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Rationalising the business structure of contemporary Buddhist organisations in Malaysia: a case study of five Buddhist charities

Many contemporary Buddhist organisations have registered in Malaysia since the early 21st century. This article aims to analyse the issues of rationalisation in terms of the structure of organisational and the business concepts of five contemporary Buddhist organisations. In-depth interview, telepho...

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Main Authors: Lee, Yok Fee, Low, Kok On
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Penerbit Universiti Sains Malaysia 2023
Online Access:http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/109498/1/KM41012023_8.pdf
http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/109498/
http://web.usm.my/km/41(1)2023/KM41012023_8.pdf
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spelling my.upm.eprints.1094982024-11-06T02:07:33Z http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/109498/ Rationalising the business structure of contemporary Buddhist organisations in Malaysia: a case study of five Buddhist charities Lee, Yok Fee Low, Kok On Many contemporary Buddhist organisations have registered in Malaysia since the early 21st century. This article aims to analyse the issues of rationalisation in terms of the structure of organisational and the business concepts of five contemporary Buddhist organisations. In-depth interview, telephone interview, and observation were the methods used to gather qualitative data from the informants and the websites of the selected organisations. Weber’s concepts of rationalisation were employed to analyse data collected from the field as well as the secondary data. In terms of the organisational structure, our analysis revealed that two out of five selected Buddhist organisations, namely Kechara and Tzu Chi, are highly structured and formalised. In addition, their bureaucracy is in line with Weber’s rationalisation model that emphasised calculability, predictability, control, and capitalism. In terms of business, two out of five selected Buddhist organisations, namely the Buddha’s Light International Association and the Nalanda Buddhist Society do not participate in business. In other words, these two organisations showed that the Buddhist’s norm and values do not rationalise the believers into accumulating wealth as their goal and then creating the spirit of capitalism. However, the Kechara, Tzu Chi, and Buddhist Business Network do actively participate in business activities to generate their own income. The elements of calculability, predictability, control, and capitalism are significant in all the three organisations’ business involvement too. Overall, this study has indirectly highlighted the similarities and differences of the five selected contemporary Buddhist organisations in Malaysia with respect to their structure of organisation and business involvement based on Weber’s concepts of rationalisation. Penerbit Universiti Sains Malaysia 2023-04-28 Article PeerReviewed text en cc_by_4 http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/109498/1/KM41012023_8.pdf Lee, Yok Fee and Low, Kok On (2023) Rationalising the business structure of contemporary Buddhist organisations in Malaysia: a case study of five Buddhist charities. Kajian Malaysia, 41 (1). pp. 153-170. ISSN 0127-4082; eISSN: 2180-4273 http://web.usm.my/km/41(1)2023/KM41012023_8.pdf 10.21315/km2023.41.1.8
institution Universiti Putra Malaysia
building UPM Library
collection Institutional Repository
continent Asia
country Malaysia
content_provider Universiti Putra Malaysia
content_source UPM Institutional Repository
url_provider http://psasir.upm.edu.my/
language English
description Many contemporary Buddhist organisations have registered in Malaysia since the early 21st century. This article aims to analyse the issues of rationalisation in terms of the structure of organisational and the business concepts of five contemporary Buddhist organisations. In-depth interview, telephone interview, and observation were the methods used to gather qualitative data from the informants and the websites of the selected organisations. Weber’s concepts of rationalisation were employed to analyse data collected from the field as well as the secondary data. In terms of the organisational structure, our analysis revealed that two out of five selected Buddhist organisations, namely Kechara and Tzu Chi, are highly structured and formalised. In addition, their bureaucracy is in line with Weber’s rationalisation model that emphasised calculability, predictability, control, and capitalism. In terms of business, two out of five selected Buddhist organisations, namely the Buddha’s Light International Association and the Nalanda Buddhist Society do not participate in business. In other words, these two organisations showed that the Buddhist’s norm and values do not rationalise the believers into accumulating wealth as their goal and then creating the spirit of capitalism. However, the Kechara, Tzu Chi, and Buddhist Business Network do actively participate in business activities to generate their own income. The elements of calculability, predictability, control, and capitalism are significant in all the three organisations’ business involvement too. Overall, this study has indirectly highlighted the similarities and differences of the five selected contemporary Buddhist organisations in Malaysia with respect to their structure of organisation and business involvement based on Weber’s concepts of rationalisation.
format Article
author Lee, Yok Fee
Low, Kok On
spellingShingle Lee, Yok Fee
Low, Kok On
Rationalising the business structure of contemporary Buddhist organisations in Malaysia: a case study of five Buddhist charities
author_facet Lee, Yok Fee
Low, Kok On
author_sort Lee, Yok Fee
title Rationalising the business structure of contemporary Buddhist organisations in Malaysia: a case study of five Buddhist charities
title_short Rationalising the business structure of contemporary Buddhist organisations in Malaysia: a case study of five Buddhist charities
title_full Rationalising the business structure of contemporary Buddhist organisations in Malaysia: a case study of five Buddhist charities
title_fullStr Rationalising the business structure of contemporary Buddhist organisations in Malaysia: a case study of five Buddhist charities
title_full_unstemmed Rationalising the business structure of contemporary Buddhist organisations in Malaysia: a case study of five Buddhist charities
title_sort rationalising the business structure of contemporary buddhist organisations in malaysia: a case study of five buddhist charities
publisher Penerbit Universiti Sains Malaysia
publishDate 2023
url http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/109498/1/KM41012023_8.pdf
http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/109498/
http://web.usm.my/km/41(1)2023/KM41012023_8.pdf
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score 13.223943

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