The Name of the Class
Cross-Cultural Experiences in the movie “Outsourced”
The customs and cultures of India were developed by the country’s traditions that date back almost a few thousands of years. The significance most of these cultural behavior and traditions have in the people of India can be elusive to the average American. For instance, the picture of Kaali (the goddess of destruction), carrying the severed head of a man, hung on the wall of Todd’s (the protagonist) bedroom, is quite a disconcerting picture for the average American. But in India, it is a picture of relief. Similarly, the intermittent animal (cow) insurgency into Todd’s office is unfathomable for any outsider. But for India, this is a daily routine. Instead of changing the course of the buffalos and cows, like the Americans would do, the Indian people are ready to circle around or wait to finally reach their destination. Most of these examples, even though added for the fun of the movie, hints indirectly at the major contrast that American civilization has with that of India. It is quite amazing that, with few of these examples, the movie was able to portray, in detail, some of the most important debates of GLOBE study. The Assertiveness, future orientation, Gender differentiation, Uncertainty Avoidance, Power distance, Collectivistic culture, In-group collectivism, etc of Indian culture has been flawlessly remarked (and sometimes rebuked) by this movie. The following study is an attempt to understand and assess most of these theories that are evident from subtle references or scenes from the movie, “Outsourced”.
Outsourced and Conflicts of Cultures
The cultural contrasts between Todd’s America and India can be categorized into some of the major theories of cross cultural studies. For the purpose of simplification, this essay shall categorize examples from the movie to prove and sometimes postulate different versions of the existing theory to explain the behavior of the Indian People.
Assertiveness (Masculinity Dimension as per Hofstede studies): Indian culture is wholly based on their passion for confrontation and persistent fight for justice. This is the first evidence of cross-cultural difference as seen from Todd’s perspective about India. The moment Todd steps out of the Bombay airport, he is welcomed by a large crowd of cab drivers who are fighting among themselves to gain the right to take Todd to his destination. Even though American culture is often regarded as highly assertive and promoting competition, Todd is not able to fathom the level of fierceness that these drivers were able to bring out to face the issue of grabbing Todd. Perhaps the theory of Assertiveness, as portrayed in the study (Spering 2001a), is quite incomplete in its basic concept.
The American assertiveness is subtle and based on the general competitive nature of people. But the Indian assertiveness is less advanced in that they are ready to fight without the politics that often shroud American competitions. Another incidence of this assertiveness is seen with the Gola vendor who shoos off another seller who is trying to steal his customer (Todd) from him. Todd is quite disconcerted and uncomfortable about the way the vendor treats his colleague. In Todd’s culture he couldn’t do that openly. Indian culture does not necessarily promote subtle competition as much as in America where people believe that competitions brings out the best results in them. Americans are assertive in the sense that they fight for their individuality whereas Indian assertiveness is based on their daily survival.
Future Orientation: One of the biggest cross cultural theories portray the difference between future orientations in two cultures. The theory states that the cultures that are more future oriented will support servant leadership behavior while the others will not (Sokoll 2011). This theory loses its credibility once we assess the behavior of Indian culture (as portrayed in the movie). The Indian culture is not future oriented. They are not planning too far ahead into their future and their each day is simply a quest for surviving till next day. For instance, Todd explains to his employees at the end of the movie that they are all fired and all that they can get is some severance pay from his company. He is shocked to see the joy in their faces. They all rejoice at the idea that they shall get some payment which is more than enough to continue till the next day. And for this reason, Todd finds it difficult to motivate his workforce by giving them targets. But none of the instances in the movie points to the fact that this non-future oriented culture in India promotes Servant leadership behavior. The way Todd’s servant at Auntijy’s house behaves is the best example for this great power distance in the culture. Similarly, the employees wait around for the word from Todd or Puro to make changes in the office. For instance, Madhuri, an employee portrayed as the typical introvert Indian, is seen requesting Todd with utmost doubt and fear about the dress code in the call centre. This is quite opposite to the servant leadership behavior that was predicted by the journal article by (Sokoll 2011).
In fact, the Indian culture is more oriented towards their past. The long term traditions and values mean a lot to the Indian people. The case of America is entirely different from this kind of thinking (Moore 2006). We are a society that lean more on the future end. It is clearly in line with the idea that none of us has a clear connection to this country’s long lost past. The movie uses the reference of Goddess Kaali to explain this connection they (Indians) have with their past traditions. Wearing a ‘Bindi’ on the forehead, worshiping ‘Shivalingam’ all are part of a culture; more than the idea of simple belief they respect the idea of tradition.
Gender Differentiation: Gender differentiation in Indian culture is quite elusive according to the movie. On one hand we have characters like Asha and Auntijy who are stronger than most men and make well for themselves without the help of the other gender. But on the other hand we have characters like Madhuri and Bagyasree (love interest of Puro) who does not seem to have a voice of their own. The issues with gender is not entirely portrayed in the movie for the sake of its plot. The biggest example is the way Asha (love interest of Todd) behaves with Todd. The Indian culture is biased towards males in matters of relationships. They often forbid such behaviors (especially in rural culture) from the part of women. But this is not well indicated in the movie.
Power Distance: The biggest cultural difference that India has with America is its power distance. Even though the American culture does not let its employees share an equal relationship with their employers or bosses, the Indian culture significantly separates the two from interaction. For instance, Todd’s servant (or Auntyji’s) is not given a voice of her own throughout the movie to signify this power distance. She follows the words of Auntyji and Todd without hindrance. This not the usual employee-employer relationship as seen in America. The same way Todd finds himself at loss when he notices that his employees, even during a q&a session, found it difficult to ask their boss for things that they wanted in the workplace. Even Puro is not entirely free to converse with Todd at times (evident from the Todd’s outrage scene at the office).
In-Group Collectivism: After careful introspection, any American viewer can observe the significance that a family has for Indian culture. In fact, Todd is often shown to be observing from an alien perspective that his employees and close neighbors are overloaded with care towards a stranger (that is Todd) who was not present in their lives a few days back. The first instance of such a cultural perplexion comes to Todd when Puro takes him to Auntyji’s house. Puro insists that the hotel that the company had booked for Todd is lonely and he will be better off at Auntyji’s house as a paying guest. Later on, Todd understands that the Indian people have an inclination towards collecting more people into their family circle. For instance, the laundry man working next door to Auntijy’s house welcomes Todd for a lunch at his house and adopts Todd as his own. For an average American, this act incites a tinge of strangeness rather than joy. Similarly, Puro is utterly shocked to hear that Todd does not visit his parents often. And Todd explains that it made sense back in America.
This cultural disparity is not, apparently, an exaggeration. This concept of In-group Collectivism in Indian people has been famously portrayed in the work by (Spering 2001a). Being as part of a family is very significant for the Indian culture. But unlike the theory presented in the work by (Spering 2001a) it can be seen that the Indians do not have any prejudice against taking a stranger (Todd) into their group.
Cultural Direction: The culture of India, as later understood by Todd, is similar to the concept of outwardly directed culture (as opposed to inwardly directed which is seen in developed nations) as given in Trompenaar’s seven dimension cultural model, where the humans believe that they are simply a part of this world and they should adapt to live together with their nature (rather than turning the environment around for them) (Balan & Vreja 2013). The most famous scene from the movie (reenacted in the sitcom version), where the Cow walks into the call centre, is the best example of this difference. The Indian people have come to acknowledge the presence of these animals amongst them. Instead of moving them to make way for the humans, Indians have devised a system where they could roam as they pleased. The American culture is but more inclined towards watching them from a distance at the zoo than see them in their office.
Humane Orientation: The Indian people considers their boss, Todd, as extremely kind and generous. But Todd did not have to do great things to garner this love from his people. This is where the concept of Humane Orientation becomes valid in this cross-cultural examination. Humane Orientation, as indicated in GLOBE studies, differentiates the degree to which a culture defines an activity as humane or otherwise (Hoppe 2007). But (Schlosser et al. 2012) has indicated that Humane orientation is the degree to which a society is kind towards others. In this sense the Indian people are little more complex for a simple explanation. Throughout the movie, Todd is faced with arrogant but kind people. It seems that the arrogance and kindness goes hand in hand with the people of India. For instance, Auntijy is arrogant towards her servant and husband while very nice to Todd. Also, Puro is feared in the employee circle but is too loving towards his boss, even though his job description do not require him to be. According to the study by (Schlosser et al. 2012) India has an average score as well as a position in the high humane orientation countries.
Communication: The Indian style of conversations, as opposed to American, is solely based on the social status of the person one is speaking to. There is a comical reference in this movie about the usage of “good name” while asking for name in India. Even though this is a usage usually lost in translation, the real reason why the question of “good name”interferes conversations in India is because of its High Context communication style, especially in formal situations. Indian languages are often laden with ornamental words and phrases in formal conversations (Nishimura et al. 2009). The contrast between the conversations that Puro has with Todd and that he has with employees is a clear example of this nature of Indian conversations.
An unusual attribute of Indian communication is its affective style. Disregarding the western nature of direct communication, this style believes in the inclusion of the receiver in the conversation (Salo-Lee 2008). For instance, in the movie, conversations that Todd has with his employees can be categorized into affective style. This can be easily observed when Asha (the romantic interest of Todd) points out to Todd that he needs to learn about Indian culture before he can manage the call centre. Her dialogue comes at a confusing time for Todd. He notices that all of his employees are appalled when he mentions the custom of branding (with red hot iron) cows in his country. He was just being direct or as in cross-communication terms, goal-oriented. But the fragile culture of India could not accept this honesty. The employees find it hard to focus him after his remark about cows (their sacred animal).
Collectivistic Nature: India is a collectivist culture. The employees keep a close relationship with each other even outside the workplace (Jandt 2006). This is especially found in all Asian and Hispanic cultures (DuPraw & Axner 1997). According to cross-cultural psychology, this is primarily due to the allocentric personality (which makes the individual allocate values to group harmony, solidarity, and interdependence) of Indian individuals (Spering 2001b). In India, as Puro once comments, people look for other jobs if they find their workplace intolerable as opposed to Todd who just cannot leave his job even though he hates it so much. A big instance of this collectivistic culture is when Puro cannot simply leave Todd behind, unprotected, during the festival of color (Holi). The whole neighborhood welcomes Todd into their culture without any difficulty.
The implications of this collectivist thinking in India can be explained with the concept of self construal in its people. As given in the study conducted by (Kühnen 2008), the members of collectivist culture (such as India) are more exposed to interdependent self-view as opposed to the independent self-view of the members of individualist countries (such as America). This nature of its individuals force them to expect more from the society as opposed to the phrase “every man for himself” in America.
Negotiation: There is a scene in the movie where Todd bargains with a cab driver about a ride to Bombay. Instead of a fixed taxi rate, the driver is negotiating for more. This scene particularly highlights the competitive nature (Spangler 2003) of conflict resolution (or negotiation) in rural India. The competitive nature of negotiation works better in the Indian culture while cooperative problem solving strategies are more effective in the U.S. In a similar way, another scene where Todd is baffled by the way a hotel owner makes him buy the most expensive honeymoon suite in the hotel for him and Asha. Asha rebukes that Todd did not fight for a cheaper room but settled with whatever he could get. For him, back in America, competitive bargaining never worked very well. But here in India, even while renting a hotel room, competitive bargaining is everything.
Other concepts: India is more prone to working in a relationship oriented leadership strategy. Here only Relationship oriented leadership can work with such vehemence and clamour that Task-oriented leadership can bring in America (Mujtaba & Alsua 2010). He begins that by letting Sanjeev bring his family pictures into the office space, Moorthy bring his statues of Gods into the office and Madhuri wear Indian clothes to the office. He makes a connection with his employees and all of a sudden everything starts to build up. The employees are now open to Todd’s leadership and Puro admits that he is learning so much from Todd. In the light of all these facts Todd realizes that a manager in India needs to be polychronic, wherein he/she will have to juggle between many tasks at the same time (Ezeh n.d.). He/she should be capable of managing the customs, traditions, cultures, as well as employees that do not respond well to ordinary incentives or work pressures. For instance, if the average manager in America is only supposed to do what his/her job description tells her to do, in India, Todd had to manage more than just the MPIs (minutes per incidence an indication of performance in the call center), he also had to meddle in employee affairs, issue of lost shipment (company products), issue of flooding (at the office), and even electrifying the office at the rooftop. The whole aspect of Indian culture, therefore, had been remarked, rebuked, and praised in the movie, Outsourced.
Conclusion
The key to managing an outsourced unit of a particular company lies in understanding the cultures and customs that make that country whole. The differences in the cultures of India and America, as observed by the protagonist through the movie “Outsourced”, is a clear picture of why learning a country’s culture before venturing into business with it is important. Todd’s difficulty in managing the call centre is clearly in line with the observations of many eminent scholars such as Hofstede, Richard Lewis, Trompenaar, etc. They postulated that the initial reluctance to accept another culture is only a part of our prejudice. Once we venture deeply into their customs and cultures we shall realize that we are all the same. Culture is just defined by our past and our time orientation. Unless a manager learns to be inclusive of the cultural differences in his/her employees their management can become rather difficult or sometimes even impossible. In the age of globalization, studying the culture of another country is just as important as analyzing their marketing strategies, consumer trends, etc before venturing into any business with it.
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