Cultural Environments Multiculturalism in Singapore: An Example For an example of a country that is committed to multiculturalism as a political and cultural imperative, consider the country of Singapore. Singapore is widely recog- nized as a highly successful multicultural society. Its population of about five million consists of roughly 74 percent Chinese, 13 percent Malays, 9 percent Indians, and the rest Eurasians and others. Together they represent numerous diverse religious faiths - Buddhist, Christian, Muslim, Taoist, Hindu, Sikh, and Jewish - all crammed into an area of a little over 700 km’, making it one of the most densely populated countries in the world. This diversity of peoples living in close proximity to one another is potentially explosive but, remarkably, Singapore is distinguished by a high level of social and cultural harmony.” From its inception, Singapore has sought to integrate the various racial and cultural groups into a peaceful, workable society, with a unifying identity. Without this, many understood that this small state, with few natural resources, would likely not have survived. How did the new government accomplish this? Mainly through a high degree of state centralization and intervention; separation of state and religion; maintaining a secular neutralism vis-i-vis religion; recognition of the languages of the major ‘communities, Malay, Chinese (Mandarin), and Tamil, as well as English; a system of meritocracy as opposed to one of nepotism and cronyism; and what some opponents call a de facto one-party government, which has ensured continuity of government policy. A principal tool the government uses to forge cultural and religious harmony is the education system. Instruction in the public schools is in English, although pupils also study their mother tongues. A sense of national pride and identity, as well as racial, religious, and cultural consensus, is instilled through a broad-based social studies program. Another means to bring the various groups together was an ethnic integration policy in which each of the major cultures were given a representative quota of homes in various housing blocks. Once that limit has been reached, no further sale of flats to that ethnic group was allowed. According to one survey, Singaporeans rate citizenship higher than the demands of their religion because of the high degree of religious tolerance, both between government and religions, and between the religions themselves. Second, the main state language, English, does not conflict with the “languages of religion.” Third is the lack of a clear ethno- linguistic-religious majority, which prevents the political dominance of a particular group. Lastly, Singapore's phenomenal economic success and prosperity have served both to minimize tensions and to motivate the various groups to work together to maintain the state's position as one of Asia's more dynamic economies. While not all the citizens of the country are rich, the standard of living is comparable to that inManager's Notebook North America and Wester Europe. A recent survey found that 11.4 percent of Singaporean households are considered millionaires, the largest proportion in the world. 1. Why do outside observers describe Singapore as a successful multicultural society? 2. Are these characteristics easlly transferrable to other multi-ethnic societies? Why, or why not? 3. What are the challenges facing Singaporeans living and working in a multicul- ‘tural society? Explain. 4. What are the implications for managers working in this society? Working Across Cultures We have now come full circle, from looking for general dimensions with which to compare cultures to understanding that cultures are indeed complex and at times contradictory. What can we take away from this discussion? Cultures are not easily pigeonholed into groups and categories. As Edward Hall notes, “Culture hides much. more than it reveals, and strangely enough what it hides, it hides most effectively from its own participants.”*? Caution is certainly in order. Added to this is an understanding of the important role that culture and context play in influencing managerial action. These complexities and contradictions raise the intriguing question of how managers should act or react when they find themselves in the middle of cultural tension or change. A major challenge here is, that different cultures often require very different behaviors from their managers, and what is acceptable in one country may be offensive in another. This is not surprising, but it nevertheless presents real challenges for managers when interact- ing with - and sometimes managing ~ a global workforce. How should managers behave, and will they be accepted when they are charged with accomplishing corporate objectives in a foreign culture? Should managers be themselves or try to adapt their management style to fit local customs and expectations? Fundamen- tally, how can they survive and succeed when they don't understand the rules of the game, and the rules that they do understand change often, or do not apply to the specific individuals or contexts they are dealing with? 61