“Outsourced” Study Guide

 

Outsourced

You are going to watch and then write 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"

http://www.outsourcedthemovie.com/Clips/ms_educlips.html

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 write a good reflection.

The reflection has to be written in your next class.

 

Cultural Dimension	Character Todd, Puro, Aisha or other	Outsourced Scene or Circumstance
Low-context culture
High-context culture
Individualism
Collectivism
Low power distance
High power distance
Uncertainty tolerance
Uncertainty avoidance
Task orientation
Social orientation

 

Reflection

Write a reflection about the movie Outsourced. Show with examples 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?
How could this advice apply to what an exchange student has 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 come 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? How might this be an example of the "Inbound
Syndrome"?

21. What advice 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? How does he know he is successful?

28. When the call center floods and they are shut down, Todd finds an "Indian"
solution. What is it?

29. When Todd's boss comes to India, he eventually explains why – Todd has to
leave. How is his reaction similar to that of an exchange student?

30. 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.

 

Below is a brief explanation of the cultural dimensions:-

 

·         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:

 

·         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.

 

·         Low power distance and high power distance:

Indian call center workers begin to address Todd by his first name.

 

·         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.

 

·         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.