Five Cross Cultural Values in Malaysia

A large part of organizational behavior could be explained in terms of coercive power rather than reward power. In a 1959 study, social psychologists John R. P. French and Bertram Raven developed a schema of sources of power in order to analyze how power plays function, or fail, in specific relationships. According to them, the concept of power is fundamentally relative, depending on specific understandings developed into relationships, and recognition of a quality that motivates the influence of the power holder, and carries out his or her intentions via the affected. It was French and Raven, who argued and established five significant categories of power, in addition to other minor categories. Coercive power is among the five significant categories, and the duo has noted that coercive power tends to be the most obvious, but at the same time least effective form of power. This, according to them, is because coercive power builds resentment and resistance from the people who are subjected to it. As threats, punishments and force are common means of exerting coercive power, relying on this type of power can result in a deficient leadership style. When viewed in a political context, coercive power is applied, and even tolerable, when applied with the justification of social and legal norms. It can also be tolerated when the leadership group is viewed as successful.

The Malaysian culture is diversely integrated with such a rich blend of culture, food, religion, and language that is can be considered to be a hidden gem in the Asian Pacific region. Malaysia is comprised of about twenty-three million people that vary from different ethnicities, descents, and religions (citation). However, the majority of the culture influences originated from Malay, Chinese, Indian, Eurasian, and other indigenous groups making it an international hub for relationships in this region of the world,. With that in mind, very exquisite cuisines with unique distinct blends can only be found in Malaysia. Spicy dishes are found to be a popular local specialty and are commonly eaten with side dishes like rice or noodles. As the economy continues to flourish, the increase in affluence allows the people to eat out more frequently than having a home cooked meal. Unfortunately, this has become a growing concern for health-related risks associated to high-fat content diets resulting from the increased consumption of meat and processed foods. Nevertheless, there are certain religious practices that influence what kind of dishes one maybe allowed to eat. For example, Muslims are forbidden to eat pork which is a favorite of the Chinese population; Hindus do not eat beef; Buddhist are vegetarian. Alcohol consumption also separates non-Muslims from Muslims (citation). As shown above, these are just a few traditions that are valued pertaining to each designated religion that

I feel that we have a low power distance, because though we all have our specific roles, some holding more power than others, we all collectively voice our options and have a collective decision making process. We all work together and we all trust each other to do well.

Cultural values are the core principles and ideals upon which societies exist. Those values reflect several parts of a community, including customs, traditions, rituals, and religious beliefs among others. Cultural values are passed along from one generation to another and define the way of our everyday life. With the increase in globalization, it is important to understand cross-cultural values, and as parents or educators who are involved in the process of raising the next generation to understand some cross-cultural values and guide the children to appreciate the diverse environment that surrounds them in class, in playgrounds, or even in families.

Though reward power is not a bad way to exercise influence, it cannot be used too often because it will lose its persuasiveness. Potentially this shows a weakness between what I perceive of myself and what is actually done. However, this assessment does show my draw to relationships is a strength in building up the referent power base. Even though referent power takes time to build it still brings in the foundation of leadership, which is relationships are vital to successful influence which in turn leads to successful

Cultural values are defined as ideas that are good, right, fair, and just. Children learn these values through different stages of development, from infancy to adulthood. Culture is a way of life, a learned behavior, passed along by communication and imitation from one generation to another and can vary greatly based on nationality, ethnicity, religious values, and beliefs. With increasing globalization, it is paramount that cross-cultural values are understood by educators, healthcare providers, and parents to better understand and address the needs and desires of the next generation.

In addition to power established because of organizational hierarchy or role, power is also established based on the level of influence or status one holds in an organization (Anichich, Fast, Halevy, Galinsky, 2016). “Status is the outcome of an evaluation of attributes that produce differences in respect and prominence” (Ketner et al, 2003 p. 266) They co-exists but are not co-dependent on each other. It’s possible to have status without power and power without status (Ketner et al, 2003). Whether one’s control comes through status or positional power, lauding control or significant influence over another inevitably leads to conflict.

The second approach is constituted by Hofstede, who makes various researches to compare work-related values across employees working for a multinational corporation IBM in a total of 65 countries. Using the information obtained with these researches Hofstede produced a comparison between national cultures on five dimensions:

Power/Distance (PD), “refers to the degree of inequality that exists- and is accepted- among people with and without power. A high PD score indicates that society accepts an unequal distribution of power, and that people understand “their place” in the system. Low PD means that power is shared and well dispersed.” (www.mindtools.com) As an example from the article, Myers goes on to say, “there were basically four levels: VP, director, manager, and worker bee. You only talked to people at your level.” SK Telecom boasted that

The greatest diversion in cultural values between eastern and western nations can be observed through the mentality that shapes social behaviors in terms of relationships and in response to goals. The Hofstede dimension which best represents this aspect of society is the Individualism versus Collectivism index. This dimension refers to the degree of interdependence among the members in a particular society.

As there are many aspects of cultures that can be studied and described about the two cultures, only few major aspects of cultural values will be discussed in this paper. One of the major cultural values that can be compared between the two cultures is the Malays rank honesty as first on their list of cultural values whereas the Indians find family as the important aspect in their cultural values.

Uncertainty avoidance refers to the level of anxiety about the future (Hofstede 1980, 2001). Societies that are high in uncertainty avoidance continuously feel the inherent uncertainty in life as a threat that must be

As stated by McClelland, everyone has some desire for power, however that need is much stronger in some than in others, and therefore individuals have different motives for achieving power (McClelland et al., 1953). Over the decades, several studies have been published on the topic of power motivation, resulting in mixed findings where some have found power motivation in leaders to have a positive influence on organizational success and others demonstrating a negative impact. Specifically, past research has shown that power motivation is an important factor in predicting business success (McClelland et al., 1953), organizational effectiveness (McClelland & Boyatzis, 1982; McClelland & Burnham, 1976), political leadership (Winter, 1987), and prosocial decision making (Magee & Langner, 2008). On the other hand, previous studies have also found positive correlations between motivation for power and negative work-related behaviors, including aggressive behavior (Winter, 2000), increased threat in conflicts (Magee & Langner, 2008), and increased risk-taking (McClelland & Watson, 1973). To supplement these negative findings, another study found that need for power predicted further negative work-related

As mentioned earlier, power distance can either be low or high, for example, in low power distance, the relationship between the employees and the boss is good in that they can interact, sit together and discuss issues, however in high power distance, the employees are separated from their boss and there is a hierarchy of communication which must be strictly adhered to.

Malaysia is a one of the multi cultural country. Cultures have been meeting and mixing in Malaysia since the very beginning of its history. More than fifteen hundred years ago a Malay kingdom in Bujang Valley welcomed traders from China and India. Malaysia's cultural mosaic is marked by many different cultures, but several in particular have had especially lasting influence on the country. Chief among these is the ancient Malay culture, and the cultures of Malaysia's two most prominent trading partners throughout history--the Chinese, and the Indians. These three groups are joined by a dizzying array of indigenous tribes, many of which live in the forests and coastal areas of Borneo.  Although each of these cultures has