October - November 2012 - Association of Dutch Businessmen

Business
too. (Examples include, Sarbanes-Oxley, SEC reporting
requirements, Conflict Minerals (Dodd-Frank Act), or
specific banking laws). By making knowledge available for
all consultants worldwide, the individual consultant has a
higher added value.
Local culture
Another issue is to find out where local managers need
support. In Asia, managers do not like to admit that there
is a “monkey on their back” or a problem. Discussing
issues that you have been unable to solve yourself with an
outsider means you run the risk of losing face. Many are
unfamiliar with the possibility of hiring project consultants
who can work from within the organisation’s own teams.
Often there is pressure to keep the headcount as low as
possible, to the point where Asian managers will often put
in more hours to try to solve an issue themselves.
The other side of project-based business is, of course,
finding suitable project consultants. Christiaan describes
this side of the work. In principle, people in Singapore are
very used to working “full-time”. Although more people
would like to step off the treadmill of long working hours
with very little paid leave, there are strong forces ensuring
workers do not actually improve their work-life balance.
Christiaan shares that he has noticed that there is
still a strong preference for the traditional employment
model. Not only the applicant, but also his or her family
often put a strong emphasis on having a regular job. This
perhaps explains why, in Singapore, significantly more
project consultants tend to accept offers for a permanent
position from the company to which they are assigned
than consultants in the Netherlands or Western cultures.
In conclusion, the family’s influence is far more important
than we, as Westerners, often realise. You need to take into
consideration that discussions with an individual are always
relative, because the family always plays a strong role in
decision-making behind the scenes. We only get to see
what goes on from the outside, but what goes on inside is
often protected from our view.
When asked where their consultants are typically
recruited from, Christiaan shares that they are sometimes
people who can afford not to work full-time. “They prefer
the life-work balance offered by Resources’ business model
in combination with attractive project opportunities with
world-class clients,” he explains. For that reason talented
and experienced professionals are also attracted to
Resources, as the company offers to them a stepping stone
to their next longer term career move. Another important
source are “trailing” spouses, often from different cultures
and backgrounds (Western).
After the Match
A professional organization like Resources has the vision
and an obligation to regularly assess whether the project
and the consultant still fit and that the expectations are
being met. In the Netherlands, the most efficient way
to achieve this is to sit down for a discussion with the
consultant and the client. Here in Asia, this is not exactly
customary. Direct talks with the consultant and the client
over the progress and status of the consultant’s project
increases the risk of someone losing face. Christiaan has
found interesting ways to work around this problem, such
as meeting with both parties separately, although this is a
not his preferred way of doing this. The best way is to do
it the local way; by inviting everyone to lunch or dinner,
where you then carefully steer the conversation on to the
desired subject.
The Future
Project-based working in Singapore is relatively new for
employers as well as employees. On both sides, there
are significant developments that are leading to a more
mature market. Acting sensitively to local culture and
using globalisation will certainly help with this interesting
development.
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