© Bahaudin G. Mujtaba Cross Cultural Management and Negotiation Practices Dr. Bahaudin G. Mujtaba Chapter 16 – Expatriate Training and Development.

© Bahaudin G. Mujtaba

Cross Cultural Management and Negotiation Practices

Dr. Bahaudin G. Mujtaba

Chapter 16 – Expatriate Training and Development


Chapter Topics

• Chapter 16 – Expatriate Training and Development– The Importance of Training and Development– The Art and Science of Training– Expatriate Evaluation and Development

Planning– Expectations and Realities for Repatriates– Closing the Gap– Designing a Repatriation Program– Mentoring Global Employees


• The importance of having employees well trained within any business holds a large amount of weight. This element can vastly impact the success of a business, national or international. Without proper training by a company of their workforce, they are not putting an investment in the development of their employees. Within any business, employee retention is of great importance for the interests of the company. If employees feel as if they are an intricate part of the whole (company), they are liable to stay dedicated to their employer. Along with the employee retention, development of the individual’s skills and status in the workforce ensures their tenure at the company and the satisfaction with their position.


Diversity Training

• Facilitations expectations and approaches to training vary based on the needs of the audience, but diversity related sessions often include at least three components:– Legal awareness. The initial step and most common component of

diversity training. This training focuses on the legal implications of discrimination. A limited approach to diversity is to start with legal “do’s and don’ts.”

– Cultural awareness. Employers hope to build greater understanding of the differences among people. Cultural awareness training assists all participants to see and accept the differences in people with widely varying cultural backgrounds.

– Sensitivity training. This is more difficult. The aim is to “sensitize” people to the differences among them and show how their words and behaviors are seen by others. Some diversity training programs include exercises containing examples of harassment and other behaviors.


AREAS OF TRAINING FOR EXPATRIATE MANAGERS

TECHNICAL training MANAGEMENT training CROSS-CULTURAL training LANGUAGE training• Preparation to live in the culture also includes

briefing on facilities, etc. briefing to cope with culture shock.


CROSS-CULTURAL TRAINING Aims to Teach

a. ABOUT the other culture

- what values are important

- how values are expressed in behavior.

b. HOW TO LIVE AND WORK effectively in the other culture, focusing on

- social relationships

- management styles; how members plan and manage

- the business environment

c. HOW TO APPLY these lessons in appropriate behavior.


Training

• The term training is synonymous with development, instruction, teaching, educating, guiding, coaching, preparing, developing, instructing, and other such words that deal with knowledge creation, acquisition, and transfer. – In the workplace, training often refers to

activities which are strategically designed for the acquisition of knowledge and skills that are needed for immediate use and application.


Training Techniques

• While the traditional five step process seems easy, it can be very complex as the “telling” and “showing” can be facilitated in may different varieties and modalities. Cascio and Aguinis (2005, p. 16) discuss that training and development techniques fall into the three general categories: – Information presentation, – Simulation methods, and – On-the-job training.


Social-Learning Theory

• Successful cross-cultural training often borrows material from social-learning theory as well as others. The social learning theory consist of the following stages in order for the training to be successfully learned, retained and applied: attention, retention and reproduction


Involve the Learner, Emotionally!

• Experts recommend in such ways that make learners reflect and think. In other words, it is best to get their head (thoughts and knowledge), heart (feelings) and habits (behaviors) involved in the training process. Research suggests that feelings are critical to the learning process in many ways. Feelings help determine:– If a learner wants to learn a subject,– How one feels about a subject,– Whether one wants to learn about a subject,– If one believes whether the information is true, – Whether one is able to apply the information to his or her daily

activities, and– How long one remembers the information.


Multicultural Training

Multicultural man is a timeless “universal” person who approaches the classical ideal of a person whose lifestyle is one of knowledge and wisdom, integrity and direction, principle and fulfillment, balance and proportion. He is neither totally a part of nor totally apart from his culture; he lives, instead, on the boundary.

Peter S. Adler, 1974


Summary

• Global managers need to recognize the influence of culture and must be prepared to develop an understanding of it.

• Behavior is influenced by the person’s personality and interaction with the cultural forces of the particular society in which he/she was born.

• The problem the international manager confronts is to be able to identify when culture is significant and what type of response, if any, is needed to successfully manage a multicultural group.

• Successful management of a diverse group can substantially improve a company’s ability to attract, retain, and motivate employees from different cultural backgrounds thus increasing the organization’s competitive advantage


International Management

International managers must:

• Understand that “as cultural diversity becomes the norm, refusing to recognize and manage it may bring disaster.”

• Understand the nature of culture, and how it influences behavior in the workplace

• Learn about specific cultures-- the other, and one’s own

• Recognize differences between cultures

• Recognize which and how cultural factors influence the expression of business structures, systems, and priorities; and

• Recognize how far structures, systems, and priorities of one’s culture can be implemented within the other culture.


TRUE Managers

TRUE global managers:–Tolerate other cultures;

–Respect other cultures;

–Understand other cultures; and

–Explore / examine / execute their options globally while acting locally.


Whether you think you can or cannot either way you will be

right because the key to unlocking your potential is in

YOUYOU!


It’s what is inside that makes a difference!

Learn well, take chances, and remember that together we can move the world!


Reference

• Mujtaba, B. G. (2007). Cross Cultural Management and Negotiation Practices. ISBN: 978-0-9774211-2-1. ILEAD Academy, LLC; Davie, Florida.


© Bahaudin G. Mujtaba Cross Cultural Management and Negotiation Practices Dr. Bahaudin G. Mujtaba Chapter 16 – Expatriate Training and Development.

Documents

cultural awareness training

areas of training

proper training

sensitivity training

diversity training programs

negotiation differences

cultural dimensions

negotiation challenges