Have you considered forwarding this blogpost to your boss.

I have a story from my cousin who works in the shipbuilding industry, he says that companies all around the world would pay 50% more for the product in Norway than saving the same amount by having a Korean company do the same job. Why? It is pretty simple, the Korean company has a lot more errors in their shipments a.k.a useless products. His superiors came to the conclusion that it was because workers there are too afraid to lose face by saying to the floor manager that they have done a mistake and that it needs rectifying or needs to be tossed away. So the leaders of the company are unaware of why they get so many complaints from these companies.

Bear in mind that most Korean companies are probable experts at what they are doing, but this particular company needed so much guidance that the Norwegian mother company sent Norwegian project leaders to enforce work-culture change, educating the need to report issues in the workplace to the proper people. I don’t know if it got better though, I need to ask my cousin.

My boss (who is more British than me despite being Norwegian, and for whom I don’t mind working overtime for no extra salary and if duty calls, sometime even on Saturdays and Sundays) doesn’t want to try to make our office more like a Thai office in terms of how the staff and their superiors interact with each other. We speak our minds freely to him if we have a problem or have an idea/suggestion about how to improve the way we work. He is relaxed because of what he sees as as interest from his staff in making these kinds of comments and suggestions, and problems get solved quickly. And the truth is we are interested, and it’s really in our nature to speak up and make these kind of comments, and not just sneak off and set up nasty websites out of sheer hatred. This is not because we feel like our ideas are really good or anything silly like that. This is because we respect our boss as a human rather than grudgingly feign deference, because (a) it’s much easier to work together if you do actually get along and (b) he respects us in the same way, so everyone can be themselves. In turn, with the staff who work with me, we talk freely. This is how problems can get solved. If I start to criticise, even in a nasty way, problems with the system or process that we have put in place, people listen and nobody really takes it as impolite, things get fixed, and we make more money. Criticism is often very useful.

My boss doesn’t get frustrated and doesn’t rant about how some workers are better than other workers. Actually he even put up with a really lazy Thai guy for about a year, who came in late every day and left early, and who repeatedly had to be politely told to take a shower in the morning, because he smelt bad (I didn’t hold it against him – he just didn’t know how to dry his clothes properly). That Thai guy never gave his opinion, in fact he rarely said anything, except ‘Yes I understand’, out of deference, when he usually didn’t, and then wasted lots of time and money doing the wrong things, until eventually my boss was forced to let him go. If any worker never criticises, even in a nice way, then how can they be concentrating on improving their workflow? Perhaps they think of things too much in terms of ‘superiors’ and ‘people working under them’ and that their boss is there only because of a system of nepotism and as soon as they think they know better than their boss, they run off to their cubicle to post vicious comments on websites about how they are being paid to do things like speak freely, because it chafes with their nationalistic pride to be told what to do by a foreigner. All on company time. Thai workers get blamed for playing political games by forming little cliques and negatively criticising their colleagues behind their backs. (“She’s does her job better than us so let’s not even talk to her until she breaks down and quits.”) but actually a worker who makes all sorts of suggestions is probably just trying to get the job done! She is probably smarter or has better ideas which will likely get her promoted before her spiteful colleagues who are still tapping away in their cubicles on vindictive little websites.

I’m just fed up of hearing how ‘Greng Jai’ is better, more harmonious, more conducive, more non-discordant etc than just working as a team to get the job done. Yes it has value but clearly the harmony in an office where people can speak freely is more conducive to problem solving and therefore, more of an advantage. Why do other countries make more money than Thailand? That’s everything to do with work ethic! They solve problems together by talking to each other openly rather than constantly side-stepping or self-censoring because of pecking order. My Thai girlfriend hates it, so now she works as a purchasing manager in a Swedish company in Bangkok and is much happier, except for the outrageous import bribes she has to regularly deal with because of the uber-corrupt Thai customs department.

This way of thinking goes right through everything beyond the workplace. Many international workers see problems and don’t hesitate to suggest helpful ways to solve them based on experience in other countries. But did they ever consider that Thai people might not be listening, and instead stereotyping such help as a cultural attack led by the smelly ‘Farang’ invaders? International workers get stuff done, because they aren’t constantly comparing themselves with other people. Maybe if Thai people stopped constantly thinking about who they can bully in their office and who they have to appease, then they could actually get some work done rather than cause constant conflict (at least there’s constant conflict in Fon’s office, or at least in her mind) and Thailand could make more money. My boss isn’t deluded enough to think he can personally alter centuries of Thai nationalism and racist character traits. His patience for it is amazing. My boss doesnt make much money either, I’ve seen his car and house, but that doesn’t matter because I respect people based on who they are as people, not simple on what they own.

The very fact that you set up a website like this exposes you as having little or no understanding of either ‘respect’ or ‘Greng jai’. You simply hate all the people you lump together as ‘farangs’… It’s great that most Thai people are nothing like you.

1 – working in a collaborative way is impossible in thailand: thais understand only hierarchy, they obey your orders or bully the people under them.

2 – i couldn’t discuss any idea with my thais colleagues, they are totally immune to thinking

3 – only a thai think it is unfair being promoted for your intelligence and skills, as thais will just lick their bosses ass to get favors.

4 – i never found in years any thai contractor doing a correct job, and i mean 100% thai companies, no farang involved, so what’s this bullshit about ‘let thais do it their way and we will will be successfull’

your blog is just an other demonstration of thai racism, and utter stupidity. if you don’t like farangs, why do you work with farangs then? go to a thai company and lick your bosse’s ass all day and endure all humiliations due to your social position.

i can only speak for americans, as i am one. i can tell you that complaining to the boss is a very common way of communication with higher ups. then the bosses job is to make the complaint go away, either by ignoring it, or doing something to address the problem. when the workers complain about something and suggest solutions, the boss feels like he’s the “power person” who can implement the suggested solution, change it to his way, or ignore it.

i’m married to a thai women and i’m constantly trying to figure out what’s going on, and i’m often realizing that my way of doing things is NOT the thai way of doing things. i think my way is better sometimes, sometimes the thai way is better. what ever gets the job done, keeps the family going, makes people work it out.

I don’t think one is better than the other but to be honest the Thai way sounds more peaceful which appeals to me.

But I guess different approaches are better suited to different work enviroments.

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also I have asked

your registant for your real details due to racist content

WebsiteSpot.com

I am going to find your employer and show him this site. I have also made a copy of the site to make sure he/she can see it.