Subject: Cross-Cultural Management

Topic Review 1
This Topic review question 1 worth 5 % . Students are required to do a presentation on their
finding. The questions are as below:
Video URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bjR-tyZU0gs
Students are required to watch this special video about 1Malaysia. From the video you are
required to:
1. Identify and discuss the Malaysian culture displayed in the video.
2. Discuss the relation between national culture and organizational culture.

1Malaysia Video
This 6 minutes and 20 seconds video featured the diversity of Malaysian culture. This
video is also to promote 1Malaysia programme. 1Malaysia (pronounced One Malaysia in
English and Satu Malaysia in Malay) is an on-going programme designed by Malaysian Prime
Minister Najib Tun Razak on 16 September 2010, calling for the cabinet, government agencies,
and civil servants to more strongly emphasize ethnic harmony, national unity, and efficient
governance. 1Malaysia stresses national unity and ethnic tolerance.
This video was filmed at a pasar malam. Pasar malam is a Malay word that literally
means night market. A pasar malam is a street market in Malaysia that opens in the evening,
usually in residential neighbourhoods. It brings together a collection of stalls that usually sell
goods such as fruits, vegetables, snacks, toys, clothes, shoes, alarm clocks, and ornaments at
cheap or at least reasonable prices.

The video started with the Malay actor (Actor: Afdlin Shauki) waiting for his order of
rojak. Then the Chinese actor (Actor: Ho Yu Hang) teases him of eating himself because Afdlin
was a rojak himself. Rojak is a traditional fruit and vegetable salad dish commonly found in
Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore. The term rojak in Malay is mixture. In Malaysia, the term
rojak is also used as a colloquial expression for an eclectic mix, in particular as a word
describing the multi-ethnic character of Malaysian society. The largest ethnic groups in Malaysia
are the Malays, Chinese and Indians. In Sabah and Sarawak, there are myriad of indigenous
ethnic groups with their own unique culture and heritage. There are the Kadazan, Dusun, Bajau,
Murut, Iban, Bidayuh, Melanau, Orang Ulu, and many more.
The next scene shows that three of them able to speak and understand among each other
using the original language, if not all, at least some. They are also communicating using a
mixture of language, English, Malay, Chinese and Tamil language.
The national, or official, language is Malay, which is the mother tongue of the majority
Malay ethnic group. The main ethnic groups within Malaysia comprise the Malays, Chinese and
Indians, with many other ethnic groups represented in smaller numbers, each with its own
languages. The native tribes of East Malaysia have their own languages which are related to, but
easily distinguishable from, Malay. Iban is the main language in Sarawak while Dusun and
Kadazan languages are spoken by the natives in Sabah. Sabah has tenth sub-ethnic languages,
Bajau, Bruneian, Murut, Lundayeh/Lun Bawang, Rungus, Bisaya, Iranun, Sama, Suluk and
Sungai. English is widely understood in service industries and is a compulsory subject in primary
and secondary school. It is also the main language spoken in most private colleges and
universities.
The Malaysian constitution guarantees freedom of religion while making Islam the state
religion. Muslims only eat halal food, which is permissible for Muslims to eat. At pasar malam,
people are able to eat a wider variety of food prepared by the multi-racial hawkers. A multi-racial
society teaches people how to respect and understand the religion and cultures of others.
Therefore foods are prepared accordingly in order to respect other religions and cultures.

In this video, there was also scene that talks about the peace that was achieved after
Malaysias Independence Day. It also promotes to buy Malaysian products. Finally, the video
ends with the Chinese actor saying he is grateful for having people or friends such as them even
though he knows Malaysia is not perfect.
In conclusion this video brings the message of what it takes to be a united country,
1Malaysia. The ultimate objective of 1Malaysia is national unity and this is achieved by fostering
unity among the multi-ethnic citizen of Malaysia and ethnic identities of each community in
Malaysi by upholding the value of acceptance where one race embraces the uniqueness of the
other races. The resulting consequence is that all will live with mutual respect for one another as
a nation.

National Culture vs. Organizational Culture

Geertz suggests that culture is an historically transmitted pattern of meanings embodied
in symbols, a system of inherited conceptions expressed in symbolic form by means of which
men communicate, perpetuate, and develop their knowledge about attitudes toward life.
Hofstede defines culture as the collective programming of the mind which distinguishes the
members of one group or category of people from another. Furthermore, Hofstede argues that
the core element of any culture is its values. He further defines values as broad tendencies to
prefer certain states of affairs over others.
In the 1980ies Geert Hofstede discovered 5 fundamental dimensions of national cultures
that can be seen to illustrate different values in different national cultures. This discovery was
made through utilizing factor analysis techniques on samples drawn from the multinational
corporation IBM. The dimensions found by Geert Hofstede can be used to illustrate which values
lie deeply embedded in people from different cultures. These values may have consequences for
how people in different cultures behave, and how they will potentially behave in a work related
context.
The five values found by Geert Hofstede are:

1. Power Distance
In cultures with low power distance, people are likely to expect that power is distributed
rather equally, and are furthermore also likely to accept that power is distributed to less powerful
individuals. As opposed to this, people in high power distance cultures will likely both expect
and accept inequality and steep hierarchies.
2. Uncertainty Avoidance
Uncertainty Avoidance is referring to a lack of tolerance for ambiguity and a need for
formal rules and policies. This dimension measures the extent to which people feel threatened by
ambiguous situations. These uncertainties and ambiguities may e.g. be handled by an
introduction of formal rules or policies, or by a general acceptance of ambiguity in the
organizational life.
The majority of people living in cultures with a high degree of uncertainty avoidance, are
likely to feel uncomfortable in uncertain and ambiguous situations. People living in cultures with
a low degree of uncertainty avoidance, are likely to thrive in more uncertain and ambiguous
situations and environments.
3. Masculinity vs. Femininity
These values concern the extent on emphasis on masculine work related goals and
assertiveness (earnings, advancement, title, respect et.), as opposed to more personal and
humanistic goals (friendly working climate, cooperation, nurturance etc.)
The first set of goals is usually described as masculine, whereas the latter is described as
feminine. These goals and values can, among other, describe how people are potentially
motivated in cultures with e.g. a feminine or a masculine culture.

4. Individualism vs. Collectivism

In individualistic cultures people are expected to portray themselves as individuals, who
seek to accomplish individual goals and needs. In collectivistic cultures, people have greater

emphasis on the welfare of the entire group to which the individual belongs, where individual
wants, needs and dreams are often set aside for the common good.

5. Long vs. Short Term Orientation

Long-Term Orientation is the fifth dimension, which was added after the original four
dimensions. This dimension was identified by Michael Bond and was initially called Confucian
dynamism. Geert Hofstede added this dimension to his framework, and labeled this dimension
long vs. short term orientation .
The consequences for work related values and behavior springing from this dimension
are rather hard to describe, but some characteristics are described into long term and short term
orientation. In long-term orientation, acceptance of that business results may take time to
achieve, and the employee wishes a long relationship with the company. In short term
orientation, results and achievements are set, and can be reached within timeframe, and the
employee will potentially change employer very often.
Morgan defines organisational culture as the pattern of development reflected in societys
system of knowledge, ideologies, values, laws, and day-to-day rituals. Similarly defines
organisational culture as the shared values, beliefs, norms, expectations and assumptions which
function like a glue holding employees and organisations systems together and stimulate
employees performance and commitment. His view of culture is based on culture deriving from
an underlying pattern of assumptions that people in any organisation share as a result of the
common experiences they all have. Also, organisatinal culture has been defined as shared
perceptions of organisational work practice within organisational units, which provide a
guideline for the organisations business mission and goals.
Differences in culture have considerable impact on both the personal and corporate
spheres of society. Organisational culture affects organizations in various contexts and it has
been recognized as one of the most influential factors when considering organizational
performance. National culture is another important consideration because of its deeply rooted

linkage with the values, entrenched in our everyday life. Cultural values are part of our daily life
and we start learning these values in our childhood. Similarly, our communication, behaviour and
actions are shaped by these adopted cultural values. Therefore, it is appropriate to assert that
national values have an impact on organizational culture as well. This premise is suggested by
Hofstede, he states that behaviour at work is a continuation of behaviour learned earlier.
Geert Hofstede (1991) explains that the differences between national cultures are mainly
found in the deep rooted values of the respective cultures. These cultural values can shape how
people expect companies to be run, and how relationships between leaders and followers should
be. Ideally, these expectations are balanced between the employer and the employee, but many
times the cultural distance results in great differences that can cause problems for the
management of the international company.
When employing people from different cultural backgrounds, companies may benefit
from generating a unified organizational culture. The difference between national and
organizational cultures is that the differences between national cultures are mainly found in the
values of the different cultures, whereas differences between corporate cultures are mainly found
in the practices between different companies. (Hofstede, 1991) The corporate culture of an
international company can therefore very well be uniform across borders, whereas the deep
rooted values of different people from different cultures potentially still exist.
This means that employees from other national cultures can be socialized into the culture
of the respective company, and hence learn the practices of the respective corporate culture, even
though these practices might be contradictory to the practices normally found in the employee's
national culture.
However, if the practices of the corporate culture are very unlike the normal practices
found in the national culture, companies may find it difficult to socialize foreign workers into a
corporate culture.
Companies can, if they want to pursue a unified corporate culture, use different measures
to strengthen the socialization process.

Hire people that demonstrate values equal to corporate values

Hire people not yet socialized in other corporate cultures
Create a strong socialization process

Not every company will benefit from generating a uniform corporate culture to cope with
national cultural differences, and many companies may gain benefits from accepting and
exploiting the cultural differences within the company. The choice of whether or not to seek a
uniform corporate culture is oftentimes determined by the importance of maintaining e.g.
uniform product offerings, leadership styles, management systems etc. Companies like IKEA or
McDonalds may want to create a uniform corporate culture, because this may strengthen the
uniformity of leadership, management systems, shopping experiences and product offerings
world-wide.
Other companies may not benefit from a uniform corporate culture, where differences in
both corporate cultures and national cultures are not regarded as a problem, and instead seen as
competitive necessity to remain viable. Companies like Unilever, may not see it as important to
create a strong uniform corporate culture across its portfolio of companies, because this
uniformity will not strengthen the company on a global scale, and maybe act as a barrier in
catering various employees and customers around the globe.
The choice of corporate culture uniformity is often, as said, determined by the
international business strategies followed by the respective company.