On Multiculturalism

8/19/2019 On Multiculturalism

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On Multiculturalism

Recently, I was in a meeting/conference call with some leading executives of a

globally leading pharma company.The agenda was pipeline review and a very

broad-based, open brainstorm through which we hoped to come away with

pointers/thought-starters about the challenges and the future vis-a-vis this

company.

Quite a few points came up during the discussion - each highly relevant and

potentially critical for the successful presence of this company, both in India

and across the globe.

hat struc! me was the clear and mar!ed difference in the psychological and

managerial outloo! of the attendees.

hile those signing in from "# and $orth %merica &the 'est' group as one

of my colleagues noted goodnaturedly( were cautious and spo!e only about

'careful steps and hedging bets', those that had signed in from southeast %sia,

%frica and some other third world mar!ets &let)s call them '"mergents'( were

decidedly enthusiastic, more upbeat and more importantly, more optimistic

about where the company was headed, how it would face challenges and how

it could be made future-ready.

Interestingly, the topic of challenge management and future - readiness

brought up similar responses and proposed areas of focus from both groups

including the ever-present shadow of 'diverst or push some more' for some

legacy operations. %lso, global topics li!e 'in-house outsourcing',



'collaborative innovation' and their inherent challenges came up. #nder

challenges, everyone became somewhat guarded on the topic of wor!force

multiculturalism.

I understand why it happened - when you are a global player of this si*e and

scale &refer top + ig harma for context(, multiculturalism creates its own

currents that impact operations and deliverables besides communication

challenges.

ome of the more senior &age-wise( attendees lamented how, in the 'earlier

days', multiculturalism was not as prominent as it is today and that, in their

opinion, helped productivity and results.

$ot surprisingly, the counterpoints about the inevitability of multiculturalism

and its ubiuity came most strongly from the younger attendees across the

board. ome of these attendees pointed out that consumer and wor!force

diversity &including 0utsourcing( were the reasons that multiculturalism was

so prominent today. %nother youngster pointed out about how diseases tend

to cut across the phenomenon of multiculturalism, creating different impact

areas, new challenges and opportunities &both for research and business(.

Interestingly, an age-independent consensus emerged that in the context of

multiculturalism, perceived challenges often exceed actual ground realities by

a wide margin.

"ventually, the following was summari*ed1



1. Multiculturalism is extremely crucial in the pharmaceuticals

and medical felds because dierent cultures lay varying degrees o

emphasis on Medicine, Medicines and personal healthcare which in

turn impacts their acceptance and uptake among culture-specifc

consumers. nderstanding these impact areas can enable

better consumer outreach, consumer receptivity !to eorts and

messages", disease prevention and treatment outcomes. #or

example, in erstwhile $ndia, age-related cognitive decline was

deemed so natural and inevitable that senile dementia cases were

not taken or treatment and care as readily as they are today. %his is

defnitely changing but more needs to be done

&. 'll organi(ations !especially larger ones" must periodically

assess the impact o multiculturalism and sensiti(e their workorce

about it. %he role expectations are decidedly distinct rom standard

)* operations and might segue into that o a +eople cer+ or

re/uire a new title !and incumbent" altogether

0. %olerance o multiculturalism is not optional but mandatory or

any organi(ation wishing to thrive in the current global marketplace

. $nclusive policies and decisions are only possible when

multiculturalism is accounted or in a ree and air ashion

2. 'll other things being e/ual, organi(ations that acknowledge,

embrace and constructively respond to multiculturalism tend to get

better responses or their products and services. 'dvertising frms

that embrace, account or and appropriately target multicultural

consumer bases see better results



3. #inally, multiculturalism merits deeper research since some

diseases !incl. orphans" are exclusive to certain cultures and

ethnicities and may even be rooted in their sociocultural mores.

#urther, seeing how the same medicine can elicit widely varying

physiological experiences across dierent ethnicities, a constructive

ocus on multiculturalism is likely to be very helpul.

0h, by the way, while the upbeat group !ept its optimism pedal floored, the

'est' group also pic!ed up steam on cautious optimism.

I am so loo!ing forward to a second brainstorm to discuss how to engender

multiculturalism &even more( strongly into the organi*ational 2$% &and, of

course, review the pipeline333(.......

Than! you for reading.....1-(

On Multiculturalism

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