Last Sunday, I had a chance to listen to a presentation given by Mr. Rajeev Aggarwal, CEO India of CVENT. Apart from other things that he said, one thing that really got my attention was his observation that in India, sub-consciously there still prevails mass scale caste system and a set level of hierarchy even in the corporate structure.
At first glance I thought he must be talking about Rural India, and probably staying in US for so long has given him this myopic view. (trust me it happens to the best of people, I have a friend who after 2 years in states now addresses us by , ‘U Indians’ )
I dwelled into this a little deep and realized that Rajeev isn’t myopic and in fact has hit the nail on his head.
Caste system does not necessarily mean brahmins, shatriyas and all, sure urban India has graduated from that rut. But a deeper look unravels a different story, we have just changed the names. From brahmins shatriyas now we have (in my industry) agents, Sr. Agents, Team leaders, Assistant managers, managers, and list goes on.
I relate to this with my own example. I was happily working in Hyper Quality as Quality Consultant. For the first time in my life after 3 years of experience, I had a feeling that I am doing, what I always wanted to do. I use to look forward to going to the office and work use to stimulate and challenge me.
And then I don’t know what happened. A strange urge to grow came in and I started comparing myself with my fellows.
This Sub conscious urge is the result of society and what Rajeev said makes sense because in India you are not judged by the kind and quality of work you are doing but by the seniority you have achieved.
Job description takes a back seat, how many people report to you is more critical. Avoiding the job satisfaction is the sure way of screwing your life, and I learnt that lesson the hard way. I got promoted as a Team Lead, my whole job-description changed. From the actual doer, I became a person who had to get it done. And with the passage of time I realized that is so not my forte
And being in this industry for last 5 years, I can safely say, that is everybody’s story. Everybody wants to get promoted, as a result people are getting promoted before they should. Emphasis is on Promotion and not on quality of work. Even Pay packages are driven by seniority and hierarchy and not by actual productivity. In society, you are judged on such bogus parameters, no parents would like to hand over his daughter to an agent (even if he is single point of contact taking care of mergers) but they will readily agree to tie her knot with a Sr. Manager (who probably doesn’t even know that only first form of verb has to be used with did and didn’t).
My next concern was, is this an Indian mentality or its natural human tendency to have this craving for fast growth, people reporting. And my personal experience tells me that Rajeev is absolutely correct.
There is dignity of labor in west. My client side SPOC , Ms Elizabeth Decoursey was 35 year old lady, taking calls for Inbound customer service division of Disney direct just like any other agent. Does that make her small in any way, NO in fact she has the domain expertise which is unmatched and she is indispensable asset to the company. When I was in Japan, I had a shocking discovery. A hair stylist or a painter earns more or less the same salary as a doctor. The emphasis is on quality of work and not on seniority. A good Gardner is thousand times better than a bad engineer. In India (and all my BPO friends would agree) we make jack of all trade jerks without any domain expertise and emphasis is on promotion and not on quality of work one does.
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