Effective Communication
More and more BPOs and western firms doing business in India are offering cross-cultural awareness and communication programs which are resulting in big wins in one of the most challenging areas of working globally - different communication styles. While India experiences a phenomenal surge in outsourcing with year on year increases in volumes since 2002, westerners doing business with India continue to reflect on what works and what needs improvement. One of the primary issues putting pressure on the BPO industry is communication. Companies are realizing that working with their global partners involves more than good infrastructure and sharing a common language - it requires effective communication.

Addressing Differences In Communication Styles
Initially BPOs attempted to bridge communication gaps by teaching employees to emulate American or English accents and to use a western name (Vishal becomes Vick, Tarun become Tom, etc.) while speaking with clients. The result often sounded like a jingoistic mimicry of the listener. Many companies shifted their training to accent neutralization and listening skills. While neutralizing accents to make the speaker more understandable and improving the Indian employees’ ability to understand UK and US accents has true value, it doesn't address the more complex issue of differences in communication styles.

Culture
Culture is one of the major drivers behind how we prefer to interact with others and informs what is an acceptable communication style. When cultural differences in communication styles exist the opportunities for unclear and misunderstood interactions increase dramatically.

Understanding Differences In Cultural Communication Styles
Americans tend to have a very direct communication style focused on getting quick answers and results. Americans do not generally fear or avoid conflict and in fact often use conflict as a means to solving a problem. Indians on the other hand tend to avoid conflict and often will not say “no” or question their American counterparts.

So, what happens when an American is asking an Indian to do something that is impossible? Often the response is vague or indirect which can be a frustrating experience for both parties. The American continues to push for a direct response as the Indian attempts to avoid saying “no” The perception from the American could be that the Indian is not knowledgeable and avoiding admitting it. The Indian may see the American as rude, demanding and pushy. The result is a communication breakdown. The good news is these cultural differences in communication style can and are bridged through training.

As miscommunication is at the root of many forms of conflict, it is helpful to understand differences in cultural communication styles. Conflict can result from incompatible values, norms or goals between different cultures. For example according to Indians, labelling some interaction as a conflict and breaking it into smaller component parts is a distinctly western approach that may from their perspective obscure and strain relationships.

The reason for denial of conflict by many Indians is that this is a cultural preference to see the world through an eye of harmony rather than of conflict.

Cross Cultural Awareness
The aim of cross-cultural awar¬eness training is not to change the person attending training, but to build an awareness and increase understanding to avoid the communication breakdowns and conflict that can occur when interacting with people from a diverse background.

When we understand each other better the result is a better working environment, less conflict and increased productivity. The truly “global” organization will dedicate resources to cultural integration and provide the training required to reduce cross-cultural misunderstandings and increase their competitive advantage.