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….THE BACKGROUND OF THE COMPANY….
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BACKGROUND OF HISTORICAL MALACCA
CITY COUNCIL (MBMB)
The history of Historical Malacca City Council (MBMB) is closely related to the history of
Melaka. Although Malacca has gone through its ups and downs, the city of Malacca has
continued to exist. In year 1824, it was called “The Town and The Fort of Malacca”,
administrated by the “Committee of Assessors” under the English Government. In year 1848,
The East India Act XIX recommended the formation of a Municipal Committee to replace the
Committee of Assessors. The act allocated five council members led by a Resident Councilor
which were known as City Councilmen.
The East India Act XXVII gave power to these City Council men as trust holders in which
they could indict or be indicted. On January 1st, 1887, the Straits Settlement Municipality
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Ordinance has approved the municipal area of 1.4 square miles and was enlarged to 4.2 square
miles in 1930 under Act 133 in year 1913.
On 1st January 1977, through Act 171 (1976), the Melaka Municipality Area was merged
with the Historical Melaka City Municipal Council (MPMBB) with an administrative power over
an area of 114.7 square miles (303 square kilometers).
MPMBB was the main factor in making Melaka a dynamic, progressive, and beautiful
city. Its administration has developed at the same rate with Melaka where focus has been given
towards the agricultural, industrial, and currently the tourism sectors. The infrastructural growth
is substantial, equaling to any developed state in Malaysia. This condition has increased the
rate of which investors have come to invest and therefore increase the number of jobs available.
On 15th April 2003, MPMBB was upgraded to Historical Melaka City Council (MBMB).
With this recognition, MBMB will continue to improve its quality of service towards people of
Melaka and tourists.
On 1st January 2010, another Local Authority was created namely the Hang Tuah Jaya
Municipal Council (MPHTJ). MPHTJ administration area covered 57.66 sq km from Melaka
Historic City Council administration area (MBMB). Whereas MBMB area is 246.34 sq
km. Proposed MBMB new administration area totaled 30.86 sq km.
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…LOGO, MISSION AND
VISION…
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LOGO OF MBMB
Historical Melaka City Council logo is specially designed to mark the beginning of
Melaka declared as a historical city era. The logo represents cooperation between citizens and
administration towards development and prosperity. The logo design themed historical
transition from Melaka Malay Sultanate, collapse and colonization epochs and reemergence to
modern development era towards Vision 2020.
MISION
To make Historical City Council as a prime mover towards existence of Dynamic,
Progressive and Excellent City.
VISION
To make Malacca as a Heritage, Progressive and Beautiful City.
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…ORGANIZATIONAL CHART…
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ORGANIZATIONAL CHART OF MBMB
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…CONTENT…
CONTENT
(FINDINGS FROM MBMB)
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For this group project, we had chose the Historical Malacca City Council or commonly
known as MBMB as a chosen company for doing our research. Based on our research there,
we have found several results regarding their work cultures and also their communication styles.
We came out with a few structured questions to be asked to Puan Noor Fadzlina binti Mohd.
Shariff who is the Assistant Manager of Management Services of MBMB to gather the
information related to our topic. The following are the findings that we had gathered from the
organization.
Differences in Customs and Behavior – Gender Roles
Organizational culture is the workplace environment formulated from the interaction of
the employees in the workplace. Organizational culture is defined by all of the employees’ life
experiences, strengths, weaknesses, education, upbringing, and so forth. Executive leaders
play a large role in defining organizational culture by their actions and leadership. In MBMB,
their organizational culture is quite similar with the other organization whereby it is relatively
stable, shared set of rules about how to behave and set of values about what is important.
Cultural differences in doing business are actually a norm in today organization. We can
obviously see the differences in many aspects such as the level of formality, social customs that
being practiced by the organization, the differences in gender roles and so on. Normally, people
have a typical perception regarding gender roles whereby men are always seen as a leader. In
MBMB, the situation is slightly different because there are certain departments where the leader
is a woman. For example, the leader of Management Services Department is Puan Fadzlina
binti Mohd. Shariff who is responsible to handle any issues regarding the management services.
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Even though the leader of this department is a woman, there are no issues related to
gender roles raised in this organization. The subordinates will respect their superior regardless
their gender. Once the employee is given a task or work by his or her upper manager, they will
do every single task or work that has been assigned to them properly. It means, gender role is
not applied in this organization because both men and women can be a leader as long as he or
she is qualified for the position.
Dimension of Organizational Culture – Conflict Tolerance
MBMB provides Customer Service Counter to make it easier for public to deal any
related business with them. When it comes about handling customers, MBMB had found many
types of customers. Some of them were very polite and respectful while the others were quite
aggressive. Usually, the aggressive customers will create some problems or conflicts and make
them hard to handle. For instance, some people who have been compounded by the MBMB
will act aggressively to show their rebel.
If such case happened, the Customer Service Counter will try their best to solve the
problem but in case the problem cannot be solved, they will refer the case to the Help Desk.
Help Desk is the highest unit provided by the MBMB in order to solve any problem issued by the
customers. Since the Help Desk is responsible for solving the customers’ problem, so they
need to know every single thing related to MBMB. These Help Desk people have the
advantages in order to access the information such as the internet connection and also direct
telephone lines. So, the customers’ problem can be solve as soon as possible.
Differences in Custom and Behavior
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MBMB is always welcoming their clients and helping their customers to settle their
business matters efficiently. According to the Assistant Manager, MBMB staff is using
monochronic attitude when dealing with customers. Every day, they are facing with different
culture including race, ethnicity, age, gender, identity and language. The staffs of MBMB have
been trained to solve the problem effectively. Tolerance for conflict is the most important
behavior that needs to be applied whereby they are helping to maintain harmony of the MBMB
society.
In the organization, Customer Service Department has the authority to maintain harmony
even though they will lose face or suffer from the embarrassment. From the situation, we can
truly define that there are a few of MBMB staff can learn to adapt and accept conflict so, it will
contribute them to appreciate the importance of maintaining harmony in cross cultural. Once
the staff masters in rules about how to express and handle disagreement, the process of
conducting becomes much easier.
Dimension of Organizational Culture – Reward
Reward can be defined as something that is given or received in return for a deed or
service rendered. Reward can be a motivation to the employees to perform well in their job and
also one of the ways for the organization to show their appreciation towards their employees.
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Like the other ordinary organizations, MBMB also provide rewards for their employees. Anyone
in the company has an equal chance to receive the rewards for their work performance.
Among the rewards provided by MBMB are The Best Employee Awards, promotion,
panel clinics and others. Basically, The Best Employee Awards are divided into two categories
which are Annual Best Employee Award and Monthly Best Employee Award. Besides that,
MBMB also will organize a ceremony which is known as ‘Hari Inovasi’ or formerly known as
‘Hari Kualiti’ once in a year in order to celebrate their employees and also to reward the qualified
employees with ‘Anugerah Perkhidmatan Cemerlang’.
Other than giving awards to the employees, MBMB also gives an equal chance for all of
their employees to get promoted. Employees who perform well will get a higher chance for
promotion regardless their gender or position.
Besides that, MBMB also provides some panel clinics for their employees to get
treatment. Usually, most organization will only provide one panel clinic for their employees but
MBMB provides more than one panel clinics since their employees are lives in different region in
Malacca. So, it will make them easier to get the treatment.
How People Spend Their Time
Based on our observation, people in this organization will focus on their work during
working hours but sometimes they also will take some time for informal conversation. The
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upper management allows their employees to do so in order to minimize the work stress among
their employees as long as the work given to them done on time.
Even though MBMB gives some benefits for their employees during working hours, but
this organization had restricted the access to any social network such as Facebook or Twitter.
They do not give the permission to their employees to access into such social network in order
to protect their integrity and also to avoid social loafing. But, the restriction is only during office
hours.
Co-Culture Dimensions of a Diverse Society – Disabilities
Society is made up of a variety of co-cultures which is groups that have a clear identity
within the majority culture. For instance, co-cultures in the aspect of language, regional
differences, ethnicity and also disabilities. According to Karen Stone, “Disability is a club
anyone can join, anytime”. By having disability, people may change how one is regarded.
Sadly, some organization did not aware about the needs and also the facilities for disabilities
person. They are also a part of society that which should not neglect.
Luckily, MBMB do provide some facilities for disability persons. For example, this
organization has a special room for disabilities person that called OKU Room. This room is
designed specially for disabilities person whereby the officer or the staff himself will go to the
room to handle and entertain them. Plus, the elevators in the MBMB are also have the Braille
characters. Besides that, MBMB also provide a special wheel chair at the stair. The person just
needs to sit properly on the wheel chair and push the button that will bring them upstairs. Last
but not least, MBMB also provides special pathways to make it easier for the wheelchair to
cross on it.
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Diversity and Ethical Issues
Some cultural differences may challenge some organization of what is normal or proper
behavior without raising ethical question. Like the other organization, same goes to MBMB
where the tendency of unethical issues is not impossible but so far there is no such thing
happened yet.
Even though such thing has never happened in the history of MBMB, but the rules and
regulation has been established in case of unethical issues. If any issue arises among the
employees, if possible they need to solve the problem among themselves first. But, if the issue
or the problem getting worse, they will be asked to see counselor that the organization provided.
This counselor is responsible to solve the problem between these particular employees and if
necessary, the punished will be imposed to them.
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…CONCLUSION…
CONCLUSION
From our observation we can say that The Historical Malacca City Council or MBMB has
a quite good culture and communication style. MBMB can be considered as a good role model
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for the other organization especially in the aspect of disabilities facilities. Even though not all of
the areas of MBMB are convenient to these disabilities person, but at least MBMB do provides
some facilities for this kind of people. It means that, this organization is still concern about the
charity or the services toward disabilities person. Actually, as a normal person, we should not
ignore or neglect the disabilities person because they are also part of the society. People
cannot deny their rights in getting facilities to help them move on in their lives like the abilities
person. People should remember that disabilities are actually a club for everyone where every
person has the risk to be a part of them. So, people have to admit their rights so that they will
not feel alienated in the society.
Besides that, MBMB also do not have any discrimination against women. This shows
that gender roles are not being practiced in this organization. This is actually a positive way in
order to increase the competency between men and women. If both men and women are given
the same chance to improve their selves, indirectly the women’s credibility can be increased
because in some countries, gender roles are still being practiced. Gender roles can caused
many disadvantages since most people underestimated women roles especially as a leader.
This is actually can be considered as discrimination against women. Sometimes women are
better than men in certain things and vice versa. If people can see other people based on their
abilities, skills and knowledge that they have rather than put a certain gender roles, indirectly the
productivity can be increased and the work performance also will be better.
Other than that, MBMB do provides reward for their employees. Reward can be
considered as a favorable benefits or recognition towards the employees. Actually, rewards that
are received by the employees may be a motivation for them to work better and to increase their
work performance. Like MBMB, it provides many rewards for the employees. One of them is
the award for the Monthly Best Employee and also the Annual Best Employee. This kind of
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awards also can be a sign to the employees that the organization do realize and appreciate their
hard work and performance. So, it can boost up the employees spirit and also enjoyment
towards their work.
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…RECOMMENDATIONS…
RECOMMENDATIONS
From our observation, we can honestly say that The Historical Malacca City Council or
MBMB has a quite good communication skill in their organization. So far, there is no such thing
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related to communication problem in this organization since they do work hard in order to create
and to maintain a good organizational culture for all the employees and also people who
indirectly related to this MBMB such as their customers and also suppliers. According to these
reasons, we highly recommend the other organization to make MBMB as a role model in order
to increase their communication aspects. Plus, MBMB is also suitable for the students or any
party who intended to make research or findings regarding their communication style since their
communication aspects are competent and good enough to be followed.
Next, we also would like to recommend the MBMB to add up the facilities for disabilities
person. The current facilities that are provided by the MBMB such as the Braille elevators,
wheel chair at the stairs, special pathway for the disabilities person and also a room for the
disabilities people are quite convenient enough. But, if these facilities can be upgraded or can
be added up, it will be better for them. It will make it easier for the staffs of the MBMB to deal
with these persons since these persons do not have to 100 percent depend or rely on normal
people in order to manage their lives. Indirectly, it also can increase the self-confidence of
disabilities persons.
Last but not least, we are also would like to recommend the MBMB to take the initiative
in order to increase the employees’ understanding especially the front desk employees such as
the Help Desk and Customer Services Counter about the differences in cultural and behavior
among people. It is actually very important since they need to work and manage various types
of people who come with various types of culture and behavior. If they have a very lack of
knowledge or understanding about these kind of diversity in the culture and behavior, it will
make them to easily become stress in managing difficult or angry customer who has a different
style of communication which also can make them easily feel offended.
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In a conclusion, there are no much things that we would like to recommend to the MBMB
since the communication and culture environment in the organization itself is effective enough.
So, hopefully that organization can maintain their good communication environment so that it
can benefits all the people who related to the organization.
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…REFERENCES…
REFERENCES
About.com. Organizational Culture: Corporate Culture in Organizations. Retrieved on
March 12, 2011 from http://humanresources.about.com/od/organizationalculture/Organizationa
l_Culture_Corporate_Culture_in_Organizations.htm
Adler, R. B. & Elmhorst J. M. Communicating at Work: Principle and Practices for
Business and the Professions. 10th Ed. McGraw Hill. Pp. 35-62.
Historical Malacca City Council. (2011). Retrieved on March 10, 2011 from
http://www.mbmb.gov.my/home
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Noor Fadzlina binti Mohd. Shariff. Assistant Manager of Management Services of
MBMB. Personal Interview.
Quible Z. K. Administrative Office Management. 8th ed. Pearson Education
International. pp. 40-42.
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…APPENDIXES…
APPENDIXES
Questions
1. What are the responses of the employees who receive order from higher level rank
with different gender?
2. How the organization handle angry customers?
3. How the company handle the differences in custom and behavior among clients?
4. How the organization reward the employees?
5. How people in the organization spend their time?
6. Did the organization provide facilities for disability person?
7. Is there any unethical issues regarding cultural differences in the organization?
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PICTURES AROUND THE ORGANIZATION (MBMB)
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(The above pictures are the facilities provided by the MBMB for disabilities persons)
Special room for disabilities people Variety of achievement awards
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Customers Service Counter Help Desk
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