My China Indo-China ConneX

Reflections on Professional Global Networking

Excerpts of an interview on my perspectives on Networking Globally.

I was appointed on several occasions by the International Labor Organisation (ILO), a United Nations (UN) agency, as their International Consultant in Vietnam, China, and Cambodia.

What have you been doing in China, Vietnam and Cambodia?

In December 2003, I was in Beijing, China, facilitating a high-level ILO-China Policy Review Seminar. This is a follow-up to the groundbreaking work in February 2003 on the first ILO-China Seminar on Social Dialogue. The December Review has also generated further high-level strategic consulting work for 2004–2005.

In September 2003, I was in Cambodia conducting an ILO-funded organizational analysis study of the newly-formed Cambodian Federation of Employers and Business (CAMFEBA). CAMFEBA is comprised of six business associations and several individual business owners representing more than 600 employers.

August 2002 was my first ILO appointment as the International Consultant to the Government of Vietnam for the implementation of a national tripartite consultative framework for social dialogue at the enterprise, local and national levels, which is expected to play a crucial integral part in Viet Nam’s transition towards a market economy. The successful mission paved the way for a US$2 million ILO project designed to promote sound industrial relations and to strengthen the capacities of industrial relations actors in Viet Nam over the next 3 years. The Project now involves 70 companies in 7 Vietnamese provinces. I returned this year in August 2003 for a program evaluation of its first year and discussed its major activities for 2004.

The World Bank has also decided in October 2002 to integrate the new ILO Project as a part of the World Bank’s Comprehensive Poverty Reduction and Growth Strategy (CPRGS) in Vietnam. The CPRGS is a 10-year US$370 million multi-agency total initiative aimed at education, health, job creation, and infrastructural development in Vietnam.

How has your international high-level consulting work contributed to your teaching and research in the University?

High-level consulting, especially in other countries, provides fertile opportunities for new ideas to germinate. When the context of the work is unconventional, especially in countries like China and Cambodia, one is confronted with conditions that challenge the underlying assumptions of established theories and models. This always points to fresh ideas for further research, some of which get published in academic journals. The resultant lucid understanding of new situations ought to be transferred back to society, in the form of necessary and critical assistance to businesses, industry, and the community. I believe that this to be the true meaning of academic, research, and professional impact. A great University must help to bring about a better society. If not, what good is our reservoir of expert knowledge?

How important is it for University Professors and their students to see the world as their current and future frame of reference for action?

The fact of globalisation has created an increasingly interdependent world. The “shrunken” globe can be depicted as a flat chessboard where political boundaries are merely imaginary lines that can be crossed easily by information, knowledge, ideas, and technology. As a small, tiny nation-state, Singapore universities and students do not have the luxury of indulging in exotic and esoteric research and study that do not have relevance or benefits to the strategic survival and sustaining prosperity of the country. It is imperative that professors make the creation of knowledge for practice their research motivation, and bring their students as often as possible into the real world via their lessons and learning experiences. Using the real global context as the mainframe of reference will focus their students to engage the exciting challenge of managing the dynamic relationship between theory and practice. Gainful employability results from a practical insight that relates classroom lessons and experiences to real-life applications continuously.

How does your international high-level consulting work contribute to the aspirations of the Universities to become full-fledged, world-class Universities?

Forging new friendships, further developing personal growth, obtaining respect, reputation, and having a real sense of contribution to my own community and other societies can only add to the reputation of the University. Some of my clients introduce me as a professor from the “Singapore Nanyang University”. The few colleagues who also consult internationally and create global networks can become role models for others who may be too afraid to venture outside the “ivory tower” to face the uncertainties and humility of the harsh realities of practical life. Regular exposure to the world beyond computers and laboratories can only enhance the insight and worth of professors, who are expected to add and create real knowledge to add value to their students’ learning. Top professors in world-renowned universities invariably have significant consulting involvements with organizations that are willing to validate relevance by paying the tangible value for their specialized knowledge and skills.

What advice could you give to those who desire to create a significant impact with their specialised and expert knowledge through networking globally?

Develop a healthy curiosity, good listening, and observation skills, and have wide interests. Also have a keen desire to practise theory, on top of the passion to discover theories from the systematic phenomenon. Gain plenty of industry and business experiences to challenge your academic and specialist knowledge and relentlessly pursue with organisations and the community the answers to the question: What is the public value of your expert knowledge?” Make sure your research papers are grounded in real situations. Your research solutions should really have real-life problems for their applications. Basically, do not be afraid to go out there and engage the world, and even change it.

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