OUTSOURCED MOVIEStudent Name: Fatima Nasser Alali.

Student ID: H00247891

He was first asked what his father’s occupation. He was eating with his left hand but the India family was looked at wondering because in their traditions they eat with their right hand because the left hand in their traditions is considered unclean and they don’t return the food back to their plate.

Hofstede and High & Low contexts cultures:

According to Hofstadter's Individualism versus Collectivism dimension, many members of the Indian society have their future prescribed for them by the government, church, or family. And in the previous scene he was asked about his father’s job. India has a high context culture and in high context cultures professional and personal lives intertwine, who you know is important, and one’s identity is rooted in groups. Therefore, the Indian woman asked the foreigner about his father’s job, while the foreigner comes from a low-context society, which is built on short-term relationships and what you know is important, that is why it was weird for him that they were asking this type of personal question.

He was shocked and surprised because they washed their clothes and took showers in the street.

Hofstadter's Power Distance (PDI) dimension, “India is a strong example of a culture with high power distance as its Caste system divides the Indian population is divided into 5 groups, with each group having a higher status than the one below it. These castes define the power of an Indian citizen from birth and they cannot aspire to enter another caste” (itim international, n.a.) . This relates to this scene because it shows an example of a status and the men in the scene were born in this level because of their poor family conditions. In this scene the Indian men were depending on group work to get the laundry done and in high context cultures they tend to depend on group work. The foreigner found this weird because he comes from a low-context culture where individual work and self reliance is preferred.

Hofstede and High & Low contexts cultures:

The Indian man was talking to the foreigner about his decision of getting married to his girlfriend after he was promised a good salary saying that before the raise he could never even think about getting married.

In the previous scene, the driver was talking about his girlfriend which he planned to marry since he was assured he will have a future job with a good salary, this is related to the Masculinity versus Femininity dimension (MAS), “In masculine countries like India, the focus is on success and achievements, is validated by material gains, work is the center of one’s life and visible symptoms of success in the workplace is very important” (itim international, n.a.) . The scene shows that the Indian society has specific and clear gender roles where it is expected of the male to be able to provide to the female. This shows that India has clear and specific gender roles due to its high context culture.

Hofstede and High & Low contexts cultures:

When their manager asked them to pronounce the word “Chicago” and close their nostrils to help with the pronunciation they obediently did as they were told even though it was silly.

This scene relates to the dimension Power Distance (PDI) which explains that “In this type of society, managers count on the obedience of their team members and employees expect to be directed clearly in regards to their functions and what is expected of them” (itim international, n.a.) . In high context cultures authoritative people are in control and are obeyed.

Hofstede and High & Low contexts cultures:

The worker was being calm in a problematic situation and kept repeating “no problem”, which got on the foreigner’s nerves and said that there is a problem.

In this scene, the Uncertainty Avoidance (UAI) dimension is present because ”In this country, there is acceptance of imperfection; nothing has to be perfect no has to go exactly as planned. Traditionally, India is patient country where tolerance for the unexpected is high” (itim international, n.a.). In this scene the foreigner is frustrated because he is not getting results this is because he comes from a low context culture where they focus on results, while the Indian man is not worried because he comes from a high context culture where the process is more important than the product.

Hofstede and High & Low contexts cultures:

References• Batista, E. (2008, february 18). Geert Hofstede on the

Dimensions of Cultural Difference. Retrieved October 12, 2015, from ed batista executive coaching change management: http://www.edbatista.com/2008/02/hofstede.html

• itim international. (n.a.). What about India. Retrieved October 2015, from geert hofstede: http://geert-hofstede.com/india.html