MANAGEMENT BY OBJECTIVES

by Steven Patrick C. Fernandez

A theater company survives because its constituents share the reason for their company's existence. This reason is embodied in a direct, concrete, attainable, and specific statement we call the VISION. The VISION is the company's raison d'etre (reason for being). All other efforts including the organization of the company are aimed towards fulfilling this vision.

 

A VISION is a desired state that the organization or "community" aims to fulfill.

Observe how a company's characteristics relate to its VISION. The Philippine Educational Theater Association (PETA) is always associated with nationalist theater. PETA is the seminal spirit in Philippine theater that has used the theater for social change. Until today, original Filipino works that identify very closely with our concerns and ideals have been produced exceptionally well by PETA.

This image contrasts with that of another Philippine theater company - Repertory Philippines - which produces foreign works in English (mostly those produced in Broadway or London's West End). Rep wants to develop an audience that appreciates the best of these "commercial" theater fare. So, one associates dialogues and musicales in English with Rep. Rep occasionally produces classics like the works of William Shakespeare. At one time, it produced an original Filipino musicale using the same "Broadway" quality. Manila audiences usually belonging to the upper social brackets have been filling up Rep performances.

More "academic" than Rep is Dulaang U.P., the performing arm of the U.P. Theater Arts Department. Consequently, the Filipino audience associates world classics (in translation in English or Filipino) with the productions of D.U.P. (although original plays have regularly been produced by this company whose audiences come from the students of their Diliman campus).

Tanghalang Pilipino, resident theater of the Cultural Center of the Philippines, has a wide repertoire of originals, translations of foreign classics, and modern works. It seeks to enhance Filipino theater repertoire with aesthetically-superb productions in all genres. Quite different from TP is Bulwagang Gantimpala Theater Foundation that produces plays whose subjects are in the school curriculum. Plays adapted from works by Jose Rizal and Balagtas will be useful to a student audience required by their schools to watch. Such a strategy will certainly bring in the crowds.

Closer to home, Sining Kambayoka of the Mindanao State University uses Maranao folklore for theater. In Davao, the Kaliwat Theater Collective collects stories from indigenous communities. Kaliwat dramatizes these tales for "social action" objectives like in the indigenous people's struggles for the protection of their ancestral domain.

In dance, Ballet Philippines will obviously have a different "production image" than that of Ballet Manila or the Philippine Ballet Theater. Each will have its own signature styles not only because of the different artistic personalities of their leaders but also because of the different visions of companies. If former BP Artistic Director Agnes Locsin is relatively more innovative in the "modern" dance sense, BM principal dancer Liza Macuja-Elizalde strives to stick more closely to the Russian classical dance pedagogy she is more adept in.

I will now use as an example the Vision-Mission statements of our own company, the Integrated Performing Arts Guild (IPAG). Being our own and having experienced all these developments, I am more comfortable using this as our model. The conditions are also more local, thus more realizable than other models.

I will now use as an example the Vision-Mission statements of our own company, the Integrated Performing Arts Guild (IPAG). Being our own and having experienced all these developments, I am more comfortable using this as our model. The conditions are also more local, thus more realizable than other models.

Observe how more general the Vision statement is compared to the more-spread-out Mission statements. Much of the Mission Statements have already been achieved. I set out regular annual strategies to meet specific Objectives. These Objectives in turn fulfill the more longer-termed Mission. The Mission seeks to fulfill the ultimate Vision. For us, the Vision still remains a Vision. Slowly, we are getting to the V's fulfillment. Hopefully.

The objectives here are ours we wish fulfilled in two years. Note that objectives are kept in a time frame.

VISION
A professional performing arts company developed from and supported by the community

MISSION

1. a distinct form and popular alternative to commercial media that reflects national realities and integrated the plurality of expressions of the region's multifarious cultures

2. a highly motivated professional company of performers, researchers. trainors, cultural workers, and staff that produce works with the highest possible artistic standards and who man a center for performance, training, research, and operations

3. a regular sustained Season supported by a wide audience and a community of benefactors

OBJECTIVES
Repertory Programs
Produce the 28^th Repertory Season of Productions
Conduct in-base and outreach workshops
Develop 2^nd team or viable understudy-alternate group of performers, musicians, and staff members
Develop alternative venues for performances, rehearsals, and training
Enhance international and national touring repertoire

Administration
Evaluate and enhance Marketing System
Further expand regional and national audiences
Promote more aggressively productions and services
Network with fund agencies
Explore alternative fund-generating products and/or services

Finance
Earn Pxxx,xxx .00 to support Administration and Operations
Implement rules of collection and remittances
Implement compensation to the guild for services rendered by artists which services have been facilitated by Guild marketing
Collect due accounts
Partially fulfill ___ payments
Streamline financial operations with national laws

Personnel
Instill discipline and a culture of self-regulation in all work, as artists and member of the staff
Enhance artistic craft at par with the national best
Enhance morale with additional personnel benefits and other encouragements
Invite and/or recruit potential talents and workers
Enhance admin skills
Streamline personnel management with the national norms and laws

Operations
Review and evaluate the implemented system schemes: routine, seasonal, imperative, & special
Implement a quantifiable evaluation and feedback scheme
Review organizational structure for its viability and effectiveness