Westerners in Thailand who employ Thais know what a challenge that can be. And conversely, Thais working for Western expats often find relating to their direct reports is sometimes more difficult than the job itself. The beauty of John Paul Fieg’s A Common Core: Thais and Americans (1978, ISBN 0-933-662-80-7) is that it examines core values of both cultures, explains why they are often in conflict, and offers cogent business-world solutions in which neither culture is to blame. And amazingly, he does it in 112 pages. 

Fieg states that the essential problem is a different relationship each culture has with the concepts of Time and Authority. In dealing with the former, Westerners are often frustrated with the lack of planning evidenced by Thai workers (as a street example, how many Bangkok bar girls making $20,000 USD a year are saving anything for their futures?), but Thais, as Buddhists, see time as a continuum involving successive lives, and therefore have difficulty relating to overall western business objectives with a finite end-point. In terms of Authority, Western managers are easily frustrated with the concept of kreng jai, in which a Thai worker will refuse to divulge bad news to his or her director for fear of causing offense, even when the bad news is information critical to the success of the company. 

Fieg’s talent (as well as that of Elizabeth Morlock, who revised the book in 1989) lies in putting these issues in the context of history and culture. Over 100 Thais and Americans were interviewed during the writing of the book, and opinions of those interviewed are strong. Here at WoWasis, some of our favorite passages deal with the glacial pace of negotiations with Thais (p. 107), their emphasis on benevolent paternalism (p. 86), and the concept of personal time off during the work day. Consider this excerpt: 

     This very different approach to life was one of the hardest things for an American anthropologist working in Thailand to get used to- Once in the midst of an important interview, his Thai field assistant told him—with no forewarning—that he had to leave because he had to be in Bangkok in an hour and a half. He explained that he had promised a friend he would meet him at the movies and thus had to go. When asked why he had made a movie date during working hours, he answered, “Well, this was the only time my friend could go.” Several incidents of this kind with different assistants convinced the American that he and his Thai coworkers were clearly operating on different cultural wavelengths.
     With his lineal sense of time, the American had planned and scheduled his work. This was the day to conduct the interview. Tomorrow he would hand out a questionnaire. The next day he would go over the answers, etc. To waste a day, or even worse, several, would violate his deeply ingrained sense of the productive use of time. He had no doubt received a sizable grant to carry out his research. How could he justify just sitting there enjoying the shade of a coconut palm?
     To his Thai assistant, such thinking was clearly bizarre. What difference could it possibly make whether the interview was carried out today, tomorrow, or next week? The villagers are always going to be here; what’s the rush? My friend, on the other hand, can only go to the movie now; so it’s clear I have to go. To the American way of thinking, the Thai approach seems unpredictable and wasteful. In Thai terms, the American pattern precludes spontaneity andtakes the fun out of life. 

All-in-all, any Westerner doing business or wanting to do business with Thais should read this book. Many Westerners make the mistake of thinking that because Thais seem to be inevitably smiling, they aren’t as complex or intelligent as Westerners are. As the book cogently points out, that’s simply not true, and any Western manager that doesn’t make an honest attempt to understand the reasons underlying Thai behavior probably isn’t going to last long running a business operation in Thailand. There’s a whole lot of wisdom in these 112 pages. Highly recommended.