Making sense and identifying aspects of Indian culture(s) in organisations: demystifying through empirical evidence

What is India? How does one describe India? How do Indians experience India? How do others experience India and Indians? By their very nature, most experiences (including of culture) can be regarded as highly subjective. Do differences in experiences therefore create problems in managing people in an increasingly globalised world? How do Indians perceive others? Do postcolonial influences colour their/ our understandings of the cultural ways of the ‘other’? Understanding differences in what constitutes ‘Indianness’ and ‘otherness’ is critical to the study of managing people across borders, including those working in India in large multinational corporations. Then again, how does one delineate culture in India? And is there empirical evidence that identifies cultural aspects in Indian or foreign organisations operating in India? These were the pressing and pertinent questions we asked ourselves when this special issue was being planned and conceived, two years ago.