29 Young Focus by Shanthi

Shanthi Ashley

Organizational Theory

Professor Junisbai

December 17, 2021

Young Focus Capstone

Organizational Imagination and Metaphorical Analysis

Executive Summary: 

The Young Focus Organization is a non-profit that aims to provide a quality education to impoverished youth living in Tondo, Manila. These children live on a landfill where families scavenge for recyclable materials to survive. They are made to work on these landfills to fiscally support their families, and, thus, are unable to attend school. As of now, 4 million Filipino youth are out-of-school. Young Focus attempts to reverse this trend. However, with the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, this has become substantially more difficult for the low-income school. They have had to adjust to remote learning. Although it was hypothesized by a majority of staff that Young Focus would struggle to transition to online learning, it was found that the increased accessibility of class and resources allowed for students to improve their academic achievement. This improvement can be attributed to an array of organizational metaphors, most poignantly organization as domination, organization as brain, and organization as organism.

Introduction: 

The world is currently experiencing a once-in-a-century pandemic. CoronaVirus or COVID-19 exploded in the spring of 2020 and has already caused untold human suffering. With over 68 million cases, most countries have shifted into mandated lockdown (NCBI). Daily life is now defined by face masks and a distance of six-feet. Governments in all countries are struggling to operate in a context of such radical uncertainty – some better than others. Despite U.S. hegemony, America has had the world’s worst coronavirus outbreak. Their case count has recently passed 8.6 million (NCBI). This number exponentially supersedes that of the Philippines, a low-tear developing country in Southeast Asia. Such a disparity can be attributed to Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte’s exceptionally strict response to the virus. As of March 18 2020, Filipino residents were ordered to stay at home. The only exceptions were given to buy essential goods or exercise outdoors. Dutere then stated that refusal to follow measures could result in arrest, sanctions ranging from one to six months imprisonment (NCBI). Police and military were also employed to enforce quarantine measures. He insisted that this was “not martial law,” yet, considering the country’s history, the decision was highly criticized by the public. The president also declared that he would not allow schools to re-open for face-to-face classes until a vaccine was available. Thus, institutions must resort to remote learning. The feasibility of this would not be questioned for countries of the first world, however, the Philippines do not possess the same resources. The Philippines’ history is plagued by abject poverty. A UNESCO mid-decade assessment report of Southeast Asian education systems, published in 2008, for example, found that participation and achievement rates in basic education in the Philippines had fallen dramatically, owed to chronic underfunding. Many are operating from a negligible endowment supplied by the government. These schools are incredibly ill-equipped to navigate online teaching. Among them is Young Focus: the focus of my capstone.

Setting the Scene: 

The Young Focus Organization (YF) is a non-profit located in Tondo, Manila. Prior to the onset of the pandemic, Manila had become an epicenter for urban activity in the developing world. The Philippine capital had been declared one of the more industrialized and populous regions in Southeast Asia, partially as a result of the construction of Bonifacio Global City. BGC is a commercial hub known for glitzy shopping areas and upscale restaurants. Tondo is only miles from this metropolis. Looking out from a sky-rise building, you can see the bevy of illegal shanties that populate the area. It is possible, even, to hear the caged roosters that are kept by families in the slum. This phenomenon epitomizes the polarization of wealth. Tondo has been referred to as one of the poorest regions in the world.  ‘Smokey Mountain’ was a term coined for the 2.5 million ton landfill in Tondo, on which many impoverished Filipino families lived. The dump was so named because the hazardous waste would spontaneously catch fire, producing plumes of smoke. The site has been officially closed for almost two decades – yet the rippling consequences are still present. Those evicted from the area live nearby, so they can still scavenge for a livelihood.  Scavenging became a popularized profession in the 1960s. Garbage scavengers trekk and search through endless amounts of trash for recyclable materials that can be sold for a profit. Workers earn, on average, two dollars a day, and, at minimum, five dollars a week. Children also may begin working as early as five years old. Thus, at an absurdly young age, they are held fiscally responsible for their family’s survival. Parents encourage their child’s employment as it is a means of extra income. As a result, four million Filipino children and youth are out-of-school. Young Focus’s goal addresses this education crisis. The NGO strives to provide accessible educational aid to impoverished children living in Tondo, Manila. Their goal is to see kids develop talent that would otherwise be hidden, and, in doing so, escape the vicious cycle of poverty. Young Focus approaches said goal through tailor-made programs fit for the children’s specific needs; “giving children the opportunity to develop intellectually, as well as creatively, spiritually and socially”. YF runs three distinct programs: a preschool, a school sponsorship program, and a center for at-risk school dropouts. Young Focus’ preschool is available for children ages three to five. Their main objective is to provide base-level, quality education that will stimulate the child’s social, intellectual, and cognitive development. The second program targets students ages six to twenty, sponsoring their K-12 and undergraduate education. Young Focus provides them with their school fees, uniforms, books, and other school materials. A network is even provided after college to support graduates in finding a job. The third program targets students of the same age range who have prematurely dropped out of school, due to external pressures and a lack of academic support. They offer a condensed education so students can catch-up and graduate in a timely fashion. The students in these catch-up programs are those that are at-risk, most are commonly addicted to solvents or have a bad home environment. With these four separate programs, Young Focus manages to graduate approximately 700 students per year.

The organization has had much success, however, with CoronaVirus YF was struggling to stay afloat. As mentioned previously, President Duterte declared that public school systems would not be allowed to re-open for face-to-face classes until a vaccine was available. This has not yet happened as the U.S. and other G7 countries have purchased a third of the world’s vaccine supply, despite making up only 13% of the global population. (BBC) Thus, Young Focus has had to sustain remote learning and refrain from the following: gathering (5+) in any indoor space, exceeding a maximum of 10 people in any outdoor space, and requiring attendance. It was widely believed, with these restrictions and the ecosystem’s limited access to technology, that Young Focus did not have the capacity to make remote learning successful. It was also believed that without required attendance children would not be motivated to attend school considering 4 million Filipino children are already not in school in order to help financially support their families. However, Young Focus met these challenges with undying optimism, determination, and flexibility. They aspired to individualize their remote learning system to each student so that their non-profit would continue to operate smoothly and disenfranchised youth living in Tondo would continue to receive a quality education, thus, allowing them to break the cycle of poverty. In this paper, I will be exploring how the Young Focus Organization’s transition to remote learning can be applied to the organizational metaphors we have covered in class. In particular, I will delve into organization as machine, organization as brain, and organization as organism. Information was all gathered through interpersonal interviews with three separate levels of organizational management: the company directors (CEOs), teachers associated with different programs, and the students.

Metaphorical Analysis: 

Organization as machine can be used to analyze Young Focus pre-COVID-19. In Chapter Two of Garreth Morgan’s Images of an Organization, Morgan asserts that “when we talk about organization we usually have in mind a state of orderly relations between clearly defined parts that have some determinate order. Although the image may not be explicit, we are talking about a set of mechanical relations, and as a consequence we tend to expect them to operate as machines: in a routinized, efficient, reliable, and predictable way.” (13) I related this to Young Focus pre-pandemic as each program was relatively independent of each other, each operating exclusively yet in a very procedural manner. All programs met at specific times specific days out of the week Each also operated under one administrator, that was working under another overseeing board coordinator, who was then operating under the CEO’s of the organization.  Students also completed modules distributed by the Filipino Board of Education, and were required to adhere to a stringent schedule. Thus any extraneous circumstances that may have impacted a student’s capabilities were not sufficiently considered. Pedagogy was largely focused on completing a set number of lesson plans over the course of 16 weeks.  In these ways, Young Focus mimicked organization as machine.

However, after the pandemic young focus transitioned to asynchronous learning, both class and materials were made much more accessible. For the preschool program, parents were provided with training in health, nutrition, hygiene, and parenting skills. For the K-12 program, tutoring sessions were made available, along with basic resources such as a computer room, a library, and recreational study spaces for students that could be booked at different times. And last, for the catch-up program, about 100 of them receive a daily, nutritious meal from CombatMalnutrition. Cooking lessons are also offered to mothers that are willing to participate. Another additional program was also added that provided individual social support for both the students and their families. Young Focus conducts training seminars for health, hygiene, nutrition, family planning, spirituality, and mental health. As far as online classes went, YF provided online learning that was available for mac, apple and android devices.  Some students were able to tune into class through their android phones.  Teachers also made themselves available through facebook, facebook messenger and call because most students were on this platform and it used less data.  This can then be compared to both organization as organism and organization as brain. It is a perfect analogy to organization as brain as said organizational adjustments epitomize being flexible and adaptable in difficult situations.  Said adaptability was what allowed Young Focus to thrive in their remote transition and create a culture in which all students were able to thrive. This was made possible by, as talked about in the organization as brain readings, because leaders were able to let go of control and their fixed workspace.  The institution allowed themselves to make mistakes in their journey to making their online system accessible. This can also be looped into organization as organism with the following quote from Morgan’s Images of an Organization:  “big social change doesn’t come out of nowhere, it emerges from a series of local acts.” (47) Thus, the culmination of young focus’ efforts to transition, both the series success and failures, helped to create this social change that allowed for the organization to transition. Morgan also states how “organizations are open systems and are best understood as ongoing processes rather than a collection of parts,” (53)  which can be applied as pre-pandemic young focus had a multitude of branches that operated virtually entirely separately, However, post-pandemic they were forced to blur the lines between these programs allowing them to merge and grow into each other to promote efficiency. Students sometimes attended other classes in different programs where their schedule saw fit and leaders also more thoroughly integrated their curricula.  And, consequently, students did better as they were exposed to a more wide variety of resources whether that be teachers or material.

The Path Forward: A Reimagined Future 

The above figures reiterates what tangible changes were made to the Young Focus educational system. It has also been considered how these changes underscore larger, organizational metaphors. In summary, we can understand that these changes ultimately benefited student access and achievement, and, consequently, only one question remains: how will these changes be reimagined once a remote learning environment is no longer necessary?

It is my belief that the path forward should inextricably intertwine the pre and post pandemic structures of learning. However, primarily, it is crucial that the Philippine’s is successfully able to vaccinate it’s population. This is because the population density of low-income neighborhoods, particularly Tondo, makes them exponentially more at-risk for the spreading of COVID-19. Thus, the student population must all be vaccinated before they are back in the classroom. After this is made possible, then I believe Young Focus should continue in-person instruction. However, I believe it is crucial, even more so in this transitory phase, that online classes and tutoring services are still offered. I also believe that recreational study spaces like the computer lab and library should still be made available. There should additionally still be both family and one-on-one sessions for life skills as well as mental health counseling for students and parents that are feeling overwhelmed during such calamity. All of this will ensure that students are receiving the benefits of an in-person education, such as having relationships with their teachers and peers that will allow them to develop socially and collaboratively, and also are able to mold their education to their own needs. There should be some sort of an incentive to go to class for younger students, perhaps a five-star system where they earn stars for good behavior that is then rewarded with a toy. However, this rewards system should have no impact whatsoever on their academic performance.

Conclusion: 

To conclude, we cannot feasibly approach learning in developing countries in the same manner that it is approached in the developed world. In said world, education has a stringent, assessment-based, attendance-focused structure. With the incomparable circumstances of children living in poverty, we must readjust our expectations of what a school system looks like and what an A-student looks like. An A-student in a developing ecosystem, must be someone that puts in effort whether that is in or outside of the classroom. It may be someone that utilizes resources that are not normalized in our education system. For example, counseling or tutoring services and online lessons via social media platforms. This is the only manner in which all students will truly be able to succeed as, ultimately, a child’s attendance and in-class participation is important, but we must return to Young Focus’ underlying goal – to provide an accessible education to all impoverished youth.

Works Cited

Asia and the Pacific Education for All (EFA) Mid-Decade Assessment: Insular South-East Asia. Synthesis Report. Bangkok: UNESCO Bangkok, 2008.

“Covax: How Many Covid Vaccines Have the US and the Other G7 Countries Pledged?” BBC News, BBC, 23 Sept. 2021, https://www.bbc.com/news/world-55795297.

Ioannidis, John P A. “Global perspective of COVID-19 epidemiology for a full-cycle pandemic.” European journal of clinical investigation vol. 50,12 (2020): e13423. doi:10.1111/eci.13423

Morgan, Gareth, 1943-. Images of Organization. Thousand Oaks, Calif. :Sage Publications, 1997.