Indonesians show great deference to a superior. Consequently, supervisors are often told what they want to hear. The truth is conveyed in private, “up the grapevine”—often by a friend of the superior. Indonesians honor their boss by shielding him from bad news in public. This Indonesian trait, called asal bapak senang (which translates as “keeping father happy”) is instilled in Indonesians from childhood. A foreign executive must establish a network through which he or she can be told the truth in private.
Because Indonesians believe it is impolite to openly disagree with someone, they rarely say “no.” The listener is expected to be perceptive enough to discern a polite “yes (but I really mean no)” from an actual “yes.” This is rarely a problem when speaking in Bahasa Indonesia, because the language has at least twelve ways to say “no” and many ways to say “I’m saying yes, but I mean no.” This subtlety is lost when translated into many foreign languages, including English.
Indonesians are comfortable with silence, in both business and social settings. A silent pause does not necessarily signal either acceptance or rejection. Westerners often find such pauses uncomfortable, but Indonesians do not ‘jump’ on the end of someone else’s sentence. A respectful pause may last as long as ten to fifteen seconds. Westerners often assume they have agreement and resume talking before an Indonesian has the chance to respond.
Negotiating with Indonesian people:
Taken from Kiss, Bow, or Shake Hands - The Bestselling Guide to Doing Business in More Than 60 Countries (2006) by Terri Morrison and Wayne A. Conaway.
Negotiating with Indonesian people:
- Indonesians do business with people they know and like. Establishing this personal relationship will take time, but it is vital for success.
- The pace of business negotiations in Indonesia is far slower than in the West. Be patient and do not rush.
- It would be unusual to complete a complicated business deal in only one trip. Expect to take several trips over a period of months. Indeed, little will happen at the first meeting except getting acquainted.
- Politeness is one of the most important attributes for successful relationships in Indonesia. This politeness in no way hinders the determination of Indonesian businesspeople to get their own way.
- Everyone has a defined status in Indonesia. In Bahasa Indonesia, you generally converse with a person after you know whether he or she is your superior, inferior, or equal. Even when the conversation is in English, Indonesians will not feel comfortable until they know your position. This is one reason why Indonesians will ask you very personal questions about your job, your education, and your salary.
- Indonesians rarely say “no.” This subtlety is lost in English. Westerners sometimes interpret this as deceit, but Indonesians are simply being polite by their own cultural standards. Four examples:
- [1] This “no” is clear even in English: any time an Indonesian says “yes, but . . . ,” it means “no.”
- [2] When there are any qualifications attached (such as, “It might be difficult”), it means “no.”
- [3] A clear way to indicate “no” is to suck in air through the teeth. This sound always indicates a problem.
- [4] Evasion is indicative of a “no,” even if the person has said neither “yes” nor “no.” He or she may even pretend the question was never asked.
- A deal is never complete until all the paperwork is signed. Indonesians (especially the Chinese) often consult astrologers, so the signing may be delayed until an “auspicious” day arrives.
- People in Indonesia may smile or laugh in situations that westerners consider inappropriate. Smiles may hide embarrassment, shyness, bitterness, or discord. If an Indonesian nurse giggles while tending to a seriously ill male patient, this could be from embarrassment at having to touch a man, not callousness. Learning to interpret smiles and laughter may take a foreigner years.
- In Indonesia, an individual who expresses anger in public is considered unable to control himself or herself. Such a person will not be trusted or respected.
- Being embarrassed publicly (also called “losing face”) is known as malu. One result of “malu mentality” is that Indonesians may allow a person to continue to err rather than risk embarrassment by correcting him or her in public. In effect, an Indonesian may “honor” someone’s authority by allowing him or her to make a disastrous error.
- In Indonesia, individuals are rarely singled out in public, either for praise or for condemnation. People are expected to be part of a group, and it is the group that is addressed. If you must reprimand an individual employee, do it calmly and in private.
- Always be aware of social hierarchy. If you are part of a delegation, line up so that the most important persons will be introduced first. If you are introducing two people, state the name of the most important person first (e.g., “President Suhardjono, this is Engineer Wong”).
- Speak in quiet, gentle tones. Always remain calm. Leave plenty of time for someone to respond to a statement you make(as long as ten to fifteen seconds) before speaking again. Westerners often assume that they have agreement and resume talking before a Indonesian has the chance to respond.
- Topics to avoid in conversation include any criticism of Indonesian ways, religion, bureaucracy, human rights record, or politics. Also, avoid any discussion of sex or the roles of the sexes. (However, do not be surprised to hear graphic discussions of birth control methods. The Indonesian government supports major population control programs.)
Taken from Kiss, Bow, or Shake Hands - The Bestselling Guide to Doing Business in More Than 60 Countries (2006) by Terri Morrison and Wayne A. Conaway.
To what extent do you agree or disagree with this advice? Does anything seem outdated? Which stereotypes are the least valid?
I agree with those advices as Indonesian attend to hesitate to break a certain tradition. Some individuals may not be pleased to do those advices but as it mentioned, social status plays a big role in the society and people prefer to do things based on social expectations and behave to impress the superiors. In Indonesia, a high career status and a good image lead to higher opportunity in business, this determined a person’s experience and skills in a certain business field. However, there are also a lot of fresh graduates that have the necessary skills and ability to contribute creative thinking that can create innovations within a business. From the article, it mentioned that a deal is never complete until all the paperwork is signed. Nevertheless, there are some people that decided to do an ‘illegal’ agreement outside the formal paperwork in order to avoid the regulations applied and usually this kind of agreement lead to corruption. Hence, it is proven that Indonesia has become one of the corrupt countries in the world.
ReplyDeletePersonally, I strongly agreed with those statement mentioned in the article. However, the major thing that I want to point out is the statement from which I think can be a misleading information. The point from your comment which I disagree is that social status is a major role in creating a good successful business, which is NOT. Social status plays a part in helping the people to maintain a good image of their brand, however to start a business there are 2 things which is important, financial power and innovation. If this 2 thing is fulfilled then the business can run as it is intended to be. And the other major thing that will help the business to grow is NOT the social status of the businessmen but the perseverance and dedication of that person that makes them an individual which willing to try over and over again after a failure in establishing a good successful business. That is what i personally think overall about establishing a successful business.
DeleteLiving in Indonesia for 18 years has taught me that despite globalisation, vast advancement in technology and other forms of modernization, Indonesian culture and norms still dictates the way we interact with others. The passage above explained about the tips on doing businesses in Indonesia with reference to Indonesia’s common behavior and norms. Answering “To what extent do you agree or disagree with this advice?”, I personally agree with the advice given to a great extent. Based on my experience studying social psychology, most of the behaviors explained previously can be attributed to the fact that Indonesian culture leans more on collectivism. Collectivist culture, especially in the workforce values group welfare, face saving, harmony, relational interdependence and loyalty. With this being said, it is no surprise that Indonesian have the tendency to act as described in the passage.
ReplyDeleteHowever, the last statement which suggested that it is better to avoid sensitive topics including religion, bureaucracy, human rights, politics, sex and gender roles seem outdated and becoming less valid due to the changing dynamics of Indonesian society. Social media that becomes a platform for exchaging information and opinions has driven many citizen to become more outspoken about these topics. The rise of government transparency that enables citizen to acquire data and report about the government has also led the citizen to be more critical in communicating their opinion. This is proven by the emergence of many platform, forum and dialog that is mainly initiated by the youth to speak up about these issues.
Having discussions with family and peers, and my visits to places in Indonesia throughout the spectrum of social hierarchy have helped me to understand the remarkable strong social norms among us. I do believe that politeness is considered crucial in everyday lives and the tradition is still held tightly, even more on the developing areas. Commonly, people will expect politeness as a form of human quality, as it will give them a closer look at how will they respond to you during interactions and conversations. With that being said, Indonesians do appreciate politeness highly even if it will affect their businesses as Indonesians will guard their pride and self-worth cautiously.
ReplyDeleteNevertheless, the openness of Indonesians to talk about arguably sensitive topics remains almost a taboo, especially in public even on social media platforms. Talking about the ever-changing dynamics of the society, there are still cases regarding freedom of speech notably the imprisonment of the Governor of Jakarta, Basuki Tjahaja Purnama. I would argue that after the imprisonment of the Governor, issues regarding religion, races, and ethnics becomes more sensitive as there were movements and protests, as well as the rise of conservatives amongst us. Even though, there is also an upsurge of more liberal opinions as a counter-attack to the "Islamic Supremacy" movements.
Muhammad Hassya Santoso- Thursday Class
ReplyDeleteIndonesia as a country is very well known for its diverse culture and traditions that is still up to this day taught and exercised. And because of how we are to a certain extent conservative about it, it has been able to affect our behaviour in the business world. As an Indonesian, I have observed that on average our people do try to please everybody and especially their superiors. To a certain degree I disagree with the advice to accept the way that Indonesians to say "No" when negotiating. Because when participating in a business meeting it is critical to reach a clear point or end. As it is necessary to have clarity for a business meeting and deal to be executed. And I would say that Indonesia as a modern society is willing to adapt to those kinds of circumstances. This is because as professional businessmen Indonesia needs to realize that there are a professional and international standard of doing business. While it is important to conserve our culture and traditions, we also need to be aware of our counterparts culture and traditions.
I agree with most of the statement pointed by this article. Indonesians are tend to be very polite and gracious in many different situation. They have this integrity to be respectful towards anyone who treat them the same way. This condition has been taught towards them since they were a little, and it is a tradition for most of the Indonesian family out there to teach their kids the manner of being respectful. This trait considered to be one of the main advantage of the Indonesian, however there are also cases where this trait has attached too deeply within Indonesians people personality. At this condition, the “respectful” behaviour will become a barrier for them to actually be themselves and it’ll make this people to be more offish and too formal in many different occasions, such as being indirect type of person, which surely will affects the process of decision making and communication within their life.
ReplyDeleteI think this article is very useful for foreigners, because every country has a different culture. This advice comes handy, especially in business, when we need to understand each other in order to have fruitful accomplishments. I agree with most of the advices, specifically with the one explaining the pauses during dialogue between a local and a foreigner. I also agree with the yes/no (mis)understanding. In Indonesian culture, it is not polite to directly say ‘no’ to other people. For example, when your friend offers snacks or drink to you, in one culture you have to refuse it at first and accept it later. But in the other culture, if you want to take the offers, you have to accept it at once because your friend will not insist at all.
ReplyDeleteThe stereotype about talking in public is the least valid for me because not all Indonesian are talking quietly and with a gentle tone, like in Java island. In Papua and maybe in other parts of Indonesia, people are not really talking slowly nor quietly.
Personally, I would have to agree with the writer on this article. The Indonesian way of business is far different from the West. Common courtesy and ethical issues matter to us, since Indonesia is a very culturally sensitive country. It is true that Indonesians take a while to complete business deals because we like to slack off and procrastinate. Other than that, people here in Indonesia are very cautious about their output, especially in this day and age. Today, people in Indonesia find it significantly harder to complete business deals because the country is in the midst of a financial crisis. People nowadays prefer to save their money rather than to risk it for a shady, up and coming business. This is because the rate of scams and criminal misconduct has significantly increased, leaving the common investor to have more trust issues than normally expected. On the other hand, I don’t agree fully with the statement that Indonesians are slow because when I lived in Jakarta, everything was fairly fast and if you missed one thing you would have missed everything.
ReplyDeleteIn my opinion these stereotypes are commonly accepted and well known by Indonesians in communicating, especially in doing business. Well in majority, Indonesians tend to be more sensitive with what they feel , what they see, things they hear, or even just how complicated things are. We call it as ‘ baperan ‘ . We either pay attention to what the speakers are saying, or we just ignore them at all. It is amazing just how little things can hurt Indonesian in conversations. I’m pretty sure we all have experienced such occasion ultimately during intense debate or just normal chats. But not all Indonesians act the same way. We are all different in characters and behaviors, but in my sight globalization has indeed affected how Indonesian think. It has become our mindset to judge, to only see the majority of negative sides, and give less credit. In business, these things still happen regularly in most of middle or lower class businesses, which is why it is so hard for their businesses to grow. Because they tend to think only of themselves and not to benefit all. On the other hand these occasions rarely happen on proper business in middle and higher class, we find it only little or even not at all. There is still big gap between ethical conducts and behavior done by businesses in Indonesia between the lower and upper class.
ReplyDeleteHello Mr. Adrian and fellow student.
ReplyDeleteThis article is really a great tips for foreigners who want to do business in Indonesia. Most of the points are true including how to dealt with our people and the dos and don’ts. However there are several points that depends on the person that you’re dealing or doing business with. It can be a good handbook or a cheat sheet for foreigner to face us, Indonesian. In some point of view, it can be referred as a stigma, which is something that we should avoid. Dynamically people will change and automatically their culture will change. Maybe something that we do here is considered inappropriate to the western and vice versa. We, Indonesian can be a better nation by developing our self including our mindsets and behavior by doing something better than most people expect. Every tips that written on the above are also depends on where and which province and also what race you’re facing with. Some province in Indonesia is tougher to be persuaded and some are a little bit harsh to a foreigner. Be nice to the natives is always the key. Have a great day! Thank you.
I absolutely agree with all the suggestions above and I am sure that all of these statements are still valid People from other countries say that Indonesians are very friendly and easy to smile. I feel the same way, from the time I was a child my parents taught me that we must always say hello to others. I also agree that Indonesians are very difficult to say "no". They will look for a more polite way to say no.
ReplyDeleteI believe that the main key to establishing a business with Indonesians is trust. Indonesians have a principle taught by the father of our proclamation, Soekarno, our first president. This principle is known as “Gotong Royong" which means cooperation. This principle is in accordance with the characteristics of humans as social beings that we cannot live alone without the help of others. That is why "trust" is the most crucial solution in doing business cooperation with Indonesians. Because if we want to work with others, we must trust them first.
In addition to tips on business negotiations in Indonesia I want to add something. Sometimes Indonesian people are not ready to accept a new idea. So that sometimes a business with creative innovation cannot be accepted by the community. They think that this will threaten their business. An example is the existence of a conflict between online transportation such as GO JEK and Grab with taxi drivers. So the point is, building a trust is very important to maintain peace in Indonesia, so that our business innovation can be accepted in this country.
“Tips on doing business in Indonesia” is the title for this article where it discusses more about how to negotiate a business with Indonesian people. I found that this article is pretty enjoyable, this article gives a perspective from a foreigner point of view where some of the Indonesian might not realize it. Let us take a look at how to negotiate with Indonesian people where it says there some ways to say no such as when the air is sucked through the teeth, it indicates that there is might be a problem. then there will be a superstition belief taking a part in a deal a sealing so it might take times to signed all the paperwork in order to complete the deal. But the most important is it leads to a conclusion where the Indonesian is sticking to the tradition and norm where the politeness and giving a good impression is important.
ReplyDelete“Indonesians show great deference to a superior. Consequently, supervisors are often told what they want to hear. The truth is conveyed in private, “up the grapevine”—often by a friend of the superior. Indonesians honour their boss by shielding him from bad news in public.” I very much agree to this part of the article. Sometimes, this trait is very counter productive as sometimes a problem that seems minor can result in a major blowout for the company, so the news must be conveyed in a quick and effective manner. Other than that, another fact from this article I find inefficient is the asal bapak senang trait. This particular trait is often found in Indonesian people and that particular trait is slowly eating the business environment of Indonesia. Subordinates would often say misleading things in order to keep their bosses happy, keeping bosses from knowing the real issues that must be addressed. I really hope that these traits won’t stay for long in order for Indonesia to create a better economy.
ReplyDelete