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Mr. Gery has been with Sun Hotel for almost 20 years now and admires what he calls the “Sun Corporate Culture”, which is evidently seen in the way people help each other in order to reach a common goal. He mentioned that it was the strong sense of belonging in Sun Hotel that motivates people to cooperate and work together and which makes him enjoy his work.
While holding the position as Assistant Chief Accountant, Mr. Gery is also the Chairman of the Union here in Sun Hotel. He has proven his leadership skills by being able to make quick decisions as head of the Union and at times trusted to take charge when his superiors are absent. His critical position as someone playing dual role as Assistant Chief Accountant and as Labor Union Head in Sun as a whole makes him someone who acts as a very useful middleman. This gives him the ability to analyze both sides’ interest before making a decision, hence, achieving the meeting of minds between the two sides producing a win-win situation.
His involvement in the union and work also indicates that Mr. Gery is able to do several activities at one time and seems to exert hard work in order to achieve his objectives. He admits that he likes his status at present and is the type of worker who is “never not happy”. He also refers to himself as projecting the “Godfather” image due to his kind attitude towards his fellow workmates.
Mr. Gery claims that since the workload assigned to him has gradually been decreasing, he has been able to enjoy his not-so-fast working pace. However, when faced with a challenging task he will work late and do one task at a time until the whole task is completed. This work ethics has been rewarded and acknowledged in 1992 when he received an award for Best Manager due to good collection that went beyond the expected target. He is now also active as Vice Chairman of the Hotel Credit Manager Association Jakarta & Bandung and it is from this organization that he was able to gather more experience and knowledge regarding other great hotels and make comparisons. With his experience he was able to create a Credit Policy for Sun Hotel.
His flexible workstyle makes him able to divide his tasks in accounting and with the labor union. Although, it is apparent that he seems to be spending more time acting as the link and pacifier between employees and management, Mr. Gery should assign his priorities according to the degree of importance and put more focus to his major role.
As a leader, Mr. Gery displays strong self-confidence and dominance in this role projecting to be the man-in-charge. He also likes to control the work and actions of his people and firm in his leadership style. In a way, he likes to influence and emits an air of authority. In decision-making, he is fast and decisive. He is a risk taker and is prepared and responsible for whatever consequence as a result of his action.
At work, he is seen as the practical, hands-on worker who would apply his past experiences as his guide, He supports his statements with facts and relevant documents to be able to convince and get his message across. In most cases, he works “by the book” and based on set policies or previous agreed negotiations. Long-term planning or conceptual thinking is not an area he would enjoy but he would accept logical reasons to save the company. On the other hand, he himself does not want to be closely supervised or governed by rules and regulations. He said that being employed for more than 20 years, he knows the basic guidelines, thus, he can be independent and can work well on his own.
D. PERSONALITY
Mr. Gery is a self-starter who rose from the ranks. He considers education as something important so he continued his education even though he was competing with his own children. This 52-year-old accountant enjoys gardening and fishing during his spare time, an indication that internally, he likes to connect to “life”. He has strong inclination to take care of people just the way he displays his passion to care for the plants. Playing the middleman role, Mr. Gery is an open person who will express his emotions from the heart. He will voice out his opinions especially if he knows he is right and supported by facts and figures and supportive groups. As much as possible, he wants to maintain his diplomacy in order to arrive at a win-win situation.
A fairly sociable person, he safeguards his current reputation and prefers to be socially detached. He is a selective group joiner who is able to draw a line between work and personal related issues. Towards change, he is not easily open to any change. He needs time to absorb and understand the benefits of a change. At the moment, he is not too interested in any change and is happy the way things are.
E. STRENGTHS and AREAS FOR DEVELOPMENT
STRENGTHS
• Firm and quick in decision making
• Confident in the leadership role
• Abe to do several tasks at a time
• Proud of his achievements and current status, a self-starter
• Independent and goal-oriented
AREAS FOR DEVELOPMENT
• Tendency to be emotionally involved and easily affected by others.
• His fast decision-making may make him commit a decision that is not well thought of, missing out on all details.
• May be spending too much time on other tasks at the expense of the main job.
F. SUMMARY and RECOMMENDATION
Mr. Gery plays two roles in Sun, as Assistant Chief Accountant and as Head of Labo Union. In the accounting area, Mr. Gery managed to get promoted to higher positions through his perseverance and display of hard work and eagerness to learn. Although unfinished, Mr. Gery had attempted to complete a degree at University Mustopo to equip him with the appropriate knowledge he needed on the job. As the Labor Union Head, he has also accomplished a number of programs for the employee’s welfare and crafted a small book or guideline, which has been annually reviewed and approved by top directors.
Mr. Gery impresses us as a committed person who can be very engrossed at what he is doing. He claims that he has the habit of finishing tasks, which he started. In case, he cannot finish his tasks, he has a compelling desire to bring it as “homework”. His practicality and flexibility enables him to decide quickly, move fast and rely on his past experiences as guide. Socially self-reliant, Mr. Gery can mix well with groups but would favor one to one interaction Being the head of the labor union, Mr. Gery enjoys the recognition and the importance extended to him by most. He informed us that he spends only 20% of his time attending to labor union issues although as it appears, he is spending more than that. He should learn to assign priorities and put more focus on his accounting role as number one. Mr. Gery’s expressive and assertive nature may be misinterpreted as hard-hitting and defensive by others. The same goes to his dominant leadership profile, although he claims that he is a democratic leader. In our observation, Mr. Gery can be more productive and competitive if he channels this energy to work and not to personal desires.
With the above qualities and his overall work profile, Mr. Gery’s strengths outweigh his weaknesses but should be more clear as to his work direction. He has the enthusiasm, stamina and the working spirit to survive crisis and demanding situations. However, at present, his time seems to be more pre-occupied with the increasing employees’ problems rather than his main task in accounting. He should also realize that he is being looked upon by most as the union head, therefore, he should be the first to show a good example or to act as the role model. Management should review his recent performance and accomplishments and remind Mr. Gery to play his roles in a professional manner.
Based on the above findings, we have some reservations in recommending Mr. Gery for a higher position until he clarifies his roles. He may have the technical competency in accounting due to the lengthy years and hands-on experience. However, his sense of responsibility to the labor union appears more dominant that his main job.