LeFebvre (2011, p.391) revealed that despite being considered as an emerging market India is considered to be very democratic as well as being the fifth largest global economy. But one of its biggest advantage for foreign companies is that English (Smith, 2014) is the language used in doing business transactions (LeFebvre, 2011, p.391). However, despite being a former British colony there are significant differences especially on the Indian culture, values and norms (Khare, 2011, p.365). Khare (2011, p.365) further disclosed that India’s economic standards and sociocultural factors have transformed due to the increasing number of foreign companies that are doing business within the country (Sharma, 2015).
Figure 1. Hofstede’s cultural dimensions
(LeFebvre, 2011, p.393)
Unfortunately for western companies the culture, values and tradition of India remains to be long-term oriented (Sharma, 2015) due to the influence of its religions, which includes Hindu, Muslim and Buddhist (LeFebvre, 2011, p.392). But the main influence perceived was largely from the Hindu religion since it is practiced by 80% of the population (LeFebvre, 2011, p.392). Cultural diversity is further worsened by the number of languages used, which numbered to 22 officially recognized and includes both Hindi and English (Nishimura, Nevgi and Tella, 2008, p.793). The effect is that India is perceived by Hall as a high context culture since its culture is based on their social status, history and relationships (Nishimura, Nevgi and Tella, 2008, p.785).
The religious and cultural influence was largely seen in Hofstede’s five cultural dimensions in figure 1 above where India has a higher Power Distance and Long-term Orientation (LeFebvre, 2011, p.393). This means that India is primarily hierarchal when it comes to its business operations, which results to an established managerial level. The inference is that the main decision always comes from the top management and employees do not have a say despite the fact that the orders are considered incorrect (LeFebvre, 2011, p.393).
Figure 2. India culture
(Nishimura, Nevgi and Tella, 2008, p.794)
Cultural Values and Norms
The power distance dimension also implies that Indian leaders prefer that business communications are done through a chain of command (LeFebvre, 2011, p.394) due to their more assertive and extroverted nature (Nishimura, Nevgi and Tella, 2008, p.793). This is seen to be highly contrary to India’s normal communication style, which is perceived to be more talkative along with use of body language (Nishimura, Nevgi and Tella, 2008, p.793). The effect is that Indian individuals are considered to be highly effective multi-taskers since they can do simultaneous actions while listening to others (Nishimura, Nevgi and Tella, 2008, p.793). But Nishimura, Nevgi and Tella (2008, p.793) disclosed that this communication style is dependent on the organizational culture since they can be either talkative or work in silence.
Organizational Structure and Family Values
This is due to the fact that Indians either follow the organizational norms when in groups but are also highly individualistic (Kumar, 2007). Unfortunately, the individualistic and collective values result to slower decision making (Smith, 2014) on the part of Indian managers requiring higher patience for Western counterparts (Nishimura, Nevgi and Tella, 2008, p.794). This is due to the fact that Indian organizations are highly hierarchical (Sharma, 2015) while western organizations are more decentralized (Kumar, 2007). The inability to decide can result to frustration on the part of a foreign organization and further worsened by the individual’s priority on religious times rather than on secular times (Kumar, 2007).
Business Trust
Nishimura, Nevgi and Tella (2008, p.793) counters the impression of a religious focus when they revealed that Indians also pursue material success in order to have a better lifestyle based on financial security and satisfaction (Khare, 2011, p.372). However, these individuals often mix their professional and family affairs (Nishimura, Nevgi and Tella, 2008, p.793) due to pressures from family (Khare, 2011, p.372) resulting to work attitude volatility (Sharma, 2015) and unpunctuality (Kumar, 2007). Western organizations therefore are recommended by Kumar (2007) to adapt to the culture and norms of India in order to prevent additional problems with operational challenges.
References
Khare, A. (2011). Impact of Indian cultural values and lifestyles on meaning of branded products: Study on university students in India. Journal of International Consumer Marketing, 23(5), p.365-379.
Kumar, R. (2007). Doing business in India: Caveat venditor. Ivey Business Journal. Retrieved from http://iveybusinessjournal.com/publication/doing-business-in-india-caveat-venditor/
LeFebvre, R. (2011). Cross-cultural comparison of business ethics in the US and India: A study of business codes of conduct. Journal of Emerging Knowledge on Emerging Markets, 3(22), p.391-409.
Nishimura, S., Nevgi, A., and Tella, S. (2008). Communication style and cultural features in high/low context communication cultures: A case study of Finland, Japan and India. Proceedings of a subject-didactic symposium in Helsinki, 2, p.783-796.
Sharma, S. (2015). Why Indians work: A cultural values perspective. Indian Journal of Industrial Relations, 50(3).
Smith, P. (2014). Understanding India’s culture is key for business. The Telegraph. Retrieved from http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sponsored/business/delivering-business/10878290/cultural-etiquette-india-business.html
