ABOUT
Bank Negara Malaysia Museum and Art Gallery is located at Jalan Dato’ Onn. Spreading over four levels in the magnificently polished structure of titanium and glass, the Museum and Art Gallery is housed inside Sasana Kijang, the Central Bank of Malaysia’s centre of learning excellence. Proposed to engage both youthful and old, the Museum and Art Gallery is intended to be a informal educational avenue towards any individual who looks for more prominent comprehension on the Malaysian economy as well as its monetary history, the Bank's job in the country's financial advancement and money related control since 1959 to the present day (Bank Negara Malaysia, 2017). It likewise goes about as the gatekeeper to the country's numismatics legacy, while the Art Gallery underlines the Bank's job as a supporter of Malaysian arts with its amazing accumulation of more than 1,500 contemporary Malaysian and ASEAN works of art obtained since 1962 (Tourism Malaysia, 2017). Consisting of six galleries, the Museum segregates itself into the several sections with the intention of improving the viewers understanding on financial literacy as well as instilling the value of gratitude towards Malaysia’s cultural distinctiveness. The galleries, namely, the Art Gallery, Economic Gallery, Islamic Finance Gallery, Numismatics Gallery , Children’s Gallery and the Bank Negara Malaysia Gallery, is devoted to significant engagement with people from diverse sorts of background.
OBJECTIVES
Bank Negara Museum is committed to provide informal education towards museum audience that aims to gather more knowledge on the Malaysian economy as well as its monetary history.
This will be achieved through:
To market, advertise and attract more guests to discover and connect with Malaysian’s economic and monetary heritage.
To promote a sense of gratitude towards the collections and artworks of the museum.
To market the museum products as a tourism attraction for the guests.
The assignment focuses on the objectives of the Museum of Bank Negara because the researcher will be magnifying the collective duty of the employees based on the organisation’s objectives that are crucial in conducting the assessment. In addition, by focusing on the performance and future direction of the institution, the researcher will be able to review the data from the perspective of knowledge, skills and behaviour which will improve the institution by reinforcing its strengths and addressing its weaknesses. OPTION
For this assignment, I’m choosing option A. The option consists of the preparation of a Needs Assessment towards the customer group that is served by the Museum of Bank Negara. The Needs Assessment should comprise of the discovery of new services that will attract the customer group of choice as well as apprehending a successful performance tactics with the population chosen. The Needs Assessment is conducted in order to train employees of the museum to grasp the skills that are needed in order to develop into the catalyst that is needed for the Museum of bank Negara to prosper and achieve their objectives.
ORGANISATIONAL CHART ENVIRONMENTAL ANALYSIS
The Museum of Bank Negara aims to engage with various generations by providing the public with an informal venue for learning about the importance of economics, Islamic banking and financial planning, along with the role that the Central Bank plays in nation building through prudent economic transformational policies. The Art Gallery showcases the Central Bank’s collection of Malaysian and Southeast Asian art acquired since 1962 (Bank Negara Malaysia, 2017). The organisation’s vision foresees the museum to be “the most informative museum of economic and monetary history and art” – for everyone.
There are several factors that may influence on the Museum of Bank Negara’s mission and efficacy over the next few months in which it includes technological factors. The development of new technology will have an impact on how the Bank Negara strives to deliver their purpose of the museum. More museums are opting to invest on telepresence robots (Ilnytzky, U., 2016). The robots will be able to serve museum patrons without having to go through the hassle of notifying the museum for tour guides. Not only that, the existence of 3-D printing and 3-D scanning gives the patrons a chance to interact with the artworks without damaging the original.
The next factor would include the social factors that involves the society as a whole alongside its preferences and priorities. Museums plays a crucial role in portraying how they are construed, who their patrons are as well as how they are expected to serve the diversity of their patrons (Coffee, K., 2008). As current generation evolve, the Bank Negara Museum’s patrons will also vary. Museums can no longer expect to include a larger diverse group using the same overused methods. New systems should be implemented to stay updated to current trends that will serve the mission of the museum.
The current medium of communication that Bank Negara Museum is opting could use a more vibrant approach. This is the environmental factor of that influences the museum. Museums should have a significant cultural impact with developments that are based on the success of the past in order to ensure the community’s understanding on the vital role of Malaysian economy. To attract the younger generations into appreciating what they have to offer, Bank Negara Museum should start focusing on digital platforms as well as heightening the future patron’s expectations for personalisation initiatives (Dilenschneider, C., 2017).
The Museum of Bank Negara strives to cater to both the young and old group of age. This can be proven based on the fact that the museum has equipped their gallery with certain characteristics that aims to please the specific group of generation.
For instance, the younger generation aged between 9 years to 14 years can partake in the Children’s Gallery. The gallery is built on the foundation to expose and teach them the idea of saving, spending and sharing. The Children’s Gallery overflows with all sorts of hands-on games and activities stemmed by the concept. As for the older generation, there are five gallery that is sure to capture the essence of the museum as viewers leisurely stroll and interact with some of the videos and virtual interaction system that the museum has to offer.
For this assessment, the targeted patrons for Bank Negara Museum would comprise of the population amongst the education institution of both primary school and high school. It mainly consists of school students of both male and female from the age of 10 to 17 years old. NEEDS ASSESSMENT
The Museum of Bank Negara is an institution that is devoted in imploring the generations, be it old or young to gain insights in regards to the country’s economy and monetary history. One of the Museum of Bank Negara’s objective that will be the vital aspect of the needs assessment would include to market, advertise and attract more guests to discover and connect with Malaysian’s economic and monetary heritage. Since the assessment is focused on the visitors from middle-school and high-school, the museum needs to analyse what are the current interest that could pull the attention of these young minds.
The next objective of the museum would be to promote a sense of gratitude towards the collections and artworks of the museum. It is very crucial for students to be given proper education to have a sense of pride as well as acknowledgement for the technical and museological skills and knowledge that can be gained from institutions as the museum. Some of the knowledge that are disseminated through publications, technical assistance, educational training, exhibitions and outreach that are made available by the museum.
The researcher used two techniques in determining the specific needs analysis. The first technique is the interview approach. The researcher made an appointment with the officer of the Museum of Bank Negara and conducted an interview by asking several questions that are needed for the purpose of the Needs Assessment. The researcher also conducted an interview with one of the officers that were on duty during the time of the visit in order to gain a more direct opinion. The prime purpose of the interview is to gain exact type of datas from various sources in hopes to gain a much more widespread perception.
The second method includes the observation approach. The researcher decided to make use of this approach to obtain the employee’s performance through first hand observation and analysis without getting involved with the work process of the employees. During the observation, the researcher goes through how any normal visitors would and gained full experience as a visitor of the museum.
The Needs Assessment is conducted to evaluate the employees of the Museum of Bank Negara’s current condition and to compare it with the organisation’s desired condition. The museum needs to implement several programs as well as introducing new inventions in order to attract the student’s interest and captivate them to visit the museum, the customer service department of the museum plays a vital role as they will be the ones who will be directly involve with visitors as well as the programs and invention that will be part of the daily routine of the museum.
According to the diagram above, the customer service element of this museum is the prime service offered for the museum as visitors will firstly be greeted by the receptionist of the museum in order to administer their details before being allowed to visit the galleries. The tour guide is also part of the customer service department of the museum as they will interact directly with the visitors and providing a great experience for the visitors as the guide chaperones them.
Some of the gaps that exists with the procedures and activities of the museum involves with the technological aspect. It is not an unknown fact that students of the current generation are constantly exposed to the ever-growing sorts of technological gizmos. While their objectives urge the community to visit their museum, frankly nothing much has changed since the last 10 years.
It is a tedious process of booking a tour guide at the museum especially if you’re a school student not on a field trip. Most of the time, the tour guide are unavailable for impromptu visits to the museum. Hence, introducing the technology of artificial intelligence in the form of the tour-guide robot would be able to control the existing gap.The staffs of the museum, mainly the receptionists should be equipped with information technology related knowledge as well as skills to properly manage the robot in the museum to not rely on the technical department.
Aside from that, another gap that exists is that the museum is the employees inability to embrace the use of social media as an advantageous tool to attract students to visit the museum. Engaging with visitors especially the tech savvy students using social media displays by creating hashtags as well as tagging the museum’s account would not only give the public chances to explore and discover the visitors experiences but it will also provide an economical publicity approach (Whitaker S. 2016).
The next gap that can be found with the museum would include the employees incompetence to handle the gadgets of the museum. Some of the tools that the museum uses are advanced and needs proper knowledge in handling them whenever it crashes. Some of the gadgets should also be upgraded parallel to the current generation. Hence, investing in more rich and high tech tools that can elevate the environment of the museum would surely boost the work productivity as well as improving the visitor base of the museum. However, the training on how to handle such advanced gadgets should also be enhanced.
LITERATURE REVIEW
In the current globalised era, technology plays a game changing role towards institutions such as the museum. While it may not have been relevant back then, nowadays with significant gadgets and applications that stem from the existence of technology more museums opt to combine the historical monuments and artworks with the evolution of technology to coexists and cater the growing needs of the current generation.
To validate that the movement is successful, it needs to certify that its efforts not only increase the attraction of students in school, but also incline to propagate the interest of these students towards the people of their scope. This review will not explore the .
Artificial Intelligence for Museum
The use of artificial intelligence as part of the museum is nothing new. Albeit, the idea is relatively new in most countries, but developed countries have morphed technology to serve a prominent purpose in such institutions. The interactive museum tour-guide robot is a form of artificial intelligence that serves a great purpose for museums. The creators of the robot has enabled the robot to steer cautiously through the visitors and the specific user interface modified towards non-expert users such as the employees of the museum as well as the visitors (Burgard, W., Cremers, A. B., Fox, D., Hähnel, D., Lakemeyer, G., Schulz, D., … & Thrun, S., 1998).
As employees of the museum it is crucial to understand the proper navigation of the artificial intelligence. It is crucial to show competency as well as avoiding delayed action whenever the robot malfunctions. Going for a basic software understanding program would enable employees to operate properly. It is very crucial for the employees to understand the mechanism of the tour-guide robot in order to control the capability of the robot. In a study conducted, the presence of such advanced robot victoriously increased the museum's visitor by more than 50% (Burgard, W., Cremers, A. B., Fox, D., Hähnel, D., Lakemeyer, G., Schulz, D., … & Thrun, S., 1999).
Social Media for Museum
Entering the age of social media, it is a known fact that everyone with a mobile phone uses social media. Even institutions like museums and art galleries are more inclined to utilise social media as a means of deliver interpretations and exchanging contents among the many other purposes it serves (Proctor N., 2010). However, there is still the obvious polarity with the potential that exists with social media and the utilisation by museums. The conflict that can arise from the collaboration of social media and museum can become destructive. Hence, it is eminently crucial for museum employees to capture the essence of the involvement of social media with their line of work as part of the museum (Kidd, J., 2011).
To summarise, there is no escaping the invasion of social media in ones daily lives. The value that comes with the presence of social media is also becoming hard to resist especially in this worldwide integration era which is why training and development of employees towards social media should be required. For instance, sending employees for a training program that educates how to set up and maintain the museum’s profile, effective social recruiting strategy and how to attract crowds to engage with the museum’s social accounts as well as proper guidelines in handling a social media account (Gikas, J., & Grant, M. M.,2013).
Gadgets & Augmented Reality (AR) for Museum
As an institution that preserves historical artifacts, it should also seek to not only maintain artworks but also service and upgrade the technological tools that helps with the visitors understanding. Upgrading these interpretive tools as well as using it to its fullest potential will prevail great outcome. Visitors will have a better and unique experience as well opening doors to a wider and more innovative interpretation and thinking (Alexander, J., 2014).
Employees need to be equipped with a more creative approach in mobilising the gadgets available. The possibilities are endless but employees should first be trained on how to log in the equipments as well as having first hand experiences with the gadgets themselves as they will be the ones consulting the visitors and answering their enquiries whenever they have any.
In conclusion, these reviews have proven that technology should be mastered and not to be seen as a rival to these historic property but as a medium or tool to help spread the vast knowledge the museum holds to a much larger crowd. Training and developing the employees and staffs of the museum is very crucial in order to obtain the significant outcome that is needed to achieve what most museum strive for which includes to increase audience and to spread knowledge.
IV: CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
To summarise, this assessment has shed light over the actions that the Museum of Bank Negara need to conduct in order to achieve the goals of the institution as well as accomplishing the objectives that has been set. The museum has to start catching up with the ever-changing world. In their attempt to attract guests to unveil and connect with the economic and monetary heritage, the museum should improve the major aspect of their museum which is the technological aspect.
Technology plays a vital role in regards to anything and everything nowadays. Especially among the school students where technology affects their way of living, playing, and most importantly learning. It is crucial for museums to implement technology as a catalyst to attract student as they are inseparable with their gadgets. Instead of fighting the flow, museums should incorporate the preservation of history with the evolution of technology to impress the students as well as evolving their way of thinking.
Hence, ensuring that the employees are well equipped is a critical factor in ensuring the success of the museum. It is very important for the staffs of the museum to go for the designated training and develop into the best and most suitable employees with the potential that they possess.