INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT

Dr. Shyamal Gomes

Chapter – 5: Training and Development (Cross cultural Training)

Introduction: Training is the process of altering employee’s behavior, attitudes

and knowledge in a way that increases the probability of individual and organizational
goal attainment. Training aims to improve employee’s current work skills and
behavior. Whereas, ‘development’, is a continuous improvement process, towards
objectives, aims to increase overall abilities of employees in relation to some future
position or jobs.

What is cross cultural training?

For International assignment, once a MNCs selected a person ( whether – CEO,

Manager, structured reproducer, trouble shooter or operator) expatriate training is
considered to be the next crucial step to ensure the expatriate’s effectiveness and
success abroad – This is also called Cross Cultural Training (CCT). CCT is a process
of orientation and skill improvement mainly on HOST CULTURE and WORK LIFE
BEHAVIOR.

Fundamental difference between Training and CCT?

Training Cross Cultural Training

Based on management Based on management philosophy but highly concentrate on staffing
philosophy, the training approach:
could be organized any Ethnocentric – Parent country
where and for every one. Poly centric – Host country
Geocentric – Best suited areas
Re-geocentric – Any where

Types of CCT:

Environmental briefing – geography, climate, housing, and schools.

Cultural orientation – cultural institutions, value systems of the host county.
Cultural assimilators - inter cultural encounters.
Language training – communication effectiveness
Sensitivity training – to develop attitudinal flexibility.
Field experience – to make the expatriate familiarize with the challenges of
assignment.

Significant of CCT :
As companies now-a-days are go global, there arises the need for training employees
for international assignment. Because:

Training aims to improve in relation to some future position or job, usually

managerial. When expatriates are unfamiliar with the customs, cultures and
work habits of the local people, they often make critical mistakes, which can
be avoided by providing them with proper training.
Effective training can prevent many errors and minimize the impact of others.
Some of the biggest complaints against expatriates revolved around personal
shortcomings in areas such as politeness, punctuality, sensitivity, reliability,
tolerance and empathy.
Effective training programmes can also improve overall management style. In
terms of leadership, the locals would like their expatriate managers to be
friendly, more accessible, supportive and receptive to sub ordinates
suggestion.
Habits and practices relating to work motivation, profit motivation,
negotiation skills, gift giving customers, eating and dressing, body gestures
etc. are vary from one culture to another. It is essential, employees trained to
handle these nuances before being posted to overseas.
To attain long term organizational goals
To minimize the cost of expatriate failure (which is very costly).
Bridging the cultural gaps between the host country and parent country
organization.
Recognizing that orientation / induction challenges are different for the parent
and the host unit.
Ensuring the organizational success is critical in achievement of the global
objectives
Establishing and retaining advantages over international competitors
Building a single organizational culture across its subsidiaries.

Systematic Process of CCT:

R&S Training Developm Internatio

ent nal
Team

Pre departure International Post – departure or

Assignment Re entry training
Training

There are two phases of expatriate training:

Preparatory training for foreign assignment (Pre departure).
 Re – entry training (Repatriation)
Overseas assignment training comes under development part

In order to develop and design effective training, companies must implement a

system approach which includes:
1. Analysis of training needs of target population
2. Establishing training goals
3. Careful training design

1. Target population or ideal people: Based on 6 competencies:

Leadership skill
Initiative
emotional stability
Motivation
Ability to handle responsibility
Cultural sensitivity
To handle stress
Flexibility.

2. Training Goal:
The goal of cross cultural training should be to equip the trainees with knowledge,
skills and attitudes which enable them achieve the following three adjustments and
effectiveness which are indicators of international success:
Personality adjusted, i.e he / she feels happy and satisfied with situation
abroad.
Professionally effective if he performs his tasks, duties and responsibilities on
the job completely.
Inter – personally adjusted and effective if he takes interest in interacting with
locals capably.

4. Design of Training:

Levels of training which MNCs are to ensure for success of overseas assignments can
be summarized as under:
 First level training to focus on learning about host country’s culture,
language, politics, business, geography, religious values and history.
Through seminars, videos, meeting with citizens of the country before
assignment begins.
 Second level training deals about assignment itself. Requirements of
the position – technical, managerial knowledge needed company
officials can do that before leaving.
 Third level training deals with preparing him for new job at new
location to be done by whom he is replacing.
 Forth level training – how he / she adjusts and adapts to new
environments, by providing assistance.
 Fifth level training addresses re entry back home and contact with
people at home and visit home during vacation

Therefore, Training and development of international staff should be approached

as a process and not as a one time even just prior to departure.
Training and development of international staff must be viewed in the light of
complete deployment cycle, and the same will be most effective when linked to
systematic career development plans.

What is deployment cycle for international assignments?

Position in
1
Host country

2
Selection / Training for Return
International Career
5 Re – Entry Training
And support

3Selection / Training for

Specific assignment

4 Assignment:
Arrival orientation
Overseas support and
Monitoring

CCT Strategy:

Training Strategies Bridge the gap between the capabilities of the individual hired
and the role / responsibilities of the job that he / she is being hired for:

The four strategies of CCT are:

1. MNCs may make use of expatriates for short term (ST) and long term
international assignment.
2. The staffing orientation that is adopted in the subsidiary unit influence the
training impetus like:
 Ethnocentric staffing strategy – focus in training to cross culture
and cultural assimilation initiative.
 Polycentric staffing shift the training focus to technology training,
parent country culture, policies and work plan values.
 Geocentric / Re-geocentric – focus in parent company and the
particular technology of the organization
3. The control and coordination linkage that the parent unit wishes to establish
with the subsidiary unit drives the training budget and the strategy.

4. The Role/Responsibilities of the position, determine the extent and content of

the training.

Therefore, MNCs offer CCT to teach their expatriates, the host countries
appropriate norms and work behavior. Any CCT aim at improving cross cultural
skills and knowledge to the expatriates and to facilitated his or her adjustment to
the host countries culture. The effectiveness of a CCT is reflecting by the
cognitive, affective and behavioral changes that occur during and after the training

Stages of a successful CCT:

In order to make a CCT highly successful, the international HR manager would do

well to proceed on a well – defined sequences of stages:

Evaluate whether the

Identify Training Objectives
CCT was effective

Identify the types of Global Develop and deliver the

Assignment for which CCT is CCT programme
required

Determine the specific cross Establish the goals and

Cultural Training needs measures for
Determining training
effectiveness

Components of effective pre -departure training programme

Cultural Awareness Programs – well designed cultural awareness program of

host country
Preliminary visits – the average length of visit is about 1 week
Language Training – company language (English), host country language
skills and adjustment (Spanish) and knowledge of the corporate language (
parent language – Indian)
Sensitivity Training – attitudinal flexibility
Field Experience – Job related factors (to make the expatriate familiarize with
the challenge of assignment)

Cross-Cultural Training Methods

 Cultural Briefings ; Explain the major aspects of the host country

culture including customs, traditions, every day behaviors.

 Area Briefings: Explain the history, geography, economy, politics, and other
general information about the host country and region.
 Cases: Portray a real-life situation in business or personal life to illustrate
some aspect of living or working in the host culture.
 Role playing: Allows the trainee to act out a situation that he or she might
face in living or working in the host country.
  Cultural assimilator: Provides a written set of situations that the trainee
might encounter in living or working in the host country. Trainee selects one
from a set of responses to the situation and is given feedback as to whether it
is appropriate and why.
 Field experiences: Provide an opportunity for the trainee to go to the host
country or another unfamiliar culture to experience living and working for a
short time.

Conceptual Frameworks of CCT or Different models of CCT:

Three frameworks or models of training that integrate the research that supports
industry practices:

1. R. Tung (1981):
2. Mendelhall & Oddou (1987):
3. Black and Mendelhall (1989):

Rosalie Tung (1981) proposed a contingency framework for dividing the culture and
level of rigour of training. Training focus is culture related issues when rigour of
training high simultaneously training focus is task / job related issues when rigour of
training low.

Mendenhall & Oddou (1987) proposed three dimensions: training methods, low,
medium and the high levels of training rigour and duration of training relative to
degree of interaction and culture novelty.

Black & Mendenhall (1989) take three aspects of social learning theory – attention,
retention and reproduction.

Tung’s framework: Rosalie Tung’s (1981) proposed a framework which helps

decide the nature and level of rogour of training. This framework is based on two
variables:
1. The degree of interaction between the parent and the host unit, and
2. The culture novelty, implying how different (novel) is the culture of the
expatriate from that of the host unit.

As per this framework, the two variables define the nature, duration and intensity of
training that needs to be provided to the expats. Following figure identifies the
training focus and the rigour of the training programme. If the expected interaction
between the expats and the members of the host culture is low, and the degree of
dissimilarity between the individual’s native culture and the host culture is low, then
the content of the training should focus on the task – job related issues, rather than on
culture – related issues and the level of rigour necessary for effective training should
be relatively low and vice versa.
Training focus is Culture related issues

High
Training focus is task
/ job related issues
Rigour of training
HIGH
Cultural
Novelty Rigour of
training LOW

Low Degree of Interaction High

Mandelhall & Oddou’s Framework

The Mandelhall & Oddou’s framework builds on the model provided by R.Tung.
The elements of “degree of interaction” and “culture novelty” are retained while
adding a more complex relationship – “Training Methods”.

This framework, therefore, includes 3 key elements:

• Training methods,
• Low, medium and the high levels of training rigour and
• Duration of training relative to degree of interaction and culture novelty.

Level of Rigour Duration Approach / methodology Training

Content
A High 60 – 180 Lecture, factual briefings, Both cultural
hours books, role plays, cases, and job
field experiences, culture demands
assimilator, simulation
B Moderate 20-60 hours Lecture, film, books,, Equal emphasis
culture assimilator, cases on job and
culture
C Moderate 20-60 hours Lecture, film, books, role Strong
plays, simulation emphasis on job
demands, less
on culture
D Low to 20-40 hours Lecture, factual briefings, Strong
moderate cases, emphasis on job
demands, little
on culture
E Moderate 40-80 hours Lecture, films, books, role Little emphasis
plays, cases, culture on job demands,
assimilator, simulation most on culture
(economic,
political,
historical and
religious)
F Low to 20-60 hours Lecture, film, books, cases Little emphasis
moderate on job demands,
most on culture
G Low to 30-60 hours Lecture, film, books, Little emphasis
moderate cases, role plays on job demands,
most on culture
H Low 4-8 hours Lecture, film, books Little emphasis
on either job or
culture
Black & Mendelhall (1989)
Black & Mendenhall take three aspects of social learning theory – attention,
retention and reproduction – and show how these are influenced by individual
differences in expectations and motivation, and the incentives to apply learned
behaviors in the foreign location.

Contextual and Individual Differences

Situational
Factors - efficacy expectation Skills
Development
- Time available - outcomes expectations
-- Duration and nature -Self
dimension
- Cultural toughness
MOTIVATION - Relational
- perceptional

C.A.T Attention Retention Reproduction

Incentives Adjustment
and
Performance
P.M.S
This approach recognizes that effective training is only the first step and that the
expatriate’s willingness and ability to act on that training in the new environment
is crucial effective performance.

Therefore, it stresses the importance of attention paid by the potential expatriate to

the behaviors and probable outcomes of a cultural awareness training programme,
the individual’s ability and willingness to retain learned behaviors, and their
reproduction as appropriate in the host location.

Developing International Staff:

• International assignments have been recognized as an important mechanism
for developing expatriates.
• Many MNCs are conscious that they need to provide international experience
to many levels of managers ( regardless of nationality and not just a small
cadre of PCNs)
• Therefore, International job rotation is a well – established technique, for
developing multinational teams and international operators. It may be
supported by PCN, TCN and HCN attendance at common training and
 development programme (CTDP) held either parent country, or regional centre
or both.
• International assignment helps both for individual or management
development as well as organizational development or team development.

Individual /management development:

• Individual gains International exp. Which Assists in career progression
• Gradually develop the Professional attitude in management development.

Expatriate career decision points:

D – 1: Occurs during R & S for a specific assignment, where the expatriate

either apply or is informally selected, for an international assignment.
D - 2: Voluntarily withdrawal or reject the assignment)
D - 3: Premature Return (unable to adjust)
D - 4: Final Exit (the expatriate may decide to exit the organization.
D - 5: Re assignment – either can be back into the ‘parent’ organization or the
person may accept another international assignment.
D -6: Can be relevant at this stage, at the time of ‘expatriation’ with exit
organization. (D = Decision)

However, these decisions points are based upon the issues that related
• to adjustment with host country culture, work life behaviour / job performance
and finally socio economic problem in family.
• Personal ability and interest to develop international skill for future growth.

Organizational / team development:

A global mind set in terms of Skill, Knowledge, and Abilities upon which overall
Program growth. Therefore, Expatriate become the asset of MNCs and assist in the
transfer of Knowledge and competence.

The international assignment often is the ‘training ground’ for the international
‘cadre’. International teams can be formed from those who have international
experiences.
It is frequent argued that multinationals, especially in networked organization, would
be benefit from using International teams as:

• A mechanism for fostering innovation

• Organizational learning's
• A means of breaking down functional and national boundaries enhancing
horizontal communication and information flows.
• A way of encouraging diverse inputs into decisions, problem solving and
strategic assessments.
• A way of developing a global perspective
• A way of developing shared values, thus assisting in the use of informal,
normative control through socialization
Merit and demerit of CCT:

Merits Demerits

Increases chances of success in Develop a false sense of confidence

global assignment among employees
Provides a comprehensive global May not remove cultural biases and
perspective for managers prejudices
Instills a sense of confidence into may not take seriously by the recipients.
people May not make a visible difference in
Foreign employees can be business volumes
managed better can never fully prepare an assignee to
Reduce culture shock due to face real problem.
frequent travels abroad and
familiarity of local practices

Conclusion: Training Strategy Bridge the gap between the individual hired and the
role / responsibilities of the job that he/she is being hired for. It is the only way to
make business growth nationally and inter nationally by developing the human
potentials. It is the human resource that can be improved every day and training is the
key.

References:
1 Bhattacharyya, D.K. (2006). Human Resource Management (Second Edition).
New Delhi: Excell Publication.
2 Dowling, Peter. J, Festing .M & S.R Engle A.D. (2012). International Human
Resource Management (Fifth Edition). New Delhi: Excel Books.
3 Edwards Tony & Rees Chris (2007). International Human Resource
Management: Globalization, national systems and Multinational companies. New
Delhi: Pearson Publication.
4 Gupta, S. C (2006). International Human Resource Management – Text & Cases
Second Edition). New Delhi: MACMILLAN India Ltd.
5 K. Aswathappa (2007). International Human Resource Management – Text &
Cases ( First Edition). New Delhi: McGraw Hill Education.
6 Mead & Richard (2005). International Management: Cross-cultural Dimensions.
London: Blackwell Publishing.
7 Noe, A.R (2008). Employee Training and Development. New Delhi: McGraw Hill
Edition.
8 Tayeb, Monir H (2003). International Management - Theories and Practices.
New Delhi: Prentice Hall/Pearson Education.
9 Tayeb, Monir H. (2005). International Human Resource Management: A
Multinational Company Perspective. New Delhi: Oxford University Press.
10 Venkat Ratnam, C. S. (2001). Globalization and Labour-Management Relations:
Dynamics of Change. New Delhi: Response Books.
Thanks:
Prof. Dr. Shyamal Gomes