January 2000

Maybe so, maybe not, MAI-PEN-RAI.

Interesting, isn't it, how as a Thai, I shrug this off, while my farang friends look incredulously at this situation as a staggering example of inefficiency. As a Thai, I have a mai-pen-rai attitude, translatable as "...never mind, it's okay, don't worry about it...". I had a Scottish friend who, in times of trouble would say, "...Never mind, no-ones going to die!'...", but in general, farangs do not take kindly to missing deadlines.

What are the reasons for the elastic deadlines of many Thais? Here are some possible causes - and the conseqences... :

• Poor planning: Thais have a tendency to leave the thinking to those in charge. Those in charge often do not have access to all the information available to their underlings. Further, those on the highest rungs of the company ladder will rarely be the same people who are expected to implement a plan. Involving the thinkers, the information gatherers and the doers at all levels of a project would help eliminate this implementation problem..

• Over-optimism: In many business planning sessions I have attended, potential problems were never even discussed. We did not ask ourselves "What could go wrong?" We just planned and assumed that every task would finish on time according to our estimated schedule. We all know that real life does not work that way, but mai-pen-rai, right? Encouraging staff to explore all areas of problem prevention as well as preparing contingency plans would certainly help.

• Target dates sometimes bear no relation to the actual work plan:. In Thailand, target dates are often based on astrology or to co-incide with an auspicious event or special occasion. For example, BTS was planned to open on the King's birthday. The Fashion Shop opened on 9/9/99. Number 9 is a lucky number for Thais, since "9" is pronounced "kow". We believe that it represents KOW-NAH (progress). We have many events with opening ceremonies scheduled for 9.09 am or parties starting at 7.39 pm.

• Lack of cross-organizational planning: Most of the time, project staffing consists of people from various organizations. If you open a retail store, you will have suppliers from computer, telephone, furniture companies all with their own deadlines to meet. It's like a jigsaw. If they are not all consulted at the planning stage the carpet will be laid before the wiring is finished, the shop will open its doors with no telephone connection or the first customer who asks to use the washroom will be sorely disappointed.

Kriengsak Niratpattanasai
DBS Thai Danu Bank, Bangkok, Thailand

(This column also appeared in ethailand)