Institutional Culture Clash

Culture Clash

This morning we had our first meeting with an actual Indian ministry office and it was extraordinarily educational. Just not in the way it was perhaps intended. In visiting NGO’s, I have noticed that they tend to define their missions and visions very specifically and clearly, which is right and proper from our way of thinking. But both Mobile Creches and Butterflies (Programme with street and working children) take great pains in their vision statements to stress that they are non-hierarchical and that the mission is more important than the organization. It struck me as odd until this morning. Now it makes perfect sense.

When we arrived at the ministry office (I’ll refrain from naming it or any of the officials), the seat at the very apex of the u-shaped conference table was empty, and the man to the right of that seat hesitated and stalled for as long as he could without officially convening the meeting. When the chief still hadn’t arrived some minutes later he introduced himself and his immediate underlings and finally, reluctantly, allowed one fellow to begin his presentation (which he ran from the very opposite end of the table). About two minutes in, the big chief arrived and the poor fellow’s presentation was cut off to allow the formal introductions and recitations of titles and honors. This set the tone for the whole session. The big chief’s right hand man poured water for him and deferred to him constantly. The first and foremost points in each presentation were all about organizational structure, and the status games never stopped. The three moguls talked to each other throughout the presentations of their subordinates, and at the very end a man who had said nothing throughout the entire meeting, and who did not have a seat at the table, stood to offer formal and ritualized thanks on behalf of the moguls.

Access is a recurring theme when we talk about services for those in need, and this ministry’s purpose was to provide services to communities. If those in need have to navigate that level of byzantine organizational hierarchy, then access must be difficult indeed. “How do families access your services?” I wanted to know. I was told that the answer had been in the slide show: they come to the community office at the appropriate day and time. That is quite a contrast with the Butterflies answer, “It takes a long time to build those community relationships. We go out and talk to the children. We have to be honest with them and earn their trust. All we are giving is we [ourselves]”