Thomas Friedman let us all know that Chindia would own the next century back in 2004 (see 'The World is Flat'). It seems that every large company is outsourcing to India or China at some point in their value chain.
But have you ever tried to manage a group of employees in India? I've been talking to people about this over the past month, and the reviews aren't positive. A friend in Boston mentioned to me recently that his company shut down their office in Chennai and gave up on the notion of outsourcing directly. Instead, like most ISVs, they're going to use a large provider (Wipro) - despite the cost per resource being nearly 100% higher. Why? In his words: "Managing Indians is impossible. Only Indians can manage Indians."
Over the past week, I've checked in with several business managers - all of whom I know to be actively involved in managing Indian staff. All of them admit to having been occasionally baffled by the culture.
So, consider this an open call to all readers of this blog (especially those in India): what advice do you have for North American business managers about how to best manage Indians, and navigate Indian culture?
To start you off, how about commenting on this rant: it is an an excerpt from an email I received last week:
"If you are in a management or leadership role, you already understand that gossip is and always will be part of corporate life. Indian workers, however, take the gossip vine to an entirely new level. The word ‘confidentiality’ doesn’t exist in Indian culture. People will discuss their salaries openly (usually for bragging purposes), invent stories about their colleagues (did you know Amar and Shilpa are fooling around in the back of the call center?), and claim first hand knowledge of upper management’s top secret intentions. What’s worse: No rumor is too stupid to become reality in the minds of your staff. This is the single biggest difference I’ve found between the gossip vine in Western culture and the gossip vine in Indian culture. A rumor started in India, no matter how silly, will be taken seriously."
True? False? Opinions please.
