Cross cultural observations

I was just reflecting on some of my experiences of working with people of different nationalities. In the past few years during my employment, I got a chance to work with various people from around the world. I must have worked closely with atleast 15 nationalities until now. And this has been a real eye opener to the kind of cross cultural team issues which might face an organization. Even in daily life, its just so exciting to see the reactions of people from different nationalities & cultures on the same issue..... You can be almost sure that in a case team of 6 people with 6 nationalities; you will get radically different reactions on the same issue being handled.

That's when we realise that 'Diversity' is not just a buzzword; you have to experience it to know its power. If you want to be a global organization, you need to have a diverse and global workforce: It's as simple as that!

Just compiling a brief summary of what I observed. Some of these observations are positive & some are negative. May be I am quite wrong in judging those people while saying some negative things about them. It is also true that what I observed may be a peculiar characteristic of that particular person and cant be applied to the whole culture of the nation. So this is not about generalization, it's just an observation....

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  Germans: Very friendly people. They are analytic, extremely organized & structured (in thinking, behavior & working style). Will be eager to start the conversation. They are quite straight-forward without showing unnecessary diplomacy. Overall nice human beings.
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  Italians: Very easy going and nice people. They can crack jokes in situations when you don't expect to even think of one. Italians are famous for their calm & relaxed attitude and I won't disagree with that either. Another peculiar thing I found is that these people feel they belong more to their respective city than to their country. "Italy" is a concept which probably isn't as important for them compared to Rome or Venice or Tuscany and so on. May be just my personal observation.


• British: Mentally tough people and generally they still love India. A typical British (as the French will tell you) "eats his chicken with sugar...". No comment there- I am a vegetarian....haha...


• Chinese: Believe it or not, the Hindi-chini bhai bhai stuff really seems true. We do feel a kind of synergy with chinese people though there is no similarity at all. May be being 'Asian' seems to unite the feelings.
• French: How can I not talk about my hosts... French people(& Europeans in general) are pretty much relaxed about life. They are a lot subtle when it comes to attitudes. I am trying to limit this blog-post only to cultural and behavioural aspects and hence wont divert into other things. A separate blog-post on France in general is due short anyway.
  
• Georgians: They are quite ambitious and practical in their approach. 

• Irish: I had previously heard lots of jokes about good-old Irish people, but I found them really friendly. Careful listeners and good thinkers. Nice to have in any team.

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  Americans: Easy going people. Though an average American doesnt know that there exists a world outside the states but the ones I came across here were a lot better.



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  Azerbaijani: This is a small country in Middle east Asia border and I just came across one person from there. Friendly and analytical.

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  Swiss: As this community consists mostly of Germans & French, so they carry the same European characteristics.




• Mexicans: They not only look like Indians, but also quite similar in characteristics. Long live BRICM ...! And most importantly, their 'tortillas' are a life saver for roti-craving Indian tastebuds :-)

• Brazilian: Lazy is the most apt word I can think of about the brief interaction I had with a Brazilian. Cant tell much.

• Romanians: You can listen in peace when Romanians do all the talking..... Offcourse this couldnt be true for all Romanians but my experience is that they are compulsive talkers. And dont bother to ask any Romanian about which undergraduate school do they come from. Because you are sure to get the same answer :- "Academia de Studii Economice Bucureşti" It sounds very strange, but probably whole of Romania completes their high-school and bachelors studies in this one university....




• Japanese: Peaceful, hardworking, sincere, friendly. But I have come across only one and she too is not a pure Japanese but a French-Japanese. So Cant tell much.

• Dutch : Easy going and so much like Germans. I found them friendly and well organized. Also they are brimming with new and innovative ideas.

• Scandinavians (Swedish & Finnish):- I don't know why, but the scandinavian people ooze entrepreneurship (or may be I came across only those scandinavians who were entrepreneurs). Cool customers overall, but a bit selfish sometimes.

• Indians: I am not saying this just because I am an Indian, but believe me, we are one of the best species around. (and this is others opinion, not mine. And it is a general opinion about Indians and does not apply to anyone in particular). Highly Intelligent, excellent listeners, good team players & numerate, we are like the dream people to have in any team. But I really wonder why this attitude mostly comes through only when we are outside our country ? What happens to our attitudes when we are in our country? Why we try to run a rat race there?

(Later addition:- Although the above opinion about Indians is true in a better setting, but when you come across a local guy on a street in a western country, he/she still has in mind many stereotypes about India.....for ex:- many such people still associate India ONLY with Taj Mahal, Bollywood, spirituality, spicy food, elephants, cows, BPO's or more recently, a 'Slumdog Millionnaire' ... Do these things really do justice to representing one sixth of the world's population?

While the answer to that question is a vehement 'no', unfortunately, Indians have to deal with such stereotypes of India, be it in their professional lives or social settings, while interacting with atleast a section of 'westerners' if not more......You have to be always ready with a voice-tape recorded on your tongue to tell them that one cannot really 'know' an Indian by the above stereotypes or by watching bollywood movies.....!

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