DEVELOPING

SUSTAINABLE

FUTURES

MANAGEMENT APPRENTICESHIP PROGRAMME

ENGAGING WORK CULTURE ON

SIME DARBY’S CORPORATE
VALUE
RESPECT AND RESPONSIBILITY
Introduction

First of all, we as a group would like to thank Sime Darby Berhad for giving us the

opportunity to seize something which other unemployed fresh graduates all over Malaysia. We

are from group two and also known as “Dark Purple” in this Management Apprenticeship

Programme (MAP) 2009 conducted by Sime Darby Berhad associated with the Malaysian

Government. We are consisting of 48 members as a whole and for this assignment we have

cracked into five subgroups. So, we are one the subgroup out of “Dark Purple” which assigned

to do on “engaging work culture on Sime Darby’s corporate value respect and responsibility. In

this subgroup, 10 of us have our own tasks to be done and prepare for the given title.

In Sime Darby’s corporate values, respect and responsibility is one of the corporate

values. It defines for the people we work with and the environment we operate within. What are

we going to discuss over here is regarding the participants who have joined MAP 2009 and how

much they are aware of this particular value. As far as what we have seen via the questionnaires

passed around, we got to know that all the participants who have joined this programme are

concern about this core value. We have passed the questionnaire to 10 members from each group

which as a whole 10 main groups including “Dark Purple”.

After the first “ice-breaking” session, the second day itself, we were taught what the core

Sime Darby’s corporate values are. Sime Darby Berhad is the current first ranked company in the

Bursa Saham Malaysia (KLSE). It has the vision and mission to developing sustainable futures

for everyone in Sime Darby’s community.

 In this assignment, we have specified what respect and responsibility means to everyone

of the participants in MAP 2009. The participants are well known about the Sime Darby’s

development and core businesses in the sense of respect and responsibility to guide us to move

forward in our new phase. We have shown the purpose, scope, Gantt chart, methodology, and

finding to prove how was the response from the sample participants in MAP 2009.

Purpose

The purpose of this research is to identify the level of awareness with regards to one (1) of the

five (5) core values in Sime Darby, which is: “Respect & Responsibility”.

Scope

The scope of this research is to determine the level of understanding of “Respect &

Responsibility” among Management Apprentice Programme (MAP) participants.

Executive Summary

Sime Darby applies the values of respect and responsibility in every fields and divisions.

Due to that kind of cultural work, Sime Darby begins to lead as one of the multinational

company that involved in 5 core sectors which are plantations, property, industrial, motors and

energy and utilities, with growing business in healthcare. Each and every employee must show

the respect to each other no matter in term of work load, status, and among the colleagues. The

important of the subject is to highlight and promote moral values in order to increase

productivity.

Responsibility is the key element in promoting good cultural work. The sense of helping

each other is crucial to achieve good relations and good team player. Why is it so important?, it is

because from caring and responsibility comes the respect. In multinational company, respect is

not only shown in language but the body language also plays it roles. It means that the effect of

body gestures may also promotes the sense of conducive among the workers to achieve good

environment during working.

The key element of total responsibility management approaches are based on 4 pillars

which are environment, education, sports and community. First is the environment where the

company is responsible in maintaining the environment safety and security. For example, in

plantation division during planting the palm tree, the company needs to make sure it doesn’t

harm the environment surround. Next is the education, where Sime Darby is responsible for the

future and young Malaysian talent to be trained as the next generation of Sime Darby. Besides,

through sports, the community could be closed together and it improves cultural work bonding

among them.
 The key element of the project is the findings. It is shown that the respondents are mostly

practices the values of respect and responsibility. It is started from the individual and expands to

the community. The responsibility is strong when each of the persons promotes the values. In

conclusion, respect and responsibility are important and to start with it must begins with

individuals then to the community. That would lead to the strongest company in the world.
FINDINGS

50 questionnaires have been distributed to 50 Sime Darby Management Apprenticeship Program

participants. 35 of the respondents are man and the rest are women.
From the

chart, 90% of

the

respondents were agreed with the statement while 10% did not agree. Most of the respondents

pay their respect to their colleagues.

74% of the

respondents believe that respect is something that we earn but 26% of the respondent says that

respect is something being asked for. From the chart, we can conclude that, we can earn respect

if we respect others.
All the respondents say that the top management should pay respect to their employees. This is

very important to make sure all the task given from the top management can be done smoothly

by the employees. Since the job can be done smoothly, the productions of respective companies

or institutions can increase.

80% of the respondents says that employees should take responsible in every task that has been

assign from the top management. 20% did not agree with the statement. In order to make sure the

entire job given by the top management can be done on time, employees should be responsible

with all their works or task.

60% of the respondents agree that only project manager must be responsible and accountable for

the assignment, while 40 % of the respondents were not agreeing with the statement. Project

Manager plays an important role and being responsible in managing the projects.
GANTT CHART

Jul 2009
ID Task Name Start Finish Duration
12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23

1 Create Team 7/12/2009 7/12/2009 1d

2 Brainstorming Session 7/13/2009 7/13/2009 1d

3 Gather Information 7/13/2009 7/15/2009 3d

4 Essay Submission 7/16/2009 7/16/2009 1d

5 Obtaining Report Format 7/17/2009 7/17/2009 1d

6 Task Breakdown 7/18/2009 7/18/2009 1d

Design/ Distribute findings of the
7 7/17/2009 7/20/2009 4d
Questionnaire
8 Progress Checklist 7/17/2009 7/22/2009 6d

9 Final Progress 7/21/2009 7/22/2009 2d

10 Report Compilation 7/22/2009 7/22/2009 1d

11 Preparation for Slide Presentation 7/21/2009 7/22/2009 2d

12 Slide Presentation 7/23/2009 7/23/2009 1d

13 Report Submission 7/23/2009 7/23/2009 1d

Recommendation

The university should focus on respect and responsibilities value among their student.

This is a good preparation for them before facing the real working area. The student must be

exposing in the real working environment and learn how to take the responsibilities. Student also

must learn how to respect people especially for the senior people. This is important to build the

strong relationship for each other.

The company should plan offers raises, commissions, bonuses, or gifts tied to

achievement. By first establishing effective benchmarks and measurement tools, the company

can then create an incentive plan that rewards people for exceeding the benchmarks. This method

will increase the spirit especially for the worker to work very hard with full of responsible. The

senior worker also should teach the junior worker how to become good worker. This is because

the senior have much experience and skill to train their junior. The senior worker should play a

role to their junior worker to become more responsible and more respective person. The

company should plan a motivation program for their workers. The program is important to make

the worker feel enthusiastic and passion about their work and will make them more responsibility

and respective. The program also can make the workers understand about themselves and love

their work. Although the company should spend much on the motivational cost, it will give many

benefits especially for the workers in long term and will give much profit to the company.
CONCLUSION

With regards to the subjects mentioned above: Respect and Responsibility. It is essential

and crucial for a multi-national company like Sime Darby with its current operation in over 20

countries and close to 100,000 employees to engage work culture on company’s corporate values

– respect and responsibility.

Without the sense of respect and responsibility, Malaysia’s largest listed company which

involves in 5 core sector – plantation, property, industrial, motor, energy & utilities with growing

business in healthcare, it’s impracticable for Sime Darby to enhance recent market capitalization

of RM34 billion.

Moreover, respect is something that people earn. Thus, the company recognizes the

importance to instill and inspire the corporate value within the reputable organization. The

employers in higher-ranking management should always lead by example their subordinates

which mostly involves in operation and executive division. A great leader will produce more

leaders in future. Hence, the company shall increase their assets and market capitalizations.

Subsequently, Sime Darby will gain more profit and growth.

Great power comes with great responsibility. All employees within the organization must

be responsible and accountable to accomplish the entire undertakings with full integrity. Each of

everyone should adhere strongly to the principle of responsibility. As a result, it is the key growth

for Sime Darby to expand further and becomes the leading multinational organization in the

world.
References

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/respect

http://www.beyondintractability.org/essay/respect/

http://www.uwm.edu/cbagnoli.pdf

http://www.answer.com/topic/responsibility

http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/responsibility
Appendix

GROUP 2 (DARK PURPLE)

Respect and Responsibility

Gender :
Age :
Division :

1. Do you respect your colleagues?

Yes No

2. Respect is something that you earn but not something that you ask for. Do you agree with
this statement?

Yes No

3. Usually, employee pay their respect to top management. But do you agree if the top
management should pay their respect to employees?

Yes No

4. Do you agree that employees must be responsible to every task that had been given from
their boss/ top management?

Yes No
5. In a project, only Project Manager must be responsible and accountable for the assignment,
Do you agree?

Yes No