Managing in Global Context

Contents

Introduction.

Importance of issue.

Literature review..

The objective of cross-cultural training.

Training whilst on project or assignment

The need for cross-cultural training.

Analysis.

Recommendations.

Setting meaningful goal and purpose of training.

Using time efficiently.

Thinking on your feet

Knowing the audience.

Setting up the environment

Better use of technology.

References.

Introduction to Managing in Global Context

The organizations in the world have expanded tremendously due to rapid and continuous changes in technology as well as liberalization of the trade by crossing the domestic boundaries. With time, as the companies have considered its global businesses as attractive and lucrative, managing global operations have become quite challenging and complex because of the influence of some key factors like cross-cultural diversity, legal framework, communication and political circumstances that compel the Human Resource Management to function on every level of the organization within an international and domestic business.

The cross-cultural diversity in the organization is one of the significant factors having a positive or negative impact on the operations of the global business as per the environmental circumstances as well as the strategy that the organization adopts (Abdullah & Jinb, 2015). Various obstacles are being created due to globalization that is dealt with by international firms to be successful. The quantity of cross-cultural interaction rises progressively in intensity and frequency that establishes a need for every organization to prepare the workforce with international competency coaching and cross-cultural training. Employee training is considered to be a vital portion of every firm as a trained workforce are tend to give better results in comparison to other employees having inadequate or no training. This report discusses the importance of cross-cultural training that is required in the management of global organizations. The literature review brings out various aspects of the issue. Moreover, on the basis of detailed analysis, some recommendations have been provided at the end of the report in the light of cross-cultural training.

Importance of Issue

It is often believed that differences cross-cultural can obstruct communication as well as interpersonal relationships. In the world of business, this takes place almost every day wherein people belonging to distinct backgrounds come in contact with each other, perform together and make a decision as a team. Cross-cultural training is conducted with the aim of developing awareness among people coming from different cultural background to promote clear lines of communication and improve relationships (Kaufmann et al. 2014).

Cross-cultural training comprises of various benefits that can be gained by businesses and participants. The participants learn about themselves as they get exposed to information and facts related to their preconceptions, cultures, world views and mentalities that might have not been considered. The learning in cross-cultural training makes the trainees know about themselves.

Cross-cultural training helps in empowering the teams as well as individuals with a sense of control on the basis of various difficulties in the workplace thereby promoting self-confidence in them. We all have certain obstacles such as prejudices, preconceptions and stereotypes that lead to obstructing our understanding for other people. The training of cross-cultural demystifies various other cultures by presenting them under the light of an objective (Mayrhofer et al., 2014). Barriers are generally chipped away through learning concerning other cultures that further allows more open relationships as well as dialogues. Moreover, people tend to identify areas of improvement for themselves through self-analysis that further motivates them towards progress.

The cross-cultural training helps the participants build up great 'people skills' so that they can implement in every walk of their life. With the learning based on the influence of a culture that means the hidden factors on the behaviours of people, the individuals begin with dealing with the people with understanding and sensitivity that might have been earlier missing.

Listening is regarded as the core element of productive and effective communication. Cross-cultural training plays a significant role in making people understand how to be a good listener, what they should listen for and how to construe what is being heard in a broader framework of comprehension. Once a person learns how to be a good listener, he or she naturally becomes effective communicators.

It is quite often seen that the people in the workplace have a tendency to emphasize on disparities. It is quite obvious that with the rise in the communication issues due to cross-cultural, the inclination is mainly towards retreating contrasting ideas and also to accentuate the negative facets of the other. The cross-cultural training is beneficial in the development of a sense of mutual understanding among people by accentuating them mutual ground. Once the mutual understanding is built up, the individuals begin using them for overcoming the challenging circumstances of culture. The skills of the people get enhanced through cross-culture training which further leads in the improvement in the employment opportunities. Furthermore, the awareness related to cross-cultural provides a competitive edge to the people over others specifically while applying for the required positions within the international organizations with a huge multi-cultural workforce (Keengwe, 2014).

Employees in the workplace are required to conform to various norms of behaviours related to distinct cultures. The behaviours must be adopted by the employees that please everyone in the workplace. There should not be any kind of discrimination on the basis of race, nationality, creed or colour. With the implementation of cross-cultural training, the participants can learn various ways of accomplishing their tasks from people of different cultural background.

The intercultural training is important for the individuals in boosting their personality along with inducing a new wave of energy in the workplace (Thomas and Peterson, 2016). When people of different cultures are welcomed by the employees, then productivity tends to grow by bounds and leaps. It makes the employees know about their roles and responsibilities more explicitly within a multicultural setting. This provides them with the opportunity to enhance and feel motivated.

The employees are usually seen biased towards a particular method of functioning. Adequate cross-cultural skills are useful in widening the horizons so that they could see things from distinct perspectives. This way they can open their mind to various approaches and also can expand the skills of problem-solving.

Literature Review of Managing in Global Context

Livermore (2015) mentioned that the global business is rapidly evolving and becoming highly competitive that has further established a strategic need for an enhanced number of global assignments. Moreover, with the competition of companies with the new markets, products, technologies and investors along with the most suitable talent, the demand for deploying more people of cross-borders on the shirt as well as long term assignments or projects. Provided with the cost of global projects that ranges from 3to 5 times of their basic salary, the firms have now begun to take significant steps for promoting the success of the projects and averting failures.

The Objective of Cross-Cultural Training

More than 60 per cent of the companies in the US are offering cross-cultural training to international assignees. The organizations implement the programs for cross-cultural training in an attempt to transfer the personnel successfully across borders (Shah, 2016). In order to have successful cross-cultural training, the program must be well-planned as well as tailored to the needs and goals of individual firms and also to relocate the personnel. Moreover, the strategies, attitudes against expatriation and corporate cultures along with the expatriate’s experience are required to be considered. Wurtz (2014) noted that the key objective of the cross-cultural training is to educate the employees about the management of the organization in various countries and hence establishing awareness in regards to those countries and their cultures tend to manage the business along with the employees and projects.

Training Whilst on Project or Assignment

Differences do not just impede at the cultural barrier but also rises within the policies of the government and inter-office regulations and politics, and therefore training must persist whilst on the assignment. Moreover, organizations and industries are usually as distinct and diverse like the countries themselves. Hence, this adds on the next level of challenges to the project for the employee as well as the manager. Kassar et al. (2015) noted that management of employees for any international assignment comprises of managing national as well as organizational cultures at the same time. Lack of understanding the culture generally results in business conflict, wastage of resources, time and money and relocation failure. Therefore, the employees are required not only to adapt to the culture of the country but also the culture of the organizations so that the success of the assignment could be increased. As people are regarded as the asset for the firms, therefore they must be engaged in a manner that benefits the employees as well as the organization. For the purpose of increasing the successfulness of the project or assignments, the programs are required to be implemented focusing on the cross-cultural training as well as management.

Furthermore, cross-cultural training conducted for the international assignment is considered to be a complicated endeavour demanding efforts from the experienced and skilled professionals. There are numerous organizations such as Motorola and Monsanto that are committed to involving cross-cultural training in international assignments. Such organizations identified that the existence of good training firms can be found along with the training consultants, it is crucial to examine their capabilities and if managed competently and implemented perfectly, training can be regarded as the key intrusion in the promotion of the success of the international assignment.

The Need for Cross-Cultural Training

Cross-cultural training is one of the methods of managing diversity within an organization. It is regarded as the chief method that can be implemented for the facilitation of the efficacious cross-cultural interaction and communication. Cross-cultural training is a procedure that is applied for enhancing the ability of the individual to cope up with the cultures of across borders and performing incredibly within a cultural environment. Thomas & Peterson (2016) argues that the training of cross-cultural contributes in raising the skills and abilities of the employees to make them understand the different cultures of other employees along with the ethos and value of another culture. Moreover, it tends to inculcate the interest to comprehend the background of the employees along with the cultural heritage.

Training offers a source for modelling behaviours such as storing judgment of the people belonging to other culture along with the outcome of those behaviours that can serve a vital explicit learning experience for the individuals and eventually results in the cognitive behaviour and effective and outcome expectations. The process of social-learning would effect in the same but also the opposite outcomes in regards to the modelling of improper behaviours like ethnocentricity. Therefore, cross-cultural results in the individuals’ perceiving having exact perception related to the target culture and also to the trainees with accurate perceptions related to the target culture.

Understanding the benefits of cross-cultural training, various organizations have created the program for cross-cultural training and continue in struggling with the comprehending the business value and also to receive the benefits out of those programs. However, the majority of them are required to initiate the training program in the upcoming years.

When individuals from conflicting and diverse cultures work and meet together, they are offered cross-cultural training. This helps those individuals in respecting their as well as others’ culture. Moreover, they all work together to achieve the common objective of the firm and this eventually expand a healthy environment for work which is extremely beneficial for the individual as well as for the organization.

Cutler (2018) noted that the styles of verbal and non-verbal communication are different and hence can lead to misunderstandings as well as frustrations affecting global business relationships which can eventually result into reduced efficiency and productivity due to poor knowledge and admiration of cultural differences. Moreover, communication issues may take place due to linguistic variations and also due to the less evident cultural values differences which are instinctively embedded in the behaviour of the people. It is important to be aware of one's values along with the influence they may have on the behaviour and perception which is vital for the individual working on the international platform.

Programmes for cross-cultural training such as communicating efficaciously across cultures are significant in making the individuals understand their values and of others through an amalgamation of trainer-led discussion, self-assessments and group activities. The insight acquired after training the staffs in the regions of cross-cultural training and international competency can be useful, to begin with, the building intercultural competence in the staff members which is quite significant in the international business environment in the contemporary world.

Analysis of Managing in Global Context

From the literature review, the report can be analyzed mentioning the importance of employee training as a vital part of every organization. Moreover, the employees when trained tend to give better results as compared to the ones not properly trained. The aim of the intercultural training tends to function as a combined team and reduce all kinds of barriers occurring due to cross-cultural communication in order to serve the mutual business interest (French, 2015).

Interpersonal relationships may have to suffer because of improper cross-cultural training. The training for cross-cultural must be designed specifically to the cultures wherein one can plan to develop with the one with whom the collaboration has to take place.

It can be analyzed that the insufficient information related to another culture usually restricts the understanding in the employees. Cross-cultural training is helpful in breaking every kind of barriers and also makes the employees know and respect various cultures. It also leads in the appropriate understanding concerning the behaviour of the individuals making them culturally sensitive. Moreover, cross-cultural training has been useful for the organizations in making people accept behavioural norms of distinct cultures so as not to affront anyone and to avoid discrimination of any kind.

Cross-cultural training is important for awakening the understanding related to one’s own culture and also the perception of the people related to it. This implies that the staffs get to understand the latest information and facts concerning their own cultures. The employees can be able to comprehend the preconceived notions in relation to their own culture between various other people while learning about the cultures of the other employees (Lelchook & de Luque, 2015).

Furthermore, the work culture of MNCs invariably results in employee interaction among multiple ethnic backgrounds. The intercultural communication process undoubtedly opens up the gates of improved knowledge along with the generation of inventory of variations. Employees usually find it difficult to relate to the novel culture as well as its norms. Insufficient ethnic awareness, language dissimilarity and stereotyping are some of the major barriers that result in project failures and operational disputes.

It is necessary to foster awareness for avoiding misinterpretations as well as diverges. Customized workshops for training that are created across related ethnic background can be advantageous in the refining sensitivity and aiding interactions. The key goal of carrying out training must be to eradicate the existing stereotyped mindset and also to introduce the requirement to be thoughtful of other backgrounds.

Recommendations on Managing in Global Context

The need for effective and appropriate training programs within cross-cultural communications has detonated in recent years and has been driven by aspirations for preventing any kind of misunderstanding and to establish corporate competitiveness within the global marketplace. Integrating the measures mentioned below, the procedure of emerging an efficient and educational learning program can make certain that multicultural interactions become prolific as well as effortless. Furthermore, the organizations must focus on the development of relevant skills to acquire position in the international marketplace successfully. For this, cross-cultural training sessions are considered as the formal effort in preparing professionals for working in cultures apart from their own and with the people belonging to distinct cultural backgrounds.

Setting Meaningful Goal and Purpose of Training

It is important to examine how closely the training goals are related to the real-life experiences of the participants. In order to improve and establish cross-cultural training, relevant goals of the training are critical and must be implemented to the daily activities of the participants. The training programs when successful can influence the attitude of the trainee at the time of their cross-cultural experience (Valerio et al., 2014). Moreover, goals have to be explicit and changes are required to be accomplished.

Using Time Efficiently

Usually, it has been observed that the timing set for the training program is not considered to be a uniform principle amongst the trainers. Experience is vital for developing such type of skill. Moreover, pre-departure training cannot be that much effectual when the participants do not contain the essential preceding intercultural experience.

Thinking on Your Feet

Confidence is required for attracting the attention of the participants and to maintain that attention focused. The confidence of the trainer increases with the increase in their ability to “think on their feet”. Novice trainers should seek the help of the experienced trainer till the time they acquire sufficient experience for making on the spot amendments.

Knowing the Audience

It is crucial to have audience analysis in order to implement effective cross-cultural training programs. There are numerous facets for taking into consideration the global audience that is regarded not as crucial for domestic initiatives. Language skill is considered to be one of the most obvious issues. It is important to note that if the audience is English speaking which is required in the training session then follow-up questions could be asked to acquire a better idea on how fluent the audience is with speaking.

Setting up The Environment

Uncomfortable and nervous trainers would build an uncomfortable environment for the participants (Cutler, 2018). An open, as well as non-threatening environment, must be established by the trainers allowing trainees to challenge thinking of other people. The training can be carried out in a cultural setting which is novel to the participants. The environment created by the trainers will be helpful for the trainees to comfortably work via apprehensive interlude of cultural adjustment.

Better Use of Technology

Use of technology can play a significant role in the corporate communication which will lead in the delivery and follow up of cross-cultural training program that will result in its expansion. There is a demand for computer-based simulations required to be integrated into traditional training of cross-cultural along with the global workforce development designs.

Thus, cross-cultural training can be one of the most effective systems that can be helpful in overcoming the cultural differences as they can be considered as a single unit concerning a mutual goal. Moreover, it is essential to establish and promote cultural awareness in the organization and also to promote cultural literacy skills.

References for Managing in Global Context

Abdullahª, D. N. M. A., & Jinb, C. S. (2015). Determining the types of training and development supports for expatriates. Procedia-Social and Behavioral Sciences172, 548-554.

Cutler, J., (2018). The Cross-Cultural Communication Trainer's Manual: Volume Two: Activities for Cross-Cultural Training. Routledge.

French, R. (2015). Cross-cultural management in work organisations. Kogan Page Publishers.

Kassar, A. N., Rouhana, A., & Lythreatis, S. (2015). Cross-cultural training: Its effects on the satisfaction and turnover of expatriate employees. SAM Advanced Management Journal80(4), 4.

Kaufmann, H. R., Englezou, M., & García‐Gallego, A. (2014). Tailoring cross‐cultural competence training. Thunderbird International Business Review56(1), 27-42.

Keengwe, J. ed., (2014). Cross-cultural online learning in higher education and corporate training. IGI Global.

Lelchook, A., & de Luque, M. S. (2015). Cross-cultural training in industrial and organizational psychology. In International Encyclopedia of the Social & Behavioral Sciences: Second Edition (pp. 334-341). Elsevier Inc..

Livermore, D. & Soon, A.N.G., (2015). Leading with cultural intelligence: The real secret to success. Amacom.

Mayrhofer, W., Reiche, B. S., Feitosa, J., Kreutzer, C., Kramperth, A., Kramer, W. S., & Salas, E. (2014). Expatriate adjustment: Considerations for selection and training. Journal of Global Mobility.

Shah, D. (2016). Cross-cultural training. In Encyclopedia of Human Resource Management. Edward Elgar Publishing Limited.

Thomas, D. C., & Peterson, M. F. (2016). Cross-cultural management: Essential concepts. Sage Publications.

Thomas, D.C. & Peterson, M.F., (2016). Cross-cultural management: Essential concepts. Sage Publications.

Valerio, A., Parton, B., & Robb, A. (2014). Entrepreneurship education and training programs around the world: dimensions for success. The World Bank.

Wurtz, O. (2014). An empirical investigation of the effectiveness of pre-departure and in-country cross-cultural training. The International Journal of Human Resource Management25(14), 2088-2101.

Remember, at the center of any academic work, lies clarity and evidence. Should you need further assistance, do look up to our Management Assignment Help

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