Comparing
cultures
Indian corporations normally adopt western products, technology, knowledge, strategies etc. But they don't adopt the similar working style and internal culture. What could be the reason? The world is moving towards a new internal brand culture that is more open, dynamic and creative. But there are some very common behavioural aspects of Indian employees and employers, which may pose challenge for such modern type of culture to be adopted in India.
Many new start-ups in urban India are definitely carrying the baton of this transformation but still a majority of Indian companies still follow the age-old models. Here are some of the common characteristics that differentiate Indian work culture form the rest of the world.
Respect = loyalty
It may be reflected from joint family system and the family business mentality. The work culture is based on personal relationships. In more than 90% of the companies in India, bosses are still called Sir or Mr. Surname. The first name culture is still very rare. Bosses expect respect out of the employees and employees also want to respect their bosses. Age, designation and hierarchy play a very important role. Employers and employees both love it and they are very comfortable in it.
Hesitation to express ideas
Employees normally hesitate to put forward new ideas, it is sometimes perceived as an insult to the bosses. Also presenting an opinion in the meeting in front of the seniors is avoided many times. Boss is always right you cannot disagree with him. It’s a challenge for us to make the employees more expressive and bosses more receptive.
Status and authority is paramount
Job title is more important than job profile. Employees prefer job title than other things in their job. They know all the remuneration, benefits, perks, responsibility, and respect is associated with the job title. It doesn’t matter what work you do, your title should be bigger and better. Because of high competition the social status is directly linked to the professional job title. It’s a challenge to motivate and make people understand that project comes before title.
Unity in diversity
India is 25 different countries, in a conglomerate there are various people coming together to work. You can often find similar regional teams and also rivalry among them. We will also find the age-old caste system playing its part as we go at bottom of the pyramid. It’s a tough challenge to equate them in the new culture together.
Reactive, but not proactive
Although it’s changing rapidly but people in India strive for satisfaction or fulfilment, they don’t strive for happiness. So they are less proactive, they love responsibilities and they are happy to complete them, they don’t want to think and act beyond what they have been assigned. They don’t want to innovate on the job, they know that their proactive-ness will not reap any rewards, so they are not motivated to be proactive. They are happy in their comfort zones. It’s challenging to get them out of their comfort zones. The risk taking ability is low so the attrition rate is also very low. They feel secured with the company they are working for.
There are positive and negative traits both, But how does this affect the internal brand culture of the organisation is the most crucial question.
Many new start-ups in urban India are definitely carrying the baton of this transformation but still a majority of Indian companies still follow the age-old models. Here are some of the common characteristics that differentiate Indian work culture form the rest of the world.
Respect = loyalty
It may be reflected from joint family system and the family business mentality. The work culture is based on personal relationships. In more than 90% of the companies in India, bosses are still called Sir or Mr. Surname. The first name culture is still very rare. Bosses expect respect out of the employees and employees also want to respect their bosses. Age, designation and hierarchy play a very important role. Employers and employees both love it and they are very comfortable in it.
Hesitation to express ideas
Employees normally hesitate to put forward new ideas, it is sometimes perceived as an insult to the bosses. Also presenting an opinion in the meeting in front of the seniors is avoided many times. Boss is always right you cannot disagree with him. It’s a challenge for us to make the employees more expressive and bosses more receptive.
Status and authority is paramount
Job title is more important than job profile. Employees prefer job title than other things in their job. They know all the remuneration, benefits, perks, responsibility, and respect is associated with the job title. It doesn’t matter what work you do, your title should be bigger and better. Because of high competition the social status is directly linked to the professional job title. It’s a challenge to motivate and make people understand that project comes before title.
Unity in diversity
India is 25 different countries, in a conglomerate there are various people coming together to work. You can often find similar regional teams and also rivalry among them. We will also find the age-old caste system playing its part as we go at bottom of the pyramid. It’s a tough challenge to equate them in the new culture together.
Reactive, but not proactive
Although it’s changing rapidly but people in India strive for satisfaction or fulfilment, they don’t strive for happiness. So they are less proactive, they love responsibilities and they are happy to complete them, they don’t want to think and act beyond what they have been assigned. They don’t want to innovate on the job, they know that their proactive-ness will not reap any rewards, so they are not motivated to be proactive. They are happy in their comfort zones. It’s challenging to get them out of their comfort zones. The risk taking ability is low so the attrition rate is also very low. They feel secured with the company they are working for.
There are positive and negative traits both, But how does this affect the internal brand culture of the organisation is the most crucial question.
