Prejudices and generalizations: Indians & Eastern Europeans
Very often, I speak to people who tend to generalize certain behavioral characteristics of people in the countries where we have offices. People speak about ‘the Indians’ or ‘the eastern Europeans’. In our business, the cultural differences have a major impact on the customer’s perceptions about the feasibility of outsourcing for their company.
There are many ghost stories going around in the market. Especially India is perceived in a negative way by many people. As India is the major outsourcing destination, it also receives the most publicity. If some offshoring initiatives don’t succeed (and this is reality, nobody in our business will deny it), people tend to think in general terms ‘outsourcing to India never works’ or even ‘outsourcing doesn’t work at all’. And if one hears or reads one story about a negative offshoring initiative, people tend to make conclusions that it can also never work for them.
Very often, I speak to people who tend to generalize certain behavioral characteristics of people in the countries where we have offices. People speak about ‘the Indians’ or ‘the eastern Europeans’. In our business, the cultural differences have a major impact on the customer’s perceptions about the feasibility of outsourcing for their company.
There are many ghost stories going around in the market. Especially India is perceived in a negative way by many people. As India is the major outsourcing destination, it also receives the most publicity. If some offshoring initiatives don’t succeed (and this is reality, nobody in our business will deny it), people tend to think in general terms ‘outsourcing to India never works’ or even ‘outsourcing doesn’t work at all’. And if one hears or reads one story about a negative offshoring initiative, people tend to make conclusions that it can also never work for them.
Very often, I speak to people who tend to generalize certain behavioral characteristics of people in the countries where we have offices. People speak about ‘the Indians’ or ‘the eastern Europeans’. In our business, the cultural differences have a major impact on the customer’s perceptions about the feasibility of outsourcing for their company.
There are many ghost stories going around in the market. Especially India is perceived in a negative way by many people. As India is the major outsourcing destination, it also receives the most publicity. If some offshoring initiatives don’t succeed (and this is reality, nobody in our business will deny it), people tend to think in general terms ‘outsourcing to India never works’ or even ‘outsourcing doesn’t work at all’. And if one hears or reads one story about a negative offshoring initiative, people tend to make conclusions that it can also never work for them.
Very often, I speak to people who tend to generalize certain behavioral characteristics of people in the countries where we have offices. People speak about ‘the Indians’ or ‘the eastern Europeans’. In our business, the cultural differences have a major impact on the customer’s perceptions about the feasibility of outsourcing for their company.
There are many ghost stories going around in the market. Especially India is perceived in a negative way by many people. As India is the major outsourcing destination, it also receives the most publicity. If some offshoring initiatives don’t succeed (and this is reality, nobody in our business will deny it), people tend to think in general terms ‘outsourcing to India never works’ or even ‘outsourcing doesn’t work at all’. And if one hears or reads one story about a negative offshoring initiative, people tend to make conclusions that it can also never work for them.
But if one has not experienced working with a certain country, how can we make conclusions? If one has not worked with one specific company or even with a specific person inside that company, how can one decide it will not work? And if we have one or two bad experiences, does that mean that a ‘country’ or ‘outsourcing’ doesn’t work? Isn’t the risk to have such experience equal when we do business with a local supplier?
I strongly believe that the success is depending on the company and in specific the people that one does business with and not on the country only. In any country, there are people who are highly skilled, talented, productive, effective. And there are people who are not. No matter where the company is based. Culture does have an impact on how people operate and in offshoring there is no denying that these differences have to be bridged in communication, ethics, way of working and many other fields. It is the function of a company to offer world class services and those services can only be provided by attracting talent. If one outsources work to a nearshore or offshore provider, it is important to find a supplier who understands the cultural differences, is able to attract and retain talent and understands how offshoring can work for your company. But in the end of the day, deciding merely on generalizations about a culture or continent, doesn’t seem like sounds business logic.
But if one has not experienced working with a certain country, how can we make conclusions? If one has not worked with one specific company or even with a specific person inside that company, how can one decide it will not work? And if we have one or two bad experiences, does that mean that a ‘country’ or ‘outsourcing’ doesn’t work? Isn’t the risk to have such experience equal when we do business with a local supplier?
I strongly believe that the success is depending on the company and in specific the people that one does business with and not on the country only. In any country, there are people who are highly skilled, talented, productive, effective. And there are people who are not. No matter where the company is based. Culture does have an impact on how people operate and in offshoring there is no denying that these differences have to be bridged in communication, ethics, way of working and many other fields. It is the function of a company to offer world class services and those services can only be provided by attracting talent. If one outsources work to a nearshore or offshore provider, it is important to find a supplier who understands the cultural differences, is able to attract and retain talent and understands how offshoring can work for your company. But in the end of the day, deciding merely on generalizations about a culture or continent, doesn’t seem like sounds business logic.
But if one has not experienced working with a certain country, how can we make conclusions? If one has not worked with one specific company or even with a specific person inside that company, how can one decide it will not work? And if we have one or two bad experiences, does that mean that a ‘country’ or ‘outsourcing’ doesn’t work? Isn’t the risk to have such experience equal when we do business with a local supplier?
I strongly believe that the success is depending on the company and in specific the people that one does business with and not on the country only. In any country, there are people who are highly skilled, talented, productive, effective. And there are people who are not. No matter where the company is based. Culture does have an impact on how people operate and in offshoring there is no denying that these differences have to be bridged in communication, ethics, way of working and many other fields. It is the function of a company to offer world class services and those services can only be provided by attracting talent. If one outsources work to a nearshore or offshore provider, it is important to find a supplier who understands the cultural differences, is able to attract and retain talent and understands how offshoring can work for your company. But in the end of the day, deciding merely on generalizations about a culture or continent, doesn’t seem like sounds business logic.
But if one has not experienced working with a certain country, how can we make conclusions? If one has not worked with one specific company or even with a specific person inside that company, how can one decide it will not work? And if we have one or two bad experiences, does that mean that a ‘country’ or ‘outsourcing’ doesn’t work? Isn’t the risk to have such experience equal when we do business with a local supplier?
I strongly believe that the success is depending on the company and in specific the people that one does business with and not on the country only. In any country, there are people who are highly skilled, talented, productive, effective. And there are people who are not. No matter where the company is based. Culture does have an impact on how people operate and in offshoring there is no denying that these differences have to be bridged in communication, ethics, way of working and many other fields. It is the function of a company to offer world class services and those services can only be provided by attracting talent. If one outsources work to a nearshore or offshore provider, it is important to find a supplier who understands the cultural differences, is able to attract and retain talent and understands how offshoring can work for your company. But in the end of the day, deciding merely on generalizations about a culture or continent, doesn’t seem like sounds business logic.
About Hugo Messer
Hugo Messer is a Dutch entrepreneur, distributed agile team specialist, and author. He is the founder and owner of Bridge Global, a software services provider, and ekipa.co., an agile coaching agency. He has been building and managing teams around the world for the past several years. His passion is to enable people that are spread across cultures, geography and time zones to cooperate. Whether it’s offshoring or nearshoring, he knows what it takes to make global cooperation work.
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Statistics is a good science in the hands of an expert. But for all others it is a good way to propagate a lie. This happens everywhere. Bad stories spread fast. If one is already biased about outsourcing to India then they will be using such stories. But a good decision maker always uses good statistical methods.
most issues in outsourcing (to india) stem from wrong expectations and insufficient attention given to the process. Like information technology 30 years ago it is a major business opportunity, not a magic bullet that solves all problems.
Interesting point, i am totally agreeing with Hugo.
But when there is smoke you can say beyond reasonable doubt there is fire ;)
This is really a good topic. Mainly the cultural differences are the main reasons for all these misunderstandings. High expectations and take it for Granted attitude from the developed countries by delegating the task is enough are the few problems. The unavailability of the people when we try to coordinate or getting help on some topics normally they are not available or do not have time. In this case, the customer does not extend the deadline but want the tasks to finished in the same deadline and expect the highest quality of work.
They have to undestand with the experience and long term association one can learn about the customer expectations and the requirements. This time should be given to any company irrespective of outsourcing or offshore development center to understand what exactly they need and what exactly has to be done.
If the customer is ready to visit the outsourcing company then all the cultural differences and the gap can be reduced easily and a smooth collaboration can be had.
This is my opinion.