Pamila Dembla

Gender-based differences in culture in the Indian IT workplace

We used Hofstedes Values Survey Module to compare Indian women and men in IT.We analyzed the gender differences and cultural preferences of 107 Indian IT workers.Using non-parametric statistics, Indian women scored lower than men on uncertainty avoidance and long-term orientation only.Managers should consider professional development, mentoring, and defined career paths to complement the Indian culture. Global outsourcing increases the complexity of managing IT projects. Gender adds another level of difficulty when managing IT projects. Understanding country and gender-level differences may improve chances for success. This paper provides opportunities to better understand underlying country and gender differences of Indian IT workers. We used Hofstedes value surveys module to analyze gender differences and cultural preferences of 107 Indian IT workers. After correcting for problems with outliers, none of the mean differences between men and women were significant at the 95% level; at the 90% level, we found differences in uncertainty avoidance and long-term orientation only. Our results suggest that women and men working in the IT industry may have more similarities in terms of national culture than differences by gender. To overcome possible differences in uncertainty avoidance and long-term orientation, IT outsourcers to India should ensure adequate professional development opportunities, mentoring programs, and clearly explained career path opportunities. Further, a focus on policies and management strategies that capitalize on the national culture of India, including group work to take advantage of collectivist tendencies, and clearly defined hierarchical systems to take advantage of masculine orientation and high power distances, may allow foreign companies to attract and retain men and women, where in many cases, national culture trumps gender differences. Future research should collect more data from women and investigate the effect of regional differences on cultural perceptions.

The Russian and Ukrainian Information Technology Outsourcing Market: Potential, Barriers and Management Considerations

This study describes the advantages and disadvantages of information technology outsourcing to Ukraine and Russia. The results assist technology managers who wish to make an informed decision on whether or not to outsource information technology projects to Russia/Ukraine, considering two important issues: (1) the political, economic, and social landscape, and the advantages and disadvantages of choosing to locate information technology projects in the region and (2) the Russian/Ukrainian information technology workers’ teamwork perceptions. By understanding the countries and the potential information technology workers within that country, organizations should be able to develop management policies to improve chances of success. While the results indicate that well-educated and teamwork-oriented Russian and Ukrainian information technology employees may increase the chances of information technology outsourcing success, the authors remain skeptical regarding the political, economic, legal, social, and business environments.