The Hindu Business Line : India's cultural competitiveness: The unfinished task

THAT India is playing and will continue to play an increasingly important role in the global arena is now well understood. Indians have won this honour through conscious effort.

We have become genuinely quality conscious. It is no longer necessary to stress the importance of quality to most. And those in the service sector are increasingly aware of the need for service orientation.

As for investing in technology and infrastructure, we are certainly catching up, even hiring expat managers and experts where there are skill gaps. As a result of all this, be it in auto ancillaries, biotechnology, software services, business process outsourcing, garment exports or food processing, one is beginning to find `India inside'. Going global is now an important part of every entrepreneur's and executive's agenda and preoccupation.

For the thousands of Indians who now work with the rest of the world, both from India and outside, this has meant acquiring new skills and understanding new cultures. In matters ranging from restaurant etiquette to presenting business cards, Indians have come a long way. Boarding a flight and descending on foreign soil is no big deal any longer for the average Indian.

While there is a current emphasis on `accent neutralisation', it may not be long before the world gets reconciled to Indian English, given that we are fast becoming the back-office to large parts of the world!

Having said this, if there is a single dimension of our competitiveness that needs substantial change, it is our `cultural competitiveness'.

The average Indian technical worker, professional manager, entrepreneur and CEO will have to get a lot more `low context' into transactions and relationships with the rest of the world. This, indeed, seems to be an important unfinished task!

Understanding cultural context

The roots of this condition lie in the fact that our current cultural orientation is predominantly `high context'.

The concept of `context' was coined by the anthropologist Edward T. Hall, author of The Silent Language and The Hidden Dimension, in his pioneering work on intercultural communication.

Hall looks at context as being either `high' or `low'. He looked at `high context' cultures as those where meanings are derived and communication made, not just by the `utterances' but also by the `deeper meaning', which cannot be derived from the `utterances' alone.

In a `high context' culture, it is important to have a contextual knowledge of that culture to understand the true meaning. On the other hand, in a `low context' culture, no contextual knowledge is needed. Hall also saw differences arising in the way time, space and relationships are managed as a result of contexting.

For example, in a high context culture, the orientation to time is characterised by such aspects as everything having its own time, time not being easily scheduled and the needs of people interfering with keeping to time.

The orientation to relationship is characterised by aspects such as talking in a roundabout manner in making a point and things getting done depending on one's relationship with people.

On the other hand, in a low context culture, the orientation to time is characterised by things like work being `scheduled' to be done at a particular time, one thing being done at a time and time being seen as something that can be spent and saved. One's time is seen as one's own.

The orientation to relationship is characterised by the fact of things getting done by following procedures and attention to a goal.

It must be remembered that high context cultures have some low context elements and vice-versa.

This explains the fact that the Japanese and the Chinese, despite being `high context', have mastered many `low context' capabilities such as manufacturing excellence.

In my consulting work with several organisations that do business with customers cross the globe, discussions quite often revolve around performance and customer expectations.

I am frequently told that global customers are very demanding, almost unreasonable, and that employees need to scale up to meet these demands.

When I probe further, the truth becomes evident. This is that the average overseas customer is not actually all that unreasonable.

It is, in fact, the average Indian's difficulty in establishing a business relationship that is `low context'.

There are a few clear symptoms that point to this condition:

Making promises of delivery dates and coming back at the last moment with requests for time extensions;

Agonising about approaching the customer for additional payments as there is no upfront agreement on what is and is not included, and the fear of `spoiling the relationship.'

Taking on client briefs that are incomplete and customer orders with critical information missing without a protest, out of our basic need to be `nice'.

Agreeing to special requests without realistically assessing the capability to deliver because we will be seen as impolite.

Brushing business conflicts and differences under the carpet with the hope that they will go away.So, what are the ingredients of establishing a helpful and yet assertive `low context' relationship with our partners around the world? Five things are important:

Educating customers, employees and partners

That we are a high context culture in this dimension is evident from the fact that we are comfortable being in the dark about how we as customers are going to do business with our service providers.

Does your average doctor explain treatment procedures? Does the average school educate parents on the teaching methodology and assessment procedures? They don't and, as customers, we are okay with figuring it out for ourselves!

Yet, customers across the globe expect to be educated on how they will need to do business with us. Figuring it out is painful for them. Our typical reaction is to call such behaviour "being dumb".

Yet it is not a matter of intelligence but, rather, one of cultural expectation.

Stating things upfront

In India, very little is stated explicitly. Be it job descriptions, customer expectations, and even marital expectations, everything is implicit. While working in a global environment, there is need to be a lot more explicit and upfront about what we can and cannot do.

This will mean that we establish the boundaries of the relationship clearly. People would like to know what they can and cannot expect, what is included and what is extra. Most important, it is vital that we do not over-commit in our anxiety to please.

In fact, our cultural block in this area is so high that we feel shocked at the `upfrontness' of the typical American, who clearly states what he expects, what it will cost and what you will and will not get. We tend to see it as rude and mercenary!

Asking `why' more often

Our education system has, for years, taught us not to ask `why'. Our tradition has taught us to obey elders and not ask `why'. This is beginning to change. though in a very small way.

Asking `why' is seen as being defiant and disrespectful.

Since we do not speak up and question things, we end up accepting something even when we are not sure or convinced about it. What is seen as supportive and cooperative behaviour in the beginning could soon become an irritating problem for business partners!

Communicating

The communication style in a high context culture tends to be implicit. People generally figure things out. Be it good news or bad news, our frequency and intensity of communication is quite often very low.

In a global environment, customers, partners and employees expect to be informed about events, achievements, failures, changes and all other developments. The solution does not lie in technology but in a change in mindset.

Saying no

The typical Indian's nod says it all! The typical Indian response of `I will try my best' summarises our condition.

When we encounter unreasonable requests, or impossible tasks, our natural response is to be helpful. But we end up sending the wrong message in the process. Our noble intentions and typical Indian warmth actually becomes a problem. What we do not realise is the fact that when we do not say `no' when we need to, we run the risk of being seen as not credible. In fact, `saying no' is a sound demonstration of personal integrity. Saying yes when you want to say no is a demonstration of incongruence.

India has a very strong competitive position today. Learning to establish a `low context relationship' is a sure way of consolidating this position.

(The author is the founder and CEO of Totus Consulting, Chennai.)