India Culture

18 Pages 4455 Words

India
Business etiquette and culture


What you should know before negotiating.

· In India, "outside" information and new concepts will be accepted only if they do not contradict prevailing religious beliefs and social structures.
· Indians tend to think associatively, largely because the country's educational system places a heavy emphasis on rote learning. Indian business people with a higher education, however, are often more abstract, analytical thinkers.
· In Indian business culture, perceptions of the truth tend to be guided by feelings; a strong faith in religious ideologies is also common.
· An argument appealing to both feelings and faith will often be more convincing to an Indian than one using only objective facts and empirical evidence.
· The caste system remains one of the most important influences in Indian society.
· Although technically there is equality under the law, inequality between the castes is an accepted reality of Indian life.
· Because of the strong, coherent, social structure there is little anxiety about life because one knows and accepts one's place in society and the workplace.
· Each employee plays a role in the organization; often the role is as important as the actual work the person may perform.
· The hierarchical nature of Indian society demands that the boss is recognized as the highest individual in authority.
· In some offices, employees may even rise each time the boss enters the room to acknowledge respect.
· Employees do as they're told; even if they know the boss is wrong, they won't argue.
· The boss makes all of the decisions and accepts all of the responsibility. Consequently, you'll often find that subordinates are reluctant to accept responsibility.
· Because so many pressures are placed on the boss, qualified Indian employees often do not seek such positions of leadership.
· Success and failure are frequently attributed to environm...