Posted by:
Alpiner
(
)
Date: July 03, 2013 09:07AM
It's cultural. There are lots of eastern cultures (such as India), where it's considered worse to be the one telling the bad news than to have to experience it. We outsourced some software development there for a while, and it was a nightmare. A conversation with an American software team would go something like this:
Me: "Will feature X be completed and QA'd by Friday?"
Them: "No. We had delays due to Y. We should have it done by next Wednesday, though."
A conversation with the Indian team was like this:
Me: "Will feature X be completed and QA'd by Friday?"
Them: "It may be. It could be done on Friday, yes."
Me: "What's your confidence the work will be done by then?"
Them: "Oh, we're very confident the work may be done."
Me: "What would prevent the work from being done by then?"
Them: "There is a possibility Y may introduce some delays."
Me: "How long of delays?"
Them: "When do you need it by?"
Me: "It matters less when I get it and more that it's done right. How long will the delays be?"
Them: "Well, we will try to get it by Friday. If we cannot, would Wednesday, Thursday, or Friday next work?"
Me: "Okay."
This is due to something called the power distance index, which is usually more prevalent in structured, hierarchical societies. You can read about it here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hofstede%27s_cultural_dimensions_theory#Dimensions_of_national_culturesSo, lots of people behave this way due to cultural constraints, where those in authority expect bad or disagreeable information to be sugar-coated and massaged.