Flower in the muck

The boy on the bus sat hunched in his seat. He was about ten years of age, but the posture, hiding his face behind the bag of books on his lap, made him appear small and lost. He seemed shy and withdrawn, squashed between buxom passengers on seats reserved for ladies. His uniform, faded from many washes, had an indeterminable emblem embroidered on the breast of the shirt. It may have been a lotus - the flower that blooms alone in muck, its innate splendour unsullied by its environment.

It was clear he travelled unattended. The dusty socks and shoes on his feet testified to rundown conditions. I imagined the family was hard pressed to make ends meet. His father was probably the only earning member, burdened by the costs of supporting an extended family, his mother young and harried. Household chores would take up all her time – cooking, cleaning, washing, hauling water and tending to the elderly in the family as well as the children. In sending to school, the child’s parents must visualize a brighter future for their generation next, as well they should. If the free mid-day meal at school was attraction, so be it. But definitely, escorting them to and from school was out of the question; neither would they have the wherewithal to hire school-bus services for their safety.

The ordinary buses here, both public and private, carry far more passengers than they should. At peak time overcrowding, there is hardly any personal space, as people pack in like sardines. These buses, my sister living in America believes, are a hotbed of deviant behaviour, a living hell for children. She shudders at the mere thought of one. Convinced that predators abound, she has banned her offspring from boarding them. Apparently this thought never occurred to her in our younger proletariat days when she herded us onto them!

It is true that back in the day, far fewer women were out and about pursuing education or employment. Most mothers were too shy to speak about sex, and children, especially girls, were left their clueless about this reality. Public awareness was poor as well, and the young victims either too uncomprehending to protest, or too ashamed to draw attention to themselves. But much has changed since then, mainly in the passenger numbers. With greater social awareness, the bus interiors have clear gender demarcations – women and children on one side, men on the other. Over the intervening years, girls learned to confront, to even hit back at attempts to take undue advantage. As mothers themselves thereafter, many have taught daughters to be assertive. Often other passengers join in to deter unsavory behaviours.

In a country as large as India, with at least a quarter of the billion plus population located below the economic cut-off line, poverty is the affliction. Exposed as they are to the environment with nobody to shield them from harm, children born into this disadvantage have to learn early to fend for themselves. Harsh circumstances force their growing up fast - or perishing.

On this day, the bus conductor ruffled his pack of tickets with his thumb, the sound a distinct reminder of the rite of passage – one had to buy one’s stay on the bus. The boy pressed back as if trying to disappear from view. He could not however, avoid the experienced eye of the conductor. Every now and then the man would look around at him and flick his pack in warning. The boy would feebly feel in his pockets in response. Ticket, ticket, urged the man with his persistent thumb sounding his impatience, his stare unsympathetic. Watching the tension build up, I was touched by the boy’s woeful look. The point to disembark was approaching for me, so I decided to intervene in their byplay and help the child. As I moved forward to resolve the issue, to buy the ticket for him myself, the boy stood up and dug deep into his pockets. He brought out a coin that he placed in the man’s palm, and shrugged his shoulders to imply he had no more. The man glared at him, but turned away. He did not offer a ticket stub, nor was he asked for one. The boy hopped off the bus when it stopped, and behind him, I did too.

He seemed to gain energy as the bus trundled away. As I watched, he casually slung the bag across his shoulder. Then suddenly, he sprinted across the road beating the oncoming traffic. He seemed to be heading in the same direction that I was. I followed at a more sedate pace. On the other side on the road, he skipped along ahead on the sidewalk. I saw him pause a moment before darting in towards a roadside stall.  These are makeshift wooden structures where knickknacks are sold – chocolates, lozenges, potato chips, cigarettes, chewing tobacco, and so on. Their owners set up for business every day, keeping a weather eye open for the police. Because, whenever there is a clean-up drive, they must pack up and leave. 

The boy leaned on the counter, pointing at something in the stall, while holding out something he had clutched in his hand. As I came alongside, the stall-keeper took it and opened out the tight folds of paper money! I could see that the note would easily have covered the actual price of the boy’s bus ride. I shook my head and smiled wryly to myself as I walked on. So much for my expectations of childlike innocence, I thought! Indeed, this child has already learned to fend for himself in an unkind world.  Left to their own devices and exposed to a devious environment, children of disadvantage may practice the art of con, long before mastering the R’s.  The need for survival forces their early adaptation to harsh reality. Can we really fault the lonely flower for being touched by the surrounding muck?

The bus class

While I was still in school, my sister, who had entered college, imbibed communist leanings. Quite unaware that this was merely a passing fad for the rising intellectuals of the time, I took as new knowledge her insistence that we too rise above bourgeois sentiments and de-class. Though I hardly knew what the terms meant, I was suitably impressed that unbeknownst, we were doing something unacceptable in our lives!

I might add that in those days, the subject 'moral science' was stressed upon in the convent school I attended. Films like The Ten Commandments and Ben-Hur spectacularly underscored the ideals the nuns were at pains to instill in us, where right and wrong were carved in edicts of stone. For me, moreover, they portrayed equality of mankind, clearly upholding the values of the proletariat. Thus I reconciled quite seamlessly in my mind the little I gleaned about religion and communism, and took the learning to heart. 

I looked up to my sister to show us the way forward to change our oppressive ways of living. The obvious symbols of class consciousness, she expanded, were in how one traveled. Within the city, the choices of transport were of bus, taxicab or own car. We would be bourgeoisie to even consider the latter two; hence she chose for us the bus as the most appropriate. Needless to say, she had my wholehearted support, and unquestioning followership. 

There was a logistical problem, however. The class she was getting us to identify with was already filled to capacity and so were the buses, the cheapest mode of distance travel. It began to take us hours to get from point A to point B because buses would be jam-packed when they arrived at the stops we waited at. People would literally be hanging on for dear life; it was so impossible for us to get a foothold, it was better to walk. Yet it seemed to me that we were indeed doing the right thing. In our democratic republic, we walked the talk as it were, against the evils of social hierarchy. 

 

My brother, on the other hand, was totally disgusted. He was afraid his social image would nosedive. In the peer groups he socialized in, the trappings were important. Their dreams included among other things, swanky attention-drawing imported cars. At the time, however, the nationalized policy on vehicular manufacture favoured the Indian make in the effort to bring it up. All others brands were hit with prohibitive taxes for the same reason. One carmaker held monopoly on the family car, and as a result, a general sameness prevailed on the roads of the country. The cars all looked the same, sturdy and ugly, their social status denoted only by colour – taxicabs distinctly yellow-and-black, private cars in other hues.  It was a blow to his esteem, that we did not have a car at our disposal. A taxicab was the wooden spoon, but buses were really the last straw!

Our parents were caught in the middle of their bickering, helpless to take a stand. Their growing up had been far from the working classes we now had to rub shoulders with. The family ancestry had been landowners in undivided India; a reality snatched away from them by the horrors of the Partition that carved up the nation.  Sometimes my mother reminisces about the many prajas (subjects) that lived and worked on their properties, orchards, farmlands and crops, though my father rarely spoke about the past that we had no experience of. Post-Partition, it was a painful rebuilding for many such families that moved perforce to the new India, if not quite destitute, certainly with only a fraction of their erstwhile wealth. With affordability diminished so rapidly, they probably felt de-classed already. It must instead have been shaming to be constantly reminded of being down in fortunes, to be a disappointment to their children one way or another.

So many decades later, my brother has achieved to the fullest his childhood dreams of success. It seems to me that somehow ‘poverty’ has lodged in the mind, and the need for material security grown insatiable. Despite the accumulation of money, numerous properties and cars, he just cannot feel he has enough.  My sister’s perspective has changed drastically. Rather like the dismantled former Soviet Union, she has abandoned her adolescent leanings and fully embraced capitalism as practiced in the West, along with their subtle differentiations of class or race. Both have sworn allegiance to the lands of plenty and shaken the dust of this poverty-stricken democracy quite completely.

 

Much has changed over the years in this country as well, including wider transport choices, but the crowds on buses in India continue. Perhaps I valued the ‘new knowledge’ of my formative years a little too much, because I do still travel on them. 

Friends and acquaintances look askance and question what attraction those sweaty, smelly atmospheres might hold for me. Well, I do get a glimpse of the ordinary India that so often is written off as the amorphous them group, at the other end of the continuum from the respectable us. In fact, despite the invasion of personal space, the tedium and physical discomfort of the journeys, human interactions continue unabated. I have observed amongst the bus class extraordinary acts of kindness, empathy and humour, I am certain money cannot buy nor upward social mobility ensure.

End of India’s democratic system?

Unrest is sweeping around the world rather like mass hysteria. After authoritarian regimes, democracies now face the heat. The question arises whether here the attempts of social groups are to uphold democratic freedoms, or to holdup systems to ransom.

The tidal wave of protests has now hit India. A section of civil society has chosen to confront the Union Government on it executive functioning. The social group, led by Anna Hazare and dubbed Team Anna in the media, demand the Parliament should make into law the anti-corruption bill they have drafted.

The practice in law making to date has been that civil servants draft bills at the behest of the ruling party. That bill is presented to Parliament and should it receive the majority vote of its members, it becomes law.

Writing in Time, Thottam comments:

It's not clear that the Lokpal bill would be much of an improvement. It's also hard to imagine how the world's largest democracy would function if it gave way every time a prominent protestor demanded a new piece of legislation.

Over 42 years, and despite eight bill presentations, however, successive Parliaments have failed to create a comprehensive anti-corruption law. Hence, Team Anna take it upon themselves to draft the Jan Lokpal Bill that seeks to appoint an ombudsman, and empower them to investigate corruptions charges at all levels of the bureaucracy.

Earlier, the civil society group did manage to compel the forming of a special panel of 5 ministers and 5 activists to discuss their bill draft. The aim is to arrive at a consensus on the bill to be presented to Parliament. But the talks stall over six sticking points. The Government then goes ahead to table before the House their own version, the Lokpal Bill, which effectively protects key positions from the investigative scrutiny.

Team Anna turns to street politics in the effort to garner support for their bill. They accuse the Administration of lacking the political will to tackle rampant corruption and protecting it, in fact. To protest the ineptitude, they announce a hunger strike to be launched publicly.

That earns a crackdown; perhaps the fear in accommodating them is of setting a dangerous precedent. Police swoop in with preemptive arrests of the protest leaders. About twelve hundred others are also detained to stamp out the imminent agitation.  Perhaps the Administration’s strategy is also influenced by events in London, where lawlessness ruled rife for several days. 

However, the move backfires, and is seen by the nation as heavy-handed stifling of dissent.  Two hours later, their release is offered on condition they eschew the agitation. Undaunted, the activists refuse to leave until their demands are met – of the right to conduct public dissent, and of the right to draft the legislation to be made law. Lodged in the Tihar Prison, they kick off their fast on the premises itself.

Meanwhile, news of the arrests sparks demonstrations all over the country. Thousands join in very vocal processions across states demanding their release. People in Delhi congregate around the jail as well, holding placards that read, please arrest me.

Unprecedented media coverage publicizes the events. Constant information feeds from private news channels add fillip to the cause. Tech savvy activists make the most use of the tools of Internet – twitter, facebook and youtube to ensure messages from prison reach the world. Their strategy seems to a step ahead, with the authorities having to play catch up.

74-year-old Anna Hazare, the man at the centre of the storm, was virtually unknown outside his home state earlier. He is now a national icon, and his supporters project him as the second Gandhi, leading the second freedom struggle of India through Satyagraha, the path of non-violence.

Reuters’ reporter de Bendern sees the makings of a revolt in the unrest, similar to elsewhere. He writes:

… a galvanised and frustrated middle class and the mushrooming of social networking sites combined with an aggressive private media may be transforming India's political landscape … "The new corporate middle class has little patience with the politics of dignity and identity that are -- for better or worse -- central to Indian politics"…

Perhaps the ruling coalition assumes that the stir will soon die down, as middle-class resolve tends to be tenuous.  They thus try initially to wait out the agitators’ fervour. But as passions whip up instead, party members resort to character assassinations of the social group’s leaders. They also claim them to be media creations set up to blackmail the Administration.

The unrest is branded a subversion of democracy, fronting the attack on the supremacy of the Indian Parliament by outsiders – including foreign powers. The Prime Minister labours to defend the matter in the House. He states:

The question is, who drafts the law and who makes the law? I submit that the time-honoured practice is that the Executive drafts a Bill and places it before Parliament and that Parliament debates and adopts the Bill with amendments if necessary. ... As far as I am able to gather, Shri Anna Hazare questions these principles and claims a right to impose his Jan Lok Pal Bill upon Parliament.

Opposition parties had earlier been kept out of the draft panel formed with the civil society. They now revel in the opportunity to take the Union Government to task over their mishandlings of the case. The use of force to deal with political issues earns flak as arrogance of power reminiscent of colonial times.

Satirists pounce gleefully to proclaim that in India today, people are free to graft or feed on bribes, but to fight corruption or even to not eat, they get no permission at all! In the public perception, the Government is elitist, disconnected with the masses they represent.

The erstwhile silent majority gravitates to displays of people’s power in metropolitan cities and smaller towns. In several parts of the country, entire villages, men, women and children take up the fast in solidarity with that at Delhi. Mumbai’s famed six-sigma food delivery organization, the Dabbawalas, strike work for the first time in 120 years to lend their support.

Before the ground swell of humanity, the system is forced to back down. The Delhi police withdraw all the 22 conditions they had earlier imposed, release the detainees, grant space for the protest gathering, and also assist in managing the crowds. The hunger strike now assumes the proportions of a populist movement. Politicians across the board begin to feel the pinch of adverse public opinion.

The activists further remind their audiences that the preamble of the Indian Constitution states that:

WE, THE PEOPLE OF INDIA … do HEREBY ADOPT, ENACT AND GIVE TO OURSELVES THIS CONSTITUTION.

That is, mention of the people comes first, precedes both parliamentarians and ministers in the Constitution. Essentially, the people are the supreme body, since their votes put the elected representatives in office. This perspective finds resonance with a population fed-up with political kickbacks, scams, and rampant corruption within the bureaucracy.  Social networks are abuzz with millions of supportive opinions and tweets, non-resident Indians joining in as well.

As the crowds grow mammoth rather than dwindle, ministers are caught in an unpleasant bind. They are as averse to decentralizing legislative control as they are to making Anna a martyr. The concern is the longer it takes to resolve the stalemate, the more the septuagenarian’s health weakens, and the more volatile becomes the situation.

They choose to extend an olive branch and invite dialogue. The talks begin, but the two sides are gulfed by enormous trust deficits between the governors and the governed. In the atmosphere of win-lose competitiveness, neither side is ready to unfreeze maximally polarized positions. They battle over democratic rights in the system, of the people versus elected office. Negotiations lurch from breakthrough to breakdown, to another breakthrough, another breakdown and again breakthrough…

Public statements are sometimes intractable, sometimes conciliatory, but furious activities continue behind the scenes. Mediators rush in from around the country to assist each side to keep back channels open and to unfreeze deadlocks. The former chief minister from Maharashtra, experienced in handling previous agitations in Anna’s home state, is called in as the Government’s special emissary to link directly with him.

Newscasters stationed at vantage points around the clock update reports with every new detail. Experts are called from all walks of life to analyze the nuances of move and explain their significances on the private news channels. Constitutionalists, lawyers, corporate stalwarts, authors, editors, social activists, spiritual leaders, politicians, and other celebrities - supporters, detractors and voices of moderation all share views from the same platform.

The entire country appears riveted by the drama playing out on tv. The game of brinkmanship is more thrilling than any soap opera – who will blink first? (The joke here is that Team India is hugely relieved that their disastrous performances on the cricket field in England is, for once, not the focus of public attention. They might hope their entire tour thus flies under the radar!)

During the negotiations, team compositions also change from hawkish to moderate, as the talks seem to progress at the pace of two steps forward and one back. With the forward motion, positions previously thought intractable peg down a notch. The general realization dawns that political issues do indeed require political solutions. Veteran troubleshooters are inducted, as the Prime Minister seeks out-of-box solutions.

Eventually only 3 sticking points remain to threaten compromise: the prime minister’s inclusion in the ombudsman’s (lokpal) purview, similar ombudsmen (lokayukta) for the states, and a citizen’s charter. Team Anna hinges breaking his fast on the Parliament’s vote on resolution of the three points. The Administration, averse to civil society groups dictating to Parliament, cites objections by the Opposition.

The activists appeal to the principle Opposition party to spell out their stand, and receive their support on the 3 points. Opposition parties of the right and left come together, and promise flexibility to help break the impasse. In final compromise, the Sense of Parliament resolution is introduced in both Houses, naming the three sticking points. Seven hours of intense debate on the resolution occurs in Parliament while the nation watches proceedings with bated breath. 

No individual votes follow, but members on both sides of the aisle thump their desks  to adopt it unanimously - a rare sight indeed in Parliament! A relieved Prime Minister tells newsmen: The Parliament’s will is the people’s will. Thereafter, Government’s special emissary and his group rush to the protest site, to reach Anna Hazare a copy of the resolution. He in turn, pledges to break his 12-day fast. The two sides share stage in visual confirmation that accord has been reached.

The perceptions in regions abroad appear to be that the world’s largest democracy has been brought to its knees or that India faces its own Arab Spring. After 13 days of high-voltage drama unfolding the nature of the nation’s functional democracy, we may safely disagree.

It is true that in over six decades of India’s independence, the middle-class has takes to the streets on an issue for the first time ever. Activists term it the outpouring of angst, not new political aspirations. They make no calls for anarchy, regime change, or challenge to the parliamentary system. Fact is this country’s democracy was never targeted; however, the cynical lack of accountability in political and bureaucratic circles has been impaled.

Traditionally, the middle-class remains aloof from political processes; they rarely vote, or may do so negatively. The stereotypical parliamentarian hobnobs in corporate and wealthy circles, appeases the poor before elections with sops for votes, and virtually disregards the middle groups. Their contact with constituents dissolve once the election process is over. Poll promises are forgotten, because elected members toe party lines thereafter, and focus on preserving political allegiances. Thence, their sensitivity to the wishes of the people electing them hardly exists.

The social movement may have triggered a paradigm shift in the political arena,  orientating towards participatory governance.  The surprise result of the exercise has been the dramatic rise of young India.

It is significant that the youth, educated and articulate, carry the fight against corruption on their shoulders. Inspired by the notion of nation building they volunteer services to ensure the movement’s smooth progress. Despite thousands of people congregating, sloganeering, waving the national flag, and holding candlelight vigils, there are no reports of the anticipated mass violence. The trademark Gandhi cap becomes a statement of purpose rather than of fashion, as they identify with the inscribed catchphrase, I am Anna. 

It is just as significant that ways to resolve the standoffs seem to emerge after the young members of Parliament jump into the fray. Many of this youth brigade also choose to defy tradition. They dare to speak their minds in support of social change. They grasp initiative to understand the thrust of the movement, and to acquaint senior leaders with the seriousness of the issue.

We see no losers in this Indian unrest. A people culturally grounded in moral values are unlikely to invest in the dissolution of revered institutions of State. They are however, determined to evolve with the times, in tune with the present age of global partnerships and collaborations. We may have been witness instead, to the restoration of roles and boundaries between the people, the Parliament and the Government. It perhaps bodes well for the future that the citizens of India have been awakened to their rights in the democratic system, and to the more crucial realization that rights include responsibilities.

References for this post:

1. Thottam, Jyoti. "Anna Hazare: How One Activist Brought the World's Largest Democracy to Its Knees" time.com. Time. August 17, 2011. 
2. de Bendern, Paul. “India faces risk of its own Arab Spring over anti-graft protests” reuters.com. Reuters. Aug 17, 2011. 

Goals: transcending limits

Synopsis: [You might view the earlier post “Goals: the involvement with outcomes ” before this.] Choice depends on personal beliefs and not the status quo. ‘Social influence’ today, may be sourced from anywhere in the world.


The choices we make aren’t from a singular reference point, but develop from several that may even be mutually unrelated.

Homogeneity wiping out

Utilities that individuals or groups contemplate depends on their personal beliefs and not really on the status quo of the organization.

Globalization facilitates this drastic motivational change. Social homogeneity is wiping out everywhere, and so is predictability of behaviours.

Linked through technology

The outcomes anticipated make sense only to the actors. Today, social influence may be sourced from anywhere in the world. Organizations may have no idea what these might be!

Technology ushers in the age of information. Social influence is characteristic of this Internet-supported reality. No longer constrained by, or restricted to political borders or geographical boundaries, it now simply spans the globe.

Influence transformed

Hence cultural and technological change has forced into organizations and societies.

Common assumptions have been that ‘the input’ into any transaction, relationship or system is roughly equal to ‘the output’ in dimension and intensity.

But the reality today is something else. The ‘info link’ in social networking is ever increasing, ever varied. For example, developing social trends don’t change their proportions arithmetically; they expand in geometric progressions.

Consider this -

Q: If we have a series of numbers in the order 2, 4, 8, and so on, what will be the 10th term?
A: Not double digits, but in four figures – 1024.

Similarly, the nature and power of social influence too has transformed.

Global reference

The latest of generations to join the organizational workforce, the Millennials, appear to have a profound affinity for the Internet and for diversity.

They tend to think as global citizens, beyond limits of country, race or culture. Hence they are most responsive to rapid change. They carry forward the global reference.

For instance, they don’t seem to follow trends. They create them instead, finding obscure content on the ‘Net and popularizing them. Nodal interlinks over the network keeps the process churning worldwide.

Transcending

Perhaps ‘generation next’ are evolving a new need – the need to transcend the limits of homogeneity. They thrive on change, and architects it, in fact, enhancing roles within and outside the system.

Organizationally, it may be better to follow new generational leads and open our minds to global citizenship. Both employers and employees need greater flexibility of thought to accommodate multiple reference points.

Motivate involvement

Organizational members need to accept increasing diversity in their midst without prejudice. They also need to realize that rising attrition clearly indicates the lack of employee involvement with organizational decisions.

In the global workplace, the use of phrases like ‘your cultures’ or ‘your countries’ now appears limiting and archaic. It constrains generating collective involvements in new environments.

Unless the workforce motivations are carefully understood and addressed, productivity remains the unresolved concern.

Comments/opinions anyone??

Goals: the involvement with outcomes

Synopsis: Money isn’t the only motivator. Our involvement with several outcomes ultimately affects what we do. Much of the dilemma we go through relates to our personal desires vis-à-vis our social expectations.

Organizations around the world have traditionally used money incentives to motivate performance. But now, despite the tried and tested lure, they experience increasing attrition rates.

Not the only motivator

Employers are left wondering how exactly productivity can be encouraged, since the shelf life of money incentives appears short.

Besides, with social and organizational diversity increasing, behavioural motivations of different constituent groups seem complex, difficult to predict.

Over four decades ago, theorist Victor Vroom hypothesized the expectancy theory - that a worker tends to choose high productivity if they see it as the means of achieving one or more personal goals.

That means money isn’t the only motivator. Our degree of involvement with perceived outcomes ultimately determines what we do.

Fat or lean?

This works in every area of life, even in discriminating between package labels.

In a study, researchers asked target groups to decide between two packages of ground beef – one labelled “80 percent lean”, the other “20 percent fat”.

They found that although both essentially meant the same thing, most people predictably preferred the lean. Why is because ‘fat’ is connotative, often viewed as repulsive.

Although the package contents were identical, their labels still subtly biased thinking and motivated choice in the target groups - sometimes wishfully!

Personal and social

Advertising language thus attempts to influence consumer choices causing unconscious emotional reactions. Our motivations are linked to our social and cultural origins, and the orientations that we thereby learn or adopt.

Before acting on the environment people tend to think over four types of consequences:

• Self approval or disapproval
• Social approval or disapproval
• Gains or losses for self
• Gains or losses for significant others.
  

Fact is we’re an intensely social species. Much of the dilemma we go through relates to our personal desires vis-à-vis our social expectations.

Integrated response

Norms, beliefs and customs we carry in memory associate with our subjectivity, and sense of self. They contribute to our reasoning.

These considerations influence our life decisions. Consciously or unconsciously, we may be influenced by their dictates. In our action responses we integrate our behaviours with the goals we intend to achieve.

Know the context

In any department, or workgroup in the organization then, motivating factors relating to individual wants may differ from group preferences. Choices as a member of a social (or cultural) group may also be quite different to those in personal capacity.

Earlier the ‘personal’ and ‘social’ referents were a little more predictable because people came from similar backgrounds. Now in the global context, family, community, neighbourhood, etc., could mean different things to different people.

If productivity is to be encouraged, it becomes important to know about these differences of personal and social contexts that serve to motivate the behaviours of organizational members.

Cont’d 2…transcending limits

Influence: interrupt the flow

Summary: [You might view the earlier post “Influence: the global tilt” before this.] Asian reactions to diversity are strongly tied up with history and traditions. The flow pattern needs to be interrupted.


Other demographic groups in the global organization tend to relate less to one another, than to the ‘dominant’ group. This stems from their socio-cultural learning.

Legacies

For example, in much of Asia, colonial legacies remain. Asians generally know more about research, business, politics, styles and showbiz in USA, UK and Canada than say, Indians know about the Chinese - and vice versa.

They’ve been taught over centuries of exploitation to follow the West. Situational cues are meant to emphasize that their intellect, their business practices, their economy, and, despite several centuries of usage, even their communication skills in the ‘universal’ language of English is yet only developing.

Divergent views

Asian diversity is formidable. For instance, in India alone there are 23 official languages and dialects in thousands! A vast mix of races, cultures, religions, nationalities and socio-political structures across the continent ensures that homogeneity can’t happen.

But divergent views are perceived as conflict producing. Asian nations have learned to believe that differences are a threat. Integrating perspectives is rarely contemplated. So each is aggressively competitive instead.

History and traditions

Reactions to the continent’s diversity are strongly tied up with history and traditions. They communicate polarized, nationalistic positions. They may even seek mediations in mutual interactions.

Thence the mutual mistrust, and the pro-’white’ bias, persists.

Asians in Asia become aware of the regional positives last - after the West approves. One seldom adopts the developmental principles and practices of neighbours, for fear of being perceived ‘inferior’! So relationships between representative groups anywhere in the continent remain minimal.

Sharing strength

Traditional mindsets constrain positive thinking within groups. There’s much traditional strength in the continent’s diversity often forgotten or neglected.

Like, collectivism, cooperation, non-violence, assertiveness, scholastic abilities, and creativity that have lasted civilizations. These brought change, elsewhere in the world as well.

Unafraid of competition

A story from rural India may illustrate the point in collective improvement:

A farmer wins awards year after year because of the excellent quality of his crop. When asked the secret of his success he says it is sharing his expertise with all his neighbours. Isn’t he afraid of competition? No, he says, it ensures that cross-pollination doesn’t occur with inferior stock.

Asians need to discard age-old assumptions and unafraid of competition, redesign strategies for new outcomes of mutual collaboration and cooperation.

Review assumptions

In relating positively with others of the region, they interrupt the global flow pattern and create a more balanced influence.

They also break the archaic dependence on erstwhile colonizers to develop a self-reliant, independent thinking Asia that comes through in representative groups.

Then perhaps, the research finding would make sense across the globe, that even in diversity, organizational influence comes from personality characteristics, and the fit between person and organizational culture.

Comments/Opinions Anyone??

Influence: the global tilt

Summary: In diversity, influence may still be carried by race and social culture.


Research suggests that the ability to influence comes from personality characteristics, and the fit between person and organizational culture.

Person-culture fit?

Like extraverts have more influence in team-orientated organizations; conscientious introverts are more influential in organizations dealing in technical tasks.

The researchers say this influence carries, through demographic details such as gender, ethnicity and socioeconomic status. But in diversity, does it really?

The flow pattern

Those constituting ‘diversity’ in global organizations might argue that in the tilted world, diversity never fits the organizational culture! Individual personality characteristics can’t compete with group identity.

So far, the flow of global influence is carried by race and social culture. What is aired or published or practiced comes predominantly from Western intelligentsia. ‘Who’ rather than ‘what’ counts in being heard, seen or quoted, and often other thought is minimized, shelved or dismissed.

Booming Asia?

Revenue is the focus, also for the data flow. Regarding Asia, for example. When we’re informed, “Asia is booming!” it’s a Western perspective, and mayn’t quite be what Asians think!

The point is there’s generally little or no interest in Asia’s intellectualism, business practices or traditional cultures. These others don’t sell in the ‘developed’ world, and hence are unnoticed or ignored.

Underscore divides

But cheap in labour and rich in raw materials, Asia, the new economic frontier, is most fashionable for Western business.

Also Asian poverty, population explosion, ethnic/communal strife, etc, may find some coverage. These may be of interest since they underscore ‘them’ and ‘us’ divides – and open the continent to ‘big brother’ influence and sales.

Power and dominance

The reality is that in global politics and business, power still originates in the West. Their habits of world dominance grown over the past several centuries, continues.

The glass ceiling still operates in Western-orientated organizations. They don’t much trust the rest of the world. Even in companies seeking a global presence, the same flow pattern generally determines who is to be at the top, or visible.

The subtle bias

The tendency is to identify with the perceived dominance also by those who don’t belong to it! Attitude tests report findings that, irrespective of their actual race, 80 percent of all people who have taken the test are pro-‘white’.

This subtle bias permeates interactions in diversity. It causes the conscious or unconscious reactions to various demographic categories – the ‘dominant’ group with the others, and the rest amongst themselves - that may not be articulated or show up in individual testing.

Cont’d 2…interrupt the flow

Interactions: Change focus, not just accent

Summary: [You might view the earlier post "Interactions: Medium of influence" before this.] Interactions improve business. But companies still tend to base interactions solely on costs. Systems need to change focus to realize interactions have their own economic power.


Interactions have to be handled right to be successful. This requires divergent thinking, ability to integrate diverse knowledge, and astute judgement.

Customer disconnects

Outsourcing hit mainstream mainly because labour is cheap on the other side of the world. ‘Training’ for call centre employees in third world countries means imbibing the accent – American, British and what-have-you - so the ‘contact’ makes customers feel at home.

But high-speed transmissions aren’t the automatic guarantee of effective interactive capability. What to say or how to say it remains the people’s issue – it doesn’t arrive with changing the accent!

When knowledge of the business, idiomatic expression and the culture is limited, these processes may simply be earning customer disconnects at high speed.

Basing solely on costs

Yet…Interactions have always spelt costs for management. The decision to outsource is based on costs. And the recruitment and retention of expertise is also based on costs.

In earlier times they worried about contracting specialists particularly if there were geographical distances between them - they still do.

Despite the changes in global scenario, managerial measures and mindset remain the same. Thinking centres on money, rather than the value of skills and thought development.

Cheap to interactive

The traditional focus on ‘threat’ generates fears - of losing margins. This ‘cost’ perspective guides decisional strategy. The ROIC companies tend to seek are not in long-term value but in profitability.

Manipulating data is preferred to learning to interact with other people. In cost cutting exercises, transnational expertise is usually undervalued even in firms that seek a global presence.

Corporate leaders put in time, energy and other resources to build the business, so focus rivets on internal processes rather than on the environmental reality. The unexpected generally isn’t anticipated, even with new challenges.

Thus the organization that opts for the stereotypical in a diverse world sets to also lose its competitive edge, as it fails to capitalize on the quality of insight and knowledge of its best resources.

Changing economic power

The ongoing action process may be building up to future failures. Computing technology can’t provide the thought development required in knowledge-based diversity.

Management needs to be prepared for 'when' not 'if' reality changes. Systems need to adopt new mindsets and new measurements, besides new vocabularies, to realize the economic power of interactions.

They need to evolve, so to speak. And, with time and technology, to change the operative focus from cheap to interactive value.

By increasing the quantity and quality of interactions in business, they could better manage their talent resources and their customer service. And ultimately, perhaps even hold the line on costs.

Comments/opinions, anyone??

Interactions: Medium of influence

Summary: Interactions are as crucial organizationally as in our personal spheres. Greater exchange of ideas, services and goods means more business.

We keep organizational interactions to a minimum, to just as far as we think we have to… and we’re wrong.

Energy exchange

The word ‘interact’ is defined by Webster’s dictionary as ‘to act on each other’. Meaning that there is mutuality, reciprocity in the process of being with people, talking with them, sharing thoughts and experiences.

Interactions mean a lot to us in our personal spheres in making or breaking relationships. With family and friends, there are plenty of highs and lows in the energy exchange.

But by habit or by learning, we’re guarded at work.

Business activity

Interactions relate to the exchange of ideas, services and goods. Fact is they are the point in business influence today.

Figures reported in 1997 (McKinsey Quarterly) mentioned how interactions are or should be, at various levels of the business world:

economy level: 36-53 percent

industry level: 35-50 percent

firm level: 58 percent

individual level: 15 percent in physical labour jobs, 80 percent for managers and supervisors.

These interactions ensure that every organization goes about the tasks of searching for the right party to work with, managing its activities associated with the exchange, and monitoring the resulting performances.

Infrastructure transforms

Boundaries, geographical and organizational, are being loosened every day.

Much of the transformation is in infrastructure – the proliferation of networks, connectivity and bandwidth, new generations of routers, fibre-optic cables and wi-fi making our globally interactive capability easier, faster and cheaper by far.

Change in structure

The structure of organizations is also undergoing change. Smaller size now means greater agility.

Even larger companies are seeing value in horizontal integrations, shifting towards forms that are more networked, more loosely linked.

Added to this mix are demographic changes in society and the rising numbers in diversity at the workplace of people and skills.

Exchange of expertise

Information may be exchanged anywhere and anytime between points through intranet and websites.

Technology has created huge opportunities to interact. Skills transfer in the global marketplace becomes easier as costs of interactions fall.

Expertise is the most valuable asset sought and leveraged across borders – this, unimaginable before.

Business value

Crucial business interactions occur within different companies, between them, and in the marketplace right up to the consumer.

They take various forms – management meetings, conferences, phone conversations, sales calls, problem solving sessions, reports, memos, and so on throughout any working day.

Most importantly, they influence customer behaviour. Positive moves turn non-customers into active users, although negative impressions precipitate the search for new suppliers!

The point is with the information explosion, companies should value interactions much more in their businesses today, and make greater use of them.

Cont’d 2…Change focus, not just accent