Click here to read an interesting story in the People’s Daily that stems from the time zone difference between China and South Africa, where the World Cup is being held this year. The games are so important to many workers in China, they spend all evening watching the game, and have been experiencing extreme fatigue at the office in days following major matches.

What do you think of their strong desire to watch the games?

As we all know, India is generating computer scientists and engineers in huge numbers. Without question, India is already a technology powerhouse. Just look around the city and you’ll see that any player of consequence has facilities here or nearby. Many of these companies spend time on training and cultural integration because India’s education system, while turning out terrific engineers and computer programmers, stills leaves them with a cultural gap that presents a challenge to Western managers. And, nowhere is this more pronounced than in the way hierarchy manifests itself in the workplace.

This isn’t surprising because Indians are raised to have profound respect for parents, teachers and authority in general. When we teach culture, we often talk about the impact of religion and cultural heroes on cultural values of a country. There’s an illuminating Hindu tale about two brothers—Lord Ganesha and Lord Subramanya (Kartikya) who went to Lord Shiva to settle a dispute. The elder, wise lord gave them each a vessel filled with oil and asked them to travel around the universe without spilling a drop and that would settle the argument. Kartikya set about on his journey around the world and proudly returned showing how he had, indeed, not spilled a drop of oil. His brother, Ganesha, took the vessel and carefully walked around his parents and said, “My parents are the entire universe.”

This devout honoring of parents transfers to teachers, leaders and the overall hierarchical structure of business. Of course, the Indian business leaders we work with realize that egalitarianism and being able to question business leaders is an important part of the business scene, and in general, they master the ability to function in an egalitarian environment. However, the deeply seated cultural values imbued in childhood are still present.

We saw this in an interesting way. While in Bangalore, we met with several clients. One of them described different brainstorming sessions, telling us an Indian leader will come to a brainstorming meeting with PowerPoint slides and charts because the leader is expected to have an underlying wisdom and expertise, so it would be inappropriate for him to walk in and “shoot from the hip.” While he will ask his subordinates for their ideas, he comes prepared with well thought-out concepts himself.

Charlene

“This is India,” our guide said to us, and indeed it is as different from New Delhi as I could imagine. The streets are wide; there are actually traffic signals and signs that say “Obey Traffic Rules” (which, of course, is relative). It is evident from the cars and billboards advertising international shops that this is a wealthy city.

The Silicon Valley of India is laced with trees—Jacarandas, Acacias, Ficus—colonial-vintage buildings, and broad parkways feeding into congested roads where traffic snakes by. Entire clusters of glass high rise buildings form mini software cities, representing every major developer I’ve heard of and dozens that I’ve not. Driving through those areas, you feel you’re in familiar surroundings with coffee shops, global brands and men in crisply ironed shirts on motor bikes heading to work.

This is the India we hear about.

Charlene

Perfection is this Wonder of the World. It is take-your-breath-away awe-inspiring. This monument to eternal love (actually a mausoleum built by Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan who was inconsolable when his beloved wife Mumtaz Mahal died) took over 20 years to build and employed over 20,000 builders and craftsmen.

Begun in 1631, the architecture is the most magnificent symmetry I’ve seen. It’s lyrical and mesmerizing, and as you get closer to the monument you realize why 20,000 workers took decades to carve the 28 types of precious and semi-precious stones into tiny flowers and mosaics. The marble is translucent and sensuous, changing color depending upon the lighting. Passages from the Koran decorate the outside. It’s pure perfection.

Charlene

From Delhi to Agra

Almost 6 hours to drive 120 miles! It defies words to describe the scene because so much of the experience comes from being immersed in it for hours.

People, people, people. A continuing, seemingly never-ending stream of humanity and the only comparison I have is the movies of refugees trudging across a border. But these are not refugees. They’re workers in their vibrant colored shirts, women in their saris of brilliant magenta, turquoise, iridescent yellow. The colors jump out at you against the ground, which is a persistent canvas of brown. These are people going to work, constantly on the move.

Animals begin to appear. First, an occasional dog and cow and then small groups of cows begin to intermingle with the people on the sides of the road. Lean-tos and blue plastic tents pepper the sides of the road, three-sided shelters that serve as stores and sleeping facilities appear. It’s interesting at first—even though I tried to mentally prepare myself with reading and movies—but the interest soon becomes the overwhelming understanding that I could pass millions of people if I stayed on this road long enough. The endlessness of the parade of hardships becomes oppressive.

And, yet, as evidence of the growth of India, of its burgeoning importance in the world, of its enormous educated numbers, there are also rows and rows of heavy equipment—tractors and lorries for construction. Even more promising and imposing are huge white buildings representing educational institutions, scientific research facilities and medical centers.

It’s as if two eras are co-existing in this geographic space.

Charlene

It’s 8:30am on Saturday, rush hour on the road from New Delhi to Agra. I’m in Faridabad right now, in traffic that can’t quite be called chaos because people have an intention and they are trying to get to work, but frenzied, and you sense there are no rules.

People have warned me about the traffic and the roads in India, especially this one, but I’m from Los Angeles, so how surprised could I be, right?

We just passed an open bed truck with at least a dozen day laborers—men and women—sitting in the sun. Hundreds, thousands of bicycles and mopeds weave through the lanes with overflowing buses, tuktuks (three wheeled miniature taxis), oxen with carts, Toyota’s and huge lorries (trucks). The road is paved, but lanes are non-existent. It is a bizarre notion that this clogged artery really delivers people and goods to their destinations.

It becomes wild, like the most fantastic gridlock nightmare an American urbanite can imagine. We were on a divided two-lane highway when suddenly we came to complete standstill. There was an army convoy on the opposite side of the road that had stopped the traffic flow. Why did it make our side cease to move? Bus and truck drivers decided our side—heading in the opposite direction—would actually move faster. So, they crossed over to our side of the road and took one lane—head-on. They created a lane going in the opposite direction! Motor scooters, bikes, tuktuks (we counted 12 people inside and one person on top) joined the trucks and buses in the parade. Going fast, too.

What did traffic on our side of the road do? No problem. We created an additional lane where people were walking, animals were moving, cars were parked! No one seemed the least surprised this was happening. The amazing thing is that the road wasn’t strewn with bodies. And in spite of it all, and all the horn-honking, I didn’t sense any road rage.

Charlene

There is a legend (that I will check out) that there are seven cities of Delhi—having changed throughout history by different rulers and different groups. New Delhi is also a city under construction (or reconstruction). It is teeming with activity; construction everywhere, in an effort to get ready for the Commonwealth games in October. There are laborers here from all over India to help with the building. Unfortunately, you can see them living in tents alongside the construction sites. They move from job to job as one site finishes and the next commences.

Amid the dust of construction and heat, beautiful parks, large historical buildings and tree-lined streets abound.

Charlene

I’m off to India—the largest democracy in the world, the birthplace of Buddhism and Hinduism, and home to almost 1.2 billion people. Enigmatic to Westerners and yet a culture that we feel we know a bit. We also take for granted that high tech programmers are very likely to be from India and many of the call-center operators we interact with everyday will have an Indian accent.

It has offered the world the heights of spirituality and the brilliance of Gandhi alongside unimaginable poverty.

I’m off…and it’s sure to be life changing.

Charlene

RW3 CultureWizard

In a recent feature in the New York Times on the top paid Chief Executive Officers, a mere 6 out of 200 were women. I’ve listed their names and companies below:

+ Andrea Jung, Avon Products
+ Ellen J. Kullman, DuPont
+ Brenda C. Barnes, Sara Lee
+ Indra K. Nooyi, PepsiCo
+ Patricia A. Woertz, Archer Daniels Midland
+ Susan M. Ivey, Reynolds American

In the US, an egalitarian society, this statistic is a sign of the stronghold cultural norms have on positions of leadership. Furthermore, the vast majority of men in the list of C.E.O.’s are Caucasian with anglophone surnames. What is the underlying cultural message this report sends? Let us know what you think.

Charlene

RW3 CultureWizard

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

RW3 CultureWizard Launches State-of-the-Art Online Cultural Learning Platform

Responding to demand by multinational organizations for global business skills development, RW³ CultureWizard, the pioneer in online cultural learning, has created a cultural e-University

NEW YORK, New York—March 15, 2010—For the first time, businesspeople can establish a personalized online learning curriculum that responds to their individual business needs and challenges. CultureWizard 3.0 allows users to customize the learning track for their specific global business needs, learn and practice skills at their own pace and in their preferred learning style.

“Today’s adult learners expect information to be available to them as they need it and when they want it,” explains Michael Schell, RW3 CEO and President. “They look for information to be tactically applicable to real-life business situations. In a contemporary organization, everyone’s work requires sensitivity towards and awareness of culture and diversity. Everyone also needs skills that will enable them to transcend intercultural challenges and achieve their business objectives.”

Cultural dexterity is not intuitive, but it is learnable. CultureWizard 3.0 is an affordable, accessible platform through which everyone can become culturally competent. It contains a variety of training tools and informational components, all designed to provide users with the answers they need to be most productive and effective in their global companies. Users can frequently reference CultureWizard as their business need arises.

Amongst the most popular learning courses are a complete cultural training course, a self-assessment and culture calculator, a global teams tool, a virtual teams course, an assessment tool for international assignees, a global leadership course and culturally-based information on 135 countries.

Contact: Charlene Solomon
Charlene.Solomon@rw-3.com
+1 (212) 691-8900

About RW³ CultureWizard
RW3 spearheaded the cultural e-learning field in 2001 with ReloWizard, an online relocation facility, and reinvented the intercultural training model with CultureWizard. Today, RW3 continues to lead the industry in innovation with CultureWizard 3.0, a powerful resource that cuts the cost of traditional, in person training by supplanting it with a cadre of web-based tools, virtual classrooms and other cultural resources.

NOTE TO EDITORS: For additional information visit RW³’s website

As 2009 comes to a close, perhaps the most important global event of the year is taking place now in Copenhagen at the climate summit. As we want to bring you a variety of viewpoints through the CultureWizard Digest, the following is a gathering of several different perspectives on the summit from around the world.

Guardian & Mail, South Africa: ‘Climate code red’ at UN talks, warns Nigeria

The Australian: Australia offers climate olive branch

Telegraph, UK: Copenhagen climate summit: Ed Miliband admits failings

Al Jazeera, Qatar: On board the climate express

The Globe and Mail, Canada: African countries stage three-hour boycott in Copenhagen

People’s Daily, China: Copenhagen, developing nations are unhappy

Chinaview: China says rich countries responsible for slow Copenhagen talks progress

What are your thoughts on the various perspectives these newspapers bring to the discussion surrounding this summit? Leave us a comment, we’re interested in hearing your thoughts.

Charlene

RW-3.com

An Indonesian blogger who works in the IT industry posted some very lucid thoughts on what it means to work on a multicultural team, how this impacts companies who use offshore vendors and how cultural awareness will lead to productivity gains.

“When companies outsource human resources, one of the criteria it looks for is a cultural fit. Often candidates who are capable of topmost positions are often eliminated on the ground of cultural mismatch as they are unable to justify themselves to be adaptable to a different set of cultural attributes.” In other words, technically qualified individuals have not been successful when they lack cultural awareness.

The blogger recommends the following:

“Acclimatize to the different…culture” and “accept the opinion of others gladly. This does not mean that you should hamper your work. You should be able to influence the other person too towards one’s own opinion. You need to understand the language, working style, religion and many more things need to be understood and taken up in order to get the work done.”

Learning culture is not a simple process, but one that takes effort and much observation. “Gain insight into the other culture: This requires an ample of hard work and this will also take time…to gain knowledge of the living and working style.”

How do you feel about the importance of culture in the workplace?

Click here to read the blog post.

Charlene

RW-3.com

In China last week, President Obama used a combination of diplomatic finesse and technological know-how to invite a question from an online viewer via Twitter regarding China’s “great firewall,” or its strict internet censorship policies (click here to read about it in the New York Times). His indirect communication style helped him to convey the message in a subtle way, which appeased his young audience without offending China’s leaders. “Face” is one of the most important cultural concepts in Asia, and President Obama successfully avoided damaging his Chinese counterpart’s “face” while addressing an important, sensitive topic.

Read an opinion piece in the South China Morning Post that highlights Obama’s non-confrontational and culturally sensitive approach to Asia.

Click here to watch CCTV’s (China Central Television) coverage of President Obama’s arrival to the Chinese capital and initial meeting with President Hu Jintao. We found it interesting that the broadcaster in this clip emphasized how he shortened his stay in Japan and South Korea, but did not change his schedule in China. What kind of culturally-rooted communication style is this broadcaster using, and what is he implying? What other thoughts do you have about the tour in Asia?

Since cultural understanding is crucial to international relations, we are offering our next Pocket Guide in the series, which is on China. If you’d like to receive this, please click here.

Charlene

RW-3.com

In this month’s MOBILITY magazine, Donna Marsh offers her perspective on UK and US health care systems. As a dual British and American citizen, she writes on where the two cultures diverge. Here are some interesting thoughts:

“Americans are taught from an early age to take care of themselves…Many Americans view health insurance — supplied by many but not all employers to their employees and their families — as something they individually earn.”

“In the United Kingdom, the National Health Service is free at the point of need to all British residents, including foreign nationals…It undoubtedly is considered a human right by the British public, expected to be provided for all by the government.”

US culture is, on the average, very individualistic. In terms of health care, Britons look to the nation for support. This group-orientation has been, of course, impacted by history and is reinforced through personal experience.

“It is not unusual for many Americans to look at many resources as being available in abundance, including health care. The British, with the days of post-WWII rationing still in living memory among its older population, are more pragmatic, recognizing that resources are limited and must be managed to maximize provision to all who need them.”

Again, history has a direct impact on a country’s culture. How much do you agree with Marsh? How have you experienced differences between US and UK culture? Click here to jump to the article.

Click here to read an earlier post I made on culture and health care.

Charlene

RW-3.com

A compendium of current news and headlines with commentary providing unique cultural insight into global affairs, business and daily life around the world.

Check out the latest CultureWizard Digest here!

* The “Micromanagement” Debate
* Indian Outsourcing Vendors Expand
* More Lessons for Wal-Mart
* President Obama teaches English to Japanese

CultureLinks
+ Comical Commercial on Cross-Cultural Blunder
+ “What Starbucks says about America”
+ Predisposed for an International Career

CultureTips
+ Malaysia
+ Canada

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