TELEKOM MALAYSIA BERHAD: TACTICS TO CHANGE ORGANISATIONAL BEHAVIOUR

1. INTRODUCTION

1.1 Context

Organizational behaviour (OB) is the study of human behaviour in the organisational, the
interface between human and organizational, and the organisation itself. OB includes human
behaviour understanding, prediction and control in organisation. The organisations have an
effect on thoughts, feelings and actions of the employees. These successively, have an effect
on the organisation itself. It is very important to study OB because it provides an understanding
of why employees in the organisation do what they do. It also helps to study the complex nature
of people in the organisations by identifying causes of the behaviour.

1.2 Organisation Chosen

Telekom Malaysia Berhad (TM) is the leading provider of communications services in Malaysia.
TM headquartered in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia offers a wide range of broadband, data and fixed-
line communication services and solutions. TM started its journey in 1946 and was referred to
as the Department of Malay Telecommunications and after independence as the Department of
Malay Telecommunications, and later renamed Jabatan Talikom Malaysia in 1964. It was
named Telekom Malaysia Berhad (TM) in 1990 and listed on the Main Board of Bursa Malaysia.
In the business sector, technological changes, structural changes and environmental changes
are accelerated more rapidly. TM also shift by creating a new way of thinking and working in the
organisation.

2. METHODOLOGY

This assignment will be using case study approach by determining and evaluating the strategies
taken by Telekom Malaysia Berhad (TM) in implementing few fundamental concepts which
revolve around the nature of people and organisation. OB provides direction to the organisation
and it facilitates to know and forecast organisational life. It also helps to know the nature and
activities of the employees. It helps motivate and maintain interrelationships with the employees
in the organization. When an organisational system is disturbed by some internal or external
forces, such as technology, market condition, performance gap, social change, nature of
workforce and organised union pressure, the organisation reacts to these in order to improve
the means to satisfy people's economic needs, promote employee satisfaction and well- being
and enhance the organization's profitability. In this case, TM has reacted by changing its
organisational behaviour for the sake of further development and to survive in a competitive
market. There are many tactics to successfully change OB, but this study only focus on four
tactics that contribute to positive change. First tactic is promoting teamwork which is the actions
of people, brought together for common purpose or goals. The first tactic is to promote
teamwork, which is people’s action combined for a common purpose or objectives. Secondly, by
improving leadership, which is a social influence in which one can recruit help and support from
others in the fulfilment of a common task. The third tactic is communication which relates to the
transmission of meaningful information. Lastly by motivating the employee in order to achieved
both individual and organisational goal.

3. LITERATURE REVIEW

3.1 Context

The investigation of organisational behaviour must start with the nature of the organisation itself.
Organisations are products of their societies, subsystems of large systems (Sofer, 1972). The
term 'organisation' covers a wide range of industry, business, service and public service
activities. In fact, the work is an abstract label for any group of people who meet and interact
with each other to achieve a set of common goals and objectives (Evans, 1990). The study of
OB must begin with the nature of organisation itself. Organisations can be defined as a
collection of people working together to achieve a common goal in the division of labour.
Organisations depend on the activities and collective efforts of many people to achieve its goals.
In this regard, people are the main human resources of organisations where individuals and
groups whose performance contributions allow the organisation to serve a particular purpose.
There is a clear and close connection between OB and theory and practice of management.
Some writers seem to argue that OB and management are synonymous, but this is over-
simplified because the management has a much wider aspect. OB does not cover management
as a whole, but it is better described in the narrower interpretation of a behavioural approach to
management (Mullins, 1990).
3.2 Teamwork

We progressively see the need to collaborate with others to accomplish a group task. Often,
supervisors ask their subordinates to induce along in either formal or informal team to improve
practices concerning to quality and quantity of their service or product. Individuals who are in
great need of affiliation would like to be accepted by others. They prefer to interact with others
and to be with friends when they have a choice (Wong & Csikszentmihalyi, 1991). American
psychologist Bruce Tuckman introduced a robust model in 1965, which has been widely used
until today. He proposed a four- stage group evolution map, also known as the model of
formation, storming, standardization and performance (Tuckman, 1965). Later, a fifth and final
stage was added, the adjournment phase. Studies show that people who know more about
team roles and the behaviour required for each role, perform better than people who do not.
This remains true for both student project teams and work teams, even after knowledge and
personality (Mumford et al., 2008).

3.3 Leadership

Leadership can be defined as influencing other people to work towards an objective. There are
leaders at all levels of an organisation. The problem is that not all employees have a good
relationship with their leader and consequently those in the outgroup of the leader could suffer.
But how do we interact well with our leader? This depends on several factors. Managers will
facilitate the development of such a meaningful and trust based relationship through the fair and
dignified treatment to their employees (Masterson et al., 2000). Employees also play an active
role in developing the relationship by making an effort to develop a good relationship by seeking
feedback to improve their performance, by being open to new things and by engaging in political
behaviours such as compliments (Colella & Varma, 2001). High performance does not seem
sufficient to create an exchange of high quality. Instead, interpersonal factors such as
personality similarity, mutual liking and respect have stronger influence on the development of
the relationship (Engle & Lord, 1997).

3.4 Communication

Communication for organisations is important because it is how we coordinate actions and

achieve goals. It is defined in the dictionary of Webster as a process through which information
is exchanged between people via a common system of symbols, signs or behaviour.
Miscommunication is an annoyance in most work environments because it interrupts the
workflow by causing delays and interpersonal disputes. Communication can be a matter of life
and death in some areas, such as aircraft cockpits and operating rooms. Communication
performs three main functions within an organisation, including coordination, information
transmission, and emotional sharing. In a successful organisation, these functions are
important. The coordination of the organisation's efforts helps people achieve the same goals.
Research shows that frequent communication with supervisor is linked to good job performance
ratings of the employee and organisational performance in general (Kacmar et al., 2003).
Research also shows that lateral communication between colleagues has an impact on
organisational results such as turnover. (Krackhardt & Porter, 1986).

3.5 Motivation

What inspires employees to offer excellent service, to market the products of a company
effectively or to achieve the objectives set for them? The major influences over employee
performance which are motivation, ability, and environment (Mitchell, 1982). The theory of goal-
setting (Locke & Latham, 1990) is one of the most influential and practical motivational theories.
In addition, the design of a job also has a significant impact on the motivation, job satisfaction
and commitment of employees to organisation. Once employees have goals, they tend to be
more motivated if they also receive feedback on their performance assessment. The creation
and implementation of a good assessment system leads to a higher level of management
confidence (Mayer & Davis, 1999). Perhaps the most tangible way in which companies
implement theories of motivation is through the introduction of incentives that are reward
systems that match performance. Financial incentives were considered to be powerful
motivators when properly used and in line with company- wide objectives. These systems are
more efficient than praise or recognition in increasing the retention of higher performing
employees by increasing their commitment to the company (Cadsby, Song, & Tapon, 2007).

4. ANALYSIS

4.1 Context

Telekom Malaysia Berhad (TM) needs to decide what needs to change and how its current
vision and values will be affected. There are several approaches taken by TM to successfully
Change organisational behaviour.
4.2 Teamwork

TM believes that teams develops personal and team goals by members whose work is
independent and they understand these goals best by mutual support. Members feel that they
have a sense of ownership of their role in the group because they are committed to the
objectives they help to create. Thus, TM had launched a concept called Teaming with Passion
(TWP) as a platform to increase morality and enlighten the passion of the members with the aim
of improving company performance. TWP is also a platform in which all other initiatives within
the company are coordinated. TWP program promotes employees to support each other in
every level of job structure, to respect and to gratitude towards others in order to achieve both
personal and organisational goals. With the motto of ‘1 Team. 1 Mindset. 1 TM’, TM desire its
employees get along, feel the desire to contribute to the team, and can coordinate their efforts
with a high level of performance. To apply this concept, TM encourage for its employees to
organise meeting, do a group discussion, make a tele-conferencing and attend trainings in order
to perform the task or job more effectively. It is important especially at this stage where
competition is tough, having many subsidiaries, to make sure that things are still integrated and
working well and the information needs to be constantly cascaded down, especially to the lower
level.

4.3 Leadership

TM recognizes that its employees are their most important asset and understands that the
culture of an organization plays an important role in a leader's development. Thus, TM
introduced 3 programs to create an effective leader and to polish the new one. The first program
is SmartOrange, which has developed a learning culture among the organization's employees.
Many training programs such as ' The SmartOrange Team Buliding' are carried out annually to
train TM employees on their capabilities and hidden values. Learning and development play an
important role in maximizing TM's human potential, ensuring that TM retains its competitive
edge. Secondly, the TM TWP platform not only encourages teamwork, but also encourages
leaders to guide their employees and give directions. Leaders must also provide sufficient
support to employees, involve employees in decision- making and encourage them to achieve
their objectives. Lastly, TM also added 360-degree feedback in its leadership program through a
process in which employees receive confidential, anonymous feedback from their employees
and their customers. The aim is to measure the efficiency of the organisation as a whole by
each individual in order to avoid a biased assessment by the leader. Other than these 3
programs, TM also promotes its leaders to take part on its ‘TM Super Team’ leader concept that
encourage the leaders to recognise, encourage, appreciate and motivate their subordinates.
4.4 Communication

TM believes that the right way of communicating and translating to the right person must be
correctly applied. The leader needs to communicate to make the committee more alert. Several
communication approach being applied in the organisation and enhancing the inter-department
communication. TM streamlines its corporate communication by develop employee intranet
portal called ‘1 Intra’ that have many information such as announcements, calendars, events,
and discussion boards within the organisation. The portal also has unique functionality sets
such as performance dashboards to track progress. With this portal, the employees have the
ability to easily update information quickly and efficiently. The portal has information regarding
each employee and the ability to instant message among them in real-time. Other than the
portal, TM also launched its internal digital library called ‘eLIT’ that stored all the documents and
information needed to perform tasks. It acts as a one- stop center for all information that makes
it easier for employees to find what they need and have strong search capabilities.

4.5 Motivation

TM always seeks to emphasise happiness and motivation and incorporates these principles into
the core values of the company. TM delivers more than basic workplace requirements and
meets the needs of self- realization that most people want from their work experience. There are
several area that TM emphasis which one of it is the physiological needs of the employees. This
includes giving several allowances such as house rental and laundry allowances, giving the
subsidies housing loan benefit and computer loan package. Besides that, TM also take care of
safety and security at the workplace such as provide safety working area, promoting free sexual
harassment environment and provide medical benefit. TM also motivates its employees by
promoting love and activities, which include family day meetings and weekly meetings or
discussions with managers. TM’s Training Centre in other hand helps to build self-esteem of the
employees by organising seminar, conferences, workshops and e-learning training. TM also
organise face-to-face meeting, informal talk session with managers and intranet chat forum to
increase the self-actualisation of the employees. When talk about the reward system, TM have
one of the best reward system among companies in Malaysia and use it as tools for motivation.
Examples of the TM’s reward system such as CEO merit award, best employee of the year,
scholarship and promotion.
5. CONCLUSION

Thinking as a team and a team effort is beneficial in comparison with individualised one
because cooperation not only makes it easier for everyone to do the job, but also increases
customer satisfaction. A leading concept in TM, on the other hand, proves to be beneficial, but a
leader has to "walk the talk" in organising his or her division. Other than that, understanding the
communication is the first step in maximizing the impact of any work procedure implemented.
And lastly, with the help of constant motivation, an organisational strategic goal is not
impossible to achieve. Despite the 4 tactics used by TM, adapting more methods to change
organisational behaviour (OB) could be considered, such as managing demographic and
cultural diversity, understanding individual attitudes and behaviour, managing stress and
emotion, conflict management and creating a positive organizational culture. OB can help
organisation become a more involved with its member, getting along, make more effective
decisions, reduce stress and work effectively in a team.

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