HR Manager is a management position. He is a member of management committee. There are many management level committees --- or better known as steering committee -- in this organization, one for each critical function in the Company. Apart from Management Committee (MC), there are HR Planning committee, tender committee, Health and Safety committee, and others.
HR Manager is member to all such committees. Attending meetings is the order of the day especially when the CEO is in town.
Today’s tender committee meeting, we discussed about whether or not to award this one particular bid to this one particular bidder. The bid was about the supply vessel to support the shutdown of our platform off Andaman Sea. I was no technical guy but I could contribute to the meeting by offering views from business or HR perspectives. I was IT Manager last time. I was HR Manager from downstream last time. When I was transferred to upstream, I need to learn a lot about upstream and E&P business. The management expects me to ‘run’ immediately at the new job. By the virtue of being a member of this committee member, I manage to reduce the learning curve.
Lesson Learnt:
Learning about the business is made simpler if you join many high level meetings. No matter how technical the subject matter is, at this level, it all boils down to business decision.
Tuesday, February 03, 2009
Networking dinner in Yangon
December 2008
Yangon was not a bad place after all. Not what like Americans and Westerners had described in their one-sided media or Lonely Planet guide book who maintained a chapter on whether or not to visit Myanmar. Those were politically-motivated rubbish.
Halal food is important criteria for principle-hardened individual like me. Halal food outlets are many here, if not abundant, in this city of 6 millions.
Today I got a call HR Manager from PTTEP, our partner in Yetagun project in Myanmar. He wanted to meet me over dinner to get to know the new HR Manager from a partner company. I responded in affirmative as I was also at the receiving end. I was new in this country, in this city and a need to establish network with other multinational companies operating in Myanmar was of paramount importance.
We set the date on the phone. Followed up later with the venue via email. We met a week after that at Mai Thai Restaurant, a halal outlet, on Kaba Aye Pagoda Road. Mr Sarapong was accompanied by his Finance Manager, a lady in early 40’s who spent 3 years in Jakarta before her assignment in Yangon Office. She talked in Bahasa Indonesia quite fluently. I was accompanied by my colleague from INSTEP who happened to be in Yangon on business matter on the same day.
They ordered food before we arrived – prawn spring rolls, fried fish in chili, tomyam goong --- yes their national dishes – bean sprouts and of course rice. We talked about so many things that night. Over Thai dishes in a Thai restaurant, the topic of main interest was not surprisingly on Thais and Thailand . Thais just got the new Prime Minister Mr Abishit after existing PM was driven out of office by yellow-shirted Thaksin followers. They did not bank high hope either on this Obama-like young prime minister, for the same reason Obama was initially rejected by Democrat Hillary Clinton’s supporters.
I managed to ask on how PTTEP outsourced their non-core functions. Not much info I got as PTTEP is relatively newer oil and gas player in Myanmar compared to my organization. Their track record was not proven as yet.
After the dinner, I walked up the hill to my apartment from the restaurant. At 9pm, Kaba Aye Pagoda Road was busy as usual. And dusty as usual.
Lesson Learnt:
You may have some agenda in mind during networking session but remember the other party also has theirs. It is more appropriate to let the host complete their agenda first. Don’t worry you will have enough time to cover yours.
Yangon was not a bad place after all. Not what like Americans and Westerners had described in their one-sided media or Lonely Planet guide book who maintained a chapter on whether or not to visit Myanmar. Those were politically-motivated rubbish.
Halal food is important criteria for principle-hardened individual like me. Halal food outlets are many here, if not abundant, in this city of 6 millions.
Today I got a call HR Manager from PTTEP, our partner in Yetagun project in Myanmar. He wanted to meet me over dinner to get to know the new HR Manager from a partner company. I responded in affirmative as I was also at the receiving end. I was new in this country, in this city and a need to establish network with other multinational companies operating in Myanmar was of paramount importance.
We set the date on the phone. Followed up later with the venue via email. We met a week after that at Mai Thai Restaurant, a halal outlet, on Kaba Aye Pagoda Road. Mr Sarapong was accompanied by his Finance Manager, a lady in early 40’s who spent 3 years in Jakarta before her assignment in Yangon Office. She talked in Bahasa Indonesia quite fluently. I was accompanied by my colleague from INSTEP who happened to be in Yangon on business matter on the same day.
They ordered food before we arrived – prawn spring rolls, fried fish in chili, tomyam goong --- yes their national dishes – bean sprouts and of course rice. We talked about so many things that night. Over Thai dishes in a Thai restaurant, the topic of main interest was not surprisingly on Thais and Thailand . Thais just got the new Prime Minister Mr Abishit after existing PM was driven out of office by yellow-shirted Thaksin followers. They did not bank high hope either on this Obama-like young prime minister, for the same reason Obama was initially rejected by Democrat Hillary Clinton’s supporters.
I managed to ask on how PTTEP outsourced their non-core functions. Not much info I got as PTTEP is relatively newer oil and gas player in Myanmar compared to my organization. Their track record was not proven as yet.
After the dinner, I walked up the hill to my apartment from the restaurant. At 9pm, Kaba Aye Pagoda Road was busy as usual. And dusty as usual.
Lesson Learnt:
You may have some agenda in mind during networking session but remember the other party also has theirs. It is more appropriate to let the host complete their agenda first. Don’t worry you will have enough time to cover yours.
Myanmar - land of pious people
To say Myanmar is a land of gold is half correct. It is also a land of human resource, abundant in supply, indeed. You can see them in their lungyis ("sarong") everywhere -- at the airport, on the streets, in offices, on the open pickups, etc. The people are polite and soft-spoken, humble and pious. They welcome foreigners as if welcoming a saviour to take them to a better future.
People are still the best asset for this military-run country. Seen in this photo are the young and ambitious who just graduated from University of Yangon. They are ready to enter Myanmar labor market. (Dec 2008)
Their ladies are not exceptional. Ladies make good HR personnel, everywhere, in Malaysia or overseas, because of their caring and loving and maternal instinct. That statement is correct even in Myanmar. I have four lady executives under me in Yangon, taking charge of four core HR functions respectively namely HR Planning, HR Development, Training and Employee Relations.
These are local Burmese ladies with fairly high degree of commitment to work. Three of them are working moms. One is still single. They are my staff and I have to get to know them in order to understand them. They are important to me during performance appraisal as they provide me the feedbacks on me to my superior. I will describe each and every one of them in more details in future posting, God willing.
But I must say pronouncing and thereafter remembering their names is a struggle for me.
Their ladies are not exceptional. Ladies make good HR personnel, everywhere, in Malaysia or overseas, because of their caring and loving and maternal instinct. That statement is correct even in Myanmar. I have four lady executives under me in Yangon, taking charge of four core HR functions respectively namely HR Planning, HR Development, Training and Employee Relations.
These are local Burmese ladies with fairly high degree of commitment to work. Three of them are working moms. One is still single. They are my staff and I have to get to know them in order to understand them. They are important to me during performance appraisal as they provide me the feedbacks on me to my superior. I will describe each and every one of them in more details in future posting, God willing.
But I must say pronouncing and thereafter remembering their names is a struggle for me.
Yangon, here I come
The next entries on this blog will be about my experience as HR Manager assigned at Yangon Office, Myanmar.
Myanmar is also known as the Golden Land, probably because of golds are everywhere in every pagodas in this low-key country.
You may want to refer to this travelogue www.bumisepi.com for info on Myanmar or in particular Yangon. I noted that most entries in this website are in Bahasa Melayu. The webmaster told me it is his policy to uphold the national language of Malaysia in his website. I could not agree more. Well, get somebody to translate them to BM. They are some cool stuff there.
Myanmar is also known as the Golden Land, probably because of golds are everywhere in every pagodas in this low-key country.
You may want to refer to this travelogue www.bumisepi.com for info on Myanmar or in particular Yangon. I noted that most entries in this website are in Bahasa Melayu. The webmaster told me it is his policy to uphold the national language of Malaysia in his website. I could not agree more. Well, get somebody to translate them to BM. They are some cool stuff there.
Moving on
November 2008
In this organization at the corporate level, subsidiaries are clustered together by the product types or simply known as ‘business’. At the current subsidiary I am currently attached which is under petrochemical business, we produced vinyl chloride, a specialty chemical used to produce PVC pipes and other end-user polymer products.
I was not here long, only for about 8 months. The company didn’t make tons of money like my previous OPU. The morale of the staff was low. The management tried hard including bending some HR rules and throwing away parties to please staff so that they don’t leave the company and go to the middle east. A small feat by any rate was celebrated in a grand scale.
I left the company on mid October 2008 after my application for an international posting was accepted, not without much hurdles.
It is still a transfer within the parent company, not really a resignation, unlike those lured away by the middle east syndrome who has to tender resignation.
By mid November 2008 I was entrusted to take charge of the HR Dept of the Exploration and Production (E&P) outfit, based in Yangon, Myanmar, after my predecessor there completed his term and left. This was my first experience working overseas. And I look forward to it. Moving to upstream must be fun.
Lesson learnt:
Never stay too long in the same position. Once complacency creeps in, creativity dies. As a rule of thumb, more than 6 years is considered too long. Discuss with your HR to find out the the available opportunity which suits your talent and experience. Discuss with your boss also. You must initiate this discussion, not waiting for your ever-busy HR people.
In this organization at the corporate level, subsidiaries are clustered together by the product types or simply known as ‘business’. At the current subsidiary I am currently attached which is under petrochemical business, we produced vinyl chloride, a specialty chemical used to produce PVC pipes and other end-user polymer products.
I was not here long, only for about 8 months. The company didn’t make tons of money like my previous OPU. The morale of the staff was low. The management tried hard including bending some HR rules and throwing away parties to please staff so that they don’t leave the company and go to the middle east. A small feat by any rate was celebrated in a grand scale.
I left the company on mid October 2008 after my application for an international posting was accepted, not without much hurdles.
It is still a transfer within the parent company, not really a resignation, unlike those lured away by the middle east syndrome who has to tender resignation.
By mid November 2008 I was entrusted to take charge of the HR Dept of the Exploration and Production (E&P) outfit, based in Yangon, Myanmar, after my predecessor there completed his term and left. This was my first experience working overseas. And I look forward to it. Moving to upstream must be fun.
Lesson learnt:
Never stay too long in the same position. Once complacency creeps in, creativity dies. As a rule of thumb, more than 6 years is considered too long. Discuss with your HR to find out the the available opportunity which suits your talent and experience. Discuss with your boss also. You must initiate this discussion, not waiting for your ever-busy HR people.
Celebrating an accomplishment
October 2008
In this organization, having financial figures in red is a norm. Year in and year out the management and staff are used to it. So having one small profitable year is welcomed by everybody in a big way. It is not about incompetency but more about the higher feedstock price, escalating production cost and low selling price. But I know the management could do more than what they are doing now rather than blaming the market alone. They should have looked into getting rid of stocks quickly and improving plants reliability. Removing blood clots in business world could enhance cashflow in a way.
We threw a dinner party to all staff and their family members to celebrate a successful plant shutdown and since it fell in Syawal, there was nothing wrong in including Raya celebration as well – 2 in 1. It saved cost. Really.
The event was a huge success with plenty of foods and shows from staff, expatriates and management team alike. No highly-paid performers or celebrity was invited. Only home-grown talents among technicians and operators on their offday. One of the process technician got the grand prize lucky draw --- i.e a plasma TV. The climax of the night was a performance by the MC members. Yes, we sang our newly-created company song to a tune of P Ramli’s Madu 3 song.
Lesson Learnt:
If you are running a losing company, not even breaking even, celebration is even more important in order to keep staff’s morale high. Cut cost by having internal performance – by department. You’ll be surprised at what they could actually do. But the food must be good – place order from the nearby hotel. Never cut cost on food.
In this organization, having financial figures in red is a norm. Year in and year out the management and staff are used to it. So having one small profitable year is welcomed by everybody in a big way. It is not about incompetency but more about the higher feedstock price, escalating production cost and low selling price. But I know the management could do more than what they are doing now rather than blaming the market alone. They should have looked into getting rid of stocks quickly and improving plants reliability. Removing blood clots in business world could enhance cashflow in a way.
We threw a dinner party to all staff and their family members to celebrate a successful plant shutdown and since it fell in Syawal, there was nothing wrong in including Raya celebration as well – 2 in 1. It saved cost. Really.
The event was a huge success with plenty of foods and shows from staff, expatriates and management team alike. No highly-paid performers or celebrity was invited. Only home-grown talents among technicians and operators on their offday. One of the process technician got the grand prize lucky draw --- i.e a plasma TV. The climax of the night was a performance by the MC members. Yes, we sang our newly-created company song to a tune of P Ramli’s Madu 3 song.
Lesson Learnt:
If you are running a losing company, not even breaking even, celebration is even more important in order to keep staff’s morale high. Cut cost by having internal performance – by department. You’ll be surprised at what they could actually do. But the food must be good – place order from the nearby hotel. Never cut cost on food.
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