For me, the best story teller is my mother, and her best story is all about the thread chain. She says that parents are pulling a thread connected to their kids; in some cases the thread is easy to pull, at times it goes wayward, and worst it gets cut along the way. The cut might be due to drugs, untimely serious relationship, pregnancy, destructive hobbies and many others. The story had a big impact in my life during my trying moments, I would often pray and promise myself that my thread will always be connected, and I would reach the finish line, - the graduation day, and so I did.
Now, that I work in the Field Office of the Department of Agriculture, I view the Regional Executive Director as the one pulling the thread, connected to his Assistant Directors, and from the assistants the thread is connected to the Division Chiefs and their respective staff. The thread chain becomes a symbol of interrelationship, power line, and systems. The people within the chain work to achieve one common goal. When there is resistance, emanated from an individual or a group whose goals are not in congruence with that of the agency or its head, the journey becomes tough, this divides or cut the thread and eventually affect the performance of the organization. Pulling the thread is a heavy task, but application of appropriate strategies which adapts to the environment and sensitive to the needs of the people within the chain makes it lighter and flowing.
The thread chain makes a system just like organization. A system composes of subsystems. When a subsystem malfunctioned the whole system is affected. This reflects the idea of Sharma (1990) as cited by Zaballa (2011) that “Systems” is an assemblage of interdependent elements or objects forming unified, organized whole. Thus, the sub-systems are interdependent and interrelated in terms of functions and activities mesh together as part of the process cycle to attain a pre-determined goal.
Reyes, J.C. 1995. Support Systems for R & D. University of the Philippines Open University.
Zaballa, M.C. 2011. Evaluation of PGMA in Masbate and Camarines Norte. Central Bicol State University of Agriculture.
Morgan, G. (1998). Images of Organization. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications. Walker Management Library: HD 31.M628
