| This thesis investigates patterns of learning and knowledge exchange in Thai work teams. I used General Systems Theory to describe these patterns and compared those communication interactions to achieve a holistic understanding of Thai team behaviour. I focused on the use of the dialogue process, emphasizing the gathering and processing of different information and knowledge from other people. I also used the communication etiquette concept to take into account culture differences. I used 5 focus groups and 8 individual interviews to capture qualitative behavioural data on 36 urban Thai managers and staff in public, private and state enterprise organizations. I analyzed the data together with data from my pilot study (6 individual interviews). In total, there were 42 participants. Comparing and contrasting the discussions and interview transcripts, I found patterns which fall into 3 major themes.; These themes revealed that the closer or more intimate Thai team members are, the greater the openness, and the more authenticity they exhibit in exchanging information. These qualities reflect their culture of building caring, trusting relationships through various stages, starting with smiling, temperament-reading, and getting acquainted. Many culture-specific behaviours, such as Mee Nam Jai, non-assertiveness, and indirect versus direct talk and feedback supported good team relationships. Also, people took on different supporting roles, such as pseudo-sibling relationships and informal-third person roles to accommodate others' relationships as well as their own. However, some potential conflicts, including emotional or temperamental reactions, losing face, domination and power imbalance, egoism, and favouritism, could cause team divisions or individual or group alienation, preventing the raising of opinions that threaten the team's cohesiveness.; Comparison with Westerner and Japanese studies indicated that temperament-reading, pseudo-sibling relationships, and informal third person roles may be uniquely important in Thai team relationships and certainly require further investigation elsewhere. Holistic understanding of all the data provides some insights into mechanisms Thais use in working together as a team. This knowledge can contribute to designing team-building instructions suitable to the nature of the Thais. |
