Outsourcing: Vivek Chopra of Computer Sciences Corp. (Part 9)

By guest author Tony Scott

Building a Global Culture Internally

Tony: So what are you focusing on to help CSC gain the ability to build talent that can operate globally? You talked about moving people back and forth. Are there also internal training and development programs that you’re working on?

Vivek: We have a team that focuses on orienting people culturally. But we are starting with people who have had some exposure to other cultures  – either they have traveled, they have lived somewhere else, or they have expressed interest in taking that leap of faith and going to different countries. We give them not necessarily training, but we give them latitude in making decisions they believe in, leverage their global experience, and use that in different countries. We set expectations with the recipient countries that this person is coming in from the outside, this is a mandate from the most senior levels of the company, and the desire to create a global team is why they are coming. Whatever the person lacks in specific cultural orientation, he or she makes up for in global perspective.

The intellectual experience those people get from this kind of cultural exchange, you can use that as a base to create something you can replicate. If a company starts doing that, I believe they will keep doing it. It’s every drop that makes up the ocean.

Many companies are now eliminating what used to be called expat policies. Three years ago, a company would have said, “It’s going to be a chance of a lifetime for you to go to China.”

Tony: But you would get a special deal.

Vivek: Absolutely. The company said, we will give you a hardship allowance, it will be recognized that you are uprooting yourself and going there, but fundamentally it’s great for your career.

CSC is recognizing that it has taken a little time to see the strategic value of what it can accomplish in India and other world sourcing locations. I think the company is now beginning to move on this; you will see the senior management team now consciously looking at whom they can move, where they can place a person, and what value that person can bring to the CSC organization as a consequence of that move. To answer your question, I don’t think we have institutionalized that yet. I think we are getting to a point where we want to go down that road, and over the next twelve to eighteen months, you will see a significant shift from what we have done in the past.

Tony: That’s a big shift in general, and for CSC, it’s a huge shift.

Vivek: It’s a big shift.

Tony: I think that’s great! What about people from the outside coming into the organization and changing the culture? There are always two ways to shift cultures. You can take what you already have and reward those who have the cultural mindset that you want to move toward and move those people up, but it takes time. There is also the possibility of bringing people in from the outside.

Vivek: Sure.

Tony: And if you start from the bottom, it still takes time to percolate up. What about the middle and senior ranks in the organization, what are you doing with that to try to help change your culture to move it to a more global one? Obviously, it cannot all be through organic growth.

Vivek: I think we are making it almost a mandate to gain international experience. For example, our CEO, Mick Clapton, has made a mandate that to become a part of the operating team that reports directly to him, you have to have spent three years abroad. If I start mandating that to my team – I have fifteen or sixteen people reporting to me – saying, If you want to move to the next step or the next level, you have to have a twenty-four- or thirty-six-month stint outside of your home country – that sets the ball rolling to our institutionalizing something like this.

This segment is part 9 in the series : Outsourcing: Vivek Chopra of Computer Sciences Corp.
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