I came across this very interesting survey and thought others may be interested too. It was conducted by a Thai Journalist in 2001.

Any foreigner working in Thailand should take the time to read this, as should and Thai people working with foreigners.

I believe that whatever helps in better understandings between cultures is a good thing.

Happy reading....

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In 2001, Kriengsak held a small informal poll with readers of his columns focusing on Thai and expat relationships. Thai and expatriates working in Thailand were emailed a questionnaire, covering perceptions of each group with the other. The questions covered strengths, weaknesses, positive behaviours and characteristics. The results are provided here in raw form, providing a useful insight into inter-cultural workplace communication in Thailand. Given the anonymity of the email survey, both Thai and expat respondent's could be very direct and honest in their appraisal

WHAT THAIS SAY ABOUT FOREIGNERS

? Willingness to understand Thai culture

? Openness to talk about the differences

? Willingness to accommodate the differences

? Work very hard and study a lot of details of the work when they conduct one particular job. In short, work hard and know more about what you do.

? Polite and reasonable with subordinates as well as with clients.

? Open minded to comments from subordinates equally ay the same level or management

? High energy level

? Seeks commitment from others

? Utilization of resources reflecting competitive competencies

? Everyone's voice and opinion counts. A mailroom person's suggestion is as valuable to the company as the VP's.

? Respect for all fellow employees. Unlike the Thai workplace, Americans treat everyone as equal human beings. Whether you are a receptionist, a woman, or a younger worker doesn't mean that you are worse or lower than anyone else.

? Less power distance

? Supportive of your effort

? Decisive: Due to their culture and result oriented approach, when Expats work and discuss business, they take it more seriously than Thais, always take action and find ways to achieve a result. They are not afraid of confrontation and discussion.

? Professionalism: The Expat had high degree of professionalism and expectations of work performance. The work requires any staff to have knowledge and know their work. Thus, they are not afraid that the support staff will be better than them if the end result benefits the company. If you don't know, their training and knowledge will be provided to meet the professional expectation. They always come up with solid advice and solutions. It is more of an open-up opportunity for Thais who want to express their ideas or thought. The expat listened and stimulated us to share our ideas for better solution.

? Better Communication: Thais talk a lot but it doesn't they get a good result in everything. Expat prefer open discussion, brainstorming and confrontation to the problem.

? Straight-forward: It is good for a performance oriented company and the open multi-societies in MNCs. We know what they think and expect to get from us. Their direction is more clear.

? Result Oriented: They don't care about time and place or how you're going to do your work and how to make it happen. It creates more flexible hours and a flexible organization to structure yourselves to acheive utmost capacity.

? No personal involvement: They don't mind other people's business. Thus, you have more freedom and become yourself by not trying to please your boss all the time like in the local Thai company. To achieve in a Thai company means requires a relationship with a powerful person at a senior level. Expats will measure you based on your own performance and your achievement.

What are 3 weaknesses of expats with whom you have worked which you would like them to change?

? Bossy and jump to conclusions without sometimes thinking about the cultural and local environmental difference. (4 out of 5 comments from Thais)

? Underestimated the ability of local staff since expats are always transferred to support or to head part of the business activities. They always think they know everything even after only a short period of time in Thailand. (3 out of 5)

? Misinterpretation about Thai ways though they feel they know us well

? Inadequate understanding of Thai colleague's interaction

? Some of them are intolerant/ignorant of other cultures, and sometimes disrespectful. Some make fun of accents or Thailand.

? Expats always think Thais are lazy and don't think much. There are many levels of staff e.g. support function and executive and management level who function in different duties. They underestimate local capability, and assume that most of things will be easier if they do it their own way. It would be better if they learn the culture and capability of staff so they know how to use them properly.

? No trust of local staff: They have less trust in local staff since sometimes they learn that some Thais are tricky or indisciplined. Some is true and some is not true at all. Without trust is without respect.

? On Holiday attitude: Many international transfer expats think Thailand is a break post for them. Every Friday afternoon, they are away to Pattaya or Huahin without concern about ongoing work. Practicing golf in their own country is quite expensive, thus they find any opportunity to take benefits from the company. There are some expats which initially think different and come to Thailand with serious target, but in a few months their attitudes change mostly to he same as the others.

? Working vs. Family involvement: Their wives use company facilities like they own the company. Most of the company drivers who drive for their male boss need to serve their wife almost 80% of their time. Company cars are supposed to be utilized for important matters, but we always find them parked mostly at the malls or other places associated with the wife.

? Opportunist: Their culture teaches them to survive and to be more mature than Thais from an early age. Their survival attitude pushes them to be more opportunist.

? Give some instructions or orders without considering much about the consequence.

? They keep themselves away from others i.e. never want to speak about anything (like social issues) except for relevant jobs issue only.

? Holding certain information to themselves, which could generate positive working results if they shared such information with Thai staff.

What behavours do you think you exhibited that have frustrated expats with whom you have worked?

? Too compromising - Weak in defending one's point of view - Unconfrontatist and unwilling tyo discuss (3 out of 5 Thai reponses)

? No punctuality: Thais like to blame their lateness on traffic jams. However, it is not only commuting, as Thais are late to submit reports or to prepare their own work for meetings etc. (2 out of 5 responses)

? Thais love to discuss things among themselves and don't tell the whole story to expats since they may be afraid that expats will think they are stupid or that they don't understand the issues.

? Unable to express the right/correct reply immediately. (Not because of language issue)

? Not very direct with bosses

? Defending my country's reputation. I do get overly touchy about Thailand being known for prostitution.

? Language/cultural barriers. Both my coworkers and myself hit that from time to time, and it frustrates both sides.

? Ignorance: Sometimes Thais act very stupid and ignore their responsibility. When you are not fully responsible for your own duties, they don't like that.

? Not following through on some particular jobs thoroughly.

? Play more than work: Expats think Thais are lazy since they see many idle hours spent by executives on such unnecessary matters as spending many hours on the telephone, eating all day, and chatting with colleges about other things beside works.

? Always have the excuses for their mistakes: No need to explain this issue, since Thais think they have never been wrong, something or someone make a mistake.

? Did not meet expectations in deliverables

What have you done that successfully received compliments from expat staff?

? Actions more than talking - Hardworking - Pro-active - Creative ways of handling things, think outside the paradigm.

? Being generous - Courteous - Respectful - Helpful.

? Making everything fun and pleasant in the workplace.

? My managerial and problem solving skills, I always come up with the solutions and ways to do things. I never say I can't do that. I always say I will come back with the solution or some actions to be taken. I am a doer and good presenter when they need someone to communicate or to present the good thing for the company. What they like most about me is the never-ending education focus. I learn and try to be improve in everthing to improve my work and my organization.

? Positive reaction - responses from clients whom we are taking care.

? Proposing workable ideas - solutions that can get things done.

? Encouraging Thais and foreigners to appreciate each other's cultures

? Talk to them in a very direct and frank (but polite) manner

? Reach the target.

WHAT FOREIGNER SAY ABOUT THAI

What are 3 strengths of Thais with whom you have worked which you would like them to sustain?

? Loyalty, if they feel they are treated well according to their criteria

? Friendly Patient

? Thai design people are usually more creative. This is a position I find easy to employ in Thailand. When I ask for marketing staff, I got many good selections.

? Social Bonding - Smiling - Helpfulness - Caring - Politeness - Positive attitude - Service oriented attitude - Teamwork - Sense of duty

? Working with details (This is a pro but also a con) as in business sometimes "sufficient" is more effective than "complete".)

? Staff take more care in respecting seniority. Usually in my country it is not quite common as we address each other just by the first or last name whereas Thais take care to address seniors as "Khun" This was quite uncomfortable for me when I first arrived.

? Thai People are more co-operative among colleagues when a project is assigned to them.

? Sense of belonging - once they know where the company is going especially when they can identify the role they have to play

? Ability to work long hours without question

? Jai yen (Patience), certainly is a strength to maintain while at the same time maybe be somewhat more open to farang colleagues about own ideas and thinking, this will improve communications

? Sensitivity, Thai people are more aware of other people's emotional reaction than most farangs, very good in human relations

? The ways Thais address problems amongst themselves. They are very careful to preserve the relationship with another person and this means that office harmony is preserved

? The importance of trying to develop a personal relationship before doing business vs. a foreigner who wants to get straight down to business without bothering about the need for establishing personal rapport.

? The respect for authority. If you work in an organization where there is an opportunity for putting in procedures for routine work, I have found Thai's will follow procedures much better than foreigners doing like tasks. The foreigner does not show respect for authority e.g. a foreigner is much more likely to disobey a safety rule than a Thai in an organization where safety means the difference between getting hurt or not. In Thailand I managed to run a company that statistically was 4 times safer than a similar business in my country and we were part of the same multinational group

? Their ability to accept and work with foreigners.

What are 3 weaknesses of Thais with whom you have worked which you would like them to change?

? Time management

? Process driven (no flexibility based on personal initiative)

? Failure to separate personal and professional life

? Work ethics

? Seniority system

? Communication - not speaking up when they should / Lack of assertiveness in negotiations

? Personal Chitchats, which has nothing to do with work and which sometimes leads to gossip and rumors.

? Personal Commitments - do not set goals when something has to be accomplished in a given time.

? Thai Staff generally learn to work "just enough", although they are more detailed, but they usually don't take pride and effort to excel in their work.

? Thai Staff (at least in my case) generally don't get very excited to see the rest of the world - not even their own country. They don't know much about the current situation of the country. Over my last year I have been to more places to learn about the situation and culture than any of my staff. I think this would help the individual to understand the entire business structure of Thailand, if not they would only be able to handle a Tambon business. (Sorry, I may be little frank but my comments are from an international business view).

? Thai people should be more honest in terms of their declaration. Most resumes I see state fluency or good command in English. In fact, many could not hold a decent dialog in an interview. I was told by my staff that that is a norm in Thai as not many expect that this part of the experience is tested. I could not accept that as an excuse.

? Acceptance of change, Thais usually like to stick to the current work practice and change always disturbs and annoys them.

? Thais like to bring friends into their business. I never like the idea for example, when it comes to buying products or services, they would recommend their friend regardless of whether it would benefit the company. (This was my experience, helping a friend is not a big issue, but not caring about the company is something I don't quite like).

? Walking out on the company without notice but expecting to be paid all benefits.

? Not taking responsibility for workloads at critical times.

? Expecting more for nothing.

? Reactive work methods rather than proactive (requires more supervision)

? Analytical ability, especially the ability to identify a potential problem

? Foresight

? Curiosity, critical thinking - on the one hand maybe too curious about personal matters, Nit-Noy irrelevant to work while at the same time less curious about understanding casual relations, trying to have an open and critical, questioning mind (Samkan for scientists)

? Not alerting their farang boss about a problem until the disaster has or is about to strike

? Not committing anything in writing

? Tolerating and protecting corrupt work colleagues

? Lack of ability to work together as a team

? Telling you what they think you want to hear rather than the truth e.g. I can get this job done by next week, but when next week comes it has not been completed and in reality was never going to be done on time

? More proactive to ask questions, and seek clarification, particularly about job goals and targets

? More proactive to say "there's a problem"

? More proactive to suggest improvements

? Change mind-set from 'show me the procedure and I'll follow it' to 'what end result do you want me to produce and how much flexibility do I have to get to the agreed end result?'

? Less 'blindly' following the status leader

? Less waiting for the 'peechai' to indicate what happens next

? Companies need to be more focused on the right person for the right job, rather than quite often putting wrong people in jobs and often recruiting staff who are massively overqualified for the job

What behavours do you think you exhibited that have discouraged Thais with whom you have worked?

? Work like the army style. I started working with the Singapore model, that is tasking and expectation. That is a complete failure. Later I noticed that all the staff expect training (proper) instead of on the job.

? Speaking in English profoundly caused a staff barrier with me. Slow down and speak in broken Thai. This helps a lot later.

? Generally, the staff I had don't like to be left alone. They want to be guided.

? Favoritism - when an employee performs well with task, we become dependent on them and it looks like we show favoritism to this one employee.

? Not smiling enough when they greet me.

? Directions to not eat in the office

? Directions to not use mobile phones in the office

? Directions to be more competitive.

? Not to issue corrections or reprimands in front of their colleagues. I have also noticed that there is a negative feeling if I ask them a question that they don't know the answer to - some of my staff can't actually say "I don't know". I have to remember to just keep talking if that appears to be the case.

? 'Too strong', direct critical reactions to their work

? Not keeping promises

? Too serious, thinking too much

? Challenging an incompetent but senior Thai publicly in shear frustration at his stubbornness

? Lost my temper in my office. Having said that it did result in my staff not allowing a situation to develop again that might result in such an outburst, but the staff were very unhappy at the time.

? Not realizing that saying 'no' is impolite and upsets people

? Not realizing that there is a language barrier, sometimes forgetting that staff who speak good English are not native speakers of English, and that a misunderstanding has occurred

? Take owns job too serious

? Too task orientated

? Too straight and outspoken

What have you done that successfully changed Thai staff to improve their performance?

? Training, training, training

? I try to make it clear where the responsibility for completing a task lies, particularly one which is repeated each month. My main aim is to make each team member as self sufficient as possible with regard to their day to day tasks. I try to stress that it is not my job to tell them what to do in every case. So over the past 6 months we have come to a situation where all regular correspondence can be passed to the account managers without instructions, except for unusual cases, and I can be confident that it is being dealt with. This leaves me more free time and I think all of the team respond well to the added responsibility. This also exercises their analytical skills on a regular basis. Of course it is not possible to help anyone improve unless they want to. The hard work has been done by the team members, the success is theirs, not mine.

? Induce critical, independent thinking

? Motivation to understand work and own role/contribution rather than direct knowledge as orders/job descriptions

? Understanding the importance of continuous improvement and adaptation

? Used my senior Thai connections when staff did not want to accept the changes that had to be put through egg the dismissal of a senior manager. Once they knew I had the connections and was prepared to use them, they were more prepared to deal with me and accept the direction I wanted to take the company

? Sacked incompetent staff who hold back the organization

? Supported and encouraged Thai women in all positions from shop floor through to director level. By doing this we were able to get a nice balance into an organization between the female desire for establishing certainty and security with the male characteristics for managing chaos and risk taking. Many of my farang colleagues share my view that they enjoy working with Thai women, and in many instances find they are more competent than their male colleagues. Likewise they find them much easier to work with than western women.

? Involved them more in meetings.

? More emphasis on payment for performance More individual coaching of staff

? More training, specific to job needs

? Keeping a promise and earning their trust.

? I adopted your techniques mentioned in Thailand Tales on meeting with Thais on leaving the translation to someone else. This worked but some staff felt that I didn't give them a chance to speak English. I had been telling them that learning English is daily - business decision is immediate. A good illustration is I usually don't speak English out of my office or business, I correspond with a Chinese or dialect such as Teochew/Hokkian, etc. That does not stop me from learning English. Because I knew the importance of that in business it came so naturally.

? Training

? Leading by example (Work ethics)

? Fair but tough guidance without favoritism

? Start to learn Thai language

I'm happy that I don't have to work any longer, not to worry about such culture exchanges and work ethnics......lol

Most of them are true. I agree with you,but maybe my working style is Farang,so my colleagues don't like me,I guess ~_~. That's why Thais should work professionally & be proactive what they do,then we can lead/progress things consecutively for Thailand.

too long!!

it's the longest journal i ever seen on TF too, lol.

well personally i use to get along ok with foreigner co work, specially the American company i been work for. and once more A super woman from Philliphin Khun Amy, my boss from AIA, she's my god mother my real hero and real working woman.

but love also hate, the shitty feeling i ever got it was a chef from Singapore from Hard Rock Hotel, Jimmy is the best a**hole i ever met, he like woman always talk about the things in the pass that happened and already done. everyone almost forget about it but he always bring the same old **** and talk. he never can get aways what is real or wrong and also ... he always talk **** about Esarn ppls, and said "Thais ppls always this and that ....

i don't mind if he want to talk about someone who's been did and mistake but if he keep saying Thais this and that he will get back to his country only his soul. once he always said to me "this esarn ppls are dumb, ****, ass and no brain, they are no education"

hohoho that his mother must put **** in his brain alot. i usually very friendly with every dpt from office until house keeper, mostly of them are esarn, i respect them as a human be, everyone work hard, and some of them in kitchen even have 2 degree. Jimmy never join university before .. but he keep talking **** about ppls and this is the rudness and un human kind ... i'm not wonder why he got hit on his **** face twice.

all i remember, treat people the way u wanna be treated. he always treated ppls ****, ... that is what he deserve

I'm reading through that list and see many, many simularities to Indian workers.

Great journal but I think that it's like that in all countries. I don't think it's any different here in the USA.

very informative.

King.