Cultural Issues in India

SOME MISSION CRITICAL CROSS-CULTURAL ISSUES WHEN WORKING WITH INDIAN IT PROFESSIONALS

By Bidhan Chandra, MBA, PhD Senior Consultant/Trainer/Coach; Cultural Savvy Partner

The following are some of the major hot points or issues for global team work with Indian IT professionals. These issues can be addressed in a workshop for Indian and/or American professionals. Language barrier Out research shows this as one of the most critical communication challenges. Indian English, both written and spoken, is not always understood well by non-Indians. Key challenges include: Use of different sentence structure Speech patterns Accents and intonation Vocabulary Difficulty in processing complex information in English The above may lead to a lack of shared understanding of what is being said, discussed or agreed upon in a teleconference or face-to-face meeting. Thus, miscommunication or misunderstanding can kill the process of seamless joint work. A related major challenge for global team work with Indians is that the Indian side is more likely to make different assumptions about task requirements after a meeting and begin to work/act on those assumptions without getting clarification, pushing back or asking proper questions. This may lead to misdirection in the project and unnecessary delays and additional costs. Hierarchy in Indian organizations Hierarchy in Indian organizations/teams has serious ramifications/manifestations in the business context which are very different from those in Western cultures. Some key areas to consider in which hierarchy in India can have an adverse effect: Effective and open communication during negotiations, brainstorming and idea generation Obtaining meaningful information and giving objective feedback Proactive in proposing solutions to critical issues Dependence on superiors to provide direction and solutions Tendency to say “yes” to requests from clients and superiors Agreeing to things without analyzing task requirements properly; lack of...