Developing Cultural Competence: The Indian and American Workplace

chillibreeze writer — Carl Lindquist

Cultural values are crucially important for professionals who work abroad or who create material intended for foreign audiences. Becoming proficient in the values that motivate and drive a culture helps ensure that others will be treated with respect, enhances professionalism, and increases the quality of the final product. Although culture is a complex topic, today’s professionals can become proficient in functioning and relating to another culture in two principal ways: understanding the core cultural values of the society in question and observing how these values are expressed both in and outside of work.

Although every culture is composed of diverse and sometimes seemingly contradictory values, each society will have core values which dominate. These are values which, when present in a person, engender respect, and, when absent, provoke disdain.

Ask a group of Americans to identify values they consider of core importance to their culture. This exercise can generate an extensive list. But in all likelihood, the following six values will quite readily be identified as centrally important to Americans:

Time Orientation (punctuality and managing time effectively)
Work Orientation (work engenders respect, and a person identifies strongly with his or her career)
Achievement Orientation (accomplishments are of central importance to a person’s identity)
Individualism (self-reliance and personal expression are valued)
Pragmatism (a person’s time and energy should be focused toward productive tasks)
Direct Communication (People value honesty, even when it is in the form of bad news)

These six values are pervasive in American society. They are also values which have a high degree of compatibility with the workplace, revealing the strong connection that exists between personal life and work life in the United States: In American society, a person is what he or she does for a living.

If a group of Indians were asked to list the values they believe characterize United States culture based on Americans they have met, or through entertainment and news media, or by traveling within the United States, they might point out many of these six core cultural values.

Now, consider what might happen if this same group of Indians is asked to identify the cultural values that characterize Indian society. They will generate a list of diverse values, perhaps at times broaching concepts that seem contradictory to the outsider: tradition will be mentioned, but progressiveness might also occupy a place in this list; family will be mentioned, but so too might career. The diversity of cultural values in India attests to this country’s dynamic, intercultural society and its long, rich history.

Finally, imagine the list this same group of Indians might generate when asked to identify core values that characterize the contemporary corporate environment in India. The values on this list will likely be identical to the six American core cultural values mentioned earlier: punctuality is a cardinal rule; strong work orientation makes a six-day work week the norm in some Indian offices; direct communication is of pivotal importance. All six values have multiple expressions in the Indian office. In effect, Indian and American corporate workplaces are quite similar regarding the values held by the employees.

But if core values are shared by Indian and American employees, why then do misunderstandings and miscommunication sometimes occur? To answer that, we need to dispense with the notion that shared values result in identical behaviors. Instead, we need to recognize that values are expressed differently from culture to culture, and the newcomer learns culturally appropriate behavior by diligently finding opportunities for cultural integration both in and outside of work.

An American encountering a multinational office in India will find more things familiar than different: the chain of command has the same flow, state of the art technology is the rule, and ergonomic workstations are ubiquitous. These are just a few examples of how contemporary Indian and American offices are similar. In such a familiar environment, it would be easy for the American to assume that cultural differences are not so great after all. He’ll then prop his feet up on his desk and start munching on a bag of chips. In doing so, what are some of the Indian cultural values that the American might be breaking?

One possible response to the above question involves that bag of chips the American is munching. In an American office, it is not uncommon for an employee to sit alone at his or her workstation and eat. However, in an Indian office, as soon as a bag of chips is opened, it is immediately passed around to others in the office. Neither practice is necessarily the correct one, but each reflects different cultural expectations and practices that are learned and understood only through participating in the host culture outside of work, engaging in activities that involve plenty of interaction with members of that culture.

The bag of chips scenario relates to another example more pertinent to the workplace, specifically regarding the implications of individualism. This cultural value, which is of central importance in America, is alive and well in India. In the workplace, for example, expressing religious and cultural affiliation is common and respected. Further, one will find employees in friendly competition with one another, and the desire to excel and advance is strong.

However, there are important differences between the ways individualism becomes manifest in the respective American and Indian workplace. In America, one can sum up individualism with the phrase “What’s in it for me?” An American worker who behaves otherwise might be considered unmotivated and not serious about his or her career. Conversely, in India, where family and group decisions are the norm, individualism might be more readily summed-up with the phrase “What’s in it for me and the group?” Failing to act in accordance with this maxim could result in the person being viewed as selfish, arrogant, and inconsiderate.

Both workers may be highly motivated employees with good intentions. However, the manner in which the core value of individualism is considered and possibly expressed will be quite different depending upon the worker’s respective cultural background.

Again, the key to avoiding cultural misunderstandings is to find opportunities to participate in the culture outside of work. In doing so, one has the opportunity to observe and learn ways through which cultural values are commonly expressed. Taking advantage of opportunities to participate in the host culture helps a person become well-rounded, and also builds one’s professional skill set: cultural competency provides an important, competitive edge in today’s international business world.

For the writer addressing a foreign audience, cultural values are an essential consideration. Opportunities for interaction with American culture might be limited for an Indian writing for the American market, and in such cases recognition of the six core cultural values is all the more important. Considering these values helps the writer structure an article and enhance its quality: appealing to an audience’s cultural values helps ensure that a message is on-topic and relevant, understandable, and valuable.

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—About our writer: Carl writes for chillibreeze.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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