Working culture in Malaysia

Hi!

Wanna feel a culture shock in terms of working culture? Malaysia is for sure the right place to come!:) And it’s not better or worse – it’s just different!

I am working in an international university, so most of the differences are lighter here, however, while speaking with other interns I found many similarities that we experience (especially, people from Europe).

• The working culture in Malaysia is based on strict hierarchy. The approvals have to be got for smallest decisions. The feeling that you are small and insecure is in the air:) At the end it depends on you if you accept this feeling or not as, to my mind, the hierarchical system developed not only because bosses are bossy but also because in general people are obedient, tend to obey and accept the situation.

• One of the best illustrations for this is a story from one of the friends who from time to time was doing presentations to her colleagues at work. And whenever her boss was there, he was the only one asking questions – others were just too afraid to do this when he was present.

• Even being hierarchical, the system of responsibilities is not really clear. First weeks I was totally mixed as we had to submit reports for 5 different people in very different positions. Well, I would not say that situation is crystal clear already, but it’s OK:)

• Working culture here is more based on emotions and intentions, not agreements, logic, and management. And this is not easy for European person who wants to have a clear answer and decision made:) Some decisions are made without efficiency analysis and reasoning. This is well reflected in the management system which could be named “NOW”. I wann a meeting with you NOW? Your are going on a business trip TOMORROW. You will work on Sunday THIS WEEKEND. These are not funny phrases; these are situations that happened to me or other interns:) At the end this culture never lets you to be bored:)

• You can hardly hear a Malaysian person telling NO – for them it somehow happens very naturally. Now whenever I hear “can can”, I tend to double check if the answer is really yes or it’s “yes” that will be politely forgotten. In general, negative information or constructive feedback is not there.

• Foreigners can do career faster in Malaysia. A big community of expats (that’s how they call foreigners working in Malaysia) could be found here. And actually Malaysia benefits a lot because of this open policy as the know-how of different countries helps the country to develop faster.

BUT WHY? Is it possible to put everything into a smooth flow?

In a warm climate people spend more time not thinking how to survive but what’s life all about...

...and when you think about this for a long time you find that a human being is basically just one of the species, very vulnerable (especially that here a lot of natural disasters)...

...therefore, people here in Malaysia/Asia tend to be obedient, never say no, are more emotions oriented, never define clear responsibilities...

...therefore bosses have to be bossy, to push the company/organization forward.

And at the end the final message: IT’S JUST DIFFERENT!:) Coming to another culture, I always have the principle to accept it and at the same time to give something that I have the best from my culture.

Selamat jalan (good bye)!
Ruti