Professionalism among licensed security guards at major commercial centers in Iloilo City: Revisiting RA 5487

Abstract

Summary of findings, conclusions and recommendations

This is the concluding chapter of the study and presents a summary of findings, conclusions and recommendations.

The Research Problem

The purpose of the study was to determine the reasons for the prevailing behavior of many security guards which are not in keeping with the code of conduct and ethical standards prescribed by law. What factors could possibly explain the behavior of security guards? Along this line, the study aims to determine the perceived level of professionalism among security guards assigned at three commercial centers in Iloilo City.

Summary of the Findings

Most of the security guards were males, married, and had some college education or college degrees. Most of them were earning a net monthly income of Php5, 001- Php8,000. Most of the guards have been in service as guards for 6 years or less, and to the nature of assignments, the biggest number of security guards were assigned as store guards. The mean number of training attended by them was 2.11, which means that security guards were adequately trained in providing security services.

The majority of the respondents were required by the security agencies to undergo both interview and written examination before they were hired. The most common training they attended were job orientation and “on the job training” before they were given their new post assignments. The majority of them were assigned at the commercial center which contracted the services off our security agencies. More than three-fourths of them were supervised by an organic security department/unit.

Their level of knowledge about RA 5487 was moderate, but they have favorable” attitude towards RA 5487. Majority of the security guards were found to have a “high” level of professionalism. (What were they most knowledgeable about and the least knowledgeable about).

The guards’ level of knowledge about RA 5487 was not influenced by their personal characteristics. Regardless of age, educational attainment, sex, civil status and monthly net income, their level of knowledge on their role and functions as mandated by RA 5487 remained moderate. No significant relationship was found between their personal characteristics and their level of knowledge on RA 5487 and their.

The data further show that there was no significant relationship between respondents’ work characteristics and their level of knowledge on RA 5487. Regardless of the number of years of service as security guard, their nature of assignment, number of trainings attended in the last three years, entry requirements, and pre-deployment requirements, the guards level of knowledge on their role and functions mandated by RA 5487 was also moderate.

Similarly, the data show that there was no significant relationship between the characteristics of the commercial center where the security guards were assigned, such as: number of security agencies contracted by the commercial centers, the presence or absence of an organic security department and their level of knowledge on RA 5487. Regardless of the number of security agencies contracted by the commercial centers and whether there was an organic security department or not, the guards’ level of knowledge about their role and functions mandated by RA 5487 was moderate.

There was also no significant relationship between respondents’ personal characteristics and their level of attitude towards RA 5487. The data show that regardless of respondents’ age, educational attainment, sex, civil status, monthly net income, the guards’ attitude towards RA 5487 was “favorable.” No significant relationship was also found between the guards’ length of service as security guard, nature of assignment, number of trainings attended in the last three years, entry requirements, pre-deployment requirements and their level of attitude towards RA 5487. Their attitude was not also influenced by the characteristics of the commercial center, they were assigned in.

The data further reveal that there was no significant relationship between the security guards’ age, educational attainment, sex, civil status, net monthly income and their level of professionalism. Regardless of their personal characteristics, their level of professionalism in the conduct of their role and functions as security guards was high. Their level of professionalism also remained consistently high regardless of their length of service as security guards and their number of trainings attended in the last three years.

A significant relationship, however, was found between the respondents’ nature of assignments, entry requirements/pre-deployment requirements prescribed by the security agencies and their level of professionalism. Security guards who were required to pass both written examination/interview and undergo both on the job training/job orientation had higher level of professionalism in the conduct of their role and functions as security guards than those who were required only either of the two requirements and those who had attended only wither of the two trainings.

The data further show that the characteristics of the commercial center where the guards were assigned, such as: number of security agencies contracted to provide security services, presence / absence of an organic security department were not significantly related to the respondents’ level of professionalism. Moreover, regardless of whether the commercial center had an organic security department or not, how many security agencies are contracted by the commercial center, the guards still had high professionalism.

No significant relationship was also found between the guards’ level of knowledge on RA 5487 and their attitude towards RA 5487, and between their level of knowledge and their level of professionalism in the conduct of their role and functions as security guards, as well as between attitude and their level of professionalism.

When the effect of attitude was controlled, the relationship between level of knowledge and level of professionalism of the guards remained to be not significant. The regression analysis between all the independent variables and intervening variables and the guards’ level of professionalism, the following were found to be significant determinants of level of professionalism:

1) respondents’ monthly net income, 2) entry requirements which requires applicants to passed both the written examination and interview, and 3) pre-deployment requirements which requires newly hired-security guards to undergo both on the job training and job orientation.

The result of the regression analysis also revealed that the most important determinants of respondents’ level of professionalism were: passing both written examination and interview and undergoing both on the job training and job orientation.

Conclusions:

Based of the findings of the study, the following conclusions are drawn:

1. The respondents’ level of knowledge about and their attitude towards RA 5487 are not influenced by the guards’ personal characteristics and work-related characteristics. Whatever their personal and work-related characteristics are, their level of knowledge about RA 5487 is consistently moderate and their attitude towards it remains favorable.

2. The security guards’ level of knowledge about RA5487 and their attitude towards it are also independent of the characteristics of the commercial center where the guards were assigned, such as the number of security agencies contracted by the commercial centers and the presence or absence of an organic security department. Irrespective of what the characteristics of the commercial centers were, their level of knowledge about RA 5487 remains to be moderate and their attitudes towards it remains favorable.

3. The security guards’ level of professionalism is independent of their personal and work-related characteristics. Their age, educational attainment, sex, civil status and monthly net income, their length of service as security guards and their number of trainings attended in the last three years have no significant bearing in their level of professionalism in the conduct of their role and functions as prescribed in RA 5487.

4. The security guards’ level of professionalism is not independent of their work related characteristics. Those who underwent both written examination / interview and both on the job training / job orientation had shown higher professionalism as compared to those who were only required to pass one requirement.

5. The number of security agencies contracted by the commercial centers and presence of an organic security unit tasked to supervise the performance of contracted security agencies have no bearing on the guards’ level of professionalism. Regardless whether there was an organic security department or not, majority of them had shown the same high professionalism in the conduct of their role and functions as security guards. In the same manner, regardless of the number of security agencies contracted to provide security services, majority of the respondents had also shown the same high level of professionalism.

6. The security guards level of knowledge on RA 5487 has no bearing on their level of professionalism, which that having better knowledge on RA 5487 would not necessarily result to higher level of professionalism.

7. The respondents’ level of attitude towards RA 5487 is independent of their level of knowledge on RA 5487 , which means that having better knowledge on RA 5487 would not necessarily result to better attitude towards RA 5487.

8. When the guards’ level of attitude towards RA 5487 is controlled, it manifested no bearing on the relationship between their knowledge on RA 5487 and their level of professionalism which, means that the relationship between their knowledge on RA 5487 and their level of professionalism is independent from their attitude towards RA 5487.

9. When all the variables were taken collectively, only 26.2 percent of the variations in their level of professionalism can be explained, more so, when all the variables were regresses, only the their attitude towards RA 5487, net monthly income, entry requirements which requires guards to pass both written examination and interview, and pre-deployment requirements which requires them to undergo both on the job training and job orientation were found to be determinants of their level of professionalism.

10. When all significant determinants of professionalism were taken collectively, the following were found to be determinants of professionalism according to importance: (1) attitude towards RA 5487; (2) the entry policy which requires respondents to pass both the interview and written examination; and (3) the pre deployment policy which requires the respondents to undergo both job orientation and on the job training.

Recommendations

In the light of the findings and conclusions of this study, the following recommendations are presented: 1. Aside from the normal requirements mandated by RA 5487, security agencies should require all security guard applicants to a strict written examination and interview before they are hired;

2. Newly hired security guards must undergo “on the job training” and job orientation before they are given their new assignments.

3. The fact that 40.4 percent of guards were still receiving income below the minimum wage, it is recommended that the Philippine National Police and the Department of Labor should improve their remuneration system in order to prevent or minimize underpayment of salaries and wages of security guards;

4. Since security guards perform broad functions and responsibilities, it is highly recommended that a provision be added to the existing RA 5487 that would require security agencies to provide regular training programs to their security guards. The study shows that respondents with better level of knowledge on RA 5487 had also manifested better attitude towards the said law.

5. Aside from the fact that there was no significant relationship between respondents’ level of knowledge and their nature of assignment, it is still highly recommended that the assignments of security guards should be based on their profile and competence in order to achieve high performance results. A job description is only sound if assigned to a person who has the mental comprehension to perform the task.

6. Even if the findings of the study shows that the guards’ level of professionalism is independent of their level of knowledge on RA 5487, it is still the recommendation by this study that the academic entry requirements for guards should be at least college level. This may provide security guards with adequate knowledge in the conduct of their work.

7. It is a fact that many security guards are receiving salaries below the minimum wage due to low security contract or simply non-compliance of the agency operators to the existing wage law. In this light, it is highly recommended that both security agency operator and the client be held criminality liable. Hopefully, this would prevent or minimize both the agency and the client from offering and accepting contract rates below the prescribed rate.

8. A security agency is basically a profit oriented private corporation whose business is to protect the property of clients. The Basic Security Guard Course should not be limited to military training and orientation, but should also include corporate trainings like customers’ relations training, conflict resolution, and report writing. These should be integrated in the existing training program curriculum of security guards.

Realizing the real meaning of professionalism in the security industry would require a new orientation towards private policing. Professionalism per se is not the problem, but the result of the interactions of various societal forces. Along this premise, a new orientation would mean treating the security agency as an active partner of development and not merely as an entity tasked to protect the property and lives of clients. To achieve this end, private business corporations must progressively redefine their perceived notion of private security agencies and improve their budget allocation for security services. In the end, the real questions are “Is the interest of the corporation supportive of the interest of the agency? How much share of the profits can a company share with the agency in order for the agency to also develop as a company?

Finally one challenging issue is raised. When can the true professionalization of the industry in terms of competence and values become a faithfully upheld and practiced by all components of the industry, so that ultimately, the market itself is value- laden in its operations, for the general good of society.