Editorial Board

Patron Prof. Dato’ Seri Dr. Mohamed

Mustafa Ishak

Editor in Chief Haim Hilman Abdullah

Managing Editor

Jennie Soo Hooi Sin Indraah Kolandaisamy

Articles Editors

Shahmir Sivaraj Abdullah Hoe Chee Hee

Thi Lip Sam

Digital Designer Nik Amirul Aqman Bin Nik Lah

Mohamad Azlan Yaakup

THE EXECUTIVE SCHOOL OF BUSINESS MANAGEMENT

UNIVERSITI UTARA MALAYSIA

2018 │Volume 3

THE EXECUTIVE magazine is a quarterly publication produced by

School of Business Management, Universiti Utara Malaysia.

Contact

School of Business Management

Universiti Utara Malaysia

06010 UUM Sintok

Kedah Darul Aman

Tel: (04) – 9287401

Fax: (04) – 9287422

Email: sbmnet@uum.edu.my

Website: www.sbmuum.my

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/

sbm.uum/

Content Features

3. Work-Life Balance, Commitment And Performance

4. Human Capital: The Organization’s Greatest Treasure

5. AACSB Accreditation Towards Employment Opportunities For

Graduating Students

6. Organisational Management: From The Point Of View Of Listening

7. The Role Of Human Resource Management In Developing Brand

Ambassadors

8. The Value Of Succession Planning

9. New ISO Standard on Knowledge Management

10. Trust As The Centrepiece To Open Innovation

11. Workload Pressure And Creativity in Higher Institutions

12. The Roles And Responsibilities Of Us In Managing Workplace Safety

On the Cover

School of Business Management, University Utara Malaysia won “The

Brand Laureate BESTBRANDS Award, Signature Brand Tertiary

Education”, an elegant award that recognized SBM as the Best Brand in

Tertiary in Education, also a top signature brand in The Field of

Management.

1

PROF. DR. HAIM HILMAN BIN ABDULLAH

Dean, School of Business Management UUM College of Business Universiti Utara Malaysia

Foreword

Welcome to the third edition of The Executive, our quarterly supplement designed for people who consider picking up a

business management magazine.

I am proudly to share with you that our school, SBM has achieved “The BrandLaureate BESTBRANDS Award Signature

Brand Tertiary Education - School of Business Management”. It was a high endorsement in a recent Award ceremony that

organized by the Asian Pacific Brands Foundation (APBF) at the Majestic Hotel, Kuala Lumpur on 3rd of May 2018. This is

a globally recognized event that awards top brands in the various fields at the individual and organizational levels.

The APBF was a non-profit organisation founded in 2005, to develop brands across various industries, to highlight the

power of branding as a visual, auditory and sensory experience which is vital to the success of any business, also to give

kudos to those organizations that have positively impacted to the global community. The recipients of the previous awards

include top listed individual, Fortune 500 and Top Global Brands such as Mark Zuckerberg, Marshall Goldsmith, DHL,

Coca-cola and others.

With this award, SBM signify itself as a central and international pivotal point in the field of management as the award

endorses SBM as a Tertiary Institution with high credibility that induces admiration and sparks qualities that others would

follow. The award marks another major milestone for SBM as the Best Brand in Tertiary in Education and SBM as a top

signature brand in The Field of Management. As a Dean of SBM, I am committed to bring SBM to the next level and strive

for the success. I hope this magazine to reach as wide an audience as possible, also I welcome anyone intending

contribute articles for the upcoming issue.

2

Think Smart . Act Fast

We are SBM

“Good, better, best. Never let it rest. Till your good is better and

your better is best”. - St. Jerome

Performance, and especially employee job performance has

continuously been a major challenge in an organizational setting.

It embraces compelling ways to persuade employees to

accomplish and provide higher job performance. Employees are

the basic source of benefits and competitive advantage in any

organization. In other words, the viability and efficiency of an

organization is credited to the viability and productivity of

employee’s performance.

Moreover, employee performance is instrumental to organiza-

tional development and productivity. Therefore, the issue of em-

ployee performance is key to the understanding of organization.

Though it can be determined by many factors, the level of effec-

tiveness and efficiency can be measured in a given organization

via employees’ performance. This is applicable to many organi-

zational structures regardless of sectors.

Work-life balance has been highlighted to influence employee’s

behaviours, demeanours, prosperity as well as organizational

adequacy. It is defined as the equilibrium between amount time

and effort spend by a person in their work and personal life. The

element of work-life balance can be categorized into three

aspects namely: balancing of the time, which is the quantity of

time that set to complete the work and other activities,

participation balance, that includes the combination of

psychological and commitment to work and as well as other

activities roles; and the satisfaction balance, which refers to the

level of satisfaction. It is considered as the most important

agenda in most boardrooms as well as in government today.

It is expected that in the coming decade, work-life balance will

become one of the most important issues to be managed by the

human resource professionals. As reported in Industry Week

Magazine 2012, work life balance is ranked number one while

compensation is ranked second. Furthermore, an employee

having fair work-life balance is considered to work or put 21%

more effort compared to employees who are doing more work

without any balance. On the other hand, past studies show that

work-life balance impacts occupational attitudes such as in job

satisfaction and organizational commitment. The imbalance

between life and work is believed to have personal, family and

organizational implications.

Another essential element is very much related to commitment.

Commitment in the organization is reflected via feeling,

continuation, and regulating commitment. Feeling committed

ascertains if an employee will be absent or remains with the

company. Established studies indicate that a few components

such as gender, attainment, job satisfaction and work ethics

have an effect on the worker’s organizational commitment.

Without doubt when employees are satisfied with their job tends

to lead to higher performance and employee commitment.

WORK-LIFE BALANCE, COMMITMENT AND PERFORMANCE

Abdul Halim Abdul Majid

3

“There’s no such thing as work-life

balance. There are work-life choic-

es, and you make them, and they

have consequences.”

-Jack Welch.

An organisation’s key precedence is their human capital.

Organisations that are aware that human capital is one of their

greatest treasured resources would have an impressive competi-

tive mechanism. In recent years, the traditional arrangement

between employer and the employee has been fundamentally

transformed in a few ways. The shift in the new direction and

focus has elevated the development of human capital to a level

consistent with a brand new source of identity together with a

new meaning for employment and career structures within the

system. Many employers have attempted to comprehend and

appreciate the significant contribution of their employees to the

organisations.

As successful and good organizational performance relies on

employees’ competitiveness and productivity, it is crucial for

organisations to take the necessary steps to attract, develop and

retain employees who possess the required skills and

knowledge. For example, organizational performance of any

successful and reputable organization hinges on its employee’s

capability and levels of competency. In an extremely competitive

marketplace, matching suitable employees with suitable job

roles ensures that an organisation is run well.

The contributions of talented employees are undeniable.

Organisations may choose to focus on financial capital,

information technology, equipment, and excellent processes; but

in the end, their personnel and individual employees are the

most important. Talented employees; especially those with

leadership skills, should not be replaced frequently. Leadership

skills and knowledge are essential to an organisation but at the

same time the effect of recognising people as the most valuable

resource enhances this. Leaders are the most important asset of

an organisation, hence they must be allowed to engage and be

given suitable positions. Any organisation wishing to grow;

especially at the global level, cannot hope to achieve it without

the ability and contribution of employees with leadership skills

and integrity.

Holistically, it is very important that a charismatic leader leads

the organisation and there should be advanced preparation for

succession planning. Nevertheless, some organisations have

neglected leadership succession planning and focused solely on

increasing efficiency. These organisations should realise that

without a plan for leadership development, they will face a major

challenge to meet and maintain staff members who are

knowledgeable, capable and possess good leadership skills. It is

vital that organisations play a dynamic role in recognising and

improving individuals who have the competency and potential to

contribute towards healthier organisational performance.

Ultimately, successful organisational performance depends on

employees’ competitiveness and efficiency; and these potentials

should not be determined lackadaisically. When these

employees start leaving, it is an indication that the organisation

is in trouble. Delivering an effective talent management strategy,

therefore, is very important. Organisations, therefore, must

develop employees with the necessary talent and skills, and

encourage them to serve the organisation for many years. There

are several elements that influence people to switch employers.

Many employees are continuously looking for better career

opportunities at different organisations.

Thus, human resource divisions of all organisations should

introduce new initiatives that enhance their employees’ career

and professional development. Employees who are competent,

inspired must be identified and given suitable training and

exposure. Employers and employees together, have to deal

with the problems concerning career strategies which can yield

advantage to the particular employee and the long-term health of

the organisation. Talented employees is not only about having

mind power, knowledge, experience, skills or physical

characteristics to do something currently; it is also about doing

something different or with a higher order of difficulty and com-

plexity. These human capital development capabilities can be

accomplished through strategic implementation and effective

human resource practices and strategies.

HUMAN CAPITAL: THE ORGANIZATION’S GREATEST TREASURE

Bidayatul Akmal Mustafa Kamil

4

“Human capital will go where it is

wanted, and it will stay where it is

well treated. It cannot be driven; it

can only be attracted.”

-Walter Wriston.

5

In 2016, UUM received one of its highest levels of accreditation

for a business program – AACSB. However, what does this

mean for students? How do they benefit?

AACSB stands for “Association to Advance Collegiate Schools

of Business” (AACSB). AACSB is a global accreditation for

business management courses for both undergraduate and

postgraduate courses. AACSB itself acknowledges that its

accreditation is one of the most difficult tasks to attain that

universities face, as AACSB has strict criteria that must be met

by universities seeking to gain its accreditation. AACSB

originates from the United States of America and was

established in 1916.

Currently, out of 353 AACSB members in Asia (universities who

are starting or are in the process of being accredited), only 84

universities or schools are accredited with AACSB (as of

February 2016). This suggests that students who graduate from

AAACSB accredited institutions are of a high calibre as they

have graduated from universities whose business programs are

acknowledged to be ‘world-standard’.

Presently, students graduating from universities face a very

competitive market and many students face the possibility of

unemployment until they can successfully manage to get

through interviews at their preferred organisations. Here we

discuss some strategies that AACSB accreditation can give

graduates in their quest for successful careers.

Understand what is AACSB Accreditation and the Benefits that

it accords University Students It is interesting that some senior

students are unsure of AACSB accreditation and what it actually

is. AACSB accreditation is a valuable competitive advantage to a

graduating student, but only if he/she knows how to manage this

advantage. Like the phrase says, “use it or lose it”.

AACSB is an accreditation and is an added advantage all

business major students, and will definitely give access to

corporations and organisations which are familiar with it. This

means that organisations that are unfamiliar with AACSB might

not be as appreciative of students who graduate from institutions

with such accreditation. In addition, as it is a business program

specific accreditation, it is unlikely that an organization

dominated by science degree graduates will be familiar with this

accreditation.

Thus strategy #1. Pick an organisation whose members have a

high percentage of business majors and whose members have

graduated from universities with AACSB accreditation or who

come from regions where AACSB accreditation is the norm.

For example, a Malaysian organisation that is mostly made up of

science degree holders might be less appreciative of the AACSB

accreditation say, compared with a multinational corporation or a

global management consulting firm. Situations of course can

change, and as more and more Malaysian universities receive

AACSB accreditation, more people might become familiar with

AACSB and the standards it sets. The reason for the importance

of recognition is that as more recruiters recognize the

accreditation, then the prospective fresh graduate has a better

chance of succeeding the interview process.

Upgrade language and presentation skills

It is of no use, if during interviews, students who have graduated

from AACSB accredited institutions, are unable to communicate

professionally and effectively. Lack of skills in communication

could also lead to a lack of confidence in the students

themselves, thus aggravating the situation.

Strategy #2. Practise, practise and practise using professional

language and upgrading communication skills. The current

primary business language without a doubt is English. Thus

students need to be able to speak and present effectively and

professionally in the English language. Students are therefore

encouraged to use the opportunities available during university

activities to practice their English.

AACSB ACCREDITATION TOWARDS EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITIES FOR GRADUATING STUDENTS

Kadzrina Abdul Kadir

Take part in English communication events; get involved with

international student activities where English is the dominant

language and take part in debate-style club associations to

improve both English skills and confidence levels. When

students not only graduate from AACSB accredited institutions

but also exhibit confident communication skills to back this up,

then the students are on a winning streak towards getting that

dream job and career. The sky is the limit.

Volunteerism and Social Enterprise.

AACSB as an organisation suggests that universities motivate

their students to be more involved in co-curricular activities and

get them involved in volunteerism and be more engaged with the

surrounding community. As part of the focus of IIE (Innovation,

Impact and Engagement), AACSB [which gives guidelines for

universities to prepare to be accredited or maintain their

accreditation], outlines this aspect where university programs

must incorporate activities which promote this and encourage

students to be more engaged with the surrounding community.

This may be through volunteerism, taking part in social

engagement activities or working on projects that could lead to

the development of innovative products.

Thus strategy #3. Get involved in relevant club associations or

community activities.

In conclusion, this article briefly suggests how graduating

students could take advantage of UUM’s AACSB accreditation.

By focusing on the three tips given, it is hoped that students

could make the most of the AACSBB accreditation in order that

this opens a career path to a brighter future.

6

ORGANISATIONAL MANAGEMENT: FROM THE POINT OF VIEW OF

LISTENING.

Rajoo Ramanchandram/Shahmir Sivaraj Abdullah

Listening, though it may sound like a simple word, is more

complex than what a lot of people might assume it to be. It is

always assumed to be the same as hearing, but in reality, they

might be related but not the same. Hearing can be defined as an

involuntary action of perceiving sound. For example, when you

are in your office, you might be able to hear the sound of a lorry

passing by your office. Therefore, unless we plug our ears with

something or close them with our hands, we will be hearing

things most of the time.

On the other hand, listening is a more complicated process

which requires activities such as hearing, attending to and

understanding, evaluating and responding to spoken messages.

As such, listening will require more work as compared to hearing

and hearing is an important part of listening. Listening requires

the use of our brain power to analyse and make sense of what

we hear with our ears. Being a manager, listening plays an

important part in the day to day operation of an organization. It is

an important tool that can be used to receive feedback from the

employee, acquire new information or knowledge and to find out

what’s going on in the organization. Apart from that, giving some

listening time to your employees will also show that you care

about them and they are accepted and important to the

organization. Therefore, it is paramount for a manager to have

good listening skills.

This first skill that a person needs to know in order to become a

good listener is to stop talking. After all, it is not easy to talk and

listen at the same time. Being able to empathize with the

speaker will also make it easier for a person to understand the

message. I would also like to highlight that effective listening is

not a one way process. Therefore, when a person is confused

and not sure of what he has just heard, he should always seek

clarification from the speaker. He can do so by paraphrasing

what the speaker had said. For example, “If I understand this

correctly, you are telling me that I am stupid”. He can also ask

the speaker to repeat himself. A good speaker should always

keep an open mind and be able to accept ideas which are good

even though it is not in line with his personal views. Finally, a

good listener must also be able to show interest in what he is

about to hear. The show of interest will provide a positive signal

to the speaker that we are really ready to listen to what he wants

to say. For example, a manager can close his door to lock out

other distractions, in order to show his employee who is in the

office that he is really interested and ready to listen to the

employee’s opinion.

7

Marketers are responsible for developing an appropriate brand

that can sell and be acceptable to customers because they have

the necessary knowledge and training about what it takes to

make a brand work and succeed. Hence, assigning this

responsibility to the marketing department seems to be the most

appropriate thing to do. However, many scholars and

practitioners have begun to question whether such a role should

be left entirely to the marketing department and employees who

directly interact with customers.

Do other employees, who are not directly involved in promoting

the brand, should be left out? Many agree that the outward focus

on brand management is simply insufficient to help a brand

become successful; hence, many commentators have started

advocating the inward look where the focus is on the employees

in general who are also likely to help promote and sell the brand.

In other words, while the ultimate and final recipient of brand

patronage are the external customers, equally important is the

need for the organization to market the brand to its internal cus-

tomers, who are its employees.

Internal branding can be conceptualized as an attempt to “sell”

the brand to employees so that they can demonstrate consistent

brand work behaviours and attitudes and project the brand

image of the organization to external stakeholders.

The key focus of internal branding initiatives is to transform

employees to become brand ambassadors or brand advocates.

Employees have to be convinced about the brand value

proposition of the company they are representing. When they

have accepted the value proposition of the company brand and

have the shared understanding of the importance of the brand, it

is speculated that they will be enthusiastic and motivated to

show the relevant attitudes and behaviours that reflect the brand

and deliver the brand promise to the customers effectively. As a

result, the customers’ brand experience is likely to be enhanced,

which is likely to influence their brand loyalty thereby influencing

the company’s bottom line.

Because employees can either be a brand builder or a brand

destroyer, it is vital that the external and internal branding

strategies are aligned. This is important when an organization

adapts brand-centred HRM. The initiatives of the HR department

cannot be a stand-alone measure rather, it is the process of

developing brand ambassadors where the marketing department

acts as an active partner by providing the necessary input and

feedback to the HR department.

This is because the marketing department knows what it takes to

make a brand successful. Such collaborative partnership be-

tween the two functional departments is likely to ensure that the

alignment in the external and internal brand strategies is suc-

cessful. It is also noteworthy that the HR department be able to

transform employees into becoming the company’s brand am-

bassadors.

THE ROLE OF HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT IN DEVELOPING BRAND AMBASSADORS

Ahmad Said

“You save tremendous amounts of

time, energy and money when you

tap into the human resources of a

business at every level.”

-Stephen Covey.

8

Identifying and developing employees for future leadership roles

is a key to sustaining business development. Many

organizations are currently using succession planning as a tool

to develop and retain successful leaders in organization.

Succession planning is a systematic process in identifying,

assessing and preparing a pool of potential employees to

assume new leadership roles in organization. Basically,

succession planning is an ongoing and dynamic process that

helps an organization to align its business goals and employee

development needs.

The value of succession planning in managing human capital is

one of the main contributors to an organization’s effectiveness.

In fact, succession planning helps an organization to identify and

appoint right leaders for leading its business activity. Figure 1

shows an interesting finding from a survey on succession

planning practice. The statistics show that organizations are

ready to have proper succession planning to identify and

preparing future leaders as its main motivator (87.3% as a

motivation driver). The second reason was to assure business

continuity (74%), and create opportunity for internal

advancement (64.4%). These three motivators give a clear

message to managers that they have to plan for future

replacement and ensure employees are ready when they decide

to promote employees from within and to make necessary

changes without being hampered by a lack of a systematic

replacement plan.

Another crucial role of succession planning is to support

business growth and sustainability. There is no holistic

approach for applying the best succession planning model for

supporting business development in organization. This is

because organizations have different business needs, variety of

its workforce compositions and employee competency. Most

organizations are trying to use a variety of strategies and

approaches for managing succession planning. There are five

components of succession planning including top management

support, methods to identify skill gaps, selection of talented

internal employees, internal disclosure of the selection system

and training and development programs. For instance, a variety

of strategies must be developed in training and development as

a platform for continuous development inside an organization.

Another model presented in Figure 2 has been developed for

exercising succession planning. The six components that were

identified are determining key positions, benchmarking key

positions, identifying key talent, assessing key talent, gap

analysis and development plan, and monitoring and review.

Ideally, to determine key positions, managers need to identify

talented employees available in an organization.

In conclusion, succession planning is crucial for developing

talented employees in an organization. Most importantly, it

helps organization to identify and develop future leaders from

inside an organization. Putting its potential benefits on business

sustainability as the main priority, managers need to devote

considerable effort and resources to implement succession

planning effectively. Even though succession planning is a

difficult task, organization needs to identify, evaluate and solve

all potential barriers as an effort for preparing continuous

employee development and preparing future leaders in

organization.

THE VALUE OF SUCCESSION PLANNING

Md Lazim Mohd Zin

9

The International Standard Organization (ISO) is expected to

publish its first ever draft international standard on Knowledge

Management (KM) in 2018. The new ISO KM draft standard was

recently released for public review. ISO is the world's largest

developer of international standards. Its members comprised

representatives from various national standards organizations

including the Standard and Industrial Research Institute of

Malaysia (SIRIM).

The ISO KM Standard is entitled “ISO 30401 Knowledge

Management Systems”. It is to be noted that similar to the

ISO 9001 Quality Management Systems, the word “system” in

the name does not refer to IT systems but rather management

systems that promotes effective management of knowledge

resources within an organization.

The ISO 30401 Knowledge Management Systems is a manage-

ment systems standard that is applicable to all organizations,

regardless of size, field of business, that wish to attain world

class excellence in Knowledge Management. The Standard is

applicable for both profit and non-profit organizations.

As a new managerial discipline, there is no single accepted defi-

nition for Knowledge management. As stated in the ISO

30401 Knowledge Management Systems draft standard, there

are many Knowledge Management barriers, many confusions

with other disciplines such as IT and many misconceptions such

as the view that simply buying an advance IT system will be

enough for KM to add value and secure competitive advantage

for an organization.

The ISO 30401 Knowledge Management Systems aims to sup-

port organizations to develop management systems that effec-

tively promote and enable value-creation through knowledge. It

provides guidance to organizations on how to approach KM and

it establishes management systems requirements for implement-

ing KM such as KM leadership, KM culture, KM planning, KM

support, KM operation, KM performance evaluation and KM im-

provement.

Knowledge Management can assist in the attainment of almost

all organizational and business objectives. The new ISO

Knowledge Management Standard is very relevant to all

Malaysian organisations to help them compete more effectively

in today’s knowledge economy through better management of

their knowledge resources.

This standard is also applicable to local organisations that al-

ready have the ISO 9001 Quality Management Standard. It is

recommended that every organisation in Malaysia takes priority

action to prepare for the implementation and attain their

respective ISO 30401 Knowledge Management Systems

certification.

The new ISO Knowledge Management Standard can help local

organizations benchmark their management of critical

knowledge resources against world standards and help

Malaysian businesses and industries move up the global value

chain.

NEW ISO STANDARD ON KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT

Yenwan Chong

“Anyone who has never made a

mistake has never tried anything

new.”

-Albert Einstein.

10

Open innovation is a paradigm that explains a new dimension of

innovation. Traditionally, innovation is said to be ‘closed’ in

nature and has been the way most industries operate.

Introduced by Henry Chesbrough in 2003, open innovation, is

referred as “the use of purposive inflows and outflows of

knowledge to accelerate internal innovation, and expand the

markets for external use of innovation, respectively”.

Further in 2006, Chesbrough provided a more detailed version of

open innovation where he pointed that open innovation is a par-

adigm that assumes firms can and should use external ideas as

well as internal ideas, and internal and external paths to market,

as the firms look to advance their technology. Open innovation

combines internal and external ideas into architectures and

systems whose requirements are defined by business models.

Coupled with the advancement of technology such as

crowdsourcing, social media, web applications and many more,

the innovation paradigm has now shifted towards a more open

platform, which allows resources to be shared and exchanged

via collaborations with external parties. To stand out, a company

must be able to leverage not only the internal strengths but also

to work jointly with other outside experts. Open innovation

prioritizes “joint efforts from in-house capabilities and possible

outsourcing or combination of several input paths during the

product or service development”.

Trust is often argued to be an essential component in successful

collaborative networks. As innovation, inherently is a risky

process, and collaborating with external partners whom needs

and wants varies among each other throughout the innovation

process, trust is seen as an effective approach to solve control

issues which brings along mutual benefits among the

collaborative parties under the boundaries of reciprocity and

conditional cooperation.

Throughout the process and along the way, as partners build

stronger relationships, they develop more solid attachments,

wh ich wi l l ease the changing process fo r

mutual benefit. Trust can be viewed from various perspectives

such as trust characteristics, innovation performance,

organizational context, knowledge sharing, technology etc.

For instance, in the case of innovation performance, there has

been evidence that although the measurements of the existing

open innovation practices are still highly debated by the major

industry players, satisfaction among large firms on the open

innovation performances is positively correlated with the support

by the top management in the area of building trust, generating

new knowledge and dealing with low reciprocity commitment

among team members to ensure successful open innovation

performance.

As Malaysia envisions achieving a high-income and advanced

nation by 2020, it is important to unlock the productivity of the

country, while at the same time transform the innovation into

wealth creation. It is therefore important for the country to create

more activities in place to strengthen the network dynamicity and

sustainability between players throughout the open innovation

process.

TRUST AS THE CENTREPIECE TO OPEN INNOVATION

Siti Noratisah Mohd Nafi

“The key to serenity is trusting that

the universe has your back.”

-Gabrielle Bernstein.

11

Work pressure is the sum of the amount of work (workload) and

the time set aside to finish that work as compared with the

employee's ability to cope. Workload pressure, work stress, work

conflicts are among the unpleasant situation that employees are

exposed in the working environment.

As workload pressure may influence individual performance,

examining how workload pressure impacts the creativeness of

an individual in their job environment. A common viewpoint is

that workload pressure leads to negative influences but may

differ among individuals. A combination of positive and negative

influences of workload pressure on individuals is discussed hith-

erto.

Earlier research on negative impact suggests that there are

certain factors which suppress creativity are unrealistic

expectations, extreme deadlines or environmental distraction.

Further research needs to be carried out to determine which

environments may not be very supportive towards creativity or

towards creative individuals. This predicament can be prevented

by reducing administrative and marketing activity to give

educators more time in preparing and designing delivery

materials.

Thus, it will be a more conducive to allocate more time for edu-

cators in preparing their modules creatively by

incorporating several methods such as problem based learning

or active learning methods. Therefore, supervisors or top

management also need to play an important role in providing

favourable work environment as there are lack of initiatives

taken by managers to create working environment that can

support creativity depict aware of the importance of it.

The educators of all these PHEIs (Private Higher Education

Institution) have been subjected to many requirements which

might not be directly related to education or academic in nature

but more towards business orientated tasks.

The amount of workload private educators are facing is not only

limited to their teaching responsibilities but it also encompasses

the business structure such as recruitment of new students, mar-

keting and branding activities. Their job performance is not only

rated on the ability to educate but on their marketing endeav-

ours. Thus, their future creativity inclination in future might se-

verely erode. These impacts have a far reaching consequence

on their own creativeness but will also impact future graduates,

who are the end product.

WORKLOAD PRESSURE AND CREATIVITY IN HIGHER INSTITUTIONS

Abdullahi Hassan Gorondutse

“The real pressure will make you

strong and the unnecessary pres-

sure will break you.”

-Darpan Chhabra

12

Open innovation is a paradigm that explains a new dimension of

innovation. Traditionally, innovation is said to be ‘closed’ in

nature and has been the way most industries operate.

Introduced by Henry Chesbrough in 2003, open innovation, is

referred as “the use of purposive inflows and outflows of

knowledge to accelerate internal innovation, and expand the

markets for external use of innovation, respectively”.

Further in 2006, Chesbrough provided a more detailed version of

open innovation where he pointed that open innovation is a par-

adigm that assumes firms can and should use external ideas as

well as internal ideas, and internal and external paths to market,

as the firms look to advance their technology. Open innovation

combines internal and external ideas into architectures and

systems whose requirements are defined by business models.

Coupled with the advancement of technology such as

crowdsourcing, social media, web applications and many more,

the innovation paradigm has now shifted towards a more open

platform, which allows resources to be shared and exchanged

via collaborations with external parties.

To stand out, a company must be able to leverage not only the

internal strengths but also to work jointly with other outside ex-

perts. Open innovation prioritizes “joint efforts from in-house

capabilities and possible outsourcing or combination of several

input paths during the product or service development”.

Trust is often argued to be an essential component in successful

collaborative networks. As innovation, inherently is a risky

process, and collaborating with external partners whom needs

and wants varies among each other throughout the innovation

process, trust is seen as an effective approach to solve control

issues which brings along mutual benefits among the

collaborative parties under the boundaries of reciprocity and

conditional cooperation.

Throughout the process and along the way, as partners build

stronger relationships, they develop more solid attachments,

wh ich wi l l ease the changing process fo r

mutual benefit. Trust can be viewed from various perspectives

such as trust characteristics, innovation performance,

organizational context, knowledge sharing, technology etc.

For instance, in the case of innovation performance, there has

been evidence that although the measurements of the existing

open innovation practices are still highly debated by the major

industry players, satisfaction among large firms on the open

innovation performances is positively correlated with the support

by the top management in the area of building trust, generating

new knowledge and dealing with low reciprocity commitment

among team members to ensure successful open innovation

performance.

As Malaysia envisions achieving a high-income and advanced

nation by 2020, it is important to unlock the productivity of the

country, while at the same time transform the innovation into

wealth creation. It is therefore important for the country to create

more activities in place to strengthen the network dynamicity and

sustainability between players throughout the open innovation

process.

THE ROLES AND RESPONSIBILITIES OF US IN MANAGING WORKPLACE SAFETY

Zuraida Hassan

“Everybody comes to the table and

we all understand what our roles

and responsibilities are.”

-Kristin Hannahu.

13

The BrandLaureate BEST BRANDS Award

Signature Brand Tertiary Education

School of Business Management

2017-2018

“thebrandlaureate”

SBM’S ACTIVITIES

IR 4.0: THE WAY FORWARD TO MARKETING IN 21ST CENTURY

(15 MAY 2017)

SBM “BUBUR LAMBUK” PREPARATION AND

DISTRIBUTION (25 APRIL 2018)

SBM VISIT FORMER EMPLOYEE

(9 MAY 2018)

SAS ACADEMIC VISIT TO SBM

(23 MAY 2018)

VISIT FROM PHUKET RAJABHAT UNIVERSITY, SHARING

KNOWLEDGE & EXPERIENCE” (6 JUNE 2018)

SBM UUM SINGED MOU WITH KHON KHEN UNIVERSITY,

THAILAND (21 MAY 2018)

KASU PACT DRAWS UUM CLOSER TO NIGERIA

(3 MAY 2018)

SBM PROVIDES PLATFORM TO PRODUCE YOUNG

ENTREPRENEURS (2 MAY 2018)

14

THINK SMART . ACT FAST

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