A Middle Culture of Dealing

by Amalina Saberan
Introduction
A phrase of The world is getting smaller is truly view the current world we live now. The
world without boundary have encourage the cultures to spread and mixed. As we travel more, we
can see different products from different continent of different world. Some of us travel abroad
for work and some for leisure. As we work in organization either in our home country or abroad
the cultures are always being part of our life. Believe it or not we do carry our cultures with us.
Whether it is a culture of professional, corporate, educational, national and etc., it has been
always become the way how we do things in our daily life. Therefore, we can conclude that
cultures are everywhere.
What do you understand about culture? Culture have always been notoriously difficult to
define as it goes beyond the imagination of the human being. Its take form as people establish a
value in a group or community. Culture is part of the values and norms in community. As define
by Oatey (2012), culture is a quality possessed by all people in all social groups, who
nevertheless could array on a development continuum from savagery through barbarism to
civilization. Cultures can be divided in various category which popularly known as culture of
professional, educational, national, religious, sexual orientation, generation, family, gender and
etc. Culture have so much influence on how we see the world through our lens. Culture is not
something that inherited but learn. Sometimes we can see that some cultures may take
dominance over another culture depending on the situation. For example, in our daily life we can
see that corporate culture dominates over national culture while national culture dominates over
religious culture or vice versa.
Cultural Dealing
In our daily life often we forgot that every little thing that we do actually influence by the culture
that we learn. Human being are known as intelligent mammal that can easily copy and learn what
other mammal do. There are a number of cultural aspects influence the way we interact with
other people, including national culture, gender culture and etc. All these element influence how
we conduct work, our behavior, style, use of language, how we negotiate and how we create the
relationship.

Malaysia have been long known as the most diverse country around the world after Africa.
Therefore, to enable the cohesion among the society, Malaysia have the most progressive
constitution that give the protection to the rights of every single individual to be valued,
respected and not to experience any form of discrimination. Human being are popularly known
with a stereotype view as our background and way of thinking is different. The background and
way of thinking of the individual influence so much in the organization. For example, how the
appointments and promotions are made, how leaders interact with the subordinates, how various
cultures interact in the workplace and their contribution to the whole organization.
Social sciences study has always in efforts to find way on how to eliminate the stereotyping and
discrimination in an organization. As up to date the study done by anthropologies shows that
stereotyping and discrimination cannot be automatically eliminated as intervention is necessary
to remove the norms. This mean that there must be a major transformation in our attitude,
behavior, policies and procedures in ensuring that the organization become a place where all can
thrive. Therefore, cultural diversity management strategy should be in place for the intervention
process to take place.
As organization are made up of diverse society and employees and customers from diverse
backgrounds, the management should first recognize the differences to enable them to dealing
with the diverse culture in the organization. The management should able to see from diverse
lens. Thus to deal with the cultural diversity all of the organization around the world have
introduce several program that can enhance the cohesion among their society, employees and
customers.
One of the most popular effort being done by almost all organization today is the team-building.
Team-building allow you to understand how diversify your organization is. Being part of the
organization which made up of diverse people from diverse background make you aware on
what culture being practice to what occasion and what time through the team-building. Teambuilding viewed as the most effective ways in tackling the stereotyping and discrimination. This
is because through team-building the organization promote the understanding among each and
every members of the organization. Believe it or not team-building is not just a course but a
platform which are very useful for the organization to introduce different culture in the
organization.
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Telekom Malaysia Berhad is one of the organization which are well known of this initiative.
Being one of the giant telecommunication provider in Malaysia allow TM to recognize different
cultures within the organization. As become part of TM I personally feel proud as TM have
successfully organized different initiative in order to enhance the understanding of different
cultures among the members. Every three months TM group conducting a team building to
further enhance the understanding of the different cultures in the TM environment. The target
group of the team building will those who are new comers and the existing staff. By doing so,
TM believe that it can help TM to grow. Below are some of the pictures taken during the team
building program.

Figure
1 The activities carried out during the team building

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Figure 2 The
organizer explains the rules and regulation of the activities
Figure 3
organizer team

from

The

Business
Support Unit

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Figure
4 The
activities
done
during
team

the

building program
Globalization have puts so much tension to the organization around the globe to manage their
cultural diversity in the workplace effectively. In order to develop cultural competencies, the
organization need to understand, communicate with and effectively interact with people across
cultures where they have to with varying cultural beliefs and schedules. Dealing with cultural
diversity requires the organization to communicate effectively. By providing information
accurately and promptly it can ensure that the team work effectively. This is particularly
important when a project is in troubled and needs immediate corrective actions. However, the
communication has always been a problem to the organization since different continent would
have different perception towards certain issues. As far as we are concern, those in Asian
countries usually reluctant to share the supervisors the bad news as compare to those in other
continent. This is due to the bad feedback that they think they will receive from their supervisor.
Beside from communication, time is another important thing that need to be consider in dealing
with cultures in organization. Culture are differ in how they view time. For example, they differ
in the balance between work and family life, and workplace mix between work and social
behavior. Furthermore, differences include the perception of overtime or even the exact meaning
of deadline. Different perceptions of time can cause a great misunderstanding and mishap in the
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workplace, especially with scheduling and deadlines. Perceptions of time underscore the
importance of cultural diversity in the workplace and how it can impact our everyday work.
Therefore, dealing with culture diversity should be taken progressively by the organization to
ensure that the organization to grow faster in an effective way. Without proper management of
culture, it could harm the organization as a whole.

Nature of Profession
For the past 9 years in service as an assistant officer at Business Research & Development
Department Telekom Malaysia I have gain so much experience working in my field and well
verse in my area. The objective of my profession is to help in the planning and monitoring for the
demand forecast, project implementation and network utilization in order to develop consumer
sales strategy to secure retail services as a market leader in telecommunication industry.
My nature of profession include the submission of development information and demand
forecast for Capital Expenditures (CAPEX) Application. In this task I were require to do the site
survey and gathering the data for development for Kuching area. I also responsible to meet the
developer, contractor or respective government agencies in order to acquire the site and locality
plan and next to give a technical advice to the respective person in charge. Other than that, I also
responsible to prepare the important information and data for the development project to the
respective assistant manager of BRD in order for the them to prepare CAPEX for the next year.
After that the CAPEX list will be send to TMW for the next planning.
Furthermore, I also being assign to quarterly develop the progress by updating and reporting.
This is done by resurvey to all location that are listed in CAPEX application to see the progress
of the project development. In every 3 months a site visit to the field is a must to ensure that all
of the project development is updated. After updating the report for the development progress
next is to send it to BRD assistant manager for the purpose updating.
Beside that I also being assign to do the waiters clearance monthly. In this task I were
responsible to prepared the report and statistic for the Sarawak waiters by identifying waiters list.
After identifying the waiters list next stage is to disseminate all of the waiters data to the

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respective staff. Last stage is to liaise with the Network Development and Network Management
Operation for the clearance of the waiters.
Next responsibility that I have to do is Service Requisition Requirement (SRR) project delivery
as according to ready for service data. This task requires me to discuss with the Marketing team
about the consumer sale and business sales for the purpose of implementation of cable project.
For further assurance, the site visit will be done to ensure that all project can be done. After all,
have been done the I have to give an input about the SRR project and later send it back to the
BRD assistant manager.
Last responsibility that have been assign to me is to do the project proposal for Malaysia
Communications and Multimedia Commissions as and when required. This task requires me to
identify the location that have been suggested by the MCMC to develop a broadband program.
This is done through site visit to the stated places and if it is impossible to get the information
about the place I were required to get the information from the Resident Office. All of the data
later on should be updated and send it to BRD assistant manager.
Multifaceted Cultures in Telekom Malaysia Berhad and How It Influence the Interaction
From the increasingly diverse domestic workforce to the globalization of business, cultural
competence is arguably the most important skill for effective work performance in this 21 st
century including Telekom Malaysia at large. Being a national telecommunication service
provider have put TM to a huge responsibility in providing the high quality services to the
Malaysian as a whole. Made up from diverse people, staff and customer urge the TM to be
cultural competence organization. Without proper management of culture in organization it could
harm TM as a whole.
Cultural competence in brief is the ability to interact effectively with people from different
cultures. This ability depends on awareness of ones own cultural worldview, knowledge of other
practices and worldwide tolerant attitude towards cultural differences and cross-cultural skills.
As up to date TM are made up from diverse internal and external customer have greatly
influence how TM a giant telecommunication of Malaysia thinking. Being part of TM I can see
that TM have managing its cultural diversity well. Why do I say so is that, in every department
they assign different people from region with different background to work together in other to
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achieve one objective that is to Make Life Easier For example, in our department itself we
comprise of Chinese (3), Malay (3), Bidayuh (2) and India (1). Every department in TM Sarawak
have about the same percentage of the races.
TM is just like diamonds where its multifaceted cultures of people determine their value. As for
diamond the qualities are analogous to TM as its durability, robustness and enduring value. This
can be summarized as sustainability. The sustainability is very important to organization to
ensure its survival. As quoted by Charles Darwin, It is not the strongest of the species that
survive, nor the most intelligent, but the ones most responsive to change. Sustainability generally
focus on incorporating social, moral and environmental factors into business decisions. This
include the management, leadership, the people, the culture, the systems and the work
environment. This is what keeps the organization to keep growing and ticking.
The cultural differences in the communication or interaction process have always received
significant attention by scholars. As far as the organization is concern there are two major
differences in organization which are the organizational culture and organizational formalization.
According to Greenberg (2003), organizational culture is the large extent created and industry
related concept with the important functions to clarify and reinforce the norms of behavior while
Rapert and Brent (1998) define the organizational formalization as establishing the distinguished
positions and roles in a hierarchical structure. This two differences affect how the
communication or interaction process in an organization. Both of it has a direct effect to the
interaction process. This can be clearly seen in TM at large. The moment when I step to TM as
an employee I see that these two main things really have its own effect on the interaction process
at TM. As the organizational culture emerged and become norm of TM its create barriers that
sometimes affect the performance of TM as a whole. But if the diverse people do follow the
organization formalization it could somehow help the organization to be par with other giant
company. But both of it also have its own drawback and benefit to the interaction in the
organization. it cannot be denied that the organizational formalization actually smoothing the
process and interaction but at the same the it also will consume the times to conduct a business.
As to business time is money and this apply to TM as a company.
Therefore, it can be conclude from my discussion above that multifaceted cultures at TM really
do influence the interaction in every level. This is because it can be clearly seen from the KPI of
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the company in year end. Some of the KPI cannot be achieved due to the barriers that resulted
from the multifaceted in TM. Therefore, TM should outline the various program and initiative to
solve this problem in order to keep growing.

Dealing with cultures differences of superiors, fellow workers and clients

Cultures are very important to organization because it shapes an individuals behavior and
perception for the world. Small groups including family, work colleagues would create norms,
rituals, heroes, even symbols and as a result of these practices in social life. Globalization have
become one of the main contributor why todays workforce is diverse and multicultural. The
doors of the nations across the globe were opened for trade and investments. This led to the
greater development in the areas of finance, marketing, technological innovations and etc. Thus
here comes the prominence for understanding what cross culture is for every member of TM in
dealing with various people in TM that comes from different cultures, so it become to understand
the multi-cultural environment and its pros and cons.
One main alternative that I have seen at TM is that they have the cross-cultural management in
the organization in order to examine its internal customers behavior within organization from
both national and international perspective. Cross-cultural management in TM works by
comparing organizational behavior both national and international level across countries and
cultures and seek to understand how to improve the interaction of superiors, fellows workers
and clients from around the nationwide. To manage the diverse culture in organization is not an
easy task. Its requires the cooperation from all member in the organization. Thus, cross-cultural
management at TM will specifically focus on reducing the cross-cultural differences and barriers
and creating cross-cultural awareness in order to have better communication and cooperation at
the workplace. It is the toughest job for every member of TM. Hence, it is very necessary to
recognize the business culture, management values and methodologies across the globe.
TM have come up with different strategies in managing its cross-cultural differences including
having a good knowledge of diverse culture, respect others culture, ignore the cultural
differences, minimize differences and managing differences. The first strategies that TM adopt is
by acknowledging and admitting the existence of differences between cultures. This mainly
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includes differences in perceptions, interpretations and evaluations of social situations and

people who create them and act within them. These differences than have to be named,
described, explained and understood. These strategies believe to be the first step to promote
mutual understanding and good cooperation. This step is definitely neither common nor easy.
Second is respect others culture. This is done through accepting their differences without any
judgement. In this strategies TM instill among its internal customer that there is no certain
culture is more perfect, better than another culture. Cultures are different and for their members
they represent optimum to manage life situations in conditions they have been living in for a long
time.
Next strategies are to ignore the cultural differences at TM. In this strategy, a stage comes where
the managers ignore the differences. It later becomes irrelevant as the managers and employees
would be having a good understanding about each others cultures and practices as earlier they
would learn to respect the cultures. TM believe by deploy these strategies it could help the
organization to understand better about other culture as it is also practices in parochial type of
organizations. Thus it could help in minimizing negative impacts and increasing positive impacts
of diversity.
Fourth strategies that being employ by TM in dealing with cultural differences is minimizing
differences. This is done through recognize cultural differences but only as source of problems.
TM adopting this strategy because TM is considered as ethnocentric organizations. In
ethnocentric, the superiors try to reduce the problems of differences by reducing cultural
diversity. In this strategies TM do not think about advantages of diversity but TM try to either
select culturally homogeneous workforce or attempt to socialize all employees into behavior
patterns of dominant culture.
Last strategies employ by TM is managing differences. As considered as one of the synergistic
organizations, TM have been actively respond towards differences in their organization. This is
done through recognize the impacts of cultural differences that lead to both advantages and
disadvantages. Managers and employees minimize potential problems by managing the impacts
of cultural differences, not by minimizing the differences themselves. This is done similarly as
managers maximize the potential advantages by managing impacts of cultural differences, rather
than by ignoring them. By using this strategy TM believe that they could train their managers
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and employees to recognize the cultural differences and to use cultural differences to create
advantages for TM itself.

Culture and Planning

Cultures usually refers to the cultural landscape of living environment where physical and soft
constituents of inhabited areas are interlinked and equally significant. Cultures are often
describing as contentious issues because of its lived experience rather than an artistic production.
Cultures also viewed as something that is changeable and continually reconstructed through the
webs of relations between people and their physical environment.
In practice, planning is referred as a stages of making plan for something. In management,
planning involving of one or more detailed plans to achieve optimum balance of needs or
demands with the available resources. Planning include identifies the goals or objectives to be
achieved, formulation of strategies to achieve the goals, arranges of means required,
implementation, directs and monitoring of all steps in their proper sequence.
In todays world, planning models tend to overlook the authentic and lived experiences of
cultures because of its complex and dynamic nature or because of the inability of rigid
development planning models to respond to continuous contextual changes (Young, 2008). As
the social sciences and management is argued planning and cultures should be inline. This is
because the planner is human being and somehow the culture will affect the planning directly.
Some of the expert really against the idea because they think culture could harm the planning
process. Indeed, there are some point there where culture influence the planning process but
without culture in planning it will not reflect the comprehensive planning stages. Planning
without cultures could failed the whole processes. This is because culture believe could help in
overcome certain issues that may arise during the process.
Moreover, in planning processes, cultural assessment should be done to ensure that smooth
planning is in place. By integrating cultures with planning can help the organization to discover
the necessary need and preferences during the planning stage. Integrating cultures and planning
also mean you have to involve inclusive community. By integrating planning with the cultures

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could help in respond to the increasingly complex relationship as well as to the growing value of
knowledge in making development planning decisions.
As far as I am concern we also manage to integrate both cultures and planning in the processes.
This can be seen through our project planning stages. In the planning process we include
different people from different area and agencies to have a comprehensive planning. This is to
ensure that all the need and preferences are included. We usually invite the community and
government agencies to give view in the planning process so that we know what is still lacking
in our processes. This include the culture of different people from background. We embedded it
to become art of the process a reconcile it that later will produce a very comprehensive planning
and agreed by all. Thus this could ensure the success of the planning process of our department.
Aware of the cultural differences have help us to grow and develop a good and beneficial project
for Telekom Malaysia as a whole.

References
Greenberg, J. (2003) Diversity in the Workplace: Benefits Challenges and Solutions. Retrieved
from http://www.alphameasure.com on 1 July 2016.
Rapert, Molly Inhofe and Brent Wren (1998), Reconsidering Organizational Structure: A Dual
Perspective of Frameworks.
Spencer-Oatey, H. (2012) What is culture? A compilation of quotations. GlobalPAD Core
Concepts.
Young, G. (2008). The culturisation of planning. Planning Theory 7 (1): 71-91.

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