Working in Malaysia: An Introduction

Malaysia is a country of around 24 million people located in southeast Asia. Malaysia is one of the up and coming economies of southeast Asia. The country is mostly Muslim, but also has followers of Christianity and Buddhism.

We decided to focus mostly on the unique cultural aspects of Malaysia in order to prepare our employees for business abroad.

First, we would like to introduce you to some of the concepts that touch all parts of Malaysian life. Like many Asian cultures, Malaysians do not often show emotion. To show emotion in public is considered a negative display of behavior, and is considered a loss of face. Due in part to this unwillingness to display emotion, Malaysia is also a very high context culture. Employees working in Malaysia must learn to understand the deeper meanings beyond what is directly stated. Finally, Malaysian are generally very fatalistic. This is rooted in their large Muslim population. All events are considered predetermined by God or by fate. Humans have very little control within their lives. Things that fail were predestined to fail. Things that succeed were predestined to succeed. These are some basic aspects of Malaysian culture that extend to all facets of Malaysian life.

Furthermore, there are several cultural aspects that relate specifically to Malaysian business practices. First, punctuality is has a unique place in Malaysian business culture. Although the opposite Malaysian party may or may not arrive on time to meetings, Malaysian companies will expect all of our employees to arrive on time to all business meetings. Another cultural difference is that Malaysians will often avoid giving a direct answer, even if they agree with an opinion. While a "yes" indicates approval in America, all employees must pay attention to the body language and enthusiasm associated with the response. Like many east Asian cultures, Malaysians make heavy use of business cards and place importance on the "ceremony" of exchanging them. As a last point, Malaysians expect to have a personal relationship with those whom they do business with. Employees should expect very personal questions about their home life and salary. While this may make some employees uncomfortable, it necessary to build these relationships before moving on to business negotiations.

Working in a foreign country is always a challenge. We hope that this basic introduction to Malaysian culture will be helpful for employees interacting with their Malaysian counterparts.

We would like to hear some of your opinions about the move to Malaysia. What do you, as employees, believe will be the most challenging part of working with Malaysian businesspersons? What are some good strategies to cope with the friction that will certainly arise between our two business cultures?

Malaysian Team, 11:10 section