Cross cultural differences: Indonesia

Résumé du document

Not surprisingly, according to its diversity, Indonesian culture has abundances of subtle values, and concepts. Therefore I will now outline some of these values, actually the ones that I believe to be the most significant and important, in order to understand Indonesia's atmosphere, and people's mentality...

Extraits

[...] Being invited to drink can even indicate that the business portion of the meeting is over. Dress in the office should be formal. Actually some problems have happened in multicultural offices because the foreigners wore blue jeans and shirts to the office. The Indonesian co-workers perceived this as informal and disrespectful on the part of the expatriate. How, they asked, can the foreign professionals expect respect when they look like tourists? Being late at a meeting is normal, and usual for Indonesians. [...]

[...] With the majority of the population being Islamic, religion and faith enter into decision making on a more subjective basis than in most Western cultures. Not surprisingly, according to its diversity, Indonesian culture has abundances of subtle values, and concepts. Therefore I will now outline some of these values, actually the ones that I believe to be the most significant and important, in order to understand Indonesia's atmosphere, and people's mentality. Selamatan A Selamatan is a ritual meal, ceremony in which members of a group participate to sustain, maintain or install order. [...]

[...] Status comes from the position. When one has a senior, powerful position, one gains the accoutrements of power. These include company cars and hand phones, golf club memberships, nice houses and vacations, and, of course, money. These indicators of wealth come from the position, not from the performance. Indonesian employees are motivated by the appearance of increasing status. Western ideas of connecting performance to salary are not well understood. If an Indonesian employee has enough money to cover present expenses and desires, offering more money solely based on future performance will not usually affect motivation. [...]

[...] Family, religion, health, and other so- called personal factors often determine an Indonesian manager's performance on a daily basis. Western preoccupation with money as the prime mover in work performance does not apply well to Indonesia. Of course, Western employees do not just work for the money, either. There are many other factors that determine job satisfaction. However, there is definitely a strong belief in the West that rewarding extra performance by offering second shifts, increasing appraisal bonuses, and giving other financial incentives are an effective and time- tested method of motivating employees. [...]

[...] Javanese culture separates the inner and outer beings of a person. While the inner, private self may hold a certain opinion or emotion, the outer self is expected to conform to the customs and norms of the group. This often leads to situations where you do not know what a person is really thinking. Indonesian and foreigners face this problem quite frequently. Maintaining the harmony of the office by giving the outward appearance that there is nothing wrong is a fairly common situation in traditional Indonesian offices. [...]