HRD in Southeast Asia – 26 February 2021

Hi all,

Lots of exciting things happening in the world of HRD in Southeast Asia. First of all, last week was the Academy of Human Resource Development annual conference, which was held virtually this year. I spoke on a panel coordinated by Gary McLean on HRD contextualization in Vietnam. I also presented a paper along with my colleagues Oleksandr Tkachenko, Loi Nguyen, and Victoria Jonathan on Regional HRD in Southeast Asia from a critical realist perspective. Overall, the conference was fantastic and I enjoyed the opportunity to connect with everyone. I am also beginning my three-year term as a member of the Board of Directors where I hope to build on existing efforts toward the internationalization of the Academy.

From ASEAN, we have a few interesting developments worth mentioning.

1. ASEAN launched the “Regional Study Report on Labour Productivity in ASEAN” by Donghun Kim & KinChung Woon. The report has a lot of relevant analysis on HRD. Of particular interest to me are the policy recommendations around human capital development (HCT). The report offers a few key points, e.g., the need for an overarching regional HCT strategy. HRD would clearly play a role in supporting HCT in the region. This report has many implications, one of which is that it could even build to a kind of labor force productivity index for the region. This would have huge implications for HRD in the region as countries become aware of their labor productivity and then seek to build on their initial successes. Many things to think about in this report. Thankful to the authors for their hard work.
2. The other big HRD-related update from ASEAN is the fifth edition of the “ASEAN Integration in Services”. This edition provides some useful updates on things like Mutual Recognition Arrangements (MRAs). The MRA for Tourism Professionals is making progress on becoming the 8th profession in the region with an MRA. More interesting to me is the progress on the ASEAN Qualifications Reference Framework (AQRF). As of now, four countries (Malaysia, the Philippines, Indonesia, and Thailand) have mapped their national qualification frameworks to the AQRF in a process called referencing. Others appear to be working on this. Huge implications for Regional HRD.

There have also been some great HRD-related scholarly articles published recently. Some of which highlight the contextualization of HRD in the Southeast Asian context. I don’t include my commentary on them here but I’ve included links for you to take a look.

1. “Power distance as a moderator of the relationship between organizational justice and job satisfaction” by four Malaysian scholars – Nurshahira Ibrahim, Azman Ismail, Noor Azmi Mohd Zainol, Hilmi Azani Husain, and Yusof Ismail
2. “Human resource development of Vietnam manufacturing industry. Support from Japanese organizations and firms” by Quynh Huong Nguyen
3. “Job that fits for graduates in the ASEAN integration” by Glenn Velmonte.
4. “A review on human resource management practices in Indonesia’s culinary SMEs” by Wa Ode Zusnita Muizu, Umi Kaltum, and Cattleya Rejito

The other big thing I didn’t mention yet is the military coup in Myanmar. This is devastating news for the people of Myanmar. While it appears a dark age of military rule is upon us, there are glimpses of hope in widespread protests and international solidarity. Even the fact that now most people have cell phones and internet (although there have been successful attempts to shut it down and censor the internet), this is a source of hope. The implications of the coup for HRD are yet to be seen but certainly I think about how the military control will continue to purposefully stunt HRD around the country as they’ve done in the past.

Onward.