Thoughts about Work: Freedom and Innovation

By this time next week, I will be left on my own in the office. My senior colleague who has been acting as Team Lead for the past 8 months will be moving on to a new assignment. I will be reporting to my American boss, who is based in India and he in turn reports to his boss in the Netherlands. When I joined this company two and a half years ago, I worked under a British boss. He left late last year and his post was filled by my current boss, an Indian expatriate whose 4-year assignment here in Malaysia is up and is now moving on to Europe. Such is the dynamics of working in a multinational company. If you wish, you can travel the world, go to different places for an assignment, see different cultures, meet various people and have a healthy bank account along the way too.

Before I joined this company, I worked for a GLC and a consultancy. In my previous jobs, I have always worked with a Malaysian boss. What I find interesting about working with expatriate bosses is that not only do they allow you to express your ideas, but they also expect you to challenge their ideas or decisions. During discussions, when he comes up with an idea he’d urge me to challenge him. Being Malaysian, we tend to respect and not argue too much with our boss. Bosses are expected to be right and subordinates are to take their words as gospel truth. These expatriates must have been quite surprised to find how little we Malaysians argue with our boss even when we’re encouraged to do so. In fact, having been brought up in a culture which puts so much respect to our elders and people with authority, it’s very difficult to disagree with your own boss. There is hesitation to say directly to them that they could be wrong even when it is perfectly all right to say it without fear of retribution. This is one cultural clash that I find interesting and perhaps something that we can learn from.

I remember in my previous company, when the VP spoke nobody dared to interrupt even though he’d been babbling for 3 hours non-stop. In fact nobody seemed to be able to lift their full bladder from the chair and visit the toilet in those 3 hours! And nobody touched the food or drinks before the old man did it. How can you expect the subordinates to argue with the boss when they would not even dare to touch the curry puffs which are yearning to be eaten in front of them! In contrast, in this European-based multinational, I was shocked to find that an expatriate, who was just a mere senior engineer could raise his voice and express his disagreement on the policy taken by the company’s president in a meeting seating just beside the VP. I know I sound a bit exaggerating but I just picked two extreme examples from my own work experience.

I think the freedom to express their opinion is one of the reasons why Western companies are successful in innovation. It encourages cross-fertilisation of innovative ideas and creative solutions. This is what our education system should inculcate in our young generation’s mind. We should start from the time when our children are still at pre-school. They should be encouraged to express themselves and build up confidence in presenting their ideas and arguing their case. Based on my own experience and casual observation, I find this confidence lacking in our students, employees and people in general. We are victims of our own authoritarian culture. The emphasis on respect for authority might have worked well for agrarian society in which common people relied heavily on their rich and powerful landlords to provide for basic needs. But we have gone past that stage. In today’s modern world, the success of a country depends very much on how innovative and resilient it can be in the competition for foreign investment and the best talents. Our country’s leaders always espouse “Asian Values” where respect for people with authority is held as the glue that keeps our country’s stability. Critics say that this is just an excuse for authoritarian leaders to keep their restless people under control. Perhaps there is truth in both arguments. But as far as innovation in a company is concerned, I’m of the opinion that freedom is a necessary ingredient for innovation to prosper.