Analysis of Todd’s Cross-Cultural Experience in India

Analysis of Todd’s Cross-Cultural Experience in India

Introduction

Culture is an important part of human civilization. It is the total collective and shared belief system of a certain community concerning several things in life. Culture impacts our ability to communicate as well as solve a crisis. People can develop a good culture in communication or in conflict resolution. Cultures are cultivated and nurtured over time and this takes time. Language and communication in itself is a complex concept of human nature and needs to be studied in an in-depth manner and especially when two languages and cultures clash, cross- cultural conflict management skills are called into question at this point. The aim of this paper is to critically analyze the cross cultural aspects that were manifested in the life of Todd Anderson; a star character in the movie, Outsourced. In elucidating these points, the paper will first start by giving a brief synopsis of the movie, then explain the nature of cross cultural conflicts that the character had to face in India. Finally, this paper will give theoretical explanations of the manner in which Todd managed to resolve these conflicts and propel the Company’s agenda forward.

A brief Synopsis of the Movie; Outsourced

The plot of this movie centers around business decisions made by a Western Novelty based in the United States. The Company decided to outsource many of its personnel to India, letting off a sizeable number of employees. Before, Todd Anderson is let go, he was tasked with travelling to Gharapuri, India to train Purohit who would succeed him in that position. His journey presents new experiences to him because at Mumbai, he was surprised that people could not even pronounce his name well. Before starting his mission, he realized that it was prudent to first understand the Indian culture for him to even contemplate trying to Americanize Purohit and the rest of the staff. As such, he was helped by handy subordinates like Asha Bhatwadekar who inducted him to their tradition and this helped to bridge the gap between the two conflicting cultural backgrounds.

Cross Cultural Conflicts that Todd faced in India

Culture dictates the way we see the world and the interactions between us and other people. It is a social construct and it differs from one community to another. According to Hofstede (2011), Culture defines our identity and sense of belonging and it has been part of mankind since time immemorial. The disparities in the two cultures lead actor Todd to fall in a culture shock (Velo, 2012, 43). The culture shock exhibits itself in various physical and mental symptoms as soon as Todd set foot in India. There were aspects of disorientation, discomfort, absence and a deep feeling of anxiety and uncertainty by Todd because of the new environment he was exposed to. Owing to the feeling of homesickness Todd calls home many a times. To aggravate the matters further, his girlfriend falls in love with another man. The culture shock coupled with loneliness and disappointment, were manifested all over his face. The only choice for him at this point was to just accept the situation and try to adapt to the new culture.

Another cultural disparity that Toad had to experience has to do with language. The film depicts a big difference in languages structures of the two cultures.  This was demonstrated  through different pronunciations of the names of people. It is quite comic how everybody meets him and greets or addresses him as “Mr. Toad” ending up in his frustration, and he fumbles the names he encounters. An example is when Purohit tells Todd the name of the woman he wishes to tie knots with as Bhagyashree Sasamunde, and Todd wonders “Baggy who?”, and comically asks “Holy what?”

In addition to this, Todd realized that the slang words he used often and informally were not familiar to others. As the film begins, Puro makes a comment of the impressiveness of Todd’s business card, which is written “Executive Vice-President of marketing and Order Fulfillment for Western Novelty”. Prior to realizing that Puro will be the trainee to replace him, Todd replies that it is not as impressive as it sounds from the card, since all he really does is sell kitsch to rednecks and had to train some other cshmuck to continue. Puro responds politely, enquiring what the words “kitsch”, “rednecks” and “schmuck” mean. Also, at the training of the Indian call center, a worker responds to a grandma’s inquiry for supply for school materials for a her grandson, saying that perhaps some rubbers, and Todd finds this inappropriate, suggesting that the word eraser could be used in place of rubber, since to him, rubber meant condom. This can be explained by the theory of paralanguange in which explains that hidden meanings of words may hamper communication between two people who are of different cultures.

Furthermore, the story of Todd Anderson also brought to light the disparities between high and low context cultures. High cultures are the ones in which a lot of information can be extracted from non-verbal communications, rituals and behaviors of persons. This was clearly contrasted with the traditions in the USA which is a low culture and also individualistic. When Purohit explains to Todd about the Indian festival day of Holiness, which celebrates color and season change. Of course Mr. Todd cannot understand how and why the Indians do celebrate some of the festivities that they celebrate. This brings about a difference of cultural values and management that is inherent in Todd’s approach towards work.

            There is a scene in which the actor chastises the Indian employees and admonishes them telling them that they need to learn a lot about America. This can be construed as a direct affront to the national culture of India and the organizational culture of the new firm. What he failed to understand is the fact that the workers he was dealing with were native English speakers but just with a different accent. Todd was always critical of Indian employees because he thought that Indians were generally lazy and crazy (Ramamurthy, 1987, 16). He also thought that Indians are not hard workers.  These factors left him extremely disappointed cannot imagine that he will have to spend the rest of his life in India. Due to lack of time in preparation and study of the Indian culture Todd is now facing serious difficulties in integration to a new culture.

In management cultures can also be classified according to various categories as either being linear or active; multi-active or reactive. In linear active management style of culture the progression of tasks is usually as suggested sequential or serial. One thing or task is done and on completion another is handled, this is an interleaved execution of tasks. In multi active parallel fashion is utilized in handling tasks, more than one thing or task is handled at a time. A reactive culture is one which is keen to listen out for what needs to be done. It is reflective and people focused. All of these traits and cultures that people develop are necessary and important in work places and they dictate hoe people collaborate and work and this has an impact on the job performance and efficiency. These cultures have developed over a very long time and they can be seen to be the work philosophies for certain regions. For example the western nations, American and Europe are seen to be linear in their approach to work. The Latin America is mainly multi-active while Asia is majorly very reactive.  This is according to Lewis.

After some time he is no longer very reluctant to learning and accepting the Indian culture. With time he starts absorbing some elements and characteristics of the Indian culture. We learn from Edgar Schein that it is important to accept the culture and management of other organizations so that we can be able to have progress and adapt in new areas of work. His character and attitude is greatly influenced by the Indian culture. On his return to America Todd is summoned by his parents immediately. At this time he has taken and assimilated the Indian value for family which he considers as the most important thing. He begins taking tea with a lot of sugar and his phone as the ringtone that Ash set for him while in India. We all learn that it is good to be adjustable and flexible as a person and accept the culture of the resident host nation. It is also important to take breaks and relax as this helps people adjust much faster.   

Todd arrives in India and has to confront a number of new things that are quite different from those that he was used to in his former home. Right on his arrival, he faces a system of transportation which he terms as chaotic, in which he had to jump from onto a train in motion, which is also very crowded, where a young boy decides to give him his seat, but the boy later sits on Todd’s lap (Holden, 1994, 14). This is different, since he is used to private personal space of a person from one’s culture. And later running after a suitcase, literary thrown into a small automatic rick saw which Todd refers to as “one of those taxi go-cart thingies”. Just on his early days in the new culture he observes very new customs, from a man passing urine on the roadside, and an urchin who pesters him only to snatch his mobile phone and disappear into thin air. This makes him develop a stereotypic attitude that that’s the Indian culture, by generalizing what he should actually have done. Adler teaches the importance of forging new and ingenious ways to interact with employees and workers as well as the people who may be found in a society so as to ensure flexibility and progress in an environment that is fast changing.

As Puro is leading the lead actor Todd to his residence, Puro finds it worth to alter his plans, thinking that the accommodation he is leading him to, Gharapuri Palace Hotel is a bit more lonely, in comparison to another one, called Aunt Ji’s guest house. He therefore tells him that she would take care of her better than her his own real mother, but the lead actor protests, implying that he would like to go to his hotel, before the Indian insists that he would not be lonely there. On their arrival there, at Aunt Ji’s, he realizes about the collectivist nature of the lady as she enquires about her new guest, calling her, “So Mr.Toad, what does your father do?” Being much of an individualist, he didn’t expect much of the inquiries.

The food they eat also is a shock to Todd, stuff he is not used to. For example in the movie, he eats ‘gola’ from a hawker in the streets, and is followed by stomach issues which cause comedy in the film. When a snack is offered unto him in the guest house, he eats using his left hand , which is taken as the unclean ‘toilet’ hand in various parts in the globe. Todd, being overwhelmed by homesickness, feels a craving for cheeseburger. This causes him to visit Bombay by taxi, which he thinks should be a McDonald’s but to his surprise, the place turns to be an imitation of a restaurant of fast foods that deals entirely with ‘maharaja veggie burgers’ and such stuff as those.

            At the call center, Todd does not hide his reaction and dissatisfaction, considering what he expected to find and the kind of people he expected to find there. When he sees the call center, he thinks Puro has led him to a different place from what he expected to see, he comically asks if the counterpart is kidding, and ends up concluding that the MPI is very bad, adding that the place is a disaster. 

In the film, outsourced, marriage practices extensively discussed are a big help to Todd to have an experience to discover India (Kabasakal, 1994, 43). It happens at one time that he is amazed when he finds out that an Indian lady, called Asha, which he ends up being involved in romance with was engaged since she was a small girl at age of four years when parents arranged for her marriage.

This appears to him as a shock of this new culture, of marriage arrangements at such a tender age. He finds it hard to believe that a smart woman with her own opinions would accept such (Jackson, 2007, 15). He wouldn’t understand what happened to her right to choose for herself. Asha, in her culture, as she was brought up, she believed that what she was destined for wholly depended on what she was told by her parents, what was never the caser with Todd. She says that her dad had made her to believe that she would never go to university, neither could she work at the call center, but had to stick to what her dad said.

Purohit faces the prospects of losing his job, being sure that his in-laws to be would have her fiancée married to another man immediately. Todd does not understand why there has to be a hurry in marrying so soon, but Puro explains it as “astrology”, explaining further that her moons were lined up and that it was her auspicious time, meaning she had to be married that year, not any later (Cross-Cultural Management, 2013, 7).  In the setting of Puro’s wedding date for his pending marriage reveals different cultural considerations. When he asks the lady if she would like to live in the United States, she says that she really would miss her parents too much and would be hard for her. Asha finds it hard to be with Todd in public wondering what the people would think unlike in the states where Todd knows people are free to be in public without being concerned of what people may think (Welsh, 1994, 23).

Theoretical explanations of how Todd adopted to different cultures

Todd went through all the stages of cross cultural adjustment in order to full appreciate the environment in which he was working. Lynsgaard’s four stages were fully complied with by the actor. The first stage was euphoria; in which he was merely like a tourist or one in honeymoon. Secondly, he experienced culture shock, which affected his productivity at the place of work. After this he just had to accept being part of the family at work and to profess the Indian culture.

At the work place, Todd clearly portrays low power distance as part of their culture (Fontaine, 2007, 12). This is seen in the way he addresses his boss as compared to how his employees addressed him. He uses words as ‘corporate slime-ball’  and ‘cheap bastard’ referring to his boss, which appears shockingly unaccepted in the Indian culture where the power distance is quite high in the sense of the way they address him, sometimes as ‘Mr. Todd’, other times as ‘Sir’ which to him appears somehow unnecessary. To the Indians, high power distance shows acceptance of superiority of the bosses and unequal power distribution, and the fact that in an organization, the amount of resources and influence is never equal. The power setting and superiority influence is called the organizational structure, in a business setting. The organizational structure is what dictates the extent to which employees can participate in making of decisions and implementation of such. Todd prefers individualism as compared to collectivism but he later learns to balance the perception from the American culture with those in the Indian Culture.

When he arrives in America, Todd first called his parents, because he had in himself, incorporated family values from India. This is unlike in the past where he could not even see them even though he lived 2 hours away from them. The ringtone of his mobile phone, which was set for him by Asha was an Indian hit song, also depicts the Indian culture, coupled with his new behavior to drink coffee with too much sugar. He learns to fit in both cultures comfortably, which appeared so hard for him as he entered India from America. This explains how cross cultural communication is important in understanding and accepting other people’s cultures and assimilating it in life. Todd clearly puts it clear about the importance of assimilating cross culture, proudly being part of both cultures, which he comfortable embraces.

Conclusion

In a nutshell, the movie, Outsourced depicts a cross-cultural life of the lead actor, finding it hard to adjust to the new culture which has totally very few things in India that compare with the American Culture . It first costs him quite much to get into understanding their lifestyle, but had to, since he already was with them and would be his counterparts for the time he was there. As he goes back to his mother land, he has learnt to accept the culture and feels part of the Indian community and culture, and better still, holding onto his culture, the American culture. This is a typical illustration of cross cultural management by persons in the business field (Cross-Cultural Management, 2013, 7).

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