point
The Smart Techie was renamed Siliconindia India Edition starting Feb 2012 to continue the nearly two decade track record of excellence of our US edition.

Addressing cross-cultural issues in the workplace

Paresh Shah
Thursday, October 11, 2007
Paresh Shah
The large size of organisations today presents employees with an unparalleled opportunity to take on challenging assignments worldwide, participate in cross-functional teams working across multiple geographies, and grow their careers in various disciplines of their choice.

That same breadth of the organisation presents me with the challenge of successfully navigating cross-cultural issues to ensure that my employees are satisfied and delivering to the best of their ability as we work together to meet aggressive corporate goals.

Unlike the United States, where many believe that any child can grow up to be President, I believe that Indian culture teaches us to respect hierarchies. As a result, individuals sometimes respect coworkers more for their title or position in the company, rather than for their contributions in the workplace.

We should be working as teams and helping our teams – and the individuals within those teams – to feel comfortable and confident enough to challenge the ways in which we do things and be brave enough to recommend new tools and methods we should try. The title or geographical location of the person with whom we are speaking should not discourage the open flow of ideas. “Respect for the Individual” irrespective of the title is one of the core values companies should highlight. Helping employees to understand that diversity of thought and action is a beneficial business tool that is cherished and
supported in the organization should be a primary focus.

One of the ways in which we are addressing this challenge is by focusing on accountability and ownership. My team and I have very clearly defined our employees’ roles and responsibilities, letting them know what they are accountable for, what we expect of them, and what they have to achieve to progress in their careers. For example, if an employee is having difficulty meeting a commitment, he or she needs to know that it is perfectly acceptable and even necessary to reach out and ask for help early on. This is part of our overall performance transformation initiative, a disciplined program to improve individual employee performance through focused business metrics and increased accountability.

Share on Twitter
Share on LinkedIn
Share on facebook