Ponmalar N. Alagappar

Differences in the Perception of Sexual Harassment by Gender and Ethnicity among Selected Malaysian Undergraduates

Abstract Sexual harassment is generally perceived as a social issue predominantly found in the workplace. However, it can also occur at various stages of youth and adolescence. University students who will soon join the workforce are equally vulnerable to sexual harassment. It is hypothesized that lack of understanding and awareness of what constitutes sexual harassment have made the youth easy targets of perpetrators. This study identifies the level of awareness and perceptions of sexual harassment among students in a public university of Malaysia. Being multiethnic and multicultural, Malaysia offers a diverse social demographic context for comparison across ethnic groups such as the Malay, Chinese, and Indian. This study further explores how gender, ethnicity, culture, and personal encounters shape one’s perceptions of sexual harassment. We hope this empirical study will shed light for stakeholders in youth development to address this critical but under-publicized youth issue. It is also noteworthy that this study does not support the literature that sexual harassment often leads to negative psychosocial effects. Instead, the findings show that prior experiences of sexual harassment actually increase the level of sensitivity in identifying and reacting to incidents of sexual harassment.

Cultural maintenance within the Tamil minority in Kuching: spanning three generations

Abstract This paper intends to determine whether the minority Tamil immigrant community in Kuching, Sarawak still maintains its heritage culture or has assimilated it with the dominant cultures in Sarawak. Are the Tamils in Kuching still maintaining their cultural norms? The data comes from a set of questionnaires investigating language, social and cultural identity, and unstructured interviews spanning three generations. The results show that, while some assimilation has occurred, the community has maintained its cultural identity. The most interesting revelation is the growing number of the younger generation who are adapting their heritage and cultural norms, clearly demonstrating Gibson’s accommodation and acculturation without assimilation.

The boat is rocked – Employees' grumbles: a decision dilemma

Subject area Entrepreneurship, Strategic Management, Organizational Change Management. Study level/applicability Postgraduate and undergraduate students. Case overview Restoran Minang Plus is a self-styled family-owned and managed restaurant featuring a gamut of Malaysian Negeri Sembilan and Indonesian Padang dishes. The eatery establishment has sailed the food industry waters successfully since 2004 and currently has five branches. However, there are certain imperatives they have to institute to integrate their entrepreneurial challenges with organizational change management. The nature of the forces in the competitive restaurant landscape requires a continuous rethinking of current strategic actions, organizational change, communication systems, motivation, asset deployment and strategic flexibility to respond quickly to changing conditions and thereby develop and maintain a competitive advantage. The question is how do they integrate this organizational change management to their entrepreneurial challenges with a view to achieve and maintain competitive advantage? Expected learning outcomes The expected learning outcomes are as follows: understanding managing diversity by looking at the different categories of diversity, that is, generic characteristics and learned characteristics that influence work attitudes; explaining how fostering learning and reinforcement can help in increasing job satisfaction; describing the basic motivational needs of the employees and how it can help in increasing job performance; understanding how an entrepreneurial firm can maximize its firm performance through effective change management; and understanding the importance of strategic management in an entrepreneurial firm. Supplementary materials Teaching notes are available for educators only. Please contact your library to gain login details or email support@emeraldinsight.com to request teaching notes.