#Infosys CEO Vishal Sikka: Indians don't speak up, just follow orders ow.ly/FqXv1
Before I go deep into the article I would like to know how many of you think that our environment ( I am trying not to use the word culture here) support "speaking up", asking questions like "Why". I can't answer for the best possible cases but by now I have experience of working in both, an Indian based company and a non-Indian based company and my answer will be a big resounding No. The culture pushes us to follow the hierarchy and act accordingly. Talk based on your position.
I would try to share some experiences which might not be exactly relevant in this case but would at least show the consequences of speaking up and not following hierarchies. In my first project as an SAP consultant, I was not supposed to talk directly to the customers. I had to take instructions from my immediate boss who would many times not understand the requirements clearly. This caused unnecessary iterations. When I tried to speak up, there was no solution found rather my appraisals were screwed up inspite of getting many good recommendations from the customer. I was not aware of the consequences of not being in good books of my boss which only means do-as-you-are-asked-to do. Don't question. Not just appraisals but there were other opportunities which never came my way because of it.
It is a very different feeling when your peers are treated differently in the same team because they follow the flow and not try to disrupt anything. The biggest shock was when I saw the 360 degree review going for a toss.The fact is, in most of the cases people at a certain hierarchical level always try to please the immediate next hierarchical level. So there is no confidence that giving the negative feedback would actually correct anything rather bounce back on the employee's career at the organization.
Fast forward to some of most recent happenings. Few clients would prefer documentation for any activity that happens in the project and managers would pride themselves of knowing the clients standards and guidelines. I faced one such manager who said I am not being right by transporting deleted entries in a transport request. He wanted me to directly delete entries in production because he had done that in some past case. In case of such horrific scenarios, I usually would be too shocked to discuss anything. He would not encourage a discussion at any point of time, rather " do as I say because I am your manager" attitude. In most of the cases when I would have asked "Why" I received reply like " Because I want you to do this " or because his manager wants it to be done that ways. Because of my "speaking up" nature he would not miss a chance to demean me. I feel extremely disturbed when I see many blindly following instructions and never questioning them. But then it is this attitude which fetches gains, at least in the short term.
The next time I faced this was when I participated in a community event. There was a template for everything and one had to follow that and not one's own style. I pulled myself out of the event without any argumentation.
But then there are good people too but I don't know which one dominates the culture.
These scenarios are at a very low level but then they distinctly illustrate the point that speaking up is not encouraged in most of the cases. You never know when you end up offending someone.
So in short creativity and boldness is not yet completely accepted and encouraged in our environment. So may be if one fine day, someone will ask me to give creative ideas, I will not be able to do that because I was never encouraged to do so.
I would not like to end the blog on a negative note, hence would add that following my own style is must as society would "Damned if I do and damned if I don't , so it's better that I do".
P.S. - Damned if you do and damned if you don't is a quote from Eleanor Roosevelt and I have used it as a blog title and also while ending the blog. ( http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/e/eleanorroo109473.html)
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