Westerners are normally blunt and value “efficient” communication as best possible. It’s a “goal” to be as clear as possible in as few words as possible. This comes across as harsh/aggressive to Indians.
As for what to do? Make sure you understand what perspective others have. If you don’t 100% understand it (not just thinking you do), ask more questions.
Ask lots of questions. Open ended questions, not “yes/no” questions. Indirect questions are better than direct questions as they encourage others to share their perspectives.
China’s Two Big Economic Challenges
In the United States, as we saw in 2008, the job of reassuring the markets would rest with the Treasury Secretary and the head of the Federal Reserve. In China, where the policymaking apparatus is more opaque, the onus may fall on Premier Li Keqiang, who oversees economic policy and economic reforms; Zhou Xiaochuan, the longtime head of the central bank; or a lesser official. As is now glaringly obvious, the situation presents challenges to a Communist government that is used to pulling levers behind the scenes. Markets need clear guidance—even if the guidance is that the state is adopting a laissez-faire approach.
.. Looking at the economy as a whole, the rate of inflation has fallen from more than five per cent five years ago to 1.5 per cent in December. It is pretty obvious that there is a serious shortage of aggregate demand, which is depressing prices and generating a threat of deflation.
.. it is also worrying that the overall debt-to-G.D.P. ratio continues to climb—some estimates put it at two hundred and forty per cent
Defensivene Communication: Child Didn’t Cause Earthquake Example
A mother, for example, immediately following an earth tremor that shook the house, sought for her small son with the question, “Bobby, where are you?” The timid and plaintive “Mommy, I didn’t do it” indicated how Bobby’s chronic mild defensiveness predisposed him to react with a projection of his own guilt and in the context of his chronic assumption that questions are full of accusation.
.. The difficulty in avoiding overtone is illustrated by the problems of news reporters in writing stories about unions, Communists, Blacks and religious activities without tipping off the “party” line of the newspaper. One can often tell from the opening words in a news article which side the newspaper’s editorial policy favors.
.. A bombardment of persuasive “messages” in the fields of politics, education, special causes, advertising, religion, medicine, industrial relations and guidance has bred cynical and paranoid responses in listeners.
.. Communication that conveys empathy for the feelings and respect for the worth of the listener, however, is particularly supportive and defense reductive. Reassurance results when a message indicates that the speaker identifies himself or herself with the listener’s problems, shares her feelings, and accepts her emotional reactions at face value
.. They saw the dogmatic individual as needing to be right, as wanting to win an argument rather than solve a problem and as seeing his or her ideas as truths to be defended. This kind of behavior often was associated with acts which others regarded as attempts to exercise control. People who were right seemed to have low tolerance for members who were “wrong”—i.e., who did not agree with the sender.