The rooted goals, strategies, structure, behavior towards the employees, consumers, investors and community is what corporate culture is. The culture of an organization or a business house depends on the society and business environment.
The role of culture in business is really important though wherever you are in the world. Coming from Nepal to USA, I had a feeling to look into the office cultures, structures and the way they work, fortunately the SUSI program was scheduled in such a way that we were able to visit few media houses and social organization, where I was able to find both “corporatice” and start-up cultures and offices. I have visited a lot of corporate office and start-ups, moreover I run a start-up back at my country and that makes me interested in learning more about the office cultures in different societies.
We had a chance to visit the TV channel, King’s 5, it had a corporate feeling yet, there were notice boards with play cards and all those fun materials. One thing that I was able to notice was the individualistic approach (the details comparison is mentioned below).
“I feel that we lack that fire in the belly and go getter attitude. We are happy with mediocrity and don’t pursue perfection in our Corporate Culture. But we are getting more competent with time and sure in years to come we will be up there with the global giants and the best of the best.” Says Mr. Saurav Jyoti, Director of Jyoti Group (One of the leading conglomerate at Nepal) upon asking the difference in working culture in Nepal and other parts.
He adds due to economic transition period in Nepal, the challenges are indifferent and unique. Not only do we need to manage our personal businesses but we also need to deal with a lot of external factors and work alongside with the Government for Suggestions and formulations of the right, Sustainable and progressive policies so that we can have a positive investment climate and sustained economic growth. Nepal Entrepreneurship has extremely high percentage of youth who are capable, talented and professional.
This is the biggest asset. Nepalese are known globally for their genuineness and warm hospitality hence Nepal can be a favorable nation for investment and No.1 choice for global tourists. This presents it with great opportunity, which reflects in Nepal’s corporate culture. Nepal has tremendous potential for growth as we have so many opportunities in every sector. So we need to exploit the opportunities we are presented with.
Talking to Mr. Darshan Rauniyar, who is a Nepali IT Entrepreneur here at Seattle, he says, “I never thought I will be an entrepreneur in USA neither I saw myself coming to American Politics. What I have learned in USA is that America is a land of opportunity who wants to work hard and anything could be achieved here. The sense of want to develop and continue to accelerate ourselves comes from the equality and opportunity lies for all the people who aspire to become a successful person.”
The difference of working culture is 180 degree between Nepal and Seattle, one must follow workers laws and the quality of workforce is available here in Seattle. People come on time and leave on time and work independently with the feeling that everyone is same and protected by laws.
The differences lies in the decision making process, the speed of decision making is really greater in Seattle, People know their job and they are allowed to take decision for their part of work, somehow Nepal also has this working philosophy but still the mindset does not really let it happen. The face-to-face meeting is much more prioritized in Nepal, rather than the Skype meeting, emails or phones. The dressing culture is really fascinating here at Seattle or anywhere is US, it sometimes is not strict and corporatized but at Nepal, the employees are supposed to be dressed well. Hierarchy is something else that is really indifferent in Nepal, the respect for higher hierarchy is visible much more in Nepal. Above were the few differences that the working culture have in US and Nepal.
However, the Nepali Corporate culture is really fascinating and working really well for the development of entrepreneurship, alike Seattle a lot of startups are being started, and moreover by Youths. The culture is transforming to much better and there are lot of mutual leanings that can be done between the working culture of US and Nepal.
| Comparison | Nepal | Seattle |
| Punctuality | Time is sometimes Compromised. | Time is really prioritized. |
| Working environment | Team/Group work is prioritized. People emphasis on working together, teaming up. | Individualistic Approach. People are within themselves. |
| Decision Making | Due to hierarchical issues the decision takes time to be taken. | Fast. Everybody knows what their job is, and they work accordingly. |
| Dressing | Official Dress are emphasized (Shirt, Pant, Shoes at least) | Dressing seems not so particular here |
| Work laws | Laws have now been started to get implement, slow. | The laws of working culture here seems relatively established. |
This story was produced in the 2015 SUSI program.
