INDIA vs. UK - CULTURAL DIFFERENCES

INDIA vs. UK

CULTURAL DIFFERENCES

Doing favors:

Indian organizational culture means that within an organization needs to do something he / she have the tendency to turn to friends in the hierarchy in order to obtain a favor to do their task. It also can be true when it comes to training and development especially in areas such as promotion where a senior officer might prefer some one due to their relationship. But however this does not happen in an UK organizational culture. In UK everything has a set procedure to follow and done formally and in instances like promotion legislation makes it difficult for favoritism.

Traditional values and beliefs:

Indian cultural value and beliefs is a complete contrast to that of the UK; this gives rise to problems in the management. In India people are reluctant towards changes and still have strong beliefs in things such as auspicious time etc. So it is vital to understand their beliefs and its importance so that ay any point the workers are not offended. Whereas in UK workers are more open to changes a well as the level at beliefs in things such as auspicious time is little people are more adoptable in some ways in UK.

Time keeping:

The time keeping factors is another one that is different from UK to India.

In India it is normal to be slightly late to work and no formal excuse is required, same goes for breaks as well. This is understood through out the industries as especially parents before going to work have to drop children to schools as well as go home during lunch breaks to do house work.

But it is the exact opposite in UK, employees are expected to turn up to meetings and work few minutes early as well and an apology is expected when late. It is also considered rude to be late to meetings.

Eating habits:

In India people tend to have a late breakfast, this mean most organizations have to allocate a breakfast break at 10 a.m.; the lunch is taken around 2 p.m. again people go home and eat home made meal as well as relax after the meal. This mean organization have to have longer working hours to make up. But in UK people have early breakfast hence early lunch. In UK fast food is preferred for lunch compared to home made food; meaning the need for bigger breaks is less.

Formality:

In India culture it is a norm to address a senior officer or an elderly person by sir or madam, addressing any one buy names will be considered rude and aggressive. But in the UK it is the opposite people are preferred to be address by their first name.

In India if an elderly or senior person arrives into a room every one must stand up to respect him and elderly people have a strong say in the society.

HOFSTEDE CULTURAL DIMENSIONS

Degree of individualism (IDV)

Individualism basically measures the degree of human “interdependence” in societies. With this I mean whether relationship between individuals is loose, they like to work individually or they are happier with collective/group success.

There is a significant difference in degree of individualism between India and UK according to Hofstedes model. India’s score for degree of individualism is 48 ...

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In India if an elderly or senior person arrives into a room every one must stand up to respect him and elderly people have a strong say in the society.

HOFSTEDE CULTURAL DIMENSIONS

Degree of individualism (IDV)

There is a significant difference in degree of individualism between India and UK according to Hofstedes model. India’s score for degree of individualism is 48 while UK’s is 90. In UK degree of individualism is high, people believe strongly in individual achievements and individual rights are paramount. Indians however cherish group success; they trust each other with responsibilities and depend on each other.

The company provides training and development for the individual employee, this does work in UK but it is difficult to give results in India. In India the company should group training and development since this is the way employee will carry out their jobs. This also means that in India there one employee will help another in his success more than in UK. This could be used in to finding mentors for the junior employees from their seniors, which could in tern lead to an even more committed work force.

Power Distance (PDI)

Power distance measures the degree of equality in societies. In India the level of power distance is very high 77, which has allowed inequalities of power and wealth to grow within the organization. Relations between the superiors and subordinations is low, Indian culture supports hierarchical structure and autocratic superiors. High level of power distance in India is also evident from the cast system in place there, which does not allow significant upward mobility of its citizens specially that of lower cast. In UK where ranking of power distance is much lower 35, equality and opportunity for every one is enforced. Here superiors and subordinates have higher levels of communications and the power structures tend to be flatter.

This could give rise to tow major problems in terms of the development programme.

If an individual is considered out cast he might be too reluctant to develop his carrier within the organisation believing that his chances are remote. So as a UK Company it is vital that immediately this believe is quashed and make every one understand that they all are equal and will be treated fairly. When designing a training programme they should structure it in such a way that it requires every one to take part.

Another problem this would give rise to in India would be the lack of communication. There will be a level of fear towards seniors and hence ever one might not participate in decisions even thought they might have some great ideas that will help the business. So it is vital that the training programme is designed in a manner that it will help reduce the fear and encourage communication and hence participation.

Uncertainty Avoidance (UAI)

It measures the level of tolerance for uncertainty and ambiguity within the society. The score for uncertainty avoidance is more or less the same in the U.K 40 and India 35. In the past organizations in both in India and UK have been very traditional i.e Marks & Spencer. Changes in market however i.e increased competition has however forced the organizations to be more dynamics and thus people in both countries have begun to adapt changes. Uncertainty avoidance has decreased is not very high in both countries This means that people have less concern about ambiguity and uncertainty and have more tolerance for a variety of opinions. People accept changes and take risks for example with restructuring of the organization.

This is good for the organisation as with the fast changing market of India they will have to make changes to remain competitive. Since the level of uncertainty avoidance is more or less same in India and UK they will have to make little changes in terms of this aspect.

Long Term Orientation (LTO)

It measures the degree the society embraces, or does not embrace, long-term devotion to traditional, forward thinking value. There is a wide variation between U.K and India when it comes to long-term orientation, India 61 and U.K 25. In India people have long-term commitments and accept rewards in the long term. Employees tend to work for an organisation for a long time or lifelong. In U.K however people tend to change their work with ease and do not have long-term commitments to their organization. This could be due to the fact that here employees have many opportunities and expect early rewards.

So it is vital in India that a training programme gives the employee the necessary skills they need to progress within the organisation as well as have regular training and development opportunities available to its employees whereas in UK the need is more for the skills to do the immediate job and if only some one wants to take up a higher position or more responsibility the organisation will provide the extra training. In India the extra training provided could turn out to be a vital assert in long term.

Masculinity (MAS)

Focuses on the degree the society reinforces, or does not reinforce, the traditional masculine work role model for male achievement, control, and power.

The UK has a high masculinity meaning men are expected to be assertive, ambitious and focused on material success while women are expected to be modest, tender and focused on relationship and the quality of life. India has a law masculinity meaning the same values that apply to women apply to men as well.

For an example if a UK organization in UK wants to down size its work force it can do so without much consultants with employees. However in India this will be considered as hard approach towards HRM. Hear the employees are expected to be consulted and retrained. The Indian culture is such that managers have the tendency to protect their workforce from down sizing etc.

So a training and development program in UK for men might have based around motivating male staff towards material successes and women towards better quality of life. The same training program in India should be re-structured to emphasis the increase in quality of life such a training program could bring to the individual. Also the organization setting up training program must take into consideration the possible need for retraining as well as multi skilling.

WORKING TIME DIRECTIVE

Working time directive is set by EU primarily restrict the number of hours worked by an individual to limit the maximum hours worked per week. However it has other aspects to it as well, which are explained later in the report.

In the case of UK it has a special opt out clause on this directive meaning employees have the right to sign up for an opt out clause which will enable them to work more than the maximum hours allowed by the directive.

It has some significant advantages especially to the employees. Some of them are,

It is the only way to ensure that the employees did not work excessively long-hours
It was more difficult for employees to discriminate against people with family commitment
It makes people realize that working long-hours is bad for your health

However it is argued to have some negatives as well

Employees are less likely to get paid for any over time
Feeling that people are being bullied into signing their rights away
Regulations are an unnecessary burden on business

ASPECTS OF WORKING TIME DIRECTIVE

Maximum weekly working time, Limits the maximum working hours for each seven day period to 48 hours including over time.

An organization from India moving into UK or any other EU country must be aware of this directive to make sure they are not breaking a law or regulation. So for an Indian company that is moving in to EU must have to restructure their staffing. In India there are no directives or legislation that limit the working hours. Hence when moving to EU countries they will have increase flexibility amongst staff as well as consider part time staffing and temporary staffing in order to make sure that their existing staff is not forced to work more than what it allowed.

Apart from this there are few other aspects to this directive as well,

Daily rest; requires at least 11 hour break between two shifts. This means the organization might have to consider how they carry out their scheduling and change it accordingly to make sure that when they make schedules they give the minimum break between shifts. For this organization might want to consider using shift working pattern as well as flexible staffing.

Breaks; it is required in by this directive for organizations to give workers a rest break if their working day is longer than six hours. The organization hear might want to consider using short shifts which are less than six hours as well as bringing in part time staffs who can provide cover while the breaks are being taken.

Weekly rest period requires the employer to provide the employee with a minimum of 24 hours uninterrupted break for every seven working days on top of the breaks between shifts. For an Indian company it might have been a norm to have their employees working seven days a week, but this is not possible in the EU. Again to over come this the answer would be to use part time staffs, temporary staffs as well as shift works.

Some of the other aspects of this directive cover employees in terms of their annual leave as well as night work.

The Indian organization coming in to UK has to make sure they follow all the set procedures. The best way to make sure that they do this is by having a work force that will consist of part time workers and temporary staffs, which they might not have used in India. Also it must have a clear procedure in terms of annual leaves and night work to indicate to their employees what they are entitled to as well as a procedure in place to book holidays.