“Thanks for the wonderfully written report, Mark! Your summary of the project gave us a really good insight about its progress and what we can expect in the coming months.” “Lina, great job with your presentation this morning! You got all your facts right and you delivered with such poise and confidence. Keep it up!” […]
Want to Get the Best Out of Your Malaysian Team? Try This! Read More »
Several years ago, the multinational company I was working for went through a merger which resulted in significant organizational changes. The new company direction favoured a more web based approach to training, so half of the total number of trainers were at risk of unemployment. As the last employee to have been hired, I was
Successful Change Management – The Malaysian Way Read More »
For the past two years, Amanda had enjoyed working in an administrative personnel role alongside five other colleagues. Recently, her supervisor resigned and after a few days of deliberation, Amanda was appointed as the successor. A few weeks into her new role, Amanda’s manager noted a drop in her performance and found that a major
Recently, a multinational organization had an opportunity to close a huge deal with a chip manufacturing company from China. The negotiations were led by Fabian, a German national, who arranged a site visit for the management team from China with the hopes of acquainting them with the local processes. Due to certain unfortunate circumstances, Fabian
Power Distance – How Does It Affect You at Work? Read More »
An international organization held a conference in Malaysia to standardize its manufacturing line processes across the different regions and participants came from all over the world. The organizers had offered to provide transportation for the delegates from their hotels to the conference site. As the Japanese participants had initially politely declined the offer, the organizers
Malaysian Communication-Stating an Opinion Outright vs Implying a Point Read More »
Katrina*, a Danish national, is here in Malaysia for a 2-year expat assignment to assist in standardizing the company’s policies and procedures on a global scale. After understanding how a particular process is done in Malaysia, Katrina explained how it is done on a Group level and provided suggestions on the improvements that can be
Why Don’t Malaysians Like Asking for Help? Read More »
Wai Keat is busy at his desk when he hears a knock on his door. His American boss, Frederik, extends an invitation to his house for a barbeque this weekend. Wai Keat has made plans for the weekend, so he begins to say, “Ohh…err…I got something to do…” Frederik jumps in and insists that he
Ways Malaysians Say No Read More »
For most of us, an important aspect of our daily lives is the making and answering of telephone calls. We make and receive calls for a variety of reasons – to make appointments, to enquire about something or simply to connect with our friends and loved ones. Telephone calls are also an essential part of
Malaysian Telephone Etiquette Read More »
Have you ever briefly interacted with someone new and deduced that the individual must be in some form of a leadership role? Even though you hardly know that person, you connect some of the attributes displayed by that individual to what you view as good leadership qualities. Such a phenomenon is known as Implicit Leadership
Implicit Leadership Theory – What Makes a Good Leader, to You? Read More »
As with many Asian countries, Malaysia is known to be a face saving culture. Although the term is not commonly used in everyday conversations among Malaysians, the concept is deeply ingrained in our cultural makeup and affects everything that we do. To save face means to preserve one’s reputation, credibility or dignity and this is
The Concept of Saving Face in a Malaysian Cultural Context Read More »