Case Study: Outsourced
The film outsourced is a film based on an interplay between two cultures; American and Indian. It showcases how people in different countries suffer from prejudice. Todd is at first unable to handle culture shock that faces him when he travels to India as well as problems at his work place. For example nobody gets his name at the work place, he eats with his left hand which is considered unclean in India. To deal with the loneliness that comes with culture shock, he makes numerous calls to his family. He felt that the people in the work environment were somewhat uncultured and to him, learning about America was a way out, yet the workers were native English speakers only that their accent was different.
His American friend gives Todd a wake-up call to stop resisting the Indian culture for him to do better. He then decides to introduce incentives to the workers to improve performance. The system works and there is improvement at work which causes Todd to apologize to the workers and accepts to learn the Indian Culture.
Trompenaars’ model of national culture difference is portrayed in the aspect of Universalism versus Particularism. Universalism appears when Todd feels that the Indians at his work place should learn the American culture and work accordingly. The people in India still maintain in doing things according to their culture and preserve their beliefs like the taboo on eating with the left hand. Cultural dimension theory on High versus Low by Hofstede shows how Todd can say whatever he wants or feels to his boss, whereas in Indians never argue with their seniors at work. In America, people of different work rank are equal, whereas in India there is a difference. Individualism versus collectivism theory is applies where Todd was trying to get ideas from the Indians as how to improve their work with no response. Indians do what they are told to do and not pitch in ideas. Had Todd taken time to appreciate the Indian Culture early enough, he would have easily adapted and not have gone through the struggle of introducing incentives.
Towards the end, Todd refused to take the offer to China and recommends that Puro goes as his replacement. He has made a wise decision as he had just begun to adapt to a new culture that would be erased if he moved to China. His love for Indian culture can be shown through his Romance with Ash despite him knowing that its ‘a holiday to Goa”.
At the work place, the Indians had started to get used to the system by Todd therefore informing them that the business had to be shifted to China on a very short notice was a bad idea. That would mean that the workers would lose their Jobs including the culture of incentives that they had been introduced to.
The Indian culture is more conservative and does not allow explicit scenes to be filmed. The filming of this movie has brought to my attention how the media affects cultures. For example, the movie has been filmed in India and since the production company is American, there are scenes depicting intimate romance and kissing between and Indian and an American. As a film production manager, I have to find out ways through which different cultures will work together in a film without violating the beliefs of either.
