You are going to watch and create a reflection on the film
"Outsourced".
These questions will help you. If you miss watching the film in
class, you may get a copy from the library and watch it at home. Here are some
clips from "Outsourced"
Cultural Dimensions
in Outsourced
As you watch the film, answer the questions and write down any
examples of different cultural dimensions. This will help you with
your reflection.
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Cultural Dimension
|
Character
Todd, Puro, Aisha or other
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Outsourced Scene
or Circumstance
|
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Low-context culture
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High-context culture
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Individualism
|
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Collectivism
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Low power distance
|
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High power distance
|
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Uncertainty tolerance
|
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Uncertainty avoidance
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Task orientation
|
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Social orientation
|
Create a reflection about the movie Outsourced using the poweroint I give you. Show
that you really understand the above cultural concepts.
1. As soon as Todd arrives, he experiences the discomfort of being disoriented in a
strange new place. What happens at the airport?
2. When a friendly traveler helps him get on the train, what does he tell him to do?
3. When he gets on the train, he cannot find an empty seat. How is this problem
solved for him? How might this be a cultural solution?
4. As any exchange student, he has a lot of experiences trying new food. His first
encounter is with an iced drink. What happens?
5. First encounters with a culture can be shocking – Todd sees crowded streets with
cows, noise, and a man urinating in the street. But how does his host describe the
city?
6. Even though the host Puro speaks English, Todd uses American slang a lot
without thinking. So as not to insult Puro, what does he say the meaning of
Schmuck is?
7. Todd wants to check in to a hotel. But Puro insists he comes to a boarding house.
What is the reason he gives Todd?
8. As soon as they meet, Aunti Ji starts asking very intimate questions that
Americans who have just met would never ask. What kind of things does she ask?
9. During his first conversation with Aunti Ji he makes two big mistakes. What are
they?
10. The Golden Rule says do unto others as you would have them do unto you. That
means his Indian hosts and friends are trying to make him comfortable the way
they would be comfortable. How does this apply when the servant is preparing
tea for Todd?
11. How does Todd figure out why one does not eat food with the left hand?
12. What is ethnocentric about his statement "You need to learn about America"?
13. Why do they disagree on how a "native" speaks English?
14. What doesn't Todd understand about the Indians' response to the "cattle brand"?
15. What is Todd's reaction to "You need to learn about India"? What stage of culture
shock might it represent?
16. He calls home several times. Why? What stage of culture shock might provoke
calls home?
17. What mistakes in language usage are represented in the recording of the call about
"a rubber"?
18. Why is he so eager to go to McDonnells?
19. Todd doesn't understand bargaining. How does the Indian respond to this?
20. What does I.N.D.I.A. stand for?
21. What advise does his fellow American have for him?
22. When Todd develops the incentive system, he has begun to adapt to India. How
has he adapted?
23. When he looks at the cow in the office the second time, why is his reaction so
different?
24. Explain the difference between American and Indian cultures when Todd and
Puro discuss how often he visits his family and why he doesn't live with them.
25. What cultural values are involved in the exchange between Aunti Ji and Todd
about ironing his underwear?
26. How well does Todd handle himself when he is invited over the wall to an Indian
home for a meal?
27. In what ways does he show he has adapted?
28. When the call center floods and they are shut down, Todd finds an "Indian"
solution. What is it?
29. When Todd comes home, there are several signs that his Indian experience has
influenced him. Name three ways he has become more "Indian".
-Florida Study Guide
Outsourced and
Cultural Dimensions
Outsourced is an
excellent film to give meaning to intercultural concepts.
There are five sets of cultural
dimensions featured in Adler and Elmhorst’s (2008) textbook Communicating at
Work.
·
Low-context and high-context culture
·
Individualism and collectivism
·
Low power distance and high power distance
·
Uncertainty tolerance and uncertainty avoidance
·
Task orientation and social orientation
and examples from the film that
represent each of the dimensions.
Low-Context
Culture and High-Context Culture
A low-context culture “uses language
primarily to express thoughts, feelings, and ideas as clearly and logically as
possible . . . The meaning of a statement is in the words spoken”
(Adler& Elmhorst, 2008, p. 47). A high-context culture, on the other
hand, “relies heavily on subtle, often nonverbal cues to convey meaning, save
face, and maintain social harmony. Communicators . . . discover meaning
from the context in which a message is delivered” (p. 47).
Low-Context
and High-Context Culture
In the film, Todd has a straight-talking style that
reflects a low-context culture. For example, when Todd is first taken
to the ramshackle building that houses the call center in Gharapuri, he does
not hide his reaction: “Oh, you
gotta be kidding me. This is it?” he asks Puro. Similarly, Todd does not hide his dissatisfaction with
the call center’s high MPI, the average number of minutes per incident spent to
resolve each call: “Why is the MPI so bad?” he asks. “Puro, this place is a
disaster.”
In contrast, Todd’s Indian counterparts reflect a
high-context culture. For example, when Todd asks Puro if he can take a long trip to
recover a shipment that has been sent to the wrong location, Puro declines the
request in a very indirect manner, in line with collectivists’ concern for
maintaining social harmony. “No problem,” he says. “But first I must sleep for
two hours, so that I can come back for the interviews with the new agents, and
then I must make sure that my mother gets to the hospital.”
Individualism
and Collectivism
Individualistic cultures “offer their
members a great deal of freedom, the belief being that this freedom makes it
possible for each person to achieve personal success” (Adler &
Elmhorst, 2008, p. 48). Members tend to “put their own interests and those of
their immediate family ahead of social concerns” (p. 48). In contrast, members of collectivist
cultures “have tight social frameworks in which members of a group . . . feel
primary loyalty toward one another and the group to which they belong” (p. 48).
·
Todd has his own apartment in Seattle, he lives alone, and he is
ambitious and consumption-oriented. As he explains to Puro: “In my world, it
just makes sense to work your ass off and go into credit card debt just so you
can have that 50-inch plasma.”
·
Todd also does not see his parents often, even though they live
only two hours away from him. This news stuns Puro, who also cannot understand
why Todd continues to work for a company and a boss he dislikes.
Todd and Puro
are at opposite ends of the individualism-collectivism continuum.
A series of events at the beginning of
the film also highlight the contrast between individualist and
collectivist cultures:
·
When Todd sits down on a crowded train after a boy has given him
his seat, the boy unabashedly sits on Todd’s lap, much to the surprise of Todd,
who is used to the private personal space of a person from an individualist
culture.
·
When Puro is taking Todd to his accommodations, Puro changes the
plans for Todd to stay at the Gharapuri Palace Hotel. “That place is very
lonely,” says Puro, in true collectivist manner. “I’ll take you to Auntie Ji’s
guest house. She will take care of you better than your own real mother.” When
individualist Todd protests that he would prefer to go to his hotel, Puro
insists: “We go to Aunti Ji’s. . . . You’ll not be lonely there.”
·
Finally, when Todd arrives at Aunti Ji’s, this is the first
question she, as a collectivist, asks: “So, Mr. Toad. What does your father
do?”
·
Interactions between Todd and Asha also highlight the contrast
between members of individualist and collectivist cultures. When Todd asks Asha
if she would ever consider living in the United States, she says: “I would miss
my parents; it would be too hard.”
·
When they are in public together, Asha is concerned what others
will think. Todd, on
the other hand, cannot understand
this preoccupation. “You’re a free woman!” he exclaims.
·
Then when he hears the news that her parents have arranged her marriage
since she was a child, he cannot believe that a smart, opinionated woman like
her would accept this.“What about your right to choose for yourself?” he asks.
Low
Power Distance and High Power Distance
Cultures with low power
distance “downplay differences in power” (Adler & Elmhorst, 2008, p. 50) and
its members are comfortable approaching or challenging superiors. Cultures with
high power distance accept an unequal distribution of power and the fact that
“some members have greater resources and influence than others” (p. 50).
·
The low power distance characteristic associated with American
culture is revealed in the totally uninhibited way in which Todd speaks to his
boss, Dave. On different occasions, Todd calls Dave a “corporate slime-ball”
and a “cheap bastard.”
·
Todd’s demonstration of low power distance contrasts with the
deferential way in which his Indian employees address him, using Mr. Todd and
Sir.
Uncertainty
Tolerance and Uncertainty Avoidance
Cultures that tolerate
uncertainty are more comfortable with unpredictability and risk taking, and
they are “relatively tolerant of behavior that differs from the norm” (Adler &
Elmhorst, 2008, p. 50). Cultures that avoid uncertainty “are less comfortable
with change. They value tradition and formal rules, and show less tolerance
for different ideas” (p. 50).
In Outsourced, Asha refers to
practices in India that are characteristic of uncertainty avoidance:
·
“A girl in my position has her whole life mapped out in front of
her.” Asha explains that her father is an assistant manager in a phone company
and that her mother comes from a small village.
·
Low-context and high-context culture
·
In a significant moment for Asha, Todd shows her that people can
change their “inherited” roles. Representing a culture that tolerates
uncertainty, Todd promotes her to assistant manager, saying he believes that
“Asha can do anything.” Those words are magical for Asha. “I always wanted to
believe that, but until you, I didn’t think it was true,” she tells Todd.
Task
Orientation and Social Orientation
Task-oriented cultures focus on
making its members “more competent through training and use of up-to-date
methods and are highly concerned with individual success” (Adler &
Elmhorst, 2008, p. 51).
Cultures with high social
orientation “focus more on collective concerns” such as cooperative problem
solving and maintaining a friendly atmosphere (p. 51).
In Outsourced, the continued
pressure to achieve a lower MPI rating reflects the task orientation of Todd’s
and Dave’s culture.
·
Puro, on the other hand, represents a social orientation when,
early on, concerned about Todd’s unwell appearance from eating gola, he
abandons his job responsibilities to go find food that will help Todd’s stomach.
Using the cultural dimensions framework
and backed up by specific examples from the film Outsourced, helps
students to see general differences among cultures. But, Outsourced also
shows cultural dimensions not usually associated with their native cultures:
o Individualism and collectivism:
·
At the end of the film, the first phone call Todd makes when he
arrives home in Seattle is to his parents. His experience in India has changed
him, and this phone call is one manifestation of that change.
o Low power distance and high power
distance:
·
Indian call center workers begin to address Todd by his first
name.
o Uncertainty tolerance and uncertainty
avoidance:
·
In the midst of tradition-bound India, Todd’s Indian neighbors who
live on the other side of the wall of the guest house demonstrate an extreme
ability to adapt to difficulties and to find creative solutions to problem.
Thus, a sterling example of uncertainty tolerance exists within a culture prone
to uncertainty avoidance. Todd himself is inspired by these neighbors when he
takes action to restore electricity to the call center after flooding.
o Task orientation and social
orientation:
·
Although Todd is the task master at the beginning of his tenure in
India, he later veers toward a more social orientation, by asking his Indian
employees: “What would make your work day a more positive experience?”
·
For their part, the Indian employees become more task oriented as
they respond to an incentive program that rewards MPI improvement by giving
them access to company merchandise.
To conclude, Outsourced provides
a rich backdrop for exploring the meaning of intercultural concepts, in terms
of broad generalities as well as accompanying complexities.
This information sheet has been adapted
from an article by Carol Briam from Zayed University
References
Downloaded from bcq.sagepub.com
at SWETS WISE ONLINE CONTENT on November 14, 2011
398 BUSINESS
COMMUNICATION QUARTERLY / December 2010
Adler, R. B., & Elmhorst,
J. M. (2008). Communicating at work: Principles and practices for
business and the
professions (9th ed.). Tuas Basin Link, Singapore: McGraw-Hill.
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