The Globalization Reader, 5th Edition

59 Global/IndianCultural Politics in the IT Workplace

Smitha Radhakrishnan

I really stress the word global. And not American. Because even if their coworkers are predominantly American … that's changing. So they may work with someone from Poland or China. So the skills that we talk about are going to be useful globally. And that's about being transparent and clear. Because you need that. In virtual teams, you need this kind of communication … And it's a very appealing term. I mean, who doesn't want to work globally? And they [the Indian engineers] love it!

– Luellen Schafer, the founder and director of Global Savvy, a cross-cultural training firm in Silicon Valley

Because I'm global, I tend to be more interested in reading something about the US or whatever. I think a lot of that has got to do with globalization. And even with my television, my news, my movies. My restaurants. When I go out, I eat Italian food, and that makes me curious. So, in that way, I think globalization has really helped me. And, you know, when I was growing up, all this was just “modern” or “Western.” I think a lot of that is really going away. I think it's getting to be a part of Indian life … So everything is not just Western and modern, and hence, not so good. Things are changing. Because we have always been aware of the global world, but we have always shut it out. Now, we're letting it in. Always, there's a challenge, right? You have your own way of life and there's another way of life coming ...