One cannot help but rue the inadequate attention that thinking, research and analytics are paying to the changing nature of cross-border realities
The truth of life is that some people will, simply, not change. It is equally true that the world will stay steady on its path of change. This is the root cause of much personal misery which then blows on to other aspects of life. But that is another story. Reference to this principle of existence becomes necessary to lead up to what follows. For, there are people on this planet who still live with a primitive mindset and ironically, are unaware of it. It may be nearly impossible to change them. But equally, there are other patches on Earth which are changing with a speed which is almost impossible to measure.
The point being made will become clear by referring to the simple art of storytelling, which popularly is ascribed to grandparents and/or nannies. As a method of communication and learning, storytelling slowly percolated to the corporate world and one started hearing of international certifications in the art of storytelling. Now, one is hearing of storytelling’s digital transformation. This was one of the major workshops at world’s largest virtual HR summit with 30,000 HR professionals in attendance earlier this month. The summit, hosted by Glassdoor and BambooHR, drew wide participation including that of Adam Grant, an organisational psychologist and a New York Times best-selling author. It was one of those conferences where physical presence did not matter. There was only one Asia-based speaker, from Singapore, Dr Tanvi Gautam. It struck me between the eyes, because I read about this summit as I was packing for the 45th Annual Conference session of a Global HR Federation and heading for Taipei.
As all this was going on, I received a message from a colleague in Malaysia, who was also going to the same conference but routing herself through Vietnam. This was my second encounter with a strange reality. She was routing herself from Kuala Lumpur via Vietnam because her son, a 10-year old, wanted a 19th immigration stamp on his passport. I was left wondering about how so many realities could co-exist. The first illustration underscored the ephemeral character of physical presence in the digital era. The second example was ‘ridiculing’ cross-border realities by almost reducing it to a count — much like in the way stamp collectors count stamps. One cannot help but rue the inadequate attention that thinking, research and analytics are paying to the changing nature of cross-border realities. One has, indeed, heard of cultural ergonomics and one is abundantly conscious of varying technological realities across boundaries. However, there remains a huge domain waiting for the pioneers. Consider the complexities of transfer-pricing regulations and assessment criteria differing across countries. Especially in a country where there can be such sustained attempts to make an issue of the Rafale deal that even the courts get interested but little attention is paid, in the so-called debate, to the concerns of pricing regulations and assessment criteria.
The danger of supercilious social narratives is deeper than is being gauged. It conditions the mind of the impressionable and can mislead the unthinking. No one gains and collectively everyone stands to lose. Reference has been made above to cross-border issues of frameworks of reference and indicators of social norms. However, time seems to have come to pay singular attention to cross-border problems of not just communication or technology transfer, but also of putting various country regulators at least in a position of active communication. An example will clarify further. Regulators of service-based industries (accounting, healthcare et al) do not always recognize degrees awarded by the others and require further studies to be undertaken before practicing in a different geography. One wonders if the international accounting bodies or the World Health Organization has thought it worthwhile to reflect on these issues.
Soon after World War II, the United Nations moved into the place occupied by the League of Nations. A number of world bodies were spawned in the years following, some were related to United Nations and some were not. UNESCO was a good example. There was the World Health Organization and bodies related to food and agriculture. The US and its role in the setting up of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank is well-known. However, barring a few columnists and commentators who saw through the chinks in the working of such institutions, hardly any attempts were made to highlight the gaps. This inhibits the natural growth of cross-border learning and exchange in a sustained manner. That in turn impedes sustainable development. It is essential that this concern is also seen as a part of the component of any North-South dialogue. It needs to be addressed as an emerging frontier of cross-border learning.
(The writer is a well-known management consultant)
