The “we” of working together

By Sugata Mitra

It is generally understood that low skilled jobs are migrating to low wage economies as a result of advances in information and communication technology. While this is happening in India, such growth will be limited to a workforce that is trained in cities, and therefore, relatively small in numbers. Such jobs are located in affluent suburbs of large cities, where the standard of living, the cost of living and wages are already beginning to reach, and sometimes exceed, those in the developed economies.

As a result, industries are moving to smaller towns and will, eventually reach the rural communities. This is where 70% (700 million in the case of India) of the population live. However, the standards of education in such remote areas are not suitable for the low skilled job market.

Unless this problem is immediately addressed, outsourcing of low skilled jobs to India will reach its limits.

We are not one, we are two worlds.

It is also assumed that high skilled jobs will remain in the developed economies and high skilled workers will migrate to such economies. In the Indian IT sector, this has traditionally been so. However, in recent times, there is an increasing tendency for high skilled workers to return, or indeed, not leave to start with. This is the result of higher wages and the resultant standards of living within the Indian IT industry. As a result, the research and development laboratories of some of the largest technology companies in the world have moved to India. As economic growth drives standards of living higher, there will be a major slowing down of the migration of high skilled people from urban India.

WE have not yet learned to work together.

If India is to continue exporting high skilled people to the developed economies, such workers will have to be produced from the non-urban and less affluent areas of the country. The quality of education in such areas is, once again, entirely inadequate for the production of such workers.

Indeed, the demand for low and high skilled workers within the Indian domestic industry is also facing a shortage. In order to address the issue of education in remote (non-urban) locations, it is necessary to first understand the effects of remoteness and culture on the quality of education. It is then necessary to examine alternatives to traditional educational practice. Teacher migration is a root cause for the poor quality of education in remote areas. Teacher training to improve the quality of teachers, the traditional “solution” on which enormous resources are used, only aggravates the problem.

In the next five years, if growth is to be maintained, the focus will have to shift away from administrative “solutions” to the fundamentals of educational theory, technology and a search for alternative educational systems. Self organising systems, synchronous distance education, teacher independent learning and remote presence technologies will form the basis of such alternatives.

However, this article is not about education, it is about we – the Indians.

American companies dealing with Information and communication technology are often required to hire persons who are residents of India or of Indian origin. This is usually a consequence of the software development and the “business process outsourcing” (BPO) industries. In recent times, such appointments have been the subject of much debate, since they represent the migration of jobs from the USA to India. Advances in telecom technology make it possible for American corporations to carry out large parts of their operations remotely, in India, thereby saving orders of magnitude in cost. While the social consequences of such job migration may be of concern, in this article we will merely examine the process of hiring Indians, since this is likely to continue unabated in the immediate future.

Corporations in the USA usually consider Indians as citizens of a single country and, therefore, homogenous. While this is true in principle, it is very different in practice. India is an extremely diverse country and differences in the personality of Indians in different parts of the country can be as different as the differences between, say, Russians and the Chinese. This can result in unpleasant surprises once Indian employees are hired.

I am an Indian. I have been hiring Indians for all sorts of purposes for the last 25 years and this article is an attempt to summarize some of the key rules that I have discovered to avoid mistakes in selection. I write this in the hope that some of this experiential and historical experience may help Americans select Indians that will fit the roles designated for them.

A little about India may be useful to start with. It is a relatively large country, about half the size of the United States. India is a peninsula attached to the Asian mainland between Afghanistan to the west, China to the north and the south-east Asian nations of Thailand and Myanmar to the east. In many ways, India is the bridge between Europe and the far-east.

Protected by the mighty Himalayan mountains in the North and the Arabian sea, the Indian ocean and the Bay of Bengal in the west, south and east respectively, India remained undisturbed for thousands of years. The land was extremely fertile, fed by the mighty rivers that were formed from the melting snows of the Himalayas. Great civilizations developed on the banks of the Indus, the mythical Saraswati, the Ganges, the Godavari and other rivers of the region. In the period between (at least) 8000 BC and 1000 AD, trade flourished between Egypt, Greece, Rome, China and all other countries of the then civilized world. Taxila and Nalanda, among the greatest universities of the ancient world, produced the earliest works of philosophy, mathematics, astronomy, medicine, economics and technology. The textual works of the period were studied and carried back to the west by the greatest scholars and students of the time – from Al Baruni and Herodotus, to Huen Tsang and eventually Voltaire and Mark Twain, all documented the incredible achievements of the time.

India has been invaded and occupied by smaller countries and kingdoms in Europe, Arabia and central Asia for the last thousand years or so. Every invader, while they looted and destroyed large parts of the country, were deeply affected by the cultures and knowledge they encountered. Millennia of Indian philosophical thought had emphasized non-violence, non-materialism and holistic thinking. This resulted in a country that was perhaps the easiest in the world to conquer. However, what the conquerors did not realize was the Indian conquest of minds and cultures that would follow their physical act of conquest. From Alexander the great to Lord Curzon, from Chengiz Khan to Akbar, all carried back along with the gold and jewels, the decimal number system, the Sanskrit grammar, algebra, geometry, astronomy, music, medicine, textiles and metallurgy. Only to return after converting the knowledge into newer and more powerful weapons of war!

India accepted them all. Integrated them into the social fabric, tweaked their relatively primitive cultures and sent them back, changed for ever. Languages changed all over the ancient world, influenced by Sanskrit. In the modern world, the “tandoori chicken tikka masala” became Britain’s national dish!

If survival of the fittest is nature’s measure of success, India with one sixth of the world’s population became humanity’s greatest survivor. When Intel and Microsoft came to “conquer” India with their microprocessors and operating systems in the 1990s, little did they realize the flood of Indians that would invade the world of software development.It is in this context that Indian IT and BPO industry personnel should be viewed.

People in India are a mixed and varied lot. They speak 17 different languages, 700 dialects and represent every genetic and socio-economic variation existing in the world. An Indian’s personality and attitudes are shaped by several factors. Geographic location, education and the erstwhile caste system being some of the key factors.
In the figure below, I have divided India into four major geographies, North, East, West and South. The blank area to the east can, in general be considered as part of the east.

In India they are many different “We’s“ …

People of the four geographies are quite different from each other. In India, communities of people are often identified with specific states or languages of the country. For example, people from the state of Punjab, who speak the Punjabi language are called Punjabi’s, while those from the state of West Bengal, who speak the Bengali language are called Bengali’s.

The North of the country has been attacked by other countries for millennia and the people from there, predominantly Punjabis, are characterized by short term goals, corruption, cultural immaturity, and low education. They can be highly ambitious and materialistic and are capable of waiving all moral or ethical values to achieve their goals. They are practical and very hard working but lack imagination and creativity. They have little appreciation for the arts and have poor esthetics. They are mostly vegetarian and eat only chicken, if they do eat meat. Women have few rights in this region and are considered as good only for child rearing. Female infanticide is common and the ratio of males to females in the population can be a frightening 10:7 in some areas. They would be good at sales, engineering, telling lies, weaseling out of difficult situations, working long hours, and partying. They tend to get along well with the average American.

The East of the country is extremely fertile, the Ganges river delta being the most fertile region on earth. This part of the country has not been attacked as often as the north, however, Kolkata (earlier called Calcutta) was the city from where the British ruled their empire. It is also the region from where Gandhi’s principles of “passive resistance” and “civil disobedience” destroyed the British Empire without bloodshed. The region is dominated by the Bengali people. The eastern people are similar to, and often look like, the people of the Far East. They are lazy and have low ambition. However, they are usually highly educated, talented in the arts and are sensitive. They can be very emotional and tend to run away from difficult situations. They eat everything and enjoy eating and drinking very much. Football and cricket are regional obsessions, although most prefer to watch and comment rather than participate. Women in this region are powerful, very intelligent and frequently more active than the men. Indeed, it was a Bengali woman that lowered the Union Jack in Bombay to end the British rule in India. This region has produced most of the Nobel Laureates, Oscar winners and Grammy awardees of India. They would be good at jobs involving creativity, communication, media and science. They make excellent teachers and get along easily with American intellectuals.

Eastern India also consists of the North East. This is a beautiful and neglected region with people who are indistguish- able from the people of the Far East. English is spoken every- where, although with a strong accent. Beef and pork are staple foods of the region along with fish from the magnificent Bhrahmaputra river.

The people of north-eastern India make excellent employees for those jobs that involve low intellectual levels. They will follow instructions and make few mistakes as long as the circumstances are described clearly during their induction. They are unlikely to be original thinkers and problem solvers. In this respect, they will be very similar to, but cheaper than their American counterparts.

The people of western India fall into two categories. The upper west consisting of Gujaratis, Sindhis and Marwaris are very different from the Maharashtrians of the rest of the region. The former are astute business people and control most of India’s economy and the stock markets. They are excellent entrepreneurs, have few values other than those connected with money and are mostly street-wise. Many consider education and professions a waste of time. They make excellent con-men and scamsters and can talk their way into most jobs. They are strictly vegetarian and eat all manner of deep fried food. Many are obese. The women of this region are encouraged to stay at home, from where they control the family wealth. As employees, Gujaratis, Sindhis and Marwaris can be very hard working and diligent as long as it serves their interest to do so. They will walk out of a job into a better paying one without a second thought.

People of the rest of the western region are mostly from the state of Maharashtra. They are among the brightest and most educated of all Indians. Maharashtrians value education and patriotism above most things. They are practical and often very creative. However, their love of the intellect can sometimes be obsessive leading to people who have excellent intentions but are not too good at getting things done. They are mostly vegetarian, although they eat fish and chicken irregularly. Women of this region are efficient, educated, liberal and extremely capable. The Indian film industry, the largest in the world, is located in Mumbai (erstwhile Bombay), in this region. They have also produced the world’s best cricketers. Maharashtrians make excellent employees – loyal, intelligent and hard working. They would make good communicators, programmers, engineers, scientists and could be good at most professions if motivated by altruistic values.

If you draw a horizontal line through the city of Mumbai, the region below that line would be called South India. It is a diverse region consisting of the states of Andhra, Karnataka, Kerala and Tamilnadu. Understanding or describing South India in a few paragraphs is not easy; however, it is from here that that the Indian IT revolution originated and one cannot understand India, particularly Hindu India without reference to this region.

Academic excellence, mathematics, algorithmic thinking, idio­syncrasies and an all but indestructible set of cultural values characterize the people of the south. Add to this an almost incomprehensible English pronunciation, a dark complexion and a natural perm and you would have a reasonable picture of the south Indian. While they are, almost invariably, brilliant, south Indians can be deceptive, intolerant, dishonest and cruel. They will quietly perform technological and scientific miracles, as long as it serves their purpose to do so. They will dump you when they choose to, without a backward glance.

South Indian food habits can be difficult. The people of Andhra and Kerala will eat meat or fish, provided it is cooked in their own spices. The region has an abundance of spice and has, in the past, given the world – pepper, cardamom, cloves, cinnamon and many other aromatic herbs. It is said that spices were traded between south India and the west from king Solomon’s time.

The people of Tamilnadu, the Tamils, are strict vegetarians. They will eat mostly rice and sauces made from yoghurt and tamarind, spiced with peppers. Only one form of cooking, the Chettinad cuisine, consists of very hot meat preparations and this is relatively rare.

The women of the south are diminutive, subservient and very polite. These characteristics are mostly put on and these, extremely accomplished, women have made and destroyed empires without as much as moving a muscle. The people of southern India form the backbone of the software industry all over the world, and particularly, the United States. It can be argued that any large piece of software today would have significant parts of it written by south Indians.

What does all this mean to you as a potential employer of Indians? I think the following questions are important while evaluating an Indian for employment:

1. Where were you born? – This question will enable you to find out what community the candidate belongs to. If he or she is not born in India, you will have to probe the origins of parents and the languages spoken at home. Indians brought up in other countries tend to be very different in their mannerisms from their native cousins; however, the basic community traits tend to remain the same.
2. What languages do you speak? – Most Indians speak three or more languages. Hindi is the national language of the country, English the common “bridging” language, and a mother tongue that will give you an indication of community.
3. What school did you go to? – In India, there are three kinds of schools, private schools that are expensive, government schools that are nearly free and “missionary” schools that are generally run by Christian or other religious missions. The three kinds of schools produce very different kinds of people. Private schools produce smart, selfish and communicative students. Government schools produce highly educated and often, creative, students with poor communication and social skills. Missionary school students tend to have good values and behavior, although they may lack academic excellence and creativity.
4. What caste do you belong to? – This is a tricky question. The best answer would be where the candidate is unaware of his or her caste. If a candidate does name a caste, it would probably indicate a mind that is affected by the caste system. There are many castes in India, the highest being the Brahmin (intellectual). Brahmins consider themselves superior to most other people, although they may not say so. Brahmins from south India, in particular, are unlikely to consider anyone, other than their own kind, to be their intellectual equals or superiors. The next caste is the Kshtriya, who are warriors. Kshtriyas tend to be honest, loyal and hard working, once you gain their trust. Below the Kshtriyas are a host of “lower” castes, all of whom, if they are still affected by this ancient system, will tend to be subservient in one way or the other. Finally, there are the lowest castes, the Untouchables, who are unlikely to reveal their caste. Incidentally, anyone who is not a Hindu is an Untouchable!

In conclusion, Indians can make wonderful, inexpensive employees provided you put them to the job they will do best in. And what they will do best in is often deeply dependent on the socio-cultural history of this ancient land.

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