Amazing Thailand: Organizational Culture in the Thai Public Sector

Thai culture is unique and renowned for its complexities. To understand the repercussion of culture on Thai management style in the public sector context, this study investigates the key ‘characteristics’ and ‘nature’ of culture in the Thai public sector organizations. By adopting Hofstede’s theory of cultural dimensions, this study proposes that the new generation in the Thai organizations acts differently from the cultural stereotype from the literature in Thai culture and management. The results show that younger generations in the Thai public sector may be more individualistic, familiar with the concept of organizational change and appreciate the Western management concepts. This study, however, also confirms that avoiding conflict and uncertainties remain a key characteristic in the Thai public sector system.