04: Office Tigers

When I think of India’s economy, I think of two things; their hunger for advancement in business and the global market, and their customer service industry. As watched and examined the documentary ‘Office Tigers’, you can see how the virtual assistant industry is thriving in India. The reason for this is simple, why hire a department of office assistants to handle spreadsheets, spellcheck, and filing tasks when you can hire a group of individuals from India for a fraction of the price.

How does technology facilitate cultural imperialism? Well with American companies now depending more and more on virtual assistants they are influencing the way India looks at business and how they are run. This is shown in how they react to American clients; from what I saw from the documentary it was apparent to me that they hired people with fluent English and adequate computer skills. American managers would then sculpt and improve their skills to fit corporate America. I believe that Office Tiger’s management team wants American level skilled workers, at India’s low wage price. Furthermore, while India’s culture is very different than ours, globalization is quickly pushing our business ideals onto India and even though it could allow India to advance more quickly, it also is taking away their uniqueness.

I thought the section of the film that discussed the requirement in wearing a tie to work was intriguing. Why I thought this was because in America, we see this as the norm in most business and financial industries, but workers in India most likely don’t see it that way, they most likely don’t put as much significance as we do. That is, they most likely have their own opinion as to what should be worn when conducting business and don’t see the tie as; a symbol of professionalism as we do. 

On the flip side of things however, I do feel that globalization is an overall positive thing. As an economics student, you can see the benefits obtained through open trade throughout the world. As with the trade of commodities such as corn or wheat, the Internet has enabled the ability to trade ideas, information, and more importantly in the case of Office Tigers, Western business practices. Being able to implement strategies and practices that work here in the U.S. to India, Office Tigers are able to provide a service for which both parties benefit from. Without the Internet OT would not be possible because the costs would far outweigh the gains. Firms would most likely have continued to employ in-house. In the end, I feel that globalization allows us to find new and smarter ways in the way we do business.

I think a good point to bring up is the tasks that firms are assigning to Office Tigers. Filing, data entry, and creating spreadsheets are all tasks that can be taught relatively cheaply. As they say in the film American firms look at out-sourcing to India as an expected lower quality finished product. While Office Tigers say they are trying to resolve this issue with dedicated hard working employees, I think it will be hard to completely take away the image. There is something about sending corporate documents across the planet to someone you have never met that just makes me think that the trust and accountability is just not there yet.