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DBS’ Seven-Hour Breakdown
Posted on 28th July, 2010
The CEO’s Communication Report Card
Yet another computer glitch for DBS but this time enough to cause the Monetary Authority to Singapore to show their displeasure. Late last year over a period of three days, the bank’s customers experienced various problems over the counter and the internet because of “isolated” technical hiccups. All the incidents were fixed within three hours.
This time the problem took seven hours to get right, which is off the charts in MAS’ terms. Banks are expected to have near zero downtime in their on-line services or at most just 53 minutes a year. Nothing seemed to work for DBS – not even their back up systems, strangely enough.
Why It’s Hard For Asians to Agree to Disagree
Posted on 12th June, 2010
In non-confrontational Asian cultures, rank and seniority take precedence in discussions. All too often insecurity of the presiding leader limits the amount of productive discussion. A climate of conformity brands naysayers negatively and the only contrarian view may come in the form of intellectual discourse which is then easily put in its place and pre-determined decisions prevail.
The courage to confront is necessary if decisions are to be thoroughly challenged and assumptions questioned. Predicting the future can be an onerous affair and certainly carrying the weight of it on the shoulders of yes-men can be harrowing.. Business analytics can help provide data-based proof of a proposal but experience, gut instincts and alternative views must also be considered if the way ahead is to be clearer. Social psychologists have long proven the value of even a single dissenter and the positive effects on creative thinking.
Crisis Management At All Levels - Lessons Learnt from the KK Hospital Cancer Drug Blunder
Posted on 27th January, 2010
 Crisis management doesn’t just happen when the CNN trucks pull up the driveway. If it’s managed well from the moment of discovery and personnel are well-trained and authorised to act to mitigate the circumstances, then much can be saved with less effort.
Such were the lessons learnt in the case of the cancer drug blunder at Singapore KK Women and Children’s Hospital in 2009.
And You Call Yourself a HELP Desk?
Posted on 15th October, 2009
When you’ve lived long enough, you would’ve gone through days when you would’ve done something that in your earlier years you would’ve said: “That’s stupid!” When you’ve lived long enough you stop saying that. I booked airline tickets for three and confirmed payment without checking the dates of travel.
I realised my mistake only after the confirmation page appeared and was quick to call the airline hotline to have the mistake corrected.
The dispassionate ticketing officer on the line efficiently changed my flight dates and blandly offered to waive the charge for changes offering the explanation that I had made the change less than thirty minutes after I had made the booking.
What to Say In Tough Times
Posted on 1st September, 2009
It’s never easy to know what to say when times are tough – whether it’s on a macro scale like this current economic slowdown or on a micro scale like a crisis that hits your company alone. But crises are great platforms to sift out the managers from the leaders.
The AWARE Saga and the Awareness of the Media's Role
Posted on 7th August, 2009
Several lessons can be gleaned from the tongue-wagging coverage of the Aware saga in Singapore. It is unusual for the medium through which the saga was highlighted to be as heated a topic as the saga itself.But it is a lesson that the media will wake up to – that Singaporeans are not blind to the hand that seeks to shape public opinion. If anything, what we see is an awakening of the Singaporean sensibility that would no longer let sleeping dogs lie and allow their thoughts and opinions be moulded by individuals in an organisation that purportedly seeks to give “as much information as possible”.
The saga began when a group of newcomers to a well-established women’s welfare organisation soundly defeated the well-entrenched leadership in the elections. As the new guards took over, locks were changed and the administrative staff given notice. A reporter from the Straits Times, Singapore’s main English-language newspaper, sniffed out the takeover and there began a series of allegations of religious and sexual overtones that sent a normally staid Singapore public abuzz with gossip.
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