A few years ago, a British, quality engineer, caused quite a furore in a major ship building yard in India, when he gestured at kneeling welder with his foot. The engineer was annoyed that, the welders quality was exceedingly poor.The event sparked off a row, with the workers union getting involved and productive time being lost and the engineer being shipped back to his home country at considerable cost.
The situation was quite understandable. The foot carries many a negative connotation in our culture or even Eastern Cultures, as against, Western ones. You may find your boss ( Western ) sitting in his office, with his legs on the table. Sailing with Germans I was always surprised when they placed their legs on the dining table, post a meal. There is no disrespect meant, but with the cultural conditioning that we have, it made me uneasy!
Cultural issues, have still not been given their due importance, as you can see from the recent story, this time from Indonesia...........
Angry at being called “stupid” by their Indian supervisor, some 10,000 local workers at a dry dock in Indonesia on Thursday went on the rampage, attacking their Indian colleagues and injuring four of them.
A total of 41 Indians employed at the PT Drydock World Graha docks on Batam -- an island south of Singapore -- were evacuated by a boat in a special seaport following the attack.
The four injured were among those evacuated under tight police protection, the Indonesian news agency Antara's website said, adding no fatality was reported during the incident. Around 400 police officers were deployed to stop the attack, Adjunct Senior Commissioner Eko Yudha, deputy head of the Barelang police, said.
Police sealed the factory following the attack by workers who also burnt some 20 vehicles. The violence occurred after an Indian supervisor cursed at Indonesian workers, the report said. "He (the supervisor) said Indonesian people are stupid. It's our nation's dignity, therefore we are angry," said Baim, one of the workers at the dock.
Close to 10,000 workers gathered in front of the factory and sang Indonesia's national anthem as well as other patriotic songs after the attack. The workers had earlier attempted to vandalise the factory with various shipyard equipment they had brought along. No one was arrested.
According to a report on the Antara website, Indonesia's Ministry of Manpower has set up a fact-finding team to be sent to PT Drydock World Graha following the riot.
"I have ordered setting up of a fact-finding team to be immediately sent to the field and settle the problem. The team will keep monitoring the development of the case," Minister of Manpower Muhaimim Iskandar was quoted as saying by the news website.
"We express deep regret over the incident which was caused by miscommunication between a foreign worker and a local worker in Batam. I hope it will be a lesson for us all especially companies employing foreign workers," the report quoted Iskandar as saying.
I'm very interested, in how this tiny shipyard is going to deal with the crisis! Indian welders & ship yard workers are some of the best in the world & they will be difficult to replace. It is also pertinent that, foreign workers are situationally aware in a land and its culture that they might be unfamiliar with.............It might be acceptable in many parts of India to call a blue collar worker 'a stupid' and get away with the act, but is a strict no no in many other parts of the world. Indians travelling abroad need to be culturally aware, for their own well being!
2 comments:
Good article. The best thing to do when one gets posted abroad is to be observant and thoughtful about each action adn utterances till one gets familiar. Any amount of class room training cannot modify the habits one has developed over the years. I think it is a good idea one develops the habit of non insulting behaviour even at home. We generally behave badly with people who report to us and when we are in position of power. The time to be culturally advanced is here in India. We must make a habit of good behaviour even at home. Time is now.
Shankar
Nagaraj,
You have covered and interestin topic that is motivating me to share my observations during my stay in the US and UK. In fact I started hating my own countrymen for their behaviour. I am just highlighting some of the points here.
- Very loud on phone in open office atmosphere even while in customer's office. We ahve tendency to speak long & irrelevant points.
- Very eager to do something to impress.
- Horrible table manners, including talking with food in the mouth.
- Three or four people walking side by side so slowly that it will block other pedestrians from moving at normal speed. We do not even have courtesy to say sorry. This is practiced even in office corridors.
- Without rules and fines we end up dirtying any place, particularly when no one is watching.
- Habit of washing mouth with loud sounds.
- Leaving toilets and sinks fully wet after use. The floow areas in these places get totally flooded.
No wonder most Indians get hated around the world.
All Indians going abroad should pass this test of common behaviours before being sent out of country. As of today we bring bad bname to the country. .BAd behaviou should be made expensive in India.
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