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Working with Indian Counterparts:
Some Common Issues

(Bidhan Chandra, Ph.D.)

Introduction

Many Western companies have put India near the top of the list of strategic locations in their value creation chain. The business case for "Why India?" has been established. Now, for a number of R&D activities, software applications, IT infrastructure support, and IT-enabled business process services, the questions are much more likely to be "How?" and "When?" But firms that are outsourcing to subsidiary operations or to external partners in India soon discover that they must address a number of day-to-day issues in areas such as communication and decision making. Here are five mistaken assumptions that tend to create problems, along with recommended countermeasures.

Assumption #1:

Indians speak English fluently. Therefore, we should not have any communication problems in a virtual team setting.

There is no doubt that, in general, Indian engineers and managers have better command of the English language than similar professionals in many other countries such as China, Japan, Korea, or Russia. However, there are significant differences, for example, between Indian and American English sentence structure, speech patterns, technical as well as non-technical vocabulary, and the ability to articulate well in a global team setting. These differences can pose significant challenges in day-to-day effective e-mail communication and teleconferences.

The other thing to remember is that there is a tendency among many Indian professionals, particularly junior-level engineers, programmers, developers, and support staff to think or compose their response first in their native language and then translate it into English. With the multitude of native languages (India has 16 official languages) being spoken in any Indian IT organization, you are likely to face a range of Indian English in meetings, e-mail communication, and teleconferences.

Recommendations:

• Coach non-Indian team members to expect terms or phrases they might find unusual (for example, "revert back" instead of "respond"; "club together" different requests or items rather than "consolidate"; or the expression "lakh" in place of "one hundred thousand"). Encourage team members of any nationality to respectfully clarify when they are unsure about the intended meaning.
• Avoid humor at the expense of your Indian counterparts, who are justifiably proud of their multilingual abilities. Try instead to praise their language skills while continuing to use expressions that are more standard in your own business context so they have the opportunity to incorporate them if they choose to do so.

The young Indian team we are dealing with seems to be fairly Westernized, so we expect that their workplace behaviors will be just like our own. The Indians we know refer to each other by their first names. Therefore, hierarchy must be minimal in Indian IT organizations.

Based on our training experience with Western and Indian professionals, we find that the so-called westernization phenomenon is like the tip of a multi-sided iceberg. Externally, the Indian group often shows many signs of westernization. Western cultural influences appear to be much in vogue these days in large metropolitan areas. There is no doubt that the Indian IT industry has been influenced by the Western style work environment, and it moves at a much faster pace when compared to manufacturing or other services.

However, one should not forget that India's information technology revolution spans little more than a decade for the majority of participants, and that 5000 years of Indian culture and values cannot be shaken off in such a short period. Although outward behaviors may appear to be westernized, the core or the inner behavioral styles are still very Indian.

There are many other aspects of the age-old Indian hierarchical system that cannot be removed just by being on first-name basis or having easy e-mail access to superiors. For Indians, hierarchy sometimes does not permit asking questions or sharing ideas and information openly in meetings. Therefore, there is a risk that decisions may be made without good information. If junior engineers or managers don't question their superiors or clients at the right time, they may have mistaken assumptions about the real situation that can lead to work delays or difficulties later.

Recommendations:

• Find ways to confirm meeting conclusions after meetings in order to ensure that participants are truly in agreement.
• If your Indian colleagues would consider you to be in a hierarchically superior position, beware of affirmative answers that are meant to indicate an agreeable attitude rather than a commitment to deliver a finished product within a certain timeframe.

Assumption #3:

E-mail is the best form of communication for our global team because we work in different time zones. Also, the vast physical distance between the Indian location and us makes it impossible to have frequent face-to-face meetings. Indian companies have access to the same communication technologies and will use them the same way we do.

Indians who work with Western counterparts are usually comfortable using modern communication technologies, but they do not use them in quite the same way. While most Westerners tend to focus on the task at hand and are quite comfortable with the content or the written/spoken words of the communication piece, Indians tend to look for and provide relevant context in every piece of communication before they attempt to comply with requests made by Western team members. There is no doubt that e-communication is faster and seems to serve rather well during 24/7 development cycles, but Indians in general will still prefer a medium that provides them with the right context before they can act upon the message. Infinite dependence on e-mail as the preferred mode of communication for project management may generate miscommunication and lead to a loss of productivity.

Recommendations:

• Provide background information that might be helpful to distant Indian counterparts in understanding the business context and priority level of a particular request.
• When the non-Indian side of the team is firing off numerous messages in the course of a day, try to coordinate efforts so that Indian colleagues do not have to use an extra day to reconcile contradictions and seek clarification across different time zones.

Assumption #4:

We are the clients. They are the external or internal vendors. Why should we invest in relationship building that requires extra time and effort? In the digital work environment, personal relationships are not critical to completing the task.

Our work with teams of Indian and Western professionals clearly indicates that the lack of a good relationship becomes a demotivating factor for Indian team members in developing trust and easing any conflict or resistance in the project's value chain. Moreover, information within an Indian organization or team is often conveyed more quickly and efficiently along relationship lines rather than through official channels. Therefore, the right focus on building relationships with Indian team members can help create a useful network for timely access to better information, resulting in successful coordination and completion of the project.

Telephone or videoconferences are often scheduled to suit the Western client's time preference. However, many Indians hope and expect that the convenience of both parties will be taken into account; this demonstrates in symbolic terms the commitment to a mutually satisfactory relationship.

• Make a modest investment in exchanges of small talk to build relationships. Ask a few questions about the Indians' work or family life and offer greetings during Indian holiday occasions in a way that demonstrates a personal interest in them.
• Look for ways to provide a personal touch that will build relationships between team members on different sides of the ocean. This could include initiating a team project with introductions by videoconference, or the exchange of team member photos and biographical information.
• Supplement e-mail with periodic conference calls. Alternate the time for the calls in a way that allows team members to "share the pain" of participating at odd hours.

Assumption #5:

A variable cost model is the basic reason why we are outsourcing to India. We can continue referring to Indian development teams as our low cost resource.

Starting from almost nothing in the early 1990s, the Indian IT industry has progressed to include a range of high-value services, achieving a significant level of maturity. Therefore, its managers and engineers are now demanding greater recognition and respect from their internal as well as external Western clients. Constant reference to them as "low-cost resources" or "vendors" may be perceived as demeaning.

Recommendations:

• Communicate a genuine respect for Indian history,  culture and traditions. Ensure that non-Indian team members who work with Indian colleagues have a baseline of knowledge about India and about the people who are working with you in the offshore development model. A similar learning effort may be necessary as well for Indians who are unfamiliar with a particular corporate culture, overseas location, or set of team members.
• Avoid referring to Indian counterparts as a "low-cost offshore resource," and treat them instead as valued "global partners."
• Express appreciation for a job well done, especially when it involves new or more advanced skills. Consider ways to offer projects that provide additional challenges and opportunities to learn. Indian team members are likely to find this motivating both from a professional development standpoint and as a sign of respect for their capabilities.