TITLE :

CULTURAL DIVERSITY PLAYS A ROLE IN TEAM WORK

AMONG MALAYSIAN STUDENT

PRESENT BY :
RAGUPATHY S/O SITHIVINAYAGAM

ID: 05-0412-00002
IC : 940202-08-6341

1.1 Backround

1.2 Cultural Diversity De

finition
1.3 Teamwork & multicult
ural concept
1.4 Significant Of Study

1.5 Statement Of Probl

em
1.6 The Objective Of
Study

1.7 Research
Question

1.8 Hypothesis

1.1 backround
A unique characteristic of our Malaysia education systems is that the students are from
three different ethnic society forms of Malay, Chinese and Indian.
These three dominant ethnic groups have their own beliefs, culture, values and norms
that will affects their behaviours and actions.

Its a goal of Malaysian education and schooling practice to enhance social integration
among these various ethnic groups beyond mere physical integration, and intends to
eliminate social prejudices and discrimination.

In Malaysia, the objective of nation building and forging national unity amongst the
various ethnic groups ranks very high in their educational and political agendas. In fact
national unity and integration are the cornerstone of the education policy.

It was stated as our major goals of the national education policy as the following: To
inculcate and nurture national consciousness through fostering common ideals, values,
aspiration and loyalties in order to mould national unity and national identity in a multiethnic society.

1.2 Cultural Diversity Definition

Diversity is nothing more than a difference from the majority. In any

culture there is a majority and many minorities.

Culture is a set of norms that set standards for a society of what is

acceptable behaviour.

In every culture there are basic standards for social interaction such as
personal space distance, eye contact, amount of body language displayed
in public and negotiating style.

Cultural diversity makes our country richer by making it a more

interesting place in which to live.

 Teamwork
- Team work refers to a group of individuals working together in a
cooperative environment to achieve common goals by sharing knowledge
and skills
(Luca & Tarricone, 2002).
- Todays business community views the term team work as one of the
most coveted mantras that could catapult an organization to greater
heights.
Teamwork in muticultural concept
- A team in a multicultural organization usually consists of individual
members of diverse origins with different cultures, values and identities,
who have to work together in team structures, resulting in a scenario
with the potential for conflict to escalate (Brett et al., 2006).

 There have been several studies to determine how the cultural diversity plays
role in team work among students.
Team work based activities has always been hailed as an effective learning
strategy because it provides students with opportunities to negotiate meaning
and manipulate ideas with others as well as to reflect upon their learning.
University lecturers generally agree that students need to be assisted in
developing their teamwork values.
Students who are placed in teams tend to obtain good academic success
through strengthened social interaction as well as cooperation skills (Baloche,
1994).

 In recent years, many organizations have begun to embrace the teamwork-based work
culture in most aspects of their operations.
Hence, employers are increasingly stressing on the need for fresh graduates to
demonstrate the willingness and ability to work in a teamwork-based environment,
before recruiting them.
This in turn has placed tremendous pressure on academics to incorporate elements of
teamwork-based activities in the teaching as well as assessment processes, in order to
better equip their students to face the working world.

In contrast, the current study uses a more diverse sample from a

Nirwana Education Group. Based upon research evidence, the
following hypotheses were developed: (a) Cultural diversity
produced better outcomes working together than they would have
if they had worked alone.; (b) Teamwork in a multicultural team
appear to be generally more challenging than in a culturally
homogenous working environment.

In general, culture means the way of life. From the sociological

viewpoint, the word culture is derived from the Sanskrit word
Buddhaya which is a combination of the word Budhi (Sanskrit)
meaning active mind and Daya (Malay) which means force, power and
influence.

The English term of culture, however, has its root from the Latin
word, colere which means designing or doing.

"Culture or civilization, taken in its wide ethnographic sense, is that

complex whole which includes knowledge, belief, art, morals, law,
custom, and any other capabilities and habits acquired by man as a
member of society". (Edward B. Tylor, 1871)

Senge, Ross, Kleiner and Roberts (1994) state, the team can come to a
mutual understanding, shared responsibilities, plan what to work, how to
work, and finally, there is coordinated action which is not joint action it is
carried out independently by various members of the team.

Hollingsworth (2004) argues, teams provide a way of organizing a school

or college community, creating job enlargement, and job rotation.

Teams potentially offer more active involvement in higher level decisionmaking, supporting the sharing of complex and demanding school
management tasks, and (Wallace & Hall, 1994) team also help teachers to
improve classroom outputs.

Qualitative research is all about exploring issues, understanding

phenomena, and answering questions.
Qualitative research is essential when there is little knowledge
of a research area which deals with the questions of subjective
experience and situational meaning (Davies et al., 2009: 6).
Qualitative approach provides a better opportunity for
conveying sensitivity (Davies et al., 2009: 6).
The reason I chose qualitative research for this study, as it takes
more insight in to the research problems. Qualitative research
shall be used for analysis purposes.

Grade satisfaction (Satisfaction) and the perceived impact of cultural

diversity on team performance (Impact) were the two dependent variables
(DVs).Three of the independent variables (IVs) were student variables, that
is, English as a first language (EFL), language of instruction for the
undergraduate degree (Degree), and prior group experience (Prior Exp); four
were team variables, that is, size of the team (Team Size), number of
individuals on the team who did not have English as a first language (ESL),
number of different countries of origin represented on the team (Countries),
and how the teams were formed (Structure), that is, self-selected or
structured by the faculty. The student variables were categorical variables;
the first three team variables were continuous; the last categorical.

4.0 Analysis Of Data

Strongly
agree
1

I prefer to work in a
multicultural team
more than a
homogeneous
team(Same Ethnics)
I believe understanding
of other cultures is
important in a
multicultural team
work among students
I feel more responsible
when I work in a team
with students from
different culture.
I believe working in
multicultural team
work will end up with
better results for
students
I am satisfied with
multicultural team
work among students
from different country
and culture.

Somewhat I don't know/ Somewhat

agree
No opinion
disagree

Strongly
disagree

28

15

32

18

22

22

12

22

22

12

23

17

13

10

I prefer to have team

work based activities
instead of individual
based activities in class
Multicultural Team work
based activities have
helped me to improve
on my soft skills
I like to participate in
team work with
multicultural student
based activities as part
of my learning process
Multicultural student
Team work based
activities will be very
useful to me when I
start working in the
future working
environment.

Team work based

activities can help me
to perform better
academically

25

21

10

24

27

25

23

30

20

22

28