In an earlier article on April 30, I introduced some of the challenges that Thailand and other countries are facing as the integration of Asean gathers momentum. In this article I will be looking at some of the ways that Thailand can address the challenge of increasing its pool of skilled knowledge workers.
Given that obtaining a degree in such fields as science, engineering and information technology (IT) will take a minimum of three years, ensuring the needed growth in the skilled labour workforce will take time and forward planning. The Asean Economic Community (AEC), meanwhile, is less than three years away from formation at the end of 2015.
Major development projects, such as national infrastructure expansion, will be coming thick and fast as Asean member nations begin to move up the global economic ladder, and that will bring with it an increase in the demand for top skills. So, if Thailand wants to keep pace with the likes of Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia, it had better start getting serious about learning and development opportunities for talented young people.
In particular, Thailand should be putting increased resources behind the development of high-level scientific, technical and IT skills, and in the overall support for educated and knowledgeable workers of all kinds.
At the same time, there must be a complementary ongoing area of focus on increasing the overall competence of the Thai workforce in the use of English, the working language of Asean and the global economic and trading system in general. Therefore, there are going to be many work opportunities in Asean _ help desks and customer service centres for example _ which will depend on proficiency in English.
India has shown the way in this area, and has long dominated the global market in customer support services. Not only have the Indians taught their workers effective English-speaking skills; if needed they have even taught them the various regional dialects of the areas they are servicing.
So, given this background of evolving business requirements, what key elements of business-supporting capabilities should Thailand focus on as it prepares for the arrival of the AEC? Here is a shortlist of 10 items that could or should be seen as priorities:
1. Education about Asean, and the impacts of AEC membership, for all schoolchildren and all newcomers to the workforce.
2. Support for, and facilitation of, research opportunities and partnerships between business, government and higher education institutes, both nationally and internationally.
3. Support for research and development efforts in the high-tech sector.
4. Increased availability of high-tech learning and development opportunities for all workers.
5. Provision of computer literacy programmes for workers in all sectors.
6. Provision of innovation and entrepreneurship programmes at all levels of government _ national, regional and municipal _ to promote and increase industrial competitiveness.
7. Increased access to finance and investment opportunities for SMEs during their startup and growth phases.
8. Increased participation in national quality and business excellence award programmes, with a strong emphasis placed on recognition (publicity) and rewards.
9. Continued growth of the national ICT (information and communication technology) infrastructure, and effective leveraging of that investment to ensure the maximum payback in support of business competitiveness.
10. Increased opportunities for workers to enrol in language skills programmes.
These are just some of the ways in which Thailand can help its business organisations meet the kinds of challenges that the AEC will present. The primary focus of all these efforts should be to increase the overall competence and computer literacy of the workforce, as well as provide a platform from which to encourage and sustain an increase in high-end skills. Without such a concerted and focused effort, Thailand will run a serious risk of falling behind in the Asean pecking order.
Overall, Thai businesses need to be more aware of the types of challenges, as well as the many opportunities, that AEC membership will bring. As well, they must focus on ensuring that more occupational training for key knowledge workers is available.
If the Thai government can rise to this challenge, it will help the local business sector to be properly prepared to play a key and rewarding role in the continuing economic growth of the Asean region.
Niall Sinclair is the director of KM at the Institute for Knowledge and Innovation at Bangkok University. He is also the author of the KM best-seller, 'Stealth KM', as well as being the founder of Nterprise Consulting in Ottawa, Canada. He can be reached at either niall.s@bu.ac.th or nterprise@rogers.com