• BUSINESS

  Can Thailand’s vocational education meet employment needs?

  Christopher Bruton, Published on 13/06/2016

  » Employers, human resource specialists, bilateral and multilateral government agencies complain that Thailand’s vocational education fails to provide the training and skill sets to enable young workers to meet the needs of modern industry.

• BUSINESS

  UK "Brexit" with EU: what human resource lessons can Thailand learn?

  Christopher Bruton, Published on 20/06/2016

  » On 23 June 2016, British voters will take the momentous decision, whether to remain or leave the European Union. The most important issues creating the potential break-up are three-fold: firstly employment and wages, especially related to immigration of EU and non-EU citizens; secondly, the powers, pressures and costs of adherence to an overweight Brussels bureaucracy; and thirdly assessment of whether Britain is a net beneficiary or loser from the overall EU relationship.

• BUSINESS

  Human Development: how advanced is Thailand?

  Christopher Bruton, Published on 27/06/2016

  » Economic development is one thing, human social development is another. The new popular concept of "gross national happiness", is perhaps too vague and subjective to be meaningful for international comparison. The United Nations Development Progam (UNDP concept of "human development" may work more effectively. This has been around for just 25 years, since 1990, and claims to concentrate upon the "richness of human lives" rather than the "richness of economies".

• BUSINESS

  Human Resources Watch: what can Thailand learn from "Brexit"?

  Christopher Bruton, Published on 04/07/2016

  » The UK referendum on remaining in or departing from the European Union (EU) was decided with a mere 51.9 per cent majority for departure. An extended period of post mortem debate, recriminations and potentially acrimonious negotiation now ensues. This will not be easy, least of all because the leaders of both government and opposition parties are now totally discredited and on their way out. Scotland hopes to quit the United Kingdom altogether. The victorious "Brexit" leaders appear to have formulated no advance plans to handle the situation.

• BUSINESS

  Human Resource Watch: News from AEC Neighbours

  Christopher Bruton, Published on 11/07/2016

  » As a member country and partner within the ASEAN Economic Community, Thailand needs to keep appraised of human resources innovations and changes taking place in other member countries. We can thereby maintain our competitive advantage and potentially learn from the experience of neighbour countries.

• BUSINESS

  Reverse mentoring: youth and seniors reverse roles

  Christopher Bruton, Published on 15/08/2016

  » Youth and seniors have traditionally lived in different worlds, where "ne'er the twain shall meet". Moreover, today even a difference of one generation can mean a world apart in terms of technological knowledge and skills.

• BUSINESS

  Women in business

  Christopher Bruton, Published on 22/08/2016

  » Until the more progressive countries of the World came to recognise the realities of "LGBT", it was popularly believed that all of society was born into two roughly equal groups. There were little boys and there were little girls, most of whom grew up to become men and women. Institutions recognised that natural diversity, but, except in the most enlightened societies, failed to treat those two groups with the equality that they deserved. The men went out hunting, did the heavier work, often fought with neighbouring communities, and tended to rule the roost. The women stayed home, did the housework, produced and nurtured the babies, did a lot of the lighter work around the farm, but seldom rose to leadership even though they were often wiser and tended to live longer.

• BUSINESS

  Employee Recruitment or Employer Selection: Whose Choice?

  Christopher Bruton, Published on 12/09/2016

  » In times not long past, employers were the lords and masters of the labour market. Birth rates were high, school leavers were numerous, and unless one had particular influences through families or friends, getting a decent job at a decent rate of pay was of the order of a rat race. Admittedly, there were not so many graduates with high entry skills, but then there were also not so many high-level jobs to fill. So everybody found a slot, and those slots could usually fit round or square pegs without too much friction.

• BUSINESS

  Thailand's challenge: Rich in ambitions, poor in people skills?

  Christopher Bruton, Published on 22/05/2017

  » Announcement of visionary and ambitious plans has become almost routine. The year 2017 will apparently not be an election year (nothing new about that) but has begun with boom times in the planning sector. In January 2017, we were treated to announcements about "Thailand 4.0". These were soon followed by further revelations about the "Eastern Economic Corridor". These schemes are all part of government strategies to move Thailand into "Thriving in the 21st century: security, prosperity and sustainability". The 21st century has been going for quite a while now, but "better late than never", and "never" had become quite a routine in recent years.

• BUSINESS

  Building bridges or barriers: bricks or brains?

  Christopher Bruton, Published on 05/06/2017

  » With so much attention now being devoted to "Thailand 4.0", the talk is all about innovation, competitiveness, sustainable development, value creation and a host of other expressions for which at this stage there are no familiar Thai language equivalents. There is also an immense amount of planning of enabling infrastructure, including high-speed trains, expressways, special economic zones, science and industrial parks, creative districts and even an "aerotropolis". All this is to be achieved in parade ground style, in a double quick timeframe.

1 2 Next Last