APEC Forum on Human Resources Development Sustainable Career Development throughout Working Life

Transcription

1 APEC Forum on Human Resources Development Sustainable Career Development throughout Working Life Introduction By Areeya Rojvithee Deputy-Director General Department of Skill Development Ministry of Labour, Thailand 1. This paper was written for APEC Forum on Human Resources Development Sustainable Career Development throughout Working Life, organized by Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare and the Overseas Vocational Training Association, Japan during 14th-16th November 2007 at Chiba, Japan. 2. The content of this paper consists of definition, state of the problems, policies on human resources development (HRD), Skill Development Promotion Act, Occupational Promotion Act, role of Ministry of Education, Department of Employment and the establishment. Some cases study presented and ended with the conclusion and recommendation. 3. The information in this paper based on the paper named: (1) The Competence Development as Workplace Learning in Thailand written by Dr. Patcharawalai Wongboonsin and Ms. Areeya Rojvithee for ASEM Research Seminar organized by Leopold-Franzens-University of Innsbruck, Institute of Educational Sciences, Austria during September (2) APEC Forum on Human Resources Development : Increasingly Vital Role of Enterprises in HRD, Chiba, Japan 6 8 December DEFINITION 4. Career Development is a part of Organizational Development (OD) which looks at how individuals manage their careers within and between organizations and how organizations structure the career progress of their members can be tied in to succession planning within some organizations. This definition means to people who are working in any organization. But in broader sense, career development means to the process of identifying and implementing career activities that cause change for the purpose of growth. Furthermore career development is the progression through a sequence of jobs, involving continually more advanced or diverse activities and resulting in wider or improved. Career development can be done through education and training both formal and informal, through work experiences, job networking or formal courses, etc. 5. Businesses used to partner with employees to carry out employees career planning and development. Times have changed. Now, businesses are coming to view career development primarily as the employee s responsibility. As the world of work is rapidly changing, employers are interested in hiring people who can demonstrate their skills, abilities, competencies and have right attitude in working. Hence, there are special training courses organized by academics, professional association, distance learning, website, - 1 -

2 career services, E-manual for career development, etc., to help people to develop goals, strategies to progress in their career. STATE OF THE PROBLEMS 6. Globalization, rapid development of technology and high competition on international trade make each business struggle for survival. The main factor that can help businesses to survive is the quality of human resource. So, the human development has never been as important as it is in today. The Thai government realized those pressures and also the Thai society is lacking of skill workforce and approaching the aging society, lacking new entrants to the labour market. Hence, various policies on education, training and life long learning / training for employability have been issued for developing knowledge, skills and competencies of people. POLICY ON HUMAN RESOURCES DEVELOPMENT (HRD) The Policies of the Government related to HRD can be considered from: Policy on Skill Development 7. The policy on HRD can be considered from the policies of the National Economic and Social Development Plan, the current government policy and the policy of the Minister of Labour, and the Labour Development Plan 2007 which is the guideline for implementation. The 10 th National Economic and Social Development Plan A.D The vision of Thailand is to develop the country to be the green and happiness society through the King s Philosophy of Sufficiency Economy. The content deals with Human Resources Development are : To develop the quality of people and the Thai society to be the wisdom and learning society. To develop the potential, competency and skills of people to cope with the competitiveness of the country by increasing knowledge and skills for working such as analytical skill, innovation, problem solving, decision-making, team working, ethics and working discipline for working with the new technology as well as increasing productivity. Set up the system of learning and training that can be working with new technology. Networking from the basic to the professional level, and link between government, private sector, and the community for the labour development. Organizing short courses training, promote inplant training, workplace learning, and the learning centre. Set up the system that match the skills or competency to the wage structure. The skill training should be extended to the vulnerable people who are employees or self-employed people. Policy of the Current Government 9. Labour is the vital basis for the economic sector which should be strengthen by the cooperation of workers, public and private sectors on knowledge and skill development and development of the quality of workforce in all levels to have high productivity and wage as the level of national skills standard. Promote the employment, supplementary occupation, labour protection labour relations, occupational, safety and health, the social security and the welfare of the workers

3 Labour Development Plan A.D Ministry of Labour (MOL) has vital role on economic and social development, especially on increasing the potential and competency of the total workforce million persons to have good quality of life and stay happily in the society. The Mission of the Ministry of Labour are employment promotion, skill development, protection of the working conditions, occupational safety and health, promotion of industrial relations, and promotion of the social security scheme. The Ministry is extending scope of protection to the people in the informal sector and also preparing the measure for the aging people who are increasing year by year. For the Security of the Nation Ministry of Labour has also control the working of migrant workers both legal and illegal approximately 1 million people. MOL also look after overseas Thai workers who are working abroad 500,000 people. The content of skill development appears in the Labour Development Plan of Ministry of Labour in the strategy for providing and development of the Quality of the workforce as following : Making Manpower Development plan. Acceleration the recruitment and development workforce to have qualification to be relevant to the demand of establishments. Acceleration the workforce development to acquire knowledge, working competency and skill as the demand of the labour market. Increasing yield or productivity for the agriculturist. Development the establishments for the quality of the workforce. Development the labour market system. Management of the migrant workers. 11. All those policies implemented by line ministries that are responsible for the policy such as Ministry of Education, Higher Education, Labour, Interior and Industry, etc. The Government has primary responsibility for education, pre-employment training and training the unemployed and people with special needs. The social partners play a significant role in further training and particularly employers in work-place learning and training. Individuals are expected to make use of education, training and Lifelong Learning. SKILL DEVELOPMENT PROMOTION ACT B.E.2545 (A.D.2002) 12. Skill development has never been as important as it is in today s globalizing world, where technology dictates rapid changes to the way in which skills are acquired, new skills developed and existing skills upgraded. Thai government considers that human resource is the main asset of nation and should be continuously developed on par with the development of socio-economic and technology to be high quality resource. There is a need to rethink and broaden the notion of lifelong education and training. Not only must it adapt to changes in the nature of work, but it must also constitute a continuous process of forming whole human beings their knowledge and aptitudes, as well as the critical faculty and ability to act. It should enable people to - 3 -

4 develop awareness of themselves and their environment and encourage them to play their social role at work and in the community. Thai government has clear policy on human resources development considering that the best strategy to develop workforce is in the workplace, so the vital role of enterprises on human resources development has been recognized and the Skill Development Promotion Act B.E.2002 has been issuing for encouraging enterprises to provide training, upgrading skills, knowledge and competencies for employees and for those who are not employees. And also encourage private sector to set up and register with the DSD their own training centers for workplace learning and training.. The incentives have been provided to enterprises by deduction the cost of training 200 percent from the annual tax payment. The compulsory measure has been applied for the establishments that have at least 100 employees have to provide training for the employees at the rate of 50 percent of the total number of employees, if not the employer have to pay contribution to the Skill Development Fund approximately 480 baht per head per year for the number of untrained employees. Further more the establishments gain other benefit under this Act such as exemption tax of the training machines, bringing experts or trainers to train their workers. Free charge of water and electric fees. The Thai fiscal year started from the October to September, according to the DSD, 2,919,719 workers were trained in the workplaces during October 2006 September 2007 (Labour Information for Administrators, September 2007). Draft of Occupational Promotion Act B.E 13. The Cabinet approved the draft of the Occupational Promotion Act proposed by Ministry of Labour as at the meeting on 12 June In accordance with official procedure the draft Act is on process to get consideration from the National Legislative Assembly. Occupational Promotion Act in Brief The following is the significant content of the draft Act: To promote the setting up individual s experience documentation; To provide the proficiency classification and appropriate wages rate of occupations in line with proficiency classification; The Act provides recognize system in occupational trades; The Occupational Promotion Fund is set up in order to promote occupational development of people. The Act provides privilege incentive such as tax exemption for those enterprises involve in the scheme by employing proficiency certified employees and affording the wages according to the level of their competencies, skills. For those who would like to employ and be employed in the particular occupational trades which might be harmful to public safety, should apply skill license for working in that trade and the license should be renewed every five years. Benefit to Public 14. Once this new Act enters into force, employers, employees, training institutes, and public will gain benefit from the Act. Since the Act is used as the tool to promote a better employment system by providing qualified employees for employers, better job opportunities for employees, appropriate human resource development direction and framework for training institutes, therefore public as a whole will mostly gain benefit from such Act

5 15. This Act will promoted the career development of employees in the workplace and for experienced people that have no qualification to have guarantee system for their knowledge, competencies to work and gain suitable wages for their capabilities. ROLE OF MINISTRY OF EDUCATION 16. Ministry of Education has main responsibility on providing career guidance for students to choose their career during their schooling system in order to make decision in the higher education. ROLE OF DEPARTMENT OF EMPLOYMENT (DOE) 17. Department of Employment, Ministry of Labour has main responsibility on providing report on demand and supply of labour market information and also provide services on vocational guidance and employment services based on the labour market information. The service of DOE targeting to job seekers, informal sectors, self employment, students and people looking for part time job or supplementary occupation. The methodology is the aptitude test, psychiatric discovering, software program for self discovering for each occupation and profile of each occupation. From October 2006 to September 2007 there were 2,239,311 persons received the services of DOE. ROLE OF ESTABLISHMENT 18. For people working in establishments especially in large and multinational enterprises have good system on career development in the workplace initiated by the CEO or the administrative level. In this paper presented two cases study of the Somboon Group and the Siam Cement Public Company Limited. ( detail appeared in the annex). 19. The Somboon Group Company The Somboon Group Company is producing the automotive spare parts with 749 employees. The company issued the Competency Visa for all employees which was a new trend in Thailand. (See the process below)

6 Employees Below exemplified the Competency Visa of each employee of the company. Source: Somboon Group Company The competency covered core and functional competency. Core competency included commitment and skills: adjustment, interpersonal, communication, leadership, and occupational skill, etc. Functional competency comprised of analytical skill, problem solving, hard-ware and computer software skills. The gap between required and existing skills of each employee was identified before training (See below charts). The charts and the above Visa were put together in a booklet form for evaluation and updated on a regular basis

7 Source: Somboon Group Company 20. Siam Cement Public Company Limited (A Thai-Owned Company) 1 Learning Organization in The Siam Cement Public Company Limited Information on the Corporation In 1913, His Majesty King Rama VI (Vajiravudh) issued a Royal Decree to establish the Siam Cement Company (SCC). The company was the first of its kind to manufacture and distribute cement, a fundamental constituent for construction, to play a leading role in the construction industry, which is of particular importance to a developing country such as Thailand at that time. Today, SCC has evolved into the parent company of the Siam Cement Group, one of Thailand s largest industrial conglomerates, with five business units: Cement, Petrochemicals, Paper & Packaging, Building Products, Distribution, along with two Holding Companies: Cement Thai Holdings which is a holding company for approximately 50 operations, most of which are joint-ventures and Property Group which itself is a holding company for nine other companies that specialize in property related management services. Siam Cement is a domestic player in all core business. In Thailand, the company have capacity shares of 41% for cement, 35% for ethylene, 36% for propylene, 42% for polyethylene aggregates, 25% for polypropylene, 44% for pulp, 46% for industrial paper and 21% for printing & writing paper. Human Resource Development Philosophy 1 The case study on Siam Cement is taken from a paper on Performance Based Compensation: A Thai Experience presented (Appendix 2) by Sirilak Meksang at NPC/APEC Seminar on Initiatives to Intensify the Implementation of Productivity-Based Compensation, organized by National Productivity Corporation, Selangor, Malaysia on April 2004 and from Reviewed and reprinted with permission

8 Technology, machinery and capital, these all-important factors in manufacturing have no meaning without people to control and manage them. Critical to producing products of the highest quality are energy, intelligence and commitment. For these reasons, the Group considers people to be the most valuable asset of all and constantly strives in every possible ways and means to cultivate the highest capabilities possible. This is clearly demonstrated in line with the Group s Belief in the value of the Individual. The Group makes sure that employees are properly recruited, given appropriate compensation, and is well developed and motivated. The Group invests in people and treats them as members of the family, not merely as staff in the organization. Two percent of SCC budget is invested in employee education every year. Process of Organization Development 1. To provide development and training programs for all employees regardless of their careers and professional skills. 2. Training activities are initiated continuously throughout the organization. 3. The Group regards development and training as an essential investment. 4. It is a prime responsibility of every affiliated company to initiate and support training activities. 5. All supervisors are responsible for administering training programs for their subordinates. 6. Employees participating in training courses are strongly encouraged to absorb knowledge and acquire modern techniques from these courses for their own as well as the company s benefits. The Group also had set guidelines on training programs. Employees are expected to be equipped with knowledge, skill and good attitude. They are trained according to the nature of their jobs, responsibilities and competency model. There are three training schemes. Training Relating to Functional Skill Training Relating to Conceptual Skill Training Relating to Personal Skill The first and the second training schemes are aimed at developing employees capacity to be the smart people while the third one is meant for employee to be the good people or develop good attitude towards others, towards supervisors and subordinates, company s customers, enhancing team building capabilities, and also extend to morality in daily life. The Group offers a promising career plan for every employee. A university graduate will easily reach a managerial level after 10 years of services. MDP (Management Development Program), and intensive 3-week program, is a training program for managerial level, its content includes marketing, finance, operational excellence, leadership and strategic management. Many outstanding professors from leading universities in USA are selected to conduct MDP courses each year. The success of the MDP of the Group has been well known in Thailand since Later on other organizations such as banks, manufacturing companies also provide the same kind of programs as the Group as an incentive for their managerial level employees. (MDP includes Information Resource Management, Leadership and change, Financial Management and Control, Production and Operations Management, Strategic Management.) - 8 -

9 Besides the main training programs mentioned above, the company also has functional training in marketing, sales, technical and professional areas. In addition, employees are trained on Total Quality Commitment (TQC) to improve their competitiveness, to promote the safety of employees, and to protect the environment. Moreover, for the high level staff are arranged to attend oversea courses, i.e., Advanced Management Program at Harvard Business School. Also, SCG is one of the first companies in Thailand to sponsor experienced staff to earn an MBA in top ten business schools in the U.S. and Europe since Development Method at SCG Training Master Degree Scholarship Domestic and oversea visit Job rotation Coaching, counseling Being instructor Productivity improvement participation The Siam Cement Group values people who are dedicated to learning. The company takes responsibility to train its people at every level with training schemes that prepare all employees to become productive members of a knowledge-based society. Learning takes place both through formal training and in work place. The Siam Cement Group broadens working experience of its staff through job rotation. Each employee is assigned to work in a particular position not more than 4-5 years. Job rotation encourages people to learn how to deal with new tasks and to create new working networks. Best practice community is another learning source through sharing best practices and networking among professionals across various business groups, i.e. production, production support work group, accounting, human resource, and marketing. Besides site visits, best practices are shared through intranet web sites. Better knowledge sharing will enhance performance, reduce cycle time, speed innovation, or create deeper customer relationships. Moreover, as part of its ongoing Best Practice Project, employees are encouraged to detail both their work experiences and past accomplishments, so that working knowledge can be retained internally within the company for others to learn from. Learning curves can therefore be shortened. Moreover, development of human resource places great emphasis on self-learning, through the use of information technology system or computer-based training. In the long-term, the intention is to implement a corporate culture, which has concepts and practice guideline that will support the organization s future growth and stability. With the collaboration of King Mongkut s Institute of Technology Thonburi, the company has organized C-ChEPS programme (Constructionism Chemicals Engineering Practice School) so as to enhance the knowledge in chemical engineering, a key component in the business, for staff members whose academic background is lower than a Bachelor s degree. It is expected that this will enable these employees to increase their future potential and prepare them for higher levels of job responsibilities

10 Success of Human Resource Development There are three main factors for the success of the HRD in Siam Cement Group: Firstly, the top-level administration of the company believes that human resource development is an important business principle. Secondly, the company considers that training is not an expense, but it is in fact as longterm investment. The last factor is that employees must be constantly motivated towards selfdevelopment. In short, the most poignant indicator of the success of the Group human resource development is the fact that over the last 30 years or more the Siam Cement groups has diversified from the originally 5 mere companies to now over 80 companies. Throughout the entire time period we were only obliged to fill in 3 top managerial posts from outside sources, the rest were all readily supplied by internal promotion. CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION 21. Career Development in Thailand has been done successfully in the large and multi national corporations but for small and medium enterprises still have problems. Students and people in the informal sectors and self-employed persons are still on process to improve the system and services. 22. Learning and sharing good practices among APEC economies is a good strategy to develop our workforce in the APEC region

11 Annex Some Cases Study The Somboon Group Company The Somboon Group Company is producing the automotive spare parts with 749 employees. The economic and financial crisis that had started in July 1997 severely affected the company. Sales target of all products dropped by 50 percent. As a consequence, the company implemented the following survival plan: A. Downsizing the structure of the company from 15 satellite firms to 5 firms. Restructuring by reducing the level of hierarchy, dissolving some sections and combining some tasks under one section, made the organization flexible, smaller and ready for adaptability. B. Developing of the productivity potential of personnel by: Setting up the Personnel Development and Performance Promotion Section in the company. Providing a master plan for personnel development that shows the clear roles and responsibilities of personnel at each level. A standard career path development plan has been written for personnel in the company in order to ascertain their progress and use the information for training relevant to the system of work in the firms. Acquiring a license from DSD to be the centre for skill testing for workers of the company by using the National Skills Standards. Certificates were issued by DSD. Through the development of the Centre, the Company could obtain information about its workers level of skills and could develop a wage structure accordingly. By knowing the skills of the employees, the employer could put the right person on the right job. Employees were encouraged to learn multiple skills

12 Training for middle level staff in the factory in order to increase their competencies in management Skills. Upgrading basic knowledge and skills of the workers. There is no labour union in the Somboon Group company; but the company set up a Recreational Committee that is an employees committee elected by employees in the company. This Committee is responsible for all activities of workers and communicating to the employer. Information from management flows to the employee through this Committee. The joint consultation system creates understanding between employees and employers and promotes the participation of workers. The Result of Employee Development includes: 2 Productivity increased although the number of employees was reduced, enabling the Company to survive the economic crisis by reducing its operation costs. Employees received fair remuneration for their work, benefited from skill training, and continued on their career paths. The employees demonstrated good behaviour and industrial habits and were responsible in their jobs. The rate of claiming compensation for injuries on the job was reduced from 135 cases in 1997 to 29 cases in Unencumbered labour relations in the company is healthy as a result of as objective of the government not to interfere if labour and management can solve their conflicts. The system of working has been improved at the international standard. The company got ISO 9000, 9002 and ISO In 1998 the company was selected by the Thailand Productivity Institute to be the best company on productivity for the whole process of production. The company cooperated with Thai Environmental Institute running the pilot project of clean technology and was selected by the European Foundation to award 5 million baht for reducing the cost of production and getting rid of waste. Competency Visa was a new trend in Thailand. This study adopted the case study of that at the Somboon Group Company (See the process below). 2 Rovjithee (1999). Ibid

13 Employees Source: Somboon Group Company

14 Below exemplified the Competency Visa of each employee of the company. Source: Somboon Group Company The competency covered core and functional. The core competency included commitment and skills: adjustment, interpersonal, communication, leadership, and occupational, etc. Functional competency comprised of analytical, problem solving, hard-ware and computer software skills. The gap between required and existing skills of each employee was identified before training (See below charts). The charts and the above Visa were put together in a booklet form for evaluation and updated on a regular basis. Source: Somboon Group Company

15 Siam Cement Public Company Limited (A Thai-Owned Company) 3 Learning Organization in The Siam Cement Public Company Limited Information on the Corporation In 1913, His Majesty King Rama VI (Vajiravudh) issued a Royal Decree to establish the Siam Cement Company (SCC). His intention was to have greater control over the supply of this vital construction material by eliminating reliance on import, as well as taking fuller advantage of the natural resources available in the country. The first cement plant was located in Bangsue, the suburban area of Bangkok, Thailand with 300 employees. The company was the first of its kind to manufacture and distribute cement, a fundamental constituent for construction, to play a leading role in the construction industry, which is of particular importance to a developing country such as Thailand at that time. Today, SCC has evolved into the parent company of the Siam Cement Group, one of Thailand s largest industrial conglomerates, with five business units: Cement, Petrochemicals, Paper & Packaging, Building Products, Distribution, along with two Holding Companies: Cement Thai Holdings which is a holding company for approximately 50 operations, most of which are joint-ventures and Property Group which itself is a holding company for nine other companies that specialize in property related management services. Siam Cement is a domestic player in all core business. In Thailand, we have capacity shares of 41% for cement, 35% for ethylene, 36% for propylene, 42% for polyethylene aggregates, 25% for polypropylene, 44% for pulp, 46% for industrial paper and 21% for printing & writing paper. Organization s performance in 2005 Net Sales 41,630million bath (1,040 million USD), a 14% increase from Net Profit 7,916 million baht (197.9 million USD),a 16% increase from EBITDA 13,235 million bath (330.8 million USD) similar to last year which is 13,175 million bath or million USD Corporate Milestone Established in 1913 by King Rama VI 1910 s 1970 s was the period of organic growth in Construction Materials. Main products are Cement, Construction Materials, and Steel 1970 s 1980 s was the period of taking over ailing industries. The major industries taken over were Paper and Ceramics. In 1976, was listed on the Stock Exchange of Thailand 1980 s 1990 s was the period of entry into new industries through several joint ventures and also to other countries such as the U.S., Philippines, and China, etc. In 1997, Thailand faced the economic crisis starting from the floating of Thai Baht. Meanwhile, Siam Cement not only shouldered a huge foreign debt, but also faced the drastic decrease of product demand. 3 The case study on Siam Cement is taken from a paper on Performance Based Compensation: A Thai Experience presented (Appendix 2) by Sirilak Meksang at NPC/APEC Seminar on Initiatives to Intensify the Implementation of Productivity-Based Compensation, organized by National Productivity Corporation, Selangor, Malaysia on April 2004 and from Reviewed and reprinted with permission

16 In 1998, Siam Cement initiated Organization Restructuring, which underlines Cement, Petrochemical, and Paper & Packaging as our core businesses. At the same time, Siam Cement reduced its involvement or divest in those businesses that we could not enhance value. In 1999, the first organization restructuring resulted with operations focused on 3 Core Businesses, 3 Potential Core Businesses and some other companies being divested. Corporation s Development Strategy Philosophy in Doing Business: The Siam Cement Group is committed to the belief that business must be conducted ethically. The management team and employees at all levels have continuously and faithfully upheld our four guiding principles in doing business as follows: Adherence to Fairness: The Group believes that all those who are involved with our business must be treated with integrity. Whether they are our customers, shareholders, employees, or business associates, they must be treated fairly when doing business or when they associate with us. Belief in the Value of the individual: The group highly values our staff and considers them the most important of all assets. We recruit capable people, extensively train them and retain them through a system of strong support and generous rewards. Concern for Social Responsibility: The Group intention is to operate the business governed by its duties and responsibilities to the nation and its society. The Group will perform admirably as a good citizen by both serving its social and community responsibilities in all areas where the Group is located. Dedication to Excellence: Throughout its 90 years of operation, The Group has been relentless in its pursuit for excellence. We have done the best possible in all our business endeavors, whilst always on the lookout for means to continually improve, employing all our energies and abilities to the end. These beliefs, which constantly underlie our business philosophy, have played a vital role in the growth of the organization as well as in the company s positive contribution to the nation s economic and social development. Essentially, the business philosophy of Siam Cement Group can be summarized in two meaningful words: Quality and Fairness. Strategies for Organizational Excellence SCG will provide central management and strategic direction and corporate support services in human resource, office management, legal, and IT. In exercising its corporate management responsibilities, SCG will focus on maximizing value for the entire Siam Cement Group through the following methods: Strategy setting by providing overall management of different product portfolios as well as acquisition and divestiture activities;

17 Performance enhancement by setting aggressive business and financial targets for each business group with clear delivery and reporting formats; Financial management by managing the capital structure more strictly than previously; Management of external relationships by improving corporate disclosure and investor communications and by focusing on critical joint ventures; and Grooming and promotion of managerial talent by engaging in active career management for the top 100 employees. The combination of the experienced management team and the dedicated employees, who are highly knowledgeable of their duties, is the primary factor behind the success of the Siam Cement Group to withstand the recent economic crisis. Human Resource Development Philosophy Technology, machinery and capital, these all-important factors in manufacturing have no meaning without people to control and manage them. Critical to producing products of the highest quality are energy, intelligence and commitment. For these reasons, the Group considers people to be the most valuable asset of all and constantly strives in every possible ways and means to cultivate the highest capabilities possible. This is clearly demonstrated in line with the Group s Belief in the value of the Individual. The Group makes sure that employees are properly recruited, given appropriate compensation, and is well developed and motivated. The Group invests in people and treats them as members of the family, not merely as staff in the organization. Two percent of SCC budget is invested in employee education every year. Process of Organization Development Goal and Direction in Human Resource Development The main focus of the development is for employees to continually develop, learn, be prepared for changes occurring in the world, and be exposed to innovation. Thus, Development and Training Policy has been established with great emphasis on human resource development. The Group s Development and Training are as follows: 7. To provide development and training programs for all employees regardless of their careers and professional skills. 8. Training activities are initiated continuously throughout the organization. 9. The Group regards development and training as an essential investment. 10. It is a prime responsibility of every affiliated company to initiate and support training activities. 11. All supervisors are responsible for administering training programs for their subordinates. 12. Employees participating in training courses are strongly encouraged to absorb knowledge and acquire modern techniques from these courses for their own as well as the company s benefits. Moreover, certain Directions related to development policy have been addressed to employees. They are: Discipline is the key for efficiency To work as we belong to the same family

18 Such directions significantly encourage every company in the Group to establish its own development activities, classroom training, on-the-job training or rotation plan are required for all levels in our effort to meet these challenges. The Group also had set guidelines on training programs. Employees are expected to be equipped with knowledge, skill and good attitude. They are trained according to the nature of their jobs, responsibilities and competency model. There are three training schemes. Training Relating to Functional Skill Training Relating to Conceptual Skill Training Relating to Personal Skill The first and the second training schemes are aimed at developing employees capacity to be the smart people while the third one is meant for employee to be the good people or develop good attitude towards others, towards supervisors and subordinates, company s customers, enhancing team building capabilities, and also extend to morality in daily life. The Group employees are classified into three classes. Training courses are designed in accordance with their classes. The three classes are as follows: Class O: Lower level employees, i.e. industrial workers, clerks recruited from vocational schools. They work according to certain rules and regulations set by the company. Class S: Middle level employees, i.e., supervisors, professional staff (Financial Officers, Accountants, etc.) and technical employees (Engineers, Chemists, etc.). They are recruited from universities. They work according to the general rules and also have some room for their own discretion. Class M: High-level employees, i.e. management staff. They are responsible for the formulation of policy and its implementation in accordance with the concurrence of the company Board of Directors. The Class O employees are required to attend a project-based learning called Constructionism. The learning includes technical skills, productivity activities such as TQM, general knowledge such as foreign language, and EQ. The Constructionism a project-based learning help all employees to start their learning so that they are equipped with knowledge required for their work and personal life. Suggestion, as such activities are adopted extensively throughout the company. The ABC (Abridge Business Concept) courses concerning general knowledge in Marketing, Production, Human Resource Management and Finance are also conducted to enhance knowledge and to familiarize employees with related fields. When an employee becomes a supervisor or Class S, his or her responsibility changes. Deeper business concept courses such as BCD (Business Concept Development) are introduced, while courses such as Communication, Presentation, etc, are still basic requirements. BCD courses are Business Law, Economic, Marketing, Production, Finance, HR Management and Business Game. The Group offers a promising career plan for every employee. A university graduate will easily reach a managerial level or Class M after 10 years of services. MDP

19 (Management Development Program), and intensive 3-week program, is a training program for managerial level, its content includes marketing, finance, operational excellence, leadership and strategic management. Many outstanding professors from leading universities in USA are selected to conduct MDP courses each year. The success of the MDP of the Group has been well known in Thailand since Later on other organizations such as banks, manufacturing companies also provide the same kind of programs as the Group as an incentive for their managerial level employees. (MDP includes Information Resource Management, Leadership and change, Financial Management and Control, Production and Operations Management, Strategic Management.) Besides the main training programs mentioned above, the company also has functional training in marketing, sales, technical and professional areas. In addition, employees are trained on Total Quality Commitment (TQC) to improve their competitiveness, to promote the safety of employees, and to protect the environment. Moreover, for Unclassified Class (UC) not only in-house classes are arranged, we usually send our senior executives to attend oversea courses, i.e., Advanced Management Program at Harvard Business School. Also, SCG is one of the first companies in Thailand to sponsor experienced staff to earn an MBA in top ten business schools in the U.S. and Europe since Development Method at SCG Training Master Degree Scholarship Domestic and oversea visit Job rotation Coaching, counseling Being instructor Productivity improvement participation

20 Figure 1: Training Roadmap Advance Management Program UC (Unclassified Class) Senior Management Conference Manager 4 Functional Development Coaching Skill Early Career Development Management Development Program Business Concept Development Abridge Business Concept Overseas short course Scholarship Manager 3 Manager 2 Manager1 (Class M) Supervisor 3-4 (class S) Supervisor 1-2 C Pulp C-ChEPS (Chemical) C- Cement Operator (Class O) Siam Cement A Learning Organization The Siam Cement Group values people who are dedicated to learning. The company takes responsibility to train its people at every level with training schemes that prepare all employees to become productive members of a knowledge-based society. Learning takes place both through formal training and in work place. The Siam Cement Group broadens working experience of its staff through job rotation. Each employee is assigned to work in a particular position not more than 4-5 years. Job rotation encourages people to learn how to deal with new tasks and to create new working networks. Best practice community is another learning source through sharing best practices and networking among professionals across various business groups, i.e. production, production support work group, accounting, human resource, and marketing. Besides site visits, best practices are shared through intranet web sites. Better knowledge sharing will enhance performance, reduce cycle time, speed innovation, or create deeper customer relationships. Moreover, as part of its ongoing Best Practice Project, employees are encouraged to detail both their work experiences and past accomplishments, so that working knowledge can be retained internally within the company for others to learn from. Learning curves can therefore be shortened. Moreover, development of human resource places great emphasis on self-learning, through the use of information technology system or computer-based training. In the long-term, the intention is to implement a corporate culture, which has concepts and practice guideline that will support the organization s future growth and stability. With the collaboration of King Mongkut s Institute of Technology Thonburi, the company has organized C-ChEPS programme (Constructionism Chemicals Engineering Practice School) so as to enhance the knowledge in chemical engineering, a key component in the business, for staff members whose academic background is lower than a Bachelor s

21 degree. It is expected that this will enable these employees to increase their future potential and prepare them for higher levels of job responsibilities. Development of Business Associates As well as developing its own people at every levels, the Siam Cement Group has extended its training and development programs to other associate companies such as sales outlets, contract companies, suppliers, architects, etc. The Group has provided training courses and activities for them and their children so they may also feel they are part of our big family. This fosters a feeling of warmth and understanding in our mutual business dealings. Success of Human Resource Development There are three main factors for the success of the HRD in Siam Cement Group: Firstly, the top-level administration of the company believes that human resource development is an important business principle. In Siam Cement Group, every top members of managerial staff, all assistant managers, everyone on the board of directors participates in a meeting devoted to people development at least once a month, which is taken more seriously than mere business meetings. All of these managers are required to attend this meeting in person and are not allowed to send a representative. This ensures that our resource development receives careful attention from the top managerial levels down. Secondly, the company considers that training is not an expense, but it is in fact as longterm investment. This means that it is not always possible to see immediate dividends from skill enhancement programs, however the very fact the employees feel that the company is interested in their advancement, it will in itself increases the person s commitment to the company. The last factor is that employees must be constantly motivated towards selfdevelopment. They are committed to making the most of the training courses, always attempting to increase their abilities and experience to the utmost. In short, the most poignant indicator of the success of the Group human resource development is the fact that over the last 30 years or more the Siam Cement groups has diversified from the originally 5 mere companies to now over 80 companies. Throughout the entire time period we were only obliged to fill in 3 top managerial posts from outside sources, the rest were all readily supplied by internal promotion