書評

Cultural Intelligence – David C. Thomas and Kerr Inkson

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Cultural Intelligence時下流行什麼講智商﹐有最原祖的IQ思考力智商 ﹐也有早幾年興起的EQ情緒智商。在全球化的大趨勢下﹐與世界各地不同文化的人溝通﹐就要靠這本書所講的CQ文化智商。我公司與其他科技公司一樣﹐跟隨潮流外判工作去印度﹐在以色列和上海也有研發中心。於是不甘後人也講文化智商﹐買一大幢這本書回來﹐全公司每人分發一本﹐好讓我們學習如何和其他文化的人打交道。公司派發的書照例沒有多少人會看﹐我領了回來放在臺頭封塵。今次給公司派了去印度出差﹐在飛機上才臨急抱佛腳地刨完﹐希望多少可以讓印度的工作順利點。

文化可以影響一個人的思考和行為模式﹐在與不同文化的人溝通時﹐我們往往忘記了文化差異﹐把我們熟悉的文化標準套用在別人身上。若果我們不理解對方文化的差異﹐溝通就很容易出現誤解了。這本書並不是詳細例出每個文化的特點﹐而是講述一套心法﹐如何去培養自己的文化智商﹐可以適應不同的文化環境。書中把文化分為權力矩離﹐個人和集體主義﹐男女平等﹐以及風險承受程度四個指標﹐去幫助讀者分析陌生文化背後的動機默絡。並舉出例子去說明各種不同的情況下﹐不同文化可能的不同反應。當然文化智商並不能靠只讀書學習﹐必需要親身經歷異文化﹐才能夠慢慢理解語言和行為上微細的文化訊意﹐逐漸理解別人如何受文化影響而作出的決定。

很可惜這本書中的例子﹐大部份是用南美洲或亞洲的文化﹐沒有用印度文化作示範講解。不過書中用來分析文化的系統很有用﹐讓我不用盲摸摸地去學習新的文化。好像已有了一套骨架﹐只需把貼上文化觀測的肌肉﹐就可以呈現在文化的面貌。各地文化不同是不用爭議的事實﹐但我並不認同書中提倡文化不分高低的說法。我支持文化達爾文主義﹐認為各種文化透過競爭和進化﹐優質文化最終會淘汰劣質文化。不過那一個文化最優秀﹐是一個應然性問題﹐並不能解決不同文化溝通困難的實際性問題。管他就算是落後低劣的文化﹐在現實中要明白理解其他文化﹐才能夠更有效率地與其他文化的人溝通﹐達成到你想要求達到的目標。對落後文化進行文化啟蒙的工作﹐留給其他有心人做好了。

Daily Scribble

Some obversations about Indian culture

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It seems I am writing about India in my blog every day.  Well, I guess I am still experience the cultural shock.  Everything happening around me seems so strange and foreign to me.  Usually people will eventually get over with the cultural shock once they are familiar with the culture.  There are many things I want to write about Indian culture and at the same time I don’t know where to begin.  I will simply jot down a few observations I have over the weekend.  I should know how to explain things more systemically once I finished reading my book on the anthropology of culture.

I went to a zoo and safari on the weekend.  Inside the safari, the bus driver help us take many photos since he is siting closely to the window.  When we get off, I decided to give him some tips, 10 rupees.  To make me quite unpleasant is that he bargain with me asking for more tips, 100 rupees.  I am the only one in the bus giving him tips.  He should be glad to have any tips at all.  At the end I gave him 50 rupees, but I decided I will not give any more tips in India unless it is necesgary.

The Indian concept of time is totally different than Canadian.  When an Indian told you five minutes, it actually means anywhere from 15 minutes to an hour.  I gave up expecting any Indian becoming on time.  I guess I just have to wait patiently.  I have nothing else to do or place to go anyways.

I went to M.G. road on the weekend.  M.G. road is kinda like Robson Street in Vancouver, with lots of tourist store.  On the street people trying to sell things to you are everywhere.  Most of them sell cheesy key chains, handcraft souvenirs.  There is one guy trying to sell wall size Indian map to tourist.  That guy must be out of his mind.  No tourist want to carry a cheap poster size map back home.  Moreover it takes lost work to keep the map free off winkles.  I wonder who will buy an Indian map during travel.

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Craving for real food

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I have been eating India food since I came to Bangalore. The company cafeteria only serves Indian food, I have tried to find a normal restaurant around the guest house for the past three days but couldn’t find any. I end up eating Indianized western fast food in the mall next door. I am craving for real food, so I tried Indian Chinese food at so-call multi-cruise restaurant. It sort of taste like Chinese food, but the favor is much stronger, probably tailor to the appetites of Indians. I guess I shouldn’t have much expectation to begin with when I see the cook is Indian.

I am still craving for real food. I crave it so much that on Friday, I went to the Chinese restaurant at Hotel Ashok after work. I read from the internet review that the cook is actually Chinese. I was there too early, dinner start at 7:30p.m., so I end up sitting by the pool for 2 hours. The environment in Hotel Ashok is really nice, quiet and beautiful, seems like a different behind the gates. Finally my dinner came, I explicitly asked for Chinese style. The taste is right, 100% Chinese food. I had a beer, a chicken soup, a vegetable dish and a Canadian pork rib. The quality is ok, on par with Richmond HK style cafe. This meal is not cheap, the bill came close to CAD$90. Anyways, my stomach is satisfied.

After having real Chinese food, I shifted my crave for real Western food. Today, me and Martin, my colleague, went to Sunny’s for lunch. The style of the restaurant is quite similar to Earl’s or Milestones. To my surprise, I found steak on the menu. I am craving for beef too, so I decided to give it a try. The food is excellent, we had beer, appetizer, soup, main course and dessert for just CAD$25. Although Martin claims he already accustom to having Indian food 3 meals a day. He really enjoy his first real meal since he left Canada. Not to mention he is craving for beer! We end up drink lots of beer for the rest of the day. Whenever we feel tried and thirsty, we just find a pub and have a beer. I think I haven’t had this much beer in a day since my university days.

I guess if I can have real food for dinner every day, other than I can’t see Pat, working in Bangalore seems not so harsh. Having Indian food for lunch is ok, but having two Indian or Indian-look-alike meals a day is too much.

電影

Chak De India

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Chak De India 這個月給公司派了去印度公幹﹐自然要感受一下印度文化﹐看當地電影正是窺探生活文化的窗戶。印度是全球第二大的電影市場﹐每年電影產量僅次於荷里活﹐Bollywood就是印度的荷里活。在飛住印度的航班上﹐我觀看了我第一齣的印度電影﹐Chak De India。

傳 說中印度電影是載歌載舞﹐戲中加插很多無里頭的歌舞場面。不過這套印度電影很正常﹐除了演員是印度人﹐對白是講印度話外﹐與一套正常的電影大同小異。故事 是講述過氣曲棍球星當上國家女子隊的教練﹐帶領一隊雜牌軍奪取世界賽冠軍的勵志故事。這套電影是很典型的運動片﹐內容離不開隊員不和﹐魔鬼教練地獄式特訓 ﹐球隊給全世界看偏。結局當然是眾人建立團隊精神﹐克服萬難出國比賽﹐奇蹟地先輸後贏。簡直可以說是印度曲棍球版的足球小將。這電影節奏明快﹐雖然劇情老 土了一點﹐但故事很勵志好看。

除了通普運動劇情外﹐這電影也有些獨特的印度元素。印度是一個男尊女卑的國家﹐女人在社會上沒有地位。這個 問題間接地通過隊員的生活反映出來。有隊員給老父迫婚﹐要離家出走來集訓。有隊員的未婚夫反對她打球﹐認為打球沒有出息﹐不如回家相夫教子。女子更常常給 男人騷擾﹐在教練打算放棄這盤散沙﹐帶隊員出外最後晚餐時﹐遇上一班飛仔調戲﹐隊員整心合力教訓他們一頓﹐開始建立了起團隊精神。當然重男輕女的思想始終 要向現實低頭﹐當女子隊贏取冠軍衣錦還鄉﹐成為全國人民的英雄時﹐老父老公態度有一百八十度轉變。在印度在中國也是一樣﹐女子要抬起頭做人﹐就先要讓男人 看看她們的實力。

這套是去年最賣座的印度電影﹐連我這個不懂印度話的人﹐看字幕也看得津津有味﹐可見這電影的吸引力。運動勵志片一向有票 房保證﹐男主角是印度最紅的男星﹐加上十六個燕瘦環肥的美女隊員﹐單看這條方程式也知道會大收旺場。一齣好的電影就是好的電影﹐不論是西片港產片還是印度 片。印度電影不一定是無厘頭的歌舞﹐也可以是齣正正常常的好戲。

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Wipro

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I had a tour in the Wipro campus today, which is next door to our office.  Wipro is the biggest outsourcing company in India.  The campus is hugh, looks kinda like a small university.  Maybe not as nice as the Microsoft campus, but sure it is impressive.  I went to have lunch in the Wipro cafeteria with some of my Indian colleagues.  They are still serve only Indian food in the Wipro cafe but at least I have different variety.  I can choose north Indian cruise or south Indian cruise and most important of all non-veg dishes.  I ordered a butter chicken and it taste quite good.  Maybe I just missed meat too much.

Bangalore becomes the IT capital of India is probably thanks to Wipro.  Actually someone ever say Wipro starts the whole outsourcing industry.  The headquarter of Wipro is in Bangalore.  It now moved to a better building in town, but I saw the first very Wipro building in the Wipro campus.  To my surprise, Wipro is not only an IT house, it has business in many industries, such as building machinery, selling cooking oil, baby food, etc.  The IT department is the only business section of Wipro known by people outside of India.