The Neglected Art, Science and Practice of Malaysian Managership
By Dr Wilson Tay
Chief Executive Officer
Malaysian Institute of Management

Released by: MIM Management Magazine
Date: Apr-Jun 2006

Over the last decade or so, management leadership or, to put it more colloquially, "managership" has slipped off the government's radar screen and agenda. For one, it was not significantly featured in the 8th Malaysia Plan and we hope that it will be emphasised in the 6th Key Objective of the 9th Malaysia Plan under "building world-class human capital". This painful oversight needs to be redressed as the development of competent managers is a national imperative that goes hand in hand with the nation's Wawasan (Vision) 2020 aspirations for a fully developed nation status.

A decade ago, the Australian government, worried about its competitive positioning and nation's managerial competency, commissioned a nation-wide study of its management and leadership capability. This study culminated in two volumes of its "Enterprising Nation" reports which laid down strategies, action plans and allocated resources to improve the productivity and competitiveness of Australian industries through enhancement of its management and leadership capability. In Malaysia, we now face the same dilemma today, and adequate resources and emphasis have not been given to build and enhance management and leadership capability in our industries.

The on-going march of globalisation and the race to obtain a technological edge over rival countries demands that human capital development in the form of managerial leadership growth remain in lockstep or Malaysia will lag behind and fall drastically short of achieving its visionary goals.

Why is this so? Simply put, it is competent managership not just mere administration that will help put Malaysia on the global competitive map. The failure to recognise this crucial fact is already causing Malaysia to lose out, and lose badly in the area of productivity and global competitiveness. As it is, we are already slipping in the global rankings - Malaysia's world competitiveness ranking plunged 12 places lower from the 16th position to the 28th position in the IMD World Competitiveness Yearbook 2005. Malaysian Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak reportedly said the 12-point plunge in world competitiveness has "got the government worried."

And it should be! If nothing is being done to halt the slide, it will render Malaysia an unattractive destination for investment and this will impact negatively on Malaysia's economy which in turn will lower the nation's standard of living and make it extremely hard for us to achieve the Wawasan 2020 goals of being a developed nation.

Having worked and trained in some of the best companies that promote excellent managership overseas, I have discovered through my previous executive coaching and more recent executive assignments in Malaysia that we are still a long way off and have much room for improvement in this area of management leadership. I believe that the Malaysian Institute of Management (MIM), as the national management organisation and designated custodian of the national management standards, best practices and thought leadership in all matters relating to management, should be at the forefront of the drive to help push the national agenda for human talent and human capital development (particularly in the management competency area) as envisioned in the 9th Malaysia Plan.

A study titled "Characteristics of Business Owners" (CBO) conducted by the US Census Bureau in 1992 showed that one of the main contributing factors of why most ventures, after becoming companies, fail is due to poor management. The findings showed that the main culprit for failure is inexperienced management. The study showed that managers of bankrupt firms lack the experience, knowledge, or vision to run their businesses. The study indicated that after four years of being established, only 50% still remain open and after six years, some 60% of the firms will close. This phenomenon parallels and is quite evident in our own Small and Medium sized Enterprise (SME) development and growth in Malaysia.

In addition, the study revealed that almost half of the firms that go bankrupt do so primarily because of their own deficiencies rather than externally generated problems. Such companies have not developed the basic internal strengths to survive. It further proved that there was clearly an overall weakness in management especially in the aspects of strategic, innovation, risk and contingency management which, combined with a lack of appropriate markets for their products and services, are the key reason why companies fail.

It is no different in Malaysia, and one of the obvious reasons is the fact that while we are rich in entrepreneurial propensity and the "can-do" spirit, many of the entrepreneurs lack the business and management guidance and training required to move beyond their concept, ideas and prototype stage into the implementation, commercialisation and exporting levels. In Malaysia, the national management training and development efforts conducted remains fragmented and ad hoc. Unlike other countries, our SMEs are not strongly supported in entrepreneurship and managership development.

Advanced countries like the US, UK, Canada, Europe especially Germany and the Scandinavian countries, and even Japan and Korea were able to build world class companies because of the existence of world renowned management schools and training institutions. These esteemed learning organisations have successfully churned out some of the world's best management leaders and gurus, many of whom have gone on to achieve iconic status. No Malaysian has ever attained that level, as yet but with re-emphasis and focus on the quest for excellent managership, we may see the emergence of Malaysian global managers in the not too distant future as many of our Malaysian companies strive to move offshore.

There are already many of our best Malaysian managers working overseas, not for Malaysian companies but for many successful global multinational corporations (MNCs). These locally homegrown talents, many of whom were trained overseas, should be attracted back to work for Malaysian companies which aspire to compete in the global stage.

The Institute, however, feels the need to ramp up its focus and step up to this challenge of helping Malaysia to develop management leaders, captains of industry and yes, even management gurus, that will collectively assist in the development, creation, sustaining, ensuring survival and ultimate success of a nation of excellent managers that can make the country economically proud. To do that, MIM needs to co-ordinate all of Malaysia's various university, government and industry management schools to contribute, collate and share management knowledge thereby collectively strengthening our management resources. Malaysia needs to convert the institutions of higher learning (IHLs) "Book and Armchair Smarts" into the industry's "Strategic and Practical Smarts" so that Malaysian graduates can be gainfully employed and contribute effectively to the industrial and economic growth of the nation.

In order to achieve this goal, MIM's key strategic actions for the way forward will be as follows:

1. To re-activate itself as an integral component and participant in the national agenda for the development of professional management leadership and human talent capability development which is an intrinsic part of the nation's human capital development masterplan as outlined by the 9th Malaysia Plan.
   

2. To renew, reposition and re-establish itself as the protagonist for the Malaysian management thought leadership for the coming decades while helping to transition "Today's Industrial Managers" into "Digital Age Managers" and grooming the "Ideal Future Manager Leaders" for emerging sectors and industries.
   

3. Gravitate to higher ground and assume collective custodianship of national management standards, competencies while acting as a catalyst for the development of managership (refer to my article on "Management Leadership" in the Jan-Mar 2006 issue of Management, pgs 49-51).
   

4. Increase the quality and quantity of its membership base - to include both corporate and individual members - while proactively engaging the membership and providing a value added benefit to its stakeholders which includes MIM members, alumni, councillors, court of fellows and act as the linkage with institutions of higher learning, industry and government.
   

5. Research, establish and create MIM-centric, industry relevant, uniquely branded products and services while endeavouring to re-focus on its marketing niche and core competencies.
   

6. Identify new and growing opportunities for potential, collaborative alliances and partnerships both locally and abroad in order to strengthen and expand its managerial knowledge and presence.
   

7. Enhance its national brand and image in Malaysia and overseas.
   

8. Play a leading role and develop a regional and global reputation for MIM and Malaysia.