In just a few days, I will have been in Thailand for four years. Time flies.

One of the most common questions that I've been asked over the past years is whether I have any problem adjusting myself to Thai culture and the Thai working style.

Of course, every country has its own unique culture and its ways of thinking. But instead of trying to compare such cultures with what we are familiar with, I think we should try to understand and respect the differences.

Several times in my life I've had to live in another country. There might be some small difficulties in the beginning but if we see new experiences as a good opportunity to learn new things and to meet new friends, then it should be something positive for us.

If there is any problem when it comes to work, I don't think it is because of Thai culture or because of the "Thainess" of our staff, but rather because most of the problems come from the cultures within the organisation itself.

When I first came here, DTAC was like other big companies in the world with several layers of organisational structure. This type of structure might suit the competition back then, but when the competition changes, we have to adapt.

And that's why former co-CEO Vichai Bencharongkul and I mainly focused on restructuring the organisation and encouraging more cross-functional practices in the company.

We started by reducing the number of layers in the company, flattening out the structure. From having a few managers reporting directly to the CEO, I now have over thirty. We also adjusted the management style by short-cutting internal communications flows from the top to the bottom and visa versa to ensure faster reactions to market changes.

In the meantime, we also initiated more rounds of brainstorming meetings among staff from different departments to facilitate information and knowledge exchange and to create a sense of ownership throughout the company.

The design of the new office also helped to create a more fun and dynamic work environment by bridging the gap between executives and employees.

In the past, each executive had to have his own office, a secretary sitting in front of it, and several other status symbols. We changed that by designing the floor to have more open space whereby executives sit among their teams.

When we first raised the new office's design idea in a meeting, some people opposed it, claiming that it would be against "Thai culture". However, like I said, I never believe that the existing gaps in the company resulted from Thai culture, but are rooted somewhere in the company's culture.

Today, after four years of trying and experimenting, I have noticed several positive changes in the company. People have more interactions, executives and staff are more united and there is more cross functional work. The fact that there are not more than five out of the total 4,500 employees who are farang has reinforced my belief that the Thai culture is definitely not the cause of the problems as often claimed.

Having said this, however, all the changes could not have been achieved if the employees felt that they were forced into them. As the leaders, both Khun Vichai and I had the duty to move the company forward. But when it came to execution, we respected and gave the staff the freedom to make the call.

Most importantly, I myself never believed in imposing farang concepts or work styles upon the local staff.

Several multinational corporations have attempted to paste their successful concepts from one part of the world onto the local market, and eventually learned the painful lesson the hard way. One of the reasons behind the failures, I would assume, must come from a failure to open the leadership's minds to accept differences.

I think acceptance is a two-way reaction. If we want someone to accept us, we must accept them first. If we want someone to understand us, we must try to understand them first. If we want someone to respect us, we must respect them first. All of these efforts take time and we must act upon what we think and not just talk about it.

Although I came from another part of the world and people can, from a distance, tell that I am a farang, I think I have one thing in common with my Thai staff - the desire to move this company forward.

For me, having respect, understanding and appreciation towards the beauty of differences while sharing the similarity of having the same goal should be the perfect recipe for adjusting oneself to a new culture and new environment.

Sigve Brekke

 Special to The Nation

Please e-mail me your comments anytime at sigve@dtac.co.th