SEAMEO BIOTROP staff members received orientation on “Corporate Culture and Work Values” on 09 December 2010 at the Centre’s Matoa Room as part of the series of in-house seminar-workshop on “Building and Maintaining the SEAMEO BIOTROP Corporate Image.”

The seminar-workshop was aimed to (a) orient the participants on the concepts and principles of corporate cultures and values, (b) to build consensus among participants on the kind of corporate culture and essential work values to be maintained in the Centre, (c) asses their strengths and weaknesses of participants on the way they perform their office duties and responsibilities, and (d) formulate mini action plans to promote the corporate culture and values identified towards delivering quality performance and assuring customer satisfaction.

Facilitated by Dr. Jess C. Fernandez, Deputy Director for Programme and Marketing, the staff members came up with a tentative list of work values which they thought are necessary to help achieve the corporate image they envisioned for the Centre during the first seminar-workshop held on 18 November 2010.  The identified work values included  excellence, commitment, competence, responsibility, dependability, openness, teamwork, collaboration, respect, innovation, honesty, credibility, integrity, and continuous learning.  The staff members considered these work values as essential for SEAMEO BIOTROP to be known as a Centre that provides excellent service in research, training and information exchange that addresses regional concerns, has competent manpower, produces quality and relevant outputs, and has functional and well-maintained facilities and equipment.  These outputs will be revisited and serve as inputs during the strategic planning process that the Centre will undergo in 2011 for its 9th Five-Year Development Plan (2012-2016). (TT and JF)