Bio - Vijayan Munusamy

Vijayan is a Senior Research Associate at the Center for Creative Leadership-Asia. He is currently a major contributor to several of the Center's Asia-based research projects. His varied experience of crossing cultures in academic work and family life contributes multi-faceted cultural perspectives to the Center's work.

Prior to being a cross-cultural researcher, Vijayan worked in numerous organizational settings in Malaysia, India, and The United States ranging from publishing, advertising, engineering, construction, consulting, and telecommunication. He started his career as a Mechanical Engineer in Malaysia and made his first "cultural crossing" towards social engineering after observing that many of the conflicts in the workplace and in society are due to cultural misunderstandings. Recognizing cultural education as a powerful tool to advance multicultural understanding, he founded a social enterprise to promote the sharing of children's stories from different cultures in Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia. The lessons he learned from this experience and the need to develop theoretical, methodological and experiential expertise in cross-cultural issues led him to make his second "cultural crossing" toward becoming a Degree Fellow at the East-West Center, Hawaii and a PhD student at The University of Hawaii. There he completed an East-West Center Leadership Certificate, an International Culture Studies Graduate Certificate, a Masters in Business Administration and a Masters in Public Administration. In his role as the President of East-West Center Participants' Association, he also initiated the 'Global Peace Circle', an event signifying multicultural understanding.

Vijayan's cross-cultural research has been presented at numerous international conferences including the Academy of Management, the International Association for Cross-Cultural Psychology, the International Academy of Intercultural Research and the International Business and Economy Conference. His recent publication includes a book chapter in "Teaching about Asian Pacific Islanders: Effective Activities, Strategies, and Assignments for Classrooms and Workshops (AltaMira Press, 2006).

An Asian Development Bank scholar, he has been recognized numerous times for his achievement in academic, work and community service. Among others, he is a recipient of The Wall Street Journal Student Achievement Award, Booz Allen Hamilton Outstanding Recognition Award and East-West Center Distinguished Service Award. Currently, he resides in Singapore with his wife and three children.

Projects:

• Leadership Across Differences

Presentations:

• Social Identity Conflicts in Organisational and Cultural Context: Triggers, Responses and Leadership Practices
• Managing Identity Conflicts: Perspectives Across Organisational Level and Culture

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