Recent work in Southeast Asia

19 January 2022

I’ve been fortunate to continue academic work in Southeast Asia despite (or because of) the global pandemic. Some of this has been the result of publishing my book, Developing human resources in Southeast Asia: A holistic framework for the ASEAN Community, which came out in September and has given me additional visibility in the space (click here to read the preface). I’ve also been increasingly engaged with the ASEAN Human Development Organization and the incredible work they’re doing to humanize the work of organizations in shifting away from speaking of people as “resources” or “capital.”

As I look back on the last few months, it’s been quite a packed time! Here’s a month-by-month recap:

In October, I shared my book at an Author Chat at the American Association for Adult and Continuing Education (AAACE) conference in Florida. I also gave a presentation on a discourse analysis project I’m working on that looks at the speeches of ASEAN Secretaries-General. (Later that month I also snuck in a trip to Saudi Arabia and delivered a workshop on employee self development, but I’ll write more on that in a standalone post.)

In November, I presented at the Academy of Human Resource Development-Asian Regional Association for Career Development (AHRD-ARACD) conference hosted by Universiti Putra Malaysia. I presented on “The role of culture in ASEAN: Implications for regional human resource development” which is one of my ongoing projects in the region. I also presented another paper with two colleagues on HRD in Malaysia. Since it was a virtual conference, I had to record a version of my presentation as a backup in case there were technical difficulties the day of the conference, so here is a copy if you’re interested:

Later that month, I presented a paper on regional leadership in ASEAN and the EU in response to the COVID pandemic at the Southern Management Association conference in New Orleans. While there, I reconnected with a scholar who asked me about HRD in Southeast Asia. We corresponded about my work in the region and he eventually invited me to be the HRD section editor for a new SAGE journal based in Singapore.

In December, HRM Asia invited me to speak on a panel for Chief Human Resource Officers in Singapore on the future of work and the workforce. I also wrote an article for HRM Asia based on my book called “The HR development ecosystem in Southeast Asia.” The panel went well. The other panelists were practitioners, so it was fun being the sole academic voice. My big takeaway was that the participants were excited to learn more but the format did not allow for much in-depth exploration of the topics. I had prepared some comments for the panel but barely had time to go into much depth.

While my Global Leadership in Thailand study abroad program with LSU had to be postponed this December/January, I was still able to connect with Thailand when I served as a Special Lecturer for Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok this month. I taught 18 hours in a course for PhD students on HRM in Education. The class included students from Thailand, China, Cambodia, and Vietnam. I thoroughly enjoyed the experience and I even knew one of the students from my time at Payap University a decade ago. Great to see him thriving!

Taking time to reflect briefly on the last few months is a reminder of how grateful I am to be doing academic work related to Southeast Asia. Technology has made ongoing engagement with the region increasingly possible. That said, there’s nothing like face-to-face interaction, so I can’t wait to get back soon.

Onward.