Sunday, September 13, 2015

Oh yeah, alright, Are you going to be in my dreams tonight?

These lyrics seem to be fitting for our final blontry about India. First, they are the opening stanza of a song by the Beatles entitled “The End”; likewise, this finalizes the end of our India adventure. Second, this was the last known song recorded by all four of the Beatles, the end of an era; likewise, these seems like the end of an era for us. Third, I have already had “India Dreams” and expect there will be more before I am through. Finally, I have entitled every blontry with the lyrics of a song and I couldn’t find any that I thought were a better fit, so there you have it.

We have been back in the US five days now. The time has flown by. I really haven’t had much time to synthesize our time in India, I have been too occupied with the details of the transition. I do some of my best thinking while talking or writing, so perhaps this blontry will be the synthesis.

I don’t think there were any overarching themes that unify our time in India. I guess I’ll approach it from both professional and personal standpoints.

Professionally, our time in India was a great challenge and a great experience. Some of the readers of this blog will know that one of the focuses of my doctoral program was culture indigenous and organizational. My dissertation focused on high performing teams in three countries, including India. Additionally, I had been traveling and working in India since 2002. I was not prepared for the challenges I faced as a “gora” managing an Indian organization. 

First there was language. English is one of the official languages of India; all educated Indians speak and understand it; I don’t believe I was in one meeting where the entire discussion occurred in English. From my observation, for most educated Indians, normal verbal communication is combination of English, Hindi (and/or the language of their home state) and a mélange of English/Hindi/other Indian language. Sometimes they use English words in Hindi sentences; sometimes the other way around; sometimes they’ll speak for a few minutes in English, switch to Hindi, then back as it seems appropriate to the context. I learned to understand a little by the end of our time in India, but I am sure I missed a lot of content, and more particularly subtext, because of my lack of fluency. I learned some Hindi, but I was quite disappointed in myself about how little.

It is dangerous to speak of a country’s culture, particularly in one as vast and with as many separate ethnic groups as India, but there were aspects to the typical manifestations of Indian culture that were challenging for me. First, India is considered a high power distance culture. This means there is a greater acceptance of overt differences in power and privileges than we typically are comfortable with in the United States. I found it challenging to see the vast differences in wealth, power and influence. Leaders are shown deference (use of honorifics, standing when one enters, carrying one’s briefcase, etc.) than I was use to or that ever became totally comfortable for me. There is often an expectation that a manager will give guidance to all aspects of a person’s life, not just related to work. There also seemed to be too much work done to make the boss happy rather than because it was the right thing to do.

The observance of time and timeliness was another area that was challenging for me. Indians, prize punctuality but honor it more in the breach than in practice. If a meeting was scheduled to start at 10:00, that is when people would start wrapping up whatever they were doing and head to the meeting. So, it was not unusual to be 15 minutes into a meeting before even the majority of participants would actually arrive. Another difference is we in the US tend to view time sequentially and despite our desire to multi-task we tend to keep events separate. If we are in a meeting, we would not take a phone call unless it was urgent. We would not interrupt a meeting, again, unless it was a critical, time sensitive matter. In India, taking a phone call during a meeting; even during a critical part of a meeting is not unusual. Neither is it unusual for someone to walk into a meeting or appointment to get some work or another completed. I think it drove people crazy that I would not answer my phone during a meeting or appointment. I know it bothered me when they had no hesitancy in doing so.

Another aspect of culture that is quite different between India and the United States is the degree to which fate is believed to determine outcome. Most everyone knows of the caste system, which although now illegal, still has a tremendous impact on one’s role and standing in society. Ideally, one was supposed to fulfill the expectations that came with one’s caste without criticism and without complaining. This was the way to have a more favorable life in the next reincarnation. For me, this led to too high a degree of complacency with the norm and an unwillingness to try and make changes. A token effort would be made, but if it didn’t work, “oh well, it was not meant to be.”

There are aspects of Indian culture that I found more comfortable for me than the typical US culture. First, because India is more of a collectivist than an individualist culture, there was more concern for others, at least for one’s in group and extended family. I was very comfortable with that – more so than I am with the “rugged individualist” that typifies US culture. I am sure that is while I grew up in the US, I also grew up as a member of collectivist church where concern for the whole is also as important, and for some more important, than the concerns of the individual. I loved and admired the traditional concern for and support of family.

Another aspect of Indian culture that I valued was its openness to spirituality and discussion of all things spiritual. I was particularly surprised by how often spiritual discussions came up at work. At first I was hesitant to know how much to say. I have been fairly well socialized to avoid saying anything that would lead others to believe I was trying to convert them. What I found was overall an acceptance of a spiritual aspect to work and a willingness to discuss their beliefs and the beliefs of others in an open and non-judgmental way. I was able to be more open with and honest about my spirituality and its importance to me than in any work situation I have found myself in the US.

There are hundreds more observations I could make about working in India. I found it very challenging at times. I was asked to create a US organization within India. While it is possible to create an organizational culture that is different from the national culture within which that organization exists. I think it takes longer than 2 ½ years and the efforts of one person to do that successfully. Perhaps we made some changes that will last and make the organization more effective in the long term.

As I thought about what to write about my how India affected me personally, it occurred to me most of this blog over the last two and half years addresses that already. I am also sure that many of the same issues and challenges I have discussed relative to my professional life also impacted my personal life. I think the thing that I enjoyed the most were the people. We made some tremendous friends during our time in India, I will always cherish those relationships and the memories of our time together. There are things I didn’t care for: traffic, dirt, pollution, poverty, and so forth. Rather than dwell on that, I would like to wrap up with the positives.

I love the food, music, clothing, art, architecture, and history of India. I found truths in the holy and cultural writings and teaching that spoke to me and resonated with other truth I have discovered. I love the natural beauty of much of the country and wish I had been able to spend more time up North in the mountains and in the South and on the coast where it was naturally more lush and green. As noted above, I was challenged by the language and wish I had made a concentrated effort to learn Hindi better than I did. What I did learn, both verbal and written fascinated me.

I will probably never live in India again, but I am glad we did for these two and half years. Visiting again is a definite possibility.


Namaste

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