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| Pee-Nong April 2000
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PEE is a Thai word that means elder brother or sister. Nong is the opposite, meaning younger brother or sister. In a family we call the elder brother or sister PEE. The PEE-NONG system is used beyond the family. It is also widely used in the workplace. In most organizations, the supervisor is older than the subordinates. When a supervisor wants to give feedback on staff performance on a day to day basis, the common approach is like this. Let's say the supervisor is named Somsak and the subordinate is named Somchai. Somsak calls into his office Somchai who submitted the report 2 hours late yesterday. Somsak will start the conversation like this - "...Somchai, you have a nice shirt today? What brand is it?..." Somchai will say "...Brand X, Krab Pee. Khob Khun Krab..." (Thank you Sir). Then, the conversation will beat around the bush for a while. When Somsak sees the opportunity in the conversation, by noticing that Somchai is more relaxed, he will begin by saying in a smooth and nice manner something like - "...You have done a good job in many things - for example keeping your work area clean, helping others to do their work and coming to work very early. However, as a brother who has more experience than you, I would like to give you some advice. Your report was late yesterday. Would you please tell me why?"... Somchai might be able to find some excuse even though Somsak would know that it was just that. Somsakm however, would not be interested in proving Somchai wrong. Somsak would then end the conversation by saying - "...Hey Nong, please do not let this thing happen again. It has affected my performance. My boss was chasing for the report. Next time please help me by trying to deliver it on time...". Somchai will commit to Somsak and the story has a happy ending. Somchai will leave the room more aware of his fault and also committed to ensure that he will not let it happen again. You may notice that the approach is not straight forward, it is indirect and sometimes not specific enough. But it works well with Thais. Normally, Thais are concerned with "Face". If you want to give specific feedback to us, remember that it's hard to take - even if it is the truth. It is always easier by first establishing our own self-esteem with some compliments first and then providing feedback that need not be too specific. Find some reasons to support why you have to bring the issue up. In this case, Somsak brought up 2 reasons; 1) as an elder brother this is for your own benefit, and 2) my boss was angry with the late report.
Kriengsak Niratpattanasai
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| ...from Kriengsak Niratappanasai's Thailand Tales |
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| Kriengsak Niratpattanasai Thai Danu Bank Bangkok Thailand |
| Kriengsak was one of the Asian Business Strategy & Street Intelligence Ezine's earliest columnists and continues to provide some of the most savvy advice on the Net on working in Thailand. His down to earth advice from years of working with falang and locals mixed with local folkstories continues to delight and inform. Click on Kriengsak's picture to learn more about our great friend and colleague. |
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