AHMC 2114 Malaysia: Cultural & Religious Practices

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Introduction
We are assigned to find out and describe the problems that might be faced by an exchanged student, Damien. He is a sixteen year old American student from Los Angeles who will stay with a Malay family in Kota Bharu for nine months. Since Damien and the Malay family are come from different cultural background, we have to apply Hofstedes Value Dimensions, Kluckhohns and Strodtheckss Value Orientations and Halls High Context & Low-Context Orientation to determine what conflicts might be happen.

Hofstedes Value Dimensions

Geert Hofstede, a researcher from Dutch management1 was attempting to use statistical data to locate value dimensions across which cultures vary. His study has reported data from 40 countries involving the responses of more than 160,000 managers and employees of a multinational business organization.2 Hofstede identified five dimensions that he labeled as below: I. Individualism versus Collectivism This dimension refers to how people define themselves and their relationship with others. It is also reflected the way people live together. Individualistic cultures tend to foster development of autonomous, unique, and separate individuals. They also emphasize their self-concept in term of self-esteem, self-achievement, self identity, and self-expression3. For instances, individuals rights and privacy are very important to westerners.

1 2

See Hofstede(2001), to know more about the author please refer to pg 596. From the book Cultures Consequences by Hofstede(2001). 3 See Jandt(2007, pg 160), he exlain that people from individualist cultures will define others by their accomplishments.

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By contrast, cultures characterized by collectivism emphasize relationships among people in which self-concepts plays a less significant role in social interaction. Collectivistic cultures cultivate interdependence of individuals within groups and sacrifice their own personal needs or goals for the sake of a common good. For example, in Chinese societies, goals are more likely to be attained through group effort.

Damien comes from individualistic cultures that concern highly about privacy. Conflict might happen when Damiens host family doesnt have extra bedroom for Damien, he has to share a bedroom with another person in the family. He feels difficulty to share a room with other people because he wants his own privacy.

Moreover, Malay culture is group oriented and stress interdependent activities such as having dinner together. However, Damien used to work independently where he thinks that it is not necessary for the family to get involve with his own stuffs. He will eat dinner first without waiting for other family members.

Another problem in which Damien is loosely integrated with the Malay siblings as he seldom gets involve in their daily activities such as doing homework together. Consequently, conflict between two different cultures might occur due to varied personalities.

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II. Power Distance The second dimension is power distance which deals with human inequality. Inequality can occur in areas such as prestige, wealth, power, human rights and technology. Hofstede categorizes cultures as possessing either high or low power distance. Cultures with a smaller power distance emphasize that inequalities among people should be minimized by laws, norms, and everyday behaviors4. They are more horizontal in term of social relationship and less formal in social interaction. In low power distance countries, people feel more comfortable disagreeing. However, in high power distance countries like Singapore and India, people feel very uncomfortable disagreeing5. They tend to orient authoritarianism and accept status distinctions as normal. Besides, children in high power distance are expected to be obedient toward parents and there is always a strict hierarchy among family members. Typically, the father is high up in the family hierarchy, followed by the eldest son, and then moving down the ladder by age and sex6. Damien comes from a low power distance society where he often greets his elders by their first name. His lifestyle differs from the Malay communities who greet their elders with respect. Senior citizens in Kota Bahru will think that Damien is illmannered when he greets them with their name. Besides, Malay children tend to bend down to pass through if the elderly is having a conversation but Damien doesnt know the Malay culture and he did it without purposely. Furthermore, Damien may dissatisfy with the education system in Malaysia as his cultures are encourage students to ask questions and perhaps even challenge their teacher. For Malays, there is a barrier between students and teachers unlike the Western culture whereby students and teachers can communicate and hang out freely.
4 5

See Neuliep (2000, pg 58 ) for more detail information. See Brislin(2000) chapter 8 for more information on power distance. 6 See Neuliep(2000, pg 59), especially in chapter 2, to understand more about Hofstedes Value Dimensions.

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III. Uncertainty Avoidance Hofstedes third dimension is uncertainty avoidance, in which to measure the extent of a culture can accept unknown situation and tolerate uncertainty about the future. They will express their feelings through nervous stress and normally when uncertainty is high anxiety is usually high, and communication might become difficult and awkward. Members of high uncertainty avoidance cultures like Malay always try to avoid or reduce uncertainty in society by establishing numerous rules and regulations, technologies and religions. An instance of this, technology can help a culture manage natural uncertainty like weather. On the other hand, people in low uncertainty avoidance countries are less concerned with unpredictability and rules. They know they cannot predict what they will be doing in next ten years, but they are less willing to avoid uncertainty by establishing rules. Consequently, they take more initiative, show greater flexibility, more willing to take risks, and feel more relaxed in interactions. The Malay community especially Damiens host family and classmates might feel uncomfortable when communicating with him because such situations are replete with uncertainty. Damien might feel very isolated as people avoid interacting with someone from other cultures. Besides, Damien might face problem in school as there are too much of rules compare with his own school in Los Angeles. For example, they don't have a fixed dress code unlike Malaysia which all primary schools to secondary schools students have to comply with the dress code. Damien have to try hard to adapt himself to the new conditions.

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IV. Masculinity versus Femininity The fourth dimension across which cultures vary is masculinity versus femininity. This dimension is characterized on one person by success, money, quality of life and so on. It also refers to the distribution of emotional roles between males and females7. Cultures that place high values on masculine traits stress assertiveness, competition, and material success8. In masculine societies, most workers with responsible positions are men, and therefore men are expected to be dominant. Hofstedes studies indicate that Japan is the best example of a masculine culture9. In feminine countries, people consider many important roles that women can play. They tend to highlight the quality of affection, emotion, nurturing and sensitivity. Men in this culture are not expected to be assertive and they share power with women. Consequently, people will establish policies to meet womens needs such as womens leave from the workplace for a period before and after childbirth. Over at Damiens country, female and male stand equally on the other hand in Kelantan men have a higher degree of respect over the women and even their opinion are higher valued. In Malays culture, men tend to be the leader in a family and the one who make decision for most of the things. Damien will feel unfair on Islamic women since their husband can marry more than one wife. His culture will never accept onesided marriage as women have to share their husband. Damien might feel imbalance to this kind of culture where women have less power and freedom. For instances, a traditional woman does not go out alone and she speaks to no man other than her husband. Damien might also get in trouble that he does not realise some public facilities at Kota Bharu are segregated by sex.

Please refer Matsumoto(2008) as the author provide brief and simple explanations on Hofstedes Cultural Dimensions. 8 Refer from lecture 5 notes. 9 For more information on masculinity, see Hofstede (2001) especially chapter 6.

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V. Long-term versus Short-term Orientation This fifth dimension was found around 1985 with the samples of 23 countries to extend Hofstedes work. People used to label this new research with Confucian work dynamism10 since it is based on the teaching of Confucius.

Long-term orientation encourages frugality, savings, perseverance towards slow results, have a sense of shame and observes relationships ordered by status. On the contrary, individuals from short-term oriented cultures may aim to achieve quick results and give more attention to personal stability, and spending.

Damien who comes from short-term orientation cultures might be admonished by Malay parent as he does not develop a thrifty habit. He will feel annoying as his culture is emphasize on nice people will spend to enjoy life.

Besides, the Malay family is accustomed to build good relationship with others as an investment. Therefore they treat Damien like their own family. Nevertheless, Damien reluctant to maintain relationship with Malay family as he only stays with them for nine months.

10

Please refer chapater 7 from the book Cultures Consequences by Hofstede(2001)

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Kluckhohns and Strodtbecks Value Orientations

In the early 1960s, Florence Kluckhohn and Fred Strodtbeck of Harvard University developed the concept of value orientations11. They argued that in every culture there are universal problems and conditions must be addressed. For example, every culture must deal with natural environment. Hence, Kluckhohn and Strodtbeck created several sets of value orientations to solve the universal problems of daily life. Nevertheless, different cultures might solve those problems differently. Here we can prove it by examine Damiens cultures and Malays cultures.

I. Human Nature Orientation The human nature orientation refers to the question of the innate nature of humans. Are we born good? Evil? With the potential for both? Americans like Damien tend to believe that humans have a combination of both good and evil qualities and they are capable of evolving into better persons.

Contrary to Americans belief, Islamic countries suggest a view that people are born evil. Therefore, they need numerous institutions from religious to the political to control behaviour.

Damien believes that human have free choice and therefore responsibility for their choice. He is rational enough to make decision for himself but here come the problem as his Malay family always ask him seek help from religious or educational constitution.

11

See Neuliep(2000) that explain value orientation in-depth.

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II. Time Orientation Cultures differ widely in their conceptions of time as it has a past, a present and a future. In future-oriented cultures like United States, people tend to focus more on future, plan ahead, and seek new ways to replace the old. On the other hand, past-oriented cultures in Malaysia believe strongly in the importance of prior events. They preserve and maintain traditional teaching or belief so that it could be a guide for making decision. Since Damien will stay with Malay family for a quite long period, he has chance to attend some ceremonies. He might suggest having some changes in the ceremony because he feel that new ways are usually better than old ones. He likes to keep everything, even ceremonies to move ahead. But yet, elders at Kota Bharu are unhappy because of the change. They feel that ceremonies should be kept exactly in every way as they had been in the past.

III. Activity Orientation The term activity orientation refers to the use of time for self-expression and play, self-improvement and development, and work. Damien comes from a doingorientated culture in which people derive their identity from work. Work is a means to earn money and also get self-accomplishment. In Malay societies, people are practising being-in-coming orientation which considers work as a means of fulfilling ones duty. It is more concerning about selfdevelopment and spiritual life. Damien might be criticized by Malay community as he is so materialistic. He study hard not because of his responsibility of a students, but maybe for gaining praise from his family or guarantee of future wealth.

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IV. Relational Orientation This cultural pattern refers to perceptions of the self and the ways society is organized. Americans like Damien tend to be highly individualistic, autonomous and non-hierarchical in nature. Their emphasis is placed on the individual, who make decisions independently from the others. As we know, Malay culture is collective and authoritarian orientated. Conflict might occur while Damien and his Malay family have to make decision. The Malay family is usually let the important families to decide. Everyone usually accepts what they say without much discussion since they are the ones who have had the most experience. However, Damien does not like this kind of decision making process as his cultures decide the matter by vote. They do what the largest number want even though there are still a great many people who disagree and object to the action.

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Halls High-Context and Low-Context Orientation

Another way that culture affects perception is whether the culture is high or low context. This concept was popularized by Edward Hall to define communication process. In high-context cultures, most of the communication is only transmitted part of the message and more sensitive to nonverbal message. In low-context cultures, verbal messages are elaborate and highly detailed. In Malaysia, although there are frequent interactions between the family and child at a young age, meanings are often not directly gained through words rather the child would experience it first hand in the real world. Thus, Damien who comes from low-context cultures will have to investigate himself about the Malays lifestyle. He would learn how to use right hand to eat by observing his family members. Furthermore, Damien may face problem when study at Malaysias school. He does expect teacher provide full guidelines of the assignment given. However, he might feel disappointed and helpless since he has to find out the answer without any guidance. Lastly, Malay is tend to be less open and communicate by not stating the things directly, while Damien usually speak directly. Conflict might happen when Damien points out openly the mistake of teacher as this attitude can be accepted in conservative society

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Conclusion
As Damien from United States comes to Malaysia, he should expect the various issues he would face during his stay. Damien has to be prepared because conflict will occur due to different culture backgrounds and perceptions. By studying the Malays cultural background and history, Damien can gain some understanding towards their daily lifestyle easing him to adept with his host family. On the other hand, Damien should learn up some basic Malay Language as this not only can help in his communication but also makes it easier for him to express himself. Lastly, an open heart and mind are pretty vital especially in Damiens case as he has to accept the Malay culture to make his stay a pleasant one. All these suggestions should be adopted by Malay family too since an effective intercultural communication is based on two way.

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Reference
I. Samovar, L.A. , Porter, R.E. , & McDaniel, E.R. (2007).

Communication Between Cultures (6th ed). Belmont: Holly Allen.

II. Jandt, F.E. (2007). An Introduction to Intercultural

Communication: Identities in a Global Community (5th ed). United States: Sage Publication, Inc.
III. Hofstede, G. (2001). Cultures Consequences (2nd ed). United

States: Sage Publication, Inc.

IV. Samovar, L.A. , Porter, R.E. , & McDaniel, E.R. (2006).

Intercultural Communication: A Reader (11th ed). Belmont: Holly Allen.

V. Neuliep, J.W. (2000). Intercultural Communication: A

Contextual Approach. Boston, MA : Allyn & Bacon.

VI. Matsumoto, D, & Juang, L. (2008). Culture and Psychology

(4th ed). Belmont: Holly Allen.

VII. Brislin, R. (2000). Understanding Cultures Influence on

Behaviour (2nd ed). Belmont: Holly Allen.