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Thought for the week: Managing
culture at work
by Richard Townsend,
Corporate Learning Consultant
http://www.orglearn.org
Cultural differences are not just a ‘locals’ and
‘expats’ problem, they are also a sales team, financial control,
administration, HR, production, service, R&D and a line management
problem! Cultural diversity and the difficulties associated with it is the
subject of much intense debate in many companies.
In the 1980s, Geert Hofstede came up with four
contrasting dimensions that influenced how people from different
nationalities behaved at work. Based on studies of over 116,000 workers in
40 countries he found that people were inclined towards four fundamental
dimensions, INDIVIDUALISM vs. COLLECTIVISM, HIGH vs. LOW POWER DISTANCE
(wide gap between those in power and the ‘followers’ vs. minimal
status differences), UNCERTAINTY AVOIDANCE tendencies (high or low) and
QUANTITY vs. QUALITY OF LIFE (which he called masculine vs. feminine).
Obviously, as a leader/manager, if you work with a
group of people with a collective attitude, that see you the boss as
all-powerful, who value relationships over material gain and that
‘suffer’ from high uncertainty avoidance, they are going to become
quite furtive if you casually stroll in and announce a company, division
or even department restructure.
Culture, however, is not just about nationalities.
Greater problems and misunderstandings occur between those that are often
seen as integrated groups of one nationality. How many problems occur
between, say, R&D who are interested in ‘long term visions, superior
features, safety, the best product and the customer’ when they are
meeting with the finance division who are interested in ‘cost
minimization, immediate cash flow, long term profitability and the
shareholders’? Add a representative of the sales department, ‘market
share, need it now, the price has to be more competitive’ and perhaps an
HR director, ‘they’re not trained, it’s too much of a strain on the
staff and they’ll all leave’ and cultural issues will explode.
As a leader/managers with an ever increasing mix of
people from different backgrounds combined with ever increasing rates of
change and the need for greater levels of specialisation, we all need to
spend more time managing the cultural differences in our organisations.
What mechanisms, training or studies has your organisation undertaken to
deal with these issues?
Worth a thought?
Peter Caprez named
General Manager of the Year by Marriott International
Marriott International awarded Peter Caprez, General
Manager of the Marriott Royal Garden Riverside Hotel Bangkok and Vice
President Royal Garden Resorts, Thailand the title of ‘Worldwide General
Manager of the Year’ during the recent Annual General Managers
Conference in New Orleans (USA). The award was present by J.W. Marriott
Jr., Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Marriott International.
 Peter
Caprez
This annual award recognizes six individual General
Managers for excellence amongst the vast global network of hundreds of
hotels managed and operated by Marriott Hotels, Suites and Resorts,
including financial achievements, operational excellence and leadership
performance.
The Marriott Royal Garden Riverside Hotel Bangkok saw
it’s annual turnover for 1999 increasing by 18% to 516 million baht over
the record year of 1998 with house profit (GOP) improving 30% to 206
million baht. During the past three years the house profit improved by
94%. The associates’ and staff satisfaction with their jobs is at an all
time high of 92%. The guest satisfaction is receiving a 94% approval
rating - keeping the hotel amongst the top three preferred hotels in guest
satisfaction amongst all full serviced Marriott Hotels, Suites and Resorts
worldwide for the third consecutive year.
Mr. Caprez commented, “I dedicate this recognition to
the managers, associates and staff of the hotel for their loyalty, support
and smart work. Without them, this award wouldn’t have been possible. A
General Manager is only as good as his entire team is. These accolades
will inspire us to reach for new heights in excellence as we move
forward.”
The recognition comes two years after Mr. Caprez
received a regional award for leadership excellence in the Asia Pacific
and Australian Region.
Marriott International currently operates over 750 full
serviced hotel worldwide under the brands of Marriott Hotels, Resorts and
Renaissance Hotels.
Rhone Valley Vintner’s
Dinner
The Royal Cliff Beach Resort are having their first
Vintner’s Dinner this year on Tuesday the 28th of March. Last year, these
dinners were a very popular addition to the fine dining calendar in Pattaya,
and some memorable evenings were had with vignerons like Henri Bourgeois and
Pascal Jolivet, as well as two very amusing wine-makers from Thomas
Hardy’s vineyards in Australia.
 Marc
Chapoutier
This coming dinner is featuring the wines of Maison
Chapoutier, and their wine-maker Marc Chapoutier will be on hand to describe
his family’s offerings and vintages. Amongst those to be sampled will be
their Cotes du Rhone Belleruche, vintage 1995, a wine that has many ardent
followers throughout the world.
The evening begins with wine tasting at 7 p.m. in the
lobby of the Royal Wing, followed by the dinner itself in the Benjarong Room
with a predominantly French cuisine to complement the five different
Chapoutier wines which the guests will consume with it. At only B. 1500
including all the wines, dinner, service charges and VAT this will be an
exceptional evening for the gastronomes.
Craic agus Ceol ar Lá
Naomh Pagraic
On Goldden Sands!
Kim Fletcher, the ebullient manager of Delaney’s Irish
Pub, really hit gold last weekend with the inclusion of the Irish balladeer,
Tommy Sands, in the St. Patrick’s Night celebrations.
 “
Bee jasus, I think this beer is watered down….. it’s having no effect”
With the “awearin’ of the green” almost compulsory,
the Irish, Irish supporters and anyone wanting to have a good time appeared
to walk through the doors. The place was packed! There was even one Jock in
a frock present, who, when told that perhaps a kilt wasn’t the prescribed
dress code, since this was Paddy’s night not St. Andrew’s, replied,
“It’s alright, I’m half Scots and half Irish.” Obviously it was the
bottom half that was Scottish!
 What
can you say…St. Pat’s Day or Delaney’s wouldn’t be the same without
Graham.
The “real” Irish folk present all believed their
national saint’s day to be one where Guinness guzzling was the main event,
and No, they didn’t know St. Patrick’s real name, and “Could I have
another Guinness please?”
 A
haon, d๓, brํ, agus a haon, d๓, brํ. Traditional
Irish Reel without the proper footwear…wow!
The Delaney’s Golf Tournament during the day, was, for
some like Caroline Cawley and Ron Herbert, just a work-up for the evening.
Ron in particular, was very chuffed at having won a barrel of beer on one
hole. It was rumoured he had brought it back from Great Lakes inside him!
One young Irish lad on crutches had lots of mates by the
end of the night - they were all fairly legless too, but at least he had
wooden legs to hold him up and not rubber ones.
 “
Tar isteach, ol้ ol้ ol้ agus eisteacht leis an ceol
traidisi๚nta” in other words “ come in, drink drink drink and
listen to the traditional music” Kaew (second right) was chosen as Miss.
Delaney.
The usual party animals were all there, including the
Tresses Teaser, Johnny the scissorsman, who looked fairly “dead” by the
end of the night. Susie was seen to be displaying her equipment, the
Schloemers displayed schlamrocks, while Mo went into helmet decoration,
complete with green illuminated halo, (mis)appropriated from Delaney’s
star waitress Beautiful.
 The
Scottish always come out in full style to support the
Irish…..unless…….well we won’t speak about the rugby.
The winner of the “Talent Quest” in the Delaney’s
staff was judged by popular acclaim, with the 1 Baht gold chain going to
Miss Kaew. 2nd place went to Beautiful, 3rd place to Jeab.
It was certainly a jolly green giant of a night. St.
Paddy would never have believed it, to be sure, to be sure. For those who
missed it, wait till March 17th 2001.
Three days in the Wilds
 Twenty three children from years 5 and 6 at Garden
International School recently spent three days in the wilds north of Ban
Chang on a challenging and exciting outdoor education camp with the YMCA.
Trained staff from Bangkok came down to ensure that the children and the
accompanying staff had an exciting but safe three day adventure away from
the classroom routine. Skills of teamwork, trust and sheer bravery were
tested as the children engaged in activities as varied as abseiling,
kayaking, archery, the flying fox, rock-climbing and hiking. All the
children outshone themselves, and there were some outstanding moments of
courage at some scary moments.
 With their motto printed on their T-shirts, “No fear -
well, not much”, the children did their best to master all the challenges
laid down for them, and by the end of the three days, absolutely everybody
had succeeded at absolutely everything, making them and their teachers
really proud of their achievements. Great fun was had by all, as the
photographs show, and some valuable lessons in courage learnt by everybody -
well done and thank you to all who took part.
A Dirty Dog
by Roy Burson, pastor of the Pattaya International Church
“Cleanse me... and I will be clean; wash me, and I will
be whiter than snow.” Psalm 51:7
We moved into our new home in Texas the first week in
November. In order to save money we decided to have the builder landscape
just the front of the house and we would put out grass the next spring, thus
the back yard was nothing but a few weeds and dirt. Because our children
were grown and had homes of their own, we got light gray carpet throughout
the house. We were proud of our nice, new, clean home.
The first week in December Penny, who we rescued from the
doggy jail, also known as the dog pound, came into our lives and our nice...
new... clean home. Penny is the most loveable dog in the world. She has two
goals in life: to love you and to get you to scratch behind her ears. She
was already house broken when we got her, so she fit right in, in our
nice... new... clean home.
It had been a very dry fall but about the second week in
December it started to rain. Well, because Penny is a Chesapeake Bay
Retriever, she couldn’t be happier. She loves water and thought we caused
it to rain just for her. I had taken her for a walk in the rain and she had
more fun. After we got back home I dried her off and we went inside. It was
not long, however, and Penny decided that she needed to go outside to do
what house broke dogs do outside. So without thinking I opened the back door
and sent her into the back yard. The back yard had no grass. The back yard
that was at one time weeds and dirt was now weeds and mud. But that was not
a problem would I just wipe her feet and she would be OK... And I call her a
dumb animal. After Penny had been out for about 10 minutes I opened the door
and called her. Penny, covered in mud from her nose to her tail, ran past me
into the den where she sat down on the light gray carpet in our nice...
new... clean home. I spent the next hour cleaning up Penny and the mess she
made.
We are not much different than Penny. Penny was covered
in mud but there was nothing she could do about it. I had to clean her up.
When we sin, we get dirty, and like Penny there is nothing we can do about
it. Just as I had to clean the mud from Penny, God had to clean sin from us;
we can’t do it no matter how hard we try. I used soap and water; He uses
the blood of Jesus.
Koh Samui presents a
model for Pattaya
At the last Pattaya Animal Welfare Society (PAWS)
meeting, local veterinarian Dr. Nop invited guest speakers from Koh
Samui’s Dog Rescue Centre. Werner and Brigitte Gomm, a delightful German
couple, have started and operate this dog rescue centre on the island for
the last eighteen months.
 Unlike
Pattaya, the human population of Koh Samui is estimated at 25,000 to 30,000
and the stray dog population is estimated at 3,000 to 5,000. The Gomm’s
centre deals solely with dogs. As the island has no resident vets the centre
must hire its own and they have two full time vets and open 7 days a week.
To run such a centre, their monthly budget is 80,000 to
100,000 baht. They spend B25,000 per month for a vet with at least one
year’s experience, and B20,000 for one with less experience. The salary is
high because of the location, and probably higher than Pattaya where the
estimate is B10,000 to 20,000. The centre also employs 3 vet helpers who are
paid B5,000 each per month. This compares to Pattaya where the estimate is
B3,500.
The Dog Rescue Centre Samui is in fact a registered
charity with the Thai government with tax-free privileges. Although the
Gomm’s operate the centre, the president, vice president, treasurer, and
secretary are all Thais.
The president is a lawyer who represented the centre in
getting registered as a charity. According to Werner, the approval did not
take long at all. They are registered as a type of charitable organization
called phonetically in Thai, a Chom-rom-chua-sat, or a “club for helping
animals”. Other than not being able to put donation boxes in hotels, all
local and foreign donations can be accepted. However, if they want to be
able to put out donation boxes, then they must apply for the next higher
type of charitable organization, which is called a Sam-ma-khom. The Koh
Samui centre is in the process of converting over to this type of charity.
As regards animal population control, their policy is to
spay all females and neuter males only if they are aggressive. They do this
because it takes much longer to neuter a male than it does to spay a female.
They then tattoo the inside of the ear of animals that they spay and neuter
so that they do not try to operate more than once on the same stray animal.
Their employees, during their slack time, make their own
woven plastic collars, which they use for animals that are given rabies
injections. They also furnish a hand numbered dog tag. Numbers are matched
to animals and recorded in a database. The hand numbering prevents people
from stealing the tags from the vaccinated animals. The rule in Thailand
defining stray animals is that if the animal does not have a collar or a tag
then they are considered a stray and subject to pickup.
The Gomms circulated their flyer “Dog Rescue Centre
Samui - Help Us Help” at the meeting. This was an excellent promotional
and fund raising package for an animal shelter. Their “Outdoor Working
Summary”, a running data base on treatment of every animal since the
centre started, is another excellent document which records all animals
treated, their healthcare and expenditure.
The Gomms had much of vital interest and experience to
contribute to PAWS - the local group was fortunate to have had them as guest
speakers.
The next meeting of the Pattaya Animal Welfare Society
(PAWS), will be held at Delaney’s Pub, Pattaya 2nd Road, on Wednesday
March 29th at 8 p.m. All animal lovers are most welcome. For further
information contact PAWS Founding Chair, Mirin MacCarthy, email; [email protected]
or Fax 231675, or Monika Rottmann, PAWS Vice President, phone 233144.
Would you have left me?
by Lesley Warner
Local businessman Ron Ineke was witness to yet another
accident involving a stray dog outside his home, the Tulip House Restaurant
and Guest House, at Jomtien. He noticed a young dog of about 7 months old
get hit by a car and as it tried to crawl away it was hit by a baht bus!
He immediately went to see what sort of condition the dog
was in, saying, “What sort of person could ignore this and just walk away
leaving an animal suffering on the side of the road? Could you?”
So Ron took the dog to his vet at South Pattaya
Veterinary Clinic, where he is well known as he visits quite often with
stray animals. The vet said that the leg and the hip were broken and there
could be internal injuries that were not visible. The poor little creature
was in a bad way and the vet could not estimate its chances of survival.
Ron rang and asked me was there any way that the Pattaya
Animal Welfare Society (PAWS) could help him? I felt quite helpless and
useless as I said to him that unfortunately, at this stage, PAWS could do
little, being just newly formed and our shelter still in the planning stage.
I felt the sudden urgency to get this project off the ground and I know
things take time, but the more support we get from you the people reading
this article, the quicker it will become the shelter that we so badly need
here in Pattaya.
Ron made his decision to go ahead with the operation,
even though the vet could not give him any guarantees on the health or
survival of the dog. The cost of the operation was 5,000 baht and the
aftercare for antibiotics and maintenance of the wound is 150 baht every
visit.
However, the dog is making a good recovery, as you can
see from his picture, and with appealing eyes like those, how could anyone
resist him? Ron’s wife, Add, has given him a name: Sai Phong (Thai for
necklace).
As Ron and Add already have 4 stray dogs that they have
given a home to, they would like to find a kind person to adopt Sai Phong.
After his recent experiences we think he deserves a good home. Can you, or
anyone you know, help? Please ring Ron on 01-8623725.
If anyone out there has a story about helping any stray
animal please contact me with a few details and a photograph if you have
one. E-mail [email protected]
The America’s Cup
2000: The Italian Camp
This is the second part of the America’s Cup story, as
reported by Pattaya Mail correspondent Peter Cummins. Last week Peter
presented the New Zealand view which was not all that difficult, seeing that
it was a 5 - 0 victory for the home team. Sponsored by the New Zealand
Tourism Board and Air New Zealand to go to Auckland and report on the
millennium’s first great yachting event, our scribe chronicles here the
‘making of the men in grey’.
Story and photos
by Peter Cummins
Prada Challenge “lost most of the starts, but won most
of the hearts” would be the best couplet I could employ to describe the
Italian’s - in fact, Europe’s - first entry into an America’s Cup
final.
Considering it was their first - entering the final
show-down against the basically-invincible New Zealand machine after four
months of gruelling racing - the Prada Challenge did extremely well. The
“Luna Rossa” came from behind to eliminate hot favourite, Paul
Cayard’s “AmericaOne” and win the right to the challenge.
 Arezzo’s
medieval “flag ceremony” added a new dimension to Auckland’s splendid
ambience, especially the school children.
And, although they took a 5 - 0 defeat, the average
losing margin was only 99 seconds. A lack of the vital starting techniques,
where Prada was up against Russell Coutts, the world’s best - and most
aggressive - match racing skipper, some costly errors, misjudgements and
even a crew injury during the races spelled out precious seconds lost. But
the Italians will be back in 2003 as the “Challenger of Record”. The
lessons learned will, no doubt, be well documented in their camp.
But, apart from the racing, the Prada team brought so
much to what has often been a drab - albeit hideously expensive -
match-racing championship. They brought a flair, a colour (not only the
Prada grey), an exuberance and a slice of (no, not pizza...!) life and
culture from Italy’s heartland - Arezzo.
 Auckland’s
town hall lends an apt backdrop to Arezzo’s medieval flag performance.
Prada syndicate boss Patrizio Bertelli lured skipper
Francesco de Angelis away from a Whitbread (now Volvo) round-the-world race
entry he was planning with the man he was to eliminate from the Cup, Paul
Cayard. Francesco was to become Italy’s new sports hero - even a sex
symbol for thousands of Italian - not to mention a legion of Kiwi - girls
and women.
The softly-spoken Neapolitan, father of two, shy - almost
self-effacing - trained as a geneticist; he was intent upon making cows
bigger. He never thought about yacht racing, or, for that matter, being a
‘sex symbol! With ‘Cup fever’ also gripping Italy, huge television
screens set up in many Italian squares to watch their heroes, Francesco
loomed larger-than-life on the sets, even though every race showed him
trailing the New Zealanders.
One joke pervading the Prada compound was that when
Francesco was informed of his newly-acquired ‘sex symbol’ status, second
only to that other ‘Latino” Ricky Martin, he was reported to have asked,
“Who?” Patrizio Bertelli, at the helm of his Prada multi-million dollar
designer clothing empire, also ran a tight ship in Auckland. The whole team
was outfitted with exclusive caps, shirts and shoes. No give-aways to the
army of free-loaders and hangers-on; only to supportive friends; no
discounted items for visitors. A pair of shoes could be purchased at the new
downtown Prada boutique for a cool $550. You could look a little like a
Prada crew member for the price. He maybe needed a few sales - as against
‘sails’ - to contribute to the reputed $US55 million he spent.
Bertelli worked his team very hard: only two breaks from
October to February - Christmas and New Year’s Day. They were
conspicuously absent from the vigorous social programme until, that was, the
night of the Louis Vuitton victory. An exuberant Bertelli danced, sang and
cavorted among the huge throng at the Prada camp. The wine flowed, the party
seemed endless. At midnight, unlike the biblical allusion, the wine turned
to water. The lights went out. There was a practice session on the morrow.
Of course, what would be an Italian camp without good
pasta? Bertelli brought in two master chefs from Tuscany and trained a New
Zealander to ensure that his team had their favourite food and pasta
imported from Italy cooked to the taste they craved.
The “Luna Rossa” boys were regaled with three
sumptuous meals a day. The Italians went to the start line after capuccino,
panini, foccacia, scrambled eggs, ham and fresh fruit, eating a packed pasta
lunch during the tow to the start line. The Kiwis, in rather sharp contrast,
opened a can of cold baked beans, were rostered to wash the dishes and clean
the kitchen and ate their own sandwiches on the tow out to the Hauraki Gulf.
The morale was slipping as the scoreboard read three to
zero. A new song, from an old melody appropriately named “Luna Rossa”
was adapted by a Milanese who claimed that he drank litres of coffee per day
to stay awake to watch the action at 2.00 a.m. Italian time.
Then, Bertelli brought in a troupe of “flag wavers”
to enact the medieval ceremony known as “Il Palio di Arezzo”. The
performance mesmerized the huge crowds at the American Express Village, and
then all Auckland stopped when they performed in the city square. The New
Zealanders went crazy, as the skilled group ‘jousted’ and hurled flags
around like javelins high into the air, with unerring accuracy. Auckland had
arrived at the Fourteenth Century.
The New Zealanders took the Italians to their hearts and
vice versa. As the America’s Cup 2000 closed, a huge banner flew over the
Prada compound: “Arriverderci Auckland; but we’ll be back!”
The Pattaya Mail scribe hopes that “he will be
back” also.
Copyright 2000 Pattaya Mail Publishing Co.Ltd.
370/7-8 Pattaya Second Road, Pattaya City, Chonburi 20260, Thailand
Tel.66-38 411 240-1, 413 240-1, Fax:66-38 427 596; e-mail: [email protected]
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