DOI: 10.9790/487X-2208066069 www.iosrjournals.org 60 | Page IOSR Journal of Business and Management (IOSR-JBM) e-ISSN: 2278-487X, p-ISSN: 2319-7668. Volume 22, Issue 8. Ser. VI (August 2020), PP 60-69 www.iosrjournals.org A Study on the Management Styles among MSME Owners in the City of Manila Leonardo F. Cada, Jr.* *Dr. Leonardo F. Cada, Jr., Institute of Accounts, Business and Finance, Far Eastern University, Manila, Philippines. This study aims to identify the different managerial styles employed by owners of legitimate micro, small and medium enterprises (MSME) in different localities within the city of Manila in the day-to-day management and supervision of their enterprises. According to the Department of Trade and Industry of the Philippines (2003), micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) are defined as any business activity/enterprise engaged in industry, agribusiness/services, whether single proprietorship, cooperative, partnership, or corporation whose number of employees are categorized as follows: for micro enterprises, 1 – 9 employees; for small enterprise, 10 – 99 employees; and for medium enterprises, 100 – 199 employees. Out of the 99.6% MSMEs, the average micro-enterprises share 91.5 and the remainder is the share of SMEs. Unlike large firm, a micro, small or medium enterprise is managed by an individual who is usually the owner-manager. Management style in large firms is mostly systematic and procedural while MSMEs management and operation is flexible, personal and direct. This research used a self-assessment questionnaire formulated by two American psychologists Robert Blake and Jane Mouton. Face-to-face interviews were also administered to several MSME ownermanagers. The interviews revealed that owner-managers are inclined to being task-oriented and peopleoriented. However, women are more task-oriented than men. Based on the result of the self-assessment test the dominant management style among owner-managers is Team management. Field of Research: MSME, management styles ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------Date of Submission: 11-08-2020 Date of Acceptance: 27-08-2020 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ --------------- I. Introduction In most MSMEs, managers are the owners themselves of the business. They are the owner-chief executive officer of the business. They are often involved with vendors and customers. They would be in-charge of financial control and reporting system and they tend to supervise operations and handle personnel decisions (Chaganti, Cook, Smeltz 2002). The Department of Trade and Industry (2003) defined micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) as any business activity/enterprise engaged in industry, agribusiness/services, whether single proprietorship, cooperative, partnership, or corporation whose number of employees are categorized as follows: for micro enterprises, 1 – 9 employees; for small enterprise, 10 – 99 employees; and for medium enterprises, 100 – 199 employees. With a growing population of around 86 million and close proximity to other Asian markets, the Philippines is strategically appealing (Philippine National Statistics Office 2002) to local and foreign investors. According to Sison (2003, p. 6) since the mid 1990s, the Philippines has been described as Asia's newest "tiger cub". New technologies, workplace innovation, creative management, and productivity enhancement approaches have been introduced in recent years. This study would like to find out the management styles common to owner-managers of MSMEs. This study would like to seek as well between genders that are more incline to the common type of management style. Records show from the National Statistics Coordination Board (2010), that Filipino men registrants of business in the National Capital Region i were 36,986, while Filipino women registrants were 40,635. While more established business are owned by men (66%), there are more budding entrepreneurs (69%) and new business owners (51%) among women (Global Entrepreneurship Monitor 2010). Out of the 99.6% MSMEs, the average micro-enterprises share 91.5 and the remainder is the share of SMEs. MSNEs owner-managers differ in their managerial styles. Between male owner-manager and female owner-manager who prefers to be more concern with task rather than people? In one study conducted management of SMEs demonstrated significant concern for both the task and people dimension of their work (Moates and Kulonda 1990 as cited by Fazzari and Mosca 2009). A study conducted by Mujtaba and Balboa (2009) among Filipino managers revealed that Filipinos were sensitive, highly personal in their ways, family oriented, want to be noticed, give deference to superior, expect to be guided by their superior, and paternalistic. DOI: 10.9790/487X-2208066069 www.iosrjournals.org 61 | Page A Study on the Management Styles among MSME Owners in the City of Manila The present study will be divided into five (5) sections including the introductory part followed by literatures review; methodology, which covers four (4) sub-sections; findings and discussion; and, summary and conclusion. II. Literature Review Business and economies of the world are not just dominated by big corporations. MSMEs presence is also visible and relevant in almost all industries. Every organization regardless of size and structure vary in terms of management styles carried out by manager. The basis for this study relies primarily on the work of Beaver (2003 as cited by Valdiserri and Wilson, 2010), Tamangan, Josef and Habito (2004), Lee, Lim, Tan (2002) which according to these scholars managerial skill is a critical factor in the survival of small business. Such skill is not only necessary for American entrepreneurs but also for Asian entrepreneurs. Their works show that the primary cause of small business failure was management incompetence. As there are many small business which folded up there are new ones spring out. The scientific perspectives of Cohoon, Wadhwa and Mitchell (2010), Glen (1994), and Analoui and Karami (2003) are also the basis of groundwork of this present study. According to these scholars successful men and women entrepreneurs share similar motivation. Further to their findings revealed that there is no statistically significant difference in the life circumstances of successful men and women entrepreneurs. Accordingly, men and women entrepreneurs are similar in every aspect (Cohoon, Wadhwa & Mitchell 2010). This present study would like to know if those findings are true among men and women entrepreneurs in the City of Manila. What management style would Filipino MSME owners reveal in this present study? MSMEs are flexible and dynamic. Compare with larger business enterprises, small business are less restricted and bounded by systems and procedures. Management style of business owners in the Philippines can be characterized as formal, relaxed, sensitive, paternalistic, dense, loyal, indirect, ningas kogon ii and trustworthy (Sison 2003 as cited by Munoz, Raven and Welch 2005). It is also matriarchal (Roffey 2000). Filipinos identify leader/manager with benevolence because of value of personalism. As claimed by Andres (1989) Filipino managers' appeal to their subordinates must be preceded by personal contact. They supervise their people with deep respect for the cultural norms; they are always person-oriented; they never lose sight of the importance of the person in the organization and business (Andres 1985). 3.1The Managerial Grid III. Methodology This study will operate using the framework which became known in the field of management since it was introduced by two U.S. psychologists namely, Robert Blake and Jane Mouton. This managerial framework was named before them and was called the Blake and Mouton Managerial Grid. It was developed in 1964 while they were acting as consultants in an American company. Since its introduction it became a tool for management development which the authors themselves conducted to more than 160 companies of Fortune's 200 largest corporations. The Grid uses two axis, concern for people and concern for production. Concern for production and people were both measured on a scale of one to nine, with nine being high. The reason a people axis was necessary is that managers achieve things indirectly. They do not produce products by themselves; rather they organize others so that the production line can be productive. The Managerial Grid is an important construct for managerial and leadership behaviour. It has a well established empirical basis (Coghlan 2000). The Managerial Grid includes an 18 set of questions. From the grid emerge five key managerial styles (Blake and Mouton 1967; 1972): Impoverished management style: In this style, managers have low concern for both people and production. Managers use this style to preserve job and job seniority, protecting themselves by avoiding getting into trouble. The main concern for the manager is not to be held responsible for any mistakes, which results in less innovative decisions. Country club management style: This style has a high concern for people and a low concern for production. Managers using this style pay much attention to the security and comfort of the employees, in hopes that this will increase performance. The resulting atmosphere is usually friendly, but not necessarily very productive. The dictatorial/authoritative/task management sty: With a high concern for production, and a low concern for people, managers using this style find employee needs unimportant; they provide their employees with money and expect performance in return. Managers using this style also pressure their employees through rules and punishments to achieve the company goals. Middle-of-the-road management style: balance and compromise. Managers using this style try to balance between company goals and workers' needs. By giving some concern to both people and production, DOI: 10.9790/487X-2208066069 www.iosrjournals.org 62 | Page A Study on the Management Styles among MSME Owners in the City of Manila managers who use this style hope to achieve suitable performance but doing so gives away a bit of each concern so that neither production nor people needs are met. Team management style: contribute and commit. In this style, high concern is paid both to people and production. This method relies heavily on making employees feel themselves to be constructive parts of the company. As revealed by Blake and Mouton study (1967), concern for task and concern for people relationship in the Grid constitutes the universal value. That is, Japanese managers, just as American or British managers, agree that 9, 9 is the soundest basis for a human relationship in the context of production. According to Brolley (1967), it would be possible to locate, in whole number coordinates, 81 different managerial styles on the 9X9 grid. The purpose however is not to appraise managers according to the exact proportion of concern for production or concern for people shown. It is, rather, to provide a framework for the analysis of the assumptions that underlie various managerial styles and the kind of behaviour that stems from these assumptions. Management style is the preferred way of managing people that has been adopted either by an individual or by the whole organization or a department within the organization (Dictionary of Human Resource Management 2001). Management on the other hand, is the process of coordinating work activities so that they are completed efficiently and effectively and through other people (Robbins & Coulter 2004; Bateman & Snell 2008). Stokes (1998) claimed that MSMEs owners are self-employed individuals. They have autonomy in decision making. They are experts in their own right and they are creative inventors. Respondents in this study will respond in the survey in two ways: one is through the questionnaire and the other one is through face-to-face interview. Hesse-Biber & Libby' study revealed that (as cited in Webber and Byrd 2010), face-to-face in-depth interviews offer a way to explore people's lives and the contexts in which they make decisions and yield "thick descriptions" of social life. The significance of this study will give the readers the understanding of the various approaches of MSMEs owners in dealing with their employees, customers, suppliers, competitors and the challenges in the day-to-day operation of their businesses. The last question in the interview poses with the question how they look at the future of MSMEs. Policy makers would be guided what is really the relevant and the need of time especially at the grass root level given the statistics and contribution of micro, small and medium enterprises to economy. This study will also provide educational institutions and business training centres a better view of management concepts in local setting. It will help them in the formulation of business curriculum and training programs. 3.2 Subject/Participants The respondents in this study were the male and female entrepreneurs from the ten localities within the city of Manila. Most number of respondents came from three local commercial areas namely, Sampaloc area, Sta. Cruz area and lastly, Quiapo area. There were 48 micro enterprises, fourteen small enterprises and none of medium enterprises. The industry sectors covered by the survey were retail/wholesale, hotel and restaurant, financial and real estate, business services, and community/social/personal. Out of 62 respondent MSME owners 40 were female and 22 were female; 26 were single and 36 were married. Respondents were purposively identified. The 62 MSME owners were the predefined group in the survey. Two batches of questionnaire were fielded to different commercial areas of Manila. The first batch was 50 questionnaires and the second batch was 25 questionnaires. The purpose of this measure is to augment the possibility of questionnaires being lost or misplaced or filled incomplete by the respondents. 3.3 Instrument The Blake and Mouton Managerial Grid Questionnaire is a self-assessment questionnaire containing eighteen sets of questions. The grid is a graphical framework within which various theories of management style can be explained and interrelated. The horizontal axis indicates concerns for production while the vertical axis indicates concern for people. Each is expressed as nine-point scale of concern. The number 1 in each instance represents minimum concern. The number 9 represents maximum concern. This is done by plotting concern for production against concern for people, on the grid base on the scores formulated out of the questionnaire (Blake and Mouton 1964, 1967, 1972, 1985). The 18-set of questions were equally divided into two categories. Questions number 1, 4, 6, 9, 10, 12 14, 16, and 17 are questions for "concern for people" while questions number 2, 3, 5, 7, 8, 11, 13, 15 and 18 are questions for "concern for task". The total for each category will be multiplied by 2 and the product will be the score to be plotted horizontally and vertically in a 9-scale graph. Respondents will score each question using numeric rating with equivalent Likert scale: 0-1 Never; 2-3, Sometimes; and, 4-5, Always. For Impoverished management scores are 1,1 to 4,4; Authoritarian/Task scores are people 1 to 4 and task 5 to 9; Middle-of-the-Road scores are 5,5; Country club management scores are people 5 to 9 and task 14 ; and Team management scores are 6,6 to 9,9. DOI: 10.9790/487X-2208066069 www.iosrjournals.org 63 | Page A Study on the Management Styles among MSME Owners in the City of Manila As a self-assessment questionnaire, it provides owner-managers inventory of their practices. The inventory provides a total score for each of the two categories. The survey provides owner-managers with information about the way they manage -or would manage fewer than two categories: concern for people and concern for task. The inventory provides a total score for each of the two categories. 3.4 Procedure Most of the surveys were administered personally by the proponent. Some questionnaires were administered by competent faculty-colleague within their localities. A number of surveys were conducted by senior students whose parents and relatives have businesses. During the retrieval several questionnaires were either incomplete in information or provided wrong demographic profiles. The general reception of the respondents was warm and receptive. Although there were few MSMEs owners who were willing to contribute at first but later decided to forego. Pilot testing was administered among five SMEs. These were a fast food, a Xerox stall, a consumer cooperative, one convenient store and an eatery. According to McIntire and Miller (2007), it is very important that when conducting a pilot test, developers strictly go by the instructions that they have developed for the test. It is a good idea for test developers to gather information from the examinees of the pilot test and interview them as to their thought on whether or not the instructions were easy to understand, were they given enough time to complete the test or they feel rushed, etc. this could help test developers when revising the test. On the average, finishing one questionnaire took 30-45 minutes. Three examinees took longer minutes finishing the questionnaire because in-between reading and answering, they attend to their customers. After the examinees finish the questionnaire, another set of the same questionnaire was given to them. The examinees were asked to rate each statement, using the scale whether they clearly understand, understand, or not clearly understand the statement in terms of content and sentence structure. Questionnaires were translated in Filipino language. After the two sets of questionnaires were administered, each item was analyzed in order to compare the performance of those who scored high with those who scored low. The analysis would provide information that would help increase the consistency of the questionnaire. Both questionnaires contained 18 sets of questions. Side-by-side, each item of the two same set of questionnaires were examined. The examinees in the pilot testing were either owner or manager of their respective business. Based on personal inquiries, not all SME owners have attained or finished college education. Some were only elementary graduates. Others only finished secondary education. This is the reason why the questionnaire was translated in Filipino language. Based from the rating gathered from the second set of questionnaire, a Filipino professor of the Institute of Arts and Sciences from Far Eastern University was consulted for the translation of the English questions into Filipino language. On the qualitative part, two central questions were formulated each with five specific questions. Facetoface interviews were conducted to five MSME owners. These enterprises were water station with food stall, tailoring and haberdashery, optical shop, consumer and credit cooperative, and water station with drugstore. They were asked two central questions: what encourage them to put their businesses and how they look at the future of their businesses. Prior to conducting interviews interview guide, schedule that includes specific questions, topics of interest, or some combination of these are sent to the prospects. Although there are fixed set of questions in a systematic order and with specific wording, this approach allows only the interviewee responses to guide the interaction and helps shape the order and structure of the interview. Follow-up questions or probes are also intended to solicit additional comments from the interviewee. According to Maxwell (2005 as cited by Webber and Byrd 2010), the primary goal of using an interview guide is to balance the systematic collection of data with the flexibility needed to tap respondent's understandings. Out of the six prospects, only five of them find time to accommodate the proponent's request. Four of the five interviewees were male. Two interviewees have their respective businesses inherited from their parents. One interviewee was involved in business operation since its pioneering years in 1964. An average of 45 minutes was spent in each interviewee. Each one was given the convenience of answering each question and provided time to express their personal notes and remarks at the end of the interview. Responses were recorded in a cassette recorder. Recording also make use of note taking to strengthen the authenticity of the responses. IV. Findings/Discussion Based on the self-assessment of the respondents, results have revealed that the common management style among all MSME owners was Team Management style. The score for team management style ranges from 6, 6 to 9, 9. It means strong on both tasks and people skills. As suggested by the propositions of Theory Y by Douglas McGregor (1960), managers choosing to use this style encourage teamwork and commitment among DOI: 10.9790/487X-2208066069 www.iosrjournals.org 64 | Page A Study on the Management Styles among MSME Owners in the City of Manila employees. This method relies heavily on making employees feel themselves to be constructive parts of the company. Table 1: Comparison of management styles of respondents according to gender Management Style Gender Male Female Impoverish - Task /Authoritarian - 3 Middle-of-the-road 8 8 Country club - Team 14 29 Figure 1: Scatter diagram of management style of MSME owner-managers. Out of 22 male owner-managers, 64% (14 males) got high scores on both concern for task and people. For female owner-managers, 73% (29 out of 40 females) got high scores on task and people. As shown in the table, there is a changed of trend in business management. Female entrepreneurs today are more tasked oriented and authoritative. The scatter diagram shows the area of concentration of management styles among Filipino MSME owners, which is team management (from 6, 6 to 9, 9.) Although the number of female under task/authoritarian is not big and not enough representation of the population, the number is material to the findings of literatures. The goal in self-assessment of management style is to be at least in the middle-of-the-road that is to score at least 5 for people and 5 for task. An improvement from this style would lead to team management. Managers whose scores fall under team management style lead by positive example. They endeavor to foster a team environment so that all team members can reach their highest potential, both as team members and as people. They encourage the team to reach team goals as effectively as possible, while also working tirelessly to strengthen the bonds among the various members. They normally form and lead some of the most productive teams (Dictionary of Business and Management 2006). According to Bolton Report, United Kingdom (1971, as cited by Stokes 1998), there is more harmony between owner-manager and employees in small enterprise than in larger firm. The managerial grid test depicted that small business owner-managers with significant concern for both the task and people dimension of their work which, the same was demonstrated in the findings of Moates & Kulonda (1990 as cited by Fazzari & Mosca 2009). Although female entrepreneurs were more tasked oriented than male entrepreneurs, the former performed their functions in the business as guides. Their successes in business were associated for being the family mainstays. They fulfill time consuming demands of competitive business leadership while simultaneously meeting family obligation (Roffey 2000). According to Analoui and Azhdar (2003) SME owner-managers need to balance their self-related skills with the other two categories of managerial skills: people and task related skills. DOI: 10.9790/487X-2208066069 www.iosrjournals.org 65 | Page A Study on the Management Styles among MSME Owners in the City of Manila Although entrepreneurship has stereotypically masculine image (Cohoon, Wadhwa & Mitchell 2010; Roffey 2000), women has the highest share of self-employment in business in Europe (Giovannelli, Gunnsteinsdottis & Me 2001), in Canada (Small Business Policy Branch Industry 2002-2003), and in Asia and the Philippines (Tamangan, Josef and Habito 2004; NCSB 2010). Women entrepreneurs as tasked oriented managers are the weightlifter of the business world (Hamm 2002). With face-to-face interviews, interviewees' point of views on why they do what they do was ascertained. The researcher captures the ways respondents describe and explain their decisions, actions, and interactions with others. Collecting data in this way makes it possible to examine and interpret the motivations behind respondents' actions and identify the various constraints they face. According to Hesse-Biber & Leavy (2006 as cited in Webber and Byrd 2010), by understanding and contrasting respondents' motivations and explanations for their behavior, the researcher can understand the meanings of the social phenomena under study. The two central questions were divided into distinct categories. Responses were summarized according to category. The first central question has three categories while the second central question has four categories. Table 2: First central question (What encourages you to put up this kind of business?) Category Responses 1 Motivation and support inherited from parents; people and market needs; future financial contingencies; pioneering work; personal motivation; financial support from parents; advises from friends. 2 Training, seminar and management family training; college education; personal sourcing; government provided training; self-help books and inputs from friends; via franchising. 3 Resistance, opposition and discouragement there were customer-patients of her parents who do not like her for being young and inexperienced; negative impressions from neighbors and competitors; Analysis of the qualitative part, first central question category 1 harmonized with the findings on the Cohoon, Wadhwa & Mitchell (2010) which showed more than half of all respondents of both sexes cited all five reasons as factors in their becoming entrepreneurs. Their study was conducted in the United States covering 549 respondents, or about 40 percent of the entrepreneur-founders from randomly selected high-tech companies who were invited to participate. The data were collected in 2008-2009. The five reasons are: 1. The desire to build wealth 2. The wish to capitalize on business ideas they had 3. The appeal of start-up culture 4. A long-standing desire to own their own company 5. Working for someone else did not appeal to them Further, encouragement was especially important to women compared to men. From the interview conducted to five MSME owner-managers, two interviewees inherited their businesses from their parents. Their motivations emerged probably from their desires to continue own the business; that working for someone else did not appeal to them. And since their parents were the ones who started the business, they want to perpetuate what their parents have started. Another motivations like future financial contingencies; pioneering work; personal motivation; financial support from parents were all fall under reasons number 1and 2. Cohoon, Wadhwa & Mitchell (2010) furthermore revealed that in a statistically significant difference, women, more than men, believe that prior experience is crucial. Many women believe that a track record is particularly valuable under these conditions because it demonstrates their competence. The following responses provided by five interviewees in category 2 speaks that family training, college education, personal sourcing, institutional provided training, self-help books/inputs from friends; and seminar in franchising were crucial in putting up their businesses. Out of these things, they can get and gained prior knowledge and experiences which are necessary in becoming entrepreneurs. Although there was only one female interviewee, it can be speculated that the same was true for male interviewees. In category 3, the responses were just typical to anyone who will start a business. While a fire is burning in the heart of a soon-to-be entrepreneur, downbeat comments and negative criticism whether solicited or unsolicited from different groups and individuals cannot be avoided. According to one of the interviewees "walang masama kung subukan" (there is no harm in trying). The world has three kinds of people, said George DOI: 10.9790/487X-2208066069 www.iosrjournals.org 66 | Page A Study on the Management Styles among MSME Owners in the City of Manila Bernard Shaw: those who make things happen, those who watch what happens, and those who wonder what happened. Strategy gurus Hamel and Prahalad (1994 as cited by Bateman and Crant 1999) make the same point- -about companies, not people--with their own metaphor: On the road to the future, there are drivers, there are passengers, and there is road kill. The key differentiator among these distinctions is the extent to which behavior--of people and firms--is proactive. Managers everywhere are exhorted to "be proactive," and companies are urged to create their futures proactively. Most recently, Robert Kelley (1998 as cited by Bateman and Crant 1999) highlights initiative and other proactive behaviors as the keys that distinguish better performers from average performers. Table 3: Second central question (How do you look at the future of your business given today's business climate?) Category Responses 1 Price and competition level-up or down with the price of competitors; make a way to go with competition – sometimes it's tough, at times it's not. 2 Customers' maintenance give-in to special request of customers; personalized service; listen to customers' feedback; good quality service; no restrictions. 3 Business barriers, trends and plans with growing demands in tailoring business vis-a-vis RTWs; surviving and thriving; took five months of break-even sales; with plans of expansion and change location in water business; customers are increasing in number; cooperative enterprise is now a surviving business; 4 Government support low rental on government owned stall but generally no support whatsoever from agencies of the government. Analysis of second central question reflects the perceptions of MSMEs owner-managers. How do you look at the future of your business given today's business climate? Although the number of interviewees was not sufficient representation of the population to take notice of their observations and opinions, their responses were material in establishing data and information necessary to validate the findings of some literatures. As regard categories 1 and 2, which pertain to price and competition; and, customers' maintenance, it validates the results of the study made by Muñoz, Raven and Welsh (2005), which revealed that Filipino shoppers with more experience tend to expect higher service quality and perceive that it was delivered. This has implications for retailers in communicating and delivering service quality as shoppers become more experienced and discerning. Filipino retailers delivering higher service quality than their competition should have more loyal customers. The interviewees as owner-managers have to level-up or down with the price of competitors; make a way to go with competition even though sometimes it's tough. "Customer is king; customer is always right". These were business maxims introduced by the Western capitalists, which Filipino entrepreneurs have adopted. Responses of the interviewees such as give-in to special request of customers; personalized service; listen to customers' feedback; good quality service; no restrictions reflects the core of such maxims. Under category 3, business barriers, trends and plans, three interviewees revealed that they were experiencing growing demands in their products and services. They plan to expand in the near future. They were thriving as their customer based was increasing. One interviewee was experiencing difficulty in operation due to rental constraint. The other interviewee disclosed his negative outlook on his enterprise. After his long years of involvement in the operation of the business, this year seems not favorable and the surge of business environment is turning harmful toward the operation. According to him, the enterprise at present is thriving. Despite the important roles that SMEs provided in the growth and development of the Asian economies, much of their potential may not be realized due to a number of constraints plaguing the SMEs which are varied and complex (Lee, Lim and Tan 2002). Barriers are faced by SMEs in Asia (Lee, Lim & Tan 2002), Europe (Giovanelli, Gunnsteinsdottir & Me 2001; Stokes 1998) and in the United States (Analoui & Karami 2003): 1. Lack or inadequacy of R & D; lack of technical competencies. 2. Difficulties in marketing and distribution; failure to diversify markets. 3. Owner-managers tend to concentrate on immediate day-to-day problems overlooking the wider, often long term issues; one person management. 4. Low level of productivity; operate in a relatively small customer base. DOI: 10.9790/487X-2208066069 www.iosrjournals.org 67 | Page A Study on the Management Styles among MSME Owners in the City of Manila 5. Difficulties in renting or building suitable production plants in areas where skilled labor and adequate supply of utilities are available. 6. Inadequate access to financing institutions; high credit costs because of inadequate collateral; expansion beyond resources. 7. Higher purchase costs of materials because of the small quantities ordered; and difficulties in substituting local products. Category 4 under second central question was inquired from the interviewees regarding government support. Four out of five interviewees responded on the negative. According to Ruane (2007), in the Philippines, government support to SME looks very good on paper. Specific legislation like Republic Act 6977: Magna Carta for Small Enterprises, signed in 1991; amended as Republic Act 8289 in 1996; RA 9178, better known as the Barangay Micro Business Enterprises (BMBEs) Act of 2002, government institutions such as the Department of Trade and Industry/Bureau of Small and Medium Business Development/ Small and Medium Enterprise Development (SMED) Council, the SME Unified Lending Opportunities for National Growth (SULONG) programme, and institutions that provide credit or credit guarantee to SMEs give the impression that the government pays careful attention and takes sufficient action to encourage SMEs. That the government would purposely choose to give such impression is not surprising for a number of reasons. First, there is a "bandwagon effect". Since other countries in the region and elsewhere have similar programs (again, at least on paper), the Philippines or for that matter any other country would look very bad should it choose not to have an SME program. Second, because it is difficult to deny how important SMEs are as an effective means to achieve both economic and social goals, no government would choose to appear unsupportive of SMEs. Third, the government might also have a tendency to "maximize external support", including those provided by international organizations to support SME development. To the extent that these programs allow the government access to resources (often, financial and technical) whose use could not be perfectly monitored, acting in a way to attract these resources give the impression of being supportive of SMEs. As stated by Leano (2006), the various initiatives, programmes and incentives that the government has implemented under the National SME Agenda have resulted in varying degrees of success. Thousands of entrepreneurs have already benefited from the programmes and succeeded in their undertakings. The success seems not felt at the grass root level where many enterprises belong to micro category whose resources are the least of all business entities. MSME owner-managers could only surmise policymakers' intention to assist SMEs tends to be less than genuine. As Ruane stated (2007), "Conflict of interest" among government officials gets in the way. Since a number of policymakers are linked to large enterprises by ownership or production relation (either as supplier or customer), one would expect policymakers to use their political influence to channel support toward their own commercial interests and away from SMEs. V. Summary and Conclusion MSME owner-managers, while looking after the ultimate goal of every business which is profit, would not take for granted their relationship with their crew, staff or workers. While it was true as observed by Andres (1985), management styles by Filipinos may not attain at such a quick pace the material progress their Western and Oriental counterparts have gained, however, they surely have attained a high degree of human progress together with a modicum of material progress. Today, Filipino male and female are the ones providing leadership and management in business. Management style for Filipino MSMEs was characterized by culture, norms and traditions. As revealed by Mujtaba & Balboa (2009), because of the high context culture Filipinos were putting more emphasis on the relationship orientation as well as task orientation, which both variables got high range and moderately high range scores from the study they conducted among Filipinos. Although one of the barriers for the growth of MSMEs is lack of managerial skill, Filipino MSME owner-managers never lost sight in managing the day-to-day operation of the business without sacrificing relationship with their crews, staff or workers. Culture, norms and orientation make Filipinos task oriented and people oriented. By self-assessment survey as shown in the table and scatter diagram MSME owner-managers are high on people and task concerns. In the male dominated and stereotype masculine world of small business women presence are becoming visible and relevant factor in the economic growth of the nation. Women roles at home and in the family made them more task oriented than men when it comes to management of the business. While this study relies mostly on self-reported data gathered through questionnaires and interviews, the researcher is always cautious so as to avoid biases while examining each and every data. Other limitations were contained in the number of units of analysis. Since the sample size was small, results and findings may not be DOI: 10.9790/487X-2208066069 www.iosrjournals.org 68 | Page A Study on the Management Styles among MSME Owners in the City of Manila adduced and generalized to a greater majority of MSME owners in the City of Manila. Manila being the capital of the Philippines has thousands of registered micro, small and medium enterprises. Availability of prior research studies were very little from the shelves of several higher educational institutions, which could have lay down the very foundation in understanding and investigating the research problem. Hence, further research is necessary to corroborate the findings from this study. Further study may be directed toward team management style of Filipino MSME owners in relation to how they manage the resources of their business enterprises. A Resource-Based View iii analysis would be appropriate to better enhance the findings in this study. Endnotes i National Capital Region, otherwise known as Metro Manila is the center of Luzon and the capital region of the Philippines. Unlike the other 17 Philippine regions, NCR does not have any provinces. It is composed of 16 cities – namely the City of Manila itself, Caloocan, Las Pinas, Makati, Malabon, Mandaluyong, Marikina, Muntinlupa, Navotas, Pasay, Pasig, Paranaque, Quezon City, San Juan, Taguig, Valenzuela – and the municipality of Pateros. Metro Manila is bounded by the Cordillera Mountains on the east, Laguna de Bay on the southeast, Central Luzon on the north and Southern Tagalog Region on the south. http://www.philippine-islands.ph/en/national_capital_region-philippines.html ii Ningas kugon refers to the Filipino cultural trait of very enthusiastically starting things, but then quickly losing enthusiasm soon after. http://tagaloglang.com/Tagalog-English-Dictionary/English-Translation-of-Tagalog-Word/kugon.html iii Resource-Based View is an approach to achieving competitive advantage that emerged in 1980s and 1990s, after the major works published by Wernerfelt, B. ("The Resource-Based View of the Firm"), Prahalad and Hamel ("The Core Competence of The Corporation"), Barney, J. ("Firm resources and sustained competitive advantage") and others. 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