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Arthur Yeung
Arthur Yeung Harper W. Moulton
"All m y experiences reinforce m y belief that one must 'define or be defined.' I also deeply believe that I cannot say 'impossible' until I have proven it to be so. M a n y so-called career obstacles are selfimposed or socially assumed." -
-
Arthur Yeung Acer Group
his remarkable 38-year-old human resource professional has recently been appointed to a key position in a leading international conglomerate in Taiwan: The Acer Group. His new title is President of the Acer Academy and Chief Learning Officer, with responsibility for the leadership development of the top 1,000 executives in the firm. His track record in the field of HRM is highly respected, and his accomplishments are diverse. Arthur Yeung was born on April 13, 1961, in l-long Kong, the youngest of a poor family of eight. His father, with only a second-grade education, was a street hawker selling fruits and vegetables. His uneducated mother was a homemaker, while his five brothers and sisters reached only the tenth grade. When Arthur was in the eighth grade, financial woes forced his mother to find work. Consequently, Arthur became responsible for preparing meals for the whole family, spending three hours each day shopping for food at the local market and preparing it at home. (He still enjoys cooking, although he has little time for it at present. His wife is a good cook, and steamed codfish is his favorite meal.) The most influential person in those early years was his mother, who spotted the young Arthur's potential and insisted that he attend junior high school despite his father's insistence on his becoming an apprentice watchmaker. Later,
T
Profiles in ExecutiveEducation: Arthur Yeung
his mother dissuaded Arthur from entering law school (she insisted that lawyers were unethical and only worked for money). So Arthur entered the University of Hong Kong in 1981 instead, majoring in social sciences and management. His pre-university education included Kwun Tong Maryknoll College and Queens College, where he graduated as top student in his class and attained a scholarship for outstanding academic performance. The China Connection
Arthur Yeung has had a deep interest in the People's Republic of China throughout his career. His native tongue is Chaozhouese, a local dialect from the Southeast coast of China, and he learned Cantonese while attending elementary and high school in Hong Kong. Mandarin was picked up during his college years, when he visited China on a regular basis. English was difficult for him, but it improved after he moved to the United States in 1986. While attending the University of Hong Kong in the early 1980s, Arthur was heavily involved in student activities. It was during this period that the issue of sovereignty in Hong Kong was being discussed between the United Kingdom and China. As head of the Hong Kong University Student Council, Yeung had a resolution passed supporting Hong Kong's return to China after 1997, a copy of which was sent to Prime Minister 83
Arthur Yeung
Margaret Thatcher. Also during this period, Arthur led at least five student tours to China, the purp o s e being to better understand Chinese history and facilitate a cultural exchange between H o n g Kong University students and China. After his graduation in 1984, Yeung joined a Chinese conglomerate as assistant to the managing director. He quickly b e c a m e disillusioned with the Chinese traditional style of running a business, so he returned to the University of H o n g Kong in September 1984 to pursue a graduate research degree in philosophy, which he completed in 1986. His research focused on comparative organizational structures and m a n a g e m e n t systems in firms under different political and economic systems. Having received a fellowship, he later chose the University of Michigan Business School for his doctoral studies, partly because it had a very strong Center for Chinese Studies that fitted his ongoing research interest in China. He comments: I was o v e r w h e l m e d by my excitement that I could realize the dream of pursuing a Ph.D. in one of the top business schools in the U.S. without the need to pay tuition and living expenses. The only minor adjustment problems I had were (1) the weather was too cold, (2) I was lonely and missed my girlfriend, and (3) I couldn't understand the conversations of my classmates, especially at parties.
H u m a n Resources M a n a g e m e n t Although Arthur Yeung is recognized today as one of the leading authorities in the field of hum a n resources and executive education, it has b e e n a long, winding path to get there. Back in H o n g Kong he hated the subject of h u m a n resources, and w h e n he went to Michigan in 1986 to study for his Ph.D., he had absolutely no intention of concentrating in that field. But then he was profoundly influenced by three prominent faculty members. Noel Tichy, Arthur's dissertation chairman, told him, "Arthur, in order to succeed, you need to k e e p stretching yourself to do something new and b e y o n d your comfort zone." David Ulrich was very supportive of Arthur's career d e v e l o p m e n t in starting new ventures (such as an HR consortium and a n e w journal in the field), always saying, "I k n o w you will always do a g o o d job." And Wayne Brockbank, w h o picked up 84
Arthur at the airport in Ann Arbor in 1986, later introduced him to the lucrative field of management consulting (which helped him afford to get married). Those three mentors o p e n e d Arthur's eyes to the strategic relevance of h u m a n resources m a n a g e m e n t and executive education. After he received his Ph.D. in 1990, he became deeply involved in a n u m b e r of research, teaching, and consulting projects. In one, he was project manager of a n e w study, "Human Resource Competencies in the 1990s," creating one of the largest data bases in the field. This work resulted in his receiving, along with two colleagues, the prestigious Yoder-Heneman Research Award, which was only one of m a n y honors he was to receive throughout his career. His next career move occurred in 1992, w h e n he was awarded an associate professorship at San Francisco State University as a core faculty member teaching in its HR executive programs. While there, he founded the California Strategic H u m a n Resources Partnership, which included the top HRM executives of more than 30 major California-based companies. His m a n y contributions to the field resulted in his receiving the First Presidential Award of Professional D e v e l o p m e n t at SFSU. As a result, he was granted a sabbatical, which he spent at Stanford University. Recruited back to Michigan in 1996 as a core faculty m e m ber teaching in the H u m a n Resources Executive Program, he founded a new consortium of HR executives in the Asia-Pacific area. This renewed interest and focus on the Far East led to his next • appointment by the University of Michigan business school. Thus, he became Executive Director of the university's regional office in Hong Kong (19971998), which he o p e n e d in 1997. The purpose of this n e w regional office was to offer a range of executive programs in Asia based on Ann Arbor core content but modified to meet the unique needs of Asian executives. Yeung's primary responsibility was to develop close relationships with top HR and line executives in the region, develop customized programs, and conduct research in the Asia/Pacific area. One of his major initiatives was to found the Asia/Pacific H u m a n Resource Partnership. One of the leading consortia for senior executives in the region, it consists of 33 m e m b e r s from leading companies in the United States, Asia, and Europe. Yeung has published three books. The first, written while he was an undergraduate in Hong Kong, examined the reasons for the low levels of political participation in Hong Kong. He is also the author of more than 15 articles in leading h u m a n resources journals, and has received m a n y awards and honors. Through in-depth case studies, survey research, consulting, and teaching, Yeung has Business Horizons / September-October 1999
gained extensive knowledge of the HR functions and practices of more than 30 leading corporations worldwide. His areas of specialization include the strategic design of HR practices, the transformation of HR functions, the changing competencies of HR professionals, the development of corporate learning capabilities, the design of HR practices for Asia-Pacific operations, and the management of cultural change. In 1998, together with several American colleagues, Yeung conducted an extensive and extremely significant study, "Leadership Development Strategies of Asian MNCs." The purpose of the research was to examine how more than 40 MNCs identify and develop the next generation of leaders. Not surprisingly, Yeung's focus on the team was on Asian firms. The results were quite interesting, pointing out that Asian MNCs have a very different approach to leadership development. They emphasize cultural alignment as the key factor, whereas American and European firms traditionally adhere to the well-known leadership competency model. This means that Asian MNCs like Acer will need to reexamine their entire leadership development approach. The study was presented to two meetings of the International Consortium for Executive Development (ICEDR), a leading U.S. research and consulting group, and is to be published in a book in the near future.
The Acer Group (Taiwan) Arthur Yeung is currently the Chief Learning Ofricer of the Acer Group and president of the Acer Academy. Having been with Acer on a consulting basis since June 1, 1998, he received a full-time appointment in January 1999. The Acer Group is a conglomerate of 28,000 employees worldwide, with business operations in more than 40 countries. Revenues in 1998 were US$6.8 billion. Major products include desktop PCs, notebook PCs, semiconductors, PC components, and cellular phones. Various business magazines rank Acer as one of Asia's most competitive companies. Yeung's responsibilities include working with the chairman to bring about organizational and cultural change within Acer, and reorganizing the firm with a more global business approach, from a manufacturing-driven focus to an emphasis on customers. As founding president of the Acer Academy, he is responsible for the leadership development of the company's top 1,000 executives. He has created a new 99-room campus for executive training, which includes nine large state-of-the-art classrooms, four breakout rooms, an electronic library, a 300-seat auditorium, an
Profiles in ExecutiveEducation: Arthur Yeung
indoor swimming pool, and a basketball court and gym.
A Personal Perspective Several of Yeung's own comments can help round out his profile by providing some insight into his philosophy on family, education, success, and work. • "I married Jenny Kwok in 1988 and at present have two children: Priscilla, 8 years old, and Joshua, 6 years old. I met her at the University of Hong Kong where we both were studying. She went to France after her graduation on a full scholarship for an MBA. Seven years of separation occurred before our marriage. She worked as a management consultant in Hong Kong, as a lecturer at San Francisco State, and recently as a lecturer at universities in Hong Kong." • "I dealt with moving around reasonably well. Jenny resisted a little bit when I decided to return to Ann Arbor from the Bay Area--no one wants to leave the Bay Area! However, she encouraged me to make my next two moves: to Hong Kong in 1997 and to Taipei in 1999. Since then she has been very supportive in building my career, stating that my success is her success." • "Right from my childhood I understood that if I didn't take charge, I would follow the footsteps of my father, mother, brothers, and sisters. I needed to take control of my own destiny." • "My principal challenge is to lead and manage large-scale organization change, and to help line executives appreciate the value and importance of executive education." A
rthur Yeung's life and career have come full circle: from his roots in Hong Kong, to the United States for his doctorate and early career experience, then back to Hong Kong for the University of Michigan's business school, and now in a major position with a leading international conglomerate in Taiwan. At only 38, he stands poised to be a major contributor to the fields of human resources and executive education. O
Harper Moulton is an executive development consultant in Saunderstown, Rhode island. This is his eighth article in the series on executive education leaders, which he initiated in the January-February 1995 issue of BH.
85
"All m y experiences reinforce m y belief that one must 'define or be defined.' I also deeply believe that I cannot say 'impossible' until I have proven it to be so. M a n y so-called career obstacles are selfimposed or socially assumed." -
-
Arthur Yeung Acer Group
his remarkable 38-year-old human resource professional has recently been appointed to a key position in a leading international conglomerate in Taiwan: The Acer Group. His new title is President of the Acer Academy and Chief Learning Officer, with responsibility for the leadership development of the top 1,000 executives in the firm. His track record in the field of HRM is highly respected, and his accomplishments are diverse. Arthur Yeung was born on April 13, 1961, in l-long Kong, the youngest of a poor family of eight. His father, with only a second-grade education, was a street hawker selling fruits and vegetables. His uneducated mother was a homemaker, while his five brothers and sisters reached only the tenth grade. When Arthur was in the eighth grade, financial woes forced his mother to find work. Consequently, Arthur became responsible for preparing meals for the whole family, spending three hours each day shopping for food at the local market and preparing it at home. (He still enjoys cooking, although he has little time for it at present. His wife is a good cook, and steamed codfish is his favorite meal.) The most influential person in those early years was his mother, who spotted the young Arthur's potential and insisted that he attend junior high school despite his father's insistence on his becoming an apprentice watchmaker. Later,
T
Profiles in ExecutiveEducation: Arthur Yeung
his mother dissuaded Arthur from entering law school (she insisted that lawyers were unethical and only worked for money). So Arthur entered the University of Hong Kong in 1981 instead, majoring in social sciences and management. His pre-university education included Kwun Tong Maryknoll College and Queens College, where he graduated as top student in his class and attained a scholarship for outstanding academic performance. The China Connection
Arthur Yeung has had a deep interest in the People's Republic of China throughout his career. His native tongue is Chaozhouese, a local dialect from the Southeast coast of China, and he learned Cantonese while attending elementary and high school in Hong Kong. Mandarin was picked up during his college years, when he visited China on a regular basis. English was difficult for him, but it improved after he moved to the United States in 1986. While attending the University of Hong Kong in the early 1980s, Arthur was heavily involved in student activities. It was during this period that the issue of sovereignty in Hong Kong was being discussed between the United Kingdom and China. As head of the Hong Kong University Student Council, Yeung had a resolution passed supporting Hong Kong's return to China after 1997, a copy of which was sent to Prime Minister 83
Arthur Yeung
Margaret Thatcher. Also during this period, Arthur led at least five student tours to China, the purp o s e being to better understand Chinese history and facilitate a cultural exchange between H o n g Kong University students and China. After his graduation in 1984, Yeung joined a Chinese conglomerate as assistant to the managing director. He quickly b e c a m e disillusioned with the Chinese traditional style of running a business, so he returned to the University of H o n g Kong in September 1984 to pursue a graduate research degree in philosophy, which he completed in 1986. His research focused on comparative organizational structures and m a n a g e m e n t systems in firms under different political and economic systems. Having received a fellowship, he later chose the University of Michigan Business School for his doctoral studies, partly because it had a very strong Center for Chinese Studies that fitted his ongoing research interest in China. He comments: I was o v e r w h e l m e d by my excitement that I could realize the dream of pursuing a Ph.D. in one of the top business schools in the U.S. without the need to pay tuition and living expenses. The only minor adjustment problems I had were (1) the weather was too cold, (2) I was lonely and missed my girlfriend, and (3) I couldn't understand the conversations of my classmates, especially at parties.
H u m a n Resources M a n a g e m e n t Although Arthur Yeung is recognized today as one of the leading authorities in the field of hum a n resources and executive education, it has b e e n a long, winding path to get there. Back in H o n g Kong he hated the subject of h u m a n resources, and w h e n he went to Michigan in 1986 to study for his Ph.D., he had absolutely no intention of concentrating in that field. But then he was profoundly influenced by three prominent faculty members. Noel Tichy, Arthur's dissertation chairman, told him, "Arthur, in order to succeed, you need to k e e p stretching yourself to do something new and b e y o n d your comfort zone." David Ulrich was very supportive of Arthur's career d e v e l o p m e n t in starting new ventures (such as an HR consortium and a n e w journal in the field), always saying, "I k n o w you will always do a g o o d job." And Wayne Brockbank, w h o picked up 84
Arthur at the airport in Ann Arbor in 1986, later introduced him to the lucrative field of management consulting (which helped him afford to get married). Those three mentors o p e n e d Arthur's eyes to the strategic relevance of h u m a n resources m a n a g e m e n t and executive education. After he received his Ph.D. in 1990, he became deeply involved in a n u m b e r of research, teaching, and consulting projects. In one, he was project manager of a n e w study, "Human Resource Competencies in the 1990s," creating one of the largest data bases in the field. This work resulted in his receiving, along with two colleagues, the prestigious Yoder-Heneman Research Award, which was only one of m a n y honors he was to receive throughout his career. His next career move occurred in 1992, w h e n he was awarded an associate professorship at San Francisco State University as a core faculty member teaching in its HR executive programs. While there, he founded the California Strategic H u m a n Resources Partnership, which included the top HRM executives of more than 30 major California-based companies. His m a n y contributions to the field resulted in his receiving the First Presidential Award of Professional D e v e l o p m e n t at SFSU. As a result, he was granted a sabbatical, which he spent at Stanford University. Recruited back to Michigan in 1996 as a core faculty m e m ber teaching in the H u m a n Resources Executive Program, he founded a new consortium of HR executives in the Asia-Pacific area. This renewed interest and focus on the Far East led to his next • appointment by the University of Michigan business school. Thus, he became Executive Director of the university's regional office in Hong Kong (19971998), which he o p e n e d in 1997. The purpose of this n e w regional office was to offer a range of executive programs in Asia based on Ann Arbor core content but modified to meet the unique needs of Asian executives. Yeung's primary responsibility was to develop close relationships with top HR and line executives in the region, develop customized programs, and conduct research in the Asia/Pacific area. One of his major initiatives was to found the Asia/Pacific H u m a n Resource Partnership. One of the leading consortia for senior executives in the region, it consists of 33 m e m b e r s from leading companies in the United States, Asia, and Europe. Yeung has published three books. The first, written while he was an undergraduate in Hong Kong, examined the reasons for the low levels of political participation in Hong Kong. He is also the author of more than 15 articles in leading h u m a n resources journals, and has received m a n y awards and honors. Through in-depth case studies, survey research, consulting, and teaching, Yeung has Business Horizons / September-October 1999
gained extensive knowledge of the HR functions and practices of more than 30 leading corporations worldwide. His areas of specialization include the strategic design of HR practices, the transformation of HR functions, the changing competencies of HR professionals, the development of corporate learning capabilities, the design of HR practices for Asia-Pacific operations, and the management of cultural change. In 1998, together with several American colleagues, Yeung conducted an extensive and extremely significant study, "Leadership Development Strategies of Asian MNCs." The purpose of the research was to examine how more than 40 MNCs identify and develop the next generation of leaders. Not surprisingly, Yeung's focus on the team was on Asian firms. The results were quite interesting, pointing out that Asian MNCs have a very different approach to leadership development. They emphasize cultural alignment as the key factor, whereas American and European firms traditionally adhere to the well-known leadership competency model. This means that Asian MNCs like Acer will need to reexamine their entire leadership development approach. The study was presented to two meetings of the International Consortium for Executive Development (ICEDR), a leading U.S. research and consulting group, and is to be published in a book in the near future.
The Acer Group (Taiwan) Arthur Yeung is currently the Chief Learning Ofricer of the Acer Group and president of the Acer Academy. Having been with Acer on a consulting basis since June 1, 1998, he received a full-time appointment in January 1999. The Acer Group is a conglomerate of 28,000 employees worldwide, with business operations in more than 40 countries. Revenues in 1998 were US$6.8 billion. Major products include desktop PCs, notebook PCs, semiconductors, PC components, and cellular phones. Various business magazines rank Acer as one of Asia's most competitive companies. Yeung's responsibilities include working with the chairman to bring about organizational and cultural change within Acer, and reorganizing the firm with a more global business approach, from a manufacturing-driven focus to an emphasis on customers. As founding president of the Acer Academy, he is responsible for the leadership development of the company's top 1,000 executives. He has created a new 99-room campus for executive training, which includes nine large state-of-the-art classrooms, four breakout rooms, an electronic library, a 300-seat auditorium, an
Profiles in ExecutiveEducation: Arthur Yeung
indoor swimming pool, and a basketball court and gym.
A Personal Perspective Several of Yeung's own comments can help round out his profile by providing some insight into his philosophy on family, education, success, and work. • "I married Jenny Kwok in 1988 and at present have two children: Priscilla, 8 years old, and Joshua, 6 years old. I met her at the University of Hong Kong where we both were studying. She went to France after her graduation on a full scholarship for an MBA. Seven years of separation occurred before our marriage. She worked as a management consultant in Hong Kong, as a lecturer at San Francisco State, and recently as a lecturer at universities in Hong Kong." • "I dealt with moving around reasonably well. Jenny resisted a little bit when I decided to return to Ann Arbor from the Bay Area--no one wants to leave the Bay Area! However, she encouraged me to make my next two moves: to Hong Kong in 1997 and to Taipei in 1999. Since then she has been very supportive in building my career, stating that my success is her success." • "Right from my childhood I understood that if I didn't take charge, I would follow the footsteps of my father, mother, brothers, and sisters. I needed to take control of my own destiny." • "My principal challenge is to lead and manage large-scale organization change, and to help line executives appreciate the value and importance of executive education." A
rthur Yeung's life and career have come full circle: from his roots in Hong Kong, to the United States for his doctorate and early career experience, then back to Hong Kong for the University of Michigan's business school, and now in a major position with a leading international conglomerate in Taiwan. At only 38, he stands poised to be a major contributor to the fields of human resources and executive education. O
Harper Moulton is an executive development consultant in Saunderstown, Rhode island. This is his eighth article in the series on executive education leaders, which he initiated in the January-February 1995 issue of BH.
85