As Malaysia visualises to be a high-income nation, it is pertinent that the private sector plays a pivotal role in shaping the economy. While the macro-economic vision as been stated in explicit terms, in regards to the New Economic Model, corporate Malaysia has to reform itself culturally and structurally in terms of leadership and people management in building a high performance culture.

High performance culture can only be built through cohesive teams, where the potential of team members are utilised to the full. Malaysian-based companies in general with exception of certain service-based industries are hierarchical in structure with a strong ‘power distance’ culture that retards the growth of performance-based teams, besides having an impersonal management culture.

There is much emphasis on results with little attention to intangibles such as relationship building, in-depth understanding of issues besides coming up with long-term solutions that take into consideration the whole process of work, with people being the centre of progress.

Being in the manufacturing sector for twenty years and in charge of training, quality management and human resource issues, I have seen general and functional managers who are status conscious but who do not interact with ordinary employees in terms of relationship-building.

Communication is solely based on whether a requirement has been met and this makes team- building effort an uphill battle in terms of human relations. Generating a knowledge-based economy requires attention to the intangibles such as sense of belonging and pride and passion towards one's job.

The corporate sector should take heed from established network marketing companies that have a reverse hierarchy which is built on opportunities for everyone to succeed and having a strong team-based culture that is built during informal encounters between leaders and members after normal conventional hours where commitment to organisational goals are built.

This is done at a teh tarik session or at the house of a member where honest discussions of issues take place between leaders and members of a team. Genuine concern is shown by leaders towards the family of team members with the understanding that a good performance will help increase family income.

Each member of the team encourages one and another to succeed. Permission is asked before a person’s behavior is confronted related to performance which reveals interpersonal tact. The salient part of these teams are when members look at criticism as a genuine concern for their well-being and this is due to strong relationships built over time.

Every team member is free to voice out concern for the common good of the organisation. There is an implied understanding that confrontation is important sometimes to get to the bottom of an issue. Rewards are transparently managed where each member of a team knows the compensation plan unlike conventional companies that keep their employees guessing on their compensation especially in non-unionised companies.

An egalitarian spirit is lost in conventional companies where impersonal managers are far more busy in building the business without due regard to human potential and rewarding them accordingly.

This is one of those reasons that we are still caught in the trap of low wages while the elite few benefit from economic growth.

While it is not realistic to follow every part of the network marketing concept due different natures of business, it would be wise for conventional corporate leaders to delve in-depth on the principles attached to people-centred growth that takes into consideration the intangible concepts such as relationship-building, equal opportunities and positive emotions built such as optimism, passion, determination and perseverance that are all vital to build a high-performance culture that has strategic significance.

Therefore it is pertinent for corporate Malaysia to have a paradigm shift in people management as it complements the government’s effort to herald Malaysia towards a high-income nation. For this to materialise, an egalitarian spirit has to built into our corporate culture where the common good of the country should take precedence, where every effort should be made to harness the potential of people in the real economy.

This without adopting a neoliberal system where the primary concern is to enrich the few who have the financial means but at the expense of building organisation synthesis that values the potential of every employee.