The East-West Encounter: Cooperation and communication in an Indo-Dutch research team

Samenvatting

An examination of the aspects of the cooperation & communication in an Indo-Dutch research team of sociologists working in India. To a great extent culturally based differences in the appreciation & evaluation of human interrelationships affect the team members & therefore the work of the team as a whole. The Dutch task-orientation & corresponding preference for retreat as a mechanism for controlling human relationships, conflicted with the Indian preference for explicitly diffuse & mutally obligating relationships in which reference to status is the major control mechanism. The Dutch egalitarian approach was bound to contradict the hierarchical interpretation of the Indian team members. To a great extent, the differences in appreciation are also based on internalized value-patterns & are therefore difficult to prevent. For Indians, as well as for the Dutch, hierarchical or egalitarian behavior goes to the heart of what is considered good & moral. Modified HA.