KUALA LUMPUR - Being Asian herself, Ida Kamaria Ghazali did not expect that going to another Asian country like Vietnam would be much different in terms of cultural experience.

"But how wrong I was! There is so much said about the East and West that we often forget that there are still so many differences within our own region, and that there are still so many things we can learn from each other," said Ida, who is with IBM Malaysia's Global Business Services.

Ida, 35, was sent to Vietnam in April last year as a volunteer under IBM's Corporate Service Corps (CSC), which sends selected employees around the world to help local businesses, non-profit organisations and governmental institutions improve their use of new technologies and expand their global reach.

As a volunteer, Ida said she had thought herself to be the one contributing to the people of Vietnam. However, she found that she gained far more than she expected from the experience.

"The Vietnamese are probably the most trusting, patient, contented and determined folks I have ever met," she said in an e-mail interview with Bernama.

"Some may be poor but their happiness shines through. Despite the daily chaos due to the traffic system they still manage a smile, with road rage far from sight."

Working at home, away from home

Ida spent a month in Vietnam helping a family-run business through the Vietnamese Chamber of Commerce.

She initially helped them work on their accounting and finance system, but soon found herself changing the focus on their business instead.

Through CSC, she assisted them by coming up with an organisation structure, performance and productivity improvement, and also a growth strategy.

"With three solid weeks to work through these areas, I kept the recommendations practical. I had also made recommendations on the physical structure and safety requirements of their factory - simple things like reorganising where their equipment should be placed got the most positive reaction. It was a good reminder that sometimes, the simplest things are best," she said.

She described her place of work as quaint, as the directors of the company were a husband and wife team, thus their office was adjacent to their single-storey home, and one of their factories next to it.

"Now that's what I call working from home!" she quipped.

However, she said, the time spent with them was not nearly enough to help resolve all the challenges. Nonetheless, her role there was not to do or solve the challenges for them. Rather, it was to transfer and equip them with knowledge and skills to execute the recommendations in a sustainable way.

"That, I think we accomplished," said Ida.

Reaching out from across the globe

Besides Ida, six other IBM employees, or "IBMers" from around the world were also sent to Vietnam on various assignments helping small and medium business (SMB) clients in the country. Ida said the opportunity to bond with other IBMers from across the globe was priceless.

"To imagine seven multi-cultural and diverse individuals together, all you need to do is watch "Mind Your Language"(an early '80s English sitcom).

"We could not have been more different, in not just in the way we spoke, but also in the way we approach work and everyday things in general. We were simply hilarious, yet very effective together," she wrote.

Three other employees from IBM Malaysia were selected for the programme: Chow Mun Yee of the Communications division of IBM Asean was sent to Chengdu, China, to help women entrepreneurs and Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs); Ng Yin Yoon, from the Software Group of IBM Malaysia, was also sent to Chengdu to help two municipal government departments with their Digital City Plan and their citizen-centered E-Government Platform for Chengdu.

Meanwhile, Maureen Ooi, from IBM Asean's Global Financing division was sent to Brazil where she volunteered at Direito de Ser, a non-profit civil society association that aims to address educational needs of children and adolescents.

CSC in Malaysia

This year, nine IBMers from eight countries have volunteered to be with Malaysian organisations in Penang during a month-long assignment from Oct 16 until Nov 14.

The volunteers, from France, Germany, Italy, Japan, New Zealand, Russia, Spain and the United States of America were assigned to various organisations namely the Pearl Maternity Hospital, Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM), Society for Aid to the Handicapped, the Cerebral Palsy Children's Association of Penang and the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) & Philanthropy TransDisciplinary Action Group, the CSR arm of USM.

For Etienne de Larminat of IBM France who helped the Pearl Maternity Hospital with a strategic market plan, the internal and external analysis conducted for the hospital helped him understand how different communities deal with situations and how culture and religion affects people's behaviour.

In an e-mail interview with Bernama, he wrote that it was his first trip to Penang and Malaysia and the experience left him impressed with the way people from different cultural backgrounds in Penang interact with each other.

He was also impressed by the number of places of worship erected all over the state.

Dennis Kunkel of IBM Global Technology Services, Germany assisted the Cerebral Palsy Children's Association of Penang with their fund-raising process so that the non-profit organisation can continue to sustain their operation.

It was his first trip to Penang and Malaysia, and was surprised to find it more well-developed than he had imagined.

"It's not quite the country I thought the CSC is operating, but coming here makes me understand that CSC is a need in all countries. Even in a well-developed country, there are always people or associations that require help."

Helping others help themselves

Although the IBMers came from different countries and backgrounds, proper briefing on the culture, history and social etiquette of the country, among others were given to volunteers to help them serve better, said IBM Malaysian Human Resources Manager Kenneth Ho.

"Nevertheless, there would always be an initial culture shock but our volunteers have been quick to adapt and settle in well," he said.

Ho said since the CSC Programme was rolled out in July 2008, it has worked on 36 projects around the world that helped local businesses, non-profit organisations and governmental institutions improve their use of new technologies and expand their global reach.

This included launching a centre for business development in Ghana and offering workshops to prepare students and women for careers in technology and business, conducting business training in Romania to enable small and medium enterprises to tap into regional and global trade networks, and working with the Africa Wildlife Foundation in Tanzania to overhaul financial management practices and develop strategies for wildlife management.

The CSC is sending some 600 participants abroad in its first three years, says Ho. To date, 300 volunteers have taken part in the programme, which sees eager participation by IBMers since it was introduced.

Cream of the crop

However, it is not that easy to get selected. Ho says IBMers with two or more years of service can apply to join the programme, but they would need to be an above-average performer for at least the past two years with some community service experience to their name.

They would also be judged on strong leadership potential, awards received, excellent references and a personal essay.

"Besides offering a chance to help others, participation will further volunteers' understanding of the intricacies of the globally integrated enterprise and increase their leadership skills.

"In fact, being a CSC participant will become an important differentiator in a career development at IBM and the global economies of the 21st century, so you can see why this opportunity is so sought after by IBMers," he said.

Even obstacles faced by volunteers such as the differences in social and work cultures among IBMers who come from different countries, as well as the organisations they are assigned to, served as a blessing in disguise.

"The assignments helped volunteers go outside their comfort zones in terms of communications, thinking of new and alternate solutions and increase their ability to establish network ties," he said.

Success of the CSC programmes is measured by the project goals defined at the early stage of the project, and they are typically met at the end of the assignment period, said Ho.

And as for feedback from target organisations, Ho laid out the result of a global survey on the programme done by the Harvard Business School.

"The vast majority of organisations expressed a high degree of satisfaction with the programme and felt that their initial goals for the programme were met and exceeded.

"The local partners rated the IBM project and CSC participants very high on overall satisfaction, indicated that the CSC team members were very well-prepared for the project and having the necessary skills and enough cultural understanding to make a difference to the organisations," he said.