Emerging Malaysia: Industrial and Organizational Challenges

By Rossilah Jamil

Being stuck in the middle between the finest nations and the hardly surviving ones is not easy. Hence, the next step forward is to move ahead and fly even higher rather than to be trapped forever or slipping backward into the past. Yet the greatest challenge of an emerging economy in this twenty-first century is to create, and then maintain, that critical leap to a world-class economy.

This book discusses such a stage of consistent struggle through a focus toward sustainable development. Numerous books delved into emerging economies, yet none concentrates on Malaysia. This particular nation provides a unique trajectory for growth that calls for comparison and contrast with other nations that experience growth. Each chapter of the book offers grounds to the development of a framework for progress and sustainability. This book drops the complacency of past wins of the nation and openly addresses the critical issues surrounding the emphasis for growth from different industry contexts.

As the book is fundamentally based on theory and research, it practically lends a resourceful ground for academia as well as postgraduate students who are searching for current and relevant literature on development studies, emerging economies, and management of organizations.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Partridge Publishing Singapore
• Release date: Oct 26, 2016
• ISBN: 9781482881073

Rossilah Jamil

Rossilah Jamil, PhD, and Rosmini Omar, PhD, are senior academics at the International Business School of Universiti Teknologi Malaysia. The editors have over thirty years of academic experience at local and international levels and are active in teaching, research, and practice in the areas of talent management, responsible HRM, and management education.

Book preview

Copyright © 2016 by Rossilah Jamil & Rosmini Omar.

ISBN:      eBook         978-1-4828-8107-3

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

www.partridgepublishing.com/singapore

Contents

List of Contributors

Chapter 1 Introduction

Rossilah Jamil

Chapter 2 Stress Free Organizations in the Emerging Economies

Harcharanjit Singh and Rahayu Tasnim

Chapter 3 Emotional Intelligence and Transformational

Leadership as Predictors of Job Performance

Nasser Mohammed Al-Hamami and Wan Khairuzzaman Wan Ismail

Chapter 4 Sustainability Learning in Malaysia:

Issues and Learning Process

Murni Zarina Mohamed Razali and Rossilah Jamil

Chapter 5 Crisis Management in Malaysia:

Insights from Hotel Industry

Maisoon Ahmad Mosa Abo-Murad and Rossilah Jamil

Chapter 6 Business Education in Malaysia:

Progress, Pitfalls and Prospects

Obed Rashdi Syed, Rosmini Omar and Rossilah Jamil

Chapter 7 Malaysia as Study Destination:

Understanding International Students Market

Adriana Mohd. Rizal, Nomahaza Mahadi, Ong Choon Hee and Zarina Abdul Salam

Chapter 8 Graduate and Talent Employability:

The Case of Engineering Technology Program

Farahana Misni, Rossilah Jamil and

Nik Hasnaa Nik Mahmood

Chapter 9 An Afterthought

Rosmini Omar

List of Contributors

Adriana Mohd. Rizal

Farahana Misni

Harcharanjit Singh

Maisoon Ahmad Mosa Abo-Murad

Murni Zarina Mohamed Razali

Nasser Mohammed Al-Hamimi

Nik Hasnaa Nik Mahmood

Nomahaza Mahadi

Obed Rashdi Syed

Ong Choon Hee

Rahayu Tasnim

Rosmini Omar

Rossilah Jamil

Wan Khairuzzaman Wan Ismail

Zarina Abdul Salam

International Business School

Universiti Teknologi Malaysia

www.ibs.utm.my

1

Introduction

Rossilah Jamil

Klaus Schwab, Founder and Executive Chairman of the World Economic Forum, on the launching of the Human Capital Report 2016, perfectly summarized human capital challenges in the modern world. The Fourth Industrial Revolution, governance crisis, humanitarian catastrophes, and climate change are the immediate threats that every nation needs to tackle, individually and collectively. Mass use of artificial intelligence, advanced robotics and big data boom will force industries and organizations to transform their business models. More than one-third of the skills employers consider important today are predicted to become obsolete by 2020 (World Economic Forum, 2016c). These challenges will continue to have a profound impact on the world’s economic order. Economic progress in recent decades continues to be dominated by the world’s emerging nations. This trend will continue in the years to come.

In this era, sink or swim is the mantra for global economies. More than ever before leadership, total organizational capability and talent development are the keys to success in nation development. Development of a country goes hand in hand with development of its people. The universal indicator in judging the growth of nations through the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) has been questioned for its shortcomings as it ignores important yardsticks such as people’s well-being. Recent economic gathering in Davos 2016 had seen three of the world’s leading economists, including Joseph Stiglitz, declared the GDP a poor measure of progress. Within the sphere of organizational theories, gradual change to emphasize what really matters is also taking place. From shareholder orientation to stakeholder orientations. From profit to people and planet. These trends point to a singular message – holistic and sustainable development. A country’s development and organizational success cannot be pursued at the expense of its people and its environment.

The East Asian development is considered one of the stories of economic success. The region houses extreme case studies of development. At the upper end, Asia has Japan and Singapore, both have consistently scored high in terms of their competitiveness and human capital development. The region also has emerging economies like Indonesia, Myanmar and Vietnam. Within this hustle and bustle of the region is Malaysia that has been considered as one of the top 20 emerging markets. Malaysia has enjoyed a relatively consistent economic growth since its independence. Its successful economic transformation from agricultural, manufacturing to emerging multi-sector economy has become a case study for many nations. Its GDP in 2015 was 5% (Department of Statistics Malaysia). In terms of Human Capital Index, within ASEAN, the country is ranked at #42, behind Japan (#4), Singapore (#13) and South Korea (#32). Malaysia is among the top 20 most competitive nations in the world (World Economic Forum, 2016a). It has climbed up from #20 to #18 globally (Table 1.1). This earns Malaysia a top spot within the ‘emerging and developing Asia’ and the ‘upper-middle income’ groups.

Table 1.1

Global Top 20 Competitive Nations

Source: World Economic Forum (2016a).

Despite this progress, Malaysia faces challenges in some areas. High-skilled talent in the country is limited. Only 25.1% of its employment share is considered as high-skilled (World Economic Forum, 2016a). Student enrollment in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) areas is below than expected (Phang, Abu, Ali, & Salleh, 2014). Malaysia aims to have a total of 35% of high-skilled workforce by 2020. Given the current achievement, realization of its vision will prove to be an arduous task. Although its unemployment rate appears to be low at 3.2%, graduate employability is a concern which further aggravates the country’s quality talent supply. In terms of industry, its tourism sector is an increasingly important income generator to the country. However, its volatility makes it easily susceptible to crisis. Another growing industry is the higher education. In line with its internationalization initiative, Malaysian universities have transformed themselves into an education destination to international students. However, the higher education landscape too is getting more competitive, hence, forcing Malaysia to continuously revisiting their business model. Malaysia has also yet to improve its standards and treatments towards employees. Its strict policies on industrial relations are well documented. An increasing international pressures and global trade standards will force Malaysia to rethink about its attitudes for better labor rights and employees’ well-being.

To push Malaysia to the next trajectory of growth requires an exemplary leadership and talent. This book is produced to resonate these immediate challenges. It contains a collection of articles and thoughts from readers and researchers at the International Business School, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia. We conceptualize our ideas based on the essence of sustainable development that we envisioned in Malaysia (Figure 1.1). We need a country that builds upon strong industries with high capability and resilience through investments in quality education and training to develop talents. We aspire for better partnerships between our private and public institutions not only in driving our economy but in tackling environmental and social concerns. In line with Malaysia’s vision for holistic development, we believe that organizations should adopt stakeholder orientation approach in their business.

Fig.%201.1.jpg

Figure 1.1

Challenges for Sustainable Development

In keeping with the above themes, the book is organized into the next eight (8) chapters. In Chapter 2, Harcharanjit Singh and Rahayu Tasnim open the discussion by highlighting the positive and negative impacts of stress in organizations on the well-being of employees. They propose some coping strategies to manage stress at individual, group and organization perspectives. The chapter aims to develop better awareness about the issue and create a stress free organization.

In Chapter 3, Nasser Al Hamimi and Wan Khairuzzaman deliberate on the importance of leadership to organizational performance. Leadership is one of the key challenges in emerging economies. The authors discuss the roles of transformational leadership style and emotional intelligence in organizational performance. They argue that leadership style and emotional maturity of leaders should be the top agenda of any country that aspires to leapfrog its economic and social developments.

Murni Zarina Muhammad Razali and Rossilah Jamil decide to highlight the issue of sustainability learning in Chapter 4. Traditionally, the sustainability discourse tends to be championed by those in the developed countries. The issue has often been received with mixed reactions by emerging countries. Sustainability index and measures have sometimes been called a strategy deployed by the developed West to halt the rising of other countries. In Chapter 4, the authors analyze the concept in the context of Malaysia. They trace the beginning, progress and challenges of sustainability in the country. Highlighting the importance of sustainability learning in organizations, Murni and Rossilah argue on the ways that sustainability learning can be promoted through better understanding and application of established learning theories.

In subsequent chapters, the book shifts its organizational-centric perspective to a wider industrial focus. In Chapter 5, Maisoon Ahmad Mosa Abo-Murad and Rossilah Jamil choose to evaluate the preparedness of Malaysia’s tourism industry towards crisis. The authors first highlight the growing importance of this industry to the Malaysian economy. They then discuss the importance of crisis management to the industry. They further argue that proper crisis management must be in place to ensure that Malaysia is at all times prepared for the worst-case scenario. Their suggestions are not only timely but on the mark given the recent tourism-related calamities faced by the country.

Chapters 6, 7 and 8 are dedicated to the higher education sector, one of the fastest growing sectors in Malaysia. In Chapter 6, Obed Rashdi Syed and his associates analyze business education in Malaysia. They argue that continuous supply of talented managers and leaders is pertinent to keep up with an emerging nation’s developmental needs. The authors scrutinize the extent that Malaysia is on the right track on this front by analyzing the progress, pitfalls and prospects of its business education.

While in Chapter 7, Adriana Mohd Rizal and co-authors turn the attention to the internationalization of Malaysia’s higher education sector. Mohd Rizal et al. conduct a thorough analysis of this sector in terms of the enrolment of its international students. They argue that to remain competitive in the global education arena, higher education institutions in Malaysia must closely study the decision making process that foreign students engage in choosing their education destination. The authors propose a framework that may assist understanding of these elements.

Chapter 8 highlights the concern for graduate (un)employability in Malaysia. The authors, Farahana Misni and her colleagues argue that the problem may be addressed by having an alternative view in the way talents are developed in the country. Using the Engineering Technology program as a basis, the authors describe how the theory-practice integration and university-industry collaboration that occur throughout the program may help universities to produce employable graduates. The authors propose for other program providers to follow similar suit.

Finally, closing the curtain in Chapter 9, Rosmini Omar provides her insights on the impacts of the challenges highlighted in the book to the practices in Malaysia. She discusses sustainability of performance from the perspectives of understanding the past, present and future.

It is acknowledged that emerging nations often face similar issues and