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LEARNING TO LEAD AS LEARNING TO LEARN:
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LEARNING TO LEAD As LEARNING TO LEARN:
EXPERIENCES OF MALAY WOMEN IN MALAYSIAN HIGHER EDUCATION
By

Norseha Unin

A DISSERTATION

Submitted to
Michigan State University
in partial fulﬁllment of the requirements
for the degree of

DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY
Educational Administration

2010

ABSTRACT
LEARNING TO LEAD AS LEARNING TO LEARN:
EXPERIENCES OF MALAY WOMEN IN MALAYSIAN HIGHER EDUCATION
By

Norseha Unin

This study examined how Malay women learn to lead in institutions of higher
education within a Malaysian socio-cultural context. The purpose of this study was to
develop a deeper understanding of how Malay women learn to lead within institutions of
Malaysian higher education. Two semi-structured interviews were conducted with four
deans and two directOrs ﬁom Malaysian public universities. The ﬁndings demonstrate the
paradoxical contexts that these women faced in learning to lead in higher education, and
how they learned to navigate the multiple tensions and contradictions they faced in
assuming leadership positions within Malaysian society. For these women, learning to
lead is about learning to learn ﬁ'om and through these tensions and contradictions.

The learning of these women was essentially self-directed, experience-based, and
both intentional and unintentional. Tacit learning (Schugurensky, 2000) was clearly
evident in their acknowledgement and acceptance of their society’s traditions, and the
ways in which they learned to navigate the values that placed more emphasis on their
roles as mothers and wives, than it did on their roles as educational leaders. While
considerable emphasis has been placed on the role of reﬂection within informal learning,

their stories revealed limited instances of the explicit use of reﬂective learning.

Central to the processes by which these Malay women learn to lead was their
commitment to learning to learn. The women in this study learn to lead by living through
and learning about paradoxes that characterize their roles as leaders within the particular
socio-cultural context in which they were living. The socio-cultural contexts in which
they worked were described by the participants as largely patriarchal and quite
hierarchical. While the women were not actively discouraged from assuming leadership
positions, they experienced little explicit and direct support for their roles as leaders.
Nonetheless, they still ﬂourished as higher education leaders. Their stories reﬂected a
process of learning to lead that involved powerful social and emotional processes.

These women learned to hold the blatant tensions and work around the
contradictions surrounding their professional roles as leaders in higher education. Their
accounts of emerging as mid-level leaders in higher education reﬂected a process of
learning to learn from working through these tensions and contradictions rather than a
process of learning about what constitutes good and effective leaders. This emphasis on
learning to learn contributed to their ability to navigate the complex social roles in which
they found themselves as women leaders in a male-dominated and hierarchical society.
While much research and theory regarding informal learning has been focused on explicit
structures and functional processes, this study supports greater attention to the more tacit
and paradoxical qualities of everyday experience, and the importance they play in our

learning from and through these experiences.

COPYright by
NORSEHA UNIN
2010

DEDICATION

I dedicate this academic work to my daughters; Feeqa, Fiﬁ, and Effa, and I hope they will
beneﬁt from the learning experiences of these exceptional Malay women in the academy.
This empirical work is also dedicated to my late father, Abang Unin bin Haji Kontan,

who instilled a strong desire for me to pursue, thrive, and succeed higher education.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I am grateful to many people who supported, encouraged, nurtured, inspired, and
kept me going in this extensive endeavor. First and foremost, I am extremely fortunate to
have an exceptionally supportive husband, Hisham Halim, who provided enormous
strength and encouragement for me and the children to do well in our educational pursuit.
His genuine love, insistent sacriﬁces, and deep faith in my ability to succeed have been
central in my commitment to complete this long, and at times, arduous dissertation
process. To my beautiful daughters; F eeqa, Fiﬁ, and Effa, I would like to acknowledge
them for their love, patience, tolerance, and endurance during my endeavor as a PhD
student.

My deepest gratitude goes to my dissertation chair, Professor John M. Dirkx, for
his constructive feedback, continuous guidance, and generous encouragement throughout
the dissertation process. His insightful comments and thought-provoking questions have
been instrumental in helping me to conceptualize the multi-faceted discipline of adult
education and informal learning. His persistent recommendations have inspired me to
compete for and eventually win several research grants in order to pursue this inquiry.

I would like to express my great appreciation to the members of my dissertation
committee; Dr. Marilyn Amey, Dr. Kristen Renn, Dr. Julie Brockman, and Dr. Susan
Printy. They brought in value-added perspectives to my research. Dr. Amey’s expertise in
higher education leadership kept me reassured that this study was worth pursuing. Her
far-reaching support in terms of assistantships and fellowships throughout, as program

coordinator and eventually the department chair, convinced me that I can complete this

vi

PhD journey despite all Odds. Dr. Renn’s comments and critiques of the earlier drafts
were invaluable. Dr. Brockman’s fresh insights on informal learning, her constant
encouragement, and thorough critiques of the proposal chapters were immensely helpful
and appreciated. I am very thankful for her friendship, and generous offer of a quite room
in her home for me to write the ﬁndings chapter. Dr. Printy’s thoughtful remarks and
distinctive suggestions related to ﬁndings helped tremendously in re-writing and reﬁning
the dissertation. I felt lucky to add such a wise and thoughtful committee member like Dr.
Printy near the end of my dissertation process. It should also be mentioned that Dr. Reitu
Mabokela, the chair of my guidance committee, inspired the groundwork of this research.

I owe many thanks to several graduate consultants at the MSU writing center who
helped with proofreading and editing at the various stages of this dissertation process.
Kamila Rosolova, Marilee Brooks, and Julie Neal are among writing consultants with
whom I worked over a period of time. Aaron Bodle, a graduate consultant at the College
of Education, and Cheryl Highstreet, a good friend from the CVIP (Community
Volunteers for International Program) also helped at the early stage of the proposal
writing. My special thanks tO Azlan Ibrahim who proofread this dissertation. Azlan
provided many helpful suggestions, while pointing out numerous errors that I missed. A
former editor at the Detroit Free Press, Azlan’s giﬁ for editing is truly amazing!

Thank you Peter Briggs, the director for the Ofﬁce of International Students and
Scholars, for recognizing and appreciating my leadership potential. Peter and many
people in the LATTICE (Linking All types of Teachers to International and Cross-
cultural Education) family have made me feel at home throughout my six years Of stay in

Michigan. My special appreciation goes to Sally and Jim McClintock, Reade and Dave

vii

Doman, Lynn and Tom Bartley, Connie & Jim Detjen, Azlan and Brooke, and Nancy
Lubeski for welcoming my family into your homes. Julie Sinclair, Damaris Mayienga,
and Lan Ngoc ﬁom the women’s research group, I truly appreciate our face-to-face
research meetings. Kaumudi Misra, Rose Fox, and Marge Taylor from the online PhD
support group — I admire the way we encourage each other! Additionally, endless prayers
and well-wishes from the people I love; my mother Hajjah Anding Wen, my eight
siblings, ﬁfteen nieces and nephews, uncles and aunties, relatives, and family in-laws in
Malaysia, kept me grounded and focused. I thank them for always being there to love,
offer moral support, and provide encouragement.

My heartfelt thanks to the six participants for their time, and the experience they
generously shared with me. I am thankful to Universiti Teknologi MARA for the award
of a competitive staff scholarship that funded the ﬁrst three years of my doctoral study,
and for granting an extended leave of absence for me to stay at MSU, and eventually
complete this dissertation. Finally, I am grateful for the three-year award of graduate
assistantship with LATTICE, and the two-year experience as a community peer for the

UARL (University Apartment Residence Life).

viii

TABLE OF CONTENTS

LIST OF TABLES ................................................................................................ xi

CHAPTER 1 - RESEARCH PROBLEM
Introduction ........................................................................ 1
Research Problem .................................................................. 3
Purpose of Study and Research Questions ..................................... 5
Background and Rationale ....................................................... 6
Conceptual Framework ........................................................... 8
Signiﬁcance Of Study ............................................................. ll
Scope and Limitations ............................................................ 14

CHAPTER 2 - LITERATURE REVIEW

Setting the Context: A Brief Demography of Malaysia. ...................... 15
Education in Malaysia ............................................................. 17
Public Universities in Malaysia .................................................. l8
Deans and Directors as Leaders .................................................. 20
Malay Women - A historical perspective ....................................... 22
Malay Women and Gender Norms ............................................... 27
Informal Learning .................................................................. 3O
Tacit Knowledge and Tacit Learning ............................................ 37
CHAPTER 3 — METHODOLOGY
Introduction ......................................................................... 40
Research Design ....................................................................... 40
Narrative Inquiry ................................................................... 43
The Critical Incidents Technique .. ............................................................. 44
Participant Selection ................................................................ 46
Data Collection ...................................................................... 47
Development of Instruments ...................................................... 48
Procedures for Collecting Data .................................................... 49
Data Analysis ........................................................................ 50
CHAPTER 4 — RESEARCH FINDINGS
Introduction ......................................................................... 53
Summary of Participants .......................................................... 54
Professor Mariani .......................................................... 55
Dr. Latifah .................................................................. 57
Professor Azizah ............................................................ 58
Professor Kamila ........................................................... 60
Dr. Sabrina .................................................................. 61
Professor Norizan ........................................................... 63
Proﬁle Summary ...................................................................... 64

ix

Theme 1: INFLUENCE OF PAST EXPERIENCES ........................... 66
(a) Parental Inﬂuence and the Emergence of Leadership

Opportunities ............................................................... 67
(b) Community Engagement and the Development of Leadership ’
Potential ................................................................... 70
(c) Mentorship and Leadership Development ............................. 73
Summary for the Inﬂuence of Past Experiences ...................... 78
Theme 2: BEING A WOMAN LEADER ....................................... 78
(a) Patriarchy and Unwritten Rules ......................................... 79
(b) Managing Multiple Roles and Societal Expectations ................ 84
(c) Leadership Styles and Commitments .................................. 90
Summary for the Theme of being a Woman Leader ................. 96
Theme 3: PROCESSES OF LEARNING IN LEADERSHIP ............... 96
(a) Lessons from Experience: What and how they learn .............. 97
(b) Motivation to Learn ..................................................... 101
(c) The role of Emotions in their Learning .............................. 103
Summary for the Processes Of Learning .............................. 107
Summary of Findings ............................................................ 107
CHAPTER 5 — DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION
Introduction ........................................................................ 109
Interpretations of Findings ........................................................ 110
(a) Learning to Lead as Learning to Learn ............................... 111
(b) Learning to Lead as Relational and Emotional Processes 114
(c) The Limited Role of Reﬂection in Learning ........................ 116
((1) Learning to Lead and the Importance of Social Context .......... 117
Summary for Interpretation of Findings ........................................ 120
Implications for Theory ........................................................... 121
Implications for Practice .......................................................... 126
Conclusion .......................................................................... 130
Recommendations for Future Research ......................................... 132
APPENDICES
APPENDIX A — Interview Guides ............................................... 135
APPENDIX B — Demographic Data Sheet ...................................... 136
APPENDIX C — Interview Protocol One — Focus on Life Story ............. 137

APPENDIX D - Interview Protocol Two — Focus on Critical Incidents 137

REFERENCES ............................................................................. 140

LIST OF TABLES
Table 1: Public Universities in Malaysia ................................................................. 18

Table 2: Summary of Participants ................................................................. 54

xi

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

The literature about women leaders as learners (Astin & Leland, 1991; Brandt,
1992; Helgesen, 1990; Miller, 1986; Van & Hughes, 1990) suggests that women
experience ongoing learning from a variety of sources. Such learning can be informal in
nature and the value of such unstructured experiences has been signiﬁcantly
acknowledged in the leadership development literature (Day, 2001; McCauley, 2001;
McCauley & Van Velsor, 2004). The themes about women leaders as learners — students
about themselves, their organizations, their process and practice of leadership (Astin &
Leland, 1991; Helgesen, 1990; Sergiovanni cited in Brandt, 1992; Van & Hughes, 1990)
are consistent with some aspects of informal learning theory that are experiential, less-
structured, and non-institutional (Burns & Schaefer, 2003, Marsick & Watkins, 1990).

This study examines the experiences of Malay women learning to lead in higher
education. The research explores how they learn within their social context. It seeks to
develop an understanding of how women at mid-level administration, such as deans and
directors, develop their leadership skills and abilities. In this study, deans are leaders of
degree-granting units and directors are leaders of other specialized centers for teaching,
research, and academic support. They are middle managers who usually rise from within
the ranks of faculty. They operate in the rurique context of higher education institutions,
Often referred as “loosely coupled systems,” which are uncoordinated and have greater
differentiation among components (W eick, 197 6). “Leading ﬁ'om the middle” (Lindholm,

1999) means they operate within multiple power and authority structures (Kezar, 2001).

In general, women are more pressured to prove themselves than their male
counterparts to be promoted as leaders in an organization. This is because women need to
negotiate the internal and social expectations that create role conﬂict (Indvik, 2001).
Within the Malay community, women are encouraged to pursue advancement in their
professional career as long as their conventional duties are not neglected, and their
traditional roles as mothers and wives remain a priority. It is commonly understood that
while women can hold top positions Of leadership, their number one priority will always
be the family. Noor (2001) revealed that, given a choice between work and family, 89.9%
of the working women studied chose the family.

The presence of Malay women as deans and directors in Malaysian higher
education provides a unique Opportunity for exploring the inﬂuence of traditional norms
on the learning and development of leadership skills. Within the higher education setting
in Malaysia, it is reassuring to see more and more women assuming leadership positions.
However, these positive developments can be personally challenging for Malay women
because they are still subject to social conditions that affect their roles and behaviors
(Syed Hassan, 1998). A recent study (Abdullah, Noor, and Wok, 2008) ﬁnds that Malay
women still closely adhere to their traditional cultural values in which they are expected
to be strong as a mother, while remaining effeminate and subservient as a wife.

The Malay adat or cultural norms emphasize “proper conduct” (Moharnad, 1970).
The adat is paramount in all social spheres within the Malay culture. The Malay societal
norms for rising to and holding leadership positions have largely favored males (Ong,
1990) because of the patriarchal inﬂuence that reﬂects male dominance in the society. It

is, therefore, more “natural” for men than it is for women to hold leadership positions,

such as in a higher education setting. Malay women who choose to become leaders
within an organizational setting are usually working against the grain of social norms and
values that exert a very strong inﬂuence on women’s proper roles (Arifﬁn, 1992; Ng &

Yong, 1990, Raja Marnat, 1991).

Research Problem

Learning to lead in higher education means Malay women must also learn to
negotiate and balance their professional roles as leaders and traditional roles as wives and
mothers. Women deans and directors in this study constantly need to engage themselves
in a process of learning to lead. Within the higher education setting, individuals in these
roles are increasingly faced with levels of organizational complexity and leadership
issues for which they may have little experience or formal preparation (Gmelch, 2002;
Wilson, 1999). Their ability to lead effectively, therefore, must derive ﬁ'om sources other
than that of positional authority (Hecht, Higgerson, Gmelch, & Tucker, 1999). With little
or no recourse to formal training, learning to lead in higher education is Often a process of
learning on the job through everyday experiences. In the literature on adult learning,
learning through everyday experiences is referred as “informal learning” (Davies, 2008;
Garrick, 1998; Hager & Halliday, 2006; Merriam, Caffarella & Baumgartner, 2007).

As middle managers within higher education, their roles include academic,
administrative, and leadership tasks (McLaughlin, Montgomery, & Malpass, 1975).
Within their roles as leaders, their responsibilities include leading administrative tasks,

action planning and operational decision-making (Gmelch & Miskin, 1993). They

provide clear goals, manage people and resources, develop human resources, inspire
acadenric and non-academic staff, and continually listen to their staff in order to learn
how to improve their own performance (Rarnsden, 1998, p. 120). Additionally, they have
signiﬁcant impact on higher education. In fact, eighty percent of decisions in universities
take place within the department (Dyer & Miller, 1999; Hecht, Higgerson, Gmelch, &
Tucker, 1999; Wolverton, Gmelch & Sorenson, 1998). However, this population of
middle managers “may be the least studied and most misunderstood management
position anywhere in the world” (Gmelch, 2002a, p.l). At the same time, there is little
understanding of the experiences of Malay women learning to lead in higher education.
Learning to lead within their social context requires Malay women not only to be
cognizant of their professional roles, but also their traditional roles.

For Malay women to be leaders, they have to tread carefully and not upset the
norms of a gendered society (Moharnad, 1994). For many of them, learning to lead within
their unique social context is a challenging experience. At the same time, there is little
understanding of their learning experiences. According to Gosetti and Rusch (1995),
women as leaders experience a different reality and interpret this reality differently than
the traditional dominant group. There have been relatively few studies about Malaysian
women academics and how they come to know and understand the world (Belenky,
Clinchy, Goldberger, & Tarule, 1997; Gilligan 1982). While scholars have studied them
in terms of career progression (Lunn, 2007), career mobility (Maimunah & Roziah,
2006), globalization and women in academia (Luke, 2002) and as managers in higher
education (Asmah, 1993), we have little understanding of how they learn to become

leaders within their social and institutional settings.

There is much to explore about learning to lead from the perspectives of Malay
women, particularly the ways in which social norms and values shape or inﬂuence their
learning experiences. One of the ways to enhance our understanding is to study the
experiences of Malay women deans and directors in the Malaysian context, which has
strong emphasis on women’s proper roles (Arifﬁn, 1992; Ng & Yong, 1990, Raja Mamat,
1991). With social conditions that are deeply rooted in traditional values, where the social
expectations for women to remain conventional are highly regarded, and leadership has
not been a traditional role for Malay women, how do they learn to lead and become

leaders in higher education?

Purpose of Study and Research Questions

This study hopes to generate a deeper understanding Of learning to lead by
studying how Malay women deans and directors at Malaysian public universities learn
within their social contexts. There is an implicit assumption that Malay social values
inﬂuence their learning experiences. However, there is little understanding of their
unique experiences (Harding, 1993). The study explores, from the perspectives of Malay
women, how their traditional values inﬂuence their learning and development as women
leaders. Their experiences of negotiating and balancing the traditional and professional
roles serve as a point of reference for capturing their learning processes in this study. The
purpose is to better understand their learning and development as women leaders. A
broad research question for this study is: How do Malay women learn to lead in higher

education? More speciﬁcally: How does the socio-cultural context inﬂuence or manifest

itself in the informal learning of Malay women leaders in higher education? By focusing
on the inﬂuence of Malay social values, the study hopes to shed light on adult learning

from a socio-cultural perspective.

Background and Rationale

Socio-cultural theories posit that learning is an active process, and that the context
has an important role in learning. Vygotsky (1978) argues that learning is not just an
individual matter, but that it develops within social environment and social interaction
plays a ﬁrndamental role in the development of cognition. Vygotsky’s basic idea is that
human behavior is the end product of socialization, and that it is too complex to isolate,
dissect, and study in a vacuum. Malay women often face challenges and social pressures
to rise to, or remain in leadership positions. Exploring the Malay social context provides
a way to explain that there are certain characteristics of their traditional values that are
not necessarily consistent with the way people learn and understand the meaning and
signiﬁcance of actions.

Within the Malay community, “adat ” as a social concept deﬁnes traditional
values pertaining to individuals’ actions or behaviors. They are described as either
“halus” -soft or reﬁned — or “kasar” — rough or coarse (Wilson, 1967). Halus is one of
the norms for correct or acceptable behavior with other people. Halus is also reﬂected in
one’s speech or “bahasa.” The importance of bahasa to proper conduct is evident,
because it has a secondary meaning of courtesy or politeness. For Malay women,

conforming to social expectations as leaders is a delicate act of maintaining graceful

halus manners. Kasar means to go against the norms, and cause unpleasantness to others.
Although a woman is otherwise professionally effective, if her behaviors and actions
were perceived as kasar, her leadership may not be well-received. Being inconsiderate
toward the feelings of others, or causing shame is not well-received in a Malay
community. In sum, halus behavior is an adherence to the normal standards, and kasar
behavior a lack of respect. Therefore, halus and kasar deﬁne the norms for proper
conduct, and these values can inﬂuence how Malay women learn to become leaders.

A sense of “malu " or shame is fundamental to the Malays. Malu is essentially a
negative reaction to the idea that one’s words, actions, or gestures bring shame, leading
people to think ill of others; all of which are powerfully unpleasant to Malay sensibilities
(Goddard, 1997). Shame is, however, a positive social value. For instance, one is malu, or
embarrassed when one feels that other people can think, say, or know something bad
about him or her. A person who is conscious of traditional values, keeping others in mind
when deciding on how to behave is “good Malay.” Malu, which is the primary force for
social cohesion, is described as the hypersensitivity to how other people view your
behaviors (Swift, 1965). The desire to avoid malu contributes to upholding halus
behaviors. Mala is a social good, because it refers to a sense of softness, politeness, or
appropriateness. In sum, malu further deﬁnes the extent of proper conduct, which can
inﬂuence how Malay women learn to act and behave as women leaders.

A person’s “maruah, ” which exempliﬁes a sense of dignity, self-respect, and
pride, is another dominant social concept. Goddard (1997) describes maruah as a
wholesome conﬁdence in one’s moral standing in the eyes of others. Malays generally

cooperate to assist in the safeguarding of each other’s maruah, and to steer away from the

possibility of inducing malu. Goddard (1997) observes that, this “cultural ideology” of
social relations is constituted in moral and ethical terms, rather than in terms of ﬁ'eedom,
constraints, and social possibilities. How, then, do Malay women as leaders negotiate this
cultural ideology?

Conﬂict avoidance, especially in public, is one of the key characteristics of Malay
culture. When there is conﬂict, it is usually driven by notions of maruah, malu, etc. The
difference in values underlying the Malay social norms provides a rich context for
studying its inﬂuence on informal learning. With such deeply rooted cultural values,
some existing perspectives on informal learning may not be sufﬁcient for understanding
the learning experiences of Malay women. This study attempts to examine their learning
experiences within a social context. Knowing their social values and understanding how
they inﬂuence learning are important aspects of this study. Informal learning provides a
useful framework for examining their learning experiences. Although informal learning is
recognized as a way for them to learn, little is known about the inﬂuence of social

context on their learning.

Conceptual Framework

Informal learning is widely recognized as one of the most pervasive and dominant
forms of learning in the workplace (Leslie, Aring & Brand, 1998; Lohman, 2000,
Livingstone, 2001). As a kind of learning that transpires within the context of the
participants’ social and cultural values (Boud, Cohen, and Walker, 1996), informal

learning provides a theoretical framework for this study. The learning processes are

viewed as intentional and unintentional. When an individual has a set and deﬁned
purpose for learning (Schugurensky, 2000), the process is intentional. Some processes are
unintentional, which is learning by “bumping into things” (Dirkx & Lavin, 1991), where
the individual does not realize that learning is occurring, but later realized that something
was learned.

Informal learning also includes self-directed (Knowles, 1970), reﬂective
(Mezirow, 1991), experiential (Boud, 1996), incidental (Marsick & Watkins, 1990), and
tacit (Schugurensky, 2000) forms of learning. While both self—directed and reﬂective
learning tend to be intentional; experiential, incidental, and tacit learning are rather
unintentional. Self-directed learning is a form of learning where individuals use their own
initiative for learning. Self-directed individuals often take responsibility for their own
learning, instead of waiting for an organization to tell them what and how to learn
(Merriam and Caffarella, 1991; J ames-Gordon and Ba], 2003). Adult learners become
increasingly self-directed as they mature (Knowles, 1970). In self-directed learning, the
individual has a set and deﬁned purpose for learning (intentional) and the individual is
aware that learning has occurred (conscious) (Schugurensky, 2000).

Reﬂective learning is the ability to reﬂect upon one’s life experience (Boud,
Keogh, and Walker, 1985). SchOn (1983) describes the processes of learning from
experience, as they occur for those in professional practice, as reﬂection-in-action and
reﬂection-on—action. While reﬂection-in-action refers to the process of thinking about
practice during action, reﬂection-on-action involves thinking about a situation after it has
happened. Reﬂective learning also describes how meaning is derived. The process

involves evaluating currently-held assumptions to determine their relevance in current

situations (Mezirow, 1991). A reﬂective process, which occupies a crucial role in the
process of learning from experience (Boyd & Fales, 1983; Dirkx & Lavin, 1991;
Merriam, et. al., 2007), tends to focus on the individual learner and the subjective
meaning of his or her experience (Dirkx and Lavin, 1991).

Experiential learning involves people making sense of and learning from their
own experience in the context Of their social and cultural values (Boud, Cohen, and
Walker, 1996). Experience is at the heart of any discussion about informal learning in
adulthood and learning ﬁom experience is a central tenet of Marsick and Watkins’ (1990)
informal learning theory. In experiential learning, an individual becomes aware of the
learning after undergoing a process of "retrospective recognition" (Marsick & Watkins,
1990, p.6), which can be internally generated or externally led (Schugurensky, 2000).

Incidental learning, on the other hand, occurs when an individual did not have the
intention of learning something, but becomes aware that some learning has taken place
after the experience (Schugurensky, 2000). Marsick and Watkins (1990) describe
incidental learning within the workplace as a natural offshoot of engaging in professional
work, and the learning is deﬁned as a spontaneous transaction that increases a particular
knowledge, skill, or understanding. This includes learning ﬁom mistakes, learning by
doing, and learning through networking.

Tacit learning, which is part of socialization, refers to the internalization of the
norms, values, behavior, and social skills appropriate to an individual’s social position.
Socialization is a process in which individuals acquire the social skills necessary to
conform to the explicit and implicit rules of behavior required for integration into a group

or community (Schugurensky, 2000). Tacit learning is a combination of both self and

10

externally-imposed rules, because the individual wants to conform and comply with the
expectations of others (Schugurensky, 2000). By having a conversation with someone
about his or her learning experiences or aﬁer being exposed to a different social
environment, an individual can be prompted to recognize that he or she has certain biases
internalized from primary socialization (Schugurensky, 2000). Conformity becomes the
principal reason for learning.

In summary, informal learning is conceptualized as transactions that can arise
from daily experiences, which can be intentional or unintentional. Self-directed,
reﬂective, incidental, experiential, and tacit learning are ﬁve of the many facets of
informal learning that provide an understanding of adult learning for this study. These
perspectives, however, reﬂect an emphasis on the individual, and often do not adequately
address the inﬂuence of the broader socio-cultural context on the informal learning
process. Relatively few studies of this complex process have examined how adults might
learn through informal processes in non-westem cultures in which traditional values

signiﬁcantly inﬂuence the structuring of social roles and norms.

Significance of Study

This exploratory empirical study has both theoretical and practical importance.
Theoretically, this study addresses the cultural nuances that shape informal learning
within a social context. The research generates insights on the socio-cultural dimensions
of learning for Malay women in higher education leadership roles. It reveals certain

shortcomings of the existing theory on informal learning, and helps to address unresolved

ll

issues of informal learning from a cultural perspective. Adult learning scholars may use
ﬁndings from this study to re-exarnine the implications for informal learning from a
cultural perspective, and the assumptions about informal learning in the workplace.

Practically, this study enhances our understanding of the cultural norms and
values that contributed to adult learning within a social context. Knowing how the
embedded values inﬂuence the experiences of Malay women learning to lead is important
for two reasons. First, Malay women in higher education administration shall beneﬁt
from the recognition that their cultural norms can inﬂuence their learning experiences.
Such recognition shall contribute to a conscious effort toward a process Of "retrospective
recognition" (Marsick & Watkins, 1990, p.6). By having conversations about their
experiences of learning, these Malay women can be prompted to recognize that primary
socialization contribute to an internalization particular biases. Second, this study provided
a meaningful space for these women to discuss their experiences of learning to lead,
which helps them to deﬁne what they learned within their social context. By recognizing
the contribution of women in knowledge production and utilization, this study shall
compensate the missing past, which has marginalized the role of Malay women in nation
building.

In addition, understanding how they learned to become a leader shall pave the
way for aspiring women leaders in higher education. This is a signiﬁcant study for
encouraging more qualiﬁed, and experienced Malay women to assume positions of
inﬂuence in higher education. Otherwise, Malay women’s continued reluctance to
penetrate the glass ceiling will only result in a “potential loss” (N idiffer, 2001) to the

nation’s ﬁrture for higher education leadership. For Malay women to hold formal

12

positions of leadership, they must be willing to employ strategies that will help them to
navigate their leadership roles within their speciﬁc social context. Without such
willingness, many well-educated and highly-experienced Malay women will become less
receptive to Opportunities for formal leadership.

This line of inquiry and the suggestions put forth in this study for encouraging
female leadership in the educational arena may also have implications that go beyond the
educational ﬁeld and permeate society at large. Many educators, scholars, and grassroots
leaders have argued that education for young women and girls is the best strategy to ﬁght
poverty and to strengthen community and nation building. To this end, female leadership
and female mentorship is absolutely vital. A heavily patriarchal leadership system has
little impact in empowering young women and girls. Furthermore, in conservative
patriarchal societies, female empowerment is seldom on the social and political agenda
and, as a result, fails to become a priority for the community. There is a need to break this
cycle of suppression of women’s potential. It becomes vital that female leadership and
how it can be maximized in a speciﬁc cultural context be analyzed, understood,
encouraged and applied. All aspects Of learning are important in order to achieve these
goals, and open, honest dialogue among scholars and intellectuals on this subject can help

drive both the study of this subject and its practical, real-world implications.

l3

Scope and Limitations

In the context of this study, informal learning refers tO the concepts of adult
learning that is both intentional and unintentional, and based on their lived experiences.
The scope of this study is limited to the context of learning to lead in Malaysian higher
education. This qualitative study uses the narrative inquiry approach to focus on personal
stories as told by a small number of participants (Creswell, 2007, p. 55). Two in-depth
interviews with six Malay women served as the primary method of data collection. The
study utilized life stories and the critical incidents approach for collecting interview data.
The focus was on the experiences of Malay women negotiating their traditional and
professional roles to capture the critical incidents that contributed to their learning and
development as women leaders. The six participants for this study were from established
public universities in Malaysia. The small sample size was purposeﬁrlly selected, and was
deemed appropriate for a narrative inquiry approach. However, the results cannot be
generalized to other women leaders who may have different sociO-cultural conditions.
Nevertheless, they provide an instructive window into the personal experiences of Malay

women learning to lead in higher education.

14

CHAPTER TWO

LITERATURE REVIEW

This study explores how Malay women learn to lead in higher education within
their social context. There is an assumption that their societal norms play a signiﬁcant
role in the lives of Malay women and their social values may inﬂuence their learning
experiences. Knowing the values provides the basis for understanding how women learn
to become leaders. This chapter is divided into two sections. The ﬁrst section sets out the
context with a brief description of Malaysia, its higher education setting, a glimpse of
Malay traditional values, and some insights on gender norms. The second section reviews

the literature on informal learning.

Setting the Context: A Brief Demography of Malaysia

Malaysia is an advanced developing country (US Department of State, 2002) that
gained independence from British rule in 1957. Located in Southeast Asia, the bordering
countries are Thailand, Singapore, Indonesia, and the Philippines. Malaysia is a
federation of 13 states; 11 states are on the peninsula (West Malaysia) and the two states
of Sabah and Sarawak (East Malaysia) are located on Borneo Island. The total land area
is 127,355 square miles; West Malaysia has approximately 51,000 square miles (about
the size of Michigan). Although West Malaysia covers less than 40% of the land area,
80% of the population is concentrated in West Malaysia because it is more developed
than East Malaysia. The capital city of Kuala Lumpur and Putrajaya - the seat of the

federal government — are also located in West Malaysia.

15

Malaysia has a population of 28.31 million people (Malaysia Department of
Statistics, 2009). The labor force participation rate is 62.8 percent (Malaysia Labor Force
Statistics, 2008), with a higher rate of participation among males (79.9% of all males) as
compared to females (46.1% of all females). Interestingly, only 22.4 percent of the
workforce has higher education. About half (54.9 %) of the workforce has secondary
education, 18.2 percent possess elementary education, and 4.5% are without formal
education. During the late 20th century, Malaysia experienced an economic boom and
underwent rapid development. Economic growth during the 19803 and 19903, averaging
8% from 1991 to 1997, has transformed Malaysia into a newly industrialized country

(Bozyk, 2006).

Malaysia is a multi-ethnic, multi-cultural, and multi-lingual country with a
distinct mix of three major races; Malays, Chinese, and Indians. The Malays, together
with other indigenous natives, make up the largest ethnic group (65.1%) called
Bumiputra or “people of the soil” in Malaysia, followed by the Chinese (25.8%), Indians
(7.7 %) and other ethnic minorities (1.3%). The three main ethnic groups in Malaysia are
from three regions of Asia; the Chinese are immigrants from East Asia, the Indians from
South Asia, and the Malays are indigenous to Southeast Asia. The Malays themselves
form the largest community (85%) of the indigenous bumiputra and they play a dominant
role in the country’s politics. While Malay or Bahasa Melayu is the national and ofﬁcial
language in Malaysia, English is the second, un-ofﬁcial language of the country. The
third languages are Mandarin, Tamil and Arabic. Native languages like Kadazan and

Iban are speciﬁcally prominent in East Malaysia (Sabah and Sarawak).

l6

Education in Malaysia

The Malaysian government plays a major role in providing affordable education
to Malaysians. Education is a priority of the Federal Government of Malaysia. About
21% of the country’s budget, with a total of RM 40.3 billion, has been allocated for the
expenditure of education, training and lifelong learning under the Ninth Malaysian Plan
(9MP) from 2006 to 2010. The national education system is divided into pre-university
and higher education. The Government provides more than 95% of primary and
secondary education as well as about 60% of the higher education, with the private sector
providing the balance. The government provides 11 years of free primary and secondary
education. At the higher education level, public universities Offer courses leading to the
awards of certiﬁcate, diploma, and undergraduate as well as postgraduate qualiﬁcations

in academic and professional ﬁelds.

Previously, the Ministry of Education (MOE) had the authority to regulate all
sectors of education in Malaysia. Since the establishment of the Ministry of Higher
Education (MOHE) in March 2004, pre-university education (i.e. from pre-school to
secondary education and teacher education) has been under the jurisdiction of the MOE
and higher education is now the responsibility of the MOHE. The Department of Higher
Education is one Of the four departments within the MOHE that regulates the nation’s
higher educational affairs at both public and private institutions. The department has
several divisions that play signiﬁcant roles in improving the quality of education services,
and ensuring that programs offered by public universities and private institutions in

Malaysia are of high quality and international standards.

17

Public Universities in Malaysia
There are 20 public universities in Malaysia, and the number is constantly
growing. All public universities in Malaysia are large and complex organizations that are
heavily funded by the government. The oldest public university was established in 1962,
ﬁve years after the country’s independence.

Table 1: Public Universities in Malaysia as 0f2010

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

University Year Established
l Universiti Malaya (UM) *"' 1962
2 Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) ** 1969
3 Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM) ** 1970
4 Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM) ‘* 1971
5 Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM) 1972
6 Universiti Islam Antarabangsa Malaysia (UIAM) 1983
7 Universiti Utara Malaysia (UUM) 1984
8 Universiti Sarawak Malaysia (Unimas) 1992
9 Universiti Sabah Malaysia (UMS) 1994
10 Universiti Perguruan Sultan ldris (UPSI) 1997
11 Universiti Sains Islam Malaysia (USIM) 1998
12 Universiti Teknologi MARA Malaysia (UiTM) 1999
13 Universiti Malaysia Terengganu (UMT) 1999
14 Universiti Tun Hussein Onn Malaysia (UTHM) 2000
15 Universiti Teknikal Malaysia Melaka (UTeM) 2000
16 Universiti Malaysia Pahang (UMP) 2002
17 Universiti Malaysia Perlis (UniMAP) 2002
I8 Universiti Darul lman Malaysia (UDM) 2005
I9 Universiti Malaysia Kelantan (UMK) 2006
20 Universiti Pertahanan Nasional Malaysia (UPNM) 2006

 

 

 

 

** Achieved Research Status in 2006

18

With the inception of the MOHE, higher education in Malaysia continues to
experience rapid changes. In 2006, as part of the Ninth Malaysia Plan, the stress on
excellence and innovations in higher education has led to the declaration of four public
universities, namely USM, UPM, UM, and UKM, as research universities (RUs). Each
RU has an additional allocation of RM 153 million for research, development, and
commercialization activities. USM uses the additional grant to build a research park, to
set up an international school within the campus in order to attract international staff with
children, to provide emphasis on the arts, culture, and heritage, and to support research
students. UPM invests the incentive money to hire top international professors for short
visits, to Offer assistantships and fellowships to research students, and to create post-
doctoral Opportunities for conducting research with the university.

While UM focuses its funding on graduate programs and efforts to build a critical
mass of international and local talents, UKM seeks to focus more on research areas such
as renewable energy, brain science and educational research that will inform education.
In addition, UKM seeks to create an innovation center that will help researchers with pre-
testing of technology, safety and efﬁciency of products, and will match technologies with
companies and communities that require them. The RU status sets out to help these four
established universities to emerge as vibrant internationalized campuses that are actively
engaged in emerging research areas within the next 10 to 15 years.

In 2007, university management has been reorganized to include the appointment
Of specially-designated Deputy Vice Chancellors to monitor and boost industry-

university linkages. Public universities have also increased their capacities to meet the

19

demands Of the market in terms Of enrollment at different levels of post-graduate courses
and industry relevant disciplines. In 2008, USM was accorded the “apex university”
status, which the government identiﬁed as a university with the greatest potential among
Malaysian universities to be world-class and as such, to be given additional assistance to
compete with top-ranking global institutions. The Federal Government has allocated
RM830 million for the development of the Accelerated Program for Excellence (Apex)
initiatives by USM (The Star, March 4, 2009).

As public universities become involved in providing education services abroad as
well as to students from abroad, and act in tandem with the government’s effort to
corporatize public universities, the government’s funding will eventually be reduced ﬁ'om
the existing 90 percent to 70 percent. Public universities will operate towards a more
enterprising mode, become more autonomous and less dependent on government funds.
All these new developments, rapid changes, and the recruitment of students from
neighboring countries seek to realize Malaysia’s aspiration to position the country as a
hub for higher education excellence in the region. In such dynamic environment, learning
to lead for deans and directors often involves a process of learning on the job through

everyday experiences.

Deans and Directors as Leaders

Leaders must have the skills to help people do a better job through coaching,

facilitating and by creating environments that serve the members of the organization.

Deans and directors as leaders in higher education have the opportunity to set new

20

directions for their academic units. They have the responsibility to students and faculty
for the administration of academic programs across campus. In good times, leaders strive
for greater heights to get to some place better than where they already are. In difﬁcult and
challenging times, leaders reinforce their organizational units ﬁom falling further than
they need to. One common aspect to deanship and directorship is the relative brevity of
their tenures. The average term is less than four years. This awareness of being temporary
occupants of the ofﬁce, without any assurance that one’s appointment will run longer
than the initial term, leads them to a great urgency to identify priorities, develop plans,
and achieve results (Bright and Richards, 2001) .

Deans and directors as academic leaders stand at the three-way crossroads
between (1) the world external to the university, (2) the people who constitute top-
management within the university, and (3) the academic and support staff (Ramsden,
1998). As chief administrators of their departments, they must plan, organize, and control
all available resources such as capital, facilities, equipments, faculty, staff, and students.
Their duties have gone beyond student-focused to include managing, planning,
budgeting, advocating, fundraising and cultural representation (W olverton etal., 2001).
As leaders, they set direction, align people and group, and motivate and inspire people to
create impact that produce change (Kotter, 1990) within academic settings.

Academic leaders such as deans and directors usually ascend from academic
positions. In Malaysian higher education, of the total of 23,567 academic staﬁ‘ at the 20
Malaysian public universities (Malaysia Ministry of Higher Education Statistics, 2007),
women tend to dominate the lower rank of tutors (55%) and lecturers (53%). Of all the

academic staff, men and women, 66 percent are lecturers, 15 percent are tutors, 13

21

percent are associate professors, and only 6 percent are professors. Women represent only
36 percent of the associate professors and 24 percent of the full professors. This low
percentage of women professors seems to reﬂect the low number of women leaders in
Malaysian higher education. As in other organizations, women are also under-represented
in academic leadership positions. Despite the small number, this study chooses to focus
on Malay women because they represent the majority of women leaders in Malaysian
public universities. Malay women deans and directors are also mid-level administrators
whose prominent roles include academic, administrative, and leadership (McLaughlin,
Montgomery, & Malpass, 1975).

In sum, the gender gap that exists within employment positions at the decision-
making levels is still large. The number of women leaders in Malaysia is extremely low.
Malay women can help to close the gender gap that exists within positions of leadership,
particularly within the higher education setting. By entering mid-level administration,
Malay women stand a greater chance to move up the career ladder. But at the same time,
Malay social norms and Islamic religious values also interact with the lives of Malay
women. The norms and values may contribute to certain expectations and gender norms

in society. A historical perspective on Malay women in Malaysia is discussed below.

Malay Women — A Historical Perspective
The different periods of pre-colonial, colonial, and post-colonial Malaysia have
inﬂuenced the lives of Malay women and their roles in family and society (Arifﬁn, 1992;
Ng & Yong, 1990; Raja Mamat, 1991). During the pre-colonial period, when the

Portuguese ruled Malacca in Malaya (West Malaysia) from 1511 to 1641 and the Dutch

22

ruled from 1641 until 1824, the local Malay community continued to practice Islamic
laws and Malay customs. The ﬁrst colonial period began with the British colonization Of
Malaya ﬁ'om 1826 to 1942. From 1942 to 1945, during World War II, Malaya was brieﬂy
occupied by the Japanese. The Second colonial period was during British rule from 1946
to 1957. The post-colonial period started from the year 1957, when Malaya gained
independence from British rule. In 1963, Sabah and Sarawak in Borneo Island joined the
Federation of Malaysia that included Singapore. By 1965, Singapore left Malaysia to
become a country by itself.

Each historical period has signiﬁcant impact on the lives of Malay women.
During the pre-colonial period, the roles of Malay women were deﬁned by two distinct
classes of the aristocrats and the peasants (Arifﬁn, 1992). The aristocratic women were
the wives and family members of the royals and the Malay rulers. Their major role was to
care for and socialize their children to ﬁt into social fabrics of the upper-class. The
peasant women, besides their roles as housewives and mothers, were involved in
subsistence agriculture (vegetable gardening, rice cultivation, and animal husbandry).
Most upper-class women were involved in charitable activities and they did not
participate in the economic activities that were carried out by the working class.

During the ﬁrst colonial period (1826 to 1942), the roles of women began to
change as a result of British colonial rule. The colonial ruler introduced English schools,
Western capitalism, and modernization, which reformed the Malay community and
subsequently changed the roles Of Malay women (Arifﬁn, 1992). Many elite Malay
women became educated and played a new role in the public domain. In 1929, they

formed the Malay Women Teachers Union, which was one of the earliest women’s

23

groups devoted to encouraging Malay women to attend formal education. Although
Malaysian girls were granted access to formal education, English schools set up for girls
were actually training them to become suitable wives for their husbands-tO-be, and the
learning activities were related to the roles of women as wives and mothers (Arifﬁn,
1992). The type of education for girls, which reinforced the nurturing and domestic roles
of women, was later criticized for producing gender inequality (N g & Yong, 1990).
During the second colonial period of 1946 through 1957, Malay women began
active involvement in politics, and by 1949 they formed the women’s wing of UMNO, or
United Malay National Organization — a political organization formed in 1946 by
educated elite Malay men. As the sense of nationalism began to grow, Malay women
engaged in political demonstrations, public rallies, and awareness campaigns to oppose
the proposals Of the Malayan Union, a colonial-sponsored organization. That era
historically marks the beginning of a new role for Malay women in the public sphere. In
the political process, although women have exercised their voting rights and become
involved in political parties, they mostly played a supportive role to men (Othman, 2009)
except in the women’s wings of political parties, where women elect and choose their
own leaders. Othman (2009) observes that women’s wings in political parties remain
secondary to men despite their ability to fulﬁll crucial grass-root roles during the
campaign period of each general election. While men in the party’s youth wings can
“climb up” the party hierarchy into the mainstream party, according to Othman (2009),
women seem to be constrained within their respective wing, perpetually playing a
secondary role to their male counterparts. Modern Malaysian politics proved insufﬁcient

or incapable of providing women with the necessary platform to become leaders in

24

society at large. Conﬁned only to “women’s wing” politics, Malay women did not branch
out and become mainstream political leaders.

Nevertheless, during the post-colonial period, which began in 1957, apart from
managing their families, educated Malay women continued to be involved in social,
political, and economic development of the newly independent country. With the
introduction of the New Economic Policy (N EP) in 1970, Malay women gained greater
access to higher education. The NEP, implemented from 1970 to 1990, was part of a
comprehensive policy framework (de Micheaux, 1997) to eradicate poverty and
restructure the society. It was developed in response to a racial riot that erupted on May
13, 1969. The historic riot was prompted by a deep sense Of dissatisfaction because the
ownership of wealth in the country was concentrated in the hands of irnnrigrants and
foreigners, while the Malays and other indigenous races were conﬁned to subsistence
economy and remained in poverty (de Micheaux, 1997). One signiﬁcant impact of the
NEP was that, with better education, Malay women began to enter the workforce.
However, women were mainly involved in the manufacturing and agricultural sectors as
well as the wholesale and retail trade. The proportion of women serving as senior
Ofﬁcials and managers was very low (only 5.4 percent in 2005). On the contrary, female
enrollment in public universities increased signiﬁcantly to 63.7 percent in 2005. t the
graduate level, 48.8 percent at the masters’ level and 35.7 percent at the PhD level were
female students.

The historical development of Malaysia has shaped the activities and
opportunities for Malay women. As a policy framework to restructure the society (de

Micheaux, 1997), the NEP has provided Opportunities for Malay women to achieve

25

considerable progress; their participation in higher education and in the workforce has
increased over the years.

However, within the contemporary context, women as leaders are under-
represented in Malaysia because of their low participation in politics and employment
positions at the decision-making levels. Historically, Malaysian women were granted the
right to vote and to stand for election at the same time as men i.e. in 1957; and women
were also elected to parliament at the same time as men in 1959 (Othman, 2009). Despite
that, the number of women leaders in Malaysian politics is comparatively very low. By
April 2009, only two of the 33 federal ministers are women ministers. In other areas,
women as board of directors in government-linked companies make up only 14 percent,
and only 18 percent of the top management positions in the public sector are held by
women (Malaysia Ministry of Women, F arnily and Community Development, 2004).
Women leaders are less prevalent in Malaysia’s male-dominated culture, particularly
within work organizations (Westwood and Leung, 1999; Ng and Chakrabarty, 2005).
Although labor laws in Malaysia do not discriminate against women, culturally speaking,
women in Malaysia are still perceived as subordinate to men, and employment is an
extra, added-on role, not the primary role (Abdullah, Noor, & Wok, 2008).

Within the higher education settings in Malaysia, leadership positions have
always been traditionally male-dominated and the number of women leaders in higher
education is still very low. Eighteen of Malaysia’s 20 public universities are in West
Malaysia; nine of the 20 are now established universities. Yet after 50 years of
independence, not one of those public universities was led by a woman until 2006, when

Malaysia saw its ﬁrst female vice chancellor, who is the equivalent of a university

26

president in American and other Western universities. By 2009, only three public

universities have been led by women VCs. All three are Malay women.

Malay Women and Gender Norms

Malay women in Malaysia generally conform to Malay customs and gender
norms. Gender norms among Malay women are typically shaped by two distinctive
forces: The Malay customs called adat and the Islamic values of gender relations. In rural
Malay society where two distinct traditions of gender norms co-exist, Hanami (2002)
found that not only women were actors Of their own decision and choice; they were also
social partners of men and were located at the center of family life and kinship. With that
ﬁnding, Hanami (2002) argues that by conforming in full respect to Islam in the formal
dimension of their lives, villagers successﬁrlly preserved the traditional and informal
dimension of their lives based on “adat” values. Anthropological studies (Karim, 1992;
Peletz, 1996; and Hanami, 2002) on gender relations among Malays Often concentrated
on the rural areas and the less educated population. Often missing from the literature are
voices ﬁom highly educated Malay women and the social dimensions of their
professional lives as women leaders in the public spheres.

Malay women leaders in higher education Often face challenges of negotiating
highly gendered social norms within their work and family lives. Malays in Malaysia are
typically Muslims, with Islamic principles inﬂuencing Malay culture to a large extent.
Within Muslim families, men are typically leaders, and one traditional religious view

suggests that the leadership of women is not allowed in Islam. Such suggestion may

27

inﬂuence the societal views of women as leaders. For women to be leaders, especially in
politics and within work organizations, they have to face the challenges of traditional
religious values (Abdullah, Noor, & Wok, 2008). It is assumed that those challenges may
shape their learning experiences, particularly within the context of learning to lead in
higher education.

Although the patriarchal norms of Muslim societies are inﬂuential within the
Malay community, with the strong view that women leadership is not allowed in Islam,
Malay traditional norms tend to conform to matrilineal practices (De Moubray, 1931).
Matrilineal practices are typically shaped by Malay traditional values. In describing
Malay social values, Abdullah (1996, p.19) draws attention to the idea of social
sensitivity and feeling malu (shame) is related to a social expectation for individual
actions and behaviors. The social expectation puts emphasis on a high context form of
communication where both the verbal and the surrounding circumstances are taken into
consideration. Malay culture also prescribes that Malays should preserve modesty and
humility, be non-confrontational, and be able to maintain an attitude of tolerance in
society. Abdullah (1996) adds that Malays are generally accommodative to hierarchical
relationship, in which respect for elders and authority ﬁgures is very well-observed, and
they build relationships based on morality and trust. Toward this end, Abdullah (1996)
asserts that the sense of harmonious relationship, emotional interdependence, and loyalty
to the group provide the meaning for one’s existence in a social context.

Abdullah (1996) also highlights the inﬂuence of Islamic teachings on Malay
social values. First, the observed traits or zahir and the unseen inner qualities or batin are

equally important for Malays as both traits can inﬂuence conduct and shape personal and

28

professional qualities. Second, Malays look at development of the individual or group in
a holistic manner in which the material and spiritual dimensions are equally important.
As Muslims, the Malays believe in the concept of Allah the Almighty as a Supreme Being
and they believe in the Holy Quran as a divine source of knowledge. Malays believe in
Islam as a way of life and their daily commitments are punctuated with regular prayers
and shared rituals to comply with their responsibility in Islam. In summary, the pursuit of
knowledge and conforming to the teachings of Islam are important to Malays.

In a Malay society, Aihwa Ong (1990) observes that while woman’s roles as
mothers and- wives are strengthened according to Islamic tenets in ways that women
should ﬁrst and foremost serve their husbands and adhere to the Islamic version of male
authority (p. 268), she also notes that Malay women neither simply “resist” nor become
“passive”. In a study about the experiences of women academics at selected Malaysian
public universities, Ismail and Rasdi (2006) uncover a non-conventional theme: an
adherence to religiosity (p. 251). The theme shows that the women studied cited religion
as one of the anchor points in maintaining their career goal (p. 252). For Muslims, male
and female, learning is a sacred duty. Islarn’s view of learning as duty, calling to seek
knowledge for the beneﬁt of the ummah or society, is pertinent for Malays. As Muslims,
Malays are encouraged to conform to their lifelong obligation for learning and seeking
knowledge “from cradle to grave” (Hashim, 2008). Religious obligations, in that sense,
can inﬂuence the ways in which Malay women learn to become leaders.

As Malay women leaders —-— be it in politics or at mid-level administration as deans
and directors in higher education — these women carry a strong voice in society.

However, the small number of women leaders in Malaysia makes them less visible and

29

their compelling stories become under-represented. There is an implicit assumption that
for Malay women to hold formal positions of leadership, they must be willing to employ
strategies that will help them to negotiate their roles according to social and religious
conventions. Without such willingness, many well-educated and hi ghly-experienced
Malay women may become less receptive to opportunities for formal leadership. There is
an essential need to promote women as leaders in Malaysian politics and work
organizations, so that their powerful voices can inﬂuence national policies that support
and recognize the importance of women’s participation in nation building.

This study will provide a meaningful space for Malay women leaders to reﬂect on
their experiences of learning to become a leader, which will allow them to deﬁne for
themselves what they have learned. Understanding Malay women’s ideas of learning to
become leaders will pave the way for aspiring women leaders. It is important to
understand how they learn, in order to inspire more and more Malaysian women to
become leaders. As Malay women represent the majority of women leaders in higher
education, it becomes necessary to understand how they learn within their social context.
The idea of learning as a religious obligation among Malays will provide a unique
background for understanding the socio-cultural imperatives that may inﬂuence or shape

the concept of informal learning.

Informal Learning

The term informal learning was introduced in the 19503 by Malcolm Knowles in
his pioneer work on informal adult education. Following Knowles’s work during the

1950’s, the role of informal learning has emerged in the workplace learning literature.

30

Bond and Garrick (1999) have acknowledged informal interaction with work colleagues
as a predominant way Of learning in the workplace; however, it is often considered ‘part
of the job’ and not acknowledged as formal learning (Bond and Middleton, 2003).
Earlier, Marsick and Watkins (1997) suggested that, not only is informal learning unique
to the individual, but control of learning rests primarily in the hands of the learner.
Informal learning draws attention to the learning that takes place in the spaces
surrounding people, activities, and events in the workplace. It can also be considered as a
complementary to learning from everyday experience. Since then many authors have
written about informal learning. This includes learning that is implicit, unintended,
opportunistic and unstructured (Eraut, 2004). In sum, informal learning is by nature

highly contextual (Ellinger and Cseh, 2007; Marsick et al., 2008).

Informal learning is represented by a range of strategies including conversation,
social interaction, team work, and mentoring. Informal learning involves interaction
between people and is not limited to a predeﬁned body of knowledge. This had led
authors like Cofﬁeld (1999) and Hagar and Halliday (2006) to advocate informal learning
as an important form of learning. Other authors have suggested that informal learning can
be successful if used in conjunction with formal learning (Bell, 1997; Bell and Dale,
1999). The informal learning literature (e. g. Cofﬁeld, 1999; Cofer, 2000; Bell and Dale,
1999; Marsick and Volpe, 1999; Marsick and Watkins, 1990, 1999) represents informal
learning as the way “. . .in which people construct meaning in their... shared
organizational life” (Marsick, 1987, p. 4). Additionally, people learn in the workplace
through interactions with others in their daily work environments (Marsick & Watkins,

1990, p. 4). Most of this learning is situated within social situations and is also referred to

31

as incidental learning (Marsick and Watkins, 1990). According to Marsick and Volpe,
informal learning involve both action and reﬂection which involves “looking back on
what we have done, measuring it against what we wanted to achieve, and assessing the
consequences” (1999, p. 7). The problem, however, is that reﬂection is difﬁcult to
recognize (Marsick and Volpe, 1999) and so co-workers and their organizations may not
recognize or be able to identify informal learning experiences in the workplace. Despite
this difﬁculty, examining how informal learning occurs has the potential to contribute to
current debates surrounding the notion of informal learning.

A review of the informal learning literature shows that informal learning is
commonly studied in a western context. This literature review draws on western
perspectives of informal leaming. In recent years, western studies often draw on various
disciplines and areas of practice. For example, Hoekstra et al. (2009) focus on informal
learning of teachers by looking at the school environment. Jurasaite-Harbison (2009)
adopts a socio-cultural perspective to see how different cultural contexts shape teachers'
workplace learning in three different schools — a Lithuanian school, a Russian school, and
a US school. In another workplace context, Gola’s (2009) research uses narrative inquiry
to better understand the informal learning of social workers in Italy. The above three
examples of western studies show how the learning of individuals is situated within
organizational and social contexts, where people work, bringing about a clearer
understanding of the phenomenon conceptually. Informal learning among adult learners
is generally best situated in workplaces, where individuals can make a difference in what

and how they learn (Marsick, 2009).

32

These three studies rely on qualitative research designs to understand the informal
learning phenomenon in various western countries. Hoekstra et a1. (2009) ground their
study in research on teacher learning. They deﬁne informal workplace learning, based on
the work of Eraut (2004) and Straka (2004), as “learning that lacks systematic support
explicitly organized to foster teacher learning.” They also draw on Lohman’s (2006)
study of factors that facilitate or impede informal teacher learning. Hoekstra and her
colleagues develop a conceptual framework that examines learning processes (learning
by doing) and environmental conditions (shared norms). They call attention to the
difference between action-oriented and meaning-oriented reﬂection, and to the lack of
research that links research to learning outcomes. Two teachers are purposely selected
ﬁom a larger quantitative sample of 32, in order to trace in-depth differences in learning
activities, outcomes, and the inﬂuence of environmental conditions. The in-depth proﬁles
of these two teachers shed light on factors that inﬂuence how teachers learn in the face of
similar challenges posed by school change mandates. Both teachers were confronted with

educational reform focused on active and self-regulated learning for students.

The proﬁles show how individual preferences interact with school leadership,
structure, and culture. One teacher, Melissa, scored above average on beliefs that
knowledge is co-constructed, and after a year, scored signiﬁcantly higher in beliefs about
students’ self-regulated learning. She sought new teaching materials, ideas, and methods;
and was Often involved in meaning-oriented reﬂection. The second teacher, Paul, by
contrast, scored lower than average on beliefs about self-regulated learning, and focused
on achieving acceptable students result. He only experimented with new teaching if it did

not affect control of student results; and engaged more Often in action-oriented reﬂection.

33

The study shows how environmental conditions, sometimes shared, differently impeded
or affected each teacher’s approach to learning. While environmental conditions matter,
belief systems inﬂuenced ways that Melissa and Paul interpret and manage their
environments. The above ﬁndings provide insights on how informal learning of
individual Malay women might differ despite them sharing similar social conditions.

In another study, Jurasaite-Harbison’s (2009) in-depth ethnographic study of
teachers learning in three different schools highlight the role that leadership, culture, and
environment play in shaping and supporting or impeding the learning. She uses discourse
analysis of interviews and reﬂective journal, along with interactional ethnography and
observational data, to examine the learning of teachers in these three schools. The study
unpacks the interactive dynamic between individual preferences and school
environmental factors. The use of a socio-cultural approach enables the readers to see
how strongly environmental inﬂuences informal learning patterns, and how individual
learning preferences may be accommodated, shaped, or rejected by strong cultures and
leadership patterns. The study reveals how teachers as agents learn through interactions,
constructing knowledge rather than acquiring it — a socio-cultural perspective, which pays
less attention to learning methods and processes, and more attention to relationships as
wells as to organizational climate and norms that stimulate learning. This socio-cultural
perspective study provides an insightful lens for examining how Malay women learn to
become leaders, particularly with regard to social norms that may stimulate or inhibit
learning.

Gola’s (2009) study of social workers in Italy is another qualitative study that

adds to an understanding of informal learning. It looks at how 30 in—service social

34

workers in different settings learned their skills, what stories or situations have inﬂuenced
their personal attitude and professional values. He deﬁnes informal learning based on
John Dewey (1938) and Schon (1983). He also draws on the work of Eraut (2004), Straka
(2004), Schugurensky (2000), and Marsick & Watkins (1990) in ﬂeshing out the many
concepts of informal learning. He then proﬁles the tacit, experienced-based, context-
dependent nature of informal learning and describes the various typologies, e. g. self-
directed, accidental, incidental, and socialization-based. Through this literature, he calls
attention to the tacit nature of informal learning and the ways in which learning can be
enhanced through an individual’s intentionalin and consciousness, as well as the
supportiveness of the environment for learning.

Gola collects and analyzes the life histories of a volunteer sample of 30 social
workers to capture how they learn. He explains the many ways that social workers learn
within three categories: deliberative learning, reactive learning, and implicit learning.
Gola’s work shows how elusive the concept of informal learning can be, and how
difﬁcult it is to capture details when learning is so intertwined with work in ways that are
tacit and not proactively engaged (Marsick, 2009). Gola notes “the participants don’t
really understand their implicit learning completely, nor are they aware of the actions and
the activities related to implicit mechanisms.” Gola points out a challenge in studying
implicit learning - that it is not highly conscious even when learning is motivated by
values and goals that are consciously understood and espoused. His mapping of
deliberative, reactive, and implicit learning in studies of social workers uncovers
variables that can be used to examine informal learning in other settings, including within

the Malay social setting. While implicit learning adds to the nature of informal learning,

35

the deliberative and reactive learning concepts add to an understanding of the informal
learning process.

The three recent studies (Hoekstra et al., 2009; Jurasaite-Harbison, 2009; Gola,
2009) have examined informal learning across cultures and national boundaries: Italy,
Lithuania, Russia and the USA, which help to enhance our understanding of the
phenomenon within the western contexts. The studies demonstrate that informal learning
can be studied by examining activities and processes, for example, examining one’s own
practices, getting ideas from others, learning from mistakes, or having conversations with
colleagues. Informal learning can be linked with the way that beliefs affect choices and
actions taken. The studies support earlier theories that individual strategies for learning
are mediated by their beliefs, values, and prior socialization, which affect the nature of
learning. The cross-cultures study also re-emphasize the idea that context greatly affects
learning practices and choices, including triggers for learning, resources, and
environmental inﬂuences.

On that note, informal learning is a complex phenomenon which may be better
understood through a socio-cultural lens (Marsick, 2009) that examines the interaction of
people and their social and cultural context. Marsick (2009) asserts that studies of
informal leaming have yet to factor culture explicitly into learning in ways that account
for cultural inﬂuences. This study Of how Malay women learn to become leaders will
speciﬁcally focus on the Malay cultural inﬂuences on informal learning. The study will
address culture explicitly into learning in ways that account for cultural inﬂuences in the
highly contextual process. Tacit learning is a form of informal learning that will be used

to capture the internalization of the norms, values, behavior, and social skills. It will

36

generate a better understanding for the ways in which Malay women learn within their
social context. Socialization is a process in which individuals acquire the necessary social
skills to conform to the explicit and implicit rules of behavior, which can greatly
inﬂuence tacit learning. Exploring tacit learning and drawing from the tacit knowledge
literature will provide a scope for this study that will purposely consider the inﬂuence of

social norms into learning.

Tacit Knowledge and Tacit Learning

The term tacit knowledge as it applies to western context appeared in the 1960’s
as the kind of knowledge that is personal, context-speciﬁc, and difﬁcult to write down
(Polanyi, 1966). Wagner and Sternberg (1986) deﬁne tacit knowledge as work-related
practical knowledge learned informally on the job. Knowing the notion of tacit
knowledge provides a way to understand the idea of tacit learning. Rebemik and Sirec
(2007) assert that tacit knowledge is Obtained by internal individual processes, such as
through experience, reﬂection, or internalization. People experience tacit knowledge
mostly as intuition, rather than as body of facts that an individual is conscious of having
and can explain to others. For that reason, tacit knowledge is difficult to express,
formalize and share (Rebernik and Sirec, 2007 ). It stands in contrast to explicit
knowledge, which is conscious, can be documented and put into words. Durrance (1998)
states that western culture likes explicit knowledge such as the quantiﬁable and deﬁnable
information that makes up the reports, memos, manuals, and instructional materials. Tacit

knowledge, however, cannot be delivered in lectures and found in books or manuals. It

37

knowledge has to be internalized in the human body and soul (Haldin-Herrgard, 2000, p.
358)

There are four kinds Of tacit knowledge (Lubit, 2001 , p. 166). First, the “Know-
how” skills, which refer to tacit knowledge that people need to repeatedly practice,
receive feedback and get a feel for them. Second, the Mental Models, which represent
tacit knowledge that determine how individuals understand and analyse situations and
make sense of a situation. Third, the ways of approaching problems have to do with the
tacit knowledge that underlies the individual’s decision-making process. Fourth, the
organizational routines produce tacit knowledge that is embedded in the routines that
remain as a legacy of the individual’s knowledge. Studies of tacit knowledge are
commonly situated within work organizations. Durrance (1998) points out these four
processes to describe the ways in which people cultivate the sharing of tacit knowledge
within a western organization: (a) watch, (b) create an environment of trust, respect, and
commitment, (c) let people learn by doing, ((1) in any training exercise, allow time for
reﬂection and interpersonal exchange. The kinds of tacit knowledge (Lubit, 2001) and the
processes of sharing tacit knowledge (Durrance, 1998) provide a useful framework for
understanding the ideas behind tacit learning.

Tacit learning, according to Schugurensky (2000), is a combination of both self-
imposed and extemally-imposed rules because the individual wants to conform (self-
imposed) and comply with the expectations of others (extemally-imposed). The presence
and absence of nurturing sociO-cultural conditions may inﬂuence tacit learning. It is often
shaped by the social context (Schugurensky, 2000). Studies of informal learning

frequently focus on individual learning, which is Often implicit and incidental in nature.

38

These are two important tenets Of tacit learning which are known from western context.
Yi (2006) deﬁnes tacit knowledge as personal, difﬁcult to communicate to others,
problematic, and contextual. Yi (2006), however, maintains that tacit knowledge is more
mysterious and harder to talk about and it exists more in eastern-culture. When exploring
how tacit knowledge is extemalized in online environments, Yi (2006) ﬁnds that sharing
one's own experience is the most effective way for people to share their tacit knowledge.
When reiterating a Chinese proverb “What I hear, I forget. What I see, I remember,”
Lam (2000) explains that tacit knowledge is experience-based: it can only be revealed
through practice in a particular context and transmitted through social networks. Tacit
knowledge, therefore, generates a way for capturing the process of tacit learning using
the socio-cultural lens that examines the interaction of people and their social and cultural
context (Marsick, 2009).

In the context of this study that explores the processes of learning to lead within a
social context, their learning may be easily understood by exploring the tacit learning.
One of the ways to understand how Malay women learn to become leaders is to explore
their tacit knowledge, which may be culturally shaped by their social norms and values.
Tacit learning related to the tacit knowledge of being women leaders within their social
contexts becomes a way to explain how they learn to become leaders. There is an
assumption that the women’s tacit knowledge may be heavily inﬂuenced by the social
norms. This study explores tacit knowledge that is shaped by the social values and that
has potential inﬂuence on the process of learning to become a woman leader. In
summary, tacit knowledge and tacit learning are useful and appropriate for depicting the

ways in which Malay women learn informally within their social context.

39

CHAPTER 3

METHODOLOGY

This chapter illustrates the research design, approach, and methodology that were
used to study informal learning of Malay women leaders in higher education. A
qualitative research design was chosen for this study, because it has the ability to capture
a deeper understanding of participants’ lived experiences (Rossman & Rallis, 1998), and
to understand the processes that people use to construct meanings (Bogdan & Bilden,
1998; Merriam, 1998; Miles & Huberman, 1994; Yin, 2003). A qualitative interview
procedure (Chell, 1998) called the Critical Incident Technique (CIT) guided the data
collection method. A narrative inquiry approach was utilized to address both the broad
and speciﬁc research questions. Broad question; How do Malay women learn to become
leaders in the Malaysian context? Speciﬁc question; How does the socio-cultural context
inﬂuence or manifest itself in the informal learning of Malay women leaders in higher
education? The following sections include the reasons for using a qualitative design, a
description of the narrative inquiry as a research approach, and an overview of the CIT as

a method for data collection.

Research Design

A research design can inﬂuence the process of collecting, analyzing and

interpreting data. Researchers use the qualitative research approach to gain a complex,

detailed understanding of the issue; to develop theories when inadequate theories exist for

40

the population; or when existing theories do not adequately address the complexity
involved (Creswell, 2007, p. 40). Maxwell (1996) proposes the use Of qualitative
research design to understand the meaning of certain situations, actions, or events for
participants, and to understand the unique context in which those circumstances occur.
This study can beneﬁt ﬁ'om a qualitative research design that provides a way to establish
a new line Of thinking (Creswell, 2007, p.102) about informal learning within a social
context.

A research design is “the action plan” that enables the researcher to move from
research questions to valid conclusions through the collection and analysis of data (Yin,
1994 p. 19), and the strategy for undertaking a systematic exploration of the phenomenon
of interest (Marshall & Rossman, 1999, p. 62). By attending to the research design,
researchers seek to assure that the results of their studies produce valid and accurate
results (Macmillan & Schumacher, 1997, pp. 34-35). In sum, a research design is like a
roadmap that guides the research processes. The qualitative research design inﬂuenced
the processes for data collection, data analyses, and drawing conclusions.

There are ﬁve common characteristics of a qualitative approach (Bogdan and
Biklen’s, 1998). The ﬁrst feature is qualitative research as naturalistic, which uses the
participants’ natural setting as the direct source of data, and the researcher is the key
instrument. Second, qualitative research is descriptive. Data is collected through
interviews, observations and document analysis. The data collected takes the rich form of
words or pictures. Third, qualitative research focuses more on processes rather than
products. It is more about how people negotiate meaning rather than the outcomes.

Fourth, qualitative research is inductive, in that the theory emerges from the data

41

collected. It does not require a hypothesis before entering the study. Finally, the ﬁfth
feature, meaning, is the primary concern to the qualitative approach because qualitative
researchers are interested in the “participant perspectives” (Bogdan & Biklen, 1998).

The emphasis on processes rather than products, as well as meaning rather than
the outcomes, provides a strong reason for choosing a qualitative research design. This
study seeks to understand the ways in which the Malay social norms inﬂuence the
informal learning of women leaders in higher education. A qualitative research design
has become useful for understanding how the social values shaped the processes of
learning to become a leader. This qualitative research provides a wealth of information
about a relatively small sample, and it reveals a more detailed picture of individual
experiences. As an empirical research, this study identiﬁes what meaning the subjects
attribute to their experiences, their actions, and whether these meanings represent
learning already acquired by the subjects (Gola, 2008). By using a qualitative approach,
this study focused on the perceptions, beliefs, and attitudes of the participants (Patton,
2002). A qualitative approach can also be used to present data for its descriptive value
and to analyze the data for emerging themes (Patton, 2002).

One of the prime advantages of using the qualitative approach for this study is
that the design provides a better understanding of the participants’ perspectives within the
socio-cultural context (Merriam, 1998). However, the data analysis may be largely
affected by the researchers’ interpretations, because they are the key instrument for
analysis (Bogdan & Biklen, 1998, Merriam, 1998, Stake, 1995). All the data is ﬁltered
through the researchers’ perspectives, values, and worldviews. This qualitative study

responded to processes and ﬁrnctions related to interpretative theories (Gola, 2008), and

42

beneﬁted from the use of a narrative inquiry approach. It is a strategy that supports an
analysis of knowledge development starting from subjective stories (Gola, 2008). For this
study, a narrative inquiry approach was used to support an action plan for establishing a
qualitative research that focused on process rather than products. The study also focused
on meaning rather than the outcomes. The next section describes the narrative approach

used in the study.

Narrative Inquiry

This study draws on Riessman’s (1993), as well as Clandinin’s and Connelly’s
(2000) idea, that narrative is the best way of representing and understanding experience.
Narrative is about understanding the complexities of experience, honoring the subtleties
of experience, and understanding the dynamics between individual experiences, and
contexts that shape experience (Phillion, 2002, p. 20). The narrative form reﬂects the
effort to re-establish a sense of order and meaning in the human experience: the stories
are ways of organizing experience, interpreting the events and creating meaning, while
maintaining a sense of continuity (Gola, 2008). Narrative has become identiﬁed with
stories, and from this point of view, narrative inquiry is one way to make sense Of life as
lived (Clandinin and Connelly, 2000). A narrative inquiry approach was used for
understanding how Malay women leaders learn within their social context, because it
allowed for a deeper sense of understanding the complexities of their learning and

development as women leaders.

43

The scientiﬁc position on the narrative approach, which has been developed in
recent years, has focused on the theme of narrations as objects and research tools in the
social sciences (Josselson and Lieblich, 1995). While qualitative researchers are
concerned with everyday data, narrative inquirers focus on a more speciﬁc type of story.
Stories are commonly used to make sense of the individual’s experience and the
interpretation of life experiences. In this case, when examining the relationship between
narrative and life experiences, Widdershoven (1993) asserts that stories are based on life,
and life is expressed, articulated, manifested, and modiﬁed in stories. This study, in
particular, focused on the theme of narrations as objects. Narrative stories were used as a
way to develop a deeper understanding of informal learning from the perspectives of
Malay women. The Critical Incident Technique (CIT) as a qualitative interview
procedure (Chell & Pittaway, 1998) was used as a way to investigate the learning

processes within the narrative stories.

The Critical Incident Technique (CIT)

A critical incident is described as one that makes a signiﬁcant contribution, either
positively or negatively, to an activity or phenomenon (Bitner, Booms, and Tetreault
1990; Grove & Fisk 1997). This study used the CIT as a way to collect, analyze, and
interpret narrative stories of Malay women learning to lead within their social context.
The CIT is a method that relies on a set of procedures to collect, analyze content, and
classify (Gremler, 2004) critical incidents.

The CIT method was ﬁrst introduced to the social sciences by Flanagan (1954).

The technique grew from studies carried out in the Aviation Psychology Program of the

44

Army Air Forces in World War II. The US. Air Force wanted to know why potential
pilot candidates were failing the program, and why pilots were becoming disoriented
during ﬂight. Initially, Flanagan conducted a series of studies focusing on differentiating
effective and ineffective work behaviors. From those studies, a speciﬁc set of procedures
were developed into what is now called the Critical Incident Technique (CIT).
Flanagan’s (1954) CIT includes ﬁve steps: (a) Determination of the general aim of the
activity; (b) Development Of plans and speciﬁcations for collecting factual incidents
regarding the activity; (c) Collection of data; ((1) Analysis of data; (e) Interpretation and
reporting of the activity.

The purpose of using the CIT method is to gain an understanding of the critical
incidents from the perspective of the individual (Chell & Pittaway, 1998). Since its
introduction, the CIT method has been used in a wide range of disciplines, and very few
changes have been suggested to the processes. For example, one way to gather critical
incidents is by asking respondents to tell a story about an experience they have had
(Gremler, 2004), particularly a kind of learning that occurs within everyday experiences
(Merriam and Caffarella, 1999). During the interviews, respondents were asked to recall
speciﬁc events (Stauss and Weinlich 1997). In doing so, the CIT allowed the participants
to respond with as free a range of responses as possible, within an overall research
ﬁ'amework (Gabbott and Hogg 1996). Chell & Pittaway (1998) described the CIT as a
qualitative interview procedure which facilitates the investigation of signiﬁcant
occurrences (critical incidents) identiﬁed by the respondents, the way they are managed,
and the outcomes in terms of perceived effects. The interview data was collected from the

respondent’s perspective in his or her own words (Edvardsson, 1992) and the context is

45

developed entirely from the respondent’s perspective (Chell & Pittaway, 1998). The CIT
method, therefore, provided a rich source of data by allowing respondents to determine
which incidents were the most relevant to them for the phenomenon being investigated
(Gremler, 2004).

One particular reason for using a CIT method in this study is that this type of
research is inductive in nature (Edvardsson, 1992). The main categories of classiﬁcation
can either be deduced ﬁom theoretical models or formed on the basis of inductive
interpretation (Stauss 1993). The CIT method has a rather ﬂexible set of rules that can be
modiﬁed to meet the requirements of the topic being studied (Burns, Williams, and
Maxham 2000; Hopkinson and Hogarth-Scott 2001; Neuhaus 1996). Consequently, the
CIT method is especially useful for this study which explored the processes of informal
learning within a social context because, (a) the topic being researched has been sparingly
documented (Grove and Fisk 1997), (b) it was an exploratory method to increase
knowledge about a little-known phenomenon, and (c) a thorough understanding is needed
to describe or explain a phenomenon (Bitner, Booms, and Tetreault 1990). In summary,
the CIT method was chosen for this study because it is an inductive method that requires
no hypotheses, and where patterns are formed as they emerge from the responses
(Gremler 2004). Such inductive methods allowed the researcher to generate concepts and

theories (Olsen and Thomasson 1992) as they emerged.

Participant Selection

The six participants were Malay women deans and directors from Malaysian

public universities. They were selected from 15 potential participants with whom the

46

researcher established contact during pre-dissertation visits in summer 2008 and winter
2009. The criteria for selections were:
/ Malay women who have served as deans or directors for at least two years at
established public universities in Malaysia
/ They were available for a series of in-depth interviews during the data collection
period ﬁom February through April 2010.
During contact visits, ﬁve public universities located in the Klang Valley (Midwest) area
of Peninsular Malaysia were chosen because of their established research status and their
close proximity, only 2-3 hours driving distance from each other. Potential participants
were contacted based on their administrative positions as listed on the university
websites. Initial contacts were established via emails and phone calls. Respondents were
also encouraged to suggest potential participants who met the selection criteria. This
study ended with only six participants because a complete set of interviews could only be

obtained from these six women during the limited data collection period.
Data Collection

The primary source of data for this study came from a series of in-depth phone
interviews via Skype. The Open-ended interviews were conducted with six participants;
four deans and two directors. Each participant was interviewed at least twice, and each
interview lasted for about an hour. All interviews were taped on a digital voice recorder
and later transcribed. The development of instruments and procedures for collecting data

are ﬁrrther explained below.

47

Development of Instruments

Two sets of interview protocols were developed to facilitate two-phase ‘
interviews. The preliminary protocols are attached as Appendixes C and D. The ﬁrst
interview was a traditional narrative inquiry, a life story interview, focusing on the
participant’s career in higher education administration. The goal of this ﬁrst interview
was to gather a brief story of family background with some insights about the beginning
of the participant’s personal life and career in higher education. The follow-up interviews
focused on critical incidents seeking clariﬁcation for questions that arose ﬁom the ﬁrst
interview. Basically, these are follow-up questions that have a reason from the initial
analysis of the ﬁrst interview. The CIT interviews usually seek speciﬁc incidents that
relate to exemplary or poor performance.

For this study, the CIT interviews focused on instances that related to the
participants’ perception Of whether they felt encouraged or discouraged to pursue and
further their career as higher education leaders. The two protocols may look like separate
and distinct interviews, but the actual interviews were rolled together. At times,
participants referred to incidents in their lives and the initial interview provided a guide
for speciﬁc questions in the follow-up interview. With the CIT questions blended
together as part of the follow-up interviews, participants were asked to be more speciﬁc
about incidents that became encouraging and discouraging moments in their learning and
development as women leaders.

A preliminary set of interview protocols that resembled Appendix C and D were

piloted on several potential participants who were identiﬁed through contact visits made

48

possible by the Spencer Research Training Grant, including a two-week pre-dissertation
trip to Malaysia during summer 2008. The pilot interviews generated an initial insight on
the development of the literature review for this study. As a result of the contact visits, it
became clear that this study should focus on informal learning as a way to understand

how Malay women learn to become leaders within their social context.

Procedures for Collecting Data

The data collection was planned as face-tO-face interviews. However, since the
IRB approval came as late as February 2010, there was limited time for international
travel during spring break in March 2010. Furthermore, there was no funding available
for data collection in Malaysia. Consequently, the series of phone interviews were
conducted via Skype from February through April 2010. All 15 potential participants
were initially contacted prior to the IRB approval. However, only six participants were
available for Skype interviews. During the initial contact via email or phone, the potential
participants were informed Of my interest in capturing their story of learning to become a
woman leader for this study (Appendix A). Those who agreed to participate were asked
to ﬁll in the demographic data sheet (Appendix B). The initial and the follow-up
interview dates were set, allowing 60—90 minutes for each interview.

Although all interviews were conducted in English, some Malay phrases were
used explain or describe certain cultural images or meanings such as kampong [village]
leadership, guru besar [school principal], and samajuga macam kitajaga suami kat

rumah [it is like how we take care of our husband at home]. The interviews were done

49

mostly after midnight Eastern Time in the US to accommodate for participants’
availability. For instance, the interviews with Dr. Sabrina and Prof. Mariani (both
pseudonyms) were conducted from 2 to 4 am which is 2 to 4pm in Malaysia. Prior to any
interviews, participants were asked to provide consent for tape-recorded interviews. The
initial interview began as a traditional narrative inquiry (Appendix C) focusing primarily
on gathering background information. The second interview or third interview followed
with questions to clarify incidents, meanings, or matters that were not clear from the ﬁrst
interview. That was purposely done to gather speciﬁc incidents of encouraging and
discouraging moments. The interviews were semi-structured in nature, making a gradual
and subtle shift to the CIT, asking speciﬁc incident questions. The digitally recorded
interviews were transcribed verbatim. The ﬁrst interviews were mostly transcribed by an
assistant transcriber, and the second interviews were mostly transcribed by the researcher.
For every ten minutes of audio, the researcher spent about an hour to transcribe.
Interviews for each participant resulted in 20-25 pages of transcription, typed in single-

spacing.

Data Analysis

The conceptual procedure for data analysis was drawn on the narrative stories and
the critical incidents technique. Within the scope of narrative analysis, the content
analysis approach that concentrates on the social function of the narrative (Elliot, 2005)
became appropriate for this study. It was used as a way of viewing the narrative in its

completeness (Lieblich et al., 1998). Content analysis was applied to a series of narratives

50

(Holloway and Freshwater, 2007). Data analysis at this stage involved moving ﬁ'om one
story to the next, checking for main features; conﬁrming previous accounts; identifying
common elements; and developing a collective story (Holloway and Freshwater, 2007).

A holistic analysis approach helped to identify the direction and intention of the
plot (Holloway and Freshwater, 2007), which was used to gather themes for the processes
of learning. For this study, Gergen and Gergen’s (1987) holistic analysis was used to
describe the progress of learning to lead in terms Of the leadership skills acquired. At this
stage of data analysis, the researcher was open to the analytic process, reporting not only
the narrative and plot, but also the researcher’s responses to it (Holloway & Freshwater,
2007). A reﬂection on the process included prompts like: Why do you notice what you
notice? How can you interpret what you notice? How can you know that your
interpretation is the right one? These are some prompts suggested by Holloway and
Jefferson (2002).

During the initial stage of data analysis, the transcripts were read multiple times to
get a sense of their life stories and learning experiences. At this stage, the chair of my
committee, Prof. Dirkx, became an independent set Of eyes in guiding, challenging, and
reﬁning my understanding of the raw data. Actual interview statements were grouped
into several themes for each participant on a word ﬁle. From those general themes, for
example a theme on being a woman leader, the statements were further analyzed to
generate sub-themes such multiple roles and societal expectations. A thematic approach
was used as a way for deepening the understanding of the data, in which smaller sections
of text were classiﬁed into categories (Lieblich et al., 1998). Each theme carries stories

and representations of experience that stays very close to the data. Ultimately, the

51

analysis generated an understanding of the inﬂuence of social values, such as paternal
inﬂuence on the processes of learning to become a leader. In sum, this study supports
Cobley’s (2001) idea that narrative can help to ground some people in a given
community. For example, the women’s learning experiences were studied within their
social context.

The presentation of ﬁndings includes two parts. The ﬁrst part provides a brief
proﬁle for each participant. Each proﬁle provides readers with a sense of who the women
participants are. A summary table is supplemented in the ﬁndings chapter to give an
overview of all six participants. The second part of the ﬁndings includes presentation of

themes that carried across the participants.

52

CHAPTER FOUR
RESEARCH FINDINGS

This chapter describes the ﬁndings from an analysis of data gathered through a
series of two in-depth interviews with six women, ‘who are deans and directors at
Malaysian public universities. The study was designed to seek and develop an
understanding of how Malay women learn to lead in higher education. The ﬁrst section
begins with a brief proﬁle for each participant. The second section elaborates on three
speciﬁc themes. For the ﬁrst section, each proﬁle is written as a personal story of each
participant. The stories of how participants learn to lead as women leaders in higher
education are captured from the experiences of Mariani, Latifah, Azizah, Kamila,
Sabrina, and Norizan. These names are Malay pseudonyms given to the six participants
as a means to protect their anonymity and privacy. Prior experiences together with the
notion of being a woman leader and the processes of learning in leadership are used to
seek an understanding of how these Malay women learn to lead in higher education. The
ﬁrst section includes proﬁles that provide an overview of the participants’ educational,
professional, and family backgrounds. The information is presented in ways that reﬂect
their present position, school, university, advanced degree, family backgrounds, where
they were born and raised, and current family. The following table provides a brief

summary of the participants’ background.

53

Table 2: Summary of Participants

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Proﬁle Pseudonym Discipline Age Position Years in Public University
position

1 Mariani Educational 57 Director 5 RU-West Coast
Technology

2 Latifah English & 49 Director 4 RU-Urban Area

Education

3 Azizah Mathematics 51 Dean 3 RU-City Center

4 Kamila Chemical 52 Dean 7 LU-Main
Engineering Campus

5 Sabrina Learning & 48 Dean 2 LU-Main
Instruction Campus

6 Norizan Applied 62 Dean 3 LU-Main
Linguistics Campus

 

All six participants are from established public universities in Malaysia Four are

deans and two are directors. The women have been working at their current institutions

from 23 to 36 years with an average of 26 years. They are all married, and have children.

While three participants are from three different research universities (RUs), the other

three are from the nation’s largest public university. This large university (LU), with 15

branches in various locations throughout the nation, has a total of 170,000 students

enrolled nationwide. Nearly 30,000 students are enrolled at the main campus located near

the capital city of Kuala Lumpur. More than 15,000 people work at this large university,

which offers more than 300 academic programs. The following section begins with a

brief proﬁle for each participant.

54

 

Profiles of Participants

Professor Mariani

Prof. Mariani, age 57, has been the director of a research center for ﬁve years. A
research center is a specialized academic unit for the support of teaching, research, and
scholarly work. She works at a major research university [RU-West Coast] in the
northwest coast of Peninsular Malaysia. Prof. Mariani will retire in 2011 at age 58. The
following is Prof. Mariani’s personal narrative, written from her point of view, about her
present position, school, university, advanced degree, where she was born and raised, and
family background: I

I have been the director of this research center for the past ﬁve years. At this
research center, anything that we do, any research that we carry out must have a
policy implication that will promote gender equality. We focus on ways to
generate policies that expand opportunities for women. As a woman leader, I
often sense that my mission is two-fold, both professional as well as personal.

I attained my undergraduate degree at the Science University of Malaysia, or
Universiti Sains Malaysia [USM[, attending the institution from 1973 to 1976.
The early to mid-19703 was a period of students’ revolt in Malaysia, with many of
us calling on the government to better address the issue of poverty. Like many of
my contemporaries, we were driven then — as I continue to be today — by a sense
of fair play, social justice and leveling the playing ﬁeld, especially for those who
lack opportunities.

After graduating, I worked for a year in the public sector. Then I went on a
Fulbright Hays Scholarship program to pursue a master’s degree in Hawaii from
1977 to 1979. In 1983, I completed my doctorate at Michigan State University. I
began as a lecturer here [RU-West Coast after returning with my PhD. With a
background in instructional design, I was appointed as a Deputy Director for the
Educational Technology Unit in 1984. Then, when I got married in 1985, I moved
to a branch campus on the east coast, to be with my husband, a physician in the
private sector. At around this time, we also started a family. My oldest son was
born in 1986. Two years later, I had a pair Of fraternal twins, a boy and a girl. In
the West Coast, I served as an ordinary lecturer for many years.

Later on, I began to get involved in various committees. From my engagement in

many activities, I began to link myself with various non-govemment
organizations. Then, I was appointed as the chair of a health-related NGO

55

program for about l'/2 years. During this time, I was also very active in women’s
health issues, mostly through my involvement with NGOs. I began to write
proliﬁcally on this subject. While I have always been active with NGOs since my
return from the United States in the 19803, I became even more active in the early
19903, prompted in some measure by the international conference on population
development in Cairo, Egypt, in 1994.

One morning, around 2005, I received a call out of the blue from the vice
chancellor of the university asking me to serve as the director Of the research
center. I remember thinking that I would be making a major sacriﬁce if I were to
accept the position. Yet, because I had not sought the position, I felt I was also in
a position to bargain for an arrangement that would allow me to do the job well
while still spending time with my family. After all, I would be on the main
campus while my family would be 300 miles away on the coast.

For the ﬁrst four or ﬁve years, I came home during weekends. I still teach at the
branch campus, but for this year I negotiated with the vice chancellor to allow me
to stay a week there and a week on the main campus. But that deal works only in
theory. In practice, it is very difﬁcult to take off for one week. I love teaching and
so I still teach at the branch campus. Those are the courses I introduced, and I
wanted to go back and teach. Sometimes I can be at the branch campus on the
coast for the whole week.

My father is 89 years old now. He was a guru besar, or school principal, Of a
primary school in the kampong, or village. He was not just a school principal, but
he was also active in community development. He was very sensitive to the needs
Of the community and he used to take me out into the community quite a lot. I am
the third child of six siblings: four boys and two girls, but I am the oldest girl. I
don’t believe my older brothers had much of an impact on the rest of us. In effect,
I became the “eldest brother” because I followed my father very closely with his
community work.

My mom was a housewife. Nevertheless, she was a very strong woman in her

own way. I only saw her strength much later when I came back from the United

States and became more matured. She was a very determined, tenacious and

principled woman who fought hard for the things she believed in. She died many

years ago.

For Prof. Mariarri, community engagement and activism began early in her life
and appears to feature prominently in her later life. Her learning through activism was

initially incidental. Community engagement and activism is a recurring theme that

compels participants in the study to become leaders in higher education.

56

Dr. Latifah

Dr. Latifah, age 49, is the director of a research center. The research university
[RU-Urban Area] where she works is located about 15 miles south of the capital city,
Kuala Lumpur. The following is Dr. Latifah’s personal narrative, written from her point
of her view, about her present position, school, university, advanced degree, where she
was born and raised, and family background:

I’ve been the director of this research center for four years, now. Our activities are
not just doing research. I believe the center and its staff should not limit ourselves
to our own boundaries like a frog under a coconut shell, or as the Malays say,
macam katak di bawah tempurung. We need to open up to a wider perspective.
We may bring in people with expertise in speciﬁc ﬁelds and have them here for
our lecture series or to support our research activities. Whatever it is, we want to
encourage a multidisciplinary approach to research and this is what our center is
focusing on. Before working at the center, I headed the university’s English
department and had a lot of experience running research groups, meetings,
committees and other activities.

I got my bachelor’s degree from the University of Indiana in Bloomington in
1980, specializing in Testing of English as a Secondary Language, or TESL. I
received my master’s degree from Indiana in 1986. For my PhD, I decided to
study locally in Malaysia because of my 4-year-old daughter.

At the same time, I would have liked to have that experience overseas. So, I did
six months attachment in Amsterdam and six months attachment at Illinois
University. I did everything in six years [1994-2000]. My husband, a
businessman, was with me on and Off during my PhD abroad. We were both
extremely busy during this period. He would visit for just a week or two]. It was
quite difﬁcult, but I think the most important thing is to feel secure knowing that
my mother-in-law, my mother, and my husband were capable of taking care of
my daughter. This was very helpful.

I was born in Alor Star, the capital of the northern state of Kedah. Eventually, I
made my home in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia’s federal capital. My mother was a
teacher and was very supportive of my pursuits. My mother did not have a
housemaid to help with chores around the house. Frequently, my brother and I
helped out in the kitchen. When my brother was at a boarding school, he learned
even more house chores. TO this day, my brother remains self-reliant, washing
and ironing his own clothes and cleaning his house.

57

My father, who is now deceased, was a senior police ofﬁcer with the rank of
Chief Police Ofﬁcer. That meant we moved a lot as a family. Being the daughter
of a policeman and always on the move meant I had to think on my feet all the
time. And I made friends easily. Our family was small; my brother was my only
sibling. For a Malay family, this was not typical. My father, for example, had nine
siblings.

My mother-in-law was also a teacher. And my father-in-law was also a police
Ofﬁcer. Both my mother and my mother-in—law have been working mothers, so
they understand what it means to juggle family and career lives. I live with
parents-in—law. I think it’s a good thing. Yes, maybe it’s the patience that I have.
It’s been since I got married, more than 20 years ago in KL. I have one child. My
daughter is 20 now, and she is studying in Melbourne.

For Dr. Latifah, independence and self-reliance appear to be themes throughout
her life, starting with her childhood and going on into adulthood. “We need to open up to

a wider perspective,” reﬂects that her learning is rather intentional.

Professor Azizah

Prof. Azizah, age 51, has been a dean for three years at another research
university [RU-City Center] located in the heart of the capital city. The following is Prof.
Azizah’s personal narrative, written from her point of her view, about her present
position, school, university, advanced degree, where she was born and raised, and family
background:

I am currently the dean for educational studies. Before that, I was the head of the
department of mathematics and science for about ﬁve years. I graduated in 1982
with a bachelor’s degree in mathematics from the University of Malaya. I was
awarded a scholarship to complete my master’s abroad, but life got in the way: I
was just getting married, and later my husband’s father passed away. Because of
the tremendous demands on our time from these family commitments, I decided
to postpone pursuing my master’s. I became a school teacher, teaching
mathematics and physics. I was also the head of the department in school, even
though it was a very short service there. At that time, not many people were
majoring in math and science. After two and half years of teaching in school, I
applied to be a lecturer at a teachers’ training college. I taught there for two years.

58

When I did get another scholarship to do my master’s degree, the recession held
me back. I could not go abroad. SO, I had to do my master’s in Malaysia, locally.
My major was mathematics education. In the mid-1990's, I went to The Ohio
State University for my PhD. When I was doing my PhD, my husband also came
along to do his master’s. My two children were also with us in Ohio; one was in
second grade and the other was in ﬁfth grade. I wanted both of them to be
involved with the community. So, in order for them to get involved, I also had to
be involved. At Ohio State, there’s a requirement that we also had to do some
community work. So, I was very involved, and I was appointed as the president
for a community group in Columbus.

I am the oldest of six siblings. It’s not easy because I had to look after my
younger siblings. My family relies on me, being the eldest, the responsibility is
there. After school, I had to help my mom in the kitchen and on weekends, of
course, we had to wash clothes for the family. Everyone in our family works as a
team. This ethic has inﬂuenced my work. If we could not work well with family
members, I believe we may struggle to work well with our colleagues and with
friends. My mom is a housewife, my father is an electrician. Even though they
were not highly educated they really encouraged all of us to study and be involved
in our community.

I was born in Negeri Sembilan but grew up in Singapore because my parents lived
there before Singapore — up to then a state in Malaysia — separated from Malaysia
and became its own sovereign nation. But in 1963, my father was given a choice:
return to Malaysia and bring whatever money he had, or keep his job in Singapore
and change his citizenship. So, my father said: dah tua, rumah dah ada kat [I am
old, I have a house in] Singapore. So, he changed his citizenship. All my sisters
and brothers were born in Singapore and they automatically became Singaporean.
My mom also followed, except myself. I stayed with them in Singapore, but — as
the eldest child — I retained my Malaysian citizenship. I had to travel to J ohor
Baru every three months, to cross the border and stamp my passport so I didn’t
violate the terms of my stay in Singapore.

Dr. Azizah’s modest childhood was no impediment to her subsequent ambitions.
Her parents instilled in her their values, which emphasize education and community
engagement. Her learning is portrayed as incidental, “Everyone in our family works as a
team. This ethic has inﬂuenced my work.” She learned “team ethic” through her daily

experiences as the oldest child in the family.

59

Professor Kamila

Prof. Kamila, age 52, has been a dean for seven years at a large public university
[LU-Main Campus], about 15 miles west Of the country’s capital city, Kuala Lumpur.
The following is Prof. Karnila’s personal narrative, written from her point of her view,
about her present position, school, university, advanced degree, where she was born and
raised, and family background:

I have been the dean for the engineering degree program since it was ﬁrst
launched on this campus. I graduated with a bachelor’s degree in chemical
engineering from Salford University in the United Kingdom in 1981.

After completing my degree, I was an assistant lecturer at another public
university in 1983 and served there for two years. The university was preparing to
move to a southern state. Corning ﬁ'om that southern state myself, I had no
problem transferring there. But my husband is from an area near the capital city,
so he prefers to be near where his mother lives. Deciding that it was more
important for me to be with my husband, I left that university. And, it was a
coincidence that the university where I now work (LU-Main Campus] was hiring
engineering lecturers at the time. So, I got the job in 1985.

In 1991, there was an opportunity for me to further my studies at the University of
Leeds. When I returned to Malaysia with my PhD, the dean gave me a task. My
ﬁrst job was to develop a strategic plan for the department. So, as the secretary of
the Strategic Planning committee, I worked my way up. And after that, I was the
coordinator, and that is how I started to develop my leadership skills.

When I went to the UK, I was actually supposed to do my masters. But the
university offered me to undertake research to be converted to a PhD dissertation.
During the ﬁrst year, I was an unclassiﬁed student with undeclared degree status,
and the university closely reviewed my performance. My husband was also
pursuing his master’s degree there. Since I had the opportunity to be transferred to
a PhD program, I wrote to my employer requesting permission to pursue a PhD
and the university gave me three conditions: First, my PhD is for three years but
one year has been used, leaving me with only two years. Second, I could not
extend my study leave beyond the third year. Third, I was contractually required
to serve the university for 9 years after my PhD.

An unforeseen situation forced my husband to return to Malaysia after he ﬁnished

his master’s. By this time, we already had ﬁve children. I convinced my husband
that I really needed to complete my PhD. So, as a compromise, he went back tO

60

Malaysia with three of our children and I stayed with the younger two — aged
three and ﬁve. What an experience.

A week after he left for Malaysia, I suffered dizziness and other new signs that
prompted me to go to the clinic. And true enough, it was conﬁrmed that I was
already expecting my sixth child. So, I said GOD wants to test me, “If you want
this PhD, you must have this test ﬁrst.” The trial was very great at that time. I
gave birth to my sixth child abroad. My husband was supposed to come, but then,
he arrived a bit late. The baby was already delivered and I was, at that time I felt,
I had all the strengths, Alhamdulz’llah (thanks to Allah)! I felt VERY strong. I
believed at the time that I could face any challenge. It was not easy. My children
were ill, including my newborn baby.
From the above narration, it is clear that Prof. Kamila faced daunting challenges
from the beginning, yet she persevered. Her inner strength is inferred as deriving from a
divine source, “I had all the strengths, Alhamdulillah (thanks to Allah)!” Her sense of
perseverance is instrumental in inﬂuencing her leadership styles and her approach to
problem solving. Prof. Kamila strikes one as the kind of individual who lowers her head

and simply plows forward when faced with challenges. “I worked my way up,” describes

intentionality in her learning experiences.

Dr. Sabrina
Dr. Sabrina, age 48, had served as a dean at the school of education, for two
years, at a large public university [LU-Main Campus]. The following is Dr. Sabrina’s
personal narrative, written from her point of her view, about her present position, school,
university, advanced degree, where she was born and raised, and family background:
I am currently the director for an academic support unit. Before this, I was a dean
for two years. I received my bachelor’s degree in English education from the
University of Indiana in Bloomington in 1981 and my master’s in language
education also ﬁom [U in 1983. After I received my degrees, I joined this

university [LU-Main Campus] as a lecturer in July 1988, and worked for two-and-
a-half years, before pursuing my PhD in learning and instruction from 1991 to

61

1995 at State University of New York in Buffalo. When I returned in 1996, I
continued teaching as a lecturer. In 1998, when the school of education started, I
was one Of the pioneers involved in the teaching Of the ﬁrst class.

Then from 2001-2004, I was a research fellow and administrator at an institute
within this university. For those three years, I conducted courses for academic
staff on campus. I was still teaching one course at the school of education. By
August 2004, when the former dean retired, I was nominated and asked to come
back to the school to be a dean.

My husband works at another public university about 10 miles north of the capital
city Kuala Lumpur. He was also a dean when I was a dean. SO you can imagine
having two academic deans in the house. We did our PhD at the same time when
we were newlyweds. We started our family when we both completed our PhDs.
As a result, we shared all our challenges together. Today, my husband and I have
a lS-year-old son.

I come from a very big family of 11 children. I’m the second youngest. Because
we were all about one year apart, all 11 of us — one boy and 10 girls — were very
close when we were growing up. Until today, we maintain our closeness among
the ten sisters. My parents were Malaysians but they happened to live in
Singapore. My dad was a police sergeant in Singapore and my mom was a
housewife. My mom has always been the backbone for us. Even though my mom
was not educated, she could read and write, probably very minimally. I was born
in Singapore and spent my early years and early education there.

Back then, when we were in Singapore, we would go back to our hometown in
Alor Gajah, Melaka, almost like every weekend. Returning to our ancestral
village — or “balik kampong” as the Malays say — is part of our tradition as a way
to remain in touch with our grandparents, relatives and other extended family
members. In fact, the whole village was like a family. Everyone knew everyone
else. We knew who lived in the neighboring house and the one next to that and
the one next to that, all the way to the edges of the village. There was a relative in
nearly all those houses.

In 1974, our family moved back to Malaysia, where I completed my secondary
education. That gave me two different education systems. In Malaysia, I was very
active in sports. You could ﬁnd me in almost every game. I was involved in track
and ﬁeld. I also played tennis and volleyball at the national level. In ﬁeld hockey,
I represented my state of Negeri Sembilan. Coming from Singapore, it was quite a
change. There was culture shock but then I adapted accordingly.

Being active in sports and learning together portray that her learning is more

relational. In addition to being outgoing and actively engaged in sports of hockey, tennis,

62

and volleyball, Dr. Sabrina also appears to have transitioned ﬁom one cultural
background to another. “Adaptability” describes her character trait. In other words she
appears to have moved from Singapore to Malaysia with ease, and have enjoyed both

experiences as she herself acknowledges.

Professor N orizan

Prof. Norizan, age 62, had been a dean for three years at a large public university
[LU-Main Campus]. She was the dean for Language Studies. Prof. Norizan retired at age
5 8 and currently serves as an adjunct faculty on the same university campus. The
following is Prof. Norizan’s personal narrative, written from her point of her view, about
her present position, school, university, advanced degree, where she was born and raised,
and family background:

I graduated in 1971. My bachelor’s degree was from UM [Universiti Malaya -a
local public university] and I had served as a tutor there for two years before
joining this university as a teaching staff. I have been a faculty member here since
1974. After six years, I went to pursue my masters in applied linguistics at the
University of Essex, UK. I started my career as an academic administrator as soon
as I came back in 1982. At that time, I became a coordinator without the beneﬁt
of training. So, for me, it was like being thrown into the act of managing and
leading with little formal preparation. But I’ve always attributed my success to
my previous department chair, who was my mentor. She was the one who made
my job easier. Eventually I became the department chair myself.

After six years as an academic administrator, I pursued my PhD at age 38 at the
University of Birmingham in the UK. With three children, it was hard. I brought
my eldest daughter with me. She was 12 years old then. I did not bring along my
husband, an architect, and two younger children. Part of the reason, I thought, was
I would not have been able to cope with the full range of domestic chores while
pursuing my PhD at the same time. I’ve always had the beneﬁt of domestic help
around the home. In Birmingham, I would be on my own. I could cope with one
child. Add a husband and two additional children, and I worried it would be too
much.

63

My PhD took 3 years. When I came back in 1990, I was heading another
department relinquished by my mentor. She had developed a new program. She
had already left and retired but her legacy remained. In July 1997, this faculty was
established. By November 1997, I was appointed its ﬁrst dean. As a new
academic unit, we had a structure. We were given a secretary and clerk — but no
space. We had a temporary location but we started including other academic
programs. We managed to get the cooperation of other deans.

I come ﬁom a small village in Pahang. I am the third child of ﬁve siblings. My

father was an engineer, but my mom was a housewife. Mom was not formally

educated. She did not participate in our formal education. But she provided us
with lots of love, support and motivation. My father was the one who tutored us,
but only in mathematics. I developed my English language skills through my love
for reading at the age of 10. During my childhood years, I really enjoyed our
village adventures with my siblings and cousins exploring unchartered territories
and taking part in activities like ﬁshing in the backyard river, climbing trees, and
the occasional holidays with the family. An eventful moment was when the royal
town of Pekan in Pahang was ﬂooded. Because my father was an engineer and
considered important in the community, I was treated to a helicopter ride to take

me from Pekan to Kuantan, all so I could register for school in Grade 12.

Like other participants, Prof. Norizan has a strong connection to family. One
distinguishing aspect is her preference for pragmatic solutions, despite emotional factors,
such as when she pursued her PhD with only one child in tow, not all three. Her reasons
are pragmatic and the solution appears to have worked for her. She also cites a mentor as

a guiding inﬂuence in her development as a leader, which represents her learning as

relational.

Profile Summary

In summary, all six participants had acquired PhD degrees prior to assruning their
leadership positions as deans or directors. All have studied abroad, either in the UK or the
US. Although they were trained abroad at the graduate level, there was little

acknowledgement of the contribution of this training to their learning to lead. All women

64

are married with children, or at least a child. How their roles as wives and mothers
inﬂuenced their learning and development is explored within the theme of being women

leaders in their cultural context.

Generally speaking, while the learning descriptions for Prof. Mariani and Prof.
Azzizah are more consistent with the characteristics of incidental or unintentional
learning, the learning described by Dr. Latifah and Prof. Kamila are more coherent with
intentional learning. For Dr. Sabrina and Prof. Norizan, their stories represent more of
relational learning. In summary, participants describe some forms of learning that are not
necessarily inconsistent with the literature on informal learning. However, their learning

is deeply intertwined with cultural nuances.

From the ﬁndings, the researcher concludes that these Malay women deans or
directors are well-educated with prior administrative experiences. They are professional
women whose mothers are mostly housewives, who are not well-educated — except for
Dr. Latifah, whose mother was a school teacher. All their husbands are working
professionals too. All women have previous administrative experiences either as
coordinators or heads of department. The next section discusses the following three
themes, which seem to continually morph throughout their lives as: (1) inﬂuence of past

experiences, (2) being a woman leader, and (3) learning in leadership.

The ﬁrst main theme that describes the inﬂuence of past experiences is divided
into three sub-themes: (a) parental inﬂuence and the emergence of leadership
opportunities, (b) community engagement and the development of leadership potential,

and (c) mentoring and leadership development. The second theme that explains the

65

notion Of a being woman leader within the Malay social context is expanded into three
inter-connected sub-categories: (a) Patriarchy and Unwritten Rules, (b) Managing
Multiple Roles and Societal Expectations, and (0) Leadership Styles and Commitments.
Finally, the third theme that explores the processes of learning in leadership is further
sub-divided into three categories: (a) Lessons from Experience: What and how they learn,

(b) Motivation to Learn, and (c) Emotionality.

Theme 1: INFLUENCE OF PAST EXPERIENCES

The ﬁrst theme relates to the inﬂuence of past experiences, which refers to the
participants’ experiences prior to becoming a dean or director. The theme is deﬁned as
experiences associated with the emergence of leadership opportunities, leadership
potential, and leadership development— an accumulation of experience over the years;
within the context of participation as children, students, and working adults. In their
stories of learning to lead, leadership is framed as a developmental process. Their
personal stories highlight the “inﬂuence of past experiences” as an important theme for
informal learning.

The theme is ﬁrrther divided into three sub-themes: (a) parental inﬂuence and the
emergence of leadership opportunities, (b) community engagement, and (c) the

development of leadership potential, and mentoring and leadership development.

66

(3) Parental Influence and the Emergence of Leadership Opportunities

Parental inﬂuence and how it helps in providing leadership Opportunities during
childhood appeared in the interviews with three of the participants [Dr. Latifah, Prof.
Azizah, and Prof. Mariarri]. The ﬁndings suggest that parental inﬂuence plays a
signiﬁcant role in the development of these women’s leadership disposition. While Dr.
Latifah [director at RU-Urban Area] spoke of learning to be independent and acquiring a
coping skill, Prof. Azizah [dean at RU-City Center] mentioned the beneﬁts of her
responsibility as the oldest child of six siblings and teamwork with her siblings.
Additionally, Prof. Mariani [director at RU-West Coast] credited her father for instilling
and nurturing her interests in activism and NGO work. The paragraphs below describe
the ways parental inﬂuence shaped the emergence of leadership opportunities for each of
the three participants.

For Dr. Latifah, the manifestation of parental inﬂuence was situated within the
context of her father as a police chief, who had to move regularly during her childhood.
Dr.Latifah explained about the coping mechanism she had had to develop in the process
of growing-up and moving to several states in Malaysia. In the words of Dr Latifah,

I think my parents are a very strong [inﬂuence]; they nurture us [my brother and

me] to be that way - very independent. We’ve always had a chance to be on our

own. When I was in school, kadang-kadang [at times] I expect my mom [a school
teacher] would be at home, suddenly, she called to say malam ni mommy nak kena
pergi dinner party dengan daddy [mommy has to go for a dinner party with
daddy]. I became strong because of my father. Being a CPO [Chief Police

Ofﬁcer]; we had to move a lot. Suddenly he tells you, I’m sorry but we’ve got to

move [transfer to another state] again. I have to be like that, be prepared to move

on. Macam kat [Like to] Melaka, Alor Star, or Penang.

Dr Latifah continued by saying, “What do you do? Rather than mourn, grumble,

and things like that, I have to develop that coping skill; maybe sometimes I developed too

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much of it.” She feels that way, because sometimes shortly after making new friends,
“and then I have to leave them again.” But, she believes that “the coping mechanism has
been there to help” in her job. In describing her job, she says “my job is like a potluck
and anything can happen. You know suddenly tomorrow someone tells me that there is a
grant, so we have to, straight away, go right in.” She argues that “these are the things
that” she cannot afford to “let them slip away because they come to you.” So, in the end,
she declares that, “I have to think on my feet all the time! But, I think, I have been trained
to actually think on my feet a lot, which this job demands.” In sum, Dr. Latifah learned to
be “independent” from emerging situations inspired by both parents. As a result of having
to deal with impromptu situations regularly during those years, Dr. Latifah eventually
develops the “coping mechanism” she deemed as “necessary” for her job as the director
of a research center at RU-Urban Area.

The way parental inﬂuence played out for Prof. Azizah appeared in her role as the
ﬁrst child. Prof. Azizah is the oldest of six siblings, whose parents and siblings are
citizens of Singapore. As the ﬁrst child, especially being the Oldest girl in a Malay family,
she has been socialized to assume the leading role for her younger siblings. Prof. Azizah
reveals that “my experience being the oldest child has not been easy because my family
relies [heavily] on me. But, I think the experience also helped in my work. It has helped
me a lot in becoming a leader.” For Prof. Azizah, helping ‘my mom at the kitchen” and
washing “clothes for the family” during “weekends” and of course, assuming the role of
an oldest child helped tremendously in developing her leadership potentials. Meeting her
family’s expectations to lead the sibling’s teamwork in doing house chores during

childhood has become one of the foundational factors for building her leadership

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abilities. In short, Prof. Azizah learned to develop her leadership potential through her
lived experiences. Parental inﬂuence for Prof. Azizah emerged from her parents’
expectations of her as the oldest child.

Parental inﬂuence for Prof. Mariani came mostly from her 89 year-Old father.
Prof. Mariani, who viewed herself as an academic activist, takes pride in commending
her father for instilling that passion for social activism.

The grounding of my consciousness about society, I think, was developed earlier

on because my father was a guru besar [school principal] of a primary school in

the kampong [village]. He was very sensitive to the needs of the community. SO
that childhood exposure, with my father who used to take me out into the
community, is very fundamental to me. I must say that, the person I am now, is
the result of early exposure to my father’s values and strong grooming and
grounding in those values.

Prof. Mariani then elaborates on how that passion for activism began to increase
during her college years and was later intensiﬁed throughout her professional career in
acadenrics. It was back in the 70’s, when there was students’ revolt in Malaysia; she was
part of that group of college students who brought up poverty issues to the government.
She notes that “so, there was already a strong element of exposure.” According to Prof.
Mariani, “it was a very good exposure.” In a sense, that has reinforced her disposition,
which continued to “build-on the initial grounding by [her] father.” In summary, for Prof.
Mariani, a strong parental inﬂuence from her father has lead to an Opportunity to
strengthen and increase her leadership potential. Additionally, her “participation” in a
surruner program for women in development (W ID) as a PhD student at Michigan State
University became “another layer of reinforcement” for her leadership development.

Toward this end, parental inﬂuences emerged as a way to describe and deﬁne a

person’s past experiences. Parental inﬂuence helped in providing leadership opportunities

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for Dr. Latifah, Prof. Azizah, and Prof. Mariani. Two of them spoke enthusiastically
about inﬂuences from their fathers. For Dr. Latifah, “I became strong because of my
father,” and for Prof. Mariani, her father inspired “the grounding of” her “consciousness
about society,” which became “a strong element of exposure” that created leadership
Opportunities for her at a tender age. Additionally, Dr. Sabrina described her father, who
was a police sergeant in Singapore, as “strict” but upon looking back at her family
upbringing, she said, “that kind of upbringing, I think at that time, it was strict but, later
in my life I think it actually shaped . . . [and] I now see that as a positive thing.”

In sum, three participants spoke kindly, warmly and gratefully Of their father’s
inﬂuences on their formative years and the impact of such parental inﬂuence on them.
Therefore, paternal inﬂuence emerged as a common theme for at least three of the
participants to describe the ways their parents shape or inﬂuence their attitudes and
disposition for leadership. For the other two participants who did not mention parental
inﬂuence, they talked about mentoring and the ways it inﬂuence their leadership
development. Mentoring is explained later, as the third sub-theme for the inﬂuence of
past experiences. Mentoring is discussed in relation to the women’s work, career, and
professional development. The second sub-theme below focuses on community

engagement as a way to describe the inﬂuence of past experiences.

(b) Community Engagement and the Development of Leadership Potential
Community engagement and activism are recurring themes that have compelled
the study participants to become women leaders. Participants were active in community

organizations, advocacy groups, and community building or outreach projects. Both Dr.

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Sabrina and Prof. Azizah were very active in community building and outreach projects
as international graduate students at American universities. They both had a leading role
within their international community organizations, which provides a great opportunity to
develop their leadership potential. While Dr. Sabrina was actively involved in the
Malaysian Student Association at SUNY Buffalo, Prof. Azizah was fully engaged in an
outreach project she initiated as a PhD student at Ohio State University.

As the secretary of the Malaysian association, Dr. Sabrina did several community
development projects with the international community. She helped put together events
like the “International Night” and other activities for international events, as well as fund-
raising projects for the international community. Dr. Sabrina says, “Suddenly, I became
more involved in voluntary work. So that has impacted me so much.” For Dr. Sabrina,
community engagement provides “a lot of experience in terms of exposure” and she
believes that “the exposure to the international community” was a “stepping stone” for
interacting and connecting with “people from all around the world.” To her, this
community engagement experience was “one of the things that really left a mark on me.”
Ultimately, the exposure provides her with an opportunity for international “networking”
and for deveIOping her leadership potential.

Prof. Azizah acquired leadership Opportunities and skills from her role as the
oldest child. In addition, her role as the president for a community group in Columbus
was a great way to develop her leadership potential. According to Prof. Azizah,

I ran a young scholars program for students from middle and high schools — a lot

of minorities, Asian, Black, and White students with poor academic performance.

So, what I did was every Saturday, we gathered all these students and with the

involvement of community [volunteers] we helped these students in their
academics, especially in writing and mathematics. So, all these minority students,

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some of them from Iran and Iraq didn’t do well academically because nobody
guided them.

Prof. Azizah performed her leadership role by sending out emails to her
“colleagues to come and help.” She then said, “One thing about them, they are very
approachable and they like to help.” With a lot of support from volunteers, the students
were “doing pretty well” and Prof. Azizah received a diversity award for that
accomplishment, which gave a signiﬁcant boost for her leadership development.

Although she did not mention being active in community organizations while
pursuing her PhD at Michigan State University (MSU), Prof. Mariarri did elaborate on
how her passion for activism began to take shape by saying, “And then, of course, I went
to MSU. I got a fellowship from the Ford Foundation to participate in a summer program
for Women in Development (WID).” The program, which brought together students from
various countries for seminars and ﬁeld work, became “another layer Of reinforcement”
for Prof. Mariani. The WID experience in many ways helped “the layering a little bit,”
and then when she came back from MSU, she became involved in various NGO projects.

Becoming involved in a regional organization and at the international level has
brought Prof. Mariani “into contact with other academics as well.” She argued that,
“working with other professors from great teams also deﬁnitely helped.” As a lecturer,
she was engaged in an international study involving seven countries, which was also
through her NGO work. She adds, “The international study experience was a strong one
too, because it really exposed me to the international level network.” When she saw other
professors of various backgrounds talking about issues that she initially thought were
merely NGO issues but which later turned out to be activism issues, she says, “So my

whole views about NGOs began to change. Only then did I realize that there are many

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types of NGOs, ranging from charity to those that carry out activism work on really solid
grounds!” Toward this end, for Prof. Mariani, her interest in social activism becomes a
way to build on her leadership potential.

All in all, community engagement related to an active participation in community
organizations, community building, or outreach projects become a way to explain the
inﬂuence of past experiences on the development of leadership potential. By joining a
group, their learning was in some ways intentional. Incidental learning also occurred
while participants were engaging themselves in community projects. The ﬁndings
suggest that active participation in community development projects, by assuming certain
leadership roles, contribute positively toward developing the participants’ leadership
potential.

In summary, for both Dr. Sabrina and Prof. Azizah, their past experiences with
community building and outreach projects as international students in the United States
have helped them not only in developing their leadership potential, but also in building
personal connections and international networks. For Prof. Mariani, on the other hand,
her leadership development was later intensiﬁed throughout her professional career in
academics by way of NGO work. The next sub-theme describes the impact of mentoring

on an individual’s past experiences.

(c) Mentoring and Leadership Development
From the interviews, mentoring is perceived as referring to a process of
“providing support” and “passing on” knowledge perceived by the “rnentee” as relevant

to her work, career, or professional development. Mentoring was described by

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participants as a personal development “relationship” in which a “more experienced”
person helps a “less experienced” person. Mentoring relationship provided participants
with not only intentional, but also incidental learning that helped enhance their leadership
development. For example, both Prof. Norizan and Prof. Kamila have had encouraging
experiences with mentoring, which contributes positively toward their leadership
development. While Prof. Norizan gives due credit to her previous department chair,
Prof. Kamila explains how her leadership development has been inspired by both her
chair and the dean.

Prof. Norizan became a coordinator “without the beneﬁt of [formal] training.”
She considers having a mentor, who provides “support’ and allows “autonomy,” as very
essential for her professional development. Prof. Norizan describes her “boss,” who was
“the ﬁrst female chair,” as a nurturing mentor. According to Prof. Norizan, “I’ve always
attributed my success to my previous department chair. She had put the structure in place
in terms of an organizational chart and so on. I did not realize that her plan was moving
me into a position.” Eventually, Prof. Norizan became the department chair herself. The
female mentor “was the one who made my job easier.” Prof. Norizan thinks that her
“involvement in university administration can be said to have developed organically.”

It all started when the mentor had asked her to coordinate the English Department.
Prof. Norizan was barely 30 years old then, and had just acquired her master’s degree in
applied linguistics. Comically, she recounts, “So, I went headlong into it. I was not good
at record keeping and she picked it up and told me to be meticulous in record keeping. I
remember the ﬁrst task that my boss gave me was to coordinate an exam committee from

branch campuses, which I had no inkling of. I didn’t know what I was supposed to do and

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was too proud to ask. So, I went ahead and did my own things. She did not say that I did
it wrong, and she continued to support me.” In the end, Prof. Norizan declares that her
greatest joy was when she was able to help her mentor and came up with a projection for
the Language Center’s needs in terms of human resources. It becomes encouraging to
her, when the mentor granted “autonomy,” which enabled her, “to grow without her
breathing down my neck.” From there, she learned to be more “self-directed; systematic.”
In a sense, the learning was intentional and the relationship that Prof. Norizan had
established with a female “mentor” contributes positively toward her professional
development.

Mentoring for Prof. Kamila came from both a female chair and a male dean. She
“received a lot of encouragements” from the female chair. Her “ﬁrst job was to do a
strategic planning” for the engineering school. Prof. Kamila was glad that, “the chair was
very open,” and as the secretary of the strategic planning committee, she felt that she
“can move” her ideas forward, because the [female] chair “accepted” her “ideas” quite
well. Not long after that, Prof. Kamila “was the coordinator for a quality unit.” Her
learning through daily experiences as a coordinator emerged as incidental learning, in
which learning occurred by “bumping into things.”

According to Prof. Kamlila, that was when she “started to build up that leadership
[potential]” and commends that, “I think, somehow, I [have] impressed the dean.” So,
within a year from that, the [male] dean “invited” Prof. Kamila “to be his timbalan
[deputy].” She was the deputy dean for Students and Academic Affairs. “So, he gave me

a task — he said the faculty needs someone like me to push things around, to make sure

things move [on accordingly]. And I think I did live up to his expectations because what I

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did was I had the curriculum reviewed.” SO, when “the dean gave [her] a task,” she saw
that as an Opportunity to move her ideas forward. SO, “I worked my way up.” In a way,
the incidental learning morphed into intentional learning for Prof. Kamila. She
successfully initiated a new academic program within the school Of engineering. Prof.
Kamila’s story of mentoring reveals that the female chair and the male dean provide
positive reinforcements for her leadership development— resulting in the inception of a
new academic program, which she views as “the ﬁ'uits of my success.”

That said, for both Prof. Norizan and Prof. Kamila, mentoring has been a
favorable past experience within their trajectory of being new academic administrators.
The mentoring process provides them with nurturing elements to further develop their
leadership potential. When her mentor “did not say” she “did it wrong,” but instead the
mentor “continued to support” her, Prof. Norizan felt encouraged. For Prof. Kamila, her
two mentors not only provide “encouragements” and “support,” but also grant her with
the mandate “to push things around,” which makes her feel “well-received by
administrators.” In the end, they were both inspired to move on professionally. However,
Dr. Sabrina was not as fortunate in the sense that a lack of mentoring was identiﬁed as a
discouraging moment when relating her transitioning experience as a new dean.

Dr. Sabrina points out that mentoring “is very important!” Arguably, she points
out that, “Maybe, I need a mentor. I believe people who have had the experience should
come forward.” She argues that, “people who have held that [dean] post should be willing
to help,” because she believes that “there are things that can be shared.” She describes her
experience of not having a mentor as “quite a challenge,” especially during the ﬁrst year

of her deanship. According to Dr. Sabrina, “if there’s a lot of mentoring ﬁ'om the

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previous dean,” things would have been different for her because, “it is always lonely at
the top.” In such situation, she wishes that she had a mentor, whom she “can actually talk
to,” and hoping that the mentor can help her identify “short circuits and not repeat the
same mistakes that were done.” Arguably, she reiterates that, “so, I was looking for those
[kinds of mentoring]. But those were really hard to come by.” Dr. Sabrina hints that she
would like to hear “the experience of a previous dean” and ask “What has actually
worked?” She also implies that, “So that can be a good segment between the outgoing
and the incoming dean. Instead of the outgoing dean just leave and the incoming one
observes and just learns from experience.” Believing that the previous dean has been “in
that challenging situation too, at one point,” she imagines that, “when people leave their
leadership position,” they should not “just let the new person go at it,” and assuming that
the new person “knows what she has to do and all that and if she thinks she can do it, go
ahead.” Toward this end, it is clear that the lack of mentoring has been an issue for Dr.
Sabrina during the initial year as a new dean.

In summary, the participants give anecdotal evidence of the value Of mentoring as
a process where a more experienced leader can provide valuable support and knowledge
to the less experienced leader. Two participants who had personal development
relationships with their mentors relate that particular past experience as encouraging. On
the other hand, a participant who did not experience that kind of mentoring identiﬁed that
past experience as challenging. To conclude, it becomes clear that mentoring can provide

a way to enhance leadership development.

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Summary for the Influence of Past Experiences

The above personal stories describe the inﬂuence of past experiences on the
emergence of leadership opportunities, the development of leadership potential, and the
broadening of leadership development. The inﬂuence of past experiences emanates from
the participants’ childhood, student, and initial working years. Parental inﬂuence came
out as one of the elements from past experience that provided participants with
signiﬁcant opportunities for developing the necessary leadership traits during childhood.
Speciﬁcally, their father’s inﬂuence appeared to be a dominant form of parental inﬂuence
contributing toward the emergence of leadership Opportunities. In addition, the ﬁndings
suggest that by assuming certain leadership roles as students and in community
development projects, such past experiences contribute positively toward the
development of leadership potential. Finally, the ﬁndings also suggest that leadership
development can be enhanced by mentoring. In conclusion, the ﬁrst theme explains how
these women learn to lead from the inﬂuence of past experiences. In the process,
participants have learned to develop attitudes, skills, knowledge, and dispositions that
have helped them in becoming women leaders. The next section discusses the theme of

being a woman leader.

Theme 2: BEING A WOMAN LEADER
The second theme describes what it meant for these women to be a leader within
their social contexts. The openness and opportunities for women in leadership appears to

be affected by the constraints represented by the patriarchal society. In the words of Dr.

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Sabrina, “we have this value system” where “regardless of how highly qualiﬁed you
are—you can be the prime minister of Malaysia and yet there’s an expectation.” She
ﬁrrther elaborates, “because of that dualism” within the “value system [that] still exists.”
For example, the expectation is understood as “you are not a prime minister at home, why
shouldn’t you prepare dinner at home?” On that note, Dr Sabrina maintains that although
access to formal leadership positions “is not a problem for women” in Malaysia because
“the doors are wide open,” she feels that “women tend to shy away.” Toward this end,
Dr. Sabrina reasons that some women would prefer tO “have more time for family” than
to assume a formal leadership position. Dr. Sabrina’s descriptions seem to suggest the
inﬂuence of a patriarchal society. Toward this end, the theme of being a woman leader
covers three sub-categories: (a) Patriarchy and Unwritten Rules, (b) Managing Multiple
Roles and Societal Expectations, and (c) Leadership Styles and Commitments. The next
section explores the manifestation Of patriarchy on their learning and development as

women leaders.

(a) Patriarchy and Unwritten Rules

Patriarchy and unwritten rules stood out in most interviews. While patriarchy
refers to the dominance of male position within the family, unwritten rules refer to certain
unspoken norms that these women must be cognizant of within their role as women
leaders, wives, and mothers. Both patriarchy and hidden rules shape the ways women
describe what it meant for them to be women leaders in their social contexts.

Consequently, these women regularly need to “see” things from the man’s perspective.

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Prof. Mariani points out that “our society is a patriarchal society.” She explains
that, “the law that we make and the rules that we follow; who becomes the leader of the
family, and who becomes the prime minister” these are all shaped by “our patriarchal
values—aren’t they?” Patriarchy seems to deﬁne the ways these women talk about being
a woman dean or director in higher education. On that same cue, Prof. Azizah relates,
“it’s not easy because we are still in a male dominant world. When I go for the dean’s
meeting, the majority is still men.” In that regard, Dr. Latifah asserts that “leadership in
higher education has always been male dominated.” She admits that “not many women”
can get “a chance to lead in formal positions.” Accordingly, she declares that “for us
women, we may take a longer time” to acquire formal positions. She also says that a
woman often has to work doubly hard or accomplish twice as much compared to men to
be considered —— let alone appointed — a dean or department director. In a patriarchal
system, women simply must do more to prove that they should even be given a chance,
the women say.

At the same time, Dr. Latifah admits that women are more likely to be “given a
chance” to lead within informal frameworks and positions. For example, women are often
asked to “lead a jawatankuasa [committee].” In that case, she says “it’s either you want it
or you don’t want it.” She laments that “many women shy [away]” from such
Opportunities, which indicates “a mark” on their readiness for learning and eventually
acquiring a “chance to lead in formal positions.” When women are ready to lead, Prof.
Norizan Observes that “men are more comfortable working with men. So, basically they
choose leaders who can tic-tac [get along] with them peacefully - on the same

wavelength.” With that, Prof. Norizan asserts that the “constraint of a patriarchal society”

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is still there—after all. It appears that, when learning to lead, they also need to negotiate
the terrain of a patriarchal society. To become a leader, these women participants
illuminate the learning processes that occur largely within a patriarchal context. The
following discussion provides participants’ understanding of patriarchy and some of the
unwritten rules arising from the patriarchal context.

Prof. Mariani states that a patriarchal society is one where “men are the decision-
makers.” In a patriarchal society, men not only hold “positions of power” and prestige,
they also own “the power to deﬁne reality”. So, when “we wanted to initiate the sexual
harassment policy,” on campus, there were some “resistance” and “misunderstandings.”
There is “this typical thinking of why men rape women.” It is because “they [women]
dress inappropriately.” She interprets such a remark as “telling that it’s all women’s fault
basically.” Such descriptions provide an insight into her view of patriarchy, especially
within “a university environment, [where] people should be thinking differently.” She
adds that, among intellectuals “you would expect a different kind of discourse, a different
kind of discussion,” but she explains “the initial remarks were almost reﬂective of the
society outside.” Some people were not happy with the terms or choice of words used —
sexual harassment, because “they think this is actually a very western concept.” From
Prof. Mariani’s explanations, it becomes clear that patriarchy is not only dominant in the
society, but also within a higher education setting.

When describing the challenges of being a woman leader in a higher education
setting, Prof. Azizah afﬁrms that, “it’s not that easy‘ ’ because it is “a male dominant
world.” On that note, Prof. Kamila adds, “Some males may not like a female as their

leader.” But, a “lady boss,” she argues “mesti pandai [must be able to] sort of play the

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game.” In that regard, she explains “samajuga macam kitajaga suami kat rumah [it is
like how we take care of our husband at home], which might mean more than said to
reﬂect the manifestation of patriarchy in what it meant to be a woman leader for her.
Tacit learning became evident in her acknowledgement and acceptance of their society’s
traditions. She eventually learned to navigate the values that placed more emphasis on her
roles as mother and wife, rather than on her roles as educational leader.

Prof. Azizah further exempliﬁes the power of patriarchy with an example from
her personal experience as a woman dean, “when we have a conference meeting with the
minister, let’s say the ministry wanted to meet with a certain number of deans from
public universities —I see many [males] in black coats, [and there were] very few of us.”
When “the majority is still men,” according to Prof. Azizah, “the challenge is [right]
there,” because “sometimes, when we [women] want to push certain ideas, we have to
make sure that the ideas that we propose are really practical” or beneﬁcial as seen from a
patriarchal point of view. Only then, “we are able to get support from the males.”
Without their strong support, “the ideas will just stay like that,” especially when it comes
to ones that are not seen as beneﬁcial to men. When that happens, women leaders will not
have the mandate to “go any further with their ideas.”

Prof. Azizah recalls when she was at Ohio State, she did not “feel the difference”
because “kalau idea bagus, [if the idea is great] they will support it.” She adds that, “It
did not matter [if the ideas came from a] male or female.” Prof. Azizah’s explanations
seem to suggest a depiction of patriarchal values within her experience as a woman dean.
In a case where women deans are outnumbered, their voices become less inﬂuential. The

manifestation of patriarchy as portrayed by Prof. Kamila when she says that, “a lady

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boss” must be able to “sort of play the game,” implies that when learning to lead in
higher education, these women also need to know the unwritten rules. The next section
discusses some unspoken rules as conveyed by the participants.

On a similar note, Prof. Norizan explains how masculine attributes such as being
“competitive” or “aggressive” can be unacceptable for women leaders in her societal
context. In a society where gracefulness is highly valued for Malay women, Prof.
Norizan reasons that, “I think you must not show that you are competing with men. And,
that is the hidden rule.” She adds that, “the minute you become visible and deemed as
competitive to men,” that’s when “the glass ceiling” stops. In learning the “hidden
rules,” Prof. Norizan suggests, “it all boils down to, try not to think like them [male], but
try to walk in their shoes as well.” In addition, she says, “try to see how they look at
things, and how things are looked at from their perspectives. So, in a way, it is at peace —
we are not competing.” On that note, she maintains that,

Most women are self-effacing in the sense that they are good workers.

They are the winds under the wings of the men. So, you [women] push the

men forward. Women are good workers and I think just taking the

backseat will not make you visible, unless they are very aggressive. You

don’t have to be THAT aggressive, I mean visible or aggressive in a nice

way.

On that note, she is saying that, “it is all about visibility” by being assertive, but
not necessarily being “aggressive.” Toward this end, Prof. Norizan reveals how
that works for her. “Being in administration, they [men] have to be comfortable
with you.” For instance, it has to be intentional in ways that “you have to adapt to
them, not the other way round. You have to wear pants. Yes, you have to wear

pants in order to be a leader.” She is suggesting that women deans have to see the

way things look from men’s perspectives too. In the end, she admits, “That’s how

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I win, I guess - you know.” In conclusion, learning to lead for Prof. Norizan
means that she also needs to know the “hidden rules.” For example, when dealing
with her male counterparts, she needs to be seen as assertive, but not as
“competitive” or “aggressive.” More importantly, she needs to understand how
men “look at things.”

For instance, when a “complex” situation came about for Prof. Kamila, she chose
to quit her teaching position when that particular university was moving to its new
campus in the southern state. She relates that, “Being a married person,” she “left” the
previous university because her husband “prefers to be near his mother,” who lives near
the capital city. The scenario reﬂects how patriarchy unfolds when Prof. Kamila, whose
parents live in the southern state, willingly accepts her duty as a wife by abiding to her
husband’s preference. The ﬁndings suggest that patriarchy plays out remarkably in the
process of learning to become women leaders. When learning to lead in a Malay societal
context, these women not only need to accommodate the demands of “hidden rules”
related to patriarchal values, where their duty as wives take precedence, but they also
need to manage multiple roles and societal expectations. The next section discusses the

how the participants manage the multitude of roles and expectations for women.

(b) Managing Multiple Roles and Societal Expectations

An understanding of how married Malay women leaders manage the multitude Of
roles and society’s expectations of them can also Offer useful insights on how the
participants learned to become leaders. Participants describe the roles and expectations in

ways that reﬂect their strong commitment to the family.

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Dr. Sabrina explains “it’s that managing” of multiple roles as “a mother, wife, or
woman in the house” that makes it risky for woman deans. She explains the risk this way:
A woman dean who makes leadership in education her chosen path runs the very real risk
of failing both at work and at home. The ﬁndings suggest that, as “a married person” a
woman’s duty as a wife takes precedence. According to Dr. Sabrina, “as a woman dean”
leading in a patriarchal society, one needs to be cognizant that “when you go home, you
are not a dean.” In essence, Dr. Sabrina points out the importance of recognizing the
“unspoken rules” of being a woman dean [reads as a woman leader] at home such as
“knowing when to stop working and not drag yourself” into working late hours “like until
it is 10 o’clock.” She cautions that this leadership position “is not without risk,” because
people tend to overwork themselves. She Often sighs, “Oh my, I haven’t ﬁnished my
work.” SO it is that “juggling of the professional” and “your situation in life” that makes
it [being a woman dean] becomes “risky.” The “risk” involves that “keeping your
antennae scanning all over” because “I have a husband to take care of.” So, that
responsibility toward one’s husband together with societal expectations, such as the
family always comes ﬁrst for a married woman, may lead to “a very difﬁcult and
complex situation.”

Participants describe the roles and expectations in ways that express a strong
commitment for the family. Dr. Sabrina provides an example that if a woman makes
deanship as “a career path,” but could not “do a good job here [as a dean] and not a good
job there [at home],” then she “will be in trouble.” Social expectation has it that a married
woman’s priority is at home and for the family. SO, for a woman to assume a formal

leadership role in the public sphere, she must ensure that her family situation is not at

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“risk.” For example, in order not to cause “risk” for her family, Prof. Kamila chose to
stay with her husband rather than to transfer to a state in the south where her parents live.
In that regard, Dr. Sabrina asserts that “it is important” for a married woman to know that
“if work is your life,” then it becomes “a problem.”

However, if a woman can juggle social expectations while providing quality time
for the family, Dr. Sabrina promises that “you will be OK.” This scenario applied to Prof.
Mariani when she accepted the directorship on the west coast. In that regard, she said she
had to “sacriﬁce” her family life because her family lives in the east coast. Ultimately,
these women’s experiences speak to the idea that being a women dean means one must
manage her multiple roles within the realms of societal expectations for married women.

Prof. Kamila adds that, “When you accept a task” or when a woman agrees to
become a dean, she advises that, “You take the role positively.” She also reminds, “Don’t
forget that you are also a family member.” She seems to acknowledge that “as a married
person,” a woman dean cannot afford to neglect the “roles” she has “to play at home.”
She believes that “being a wife and a mother,” a woman dean shoulders no lesser
“responsibilities” at home. On that note, she posits that “it may be family expectations”
or it could be that the society’s expectation for women is “different.” She wonders if
higher expectations for women are deep-rooted “in our culture.” Often times she has to
“stay back” and work late in the ofﬁce. Occasionally, a deep-seated feeling that “some
people would think that I have to be back [by then] because my children are waiting [at
home]” crops up. “That’s one thing that challenges me.” When society’s expectation is
“different” for women, it suggests that it can be more challenging for women to stay as a

dean. She thinks that, “men will not agree with this,” but she argues that, “I do not see

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that we [women] have any weaknesses as compared to men,” which implies that women
deans are as capable as any “married person.” The ﬁndings suggest that in such a cultural
enviromnent, it can be more “challenging” for women to become or stay as a dean. In
sum, Prof. Kamila’s explanations reafﬁrm the notion that a Malay woman not only needs
to manage the multitude of roles but also align her behaviors as a dean, wife, and a
mother with society’s expectations.

Therefore, learning how to negotiate the multiple roles and to meet the societal
demands became critical for these women participants. According to Prof. Norizan, being
a dean is “sometimes a 24-hour job,” and at times “you have to go out and attend formal
ﬁrnctions at night.” She cordially justiﬁes, “you make up with your family in some other
ways.” Recognizing that the society expects married women to focus their priorities on
the family, Prof. Norizan suggests that “you should not be neglecting [your family], but
you sort of downplay your family a bit.” In this scenario, she adds, “Of course, you have
to have a supportive husband, a person who shares your passion.” An understanding that
spouse can provide the kind of support that she describes as “a bumper.” In that regard,
Prof. Norizan maintains that, “You need a bumper, as well.” If an automobile bumper is
designed to help it withstand the impact of a collision, the “bumper” here is “a supportive
husband” who provides a layer of support when the wife has to “downplay the family a
bit,” but not in a way that can be viewed as “neglecting” the family. Therefore, while
learning to lead, having “a supportive husban ” appeared as helpful for Prof. Norizan in
coping with societal expectations.

Having “a supportive husband” appeared as a common theme for becoming

women deans or directors with their demanding roles and the underlying expectations. In

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addition, “family support” comes out consistently during the interviews. For Prof.
Mariani, “the greatest family support has been from my own husband. Or else, I would
not have been able to do what I have been doing. Never! ” She used to travel a lot. In
1989, when she was away “for seven months to do [her] sabbatical in Ontario, Canada,”
she says, “the twins were barely two-years-Old.” Eventually, there was “a lot of
[international] travel” at a time when her “children were still small.” Prof Mariani used to
serve on the “international women advisory” panel for an international federation in
London for a few years. She used to ﬂy regularly to London ﬁ'om Malaysia. In her words,
“I used to commute there.” After that, she served on “the gender advisory panel” in
Geneva for two terms——a total of six years, “which meant every year I had to travel for
meetings.” Prof. Mariani insists that, “Without support and belief from my husband, that
[frequent travels and being away ﬁom family regularly] would have been very, very
tough.” She adds that, “not only support from your own intimate partner, but also from
other family members [is equally important]. Like who can take care of the children and
all that.” To this, she reveals that her mother “helped every now and then during that
time, before she died.” Prof. Mariarri’s stories suggest that, with continuous support ﬁom
her husband and the help she received from her late mother, she was able to thrive as
“academic activist” as well as a woman leader in higher education.

The advantages of having family support and strong support from spouses also
resonate with Dr. Sabrina and Dr. Latifah. These kinds Of support are extremely
“important” for Dr. Sabrina. She says, “My family is my strong supporter.” Her husband,
who was also a dean at another public university, truly understands if she has to work

“late hours” in order “to meet deadlines.” She considers that having “a house maid” to

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help with the domestic chores as a good “external support system,” because it provides “a
stable home environment” when both Of them are equally busy at the same time.
Similarly, Dr. Latifah says, “My husband has always been very supportive.” She recalls
the support she received when she was working on her PhD. She reasons that, without
strong support from her husband, family, and in-laws, she could not have embarked on
her PhD, in 1994, when her daughter was four years old. She reiterates that “My husband
helped me to take care of my daughter.” She further elaborates that things became
“easier,” because “they support [her] tremendously” during the PhD study that took six
years. Family support appeared as a key factor for the continued success of these women.

Family support can appear in different form. As a woman dean, family support for
Prof. Kamila means that, “you have the blessing from your family” to take up the
challenges and handle the multitude of responsibilities for sitting “here” [on the dean’s
chair]. She deliberately mentions that, “I think as long as you’re capable, and you’re not
neglecting the family” it would be ﬁne “to sacriﬁce certain things, but as long as my
family gives blessing.” That said, the “sacriﬁces” that Prof. Mariani had to endure during
her time away ﬁom family, either during those regular international travels or while
serving as director at the west coast campus, became possible due to strong spousal
support, which she described as “family blessing.” For Dr. Latifah, spousal and familial
supports provided encouraging environment to pursue her PhD and to become a woman
leader in higher education. Dr. Sabrina received the kind of support that provided her
with a “home environment” that was conducive for her to meet the demands of her role as
a woman dean. All in all, the kinds of support that these women receive have enabled

them to build on their leadership styles and focus on their commitments as women

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leaders. The next section elaborates on the third sub-theme grouped as leadership styles

and commitments within the theme of being a woman leader.

(c) Leadership Styles and Commitments

As women deans and directors, the participants have their own ways of leading
and commitments for leading. Their ways of leading are indicative of their leadership
styles and comnritrnents as women leaders. The interviews bring to light some elements
that are consistent with the facilitative, relational, and transformative leadership styles. Of
the six participants, one participant exhibits the characteristics of a facilitative leader. In
this study, a facilitative leader provides the kinds of support and encouragements needed
“to help people with their research ideas.” While four participants portray the relational
leadership style that emphasizes the importance Of “winning the hearts of the people,”
one other participant illustrates the transformative leadership style. A distinctive feature
of a transformative leader in this study is “being strategic” in “gathering support” for the
agenda of “social change.” Uncovering their leadership styles may generate an
understanding of their leadership development. The following discussion further presents
both the leadership styles as well as the commitments associated with being a woman
leader. The discussion begins with Dr. Latifah, who exhibits features of a facilitative
leader.

As a facilitative leader, Dr. Latifah encourages the development of “research
ideas” and new research projects. She does that by eliciting insights, creativity, and
wisdom from colleagues who seek assistance from the research center that she directs.

The purpose of the center is “the support Of doing research.” She also sees her role as an

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“Opportunity to help these people with their research ideas,” as well as “getting them
interested” in pursuing “multidisciplinary kinds of researc ” within the social sciences. In
doing so, she hopes “to help the university” and “to help our country” in addressing some
“social issues.” She describes her facilitative role for “lending support” and “helping out”
people as “penting [important].” She notes that it is important “to keep [up to] the
standard” of research so that it “corresponds with ethical standards.” She describes how
that effort has led to a reputation that “orang kata kita ada standard yang tinggi [people
say we have set a high standard].” She has a commitment “to maintain a high standard”
and to see that “when people do their research, they really do it well” because she views
it “like a brand.” To her, “a brand” is like “Coke,” where people “recognize the brand”
anywhere they go. And “bila pergr' mana-mana, orang akan kata [wherever you go,
people will say]” that they are “satisﬁed” with the product. She comments “that is the
ﬁrst thing I want.” Toward this end, the progression of her leadership development as a
facilitative leader has been further fostered by “the university’s aspiration” of expanding
one of the “seven niche areas” for research and development. From being an
“independent” and self-reliant person, Dr. Latifah has been thrust into the role of a
facilitative leader to “head” a research center that is grouped into one big “kelompok
[cluster]” to promote the “multidisciplinary kinds of researc ” within the ﬁeld of social
sciences.

A relational leadership style that comprises elements such as “family,” “like
kampong [village] leadership,” where “people matters,” and includes “nurturing”
appeared in the interviews with four of the six participants: Prof. Kamila, Prof. Azizah,

Dr. Sabrina, and Prof. Norizan. The ﬁrst relational element that Prof. Kamila describes is

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I}; manna!

similar to building a familial “relationship.” When explaining her way of leading, Prof.
Kamila depicts the process of “giving advice” and “providing guidance” such “as living
in a family.” She reiterates, “So, those are the family values that I bring to the Ofﬁce—by
encouraging participation.” On that note, she posits that, if a “leader takpemah kahwin
[has never been married]” the person may not have the experience of raising “a happy
family.” She believes that it is “important” to “give advice” and to “guide people who
just started their work, just started their career.” She sees her commitment as a dean is
“not to say that you are the boss, but you lead peOple and you bring them along with you.
And that’s exactly what I did.” The commitment reveals that Prof. Kamila cares more
about promoting a family-like relationship rather than maintaining the status quo of being
a “boss.” Being a “lady boss” with a relational leadership style in a patriarchal setting
appears to work well for Prof. Kamila. She is now into her seventh year as a dean—the
longest serving dean in this study.

The second relational depiction Of leadership is what Prof. Azizah terms as “like a
kampong or village.” According to Prof. Azizah, it is a way of leading where, “kita sama-
sama singsing lengan, singsing kain, [we are in it together].” Her emphasis is on building
a positive and productive relationship for the “kampong. ” She further describes, “It’s an
Open door system,” where people who “have urgent things” to discuss “can come in” in
order to make sure that “things move fast.” When explaining how she builds rapport with
the staff, she says “Sometimes, I would go to the deputy dean’s room.” There are times
when, “I would walk to the main ofﬁce just to say hello,” where “I would sit down” and
“chat with them.” In the main ofﬁce, she reminds them that, “you can walk in to my

ofﬁce anytime.” At other times, she would “call them to her ofﬁce” for follow-up

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conversations. She reveals a commitment to groom potential leaders and “to create
opportunities for others” as well. For example, she “took the deputy dean and the head of
a department to Beijing” in order “to expose them” to international “networking” and to
encourage them “grab opportunities” presented to them. She tells these potential leaders
that “we are doing this not only for our own good and for our university but also for
Malaysia.” To this end, Prof. Azizah, who has been prepared to lead in her role as the
Oldest child, feels that as a woman dean at RU-City Center she needs to stretch her
relational attributes in ways that can potentially groom others in the process.

The third relational leadership style, as mentioned by Dr. Sabrina, is where
“people matter the most.” She describes relational in terms of “interaction with
colleagues” while “making sure that things get done.” She believes in “participating
rather than directing.” In doing so, she says, “I participate ﬁrst like being a role model.
It’s more of—this is how we can win the hearts of the people.” She goes about it by
having “any ﬁrst meeting” as more of “a discussion” rather than coming out with
“instruction” right away. She prefers “brainstorming” and “sharing of ideas ﬁrst” over
“just inrrnediate instruction.” That to her is, “really like giving them the big picture of
things” to generate “more questions” like, “Where do we start?” and “How do we go
about it?” By having all those initial thoughts “ironed out” earlier, she believes “people
will have a concrete direction.” Dr. Sabrina’s explanations reveal how “the openness of
communication” allows her to avoid “micro-managing” and offer “empowerment,” but at
the same time, she hopes to “come back and talk about it” later. That way, Dr. Sabrina is

able to show her commitment in upholding the essence of “collegiality” by way of

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“participation, Open communication,” and “winning the hearts of the people.” All of
which are consistent with a relational style of leadership.

The fourth, and the ﬁnal, aspect of the relational style comes from Prof. Norizan
who believes in “nurturing. . .young people.” As a dean, she believes that it is “important”
for these “enthusiastic and good workers” to know “where they are going” in terms of
their career progression. When she ﬁrst became a dean, she helped them to identify “what
they are good at” and “to plan a career path.” In doing so, she not only looked at their
“training needs,” but also “when they should be doing their PhD,” and “when we [senior
administrators] should be retiring.” She knows that Some of them “may have ambitions,
but you have to facilitate them.” She is glad that, “so far, the planning has been accurate,”
because some people “have beneﬁted” ﬁom that “projection.” She is happy that, “it gives
them a sense of direction. Now, when you see them coming back [ﬁ'om their PhDs], a lot
of them are motivated.” To her, being a “senior member” on staff, she is “not a threat”
and there are “no competing priorities.” She eloquently describes this in saying, “Hey!
Look, I’m already there. I’m not competing with you. I want you to go with me. I will be
here to facilitate your goal.” She believes that her role as a dean is “to nurture, to make
sure — given the experience in administration that I have — that they achieve their
potential.” In summing, it is clear that Prof. Norizan is delighted to play the “role of a
more nurturing leader.” Her “nurturing” quality is a signature of her relational leadership
style.

In contrast to the facilitative and relational style, the transformative style in this

study reveals that the participant is committed towards “social change.” Prof. Mariani,

who articulates that, “the law that we make and the rules that we follow” are all shaped

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by “our patriarchal values—aren’t they. ” As a transformative leader she is “beng
strategic” in “gathering support” for the debates on “sensitive” and “controversial” issues
like “domestic violence” and “sexual harassment.” For example, she helped in mobilizing
“the community to talk about domestic violence” in order to “challenge” the perception
that domestic violence is a “private matter” and there should not be any Open debate on
the topic. But she is delighted that, “by lobbying and disseminating ideas” together with
several NGOs in the joint action group, they “managed to get the domestic violence act——
approved and implemented.” In addition, due to her commitment and leadership as the
director of a research center that promotes “gender equality,” a ban on sexual harassment
has become a policy on the campus. However, the law makers are “still trying to push for
a sexual harassment act, which at the moment, we do not have in this country” as a
national policy. In summary, Prof. Mariani’s transformative style allows her to commit
her leadership toward “social justice,” not only to beneﬁt the campus community, but
also “for the community outside.”

In summary, the ﬁndings for the sub-theme of leadership styles suggest that
participants in this study are women leaders who possess attributes that are associated
with the facilitative, relational, and transformative leadership styles. In her facilitative
role, Dr. Latifah is able to develop her strength as an independent and self-reliant person
to push for the “multidisciplinary kinds of researc ” within the social sciences ﬁeld. With
a strong “social consciousness” instilled by her father, Prof. Mariani exhibits a
transformative style to “move the agenda for social justice.” Finally, the relational style
as portrayed by Dr. Sabrina, Prof. Azizah, Prof. Kamila and Prof. Norizan suggest a

strong element of relationship building, where village and family values matter the most.

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The ﬁndings also suggest that these relational leaders speak of themselves not as a “boss”

but rather as “role model” who provide “guidance” and “nurture young people.”

Summary for the Theme of being a Woman Leader

Within this second theme, the participants described what it meant for them to be
women leaders. When learning to lead in the Malay social context, these women not
only must negotiate the demands of and understand “hidden rules” related to patriarchal
values where their duty as wives take precedence, but they also need to manage multiple
roles and societal expectations. They face great risks in juggling both their roles as wives
and mothers, and as leaders at their respective institutes. Despite the pressures, which are
evident in the recounting of their experiences and of pivotal moments in the lives, these
women participants display a resilience and report feeling encouraged by the kinds of
spousal and familial support they receive. With encouraging support, the participants are
able to build on their leadership styles and focus on their commitments as women leaders.
When patriarchy seems to have great inﬂuence their essence of being a woman leader,
how do these women learn to become women leaders? The next section describes these

learning processes.

Theme 3: PROCESSES OF LEARNING IN LEADERSHIP

This third theme that relates to the processes Of learning in leadership refers to

how these women participants learned the skills that impel them to move along the

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journey of leadership development. Despite all the cultural nuances and the challenges
they faced, these women seemed to appreciate the opportunities for learning. The critical
incidents they described provided them with learning instances that reﬂected the learning
processes. The processes of learning in leadership are further divided into the three sub-
tlremes: (a) Lessons from Experience: What and how they learn, (b) Motivation to Learn,

and (c) Emotionality.

(a) Lessons from Experience: What and how they learn

This section describes what is learned about being a leader. Where and how they
learned emerged from instances that triggered not only the need to learn, but also fostered
their attitude towards leaming. Their learning is inferred as primarily social and
emotional. In this study, the development of speciﬁc competencies related to leadership
arises from speciﬁc events, challenges, or opportunities. What and how they learned from
those instances came out as ways to gather insights on how they have learned to become
women leaders. Being in their leadership positions, participants learned to develop

9’ ‘6

competencies such as “lobbying,” “negotiating, networking,” and “collaborating.” The
following discussion offers further explanations for what impelled them into learning and
what lessons arise in situations where learning was not the main aim. The following
discussion describes how Prof. Miariani learned to develop her skills in lobbying and
strategizing.

Leadership abilities such as knowing “how you negotiate the terrain,” “when to

speak to whom,” “how do you gather support,” according to Prof Mariani “are questions

Of strategies.” She considers her work with the regional NGO as “a watershed” in her life,

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because “these NGOs are trying to challenge certain norms in the society.” She became
“aware” of “the kinds of discourse” and “the sophisticated level of discussion that goes
around certain issues.” She asserts that it was the NGO experience that “helped” in
developing those skills. From the NGO experience, Prof. Mariani learns to “look for a
window of opportunity,” a situation she describes as one that will “allow you to move
your agenda forward.” She says, “if I learned about strategy, negotiation, lobbying, how
to move my agenda within campus,” and in the academic world, those were actually
things that “I learned from the NGO connections and processes and not through the
university.” She begins her “agenda” by looking “at the environment external to the
university.” Then she identiﬁes the kind of “social changes” needed that would allow her
“to move” her agenda forward. As an “academic activist,” she learns “the need to link”
her academic work “with real life in the community.” What really “struck” her was that
her NGO work “is not a typical NGO kaum ibu [association of mothers] anymore.” To
her, in many ways, her NGO work “it is also very academic.” She further explains,

So you become very strategic in the choice of the research topic, you become very

strategic in planning for the utilization of data that you want to gather, and what

happens to this data, you become very strategic in the choice of ﬁmding that you
want to get, because you have certain principles that you have to hold on to.

To her, “What is the point of writing something that has little meaning to the
community?” In summary, Prof. Mariani picks up certain leadership competencies from
instances within her NGO work that provided her with “learning opportunities.” She
becomes “strategic” in her move. As a transformative leader, she makes every effort to

“slowly lobby and advocate” for “academic work that has implications for society.” In

doing so, she was able to “convince top people” and identify “the silent majority.” These

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are people who actually agree with her, but they seldom say anything. While “lobbying”
becomes one of the necessary skills to develop for a transformative leader like Prof.
Mariani, “negotiating” appears as a necessary skill to develop for a relational leader like
Prof. Kamila.

The development of leadership skills for Prof. Kamila arises from an instance
when she had to be “brave and bold” within the context of developing her “negotiating”
skill. The instance came about when she was the deputy dean, and there “was a strong
demand for a chemical engineering program.” The dean wanted her “to work on a
chemical engineering degree [prograrn].” In 1996 she “made a careful study” to justify
that for the “year 2000, they were only two thousand [chemical engineers] but the
country requires twelve thousand.” She came up with a proposed “curriculum” and
presented it “to the university senate” in 1998. She “designed the curriculum to be
different” from any other Chemical Engineering programs offered in the country. The
curriculum includes courses like “Business Law, Financial and Managerial Accounting,
Production Management, and Principals and Practice of Marketing.” She thinks that, “the
uniqueness of the program” relies more on its management emphasis, which is “non-
conventional in any engineering institute.”

However, the new academic program was then offered within the applied science
department. Prof. Kamila argues that, “Chemical Engineering is an engineering
program.” To her, “it’s not a Science program,” and “it cannot be offered from a non-
engineering school.” Prof. Kamila approached the Vice Chancellor to inform him that the
proposed engineering program was “approved by the ministry” and “somewhat approved

by the boar ” with a suggestion that “we have to move out from Applied Science.” When

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the new academic program eventually expanded to become a new school of engineering,
she became the ﬁrst dean. The experience of developing a new academic program
appears to have provided her with the learning opportunity to further develop the
persuasive skills required for making “brave and bold” moves in the future.

The interviews reveal that, in addition to the development of leadership
competencies that are seen as “strategic, brave, and bold,” there are also instances of
learning that evoke the “person factor” necessary for leadership such as in “team work,”
“collaboration,” “networking,” and “partnership.” As a dean, Prof. Norizan says she has
to be “professional” and that person factor is “important” because she cannot “expect all
staff to be good team players.” On that note, she adds,

You must get a team. People must be aligned to you. If they are not aligned to

you, they won’t do their job. They must see what is in it for them. They must see

that their welfare is taken care of. Eventually you’ll be rewarded. They need to
see that. They must not feel as though they are doing your work. They must see
that they are doing the deans work as part of grooming, not exploiting.

This is what I always tell them. “You know, I am sending you to do this; this is all

so you will learn. You’ll learn to manage time. You’ll learn to attend meetings.

You will learn to learn.” But they must be able to see that and they must be

aligned to you. You don’t expect to grow without learning. Of course, some

individuals will give you a hard time. But, I would not let them get to my throat. I

have to be professional. I try to reach out to them.

Instances like above provided the opportunity for Prof. Norizan to develop the “people
skills” required for a relational leader who wants to emphasize on “nurturing.”

For a relational leader like Dr. Sabrina, being a dean provided an opportunity to
develop her skills as a “mediator.” For Dr. Sabrina, being a dean is “a very difﬁcult

position,” because a dean is “sandwiched” between top management and “people who are

resisting change.” When the top management came up with policies that may not be

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well-received, but that have to be “disseminated and implemented,” Dr. Sabrina

describes,
When something is top-down, as a dean you go back to the lecturers, you mention
and you listen, disseminate that information, but of course ﬁrst level of reaction
would be pockets of resistance. And then opening the channel of communication
for them is important. And actually telling them you are welcome to walk-in and
speak the VC himself who is more that willing to listen.
But ﬁrst, I share this information because I just came back from the management
meeting and we actually have to inform the rest of the lecturers about this. For
example, a policy on academic staff has to clock-in on campus for a number of
hrs per week. So that was quite a challenge.

Being “sandwiched in the middle” became an instance for Dr. Sabrina to build on the

people skills necessary for the “negotiating” and “mediating” processes. All in all, these

instances fostered participants’ attitude towards learning.

(b) Motivation to Learn

Adults learn best when there is a reason to learn. “Social obligation” appears to be
a common theme that drives the learning and development of these women leaders.
Participants view the deanship as an opportunity to “gain leadership experience” and to
“make a difference” by “contributing to the country.” Dr. Sabrina, who views her
deanship as an invaluable experience that “no money can buy,” articulates that although it
is “not always a pleasant experience,” she knows that “there’s always this social
obligation that keeps reminding what we are here for.” She was referring to her role as a
dean at a public university that implements the policy of afﬁrmative action for a speciﬁc
target population. Her motivation for learning appears to align with the university’s goal

for “social responsibilities.”

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The emergence of various opportunities for leadership development usually leads
to a leadership appointment. For Prof. Kamila, when the new academic program was
launched in year 2000, she reiterates that, “when you develop a program, the purpose is
not for you to become the Ketua [Head of] Program.” She elaborates that, “This is what
the country needs.” She reasons that her commitment means “contributing to the
country.” It is not merely for her personal goal and is not for her children either. She
adds, “None of my children are studying here.” Prof. Kamila views her leadership
development as a means to step up to the plate “for what the country needs.” Similarly,
Prof. Azizah argues that her motivation to become a leader is not only for her “own
good,” but also for the university as well as for Malaysia. In addition, Dr. Latifah
describes her directorship as an “amanah ” or responsibility “to help people” with their
research ideas and “to help the university” to maintain its research status.

Being in administration provides vast opportunities for learning as there are
“always new things to learn.” Prof. Norizan, who has been in administration for 26 years,
points out that she “never stopped learning.” Her learning is driven by a sense of
“responsibility” to learn and grow. In the words of Prof. Norizan, “You can’t expect to
grow without learning.” Similarly, Dr. Sabrina reiterates that the deanship experience
involved a “learning curve” and was “an eye opener” for “growth and learning” that has
prepared her for greater leadership “responsibilities.” Similarly, Prof. Mariani describes,
her informal learning “requires a lot of commitment” because “if you don’t believe in
gender equality, you cannot get involved in this kind of work.” In sum, for all six

participants, their motivations for learning point to only one direction, i.e. for social good.

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The ﬁndings reﬂect that women in this study strongly uphold the value that it is
their task or calling as well as their ethical responsibility or amanah to make a difference
in the society. However, the processes of learning to lead “are not always a bed of rose”
because “problems are bound to happen.” Participants also learned from “unpleasant
instances” that evoked certain emotions. The next section elaborates on the role of

emotionality in learning.

(C) The role of Emotions in their Learning
Participants are better able to recall stories or experiences when they are attached

to strong emotions. The participants spoke of negative emotions such as “frustrating,”

” ‘6 9’ ‘6

“discouraging, challenging, problematic,” and “disappointing.” For these women, the
negative emotions triggered a prompt for learning. For example, Prof. Norizan conveys
that being in administration “has its moments” and there are times when “some individual
would give you a hard time.” In such case she learned to “vent” her frustration by sharing
the “grouses” with “ﬁiends” who could be “from outside your work realm,” or “they
could be part of the organization, but you can tic-tac [hang out] with them outside.” For
Dr. Sabrina, the learning involved dealing with “unpleasant news, unpleasant discussion,”
and “little incidences” where “big problems are bound to happen.” For instance, resolving
“stafﬁng issues” was “a good learning experience.” Both Prof. Norizan and Dr. Sabrina
reﬂected upon difﬁcult situations with people on staff.

Similarly, Prof Mariani expressed that, “it was discouraging” when academic staff

as “people who are supposed to be intellectuals” and “should be thinking differently”

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became part of the “resistances and misunderstandings” against sexual the harassment
policy initiative. It was “discouraging” because of the process. She explained,

I did a lot of walking around to various groups, to communicate and talk about the

issue; we did preliminary training so that people at the grass root level would not

be ﬁightened. When you discuss the issue with the staff you begin to ﬁnd cases
and you get to hear from them as well. If these cases are good, then you can use
the case as evidence when you talk to people at the top.

There’s also a need to convince top people that this is good for the university

rather than seeing how it could be damaging for the university. They are always

concerned about the image of the university. People are always like that. They are
worried that it could reﬂect that the university has a lot of cases of sexual
harassment.

But, then you have got to counter argue and convince them that if we have a good

policy, if we have the policy on board, you can become a role model to other

universities that do not have such policy. I think that kind of strategy of going

around, lobbying, that’s how it took time.
Although it was initially “frustrating” because it took so long, two years, “to get the issue
on board,” it became encouraging to her when she realized that there was lots of learning
involved. From that instance, Prof. Mariani learned to “gather support” ﬁom “people at
the grass root level.” She also learned to convince top management. While she feels
strongly about the process, she also uses these feelings to help foster a rational approach
to realizing the policy.

For Dr. Latifah, a strong emotion — or rather conﬂicting emotions — drove her
decision to accelerate the completion of her doctoral thesis. The emotions she wrestled
with forced her to make a decision that she viewed as the only reasonable and pragmatic
solution to her dilemma. Dr. Latifah’s circumstances are not uncommon to Malay women

pursuing advanced academic degrees. She was pursuing her PhD at a Malaysian

university, a process that was taking her 6 years. At the time, she was also caring for a 4-

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year-old daughter. Her responsibilities as a wife and mother compelled her to remain in
Malaysia.

Nevertheless, recognizing that she could also deepen her academic pursuits and
expand her horizons by enrolling in programs abroad, Dr. Latifah joined a program in
Amsterdam for 6 months and another 6 months at the University of Illinois. During her
enrollment abroad, her husband, mother and mother-in-law cared for her young daughter,
a support system that gave her conﬁdence and security. Her husband would visit her in
brief 2-week stints, forcing her to rely on a reservoir of independence and self-reliance as
she pursued her studies in Amsterdam and Illinois.

Dr. Latifah admits that this was a difﬁcult phase in her life, full of the challenges
that come with long separations from one’s family, especially one’s spouse and child.
During this period, she grappled with conﬂicting emotions — of separation from family,
isolation in foreign countries, anxiety about completing her PhD after more than 6 years.
Her experience with these emotions is not uncommon among individuals who live in a
kind of “exile” from their native lands, where distance provides both retrospective and
perspective. In the case of Dr. Latifah, she learned that these emotions galvanized her
into her ultimate decision.

In the meantime, she had to grapple with other realities that complicated the
emotional landscape. Her teaching duties required her to commit more time in the
classroom, taking away time that she could have used to write her dissertation, itself an
ordeal that did not begin until the third year. Part of the blame for the delay, as she notes,

is the continuous sense of ﬂux and change in the focus of her dissertation. Depending on

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to whom she spoke with, and which advisor happened to provide guidance, her thesis
would correspondingly shift, further delaying the progress of her dissertation research.

Dr. Latifah’s situation was challenging under any circumstances. She had to fulﬁll
her duties as a mother and wife. She was committed to teaching 12 hours per week even
as she had to carve time out to write her dissertation. No doubt, she learned in time to
adapt in the face of these challenges. What is clear is that these emotions, and the internal
pressures they created, forced her to act. Instead of surrendering, she made a decision to
seclude herself at a friend’s apartment in a coastal town in Malaysia. Without the
demands of a family and her teaching, she completed her PhD dissertation in 3 short
months. While seclusion in and of itself is highly conducive to completing projects
requiring mental concentration and creativity, Dr. Latifah’s decision came with sacriﬁces
— separation from her family being the most obvious one — that she no doubt had factored
into her calculations. Nevertheless, the pressure to complete what had been a 6-year
ordeal forced her to forge some compromises with those closest to her in order to clarify
and prioritize in order to achieve her goal. This could not have been an easy decision for
Dr. Latifah or her family, yet it ultimately yielded the desired results.

In conclusion, it is clear that emotionality has played a role in the learning
processes. The challenging or discouraging instances they encountered were taken as
opportunities to learn, and develop essential competencies that have been imperative for
success in their leadership positions. Instead of lamenting on those difﬁcult situations,
these women emerged by working hard and accepting offers of increased responsibilities
and promotions. None of these women expressed regret in stepping up to the challenges

of being female deans and directors. In fact, they are glad that their jobs provided them

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with opportunities to accomplish and achieve, to make a difference and contribute, and to

learn from the complexities of being women leaders in their social context.

Summary for the Processes of Learning

The processes of learning to lead in this study involved the development of
speciﬁc competencies related to leadership. Participants learned to develop skills such as
lobbying, gathering support, negotiating, and mediating the role of dean through speciﬁc
events, challenges, or opportunities. Their learning motivations are largely driven by
amanah or ethical responsibility toward the society. Negative emotions also played a
role in the learning processes. However, the challenging moments they encountered
seemed to be taken as opportunity to learn and further develop their leadership

competencies.

Summary of Findings

In brief, there was an overwhelming emphasis that their learning processes have
been shaped through early prior experiences, and the everyday process of work as a
leader in higher education. While they all mentioned higher education and advanced
degrees as the necessary prerequisites for becoming women deans and directors, none of
them mentioned directly, or referred directly to the importance of formal education in
their learning. In fact, participants acknowledged that it was through informal learning
that they have acquired the essential skills for leadership. As one participant (Dr.

Sabrina) mentioned, “I ﬁnd that, it is on the job that this learning happens. . .These are

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things that are not necessarily academic, not necessarily research-based, but things that
can help in developing personal skills and all that.” In conclusion, for these Malay
women, informal learning was found to prevail in the processes of learning to lead.
Another key ﬁnding is the compelling inﬂuence of the cultural dimensions on
their learning to become women leaders. Their shared norms and responsibility appeared
as pivotal to the way new skills and knowledge are acquired within the learning
processes. The ﬁndings revealed that, within their social context, parental inﬂuences,
social participation, and mentoring emerged as dominant forms of encouragement in their
learning and development. In addition to social context, their learning processes also
seemed to have transpired from relationships and apprenticeships. Their experiences of
learning to lead in higher education within their social contexts, through relationships and
by way of apprenticeships are three lenses that can provide insights for interpreting the

ﬁndings. The interpretation of ﬁndings is discussed in the next chapter.

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CHAPTER FIVE
DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION

This study examined how Malay women learn to lead in Malaysian institutions of
higher education. The purpose of this study was to develop a deeper understanding of
how these women learn to lead within their social context. The two research questions
focused on how they learned to lead and how social context inﬂuenced their learning
experiences. Two open-ended interviews were conducted with four deans and two
directors from Malaysian public universities. The ﬁndings demonstrate the paradoxical
circumstances these women faced in learning to lead in higher education, and how they
learned to navigate the many tensions and contradictions they faced in assuming
leadership positions within Malaysian society. For these women, learning to lead is about
learning to learn from and through these tensions and contradictions.

From the perspective of the theoretical ﬁ'arnework presented earlier, in Chapter
One, learning for these women was essentially self-directed, experience-based, and both
intentional and unintentional. Although most of them were trained abroad at the graduate
level, there was little acknowledgement of the contribution of this training to their
learning to lead. Tacit learning (Schugurensky, 2000) was clearly evident in their
acknowledgement and acceptance of their society’s traditions, and the ways in which
they learned to navigate the values that placed more emphasis on their roles as mothers
and wives than it did on their roles as educational leaders.

This chapter elaborates on the interpretation of ﬁndings, theoretical and practical

implications of this study, and the recommendations for future research.

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Interpretation of Findings

The commitment to learning to learn of these Malay women was central to the
processes by which they learned to lead. The ﬁndings revealed that the study was more
about learning to learn as opposed to learning to lead. The women in this study learned to
lead by living through, and learning, about paradoxes that characterize their roles as
leaders within the particular socio-cultural context in which they were living. The
problems they encountered and the culture in which they encountered those problems are
perceived as being paradoxical and contradictory. “Paradoxical” in this study means that
the women were holding two things in contradictory relations to one another.

In many ways, learning to learn for the participants was a paradoxical
phenomenon. There were obvious contradictions in what it meant for them as academic
leaders, and what it meant for them as mothers and wives. These women were good, and
sharp at balancing the tension of these opposites. Understanding and appreciating the
paradoxes were signiﬁcant to their learning processes. Learning ﬁom paradox and
contradiction required them to hold both of these tensions the whole time. These women
did not mention or talk about the strength of one tension and diminish the other. Both
tensions were held to be true, even though they were of contradictory nature to one
another.

Participants actually sustained and balanced the tensions; they did not go either
way, as they learned to navigate and work through the paradox. For example, when
referring to a paradox, Dr. Sabrina mentioned that being a dean was “risky” for her status

as a wife, but used the word in an “imaginal” way. In her mind, there was an image or a

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story associated with risk, which is not necessarily conceptual or rational. Therefore, it is
difﬁcult to analyze the situation in a rational way.

Additionally, the participants’ stories reﬂected processes of learning that involved
powerful relational and emotional processes shaped by their social context. Their
experiences of learning to lead (a) as learning to learn, (b) as relational and emotional
processes, and(c) the importance of cultural context related to their learning are

discussed in more detail below.

(a) Learning to Lead as Learning to Learn

Learning to lead for these Malay women means that they must also learn to
negotiate and balance their professional roles as leaders, and traditional roles as wives
and mothers. When navigating these roles, they are constantly learning to learn. The
socio-cultural contexts in which they worked were described by the participants as
largely patriarchal and quite hierarchical. Nonetheless, they still ﬂourished as higher
education leaders because they have learned to hold the paradoxical tensions, and work
around the contradictions surrounding their professional roles as leaders. Prof Kamila
stated, “Some males may not like a female as their leader.” She argues, “a lady boss mesti
pandai [must be able to] play the games.” Her explanation, “samajuga macam kitajaga
suami kat rumah [it is like how we take care of our husband at home]” illustrates the
inﬂuence of patriarchal values, wherein males enjoy customary status in the family.

Participants learned to lead by learning about paradoxes that exist within their
roles as leaders in a society where a male-dominated structure exists, and their duties as

wives take precedence. Their accounts of emerging as mid-level leaders in higher

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education reﬂected a process of learning to learn from working through these tensions
and contradictions, rather than a process of learning about what constitutes good and
effective leaders. For example, Dr. Sabrina articulates this idea clearly: “We have this
value system, where regardless of how highly qualiﬁed you are—you can be the prime
minister of Malaysia and yet there’s an expectation.” The expectation is understood as:
“You are not a prime minister at home, why shouldn’t you prepare dinner at home?”
These women learned that as educated and professional women operating within their
social fabrics, having exceptionally supportive husbands helped them thrive as women
leaders.

These women learned that they constantly need to navigate “hidden rules” related
to patriarchal values within their roles as leaders. Many of their stories referred to
learning by “bumping into things” and making sense of it while they were “bumping”
into it. For Prof. Norizan, tacit learning was clearly evident in her acknowledgement and
acceptance of society’s traditions. One hidden rule she pointed out was “to not show that
you are competing with men.” On a similar note, Prof. Azizah recognized that women
deans are a minority, and for their voices to be acknowledged, their ideas must be
“practical” and beneﬁcial as viewed from a patriarchal perspective. This emphasis on
learning to learn contributed to their ability to navigate the complex social roles in which
they found themselves as women leaders in a male—dominated and hierarchical society.
While the women were not actively discouraged from assuming leadership positions, they
experienced little explicit or direct support for their roles as leaders.

These women participants were talking about leadership development as a

process of learning rather than a kind of learning, which forms a major categorical claim

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for this study. These Malay women were NOT acquiring a set body of leadership skills,
but rather constructing skills that were useﬁrl in the context of learning to lead. As stated
by Prof. Norizan, “I think you must not show that you are competing with men. And that
is the hidden rule.” Prof. Kamila, on the other hand, gave in to her husband who preferred
“to be near his mother,” as a way to accommodate the demand of the “hidden rule.”
Participants in this study were using concrete everyday experiences as locations and
contexts for learning about what it means to lead and to be women leaders. They were
talking about a particular process of learning using inquiry in developing themselves as
leaders. To this end, their leadership development involved learning to learn, which is
embedded in concrete daily aspects of their lives.

A concept of learning to lead that emerged ﬁom this study is consistent with the
notion of lifelong learning (LLL). A signiﬁcant part of LLL is learning to learn (Smith &
Associates, 1990), and part of that learning is to foster skills of inquiry, which is a major
process by which these women learned to lead. One of the key characteristics of LLL is
rooted in concrete and everyday experiences. These women were precisely talking about
their everyday experiences. They faced contradictions, and learned about paradoxes in
the process. In her discussion about self authorship, Magolda (2004) describes this
attitude of inquiry as “taking responsibility to explore what one does not understand,
working to see the ‘big picture,’ realizing that knowledge evolves, and viewing learning
as a lifelong process.” This idea of learning to lead as learning to learn extended the

ﬁndings to LLL, which is not inconsistent with the informal learning literature.

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(b) Learning to Lead as Relational and Emotional Processes

While relationships do not occupy a prominent role the existing informal learning
literature, the women talked about the importance of relationships in the process of
learning through everyday experiences. The participants described many of their learning
experiences as being in relationships with individuals who were connected to them
through situations, positions, or opportunities. The women mentioned their relationships
with people in several roles: father, boss, mentor, role-model, and supervisor as having
positive inﬂuences on their leadership development. These relationships helped them
become prepared, aware, open, conﬁdent, and driven. Their spouses, families, and friends
were all important components of support for their leadership development. For highly
educated women from a societal background where males enjoy a more prominent social
status in the family, exceptionally supportive husbands are often engaged as sources of
encouragement for their wives to take up leadership at the administrative level in higher
education.

Learning from mentoring was particularly evident in the experience of Prof.
Norizan. The relationship provided opportunity for her to learn from mistakes. The
mentor did not dwell on her errors, but continued to guide and support her as a new
coordinator. From their descriptions of critical incidents, the women showed how their
relational experiences were deeply emotional as well. Words describing detrimental
emotions like “ﬁ'ustrating,” “disappointing,” “discouraging,” “challenging,” and
“problematic” came out in the interviews, which showed that their learning was an
emotional process as well. According to Clore (1994), emotions guide one’s attention to

things that are relevant to goals and concerns that are implicated in the emotional

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situation. Davies (2008) argues that emotions can also cause learners to prioritize. The
priority would also take into account the social context. All six participants had issues
with relational experiences that were deeply emotional, and caused them to prioritize.
While Prof. Mariani, Prof. Norizan, Prof. Azizah, and Dr. Sabrina referred to difﬁcult
situations with people on staff, Prof. Kamila and Dr. Latifah recalled depressing episodes
during their doctoral studies.

People who belong to a society rooted in rituals and traditions tend not to be
analytic, conceptual, and rational. Their learning becomes highly emotional, connecting
to the emotional dimension of one’s being, but there are also transcendent or inspirational
ideas emerging from the learning. The very nature of their rituals draws the person out of
the individual self, into the collective soul (Dirkx, 1997). Within a Malay society, the
norms and traditions of leadership as being associated with respecting authority served to
remind participants, again and again, that they were all part of the collective norm.
According to Boyd and Myers (1988), “imaginal knowing” is an intuitive and emotional
process that provides an alternative way of understanding and making sense of the world.
This kind of knowing does not necessarily emerge from reﬂecting, analyzing, or
rationalizing. People get to know, in this alternate way, by experiencing and attending to
the emotions of the images that are associated with their lived experiences. This
alternative way of knowing is not necessarily irrational, but it is extra-rational (Boyd &
Myers, 1988). When people are seeking to know in an “imaginal” way, people are not

listening to their head, but to their ego, and listening to their heart (Drikx, 1997).

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(c) The Limited Role of Reﬂection in Learning

Although self-reﬂection is a signiﬁcant part of the informal learning literature,
there were no clear descriptions of self-reﬂection in the participants’ stories. The process
of expressing or describing an event or a situation where learning occurred was itself a
self-reﬂective activity on the part of the participants. The question remains: Were they
reﬂecting on a process of self-reﬂection? Participants were obviously reﬂecting on
incidents, but it was not clear if the participants were thinking about the self-reﬂection
process. What is also clear is that the very nature of this research prompted self-reﬂection
on the part of the participants who were looking back on particular incidents after the
fact, thus providing examples of self-reﬂection in these stories.

The participants’ learning experiences did not clearly provide explicit references
to the reﬂective function, which could be a result of the kinds of questions asked.
Although their descriptions of learning did not signiﬁcantly emphasize on the processes
of self-reﬂection, that did not necessarily mean reﬂection did not occur or happen. Dirkx
and Lavin (1991) assert that a reﬂective process tends to focus on the individual learner
and the subjective meaning of his or her experience. In their illustrations, self-reﬂection
was not clearly evident in their descriptions of learning. This lack of clear evidence for
the use of reﬂection suggested that their learning differs from a western concept of
informal learning, which mainly focuses on the individual beneﬁt (Merriam and Young,
2008). This study afﬁrmed Merriam and Young’s (2008) perspectives on non-westem
ways of knowing, which asserts that learning is a collective activity done with the

community for the beneﬁt of the community. This concept differs greatly from the

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western notion of learning that focuses on the individual’s reﬂective construction of
knowledge (Merriam and Young, 2008).

During the interviews, there was no strong indication that participants were
consciously aware of, or attending to, reﬂective processes in their learning. They were
apparently reﬂecting on triggering events because the data gathering process required
them to reﬂect on past incidents. While it was clear that participants were recalling
incidents, they were NOT necessarily reﬂecting upon the experiences of the self-
reﬂective process. Therefore, it was hard to determine if the reﬂection perceived during
the data gathering process was a description of self-reﬂection. For these women, the
reﬂective process was not evident in their conceptions of informal learning, which raises
the question: Are these women talking about ways of learning that are substantively

different from the existing informal literature?

((1) Learning to Lead and the Importance of Cultural Context

Informal learning scholars such as Boud, Cohen, and Walker (1996) acknowledge
the importance of the participants’ social and cultural values in the learning processes.
However, studies of informal learning have yet to fully explore the importance of cultural
context. Within the Malay cultural context, leadership is commonly understood as a
male-oriented activity, and the concept of leadership is typically embedded in rules,
norms, and traditions that reﬂect honoring and respecting male-authority. In a society
where leadership and authority are embedded deeply in the social structure and typically
unquestioned, leadership is viewed in positional, hierarchical, or power authority terms

that support a top-down structure. This view of leadership differs from a western concept

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of leadership (Cohen & March, 1974; Burns, 1978; Bensimon and Neumann, 1993;
Bolman & Deal, 2003). Within the western perspective, authority is earned as a leader.
There is institutional authority within the western context, but the real authority rests
within an individual’s capacity to earn the authority and respect of staff or employees.
For these Malay women, their view of leadership reﬂected their traditional norms that are
inherently social and relational, and their experiences of learning to lead demonstrated
inﬂuences from social values.

Given that much of their learning was related to daily experiences, and meaning is
deﬁned through a cultural lens in which the experiences occurred, certain cultural values
become essential considerations for their learning to lead. As a social concept, the Malay
adat emphasizes proper behaviors with other people. The Malay adat is a body of
implicit knowledge that promotes culturally positive values such as “halus” (soft or
reﬁned), “malu ” (shame), and “maruah " (self-respect or dignity) (Swift, 1965; Wilson,
1967; Goddard, 1997). The inﬂuence of adat strongly exists in the research participants’
stories. One of the principle characteristics of Malay culture is conﬂict avoidance,
especially in public. When there is conﬂict, the notion of maruah or malu is almost
always deployed to avoid disgrace or humiliation (Goddard, 1997). Given that these
participants’ learning involved relational processes, and deﬁned by social values of halus,
malu, and, maruah, their cultural considerations oﬁen directed them to draw on
underlying values of soﬂness, politeness, and appropriateness.

For example, in upholding a hierarchical and positional view of leadership that
reﬂects both honoring and respecting authority, both Prof. Mariani and Kamila sought

approval, endorsement, and support ﬁ'om their vice-Chancellors in order to make their

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“bold and brave” moves. For Prof. Kamila, her winning strategy was to approach the VC.
She persuaded him to agree with her, using the endorsement from the ministry and the
board of directors, that the newly approved chemical engineering program that she had
initiated should not be placed within the applied science structure. In doing so, she made
the most of the VC’s institutional power to establish a new school of engineering, and she
eventually became its ﬁrst dean. In this story, honoring and respecting the authority of the
VC was the key to her success story.

Prof. Mariani’s success in making a “bold and brave” move was thought-
provoking, especially within the existing cultural context. Instead of merely relying on
grass-roots support ﬁom within the campus and its surrounding community, she used
such bottom-up support to inﬂuence the top leadership to be on her side. Using the
values of softness, politeness, and appropriateness, while “leading in the middle,” Prof.
Mariani was able to “strategically” convince both her superior and her subordinates to
move forward with an agenda for a sexual harassment policy on campus. In that scenario,
the power of softness, politeness, and appropriateness was effectively used to avoid
conﬂict or ﬁiction that stemmed from the proposal of a culturally sensitive issue. Any
“resistance” she experienced was only in the context of the patriarchal norms of the
society. While honoring respect for authority and working around dominant values, Prof.
Mariani successfully turned around the initial rejection to such a “controversial” policy.

Another good example of the social, relational, and cultural notions was storied
by Dr. Sabrina. Through active participation in community engagement activities,
especially within her role as a student leader at SUNY Buffalo, Dr. Sabrina recognized

the importance of “collegiality.” Both “village leadership” and “collegiality” described

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the locations in which their learning processes were embedded, more in terms of social

and relational, rather than in terms of individual or psychological.

Summary for Interpretation of Findings

This study was purposefully designed to understand the participants’ concept of
learning to lead within a social context. To gain insights to their learning experiences, it
was necessary to understand and conceptualize their social traditions, and their perception
of norms and values. That understanding of what their learning to lead entailed,
apparently involved deeply understanding the social context in which this leadership was
expected to be exercised. The ﬁndings suggested that these women participants learned
through the complexity of navigating their professional roles.

Participants in this study managed their roles differently to ﬁt into the societal
norms and expectations. Their stories brought to light a process of learning rather than a
kind of learning, which emerged as a major categorical claim for this study. These
women ﬂourished as higher education leaders because they were smart and good at
acquiring the skills for lifelong learning (LLL). They learned not only to navigate the
many tensions of patriarchy and hidden rules, but also to weave through the many
contradictions, and the paradoxical situations they found themselves in. A different
notion of LLL emerged from this study. While the notion of LLL is typically understood
as involving individual and psychological processes within the western perspective, this
study revealed that these women’s experiences of LLL were primarily social, relational,

emotional, and cultural.

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Implications for Theory

This study concluded that participants talked more about learning to learn as
opposed to learning to lead. The ﬁndings, however, do not support the central role of
reﬂection in informal learning, as suggested by much of the literature (Marsick and
Watkins, 1999). While reﬂection occupies a crucial role in the process of learning from

experience (Dirkx & Lavin, 1991, Merriam, et. al., 2007), the use of reﬂection is less

.-..-.r ”T q

evident in this study, and their learning was not primarily analytical. Within the informal

 

learning literature, reﬂection seems over-rated in the systematic process of learning.
However, as inferred from these women’s stories, learning does occur outside the
systematic process. Their learning was rooted in concreteness of their daily experience
and their lives. The social context of their lives, and the ways they talked about learning
were through the use of images and stories as opposed to concepts, ideas, and reasons.
Within the western perspective, the notion of LLL is typically understood as
involving individual and psychological processes. There are some scholarly critiques that
address the idea of LLL as being too psychological and individual, but the dominant
assumptions remain as psychological and individualistic. However, this study revealed a
different notion of LLL that involved social and relational processes. Many of the
women’s descriptions of learning did not reﬂect the assumptions of LLL as being
psychological or individual, but rather as social, relational, and cultural. Prof. Azizah’s
story about “village leadership” was a powerful example of the social, relational, and
cultural notion of LLL. She attributed her relational style of leadership to her role as the
oldest of six children in her family. To her, “village leadership” was important to show

others that “kita sama-sama sinsing lengan, sinsing kain, [we are in it together].”

121

The ﬁndings extended Young’s (1997) conception of transformative learning
(TL), in which transformation is not only something happening to individuals or
societies, but it is transformation that occurs within self-and-other relationships. Such
learning is always occurring within the context of the self-in-relation to the other, which
could be a different dimension in the wide spectrum of TL. The ﬁeld of transformative
learning has been characterized as either psychological or social. Dirkx (2000), however,
conceived a kind of transformation that involves the self engaging with society. He
argues that people cannot understand individuals without also understanding situations or
events in the society or vice-versa, which relates to the importance of social context to
this study.

A signiﬁcant process for learning that happened among Malay women in this
study involved ways of navigating socio-cultural norms. Within these very complex
norms, expectations of them as women, and deﬁnitions of what it means to be a woman
in Malaysian society, and an academic leader, all contributed to their learning
experiences. They learned all these skills of inquiry thoroughly, learned how to navigate
the complexities, and succeeded in the end. There was a great deal of learning involved
when participants learned to deal with these tensions. For example, Dr. Sabrina learned
the importance of being a “mediator” in her role as a dean, by not telling or “instructing”
people what to do in a meeting, but inviting them to a more collaborative and
participatory discussion. As a woman leader, Dr. Sabrina learned that this was as a way to
work within the patriarchal boundary.

Relationships appeared as one of the key attributes of the learning processes.

However, the literature on informal learning offers limited discussion regarding the role

122

of relationships in learning. Women in this study learned about leadership from more
experienced people, such as senior administrators, mentors, or supervisors. Their mentors
also became their advocates, supporters and sponsors. From a cultural perspective, there
is a Malay proverb that says people learn best from those who possess experience, or
sudah merasa garam -— literally “those who have tasted salt.” Culturally, these are people
who are older in age, higher in rank, and are considered much wiser in society. Therefore,
learning from superiors is not only considered to be culturally appropriate, but also a way
to show respect for those who sudah merasa garam. A suggestion related to this ﬁnding,
about learning as a relational process, is to approach a study of adult learning using a
socio-cultural framework.

A socio-cultural approach can also be utilized to study the role of emotionality in
the learning processes. For example, in responding to the challenges of completing her
PhD, Dr. Latifah provided a good example of how emotions can be focused on assessing
her situation. She was prompted to act on what could be done to ﬁnish the dissertation in
the last three months, after six year in the PhD program. In light of the importance of the
PhD moment in the narrative of her adult and professional life, it is reasonable to assume
that this moment — when she made a singular decision affecting her life, her family and
her ﬁlture - played an informative and important role in how she arrived at decision-
making, especially in a leadership capacity. As a learning prompt, emotions led her to
analyze her situation more critically, challenging her to take on new ideas, new ways of
thinking, and new ways of behaving (Davies, 2008).

This study revealed that the social context played an important role in their

learning from experience (Boyd and Fales, 1983). Their experiential learning involved

123

making sense of their own experience in the context of their social and cultural values
(Boud, Cohen, and Walker, 1996). For example, in initiating the sexual harassment
policy, Prof. Mariani learned a rational approach of convincing top management in ways
that were appr0priate within the context of the social and cultural values (Boud, Cohen,
and Walker, 1996). Such an approach was culturally appropriate, because the society has
greater respect for hierarchical authority. As an example for experience-based learning,
Prof. Mariani became aware of the learning after going through a process of
"retrospective recognition" (Marsick & Watkins, 1990, p.6) that was internally generated
or externally led (Schugurensky, 2000). This study revealed that participants’ learning
involved “socially constructed and maintained norms” (Marsick & Watkins, 1987, p.
195) that have been internalized within each individual.

Tacit learning (Schugurensky, 2000) was clearly evident in the participants’
acknowledgement and acceptance of their society’s traditions, and the ways in which
they learned to navigate the values that placed more emphasis on their roles as mothers
and wives than it did on their roles as educational leaders. According to Schugurensky
(2000), tacit learning is a combination of both self and externally-imposed rules. For

” “

Prof. Mariani, when she acquired the skills for “lobbying, strategizing,” and
“advocating” through her international NGO work and collaboration, tacit learning was
self-imposed because she wanted to advance her personal commitment to gender
equality. Other participants mostly complied with the expectations of others (extemally-
imposed) when they learned to negotiate the unwritten rules of patriarchy. Prof. Norizan

eloquently explained the idea that, “you must not show that you are competing with men.

And, that is the hidden rules.” She revealed a contradiction in her dean role. While she

124

WWW“

needed to be “visible,” she carmot be seen as “aggressive.” She found her own ways of
reducing or accommodating the tension by “seeing things from men’s perspectives,” or
by adapting men’s view, and “not the other way aroun .”

In this study, the processes of learning occurred largely within a patriarchal
context, which inﬂuenced the ways participants managed the many roles and societal
expectations as women academic leaders. This study highlighted the complexity of their
learning within a social context. The ﬁndings are consistent with the earlier work of Lave i.

and Wenger (1991). They explained learning as a socio-cultural activity and introduced

 

“situated learning” to describe learning that is contextual and embedded in a social and
physical environment. Other scholars, including Engestrom (1987; 2001), Rogoff (1990;
1995), Argyris and Schon (1996), Wertsch (1991), and Billett (2000; 2002; 2004; 2006)
in relation to workplace learning have also adopted a socio-cultural perspective on
learning.

These scholars emphasized the importance of participation in social interactions
and culturally organized activities for development. For example, Engestrom (1999;
2001) focused on the complex interrelationships that determine the types of activities
individuals engage in, and argued that there is a link between the individual and the social
structure in which they participate. For the women in this study, both the processes of
learning and the knowledge attained through community engagement and mentoring are
“a product of the activity, context, and culture in which it is developed and used” (Brown
et al., 1989, p. 32). These ﬁndings expand the work of Jurasaite-Harbison (2009) who
also found a strong relationship between the cultural environment and informal learning,

by drawing on a socio-cultural approach. Given that individuals are highly inﬂuenced by

125

the social context in which they learn, this study acknowledges that learning is deeply
embedded within social contexts. These ﬁndings support socio-cultural theories derived
from the work of Vygotsky (1978). These perspectives suggest that learning is not just an

individual matter, but that it develops within social environments.

Implications for Practice

What participants had learned in leadership provides a glimpse into what they
needed to learn in order to be successful in society. It was strikingly different ﬁom what
women leaders need to learn in a western society. To be a successful leader in western
context is almost the opposite, like day and night, to what it means to be a successful
woman leader in the Malaysian context. It is important to point out that, what these
participants were learning was a big lesson, and very critical for their success. For these
Malay women, while realizing that they were mothers and wives at home, learning in
leadership was an empowering process. They were becoming empowered to realize their
alternate vision of society, but they were doing it within culturally patriarchal boundaries.
They were neither being subversive, nor being radical. Their actions were consistent with
liberal feminism, as opposes to radical feminism that usually overthrows the structure.
The experiences of these women, working through and around contradictions and
paradoxes, resemble the work of liberal feminists who would learn to work within the
structure — in other words, learning to look and work for change within the structure.
Their sense of empowerment represents an enactment of liberal feminism.

What is clear from the participants of this study is that despite the academic

literature on the subject, the real-world practice of becoming a leader within cultural

126

arm-*1"!

 

constraints and boundaries appears ﬂuid, more ad hoc and less structured, especially for
women. Unlike their counterparts in Malaysia, women leaders in US. institutions of
higher learning do not typically face the hurdles of social constraints and cultural
expectations. While US. women leaders still juggle work, family and other obligations,
patriarchy is far less of a factor in American society than it is in Malaysian society.

As a result, US. men in the family have a far less elevated status compared with Malay
men in the family.

In light of the societal differences, women leaders in US. higher education
institutions are far less likely to be constrained by external pressures to conform, to avoid
conﬂict and to navigate the same tensions that Malays women face. This trend toward
greater egalitarianism in US. society for women compared with Malay society today has
manifested itself in ways that are both informal as well as institutional. In the United
States, pro-active gender equality is an ideal that has a tradition dating to the 19th century,
resulting in the 19th Amendment of the US. Constitution guaranteeing voting rights for
women, culminating in the adoption of laws in recent decades designed to level the
playing ﬁeld for women (the Lily Ledbetter Fair Pay Act 2009 and Title IX of the 1972
Education Act), if not explicitly empower them (again, Title IX).

While this study will not attempt to recreate the rich history of the women’s rights
movement in the United States or its cognate, the wider civil rights movement, we should
be under no illusion that the march for total equality for women leaders in the United
States is complete. Nevertheless, informally and institutionally, women leaders in US.
institutions ﬁrnction in a social and cultural context that does not view women leaders as

exceptions to the rule. The absence of key cultural constraints in US. society that are

127

 

 

halhnarks of Malay society — shame, conﬂict avoidance, softness — means women leaders
in the United States can play with a different set of rules compared with their Malay
counterparts. This also means Malay women leaders must use different tools when it
comes to developing their leadership styles.

At the same time, it must be acknowledged that these differences are more
differences in style rather than substance. For example, the Malay women participants

mentioned earlier who appealed to grassroots support as a way to inﬂuence their own

7"“ _= :3! -

authority ﬁgures are no different from the US. female leader who must mobilize her own

grassroots to demonstrate the strength of her prevailing opinion. Where the Malay
women use grassroots to help their superiors “save face” and “avoid conﬂict,” the US.
female leader uses grassroots to validate the popularity and ultimately legitimacy of a
given position. In a round-about way, both tactics help decision-makers save face, albeit
in different cultural contexts.

A relevant question at this point is to ask how these women learn to deploy a
speciﬁc tactic to succeed in their leadership position, using the grassroots incident as one
example. As we have seen, the Malay women learned through informal learning, not
through long-established organization structures set up speciﬁcally to address leadership
issues. In light of the dual pressures to navigate the cultural paradoxes of Malay society,
it is highly likely that they must continue learning in informal ways, despite the fact that
there are leadership programs in Malaysia open to both men and women. The obstacle for
Malay women, therefore, is not institutional or organizational, but cultural.

Such ﬁndings on the importance of culture illuminate how informal learning can

“be best supported, encouraged, and developed” (Marsick and Volpe, 1999, p.3). The

128

ﬁndings further emphasize the importance of having a supportive mentor in the process
of learning to become a leader. There is a growing need for practitioners in the ﬁeld of
adult learning to assist with the development of coaching and mentoring skills, so that
aspiring leaders can play more pivotal roles in this process. Organizational infrastructure
and resources that can stimulate informal learning are also important considerations. For
example, open spaces and facilitating opportunities for women in higher education
leadership to “meet, work, and socialize together, is fundamental to building networks
and communities of practice that foster conditions for informal learning” (Ellinger, 2005,
p.412)

Insights from the ﬁndings suggested that participants learned from opportunities
available to them from within their social contexts. Their processes of learning occurred
primarily through relationships. The informal learning literature, however, often suggests
a view of informal learning that is more orderly and systematic than the processes that are
actually described by the women who participated in this study. The processes through
which these women were learning to become leaders were more complex than what had
been suggested in the informal learning literature. The ﬁndings implied that the
participants entered into their responsibilities with very little formal preparation, which
caused them to learn on the job and situated within their cultural context. While the
description in the literature about experience-based learning is fairly systematic,
participants in this study did not seem to reﬂect a real systematic description of the
learning processes.

Another surprising ﬁnding is the lack of reference in the participants’ narratives to

the importance of formal preparation. While they all discussed graduate-level work, these

129

 

experiences are less prominent in their stories about how they learned to be leaders.
These participants did not reveal that they learned leadership from books or formal
courses of study, nor they indicate that they started with a conscious adherence to
theoretical framewOrks. One implication worth implementing is the idea of the
apprenticeship, which means learning ﬁom people with extensive leadership experience.
For example, learning with a mentor could be fostered through apprenticeships because
the mentor would have presumably mastered the organization as well as the necessary
components of leadership, not to mention the requisite experience, or “tasting of the salt.”
In the context of this study, learning through apprenticeship would be culturally
appropriate within a society, which highly regards people with extensive knowledge and
experience.

Conclusion

This study, which explored how six Malay women deans and directors at
Malaysian public universities learn to lead within their social context, affirmed that the
society’s strong emphasis on patriarchal value appeared to inﬂuence their learning
processes. In order to understand their learning that occurred within a social context, tacit
dimensions of their informal learning was made explicit (Watkins and Marsick, 1992).
This study afﬁrmed the assumption that these Malay women needed to be cognizant of
certain cultural norms and traditional roles, which can possibly inﬂuence an individual’s
perceptions of being a women leader. This study drew two major ﬁndings. First, informal
learning was found to represent a natural process for learning. Second, the learning

processes were inﬂuenced by the social system.

130

The ﬁrst major ﬁnding was that informal learning did occur within everyday
experiences and within the context of their social and cultural values (Boud, Cohen, and
Walker, 1996). The informal learning that occurred was essentially incidental, self-
directed, experience-based, and both intentional and unintentional. While participants
were clearly aware that at times and in certain contexts they were learning, much of their
learning appeared to go on beyond their level of awareness or in an unconscious manner.
The ﬁndings highlighted that certain characteristics of informal learning were necessary
for learning to become women leaders within their social context.

The second major ﬁnding that emerged from the study was that the learning
processes were linked to their social system. Given that the socio-cultural context is
central to the way new skills and knowledge is acquired, their learning through social
participation and relationships was mainly shaped by the social context. The processes
were inﬂuenced by who and how participants interacted. It was inferred that their tacit
knowledge and opportunities for learning were potentially constrained or enabled by the
social context. As previously discussed, paternal inﬂuences contributed positively
towards leadership disposition. The ﬁndings also revealed that some participants were
also inclined to comply with externally-imposed expectations that can impede their
leadership progression. The ﬁndings support other research that suggested informal
learning often begins with an internal or external jolt or triggering event and is an
inductive process of reﬂection and action (Marsick and Volpe, 1999; Marsick and

Watkins, 1997).

131

 

Recommendations for Future Research

While much research and theory regarding informal learning has been focused on
explicit structures and functional processes, this study supports greater attention to the
more tacit and paradoxical qualities of everyday experience, and the importance they play
in our learning from and through these experiences. There are several limitations
associated with this research that should be considered in future research that will explore
informal learning in a social context. First, the qualitative study with a small sample size
is a limitation because the ﬁndings are not intended to be generalized for other
population. Second, use of self-report interview data is another limitation, as is
recollection of critical informal learning incidents from memory. Finally, the number of
critical incidents is relatively small, though sufﬁcient for an exploratory study. However,
this study served well as a foundation for future research to examine the processes of
informal learning within a social context.

It is hoped that this study will stimulate future research on informal learning to
explore different organizational settings as well as various cultural environment—so a
more comprehensive understanding of how organizations and social contexts promote
and impede informal learning can emerge. Research that continues to explore the
contextual factors will enable practitioners and researchers to better assess settings for
informal learning. Such research can also help in uncovering other social factors that
positively and negatively inﬂuence such learning.

Theoretically, informal learning is grounded in experience-based learning. The

description of experience-based learning in the literature is fairly systematic and the

132

 

literature describes such learning in a neat and tidy manner. The ﬁndings from this study,
however, implied that the participants did not seem to reﬂect a real systematic description
of reﬂections on informal learning. A way to help shape their learning is an implication
for practice. Participants identiﬁed issues they have struggled with. How might
practitioners in the ﬁeld of adult learning help these women in practical ways? Certainly,
making sure that they are paired with appropriate mentors would be one of them. Helping
them identify and become members of a community of practice would help, too.

It appeared that relationships are very important as they learn to become leaders.
Therefore, helping them to connect with a community so they can talk with other women
leaders, learn more about their experiences and understand what they have learned —
good or bad about learning to become a women leader— would be extremely beneﬁcial.
In their learning, even before they become leaders, relationships are really important. So
it is important to cultivate and nurture that in their role as emerging leaders. How can we
help these women make more effective use of relationships? How can the ﬁeld of higher
education he of assistance to women in these kinds of situations, not only in a Malay
society, but also other societies in general? Even in other social contexts, what might
practitioners do to support the journey that these women are making in becoming leaders

in society? All these are practical issues of how to help women become leaders.

133

APPENDICES

134

APPENDIX A

Interview Guides

1. My name is Norseha Unin. I am a PhD student at Michigan State University in the
College of Education. I am doing a dissertation research on the ways in which
Malay women learn to lead within their social context. Particularly, I am
interested in capturing your story of learning to become a woman leader.

2. As a researcher, I have a responsibility to keep your information as conﬁdential.
Your name will not appear in any transcript. As noted in the consent form, there
will be two interviews. The interviews will be tape-recorded. Each interview will
last about 60-90 minutes. The records of this study will be kept private and I have
an obligation to destroy all tape recordings after transcribing them. Before you
sign the consent form, do you have questions or any concern at this point?

3. Fill out the Demographic Data Sheet (see Appendix B)

135

APPENDIX B

Demographic Data Sheet

Personal

Name:

 

Year of birth:

 

Email:

 

Phone:

 

Education

 

Year Degree University

 

 

Year Degree University

 

 

 

Year Degree University

 

 

Job Experience

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Year Employer Job
Year Employer Job
Year Employer Job
Year Employer Job

 

 

 

136

APPENDIX C

Interview Protocol One

Research Title
Learning to lead in higher education: Stories of Malay women at mid-level
administration

Interview One:

I would like to learn about your career and speciﬁcally your development as a leader in
higher education. My hope is that we will have more of a conversation rather than a
traditional interview. My only expectation is that you will tell me your story in your own
words. Do you have any question before we begin?

 

Focus on Life History

First of all, please describe for me about your job, your role, and what you do on a
regular basis.

Tell me about how you came up to your administrative positions in higher education, up
until the time of your current leadership position. Describe it to me as if you were telling
me your life story.

NOTE: Where she starts her story and how she tells it will reveal what immediately
strikes her as important. If certain details seem important, use these open-ended questions
to probe for more information:

And then what happened?

What did you do after that?

How did you feel about that?

What did you think about that at the time?

Please describe your childhood, school, university and your family.

What has been important to you about your roles at home and at work?

 

What has your career been like over the years?

137

APPENDIX D

Interview Protocol Two

Research Title
Learning to lead in higher education: Stories of Malay women at mid-level
administration

Interview Two:

I would like to ask you to think about a recent incident that you encountered while
enacting your leadership role at work and what you have learned from that experiences.
Again, I would like you to tell me your story in your own words. Do you have any
question at this time?

Focus on Critical Incidents

Please think of an incident in which you felt encouraged to pursue and further your
career as a higher education leader? Think about a recent time this happened, tell me

about that.

0 What happened, who were involved, who did what, describe for me where and
when it happened.

0 What did you learn from that incident?

0 What in particular about this incident that made you feel encouraged in pursuing
and furthering your career in higher education?

Think of another incident in which you also felt encouraged. What did you learn from
that incident? (Repeat questions if necessary)

Now tell me an incident where you felt discouraged to pursue and further your career as
a higher education leader.

0 What happened? Describe for me where and when it happened, who were
involved? What did you learn from that discouraging incident?

0 What in particular about this incident that made you feel discouraged?

0 Think of another incident in which you also felt discouraged? What did you learn
from that incident? (Repeat questions if necessary)

138

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