CHINESE VALUES AND ORGANIZATIONAL PRACTICES : SINGAPORE AND MALAYSIA

Abstract

In the past two decades, East Asia recorded the fastest economic growth and development. Between 1956 and 1986, the average growth rate of GNP per capita for Taiwan was 6.3%, Hong Kong 6.2%, Singapore 7.6% and South Korea 6.7% (Tai, 1989:201). In addition, the economic achievement of the Overseas Chinese in Southeast Asia such as Malaysia, Thailand, the Philippines and Indonesia was also very significant. The Overseas Chinese in these countries controlled about 50% of its economy (Redding,1990). Although the causes of economic effectiveness are complex and likely to vary from one country to another, the significance of the culture has been emphasized by many researchers (Kahn, 1979; MacFarqahar, 1980; Woronoff, 1986 and Berger, 1988). Many researchers have contributed tremendously in assessing the causal link between Chinese cultural values and its managerial practices in East Asia (Silin. 1976; Redding, 1990 and Bond and Hwang, 1986, . This empirical research hopes to examine the relationship between the Chinese values and organizational practices, in Singapore and Malaysia. A conceptual framework was developed to test the relationship between Chinese values and orga.nizatior..al practices in Chinese organizations. Four Chinese Values factors namely, Integration, Confucian Work Dynamism, Human-heartedness and Moral Discipline adopted from Michael Bond (1987) were used to examine their impact on the Chinese organizational practices which were managerial functions, human relation approach, business orientation and managerial style. Mail Questionnaire was used as the primary research method. A total of 255 respondents, 105 from Singapore and 150 from Malaysia were used in the analysis. The statistical analysis consisted of Factor Analysis, Reliability Test, T-test, Correlation and Multiple Regression Analysis. Results of this empirical survey, supported the hypothesis that Chinese values have an integrative relationship on Chinese organizational practices with respect to managerial functions, human relation approach and business orientation in Singapore and Malaysia. However, there were some differences in terms of Chinese values and organizational practices between Singaporean and Malaysian Chinese managers. Several political and socio-economic factors were used to explain the differences. Literature has shown significant link between economic growth rate and Confucian Dynamism (Franke, Hofstede and Bond, 1991). However, the present study revealed that Malaysian Chinese managers demonstrated a strong link between Confucian Dynamism and organizational practices. Singaporean Chinese managers revealed otherwise. This finding challenged the reliability of Confucian Dynamism in accounting for the fast economic growth of East Asia, specifically in the case of Singapore.