1.

0 INTRODUCTION

Culture is a certain character in a group or group of individuals in a community

group that has the custom and the program whether related to language, religion, food,

social behavior, music and art (Luthans, 2006). In other words, culture is often associated

with customs and behavior or rituals performed by a country or group of people. In the

flow of business and international markets, the values and concerns of local and national

culture should be taken into account and emphasized in the organization. Holding

companies should be sensitive and sensitive to this issue, as it plays an important role in

the continuity of business flow to run smoothly internationally or nationally. Application

of cultural values needs to be parallel and in line with the norms of the local community.

Culture will shape the behavior of a person who is eventually "carried" into the

communication process. Communication is dynamic and always flawless through

interactive between sources with recipients (Leat, & El-Kot, 2009). In the communication

process, resources and recipients bring their own background and experience. One side

will try to influence another party. Communication in culture takes place in a physical

and social context. The physical context consists of the comfort and security of the place

of communication.

Social contexts are social relationships between sources with recipients of friends

and enemies, teachers and students, doctors and patients and so on. Cross-cultural

communication occurs when there is interaction between people of different race, race,

language, religion, education level and social status. Cross-cultural communication can

be seen in various contexts such as the context of education, politics, technology and

others. People who produce messages and people who interpret messages consist of

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individuals of different cultures.

Because cultures include knowledge, experience, beliefs, values, attitudes, religions,

time, roles, relationships gained by a large group of people from generation to generation

through individual and group efforts, cultures are formed from objective and subjective

cultures (Gibson et al. 2011). Objective culture is an explicit and easily identified external

culture. For example, clothing, appearance, language, custom, food and home form.

A subjective culture is an inner culture that can not be seen with the naked eye and is

difficult to identify. For example, trustworthiness and value of practice. Culture is

complex in terms of knowledge, beliefs, art, morals, law, customs and habits. Culture will

affect the way we communicate. Different cultures then behavior in communication will

also vary. The way we communicate, the language of communication, the language and

the language style used symbolizes our culture of value held. The value held will shape

the behavior that will eventually "get carried" into the communication process. Behavior

in communication formed based on this culture shows that behavior is tied to culture.

Cultural differences will cause misunderstandings. Ethnocentric value looks at its

own culture as the center for another matter assessed by its own group reference (Connor,

2009). Ethnocentric in one's life will make it difficult to understand the culture of others

caused by different languages and values. No cultural competence will increase barriers

to communication between cultures.

We often consider our culture to be the same as other people. We will use our own

culture as a standard to measure the culture of others. When an inequality in the

communication process is due to cultural differences. Ethnocentric thinking in one person

will bring a challenge to the attitudes, expectations and communication styles (Nurul

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Komari & Fariastuti Djafar, 2013). Communication barriers can be overcome by

understanding the culture of others before interacting with them. Culture consists of the

language and cultural behavior of others. Understanding cultural concepts and related

factors to improve communication effectiveness is strongly encouraged. With the

understanding of one's social culture, we will allow us to communicate more smoothly.

Social culture consists of perceptions, verbal and non verbal processes.

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2.0 RESEARCH PROJECT

2.1 Company Profile

OldTown Berhad at the beginning of the establishment in 1999, set up by Goh

Ching Mun and Tan Say Yap is an instant beverage mixer operating over 237 cafe

outlets throughout Malaysia. With the overwhelming response, OldTown later

expanded into the food service sector by opening a cafe branch network like in

Singapore and China in 2005 with a brand new OldTown White Coffee.

Based on the ambiance surrounding Ipoh City's traditional coffee shop, OldTown

is expanding its wings by exporting instant mix drinks in more than 10 countries such

as Java and Bali. OldTown also open 44 more outlets in Australia by 2015.

The main objective of the firm is to make the leading white coffee brand in Asia

Pacific, OldTown's business activities grow by providing high quality products that

are divided into three categories:

  Operation of the cafe branch

  Manufacture of coffee and other beverages

  Marketing & sales of coffee and other beverages

The OldTown generic cafe's ambiance with memorable concepts has been

revamped and revived from traditional cafe concepts to a modern look to be more

comfortable, casual, relaxed and able to impress customers with the uniqueness of

the cafe itself. With contemporary original furnishings and amenities provided,

customers can enjoy their dining experience in a tranquil environment and directly

bring this firm to be the best cafe around the world.

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2.2 Research Background

Working in the culture and culture of a multinational company that is far

different from its own culture is a huge challenge for such workers and such

conditions can result in job dissatisfaction, low productivity and ultimately increase

the rate of resignation among Malaysian workers.

If Malaysian employees in multinational companies carry out their duties

without the spirit of belonging and responsibility because they are uncomfortable or

dissatisfied with the company's atmosphere and culture, such circumstances may

affect the productivity and effectiveness of the company's management. The absence

of understanding between local workers and employers can trigger conflicts and

cross-cultural communication problems, which will undoubtedly affect the

performance of the task with low productivity and high resignation rates (Milliman

J., Taylor S. & Czaplewski A. J. 2002). In fact, if many dissatisfied workers resigned

from their positions, these high resignation rates may cause various serious problems

or adverse effects on employers. This is because the company has to spend a lot of

time and money on recruiting and training new employees so they can replace skilled

workers who have resigned.

In this project paper, our group has been conducting a study on the

communication culture that is being undertaken by study respondents from Kuala

Lumpur. Our group has chosen the manager of the OldTown White Coffee company

in Tawau, Sabah.

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2.3 Research Objective

The objective of this study is to identify the communication challenges faced by

different culture between the manager from Kuala Lumpur and their workers that

mostly from Sabah. Problems and challenges faced when dealing with Sabahan

especially from Tawau because of the culture and ethnicity.

The 'cultural dimensions' in this paper cover the views, attitudes and behavior of

workers on the environment, including their estimation of the challenges and

obstacles in carrying out their duties. These include the attitudes of workers in

overcoming challenges, performing tasks, using time, and controlling quality in

certain situations.

In addition, studies have also been conducted to identify gaps and differences of

cross-cultural values as well as the effects of these gaps on cross-cultural conflicts

within multinational corporations and how to overcome the situations.

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3.0 RESEARCH METHODS

3.1 Interview

The use of this interview method is to collect survey information. The way to do

this is to conduct oral interviews and answers are recorded by researchers in writing

and via electronic recording.

Interviews are defined as two-way conversations aimed at collecting research

information. Interviews are face-to-face interactions between interviewers /

interviewers with respondents. According Denzin (2001), "interviews should be used

more than just as information gathering tools; interviews should be reflective and

reflect the real life and circumstances of a phenomenon.

Interviews are categorized into three types, namely structured interviews, semi-

structured interviews and non-structured interviews (Chua Yan Piaw, 2014).

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4.0 RESEARCH RESULT

4.1 Respondent Background

This study uses a full interview method where we have chosen a manager from

Kuala Lumpur. The respondent is Mr Naung who is from Kelantan. He is a manager

at OldTown White Coffee, Tawau Sabah.

This interview session was held on 21 Mei 2019 by one of our group members,

Ms. Sheira at OldTown White Coffee, Tawau. The session involved two-way

interviews between Ms. Sheira and the respondent, Mr Naung regarding his views on

cross-cultural communication in the workplace.

Mr. Naung is a Kelantan citizen and the organization in which he works is a

multinational organization. His status is single and aged in the 30s. He is also a

Diploma holder in management. According to him, he has been working for 9 years

at this company and his current position is a manager. Prior to this, he also worked at

the OldTown White Coffee branch in Kuala Lumpur.

4.2 Contact and Interaction

As a result of the interview, Mr Naung stated that he had 8 hours of work for an

hour per day except on Saturday and Sunday which was a holiday. Normally, he will

deal and daily routine interacting with Malaysia co-workers are every day and at

work.

Mr. Naung always deal with five persons at work closely in this company which

are Tartu from Myanmar, Syiha from Myanmar, Ram from Nepal, lina from Malaysia

and Stud from Myanmar. There’s also 5 Malaysian in this company whom he

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consider as his friends such as Liyana, Iiana, Nasir, Diana and Romaizah.

He also socialize with Malaysian co-workers outside the workplace and spend

time doing things that are unrelated to work such as doing sports together like

football and gym. He always doing that kind of activities with his staff during

weekend and off days.

4.3 Cultural Differences

Foreign workers in Malaysia are a dilemma in the economic and social context.

On the one hand, foreign workers are required to assist in economic growth. On the

other hand, foreign workers are considered to be the trigger of certain social

problems. However, for Mr Naung's views, there are some differences to him while

working with Malaysian workers as opposed to from workers from the same country

of Myanmar. One of them is a matter of character and behavior.

In general, he explained that it is very different from working with workers from

outside Malaysia as they work to earn money. Meanwhile, for Malaysian workers,

they have many reasons to work because this is their own country. Additionally, the

company has more foreign workers, which is 9 people compared to local workers,

only 5 people.

In addition, foreign workers often prefer to do a great deal of work at a time as

possible to supplement their experience in the work. They are also willing to work

more time to get more rewards.

4.4 Communication Difficulties

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 Communication problems in the workplace can have a negative impact on

morale, productivity and interdepartmental working relationships. When left

unchecked, ongoing communication problems can potentially cut into profits,

increase turnover and lead to mistakes that negatively impact the company's public

image.

Mr. Naung also ever experienced difficulties in communicating with Malaysian

co-workers. He said that communication problems in the workplace can have a

negative impact on morale, productivity and interdepartmental working relationships.

When left unchecked, ongoing communication problems can potentially cut into

profits, increase turnover and lead to mistakes that negatively impact the company’s

public image. Recognizing and addressing common issues can smooth over problems

before they get out of hand. Watch for common workplace communication problems

and resolve them quickly.

The most obvious problem was due to language and cultural differences between

respondents as well as local workers. There are some local workers who are less

fluent in English and this will cause misunderstandings of communication between

respondents and local workers especially those related to management's instructions

to employees.

Besides, Mr. Naung always using the wrong communication tools to

communicate with co-workers. There are times when an email is appropriate and

other times when a phone call or in-person meeting is more suitable. Misjudging the

situation and picking the wrong tool can lead to a breakdown in communication and

create confusion, misunderstanding and hurt feelings.

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 However, Mr. Naung also often sought initiative to address the problem. he said,

if he try to exchange nonsensitive information every day, email is fine. If he's trying

to untangle a sticky situation rife with misinformation, a phone call or Skype session

allows for a more effective back-and-forth exchange. If you're delivering bad news or

having a serious or contentious debate, an in-person approach is the best choice. It

allows you to read body language, gauge temperament and make personal contact.

Sometimes Mr. Naung over share when he speak before he think. Other times,

they gossip and exchange inappropriate information. Sometimes sloppiness results in

over sharing or releasing personal or sensitive information – think of a scenario in

which you accidentally hit “reply to all” or “forward” in an email conversation in

which you and a colleague are talking in derogatory terms about a customer.

To overcome the problem, he will emphasize the need for confidentiality in the

workplace, hold sensitive meetings behind closed doors, refrain from putting highly

confidential or sensitive information in email, and stop gossip in its tracks.

As a conclusion for this interview session, Mr. Naung said streamlined and

effective communications start from the top down. If we don’t already have a best-

practices communications policy in place, create one and use it for orientation and

staff training events. Also, consider that sometimes a problem that appears to the

result of poor communication could be ineffective business practices, poor

organization or lackluster time management skills. Before blaming communication

problems, assess the other causes for a breakdown in effective operations.

5.0 DISCUSSION

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 Working in the culture and culture of a multinational company that is far different

from its own culture is a huge challenge for such workers and such conditions can result

in job dissatisfaction, low productivity and ultimately increase the rate of resignation

among Malaysian workers.

If Malaysian employees in multinational companies carry out their duties without

the spirit of belonging and responsibility because they are uncomfortable or dissatisfied

with the company's atmosphere and culture, such circumstances may affect the

productivity and effectiveness of the company's management. The absence of

understanding between local workers and employers can trigger conflicts and cross-

cultural communication problems, which will undoubtedly affect the performance of the

task with low productivity and high resignation rates (Milliman J., Taylor S. &

Czaplewski A. J. 2002). In fact, if many dissatisfied workers resigned from their

positions, these high resignation rates may cause various serious problems or adverse

effects on employers. This is because the company has to spend a lot of time and money

on recruiting and training new employees so they can replace skilled workers who have

resigned.

With regard to the problems and challenges of the Malay workers as well as

multinational employers in Malaysia, a number of issues need to be addressed, namely: i)

various problems related to workforce or human capital with perceptions, attitudes,

behaviors, behaviors that are culturally self-propelled not suitable for a rational

atmosphere or workplace culture; ii) the culture of a more pragmatic or rational

multinational company can not be shared as there is no mutual understanding between the

two parties.

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 The problems arise because there is a gap between the expectations or expectations

of workers with the situation or the atmosphere of the workplace, in particular the

organizational culture. While Malaysia's human capital / workforce is valued as one of

the key factors for developing and expanding the Malaysian economy, Malaysian

workers, especially Malays themselves, face various challenges in multinational

corporations that are much different from their own culture.

Legitimate workers with a permit are under full protection by the Government of

Malaysia. Foreign workers are required to undergo induction courses related to language,

culture and customs, labor laws and regulations and immigration legislation in the

country of origin. When in Malaysia, the employee will receive a copy of the terms and

conditions of employment (contract of employment) from the employer who is employed.

Foreign workers should respect Malaysian culture and traditions while working in

Malaysia. Foreign workers who are legally employed must comply with the period of

employment specified in the work permit. Foreign workers are responsible for levy

payments, work permits, visas, processing fees and other payments stipulated by the

Government of Malaysia. Foreign workers should also bring and submit a copy of the

health examination report in the country of origin while undergoing training for work

entry purposes.

Foreign workers should undergo a health examination in Malaysia within one month

from the date of entry. When dismissed by employer, foreign workers must self-

compensate transportation costs back to their home country due to misconduct or

resignation. Foreign workers are not allowed to marry during the period of their stay in

Malaysia or to bring a family. They are strictly prohibited from working with employers

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other than those listed in the work permit.

Human beings’ ability to communicate unique and complex ideas is what sets us

apart from the birds and beasts. When communication breaks down so does organization

and productivity. In no situation is this more apparent than in the workplace, when poor

communication between co-workers, between leaders and teams, and between the

business and clients foretells low profits, slow growth, and potential failure.

Frequently, we blame issues with communication on undeveloped skills, and we

send those lacking communication abilities to enhancement programs – or to the firing

squad. However, lack of skill is not the only cause of communication problems. Instead

of immediately assuming you have an inept workforce, you might consider the following

causes of poor communication and address them first.

From our discussion with team members, the same region of the brain that controls

motivation and determination to act also governs emotional response. Feelings often

impact whether we engage with our surroundings and communicate effectively or

whether we separate ourselves and fail to correspond. Thus, a poor attitude toward their

workplace could easily impact employees’ ability or willingness to communicate,

creating problems that impact productivity.

Unfortunately, this region of the brain is not well-connected to the regions governing

introspection. As a result, we often cannot accurately explain why we feel the way we do.

When asked how they feel about their employer, most employees can answer positively

or negatively with certainty, but when asked for the reasons behind their attitude,

employees might or might not be able to generate the correct answer.

As a manager at OldTown White Coffee, Mr. Naung must be proactive about

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addressing possible sources of unease or aversion in the workforce. By asking for

frequent feedback and – more importantly – listening to what workers say, either they

from the same country or from Malaysia, he might be able to eliminate causes of poor

attitudes and enhance communication and cooperation in the workplace. It is possible, but

much more difficult, to identify and eliminate communication-inhibiting feelings after

they develop, so the sooner he can improve his team’s emotional state, the better.

6.0 CONCLUSION

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 The Malaysian organization is heavily influenced by a multiracial society including

Malays, China, India, Iban, Kadazandusun and so on. Likewise foreign workers are taken

from abroad such as Bangladesh, Myanmar, Thailand and many more. This situation

makes the organization have employees of various ethnicities.

Understanding the cultural dimensions of each ethnicity is essential for enhancing

human resource development more efficiently and sustainably. The similarities and

differences in the assumptions of policy and values and the management of

multidisciplinary workers need to be scrutinized so that effective strategies can be made

to address this cultural diversity.

The result of our study, which is an interview session with an employee from a

foreign country working as a manager in Malaysia, found that there were some

difficulties faced by the respondents when dealing with Malay workers in the company.

Understanding each other's cultural and communication issues is needed to address the

cultural gap, particularly those involving the relationship in the workplace.

REFERENCES

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Connor, Alana. 2009. It’s not about the Work Ethic. Stanford Social Innovation Review.

Vol. 7 (4): 1.

Gibson, J. L., Ivancevich, J. M., Donnelly, J. H., & Konopaske, R. 2011. Organizations:

Behaviour, Structure, Processes. (14th ed.). Boston: McGraw-Hill.

Leat, M., & El-Kot, G. 2009. Interpersonal Trust At Work, Intrinsic Motivation, Work-

Related Tension And Satisfaction In Egypt. International Journal of Workplace Health

Management. Vol. 2(2): 180–194.

Luthans, F. 2006. Organizational Behaviour (11th ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill.

Nurul Komari & Fariastuti Djafar. 2013. Work Ethics, Work Satisfaction and

Organizational Commitment at the Sharia Bank, Indonesia. International Business

Research. Vol. 6 (No. 12): 107-117.

Parboteeah, K. P., Chen, H. C., Lin, Y. T., Chen, I. H., Lee, A. Y. P., & Chung, A. 2010.

Establishing Organizational Ethical Climates: How Do Managerial Practices Work?

Journal of Business Ethics. Vol. 97: 559 - 611.

Robbins, P. S. 2003. Organizational Behavior (10th ed.). New Jersey: Pearson Education,

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Inc.

Robbins, S. 2001. Organizational Behavior. (9th Ed.) New Jersey; Prentice-Hall. Page:

65-67.

Ryman, J. A., Turner, C. A. 2007. The Modern Weberian Thesis: A Short Review Of The

Literature. Journal of Enterprising Communities. Vol. 1 (2): 172.

ATTACHMENTS

18
Interviewer’s name: Mohd Fadzil Bin Mohd Yusoff

Bridging Cultural Differences and Contradictions at Workplace Research Project

This interview is carried out in absolute confidentiality for the purpose of academic
research only. Neither the name of the company nor the name of interviewee will be
revealed to anyone in any form. All interview recording will be erased on completing of
the project. Under this condition, the interviewee grants permission to audiotape the
conversation.

Signed by:
____________________

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Start recording here. Make sure the recording machine works.

Script

Interviewer

Hi, sir. How are you? I'm Mohd Fadzil, final year student of Master of Corporate
Communications, Universiti Putra Malaysia, representing my friends to conduct this
interview for Intercultural Communication subjects. If you don’t mind, shall we proceed
with the interview now?

I am interested to learn about your own personal experiences in working and

collaborating with Malaysian co-workers. I would like to emphasize the confidentiality of
this conversation. There is no right or wrong answer, so please be candid and detail as
possible in answering my questions.

As an introduction, can I ask you a little bit about your personal information?

01 Interviewee ID number :

02 Interviewee gender : Male

03 Nationality of expatriate: Myanmar

04 Type of organization : 1= multinational organization

05 Are you married or single?: Single

06 Would you mind indicating one of the following age categories? : 30’s

07 What is your highest educational qualification? : 1= Diploma

08 How long you have been working in this company?: 9 years

09 What is your current job title in this organization?: Manager

10 Have you received or attended intercultural or cross-cultural training

before? Could you describe them? : No

Ok, now can I ask more details about contact and interaction.

CONTACT & INTERACTION

11 How is your daily routine interacting with Malaysia co-workers. In other words,

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 how many Malaysians do you work with, and for how many hours per day on the
average?

12 Could you name five persons with whom you work closely in this company. How
many of them are Malaysian co-workers?

13 Next, i would like you to name ten persons in this company whom you consider
as your friends. How many of them are Malaysian co-workers?

14 Do you socialize with Malaysian co-workers outside the workplace and spend
time doing things that are unrelated to work?

If yes, ask: What kinds of socialization or activity do you do with Malaysian co-
workers?

If no, ask: What might be the reasons for not socializing with Malaysian co-
workers?

Ok sir. Thank you for your answer. Now, I have to ask you about your experiences in
cultural differences.

CULTURAL DIFFERENCES

15 Generally speaking, are there any differences between working with co-
expatriates and working with Malaysians? If yes there are, can you describe the
differences?

If the answer is “no difference,” ask: Would you elaborate on that please? What
do you mean by no difference?

16 Have you noticed any differences between expatriate and Malaysian workers in
their attitude toward work and the way they carry their work? If there are would
you describe the differences?

Follow-up question on each difference:

Do you think this difference is due to cultural difference? Or due to some other
reasons such as individual personalities involved?

If the answer is “no difference,” ask: Would you explain what do you mean by no
difference, please.

COMMUNICATION DIFFICULTIES

17 Have you ever experienced difficulties in communicating with Malaysian co-

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 workers? If so, what kinds of communication difficulties? Could you describe it in
detail?

Follow-up question on each difficulty:

Do you have any method of dealing with it? Have you tried that method? And
does it seem to work?

If the answer is “no problem,” ask: Do you feel communicating with Malaysian
co-workers is as easy as with co-expatriates?

18 Can you recall a specific incident in which you had a problem communicating
with Malaysian co-workers? Would you describe what happened? Please take
time, and think about a specific incident.

Follow-up question, if appropriate:

Did you try anything to overcome this problem? What could have prevented this
problem?

ENDING

19 This concludes our prepared questionnaires. Is there anything that you’d like to
compute with regard of your experiences interacting with and relating to
Malaysian co-workers?

That’s all for now, sir. I am grateful and appreciate the great cooperation you demonstrate
throughout this interview session. I am looking forward to meet again and have a pleasant
day. I hope you really enjoy your working here, in our country, Malaysia. Thank you
again.
Interviewer: End the interview by thanking the interviewee sincerely and profusely.

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