountered when I was about to graduate from my Master's Degree. As soon as I passed my thesis defense, I applied for graduation the following day (which is also the last day of the said application). I know that it is not typical of me to do those in last minute, but the reason I applied the day after my defense was because when I learned that the date of my defense is one day ahead of the last day of the application to graduate, I opt to apply on the last day of application instead. I just do not want to put my expectations high that time so there is that.

However, things did not go as planned and unfortunately it became a domino effect:

• First, I learned that my application to graduate did not push through for the reasons that I don't know. This would mean that should I really want to graduate, I have to wait for the reopening of the application period to apply, but this time subject to penalty and fines.
• Second, my classmates with same thesis adviser are informed that we have to figure out a way for our thesis adviser to sign our approval sheet since she was a part-time professor; and because of the late submission, we have to write a letter indicating the reason for the late submission. This is the time where we picked up some lessons from our previous classmates who already encountered that situation and actually applied it (e.g. let our mentor sign documents that required her signature); and yet, we still lagged behind the said deadline.
• Third, after we successfully let our mentor sign our approval sheet, I learned that the thesis title I placed in the approval sheet is inconsistent with the thesis title my mentor approves. This made me choose between addressing the issue immediately versus placing two different thesis title for the sake of not tampering an official document (which is the approval sheet), which of course rejected by the school as there should be consistency of the thesis title.
• Lastly, despite the chance of having another reopening of application to graduate, I end up having one last mishap which is I placed the the thesis title my mentor approved and few hours after the said application, I've been told that the school rejected the submission of my thesis due to title inconsistencies.

My peers, who also finished defending their paper during this term, were just waiting for the graduation practice and other graduation-related activities, while I on the other hand have to address these compounding issues. A part of me know that I can just give up and wait for the next graduation (which is February 2019 vs supposed October 2018) since all I need to do is to fix the necessary mishaps and just wait for the application for February 2019 graduation. By going through that route, I can dodge from necessary fines and I'm technically not in a hurry to graduate. Besides, it did not seem to be a life or death matter for me to immediately graduate and nothing is technically at stake. However, multiple opportunities from the school to extend necessary deadlines and encouragements from some of my peers graduating on October 2018 made me realize that I have to try to comply even if nothing is at stake. - and I did! So Hello October 2018 Graduation!

I, for one, admit that I am not an expert in procrastination or what some people call the pressure cooker situation. Whenever my groupmates, classmates or classmates with the same mentor are panicking at my progress while they are lagging behind, I kept on telling them that is because I am not expert in procrastinating and I am not effective whenever I am in the last minute situation. This is to inform them that they can relax and do their part where they are most productive. This also meant that whenever a deadline looms and I have not done my part yet, I start to panic and as we know, whenever someone is in panic mode, you cannot think properly and you end up having irrational decisions that you might later regret.

By going through my personal pressure cooker situation (even if nothing is technically at stake), I learned a lot of things and hopefully I would be able to apply it when I it matters.

1. Optimism - This is the one trait I think most procrastinators have. They know that they can finish things on time even if they looked exhausted with what they have been through in the last minute. They know that stressing themselves from the beginning would be useless if they might end up stressing themselves in the end too.
   
2. Never give up - This goes hand-in-hand with optimism as these people have a strong inner will to make sure that they will finish what had been asked of them to do no matter what. By never giving up, they knew that they should keep on fighting - we can say that these people can have a strong fighting spirit.
   
3. Motivation - I can say that this the primary reason why people were able to beat the deadline. One can be optimistic, but if one does not have the drive to actually think and act upon it, succeeding a task through procrastination would become useless. This does not only apply only in procrastination, but across all aspects of life, studies, etc.
   
   Like what I have mentioned, I was not motivated enough to comply because I thought that there is no way that the school would allow me to extend their imposed deadline for the submission. However, when I realized what could be the impact between marching this school year (at least I knew some of my peers despite not being close enough with them) compared with marching next school year (where there is no guarantee that my closest friends in the MBA would finally defend and pass their thesis), I decided that I should do something about it and fight through it.
   
4. Adjust your pace - There are times where it is actually okay to relax when a particular deadline is approaching as either you really have plenty of time despite the allowances you made, and  even if you rush things, you might end up giving yourself unnecessary stress.
   
5. Pause, think then act - An inexperienced procrastinator would make a lot of irrational decisions (like me) when they are in a pressure cooker situation. Meanwhile, an experience procrastinator would not do such things. They would pause for a while and think of their possible options, how to find an optimal solution to their problem, and then act on it. Most of the time, it works for them and you can see that some people are having exceptionally good results compared to their peers who finished their requirements ahead of them.
   
   In my case, since I learned that I would need to ask for the respective personnel to again sign whichever document I would choose to have as an official thesis title, I decided to pause, then think of my options where I can only disturb the least number of stakeholders involved. In this case it was a matter of asking my mentor to sign versus five personnel (mentor, three panel, and dean) where of course I chose the route of asking my mentor to re-sign the said documents and not disturb the other stakeholders. By doing this route, I was able to comply the said requirements based on their imposed deadline.
   
6. It is rewarding - Lastly, I think people who had successfully accomplished something through procrastination would feel a sense of euphoria. Whenever my peers would post something on social media about their academic life with the caption in relation with exerting their efforts by increasing caffeine intake, sleepless nights, etc. just to finish a final paper or to the extent - thesis, I think I now realized that majority of the people who said those lines are probably been through the pressure cooker situation. As the saying goes, it would not be rewarding if you did not actually worked hard for it. In their case, even if they opt to not do things ahead (as they think they are not productive), their huge sacrifices are what made them truly satisfying.
   
   I am not saying that those who are doing things ahead of time are not making an effort on it. Early doers may sacrifice time and socialization just to finish ahead of time, but it is those who undergone pressure cooker situation would be the ones that are making bigger sacrifices compared with those who do things ahead. This would not become surprising

I know that during my pressure cooking phase, it was a mixture of anxiety, nervousness and everything in between especially that I know that I don't perform well during these phase. With all these experiences, I would still want to make sure to do things early and if ever I there are abrupt situations that need immediate action, I already know how to deal with it.

For now... I will savor my upcoming graduation this month!

The Beauty of Technology in School

In every group work, there will be cases, reports or assignment that needed to be done on a weekly basis. The emergence of technology such as social media like Facebook, online messaging like Viber and most especially the Google Applications such as Drive, Sheets, etc. allowed the students to have a much easier time to communicate with each other and delegate tasks through these channels without actually physically meeting up. In a world wherein mid and night shifts are emerging coupled with a workload that demands their attention, it would really make sense to communicate via technology and work on your output via technology too.

When I entered MBA in 2015, I still know the feeling of studying again after two years of working. Also, things would be different because now I would have to re-acquaint myself again with having male classmates inside the classroom as I had been studying in St. Scholastica's College for six years. I did have some male classmates on some of our subjects (Music or Fine Arts Students), but most of the time there are no guys inside the class. Aside from this, I would also have to deal with how the students use technology now. When I was about to graduate college around 2013, smartphones were on the rise and some students would actually use the device to store documents such as PowerPoint presentations and study from there instead of the traditional printing of the slides to study.

During our Quantitative Methods in Business Class, I was fortunate enough that my professor placed me in a group where my classmates had at least one term studying in the MBA program. When the professor mentioned that we must do group work and submit it online. I struggled in two things: one is having multiple versions in a single file name, and the other is the online learning. I guess that is the drawback of not having an idea what are you entering into your first term in school. Unfortunately, I ended up choosing subjects that are both considered as a "hybrid subject" which meant that half of the time your class would be taught online and the other half would be a face-to-face session. Those are two out of three hybrid subjects that I took before I proceed with my thesis writing.

Doing a hybrid class has its pros and cons, of course depending on who you ask. One of the advantages of having this hybrid class is that even if you are so busy at work, you do not need to be physically present in the classroom to learn or submit the necessary requirements. Also, because mid and night shifts are already on the rise in the country, this would become more preferable to part-time students who would like to learn and hoping for a chance to go up in the corporate ladder. However, for me, this does not bode well since I want the traditional school set up rather than the modern set-up. But then, a hybrid class is not being offered to all subjects, and it should be noted that introducing this mode of learning indicates that we also need to address the needs of those people who would like to learn, but their existing circumstance prohibited them from doing so.

During my experience in graduate school, the one that I appreciate the most is the various Google applications. Google Docs allowed you to construct your file together without the need of having multiple versions of a single filename. This would mean that each one of you can work together so that you can finish the paper without the hassle of appointing someone to combine all the various versions together. Having this application work wonders as the positives outweigh the negatives. Aside from having the liberty to work on your pace without being the cause of bottleneck to your group (in case you are not productive enough to do your part), it also allowed you to communicate with them without even leaving the comforts of your home or work. You could brainstorm the things you need to discuss via other modes of online communication such as Viber or Facebook then translate the said output via Google Applications without even filing for leave or set a meeting just for you and your group to discuss some matters.

Overall, I really like what technology can do in school and also in other aspects of our lives. It made our lives simpler, but then, we have to make sure that we can still communicate with our peers face-to-face to ensure that we still have contact with reality - which means real people, not just seeing them through chat or messages. Such example was whenever I would inform my classmate pertaining to a particular student who also attended the same hybrid class as ours, my classmates does not have any idea about the person. She would tell me that she does not know anyone during our hybrid class except her close MBA friends. Even if there was an interaction among various class groupings during the hybrid session, you were just having a dialogue with them virtually without actually mingling with them personally.

Again, despite the benefits of the technology, one must ensure that there should be a balance between them. We still need to have personal touch with other people.

The Dreaded Live Writing

Being part of the so-called last batch to be permitted to be exempted from what majority of the students called the "live writing" in the MBA program. I was fortunate to know that even if we were delayed in terms of supposed to be defending our papers, but wasn't able to whether voluntarily or involuntarily, we were given one last chance by the department to make sure to defend and pass our thesis or else... we have to go through live writing like some of the students who just finished Strategic Management class this term.

So to further tell the story of how live writing works, of which majority of the students are said to dread at, the Integrative Action Research (IAR) of the MBA Program will be explained to further understand where the students are coming from and why doing a live writing is a dreaded thing to go through for majority of the students.

The Integrative Action Research or the IAR is the terminal paper of every student wherein he/she must pass and defend before one would be able to obtain a degree. If a student does not want to pursue doing the IAR, he/she can still graduate, but only with a certificate. When before the terminal paper for every student in the MBA program is a Strategic Management paper of a certain company; now the terminal paper is an IAR paper in which it is expected that the students (who are also employees or part of a certain organization) should be heavily involved in dealing with the organization or the company that they are currently affiliated with. Doing the said paper would mean that one should be able to solve any organizational problem by including your co-workers or stakeholders who will be affected in the outcome of the problem. This kind of thesis format has been done more or less for five years already.

The ideal trend that should be happening in our IAR is that we have to start doing our paper by the time Management Action Research (MAR) has been introduced to us as a subject. Once, you would be able to pass this subject, you can now proceed with compiling information for one's IAR paper. However, what happens in reality is that most students either had a hard time figuring out what would be their ideal terminal paper during their MAR class and instead just use any organization for the sake of finishing the paper. Come the time wherein they must present a paper for their IAR, this is where some students would scramble to find another organization in which they would consider it as their terminal paper. So this could be one reason why the department decided that live writing must be done so that students would be able to do the process of Action Research properly with the supervision of the mentor.


Below are the things live writing would require students to do:

• All the cycles or interventions that was done prior to thesis writing would be placed into context. Meaning you would have to find another intervention to further improve the issue that your organization is currently dealing with.


• Students are required to enroll at least two terms of thesis writing. This does not include whether student voluntarily delayed their defense and decided to instead continue writing.


• Mentors would monitor your intervention process. When before mentors would trust that you would be able to do the proper intervention for as long as the process is being done ethically, now the mentors would monitor your interventions before one would even implement the said intervention.

Stating the requirements of live writing, this would make a lot of students upset about it. I think the types of student who would actually prefer live writing are those who prioritize learning, money was not an issue and those who currently do not have an impending career or life role change. However for the majority of people, this is certainly a big issue. 

Below are the reasons why I think live writing is unfavorable to the students affected... or will be affected.

• It involves a lot of money. As much as mentors would not want students to speed up their pace to ensure a high quality output, it cannot be denied that one of the reasons students are increasing their pace just to finish their degree is to save money. The longer you are in school, the more expenses you are incurring. This means that more fees need to be paid, which is the reason why majority of the students are actually targeting writing and passing the defense in one term and in one attempt.


• Companies are just being nice to their employees for the sake of the students having an output - which is the IAR paper itself. If given a choice, companies would not want the name of the company to be dragged as part of research that would not give them significant incentives.
  
  Privacy is very important with these companies and involving one's mentor into the company's daily operations might cause inconvenience. It was already a form of inconvenience to disrupt employees or so-called collaborators to participate in the study even if the issues are part of the company, it would become even more inconvenient if a third party would be involved as not only it would put a threat to the company's confidentiality, there would also be trust issues between the company and the student itself even if mentors signed confidentiality forms.
  
  Usually companies will check whether the information their employee will divulge is threatening or a typical issue among corporations before fully supporting the employee in presenting the issue as his/her terminal paper in school. The reason some of these companies are permitting their student-employees to use their company as a part of the terminal paper is to not feel guilty about it as to inform the employee that they still helped them in a certain way and would not be one of the reasons why the student cannot finish his/her degree.


• All possible cycles (interventions) were exhausted. The rule stated that a student going under the live writing can still use the topic he/she used during his/her Management Action Research (MAR) class, but the interventions or cycles that were implemented before he/she undergo thesis writing would be considered part of the context (portion of the IAR paper which allows students to identify, discuss and propose solutions to certain issues).
  
  For some students, this might not be much of an issue, but for others it would be a big deal. It is true that students must ensure to keep improving the issue and should not only be limited to two interventions. However, the problem comes when one was able to solve the issue without the need to actually further improve their issue. If it was told that they must place all of the previous interventions into the context, this meant that students would either need to come up with a new solution for improvement, or discard everything and find another issue within the organization he/she currently belongs to.
  
  Another possible issue that came into play is that the MAR subject was considered as a Foundation Course. This meant that when you entered the MBA program, this is one of the subjects that you need to take before proceeding with the Core Courses. Also, professors of this subject highly encourages student to use this subject as a jumpstart so that we could prepare ourselves for the IAR. If that's the case, then probably the issue was actually addressed already by the time the student reach the IAR writing.
  
  Let's say the student is a business or accounting undergraduate and is taking two subjects per term (with the exemption of Strategic Management which is required to be taken alone). There are four foundation courses, five core courses, one elective and one strategic management for a total of 11 courses and the school is in trimester. Suppose the student took the subject at Term 2 (one of the last subjects in the foundation courses), if we add the remaining six core and elective courses divided by two subjects per term plus one strategic management, that means the student would have to take at least four more terms (Term 6) before reaching the IAR writing. Gauging on the normal pace for working students, the student would be entering the IAR writing on his/her seventh term. As one could see, the issue is probably addressed before the student would enter his/her IAR writing. By asking students to put all cycles into context would mean that their output in MAR would technically be useless especially if one really decided to use their output in MAR as their terminal paper for IAR.


• Organizations may not be in sync with the mentor's idea of the intervention. It seemed like mentors would be the ones acting as an unsolicited consultant in which whatever the intervention was decided upon by the students and collaborators involved in solving the issue, the mentors might play a hand in which he/she might be controlling the decisions of the collaborators in creating change in solving the issue. This may not sit well for all entities involved especially nobody want to receive unsolicited advises from third parties.
  
  Also, if the intervention of the student based on the collaborative decision can be done in a short period of time, why would the student need to wait for the term to finish before proceeding with the next intervention just to follow the protocol of the school? Companies or organizations cannot just make the issue idle just for the sake the students can translate it into writing (thus, the term live writing). What if after the first intervention - or cycle, the company was able to already pinpoint the flaw of the first intervention and decided to immediately discuss it to usher for the second cycle? I think this seemed to be questionable while yes it's true that interventions should not be processed quickly; however, there are instances wherein the effects of the interventions can easily be pinpointed without the need of waiting for the cycle to be finished.

In summary, I really think that the school really wants to ensure that our paper would be of high quality. However, I think because of the nature of the curriculum and the student expectations on how they are going to complete their paper. I really think if they really want to strictly enforce the so-called live writing, they should revamp the curriculum by at least allowing the students to actually take the Management Action Research (MAR) class before proceeding with their Integrative Action Research (IAR) paper. So that even if the students would be extending by at least one term, they would actually translate their MAR paper into IAR paper because they are now aware that they should actually start thinking of the paper they will be using for their IAR paper and not just submit any output for the sake of a grade.

Write at Your Own Pace

In an environment wherein everything is competitive, people would keep on wanting to get ahead at a fastest possible time. In the corporate world wherein having a graduate degree would mean that you could already leave the unsatisfactory work you currently have or you could now vie for a higher position because of your degree.

During college, everybody would aim for a one-shot passing of thesis writing and defense. It was a graded subject and counted against the number of units. Also, this means that all you need to focus upon is to finish your thesis as a full-time student. However, in graduate school, things are different. You could actually complete your MBA already by getting a certificate without going through the grueling thesis writing and defense. Of course, nothing still beats having a degree or having a title at the back of your name as to compared to just having a certificate.

As it was said, thesis writing in the MBA does not have any number of units attached to it. So if one thought that he/she is not prepared for the defense, it would be fine. It would not count against your inability to make the writing and defense in one shot. Besides, all of you are working students and not students having part-time jobs.

As of now, some of my classmates were preparing themselves for the thesis defense while people like me were either not granted to defend due to the shoddy construction of our thesis paper or backed out on our own volition thinking that we could not meet the deadline. When they learned that I would not be defending my paper, most of my former classmates were shocked about it. They may think that I became incompetent to finish what people deemed the most crucial part of the MBA program.

As for myself, the only people that I owe an explanation to in my situation are my parents, who were the ones paying for my tuition in this program. My mother does not want me to finish my graduate school yet as she is aware that once you finished your graduate school, you'll no longer have the enthusiasm to work. She also thinks that learning is more important than getting up to the ranks of the corporate world. Upon thinking about it, I realized she had a point. Before I entered the MBA program, I was quite lazy in getting up to bed and going to work since I would be doing the same thing over and over again. Also, I rarely go out to meet with my friends after work, so it was always home to work and vice versa. However, when I entered graduate school, I made a lot of new friends from different aspects of not only personally, but also professionally. By doing something different, it allowed me to become more enthusiastic in going to work again as you now always have something to look forward to - which is to go to school not only to learn but also to mingle with new found friends.

Additionally, it should be noted that the graduate school should not be treated like a sprint wherein one would attempt to finish all the courses required for a short period of time. If I got delayed in the more critical aspect of my school life - which is college due to health reasons. There is less pressure on my part to actually finish the degree on time especially if nothing is at stake on my end.

Again, one should really write at one's pace so that they would have an output that they really desire - of course, to also pass the thesis defense with flying colors.