Narsee Monjee

Institue of
Management Studies
OLLY RACELA IN BANGKOK
Written Analysis and Communication

submitted by

Anuroop Krishna
Roll 132
Div B
 OLLY RACELA IN BANGKOK

Situational Analysis
Olly Racela is presently working as a Junior Associate in a medium-sized Thai consulting firm. She
moved to Bangkok three years back after working in Hawaai. Her first visit to Bangkok was a few
years back when she had come to visit her friends and ponder over her career. Her first impression
about the city was positive. She was impressed by the city and the culture. She also found the people
very courteous. She liked the country so much that she accepted a job offer in Thailand which she
felt had more opportunities as compared to the one in Hawaai. This move to Thailand came with a
lot of unseen challenges. She encountered many problems with the apartment, the local dialect in
which the people communicated, and the fact that she was away from family. Also, the city was
over-crowded, much polluted and unbearably hot. Due to loneliness and the lack of romance, Racela
felt that her personal life had become non-existent. The bigger problem appeared while working in
the firm. She found the Thai working place very different from that in the USA in terms of autonomy,
decision-making processes, acceptable office behaviour and work ethic. According to her, the Thais
have a ‘different way of doing things’. Certain aspects of the work culture, like favouring ‘pretty’ girls
for the job and women being paid less for the same amount of work done by men, disturbed her.
She also found that there was no structure in the present firm and it was difficult to make changes in
the system. She had some concerns regarding the performance system too. Despite all this, she
really enjoyed working with her colleagues and found them extremely friendly. She also learned
more about herself, her abilities and about others. She was happy with the salary and the treatment
she received from the Thai people due to her western origins. But there were times when she was
really upset about the job and was ready to return home. Sensing Racela’s disappointment,
management encouraged her to take part in an expensive training program sponsored by the
company because they considered her to be a great asset. Racela would have to sign on a contract
to work for the firm for three more years if she went for the training program. But, recently Racela
had received an ‘attractive’ offer from a firm in Hawaii. She would be directly reporting to one of the
owners and would be responsible for the company’s internal operations and setting company’s
strategic direction. More importantly, she would be back to her home land.

The Problem

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 OLLY RACELA IN BANGKOK

Olly Racela faces a dilemma of whether to accept the offer to move in for the training program
which would give her a better work and pay at the cost of staying back in Thailand for a minimum of
three years or to accept the job offer in Hawaii.

Options

The following are the options that are available to Olly Racela-

1. Accept the offer from the firm in Hawaai

2. Go ahead with the management development training program offered by the Thai firm
3. Continue working as an existing employee in the Thai firm without going ahead with the
training program and look out for better opportunities

Criteria for Evaluation

1. Work culture
2. Stability in personal life
3. Career prospects
4. Dream of ‘making a difference’
5. Compensation
6. Environment (city,people,food,etc)
7. Time for adventure

Evaluation of Options

All the options shall be evaluated mentioned in the criterion above.

1. Accept the offer from the firm in Hawaai

Racela was disturbed by the work culture prevailing in the Thai firm. Her shift to the Hawaiian
office shall dispel this problem since she has already worked before and is familiar with the
prevailing work culture. This shall directly result in better stability and mental satisfaction. Also,
the job shall provide her with new challenges and greater responsibilities for which she has been
promised an ‘attractive’ salary. She, although, may not ‘make a difference’ in the job she would
do. Also, the scope of adventure would become restricted since she has already lived in Hawaii
before. So, there would not be anything new for her to visit.

2. Go ahead with the management development training program offered by the Thai firm

This option shall result in the same problems that have been occurring such as lack of personal
life and disturbed state of mind. Although, the training program shall provide her with better
training prospects and compensation in Thailand, but she would have to commit herself for
another three years in Thailand. This is more like a vicious circle where one tries to come out but
cannot do so and thus, has to face the consequences prevailing.

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3. Continue working as an existing employee in the Thai firm without going ahead with the
training program and look out for better opportunities

This option shall again result in the same conditions that were prevailing before. But the
advantage here is that there would be no commitment from Racela’s side to the firm. This can
prove to be in her favour in the future as she can find better options where all the criterion get
fulfilled and do accordingly.

Recommendation

After evaluating all the three options available on various evaluation criteria, the first option seems
to be the most viable solution fulfilling all the criteria since it takes care of all the essential criterion
except for the fact that her work would not ‘make a difference’ to the surrounding and her scope for
adventure would become limited. Also, she should accept the new job offer after making sure that
the new job would provide her with the opportunities and challenges she was looking out for.

Action Plan
Racela should first enquire about the Hawaiian company from her prospective employers and make
sure that the job fulfils all her criteria. Once satisfied with their response, she should then talk to her
current employers regarding her decision to quit the existing job and then resign from the company.
She can join the new company once she is relieved from her existing job.

Contingency Plan
In case, after the discussion with her prospective employers the new job does not turn out as per her
expectations, Racela should consider accepting the offer for management development program as
it appears to be the next best option.

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