Be firm, frank and friendly

An Indian company dealing with a foreign entity was in a piquant situation. Every time its foreign counterpart would want to communicate with it, a conference call would be arranged at an ungodly hour "" 3 am in India.

And since the Indian company did not want to spoil its association with its foreign partner, it found it tough to articulate the problem.

According to Zareen Karani Araoz, president, Managing Across Cultures: Karani Lam & Associates, this is one challenge that many Indian companies face as they are unable to be firm, frank and friendly at the same time.

Speaking at a National Association of Software and Service Companies (Nasscom) HR Forum in Hyderabad on 'Managing across cultures', Araoz said that Indians need to learn to say no.

"Indians are assumed to be hardworking, who do not mind working overtime or even receiving official calls at home. We should, however, ensure that this is not taken advantage of. Sharing problems candidly will help gain respect," she added.

Araoz is a cross-cultural management and collaboration consultant who has facilitated workshops in 20 countries. Some of the major organisations that she has dealt with include DuPont, P&G, Air India and AT&T.

"Another critical cultural challenge that Indian companies face is not being able to communicate bad news to their counterparts. However, it needs to be realised that bad news given early enough can be transformed into good news," Araoz said.

Terming culture as an invisible wall that people keep bumping into, Araoz said that effective communication across cultures could help an organisation operate its business successfully even while retaining its employees.

This issue needs to be taken into account with more companies going for inorganic growth across various boundaries, she added.