CALLING NAMES – FORGET BUSINESS : TATA BYE BYE

So how would you like to be addressed? Of late, the author has been confused on the verbal display of respect (disrespect). In the western countries, calling people by their title had been the norm till a while back. We can confirm with evidence, that calling someone “sir” is a highly dated practice, with the history of the word “sir” being over 800 years! It all started when this title was granted to the early “knights”. The word “madam” also follows a similar lineage with a slight difference- “Madam” was a formal usage to address the queen, or “Your Majesty”.

Cut to the present day, India still follows the culture of “sir” and “madam”, thanks to the Victorian influence, especially in the Government offices or calling anyone with a visibly higher age or a person of respectable position. This can also be attributed to the fact that the term “sir” or “madam” is being viewed as a common term of respect.

The emphasis on “Victorian influence” was deliberate, as Indians on their own, had their way of expressing respect to the elders by addressing them as “big brother”?(bhaiya, anna etc.), “big sister”?(didi, akka etc.), “grandpa”?(dada, thatha etc.), “grandma”?(dadi, paati etc.)?etc. in their local language, even with strangers when you don’t know who they actually are. But India is a fairly large country with countless local languages and cultures, and here is where the “sir/madam” comes in. Most of us associate this usage to respect, and when we move out of our respective states, we cling on it, with the sole purpose of showing our respect to the person or the person holding a respectable position.?

It may be worth noting that calling people by “sir” or “madam” has gone out of fashion even from the country of its origin, where people prefer to be called by their names regardless of their position or title, or even age. Again, a majority of the Indian crowd may find it a bit tough to cope with this cultural dilemma, as we are used to address a person with respect with a noun.

In recent times, it has been forced by the corporates to call people by names rather than Sir/Madam. There are many problems in this notion. First of all, in spite of what the corporate screams, the mainstream culture molds the corporates not the other way round. Any practice in Corporate is not going to change the culture and norms of Indian society. In fact many so called MNCs are not able to business in India as they are acting against the culture in India. Ultimately as a Corporate you have to decide “What is your objective”. If your objective is calling people by names you have achieved a lot, if generating revenue is your objective you are big ZERO.

Secondly if you are in B2G or B2B business you cannot generate any business if you call officers by names. Many people ask why I should call government officers Sir/Madam. Let me answer that for you. Government officers are poorly paid and the only thing they have is RESPECT. If you want to disrespect them by taking their name, Congratulations the officer will ensure that you do not get the business. So, my advice to the corporates- STICK TO YOUR OBJECTIVE OF PROFIT MAKING, INDIAN CULTURE IS NOT GOING TO SHAPED BY YOU. YOU HAVE TO ADAPT TO INDIAN CULTURE NOT THE OTHER WAY AROUND.

The best thing to address this dilemma would be to either stick with the common courtesy names of “sir/madam” (which, though is being seldom used and getting less preferred, is still a standard addressing term), or to address the person in their preferred way of calling, or to address them with their age title if permitted.