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High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! Singapore is effectively an immigrant country made up by people who descend from various parts of the world, predominantly from China, Malaysia, Indonesia, India, Europe etc. As such, the culture of Singapore is a blend and mix of cultures brought by various immigrants, such as Chinese, Malay, Indian and European immigrants. It is generally considered to be a blend of Asian and Western culture, with globalization continuously transforming the culture of the country. Since Singapore is a small and relatively modern amalgam of Chinese, Malay, Indian and European immigrants, the culture of Singapore expresses the diversity of the population as the various ethnic groups continue to celebrate their own cultures while they intermingle with one another. For example, one can find a Malay wedding taking place beside a Chinese funeral at a void deck, on the ground floor of a HDB apartment block. This can be said to be due to the policies of the HDB which tried to make sure all public housing have a diverse mix of races. ... Read more

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This digital document is an article from Singapore Management Review, published by Singapore Institute of Management on January 1, 2005. The length of the article is 7018 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

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Title: Work group emotions in Chinese culture settings.
Author: Qu Renjun
Publication: Singapore Management Review (Refereed)
Date: January 1, 2005
Publisher: Singapore Institute of Management
Volume: 27Issue: 1Page: 69(18)

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The cuisine of Singapore is often viewed by people as a prime example of the ethnic diversity of the culture of Singapore. The food is heavily influenced by Malay, Chinese, Indonesian, Indian and even Western traditions since the founding of Singapore by the British in the 1800s. The cuisine of Singapore is said to be similar to the diverse cuisine of Penang, Malaysia, as most of the foods in Singapore can also be found in the state of Penang. In Singaporean hawker stores, for example, chefs of Chinese ethnic background influenced by Indian culture might experiment with condiments and ingredients such as tamarind, turmeric and ghee, while a Tamil chef might serve a fried noodle dish. This phenomenon makes the cuisine of Singapore significantly rich and a cultural attraction. Most of the prepared food bought outside home is eaten at hawker centres or food courts, examples of which include Lau Pa Sat and Newton Food Centre, rather than at actual restaurants. These hawker centres are relatively abundant which leads to low prices; hence, encouraging a large consumer base. ... Read more

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This digital document is an article from SOJOURN: Journal of Social Issues in Southeast Asia, published by Institute of Southeast Asian Studies (ISEAS) on April 1, 1999. The length of the article is 4158 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

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Title: Development and Culture in Singapore and Beyond.
Author: William S.W. LIM
Publication: SOJOURN: Journal of Social Issues in Southeast Asia (Refereed)
Date: April 1, 1999
Publisher: Institute of Southeast Asian Studies (ISEAS)
Volume: 14Issue: 1Page: 249(1)

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This digital document is an article from Journal of Cultural Geography, published by JCG Press on February 1, 2009. The length of the article is 10490 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

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Title: Christian identities in Singapore: religion, race and culture between state controls and transnational flows.(Report)
Author: Robbie B.H. Goh
Publication: Journal of Cultural Geography (Magazine/Journal)
Date: February 1, 2009
Publisher: JCG Press
Volume: 26Issue: 1Page: 1(23)

Article Type: Report

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This digital document is an article from Countries and Their Cultures, brought to you by Gale®, a part of Cengage Learning, a world leader in e-research and educational publishing for libraries, schools and businesses.The length of the article is 860 words.The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase.You can view it with any web browser.Covers the broad range of popular religious culture of the United States at the close of the twentieth century. Beliefs, practices, symbols, traditions, movements, organizations, and leaders from the many traditions in the pluralistic American community are represented. Also includes cults and phenomena that drew followers, such as Heaven's Gale and UFOs. ... Read more

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This digital document is a journal article from Linguistics and Education, published by Elsevier in 2004. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Media Library immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

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In contrast to the commonsense discourse of youth-as-unruly widely circulating in the West, the kind of discourse which has become part of the Singapore public and academic imagination is one that mobilizes constructions of youth as narrowly achievement-oriented, as 'exam-smart muggers', who 'lack an enquiring mind'. This study attempts to complicate this picture of Singaporean adolescents, showing them to be sophisticated meaning-makers who employ texts of different modes to construct shifting subjectivities in their everyday lives. It draws on selected focus-group data my students and I have collected over the past two years from Singaporean 10- to 12-year-olds as they talk with their peers and us about the texts they like to read and watch in their spare time [Lim, L. E. (2002). Fast cars and magical cards: A study of gendered choices in cartoons. Singapore: Nanyang Technological University, Honours Academic Exercise; Seah, H. L. (2003). Gender differences in the reading habits and attitudes of primary pupils in single-sex government-aided schools in Singapore. MA (applied linguistics) thesis: Nanyang Technological University]. Building on Moss' [Moss, G. (2000). Informal literacies and pedagogic discourse. Linguistics and Education, 11, 47-64; Moss, G. (2001). On literacy and the social organisation of knowledge inside and outside school. Language and Education, 15, 146-161] research on knowledge about informal literacies as a 'horizontal discourse' (Bernstein), in the discussion of this data I argue that the youngsters whose voices we hear are not entirely trapped within monochrome schooled literacy practices, even though much of what goes on at home may reinforce these; rather, in the spaces they make for themselves, they can be seen engaged in an array of out-of-school activities around texts, displaying special competencies and taking up multiple reading strategies and positions as they navigate them. Having a better understanding of the kinds of 'improper' knowledge about literacy that is generated alongside the privileged pedagogized version in many Singapore homes can not only help complicate our current image of Singaporean youth but also help re-envision literacy education in schools in ways that the students' unsanctioned experiences and competencies with texts are recognized and built upon. ... Read more

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This edition covers developments in the country of Singapore in 1976-1977. ... Read more

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foreword by Lester Thurow

"Schein's readers will find in this book a source of inspiration: thesimple fact that good management works. In addition to its theoreticaland practical strengths, Strategic Pragmatism is particularly relevantfor cross-cultural understanding. Western business managers, corporateexecutives, government agencies and international organizations'officers have lacked books whch clinically analyse the anatomy,physiology and psychology of Asian, non-Japanese organizations. Thisbook clearly fills part of the gap." -- Philippe Lasserre, Professor ofStrategy and Management, INSEAD Euro Asia Centre "Ed Schein's trulyoriginal book recreates the cultural history of a key institution whichmade possible the "miracle" of Singapore, one of East Asia's "littledragons." As far as I know, there is nothing to compare which whatSchein has done in this study. Through detailed interviewing and fullaccess to Singapore's Economic Development Board (EDB) records, Scheinhas vividly illuminated the workings of the organization which providedleadership in transforming Singapore into a dynamic industrial city anda financial center for the world economy." -- Lucian W. Pye, Profesor ofPolitical Scenice, MIT.

Per capita income in Singapore has gone from $500 to more than $20,000in a little over twenty-five years. Edgar Schein, a social psychologistwith a long and celebrated research interest in organizational studies,examines the cultural history of the key intstitution that spawned thiseconomic miracle. Through interviews and full access to Singapore'sEconomic Development Board (EDB), Schein shows how economic developmentwas successfully promoted. He delves into the individual relationshipsand the overall structure that contributed to the EDB's effectiveness inpropelling Singapore, one of Asia's "little dragons" into the modernera. In his foreword, Lester Thurrow locates Schein's organizational andcase-specific account within a larger economic and comparativeframework. Over a period of two years, Schein studied how the EDB wascreated, the kind of leadership it provided, the management structure itused, the human resource policies it pursued, and how it influencedother organizations within the Singapore government. Schein sat in onEDB meetings and extensively interviewed current and former members ofthe board, Singapore's leaders who created the board, and businesspeoplewho have dealt with the board. His book intertwines the perspective ofthe board's members and its investor clients in an analysis that usesboth organization and cross-cultural theory. Although there arecurrently studies of comparable Japanese and Korean organizations, thisis the first detailed analysis of the internal structure and functioningof the economic development body of Singapore, a key player in the Asianand world markets. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

The revelation for the first time how Singapore's leaders pick top brains to run the various government bodies, like the EDB!
STRATEGIC PRAGMATISM: THE CULTURE OF SINGAPORE'S ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT BOARD
by Dr Edgar Schein

This book documents the culture of Singapore's Economic Development Board (EDB), a quasi-government body set up in the early sixties to spearhead the country's attraction for foreign investment. Itsheds light on how Singapore within the space of thirty-five years could betransformed from a fairly improverished under-developed country with per capita of US$500 into a modern city state that today stays at the forefront of the world's most competitive economies. Today, Singapore's per capita income exceeds US$25,000.

More precisely, this book tracks the creation & development of the EDB, its leadership & management structure, its human resource policies & its influences over other organisations within the Singapore government. The book also intertwines the many perspectives of Singapore's leaders who created the board, the current & former EDB board members,business-people who have dealt with the board, & more importantly, the major investor clients from North America, Europe & elsewhere.

What strikes me most about this book, at the time when I read it during the mid-nineties, is the revelation for the first time how Singapore's leaders, specifically Lee Kuan Yew (Singapore's Prime Minister from the early sixties to early nineties) pick top brains to run the various government ministries as well as statutory bodies, like the EDB. EDB's top brains include the late Hon Sui Sen (whom Lee Kuan Yew reluctantly lent to Dr Goh Keng Swee to develop & run the EDB in the early years), I F Tang, Chan Chin Bok, Ngiam Tong Dow, P Y Hwang & Philip Yeo. (Philip Yeo masterminded the US$4 billion Jurong Island complex, in which seven offshore islands were linked with imported landfill to form a huge new industrial area. Currently, as chairman of Singapore's National Science & Technology Board, he is positioning Singapore to excel at what he believes is the next big thing: life sciences & bioengineering.)

From the book, I learned that Lee Kuan Yew (at the time the book was researched & written, he was Senior Minister in the Singapore cabinet; currently, he is Minister Mentor to the Singapore cabinet) has used the H-A-I-R module to pick his candidates. He has adopted this human resource module from the Royal Dutch-Shell Group, a global energy & petrochemical company that has also pioneered the application of scenario planning in long-term strategy formulation. (Shell is the world's second largest oil company after ExxonMobil & owns the first oil refinery in Singapore. Today, Shell is acknowledged as Singapore' first 'Distinguished Partner in Progress'.)

For the benefit of readers, here is the H-A-I-R module (Lee Kuan Yew has specifically pointed out that he has wanted all four qualities in the people who he selected, as follows):

H = Helicopter ability: the ability to rise above the immediate scene & see it from a total & overall perspective;

A = Analytical ability;

I = Imagination: the ability to see things from new & creative perspectives;

R = Realism: having one's feet firmly placed on the ground;

Furthermore, from the book, I also learned that Lee Kuan Yew has mandated that the entire civil service in Singapore adopt the HAIR module & distribute the booklet describing the system in detail to every. He has even asked Shell to train people in the use of the system. Though EDB does not use the system explicitly, these qualities are sought in the recruits.

The other interesting revelation by the book is the fact that EDB has embraced readily the concept of itself as a 'learning organisation' during the mid-nineties, drawing much inspiration from Peter Senge's systems thinking perspectives.

On the whole, 'Strategic Pragmatism', has been an interesting & inspirational read for me.

[Readers who are interested to find out more about how EDB picked their 'road warriors' - EDB's international centre directors, who roamed the entire globe, more specifically North America & Europe, to scout, cajole & attract foreign investors to Singapore, & their 'war stories' - should read Chan Chin Bok (former EDB Chairman)'s 'Heart Work: Singapore Economic Development Board & EDB Society'. Another interesting & inspirational read!]

A case study by a world authority on organizational culture
A detailed case study of a unique experiment in development cooperation between a nation state and business, focused on the body at the centre of the development strategy.Written by a leading expert on organisationalculture. It is of interest both to students of organisational culture andfor its relevance to globalisation.

Two groups of readers who will beinterested in this 1997 study of Singapore's Economic Development Board(EDB).T EDB has been Singapore's chosen instrument for development andimplementation of its policies to become a very successful player in aglobalised world.Its strategies and practices are of more than passinginterest to anyone interested in dealing successfully with globalisation.Both the discussion of the factors in the EDB's success and the discussionof the problems and issues that it - and by extension Singapore - facesmake an extremely illuminating case study that, by virtue of EDB's role,incorporates national, governmental and enterprise perspectives. The bookalso makes an interesting case study of other criteria for successfulglobalisation identified by both Thurow: Building Wealth and Friedman: TheLexus and the Olive Tree.

Second, students of organisational culture areoffered a thorough and lucid account of how the person who is arguably theworld's foremost authority on organisational culture went about studying amajor organisation in the context of a wider societal culture with which hewas not wholly familiar. ... Read more

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On the demand side, exporters and strategic planners focusing on human blood, prepared animal blood, toxins, cultures of micro-organisms, and similar products excluding yeasts in Singapore face a number of questions. Which countries are supplying human blood, prepared animal blood, toxins, cultures of micro-organisms, and similar products excluding yeasts to Singapore? How important is Singapore compared to others in terms of the entire global and regional market? How much do the imports of human blood, prepared animal blood, toxins, cultures of micro-organisms, and similar products excluding yeasts vary from one country of origin to another in Singapore? On the supply side, Singapore also exports human blood, prepared animal blood, toxins, cultures of micro-organisms, and similar products excluding yeasts. Which countries receive the most exports from Singapore? How are these exports concentrated across buyers? What is the value of these exports and which countries are the largest buyers?

This report was created for strategic planners, international marketing executives and import/export managers who are concerned with the market for human blood, prepared animal blood, toxins, cultures of micro-organisms, and similar products excluding yeasts in Singapore. With the globalization of this market, managers can no longer be contented with a local view. Nor can managers be contented with out-of-date statistics which appear several years after the fact. I have developed a methodology, based on macroeconomic and trade models, to estimate the market for human blood, prepared animal blood, toxins, cultures of micro-organisms, and similar products excluding yeasts for those countries serving Singapore via exports, or supplying from Singapore via imports. It does so for the current year based on a variety of key historical indicators and econometric models.

In what follows, Chapter 2 begins by summarizing where Singapore fits into the world market for imported and exported human blood, prepared animal blood, toxins, cultures of micro-organisms, and similar products excluding yeasts. The total level of imports and exports on a worldwide basis, and those for Singapore in particular, is estimated using a model which aggregates across over 150 key country markets and projects these to the current year. From there, each country represents a percent of the world market. This market is served from a number of competitive countries of origin. Based on both demand- and supply-side dynamics, market shares by country of origin are then calculated across each country market destination. These shares lead to a volume of import and export values for each country and are aggregated to regional and world totals. In doing so, we are able to obtain maximum likelihood estimates of both the value of each market and the share that Singapore is likely to receive this year. From these figures, rankings are calculated to allow managers to prioritize Singapore compared to other major country markets. In this way, all the figures provided in this report are forecasts that can be combined with internal information sources for strategic planning purposes. ... Read more