click here to download - UniKL MIMET Official Website

capable professionals to meet Malaysia’s indus‐
try needs, it has been decided that the focus
should be on a local technical university. Uni‐
versity Kuala Lumpur (UniKL), that was founded
through a national agenda to upgrade the status
of technical education in Malaysia to a level that
can help meet the needs of local industries and
sustain Malaysia’s economic growth towards a
developed‐nation status by year 2020 is consid‐
ered suitable for this study. A study of the or‐
ganizational culture of UniKL was chosen be‐
cause it is a good example of an educational or‐
ganization that has managed to go through an
organizational culture transformation from a
traditional to a performance‐driven culture. It is
therefore most appropriate that lessons learnt
from this transformation be shared for the bene‐
fit of everyone.
UNDERSTANDING OF HIGH PERFORMANCE
CULTURE (HPC)
Organizational Culture, in simple term, is the way
organizational members do things in their or‐
ganization. It is a system of shared meaning held
by members that distinguishes the organization
from other organizations (Robbins and Judge,
2009). Culture drives an organization, its actions
and results. It guides how employees think, act
and feel. It is the "operating system" of the
company, the organizational DNA. A perform‐
ance culture is based on discipline. This disci‐
pline promotes decisiveness and standards of
excellence and ensures direct accountability.
Such discipline is a main reason why commit‐
ments and expectations are always clear. As
such, high performance organization is one that
gives more focus and commitment to achieve
better results through a performance ‐ driven
culture.
MIMET Technical Bulletin Volume 1 (2) 2010
MAKING HIGH PERFORMANCE CULTURE WORK
Four basic factors that contribute towards making
high performance culture works at UniKL have been
identified. Although these factors are commonly
found in most organizations, it is appropriate that
they are further elaborated for better understand‐
ing. The factors are as follows;
Openness and trust:
When there is openness and trust, frankness
prevails. Frankness is encouraged because it
implies a willingness to speak the unspeakable.
An environment of trust reduces defensiveness
when issues are raised. People react more hon‐
estly, ask questions more frequently, and are
more spontaneous with their comments and
ideas. The organization derives greater value
from its talent, and employees get to develop
their competence and contribute to success.
Managed differences:
Interpersonal differences result in conflicts. Con‐
flicts are addressed and unfulfilled commitments
are exposed. This results in better ability to
learn from the conflicts and take proactive action
to correct potential differences. Alternatives and
options are looked at without a pre‐determined
outcome when people become less presumptu‐
ous. People express real opinions and move be‐
yond the perceived "safe talk." Issues can then
be resolved more effectively.
Simplicity and focus:
Making things simple, less complex and being
more focused ensures precise focus is directed
towards implementation of objectives with clar‐
ity and precision that define what needs to be
accomplished and how to accomplish it. There is
a commitment at all levels to remove, not add,
complexity from the way of doing business. Be‐
ing result‐driven and having fun are not seen as
| MARINE FRONTIER @ UniKL
98