The Great Divide?

When the topic of offshoring comes up in most settings, the conversation invariably turns to culture. The frequency of mention reminds me of my days working at a Wall Street investment bank: Culture was mentioned so often that one felt that the bank was in the yogurt business!

Recently, however, I've begun to detect some bristling among client executives who deploy and manage offshore operations when they are presented with the roster of "cultural challenges" related to offshore operations.

Many would like to see the industry solve the culture problem once and for all, but it isn't going away anytime soon.

In the words of one senior IT executive, "The industry needs to move beyond the excuses of cultural differences if it wants to add maximum value to my business".  Implicit here is a bit of impatience with the challenges related to blending the business models of Western-based clients and emerging economies. The executive was referring to India in this case, but it could have been Brazil,  China, Poland...

I recently came a cross a great article, Five Challenges India Offshore Teams Face in Working with Americans, authored by Dr. Karine Schomer that explores these cultural differences. It includes a nice summation of the bridges that need to be built.

Although most of the concerns about offshoring have been directed to the developed countries in which jobs and wages appear threatened, I'm sensing a growing anxiety with the cultural complexities being experienced.  Western executives are asking, "As the client, shouldn't MY culture matter as much as that of the offshore destination?"

With an industry that is trying to demonstrate its maturity across a range of technical, political, economic, and managerial spectrums, many clients are expecting that the cultural gaps will abate.

Personally, I find this to be a critical measure of maturity for the offshore business model and proposition. It's only when the services are seen to be seamless that will we move beyond the first-generation of offshore solutions. To be clear, this isn't about accents on the telephone. Diversity is a great thing, but inefficiencies driven by lingering cultural differences are a drag on the industry.