The Outsourcing Philippines Advantage
Prospective offshore outsourcing clients must look into the way an ODC understands the local culture and deals with challenges that arise from cultural differences. These are factors that many companies have greatly underestimated when doing outsourcing. They must be taken very seriously when setting up production facilities in a foreign country.
WorldPartner has gone past simply conforming to local culture. It has, in fact, created an internal company culture in which the focus is on the end result and the mutual benefits that can be derived from doing a good job. It has always believed that if employees, regardless of national backgrounds, aim for higher goals rather than maintaining cultural idiosyncrasies, amazing results can be achieved.
The solution to avoiding culture being the stumbling block towards efficiency is to make sure that people share common goals. When goals are closely shared, a culture will develop around achieving such goals. The following are descriptions of scenarios that illustrate the cultural challenges that exist and why WorldPartner should be your partner of choice in ensuring that differences in culture become assets rather than liabilities.
When a manager delegates work in many Western countries, there is an indirect understanding, in the transfer of responsibility, of a fairly large amount of empowerment. In other words, the employee is expected to consider alternatives, think creatively, be solution-oriented, and act independently. When a manager delegates work in the Philippines, the employee is expected to deliver exactly what was asked for, confer with the manager whenever problems arise, and not make any vital decisions without management approval. In the West, the focus when evaluating an individual is on how well he or she is able to solve his or her challenges. In the East, the focus is often more on how well he or she can follow orders.
For many companies doing outsourcing, this may be a huge hindrance in maintaining cooperation between the offshore employees and the main office. In WorldPartner, it is considered an opportunity.
Where many people in the West crave empowerment and flexibility, many people in the East flourish in a well-structured environment, where the challenge of achieving well-defined goals and precisely formulated plans can drive teams to superior performance. Most people in Western cultures would consider such an environment restrictive and prefer to work in an environment where they continuously take active part in the strategic and technical decision-making processes.
It is exactly this difference that is utilized for a client’s benefit. Much time is often wasted in the West to make sure that everyone is heard and that no one feels left out of the decision-making process. This has both its negatives and positives. For software, it means that there is a more thorough review of new features, whereas the ongoing productivity often suffers. When placing the responsibility for concept definition and product design with the western team and the responsibility for production and development with the team in the East, we create an environment where cultural differences are actually supportive of overall performance.
An issue which previously could not have been easily changed to one’s advantage is that of timeliness. Although famous for “Filipino-time” which means being late is often acceptable, employees have steadily adapted to the fast-paced environment that is required in modern business. In WorldPartner, the culture dictates that everything is measured and delays and tardiness are not condoned, rather those who cause delay are immediately reprimanded. It has become a matter of personal pride to keep promises and fulfill expectations. By ensuring that everyone in the company understands our edge, i.e. what makes us special is the ability to deliver better and quicker than any competitor, the supposed national culture of tardiness becomes a benchmark that people are proud to surpass.
Other challenges that are often faced when East meets West consist of language, humor and communication ethics. The Philippines is the world’s 3rd largest English speaking country; thus, most people speak fluent English, are deeply influenced by western culture (almost 15% of the population work in foreign countries), and have lifestyles similar to those in many Western countries. As an offshore outsourcing business environment, the Philippines is a convergence of eastern and western practices.The Filipino workforce, in general, is highly-skilled and competent. World-class IT education and advanced technical infrastructure have generated programmers and developers who are at par with their Western counterparts. In WorldPartner, managers make sure they get the best of the best; thus, guaranteeing that partners can converse with employees at a professional level unobstructed by language and educational barriers.
