An analysis of the “situationally elastic handling” of the truth in India.

It is often said that Indians do not take the truth very seriously. And in India we actually deal with clear information very differently than we are used to in Europe.

Polytheism as a cultural foundation

We Europeans are monotheistic and are convinced that there is only one truth (namely God). The written word is considered true, and everyone must abide by the law. In India, on the other hand, there are many truths: The Divine Principle can manifest itself in different deities and figures and, depending on what is in the foreground, one can, for example, refer to the “Goddess of Money” (Lakshmi) or the “Goddess of Wisdom “ (Saraswati) called.

(Traffic) rules in India

In India, people tend to make their own rules even outside of religion. This is most noticeable in road traffic. While everyone in Germany largely follows the traffic rules, on the streets of Mumbai or Chennai there is constant improvisation. However, every road user constantly pays attention to their entire surroundings and immediately adapts their behavior to the current situation, so that comparatively few accidents occur there too. There is no doubt that there are rules and regulations in Indian road traffic too - but it is pointless to refer to them. Instead, it is actually more sensible to constantly communicate with your surroundings and, if the situation requires it, to allow more or less intense deviations from the norm.

Creative excuses as self-protection when planning is uncertain

The example from road traffic described above is a metaphor for the different approaches here and there in business life. While the German side follows clear plans, processes and clear rules to achieve a defined goal, the Indian side often cannot do much with it and intuitively begins to get closer to the goal through its own means and usual ways.

From the perspective of an Indian employee (but also a company owner!), detailed planning does not make sense. The internal reasoning goes something like this: You yourself are integrated into hierarchies and systems and therefore don't have much room for maneuver in the turbulent Indian environment, where unexpected surprises are the order of the day. Imagine the Indian streetscape in your mind's eye again!

Due to this uncertainty, which results from the chaotic environment and a rather imperfect infrastructure, and on top of that in the context of Indian culture with its complex hierarchical network of relationships, Indians basically always have to keep all options open in order to survive. So you can also understand that they only want to give little binding information if possible. Unfortunately, in India the context that connects everything is so huge that something always happens that you have to prepare for spontaneously and therefore can never become concrete - at least that's how it looks in our Western perception.

Not everything that looks like the Taj Mahal is one (Bibi Ka Maqbara)

Relationship comes before content

In addition, in India the HOW (especially choice of words, appreciation of the relationship, politeness and “saving face”) is viewed as significantly more important than the WHAT (the content of a message). This usually leads to the most adventurous excuses and stories and rarely to a “no” because you don’t want to disappoint the other person.

Due to a variety of external uncertainties and specific cultural values ​​such as hierarchy and status, relationships, duty and trust, Indians often get entangled in contradictions and excuses. In this way, they also like to create their own subjective truth and perspective. It is actually inevitable that this comes into conflict with the objective and rational world view of a Central European.

Is planning pointless in India?

With such different approaches to the “truth,” the simplest “solution” is to throw in the towel in frustration or use an aggressive tone – certainly the worst of all options for action. However, you can also introduce a planning and controlling process that is suitable for India and primarily includes the following components:

  • Clarity and clear statements right from the start and leave no questions unanswered. In India, information is definitely an obligation to provide and will never be actively requested from you.
  • A comprehensive(!) description of the quality you require. There should be no room for personal interpretation here.
  • A detailed description for each step: what exactly needs to be done and what exactly should not be done and how it should definitely not be done.
  • Stay involved: Stay in control throughout the process. Anything less will be interpreted as a lack of interest and importance in your Indian venture.
  • “Daily” inquiries and permanent monitoring of production or project progress.
  • If something does not meet your wishes or expectations – follow up immediately (!) and escalate.

The general rule in India is: the more you are involved in the process, the more gets done. Indian leaders lead extremely closely. So if you coordinate Indian employees directly, you can't "apply too little pressure". Of course, this means a correspondingly high management effort on your part. For example, local area sales managers for Asia often complain that the Indian market is “eating” up to 80 percent of their available capacity. This is of course not satisfactory, but for us it is understandable and unfortunately also realistic.

You must also not succumb to the illusion that things in India should or even have to follow the European model. One can definitely say: If German companies believe that their approach here is the only right one in India, then they are opening themselves up to a whole lot of really big problems.

But if you can anchor a reasonable level of structure and process thinking in India and combine this with Indian strengths such as flexibility, improvisational talent, last-minute mobilization and a high level of commitment, you are assured of success in India.