COMPANY CULTURE PRACTICES AND ITS EFFECTS TO THE
SELECTED EMPLOYEES AT MT. KITANGLAD AGRI-VENTURES, INC.
A CASE STUDY
Presented to the Faculty of the
Expanded Tertiary Education Equivalency and Accreditation Program
Capitol University
Cagayan de Oro City
In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the degree
Bachelor of Science in Business Administration major in
Human Resource Management
VALFRED L. AÑABIEZA
April 2023
2
APPROVAL SHEET
This paper is entitled “COMPANY CULTURE PRACTICES AT MT.
KITANGLAD AGRI-VENTURES, INC.”, prepared and submitted by
VALFRED L. AÑABIEZA in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the
degree BACHELOR OF SCIENCE IN BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION major
in Human Resource Management has been examined and is
recommended for oral examination/defense.
ROMEO B. MIÑOZA, JR., DM
Adviser
________________________________________________________________________
PANEL OF EXAMINERS
Approved by the Panel of Examiners in partial fulfillment of the
requirements for the degree BACHELOR OF SCIENCE IN BUSINESS
ADMINISTRATION major in Human Resource Management with a
grade of ______________.
ALDRICH S. PALARCA, DM, FRIEdr
Chairman
ROMEO B. MIÑOZA, JR., DM
Member
GIOVANI N. OCLARIT
Member
________________________________________________________________________
Accepted and approved in partial fulfillment of the requirements for
the course BACHELOR OF SCIENCE IN BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION
major in Human Resource Management.
ALDRICH S. PALARCA, DM, FRIEdr
Director, ETEEAP
3
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
This paper was made possible with the guidance and support of
people who helped in its accomplishment.
Capitol University through the office of the Expanded Tertiary
Education Equivalency and Accreditation Program (ETEEAP) for his
acceptance in the university;
Special thanks to the Mt. Kitanglad Agri-Ventures, Inc. for
supporting & encouraging him to pursue his desire to earn a baccalaureate
degree in business;
Sincerest gratitude is also given to his adviser Mr. Romeo B.
Miñoza for his guidance, meticulous scrutiny, scholarly advice &
suggestions and patience in working with him on this paper;
To the Panel of Examiners headed by Dr. Aldrich S. Palarca, for their
valuable comments and suggestions which led to the enhancement of this
manuscript;
Deep sense of gratitude to his family especially his wife for her
constant encouragement and support for the realization of this paper;
Lastly, to our Almighty God, for providing the author with the
wisdom, knowledge and the resources needed to come up with this paper.
God bless all of you.
4
DEDICATION
I wish to dedicate this dissertation to my loving wife,
Mrs. Elgie Añabieza
She taught me to persevere and prepared me to face the challenges with
faith and humility. She was the constant source of inspiration to my life.
She is always there to give me strength and support me to strive to
achieve my goals in life.
5
TABLE OF CONTENTS
TITLE PAGE
1
APPROVAL SHEET
2
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
3
DEDICATION
4
TABLE OF CONTENTS
5
LIST OF FIGURES
6
I.
Introduction
7
II.
Rationale of the Study
8
III.
Company Background
9
IV.
The Case Presentation and Analysis
V.

The Situation
10

Statement of the Problem
13

Objectives
14

Areas of Consideration
15

Alternative Courses of Action
18

Recommendations
20
Bibliography
Curriculum Vitae
24
26
6
LIST OF FIGURES
Figure 1
MKAVI Christmas party with the
8
Chief HR Officer Asia-Pacific Division
Figure 2
Family Welfare Committee
10
Figure 3
Packing house employees during
14
Valentine’s Day in a boodle fight
7
I.
Introduction
A company’s culture is the only truly unique identifier. It is like a
finger print, it may be similar to others, but is uniquely distinct to your
business.
Everything
else
(products,
strategies,
marketing,
even
innovations) can be replicated, but the only truly unique identifiers are the
values and norms of the organization – its culture, or personality. A strong
culture, in which members agree upon and care intensely about
organizational values, can improve business performance by motivating
employees and coordinating their behavior towards a vision and specific
performance goals that benefit the company.
The culture is very vital in every company. It is like an identification
card of a company that provides every employee, community and other
neighboring companies the quality of image it portrays. A company that
gives to prayer and bible-sharing session in a week will be likely to be said
as a God-centered company.
In same vein, Mt. Kitanglad Agri-Ventures Inc. has also its unique
cultures such as Values Sessions, Health and Benefits Package, Team
Building, Values Reconciliation Movement (VRM), Discipleship Group
Leader’s Conference, Life Transformation Program and many more.
Thus, the researcher’s interest to revisit the culture of the Mt.
Kitanglad Agri-Ventures, Inc., identify the impact of its culture to the lives
of its employees, and make it a model to other players in the industry.
8
II.
Rationale of the Study
This study was conducted to look into the cultures that have caused
significant effect on the lives of employees and their families. It also serves
as benchmark to other companies who want to take care of the welfare of
their employees by the doing the same. The various programs of the
company are not only meant to improve the social and economic well-being
of the employees, but also to the spiritual aspect through the values
sessions conducted every week. The scholarship program for the
dependents of the employees is intended to help build a better future for
their children. It is for this reason that this study is conducted to assess
the very impact of the cultures of the company towards the lives of the
employees and their dependents.
Figure 1 MKAVI Christmas party with the Chief HR Officer Asia-Pacific Division
9
III.
Company Background
Mt. Kitanglad Agri-Ventures Inc. is a producer and exporter of the
world market-preferred quality highland sweet bananas at an elevation of
700 meters above sea level located in Patag, Alanib, Lantapan, Bukidnon.
It came into existence in the year 1998 by a group of entrepreneurs who
dreamed of developing the fertile lands of Bukidnon into an Agri-Venture
of export quality highland bananas. From then on, the company moved
forward. Two test plots were planted in September 1999 and continued on
a staggered basis completing the first 250 hectares planted area with three
hundred employees. The company has utilized novel production
technologies and practices that enable its Precious bananas consistently
maintain the highest quality rating in the Japanese market. Moreover, it
has immensely contributed to the economic growth and stability of the
municipality of Lantapan by providing substantial employment to its
populace.
Today, a total of 1,660 employees run the whole organization from
Executives down to Rank and File with a total area of 1000 hectares of
facilities, packing house plants and banana farms. In addition, the
company has also generated programs for the welfare of their employees.
This is just a mere spectacle of how the company evolved through the
years.
10
Figure 2 Family Welfare Committee
IV.
The Case Study Presentation and Analysis
The Situation
Your company culture defines for you and for all others, how your
organization does business, how your organization interacts with one
another and how the team interacts with the outside world, specifically
your customers, employees, partners, suppliers, media and all other
stakeholders. Your culture is the formula, the DNA that provides
guidelines, boundaries and expectations for your team and your
customers, and is the primary platform to inspiring and motivating your
people, and is the most powerful resource you have to attract, recruit, hire
and retain the highest level of talent to your business.
In addition to financial advantage, there are many benefits to having
a positive culture within your company. These include:
11

Good (transparent) open communication that helps departments
and employees work and collaborate better together towards the
achievement of company goals.

A shared vision and clear mission across the entire organization,
leading to employees working towards common goals.

A strong corporate culture of respect among employees, creating
enhanced mutual trust and cooperation across the business.

Less internal politics, a flatter and more efficient decision-making
processes, and fewer disagreements as common vision is aligned
across leaders.

Less complexity leading to faster execution within an informal
control mechanism, leading to the easier achievement of
business goals.

A strong sense of identification across the organization with
shared understanding.

Clarity in assisting employees to make sense of their behaviors
by providing justification for behaviors.

A reduced employee turnover rate with resultant definitive
financial and operational advantages
The company provides programs such as free health care, Values
sessions, Scholarship programs, Values Reconciliation Movement, and
etc. to address the needs of its employees. The company lives by its motto,
12
“Happy employee, happy family”, hence, programs are created to help the
welfare of the employees. With these at hand, people from outside the
municipality of Lantapan are attracted to work in the company.
The company also practice its “No discrimination” policy in terms of
hiring to ensure that all people are given the equal opportunity for
employment.
The company allocates P 160,000.00/year to every employee for
their hospitalization which can be also availed by their dependents.
Another P 3,000.00 every 3 years for their eyeglasses for employees who
have poor eyesight. P 5,000.00/year was also given as medicine allowance.
This entire health package can be availed through guaranteed letters
which will be issued to the employee who requests for such care.
Values sessions are done one hour every week to every department
and those employees who volunteer to become a DGL (Discipleship Group
Leader) will have a regular home visit once a week to follow up his/her
spiritual growth together with his/her family. All DGroup leaders are then
gathered in a conference which the company hosts to help them become
enabled men and women of God in workplace and at home.
The Man-Com of Highland Agri-Ventures in Southern Philippines
conducts a “boodle fight” to every department to have an atmosphere of
equality among employees; to let them know that although they are under
13
their managers, they can be approached easily with no feelings of
hesitation.
Through the Values Reconciliation Movement, several things were
added. The company acquired its own ambulance through the effort of the
VRM. Conflicts between management and employees were settled without
having the participation of a third-party organization.
And, as our government, through our president, declares war
against drugs, the company also heeds the call. The company launches
LTP or the Life Transformation Program. Employees who were identified
by the government to be users and pushers of illegal drugs were enrolled
to this program to help them recover from their addiction. Through the
help of the Local Government Unit and Non-Government Organizations,
the company has successfully helped the lives of 44 employees.
All these programs are supported and funded by the company in
accordance to their dedication in caring the welfare of their employees.
Statement of the Problem
This study was conducted to look into the cultures that set apart
Mt. Kitanglad Agri-Ventures Inc. to its competition in the industry of how
it became a differentiating factor.
It further sought to answer the following questions:
14
1. What are the culture practices of the company?
2. What are the effects of the culture practices to the lives of the
employees?
3. What possible recommendations that can be proposed to help
sustain the company’s culture best practices?
Objectives
The paper primarily aims to:
1. Introduce the company cultures to the readers.
2. Identify the effects of company culture to the live of its employees.
3. Come up with possible recommendations that can be proposed to
help sustain the company’s culture best practices.
Figure 3 Packing house employees during Valentine’s Day in a boodle fight
15
Areas of Consideration
To further sustain the factors influencing the level of satisfaction of
the employees, the following were considered:
Manpower
80% of the total populace of Mt. Kitanglad Agri-Ventures Inc. is
regular employees which means they experience in full the benefits and
programs implemented by the company. 20% of it are casuals in which are
limited to the programs which are based on the company policies. The HR
oversees the programs and ensuring that the benefits of the employees are
properly imposed.
Money
Mt. Kitanglad Agri-Ventures Inc. has budget for every programs
proposed and implemented provided that these activities are of long term
existence and do have a great impact on the lives and families of each and
every employee. More than half of the employees believe also that the
company is one of the best companies to work with in terms of the culture
and compensation package, including the benefits. Thus, employees feel
job security as no mass resignation is felt by the HR.
₱ 160,000.00/year is allocated for the healthcare of the employee
and his/her beneficiaries. Aside from having PhilHealth, this initiative of
16
the company helps the personnel of the company settle the excess of their
hospital bills.
In scholarship program, ₱ 51,000.00 is budgeted for the college
scholars and ₱ 15,000.00 for the high school scholars. These are being
replenished yearly and is availed only through reimbursements.
Method
The management has established the Employee’s Handbook which
serves as a guide to the company’s policies and regulations. The handbook
also states the following information and qualifications in availing the
different programs and benefits of the company. Aside from that, memos
are being issued from time to time to keep the employees updated of any
changes or announcements in implementing these activities. The series of
training conducted both by the HR and the Environment Health and Safety
Departments are intended for continuous improvements of all employees.
These are in the forms of zero-waste managements, new policies of the
management and accident prevention measures.
As mentioned, it is the HR department that oversees and handles all
the cultures of the company that bears its unique and own identity. They
conducted information drive early in the morning to discuss these
programs, whether there are changes and also to solicit ideas from their
employees. it is vital that the methods of HRD should not hamper any
operations in the farms since the company’s product is perishable goods.
17
Machinery
Because of the full support of management in terms of monetary
aspect, the company does not have any problems in giving all the needed
machineries, facilities and equipment for the programs.
The company also is engaging in outsourcing. An example would be
hospitals and other health care facilities that conduct check-ups and
health monitoring for the employees and their families.
Management
The company’s Man-Com or Management Committee do have
frequent meetings to discuss all confidential issues that needs immediate
response and approval from the management. Based on the survey, more
than 70% agreed that the communication lines are functioning between
management and the employees.
One culture of the company is establishing the VRM (Values
Reconciliation Movement) wherein several employees from different
operations elected and chosen to represent their co-workers, meet with the
management on a monthly basis to discuss new ideas on how to develop
the existing cultural practices of the company.
18
Alternative Courses of Action
To be able to further enhance and develop the cultures practiced by
the company, the following courses of action are taken into account:
1. Enhance the Regular Information Drive. The HR initiates the “HR
Patrol” in which HR staffs do a roaming around the farms and spend
time with the employees and have a casual chit-chat of any
dilemmas they have in the company. The information drive covers
the dissemination of new programs and policies, including attending
to the immediate needs of the employees without any more spending
efforts to visit the HR office.
Advantage:
This is vital to keeping the workforce updated and
equipped with knowledge in fulfilling their individual tasks and
responsibilities. A better understanding of their contribution to the
success of the department will enable the employees to gain trust to
the management and to the programs they implemented.
Disadvantage: Short staffing is the main disadvantage of this ACA
since the standard rule is often 1.4 HR staff for every 100 employees.
2. Schedule a Regular Team building. The primary purpose of the
conduct of team building is to foster comradeship, teamwork, and
unity between Management and employees.
19
Advantage: This will create openness to both parties in terms of
communication regarding each and everyone’s work concerns. When
a company has good communication between its employees, it can
often avoid conflict as employees work through challenges.
Companies that are not transparent and do not disseminate
information well to everyone, typically have a hard time achieving
strong business results, or even staying in business.
Disadvantage:
If the event will be held outside the company, time
management would be the disadvantage. The company is far from
resorts and the travel alone would literally consume time which
shortens the event proper.
3. Connect with the Local Government Unit. The LGU plays a great role
in managing people not only to the employees of the different private
sectors but also to its whole population coverage. There are
programs already developed by the LGU which only needs support
from the major stakeholders of the community.
Advantage: Local government is responsible for a range of vital
services for people and businesses in defined areas. Among them are
well known functions such as social care, schools, housing and
20
planning and waste collection, but also lesser known ones such as
licensing, business support, registrar services and pest control.
Disadvantage: A major disadvantage of this ACA is the increase in
numbers of recipients for the said programs even if they are not
employees of Mt. Kitanglad Agri-ventures, Inc. As a result, the
company would resort to limitations and exclusivity of its programs
which could lead to negative feedback from the people.
Recommendations
After thorough observation of the data gathered from the survey,
more than half of the employees are satisfied in their job when they claim
that the company is one of the best companies to work with because of its
programs and benefits offered. Also, it shows that the company needs to
develop its interpersonal communication between Management and Rank
and File. From this finding, the researcher came up with this
recommendation.
ACA #1 Enhance Regular Information Drive The objective of the
company is to supply the best quality bananas in the market, and to
provide a good quality of life for its employees. The latter needs
improvement by also hearing from the employees of how the company can
21
address their needs, and this can be best achieved by developing
communication between employee and management.
ACA #2 Regular Team Building is the process of creating a team
that cohesively works together towards a common goal. The importance
and main purpose of team building is to create a strong team through
forming bonds and connections. Creating these bonds through team
building is very beneficial to businesses and organizations. The benefits of
team
building
include
increased
communication,
planning
skills,
employee motivation, and employee collaboration. Fun activities that help
people see each other in a different light allow them to connect in a
different setting. People on your team are asked to think about the
implications of these activities at their workplace.
ACA #3 Connect with the LGU (Local Government Unit) The main
goal of businesses is to make a profit and governments' goal is to ensure
economic stability and growth. Both of them are different but very codependent. For this, the government and organizations or businesses
always try to influence and persuade each other in many ways for various
matters. LGUs play a major role in a community's development, provide
the links between the people and government, address its community's
problems and concerns, enforce policies and hold influence over its
communities.
22
Table 1
PROGRAM OF ACTIVITIES
AREAS OF
TIME
OBJECTIV
FRAME
ES
ACTIVITY
CONCERN
PERSONS
RESPONSI
KPI
BUDGET
BLE
Conduct
“pulong-
To
Decreased
pulong” to
establish a
number of
inform
concrete,
Immediate
REGULAR
employees
Quarterly
and
INFORMATI of any
meeting
transparent
ON DRIVE
every year.
communica
updates in
policies and
tion within
programs
the
of the
company.
company.
employees
superiors,
Rank and
₱ 5,000/
File, HR
month
Departmen
t.
having
negative
thoughts
towards the
company.
23
To induce
openness of
communica
tion
Create fun
₱ 30,000 /
between
activities
REGULAR
that foster
employee
TEAM
BUILDING
relationshi
rank-and-
All
team
file with
personnel
building
Develop
per
activity.
efficiency in
superiors,
department
(transporta
workplace.
and to
.
tion, foods,
Once a year their
ps in a
different
promote
perspective
venue, etc.)
the
company’s
care to its
employees.
Increase in
PARTNERS
All
To help
activities of
secure the
HIP WITH
LGU that
LGU
needs
support.
Quarterly
All
employees’
personnel
₱ 10,000 /
positive
of the
activity
work
employees’
welfare
needs.
company
performanc
e
24
V.
Bibliography
a. Journals/Magazine
Perrine, John. 2013. Employee’s Handbook.
Davao City,
Philippines.
b. Internet Sources:
a. https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/why-company-cultureso-important-business-success-peter-ashworth/
b. http://smallbusiness.chron.com/key-functions-hrdepartment-31206.html.
Retrieved from Lisa Mooney. Retrieved on December 26,
2017.
c. https://www.indeed.com/career-advice/careerdevelopment/hr-to-employeeratio#:~:text=The%20standard%20rule%20is%20often%2
01.4%20HR%20staff%20for%20every%20100%20employe
es.
d. https://www.teambonding.com/6-reasons-for-teambuilding/#:~:text=Team%20building%20is%20the%20pro
cess,beneficial%20to%20businesses%20and%20organizat
ions.
25
e. https://www.local.gov.uk/about/what-localgovernment#:~:text=Local%20government%20is%20respo
nsible%20for,registrar%20services%20and%20pest%20co
ntrol.
f. http://www.whatishumanresource.com/humanresource-development
Retrieved from George Elton Mayo.
Retrieved on December 26, 2017.
26
Curriculum Vitae
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here
MARIA TAMPULANA
E-mail address
:
mariatampulana@yahoo.com
PERSONAL DETAILS:
Date of Birth
:
Place of Birth
:
Home Address
:
Civil Status
:
EDUCATIONAL BACKGROUND:
College
High School
Elementary
WORK EXPERIENCE:
From latest to oldest
PROFESSIONAL AFFILIATION: