With the trend towards greater global economic integration and the development of transnational business operations, globalization and localization have become a trend, with corporate organizational structures, technological approaches, decision-making approaches and control procedures largely converged in the context of corporate transnational operations, while the cultural context of staff has made cultural conflicts within organizations a major factor in management effectiveness, with cultural differences at the forefront of the survey on “what is the greatest obstacle to global market success”。
Cultural shocks not only directly affect harmonious relationships among employees, but also lead to increased management costs and more difficult organizational coordination, increasing the costs of managing the operations of enterprises and making it inefficient for organizations to meet the challenges of market operations in an active and efficient manner. For example, when a transnational corporation operates in different countries, it may face different cultural differences, such as business practices, laws and regulations and modes of communication in different countries. So how do we deal with cultural shocks within the organization。
Purpose of intercultural training
An important concept of cross-cultural training is the cost of cultural decision-making systems. The costs of enterprise systems are low when culture within an enterprise organization is well integrated and has a high degree of recognition of the dominant culture, and high when the culture promoted by the enterprise is less adaptable and less favourable to the dominant culture。
For business organizations, cross-cultural training is primarily aimed at enabling managers and staff to enhance their ability to identify and adapt to different cultures and to promote communication and understanding among the members of the organization from different cultural backgrounds, including by avoiding involvement of field-based managers in or creating cultural conflicts so that they can adapt quickly to local environments; by promoting understanding among local staff of international business concepts and business practices; by maintaining good and stable personal relationships within the organization; by enabling a smooth flow of internal information and information-sharing to make decision-making processes more efficient; and by strengthening the spirit of teamwork and business cohesion。
A transnational corporation has research and development centres in the united states and china, respectively. The company is increasingly experiencing clashes between chinese and united states employees. There are clear cultural differences between these two groups of employees:
First, asian staff are focused on team harmony, superior authority, and are reluctant to make public accusations; but european and american staff are more free to express their views and are more sensitive to individuals。
Second, when asian staff were on schedule, western staff tended to come up with new ideas and ideas。
These cultural differences are highlighted in team exchanges and gradually lead to conflict:
First, asian employees feel that european and american employees are too dispersed and inefficient; while european and american employees feel that asian employees are too conservative。
Second, asian employees tend to remain silent, while european and american employees sometimes question it。
There is a lack of communication between the two parts of the workforce and a constant misunderstanding. This affects team efficiency and collaborative motivation。
The management of the enterprise saw the problem and decided to organize cross-cultural training for its staff so that chinese and european and american staff could eliminate misunderstandings and enter normal work processes。
Exploring cross-cultural training needs
1) to observe and describe cultural differences without prejudice and to understand the necessity and justification of differences, thereby gradually building common and unified values within the organization and defining patterns of behaviour and norms of engagement。
The managementist peter drucker has a famous point: the management of international enterprises is a question of integrating political and cultural diversity into integrated management
Based on experience in practice areas, international corporate management strategies and the establishment of core values have been challenged by many cultural dilemmas, influenced by differences between cultures. For example, wage increases are the usual means of motivating employees, who are happy and motivated when wages are raised in china, but counterproductive when managers in the united states raise wages for mexican workers, who prefer lower wages to more leisure time。
So within enterprises, different options need to be chosen according to different cultures, and one size fits all is counterproductive。
Second, the selection and development of managers adapted to a multicultural environment provides managers, especially at the senior management level, with greater mobility and responsiveness, respect, equity, tolerance of dissent and cooperation with people from diverse cultural backgrounds。
In this regard, language training is not only intended to equip learners with language knowledge, but also to organize social events that will enable them to have greater access to and communicate with students and staff from the host country, help them to identify and learn cultural differences and break language barriers to interaction
Cultural sensitivity training is a training method to improve interpersonal relations and remove cultural barriers, with the aim of helping participants to communicate effectively and to enhance their adaptability to different cultural environments, in particular by reducing cultural stereotypes and prejudices and increasing mutual trust. Cross-cultural solutions (sino), which include cross-cultural advisers, coaches, mentors and trainers with the deposit of cross-cultural knowledge studies, up-to-date models and certification of industry tools, can help client teams to enhance cross-cultural capacities and the effectiveness of cross-regional collaboration among transnational organizations. Services include training courses, cultural work style testing for individuals and organizations, intercultural mentoring projects for transnational talent, entrepreneurship diversity and inclusion policies (d&i) and overseas assignments (intercultural relocation) projects。
A multinational enterprise found communication barriers and misunderstandings among employees from different countries and cultures. For example, european employees tend to speak out, while asian employees focus more on restraint and concealing their true ideas. To address this problem, the company conducted a two-day training programme. To educate staff about different cultural working methods and modes of communication. It is important to explain the philosophy and value preferences behind culture. Cross-cultural communication techniques are taught, such as avoiding absolute views in communication, actively questioning each other's positions, explaining rather than accusing them. Discussion of specific cases, analysis of possible misunderstandings resulting from cultural differences, and presentation of corresponding approaches. To encourage employees to develop an open and inclusive culture and embrace different modes of communication。
Cross-cultural training
The content of cross-cultural training usually covers multiple aspects and is designed to help staff understand and adapt to different cultures and to provide practical tools and techniques to deal with cross-cultural communication and cooperation。
Cultural awareness and awareness: the first step in cross-cultural training is to help staff understand the existence, characteristics and impact of different cultures. Awareness of and sensitivity to different cultures. Training can cover various cultural dimensions, such as values, beliefs, etiquette, communication style and decision-making. Employees can learn about the differences between cultures and understand their impact on jobs and operations. Avoid misunderstanding and conflict due to cultural blindness. Employees learn to respect and embrace cultural differences. Through this training, employees are able to understand the differences between different cultures, such as modes of communication, working styles, values, etc. This will enable better communication and cooperation with people from different cultural backgrounds。
2) cross-cultural communication skills: intercultural training should focus on effective intercultural communication, including oral and written communication. The training provides information on the style of communication between cultures, language barriers and the importance of non-linguistic communication. Staff can learn how to interpret and adapt to intercultural communication, avoid misunderstandings and conflicts and establish good communication channels。
3) cross-cultural teamwork: in multinational enterprises, teams are usually composed of members from different cultural backgrounds. Intercultural training should focus on promoting teamwork and collaboration. The training can cover team dynamics, conflict resolution techniques, cross-cultural leadership and coordination of different work styles. Staff can learn how to build trust, understanding and respect in cross-cultural teams and achieve common goals。
4) cross-cultural negotiation and decision-making: in multinational enterprises, negotiation and decision-making often involve different cultures. Cross-cultural training can provide negotiation skills and a framework for decision-making, and help staff understand the negotiating style, consultation and decision-making processes of different cultures. Staff can learn how to deal with cultural differences, find win-win solutions and make informed decisions。
5) cross-cultural sensitivity and adaptability: cross-cultural training should develop cross-cultural sensitivity and adaptability of staff. Training can cover cultural observation and listening skills and help staff better understand and respect different cultural perspectives and practices. Employees can learn how to adapt to different work environments and cultural contexts and enhance their adaptive capacity in multinational enterprises。
6. Intercultural leadership: for leaders of multinational enterprises, intercultural training should also focus on the development of intercultural leadership. Training can cover cultural iq, global leadership skills, intercultural team management and cultural change management. Leaders can learn how to effectively lead cross-cultural teams and promote cultural integration and innovation。
7) simulation of the environment in exotic regions and development of communication and adaptive capacity. Cross-cultural training helps employees understand the cultural characteristics of the working environment abroad and to perform their tasks more effectively when they send their workers abroad to work or cooperate with enterprises abroad。
At the end
In multinational enterprises, cultural differences may affect the company's business decision-making, organizational culture and employee behaviour. Transnational corporations therefore need to adapt to different cultural contexts and achieve success in transnational operations by understanding different cultures and building capacities for cross-cultural communication and cooperation。
Attention is being paid to [abbu sharing], cross-border technologists, who share daily dry goods and recognize their growth。
