COMMUNICATION AND TRAINING

Cross-cultural Training: Communicating Internationally

Cultural adjustment is considered a must for expatriate achievement abroad. One way to improve this adjustment is by providing employees with the knowledge and awareness of suitable customs and behaviors of the host country through Cross-cultural Training (CCT). There are countless stories of lost businesses, failed marketing campaigns, unsuccessful partnerships, tarnished corporate reputations and extremely expensive mistakes that could have been prevented with some cautious cultural preparation. This article tries to discover a theoretical framework on cultural adjustment and examines its relevance to CCT. The major objective is to prepare suitable content for training that is to be implemented at various phases before and during the expatriate assignment.

"In China, always greet older person first. In China if they call you to their home take it as a honor. Always use both hands while giving business cards or gifts." (China— http://www.kwintessential.co.uk/resources/global-etiquette/china -country-profile.html)

"British people are very formal and always try to follow protocol. While addressing the person try to use the courtesy titles or Mr., Mrs. or Miss and their surname." (British— http://www.kwintessential. co.uk/resources/global-etiquette/UK.html)

"In Brazil, face-to-face communication is always preferred than other form of communication." (Brazil—http://www. kwintessential. co.uk/resources/global-etiquette/brazil-country-profile.html)

Understanding these differences in culture is a significant turning point in deciding the success of the international assignments for an expatriate. In this era, when there is a marked increase in the number of international assignments, the importance of Cross-cultural Training (CCT) is becoming prominent day by day.

Once an employee has been selected for an international assignment, pre-departure training is considered to be the next critical step to ensure his/her success in the assignment, particularly when the culture of the host country is totally different from his/her culture. In Figure 1, pre-departure training is indicated as a subset of general training. Effective cultural training, if properly imparted, helps an individual to adjust more rapidly to the new culture.

Most companies are realizing the need for CCT as they conduct business internationally, open offices in other countries and hire managers from abroad. Today, even mid-size and small companies have recognized the communication problems and cultural differences and how these issues can adversely affect the firms' productivity and profitability. Trying to do international business without prior CCT can lead to adversity. When organizations go global, this cross-cultural aspect becomes a crucial aspect influencing business; be it cross-cultural teams or business interactions, these differences ultimately affect business. For example, Americans do not value hierarchies much, but other cultures like Asia give a lot of priority to position. For instance, if a senior person expresses some wild thought in a brainstorming session, his/her American colleagues will discard the idea even if he/she is a very senior person. But in the same situation, Asian people would give more priority to that idea and start working on it.

Many Indian IT firms are also conducting CCT to impart the skills required to do business in a global context. Difficult interpersonal relationships between different cultures can create conflicts at the workplace, followed by numerous consequences, one of them obviously being economic loss. If every employee wastes his/her valuable time in interpersonal conflicts due to not being able to understand the cultural differences, then the organization is going to suffer. Clearly, the unpleasantness, dissatisfaction and fears experienced by the employees who are not understood, heard, recognized and valued for the skills that they have developed, cost companies a lot. This cost incurred is high for large corporations. The financial cost of premature returns is high, with some studies estimating the costs of a failed expatriate assignment to be $50,000 to $150,000 (Black and Mendenhall, 1990).

If you can impress business colleagues that you took the time to learn their traditions and customs, even that smallest indication might help. For instance, the Chinese are known for altering the parameters of a deal even if a contract has been signed. But for an American, when a contract is signed, that's the end of a business deal. A Chinese may ask for alterations, and if you can't do them, the Chinese will think that if these little changes can't be accommodated, how can an overall deal be done. However, if these are included, the Chinese will look at you as a trustworthy partner.

When an Asian, for example, hears the word `risk', the thought that comes to his/her mind is, `this is going to cost too much'. But an American will see risk as a danger to quality. For example, say American and Chinese product designers are working together to develop a product and the project runs into trouble. The people from China will be more concerned with the costs associated with the project whereas their American counterparts would be more concerned about the reliability of the product. This miscommunication can spoil the entire project. Here, the two sides are focusing on two different concepts. Once they realize these differences, advances occur.

Even if you are going to an English-speaking country, the culture of each country is very different. When a person gets an international assignment, he/she readily accepts it, considering it as a working vacation. Once the honeymoon phase is over, i.e., after the initial six months, they start facing the issue of culture shock. The circumstances provoking culture shock and the individual reactions depend on a variety of factors, including previous experiences with other cultures and cross-cultural adaptation, the degree of difference in one's own and the host culture, the degree of preparation, social support networks, and individual psychological characteristics (Furnham and Bochner, 1986). Experiencing culture shock is normal in a completely new culture. The problem is those who experience it fail to realize the culture shock. If a person wants to effectively deal with culture shock, he/she needs to first realize it and then employ some behavior to overcome the culture shock.

Phases of Culture Shock

Basically there can be four phases of culture shock (Figure 2):

The honeymoon or tourist phase,

The crisis or culture shock phase,

The adjustment, reorientation and gradual recovery phase, and

The adaptation, resolution, or acculturation phase.

The Honeymoon or Tourist Phase

The honeymoon phase is when the employees are very excited about the new assignment. This typically happens during the first few weeks when the employees actually come in contact with a new culture. They have some idea about the new culture and when this doesn't match, they face difficulty.

The Crisis Phase

The honeymoon phase gives way to the crisis phase, where the employees are totally unhappy about the whole assignment. This typically happens due to differences in the personality, attitude, and support from the organizations, along with many other internal and external factors, depending on an individual to individual basis. Even small issues are not tolerated and people become frustrated with the new culture. One reason for this could be the lack of adaptation to the new culture or a resistance to change.

The Adjustment and Reorientation Phase

This phase deals with how effectively an employee can makes with a new culture. Culture shock can be reduced to an extent if an employee is willing and makes an effort to learn and accept the new culture. Some people are not able to adjust to the happenings around them and decide to withdraw from such situations. Some slowly accept the new culture and decide to deal with issues, developing a positive attitude towards it. Once this attitude is created, the learning process becomes enjoyable and adaptations occur very fast.

The Adaptation Phase

Once an individual develops a positive attitude towards the new situations, solving the issues becomes stress-free. This does not mean that problems come to an end; problems will continue to be there, but they will be dealt with from a different perspective. During the acculturation stage, an employee tries to identify with the new culture.

Ways to Overcome This Culture Shock

To be successful in an unfamiliar culture, one must understand and adapt to it. The strategies that one can adopt in order to overcome culture shock are:

Understand the New Country Before Departure: Try to understand the differences between the two cultures. One could even try to approach people who have been to that particular country and try to understand the traditions, norms, values and beliefs. One can think of approaching a library or Internet resources to find more about the practices there.

Learn the Language: It is important to learn the basics of the other country's language before going there, like the words used for food, hotel, water and other basic necessities. It is also good to understand the basic non-verbal language. For instance, Arabs do not like keeping legs on the table as they treat it as disrespect. Understanding such cues will help an employee to adapt better.

Accept the Cultural Differences: Never try to criticize the rituals and beliefs that the host country follows. Be open to accept the other's culture.

Accept the Subcultures: India is a mixture of different subcultures. In India itself, we can find different cultures like in the North, South, etc. In the same way, in other countries also, there could be different subcultures. So, with a little knowledge on the other country's culture, don't try to jump to conclusions.

Be Tolerant and Open-minded: Be ready to live with difficulty. Be patient with yourself and the host country. Try to be experimental and open to learn the new culture.

Why Having Prior Knowledge About the Host Country is Important?

Participating in pre-departure CCT is one way of gathering information about the host country. Many researches show that even today employees are sent for international assignments without being given CCT. Experts argue that employees should be sent for CCT before the international assignment. This type of training will give confidence to carry out the assignments in a more positive way and will also help the employees to reduce the stress and the negative outcomes associated with the assignment.

The pre-departure programs will, not fully help the employees in adjusting with the host country setting, but it will surely give the employees a brief idea about the host country setting. The training will also give a positive attitude for the employees to cope up with the initial culture shock. It will also help them to adjust more quickly with the culture shock. During the training sessions, emphasis should be given more on the major differences between the two countries and about the adjustment problems that can be faced by the employees.

Another source of preknowledge will be the previous experience of the employees. If the employees have been to the host country for vacation, for higher studies or other business requirements, that knowledge will help them a lot in their assignment. Yet another source of information could be through experience sharing, through friends or family members who are staying in have visited the host country. Today, with the advent of information technology, sharing information has become very easy. Through social networking sites like facebook, orkut, twitter and blogs, etc., people can easily contact their friends who are residing abroad and can get the information from them about the culture of the host country.

Why Companies Should Include Families for the CCT Program

According to the global relocations trend survey, the major reason for not accepting international assignment were family concerns, partner resistance, partner's career, children's educations, etc. Families' role in making/breaking the assignment is very critical. Companies should understand that families have a major role in deciding about the assignment, particularly if the spouse is working. If spouse is reluctant, the assignment will not work out. So, companies should include families during the CCT program. Also, some sort of practical assistance should be provided for finding a job for the spouse and settling in the host country. If the companies provide these sort of support for the family, then chances of success of the assignment is very high. During the training program, families should be given training on language, assisting the spouse in finding a job, work permit sponsorship for spouse, education/training assistance for spouse, etc. Remember, if the family is happy, then the employee will be happy, if the employee is happy, then his performance will be good. So, providing family support is very critical in CCT (Figures 3 and 4).

Components of Cross-cultural Training

In India and abroad, many consultants are providing CCT programs for MNCs. Companies that wish to send their employees for global assignments should send their employees for CCT for the success of the assignment. These training modules are prepared in consultation with the client. Mostly, the modules will be custom-made. Some of the consultancies have some country-specific training. Some consultancies even give relocation support for the employees as requested by the companies or sometimes even that will be included in their package, (e.g., Global Adjustments Aperian Global, People Going Global, Kwintessential).

From the time of globalization, many authors have tried to identify the components to be included in the CCTs. One such attempt was from Downs (1970), who specified the four training models as the: Intellectual, Area Simulation Model, Self-awareness, and Cultural Awareness Models.

According to Eschbach, Parker and Stoeberl, (March, 2001), "Cross-cultural training is most effective when it is designed in relation to specific trainees in a specific context, and when it is begun prior to the trainees' departure from their home culture and continues periodically during their stay in the host culture. Interactional learning is useful to the extent that interactions involve guided learning and the practice of appropriate behaviors". Experiential learning with its emphasis on learning, through actual experience, has the greatest potential for perfecting and/or developing the required skills. Timing of training is also important because if training ceases before, uncertainty will set in that will hamper the adaptation of the trainees in the new settings (Figure 5).

Conduct a Confidential Need Analysis

This phase is very important in CCT, since it helps the company to understand the general attitude of the employees towards the training program. Also, it will help the company to identify the areas where training has to be stressed upon.

Analyzing the CQ of the Employees

The ability to interact effectively in multiple cultures has been labeled as Cultural Intelligence (CQ). It is defined as a "multifaceted competency consisting of cultural knowledge, the practice of mindfulness, and the repertoire of behavioral skills" (Thomas & Inkson, 2004). So, analyzing a person's CQ will help the company to understand whether he/she can adjust with other cultures.

Arranging for Preliminary Visits to the Host Country

This phase will be a part of experiential learning. A well-planned overseas trip for the candidate and spouse provides a preview that allows them to assess their suitability for and arouse the interest in the assignment. Such a trip also serves to introduce expatriate candidates to the business context in the host location and helps to encourage more informed pre-departure preparation. If organizations use preliminary visits as a part of pre-departure training program, it will help the trainees in their initial adjustment process. The employees will have an overview about the host country's culture. This experience will help them to better understand the content of the training program because they can relate it with the experience they had.

Pre-departure Training

Language Training

In order to excel in cross-cultural conditions, an understanding of the general and cultural differences is not enough. A basic understanding of the language used in the host culture is also required. Although English is considered as an international language, still there is a majority of the population which does not understand/speak the language, as most of them learn it as a foreign language. For example, if you go to China, the majority of the population will only speak Chinese. So, it is advisable to learn the basic Chinese words for being at ease in the country. The companies have to provide language training, where the trainees are taught the language of the specific culture. The main aim of this training is to provide the family with a basic knowledge of the vocabulary as this will help them to adapt better to the situation.

Cultural Awareness Training (Area Studies)

During this phase, the trainees should be briefed about the host countries history, geography, climate, demographics, economy, political system, etc. For this kind of training, the trainees can use handouts, films, visual and audio media to make the training interesting. This training will provide the trainees with the basic understanding of the culture of the host country.

Managing Change/Transition

The key to change is to let go of fear. Anxiety/the fear of the unknown is one major hindrance to change. Managing this anxiety will help the person to adjust to any situation in life. One way to resolve the issue is to keep them informed about the change. In this way, one can bring down the anxiety to an acceptable level. Other ways to reduce the resistance to change are giving proper counseling, listening empathetically, providing support, etc. The major aim of this stage is to create a positive attitude towards change and to motivate the employees to cope up with the change.

Stress Management

Stress can be managed! Today, it is very difficult to find low-stress jobs. Therefore, the only way to tackle this problem is learning ways to manage stress. The expectations, preparation, changes, and adjustments associated with cross-cultural assignments are loaded with possible sources of stress. Therefore, it is essential to provide expatriates and their families with individual strategies for managing stress effectively. The training program should discuss the nature of emotional and stress reactions, practice-coping skills and testing these skills under actual stressful conditions.

Dining and Meeting Etiquette

Providing training on dining and meeting etiquette is very essential for an expatriate. Each county's dining and meeting etiquette varies. So a proper understanding of the etiquettes is very essential for the success of business deals.

Practical Assistance

One important component of the pre-departure training program is to render practical assistance in relocation of the family and the employee. This will help the employee and his family a lot in adapting themselves to the new situation. Many MNCs now take advantage of relocation specialists to provide this practical assistance for e.g., in finding accommodation and schools. The consultants who provide training themselves offer the relocation facilities.

Conclusion

Cross-cultural assignments are now becoming a usual phenomenon in this competitive world. Many researches have pointed out the increasing failure rate of international assignments. A well-drafted cross-cultural management training program is important for effective cross-cultural performance. Companies have understood the importance of imparting CCT before foreign assignments.

-- Jitha G Nair
Lecturer,
SCMS Cochin, Ernakulam, Kerala.
The author can be reached at
jithakannan@yahoo.co