Proactive measures to eradicate Malaysia’s poverty in IR4.0 era: a shared prosperity vision

Background: In the country’s shared prosperity vision, Malaysia aspires to uplift the bottom 40% household income group (B40) by addressing wealth and income disparities. By 2030, the nation seeks to eradicate poverty through the provision of employment opportunities and career progression plans. A grey area between the nation’s aspirations and actions in practice can be observed because the goals have not been achieved despite numerous efforts aimed at the upliftment of the B40 group. The nation is still way behind its targeted outcomes despite various policies being implemented, which could be attributed to the mismatch between government policies and that of organisational practice. Thus, this study explores the rationale of strategic government intervention in managing B40 talent in the IR4.0 era. Methods: A general qualitative inquiry method that used 11 semi-structured interviews was carried out with representatives of Malaysia’s policy makers’, training providers, and trainees. All Interview questions centred around measures, importance and outcomes of B40 youth training from a multi-stakeholder perspective. Data were thematically analysed in five stages using NVivo. Results: Training, which includes IR4.0 era digital skills, is the key to uplifting the B40 youth to eradicate poverty. Proactive measures are imperative in the success of B40 youth training towards poverty eradication. Conclusions: This study contributes to the existing literature and helps practitioners by addressing the current gap in Malaysia’s aspirations versus organisational practice. Stakeholders should formulate proactive strategies to ensure that the right trainees are matched with the right training providers and government policies. A linkage between government policies and industry requirements needs to be established as opposed to the present discontinuity. A structured training needs analysis should be applied through a collaboration between industries and governments. Then, B40 individuals commonly found in lower-level positions can be pooled into the career pathway towards a shift into M40.

Proactive measures to eradicate Malaysia’s poverty in IR4.0 era: a shared prosperity vision

Background: In the country’s shared prosperity vision, Malaysia aspires to uplift the bottom 40% household income group (B40) by addressing wealth and income disparities. By 2030, the nation seeks to eradicate poverty through the provision of employment opportunities and career progression plans. A grey area between the nation’s aspirations and actions in practice can be observed because the goals have not been achieved despite numerous efforts aimed at the upliftment of the B40 group. The nation is still way behind its targeted outcomes despite various policies being implemented, which could be attributed to the mismatch between government policies and that of organisational practice. Thus, this study explores the rationale of strategic government intervention in managing B40 talent in the IR4.0 era. Methods: A general qualitative inquiry method that used 11 semi-structured interviews was carried out with representatives of Malaysia’s policy makers’, training providers, and trainees. All Interview questions centred around measures, importance and outcomes of B40 youth training from a multi-stakeholder perspective. Data were thematically analysed in five stages using NVivo. Results: Training, which includes IR4.0 era digital skills, is the key to uplifting the B40 youth to eradicate poverty. Proactive measures are imperative in the success of B40 youth training towards poverty eradication. Conclusions: This study contributes to the existing literature and helps practitioners by addressing the current gap in Malaysia’s aspirations versus organisational practice. Stakeholders should formulate proactive strategies to ensure that the right trainees are matched with the right training providers and government policies. A linkage between government policies and industry requirements needs to be established as opposed to the present discontinuity. A structured training needs analysis should be applied through a collaboration between industries and governments. Then, B40 individuals commonly found in lower-level positions can be pooled into the career pathway towards a shift into M40.

Kenimani-Kenimatoni Organisational Practice : An Africanised Construct of Superordinate-Subordinate Relationships in a University System

This theoretical formulation responded to the quest for Africanised epistemic space to construct the hidden indigenous practices into the world of knowledge. Kenimani (that others may not have) and Kenimatoni (that others may not reach up to one’s status), a Yoruba language, one of the African languages was rationalised as an organisational theory of relationships capable of understanding and interpreting people’s actions, and inactions in organisations. The exploration was guided by examining how the underlying meaning and principles of Kenimani-Kenimatoni can be exemplified to the leadership and followership syndrome of organisational relationships. The article was designed using inductive and deductive experiential exploration to present the argument. Yoruba and its beauties were examined to open a linguistic permutation for the analysis. The two Yoruba words ‘kenimani’ and ‘kenimatoni’and their conjunctional framing as peculiar to university community were elucidated to reflect university organisational relationships. The dilemma of positivism and the negativism and the principles embedded in the Kenimani-Kenimatoni organisational practices were uncovered. The Kenimani-Kenimatoni epistemic standpoint was also exemplified with the conclusion that African society is rich in knowledge and practices. Therefore, an Africanised practice like Kenimani- Kenimatoni can explain relationship dynamics in organisations, though this is open to further scholastic discourse.

Investigating The Cause Of High Attrition Rates In Women Employees Of Private Organisation

The main purpose of this study is to investigate the factors and causes of high attrition rates in women employees working in private organisations. The emphasis of this research is placed on factors and its impact on the decision of women for attrition. The research is quantitative in nature and data that is collected for this research using primary information which has been gathered through using survey questionnaire. The analysis of data is conducted using Smart-PLS. The results of this particular study conclude that uncongenial organisational culture, insufficient compensation, job satisfaction and social organisational practice have a significant impact on attrition of women working in private organisations. The implications of this research include that the atmosphere in most of the organisations are tough and overwhelming for women who have to manage their work as well as their responsibilities towards families and children.

Analysing Organisational Collaboration Practices for Sustainability

The complex sustainability challenges that society faces require organisations to engage in collaborative partnerships. Stakeholders affect, and are affected by an organisation’s sustainability activities, making it an important element when deciding with whom to collaborate. A large number of studies have focussed on collaboration for sustainability, especially on vertical and dyadic partnerships and collaborative networks, while there is limited research on overarching collaboration activities from the perspective of individual organisations (for example, the Kyosei approach), and even less that includes a stakeholder perspective. The objective of this paper is to analyse with whom individual organisations collaborate and how stakeholders affecting and being affected by sustainability efforts are considered when choosing collaboration partners. A survey was sent to a database of 5216 organisations, from which 271 responses were received. The responses were analysed using non-parametric tests. The results show that organisations are engaged in collaboration activities for sustainability, collaborating mostly with two to three external stakeholders. However, the focus on collaboration for sustainability does not extend to a point that it would lead to a change of organisational practice nor do organisations necessarily consider how stakeholders affect and are affected by their efforts when choosing their collaboration partners. An update to the Kyosei process is proposed, in order to provide guidance on how to strengthen and extend collaborative partnerships for sustainability.

Aesthetic-based competences lead to a sustainable learning practice

Purpose The purpose of the article is to explore how aesthetic-based competences are developed in and through leaders’ organisational practice and how these competences may lead to a sustainable learning practice in everyday life in organisations. Design/methodology/approach: The article focuses on how aesthetic-based experiments can change leaders’ organisational practice, when instrumental rationality is transformed into aesthetic rationality. This happens when leaders learn to move the everyday drama, the so-called social drama, into an aesthetic drama in order to transform organisational habits and devastating paradigms. Findings: The study of how leaders learn to transform their practice, based on a study at Copenhagen Business School in the period 2014–2017, documents that leaders can learn aesthetic performance that transforms their organisational practice when the learning processes are integrated into everyday life. Originality/value: The combination of aesthetic performance and learning processes has potential for a lasting and sustainable transformation, when the learning concept is rooted in leaders’ organisational practice as a bodily embedded aesthetic rationality.

How to study bureaucracies ethnographically?

We propose a short epistemological and methodological reflection on the challenges of doing ethnographical research on public services (‘bureaucracies’) from the inside. We start from the recognition of the double face of bureaucracy, as a form of domination and oppression as well as of protection and liberation, and all the ambivalences this dialectic entails. We argue that, in classical Malinowskian fashion, the anthropology of bureaucracy should take bureaucrat as the ‘natives’, and acknowledge their agency. This means adopting basic anthropological postures: the natives (i.e. the bureaucrats) must have good reasons for their seemingly ‘absurd’ (or arbitrary) practices, once you understand the context in which they act. Based on intensive fieldwork and understanding ethnography as a form of grounded-theory production, to explore this ‘rationality in context’ of bureaucrats should be a major research objective. As in day-to-day intra-organisational practice and in internal interactions between bureaucrats, state bureaucracies function largely as any other modern organisation, the anthropology of bureaucracy does not differ that much from the anthropology of organisations. One of the major achievements of the latter has been to focus on the dialectics of formal organisation and real practices, official regulations and informal norms in organisations ‘at work’. This focus on informal practices, pragmatic rules and practical norms provides the main justification for the utilisation of ethnographic methods. In fact, it is difficult to see how informal norms and practices could be studied otherwise, as ethnography is the only methodology to deal with the informal and the unexpected.

The primacy of the student in the age of consumer driven higher education

Higher Education (HE) is a force for good and graduating students can expect to receive higher life time earnings as well as a range of other positive outcomes. Due to this the global HE sector is rapidly expanding and university administrators are starting to explore the benefits of aligning organisational practice with market principles. The embrace of such a consumer philosophy has many advantages as well as several significant disadvantages. Here, we consider the cause and effects of large scale marketisation of HE as well as effective frameworks for the application of a consumer-based narrative on the day to day running of a university. Using the United Kingdom’s HE sector as a case example we then consider the effects of performance based funding mechanisms such as the Research Excellence Framework (REF) as well as its younger cousin the Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF) and how excellence in both performance measures can provide a competitive based sector as well as ensure that students are placed front and centre of the culture of a thriving university. We conclude by suggesting a possible model for organisational practice that borrows from both market and non-market practice. This hybrid model for HE ensures that a university can benefit from the significant benefits of a competitive market environment as well as enjoy the protections of regulatory oversight.