Why Me?

Janson Yap

Description

The book is a reflection of a post-COVID world, workplace, work and worker. It focuses on the stresses COVID has created, especially in the context of the accelerated, rapidly changing work environment. The book adopts a Singaporean perspective in viewing the nexus between the forces of change, culture and management as it relates to work.
In considering how best to increase employee engagement, employee motivation and productivity, it proposes a framework through which leaders, talent practitioners and managers can organise worker collaboration and generate synergy in the process, cumulatively encapsulated by the notion of workplace culture. The book concludes with a view of the futures of work, the main forces of change, complex (wicked) change and a way forward.

Sujets

• Business Development
• Economics
• Development
• Business

Informations

• Publié par: Partridge Publishing Singapore
• Date de parution: 29 août 2022
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781543771114
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 1 Mo

Extrait

Why ME?
 
 
Motivations and Expectations of the Worker in a Wicked World
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Special Feature:
A Singaporean Perspective
 
Copyright © 2022 Janson Yap . All rights reserved.
 
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the publisher except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.
 
 
 
 
www.partridgepublishing.com/singapore
 
 
Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.
 
ISBN
978-1-5437-7110-7 (sc)
978-1-5437-7112-1 (hc)
978-1-5437-7111-4 (e)
 
 
 
10/19/2022
 
 
 

 
Dedicated to:
Samantha Mah, Stephanie Yap, Cheo Ming You,
Michael Yap, Samuel Yap and Ethan Cheo
My parents
Family, friends and acquaintances

 
A Better Future, Full of Hope
Noah’s painting is about love, growth, care, bonding, and teams working towards a better future full of hope. The heart shape is superimposed on a jigsaw puzzle to suggest interlocking relationships between people that create love, harmony, and a united society. The many leaves reflect diversity but also a fundamental similarity: there are many shapes and shades, but all leaves form part of the beauty of nature. Of particular topical interest are the orange leaves, veined to represent tiger stripes, which symbolises the strength and power of the tiger in the Year of the Tiger.
Gallery’s Viewpoint
Noah’s jigsaw puzzle, with different shapes fitting nicely together, illustrates how people with different characteristics and working experiences can live together harmoniously in society. With correct guidance, we can achieve positive cross-cultural outcomes, just like the beautiful heart-shaped puzzle.

求同存异 qíu tóng cún yì—Seek common ground while preserving differences
Calligraphy by Dr Ho Chee Lick 何自力
Retired Senior Lecturer
CONTENTS
Foreword
Prologue
Acknowledgements
About the Author: Janson Yap
The Research Team
PART 1       ANYTHING BUT NORMAL
Chapter 1       At a Time like This
Chapter 2       A Singapore Perspective
Chapter 3       Nothing Is Consistent but Change
Chapter 4       A New and Different World
PART 2       BETTER ANSWERS NEEDED
Chapter 5       Understanding Human Behaviours
Chapter 6       The Leader in ME
Chapter 7       BE ONE
PART 3       ANYTHING ELSE?
Chapter 8       Future World
Chapter 9       The Wicked Problem
Chapter 10     Platform for Better Success
 
Afterword
Candid Shots
Bibliography
 
Times Past Do Become Memories
Times Forward Is Still A Mystery
Janson Yap
Foreword
A journey of greater knowledge and adaptability
Dr Janson Yap’s candid account of the motivations behind his latest book, Why ME?, is inspiring and refreshing. Our circumstances do not define our attitudes, and we witness good progress when we focus on each other’s abilities rather than disabilities.
Art and Literature are powerful mediums through which we can express our stories. This book gives artists from Arts and Disability Singapore (ART:DIS) the opportunity to express themselves through drawings and illustrations, and in the process, bringing ideas raised in this book to life. Such ground-up initiatives complement Government efforts in strengthening cross-sector collaborations to provide persons with disabilities greater access to both arts and sports.
This book explores work culture in a post-pandemic world and engages the reader to think about the cultural and social issues at the workplace. These conversations are necessary as we work collectively to build an even more caring and inclusive Singapore.
Mr Eric Chua
Senior Parliamentary Secretary
Ministry of Culture, Community and Youth
& Ministry of Social and Family Development
 
Optimising Employees’ Engagement and Synergy
Why ME? takes you on a journey through the COVID pandemic and the post-normal world of work that it has left in its wake. It adopts a personal account of how all matters work to converge into probably the greatest disruptions to the lives of billions of people across the globe. The book’s unique Singaporean outlook, combined with the unresolved mystery of the nature of work culture, makes for an interesting proposition—a framework for optimising employee engagement and organisational synergy.
The framework proposed by the book is meant to provide a practical and holistic guide to navigating multicultural work contexts. The tensions between dominant cultures are also neatly interwoven into the narrative of the book, culminating in a lucid view of what the world of work may look like in the future. Dr Yap adeptly leads the reader through critical reflections of our time that seek to understand a complex and non-linear world typified by unprecedented change.
Dr Luke van der Laan
Associate Professor
 
Making a Positive Difference to Work Culture in a Post-Pandemic Future
Why ME? is set in a post-COVID-19 world, taking readers down memory lane through the evolution of the world and some of the global challenges that we can all connect to in some manner. The years 2020 and 2021 will go down in history as two of the most difficult years in recent memory. This book’s recounting of these historical events serves as a good reference to some of the pandemic’s global responses and ramifications, as well as how we could be better prepared for similar epidemics in the future. The escalation of mental health challenges in recent years have brought mental wellness into light as more people are coping with depression and anxiety. Many are seeking help and opening up about their struggles as they share their healing journey. Society can do more to help this vulnerable group, and the social impact that Dr Janson Yap is driving through this book is to be applauded.
Work culture models take centre stage in Why ME? , and the book offers practical models for how leaders might adjust to changing worker Motivations and Expectations in a post-pandemic future. The framework and recommendations have given me new perspectives with which to negotiate work difficulties and conflicts while strengthening the general culture of the organisation and embracing diversity, all while making a positive difference.
Dato YB Steven Sim
Prologue
Never let a good crisis go to waste.
Winston Churchill
I have benefited from the efforts of writing this book. The title is a play on the word ME as an acronym for Motivations and Expectations. This book proposes that work culture can be optimal, provided that the ME factors of every stakeholder, and their subsequent engagements, are in order. I have set this book in an environment where workers’ expectations of their employers and their work are rising notch by notch in an increasingly vulnerable and complex world. Coming off the massive disruptions of the black swan COVID-19 pandemic into post-normal times, the environment is becoming even more uncertain and ambiguous.
Various cultural and behavioural models were explored while conducting research for this book. The cultural iceberg analogy, for example, suggests that what is seen (visible) is merely the tip of the iceberg. There is a greater portion that is hidden underneath the surface (invisible) that is often driving the visible. Obviously, there are overlaps between different behavioural models, and it is important to put things in perspective when handling differing situations. Being in Singapore, a global city with a sizable foreign workforce, cross-cultural and diverse concerns are important considerations for our society’s harmony. In this book, we have combined our collective experience to bring to life the research material around work culture. This is what distinguishes this book from others.
Reflecting on these issues and challenges has led to the creation of a recommended framework to assist leaders and managers in addressing cross-cultural and work culture issues in organisations. Further research is needed to validate the suggested framework.
This book is a result of team effort in itself. My team began to apply the principles gleaned from the researched topics and conducted workshops to determine if the assumptions and knowledge of these principles were realistic and pragmatic. I am grateful to my friends from Arts and Disability Singapore (ART:DIS), who have expressed their views on culture through the beautiful works of art featured in this book. My friends from Malaysia are equally excited about this book and what it represents. Protech Sports, Duo Sparks Badminton Academy, and PROXCEL Academy are collaborating to design an integrated package to support the underprivileged. On behalf of society, I sincerely thank all these generous and thoughtful collaborators for their assistance and support of this impacts-on-society initiative. It is my hope that societies create more opportunities to empower these special and talented individuals.
Finally, I wish to thank my collaborators for this effort. I have enjoyed working with them and learned much in the process. We got to know each other better. Happy reading.
Acknowledgements
Writing a book is always a massive effort. I woke one morning,