CASE STUDY # 1
TITLE
Operations Function in the School of Business Administration
and Accountancy
TOPIC
Unit 1: Introduction to Operations Management
NAME OF STUDENT Ariza, Diexxy Jane A.
GROUP NUMBER
5
GROUP MEMBERS
Pacsay, Elijah
Aspuria, Shine
Ariza, Diexxy Jane A.
Bautista, Mary Grace
I. Introduction
Picture 1: University of Baguio Courtesy: www.ubaguio.edu
The University of Baguio School of Business Administration and Accountancy
provides students exposure that is excellence-driven and initiative-oriented. It offers a
remarkably challenging set of activities in each of the classes, encouraging productivity
and critical thinking. The operation explores the key operations responsibilities of the
Department of SBAA, the size of the operations task, the operations function in the context
of the rest of the school or organization, and factors that illustrate the complexity of the
operations task. University of Baguio or UB, as it is commonly known, has 11 Schools
that cater to all types of students from all walks of life and nationalities from various regions
of the world, offering 55 degree and non-degree programs, 26 Bachelor's Degree
programs, 4 Master's Degree programs, 3 Doctorate Degree programs, and 22 Associate,
Certificate, and Diploma programs. There is also a Laboratory Elementary School, a
normal High School, and a Science High School.
One of the bachelor’s degree programs that the university offers is the School of
Business Administration and Accountancy or simply known as the SBAA which we are
registered and part of. The University of Baguio School of Business Administration and
Accountancy (SBAA) offered programs like Bachelor of Science in Accountancy and
Bachelor of Science in Business Administration with 4 major subjects, Operations
Management, Financial Management, Marketing Management, and Human Resource
Development Management. The current coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic is having a
significant impact on people's health as well as how we learn, work, and live. One of the
most significant problems posed by COVID-19 is how to modify an educational system
based on physical schooling. According to the United Nations in 2020, the COVID-19
pandemic has caused the greatest disruption to education systems in history, affecting
approximately 1.6 billion students in over 190 nations across all continents. School and
other learning facility closures have touched 94% of the world's student population, rising
to 99% in low and lower-middle-income countries.
Picture 2: New types of learning: online and modular learning
In this time of the pandemic, we students are left with no choice but to change our
traditional way of learning, which is the classroom setup wherein students have to go to
school and attend class. But now with schools shut across the world, millions of students
have had to adapt to new types of learning like online and modular learning. With that
being said many schools try to adapt to the certain changes that are caused by this
pandemic for them to be able to provide education to their students.
As part of the School of Business Administration and Accountancy, students face
a lot of problems especially now in this time of the pandemic. The university offers an
online and modular mode of learning, and it is our choice which mode we are going to
take. We chose an online mode of learning and here are some of the problems that we
encounter. The first one would be handling student queries; we sometimes message the
Facebook account of the School of Business Administration and Accountancy or SBAA
but it takes some time for them to answer and sometimes not having a reply after all. Next,
the problem is that some of the teachers have poor signals, and the background noise
was too loud compared to their voice. Lastly is on the student portal system, there are
times that the system is not available, and we cannot access them.
II. Discussion
The objective of the University of Baguio SBAA is to provide students exposures
that are excellence-driven and initiative-oriented. It offers a remarkably challenging set of
activities in each of the classes, encouraging productivity and critical thinking. The key
operations responsibilities of SBAA is to give a student orientation of what would they be
expecting in the class. Before the class started for the semester the school was providing
a syllabus and guidelines for online and offline learners
.
Picture 3: Online and Offline Flexible Learning Approach Guidelines
The teacher and the students from the first hour of the class up to the last subject
are sometimes hard to understand because some of the teachers and students have
poor signal in their area, especially if their place is secluded or they are coming far away
from cities like provinces. The alternative for this problem would be for the students, the
same goes for the professors, to find a place where they can get a better internet
connection. But sometimes this is not applicable because it is dangerous for everyone to
go out of their houses, especially that it is raining now and then. Another reason why this
alternative is rejected is because of the coronavirus (COVID-19). This virus prohibits
students and professors to go out of their houses. According to Gerardo Garciarios,
there are solutions to stop the poor internet connection but the best that a teacher could
apply is to use a visual presentation to support the speech at the same time, record the
lessons. In this way, using a range of visuals is helpful to keep students following the
lesson. Even if they cannot hear their professors, such drawing visuals during the live
lesson will be more successful than displaying static images on the screen. Students can
easily follow the process if teachers draw and talk simultaneously. In recording the
lessons, the students can still be able to catch up when they experience a poor
connection. Recording live teaching provides a way for students with poor access to
watch lessons in their own time or when their connection gets better. Uploading each
video to a shared area and explaining how to find it would be helpful. Not only is it
inclusive for learners with limited access to devices, but it is also useful when a student
is unwell and needs to catch up. It is great for setting revision or supporting those who
are struggling. These videos can be used again for homework and distance teaching.
Picture 4: Recording Lessons and Visual Presentations
Another problem that students and teachers encounter is the background noise
that is too loud compared to their voices. The best solution for this is for the students and
teachers to find a place where there are no loud background noises that could be heard.
By doing so, the students will be able to understand the lessons properly and for the
teachers to properly hear the feedback or queries of the students regarding the lessons.
Considering that the students’ timetable for the first semester started at 8 in the morning
to 4 in the afternoon. For the second semester, the start of the class was 8 up until 6 PM.
At present, the start of the class for summer classes, for some students, was the same as
the schedule of the second semester but with only 3 subjects containing 2 hours every
Monday, Wednesday, and Friday while 1 hour and 30 minutes every Tuesday and
Thursday. It is best to find a comfortable spot without extra noises and they can use this
place for over a year until the online classes ended. When the COVID- 19 struck, the
school was faced with a challenging situation. It became hard for them to handle the
student queries especially that not everyone is allowed to go outside. So the solution for
handling the student’s queries for the SBAA was to create a Facebook account so that the
students of the department can reach out through chatting on the page. The student can
inquire about their concerns and seek answers regarding the enrollment through the
account with designated personnel to answer the student’s queries. But sometimes it is
hard for the SBAA to answer all of the students’ questions, so the feedback gets delayed
or sometimes they do not get the answers they want to know. The SBAA solution is to
ensure the information was properly given to the students by creating social media in each
department. The students can see any announcement in which course they are enrolled
regarding their concerns and quires. Such as when is the start of the classes, the school
always posts the announcement on the Facebook page of the University of Baguio and
they also send a personal message to the students through emails. In this strategy, the
student concerns will be answered without delay because it was already posted and sent
by the SBAA through their email.
Picture 5: Announcement of the University of Baguio from their Facebook Page
The offered subject for the Department of School of Business Administration and
Accountancy can also be taken by the different Department of School like the NSTPRO 1
and 2, Life and Work of Rizal, Purposive Communication, and many more. All of the
Departments at the University of Baguio was using the Google Classroom platform but
then decided to utilize Canvas instead, so that it would be more systematic and organized
for the recording of activities, attendance, exams, announcement, modules, and computed
grade. Even if students and teachers using the online mode of learning, the University of
Baguio, especially the School of Business Administration and Accountancy, still ensures
and provides the information needed through different online platforms. All of the important
announcements are posted on Facebook pages or YouTube. The student at the school
who graduated while we are amid the pandemic experienced the ceremony through a
visual ceremony that they posted on YouTube and in each School Department.
III. Recommendation & Conclusion
University of Baguio is an institute that fosters students’ ambitions, then turns them
into skills, and expertise rather. Throughout the years the University has provided enough
resources and knowledge to their students to guide them to fulfill their life-long goals. On
the other hand, there are stills matters and changes not addressed and unrecognized due
to the current pandemic caused by the COVID-19. Regardless, the University continually
improves, develops, and adapts for the sake of its students and the continuity of their
education. However, to address such matters, the University had been recommended to
undergo a change in strategy and structure. Specifically, it is recommended that the
University of Baguio:
A. To continually improve the current flexible learning approaches that have been
adopted since the pandemic has occurred. The University should have a contingency plan
if ever the pandemic will extend or worsen, addressing different situations where a student
who opts for online learning still encounters unforeseeable issues with internet
connections resulting in missed activities. The University should implement a grading
system to ration out missed activities to overall scores, in order that the student will not
come up with failing grades. Adapting and addressing issues like these would help the
University move forward to have positive feedback from the students.
B. For the sake of students and faculty, the University of Baguio should focus on
the advancement of its technology specifically with improving the University’s website and
portal. Acquiring a more advanced platform provider that would deliver a user-friendly
portal will allow students to effortlessly enroll and eliminate subjects which will result to a
smooth enrollment process and will lessen the flock of message to Sir Carlo or the SBAA
messenger. Also, the University can upgrade the website by creating a centralized
communication system for example UB bot or UB customer support, where students and
even visitors can ask and easily find a quick solution to the queries or questions that are
being asked.
In conclusion, the University of Baguio, including the School of Business
Administration and Accountancy, is doing its best in providing quality education, even
though the world is amid the pandemic. By providing the syllabus and guidelines, students
are informed of what is to be expected and they can have advanced reading to better
understand the lesson. The University also offers two modes of learning, online and
modular learning, to allow students to choose what is most applicable for them.
The teachers also are doing what they can to ease the students’ learning by
recording the lesson and uploading it in the Canvas, or other platforms like Google
Classroom. This gives students, especially those with a weaker internet connection, to
catch up and allows them to rewatch the video so that they can review their lesson. Also,
by using visual aids or presentations, students can understand the lesson easier. To
accommodate the questions and queries of the students under the SBAA, the department
created a Facebook page that students can message. Announcements are also posted in
the page so that students can see the information better. Aside from the Facebook page,
messages can also be sent through email. Even though there are still a lot of problems
faced by students and teachers alike, the University of Baguio School of Business
Administration and Accountancy is still trying to attain its objective, which is to provide
students the exposure that is excellence-driven and initiative-oriented.
V. References
Li, C. (2020, April 29). The COVID-19 pandemic has changed education forever. This is
how. Retrieved from https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2020/04/coronavirus-educationglobal-covid19-online-digital-learning/
United Nations (2020, August). The Policy Brief: Education during COVID-19 and
beyond. Retrieved from https://www.un.org/development/desa/dspd/wp
content/uploads/sites/22/2020/08/sg_policy_brief_covid19_and_education_august_2020
.pdf
(Garciarios, 2020, August 13). 7 Ways to Stop a Poor Internet Connection Ruining Your
Online Lessons. Retrieved From https://community.wacom.com/eu/europe/7-ways-tostop-a-poor-internet-connection-ruining-your-online-lessons/
University of Baguio (2007-2021). The Business Administration and Accountancy.
Retrieved from https://www.ubaguio.edu/index.php/school-of/business-administrationaccountancy.html