Training and maintaining international employees

New technologies provide greater opportunities in globalization for businesses of all sizes, but
this international growth requires sending employees to foreign countries, either
temporarily or permanently, to oversee the operation, administration, and marketing of
international negotiations. Unfortunately, the biggest obstacles in International business are
problems caused by cross-cultural differences. When cultural differences are not respected,
appreciated and noted, negotiations can fail. By training employees in cross-cultural
differences before sending them abroad, you can resolve many of these misunderstood issues.

1. Teach future international employees a little of the language used in the country they will
   work in. The foreign business associate will not see it as insulting or embarrassing when a
   foreign associate mispronounces a word. To the contrary, it is a sign of respect and recognition
   to attempt to speak the foreign language.
2. Search for a native cross-cultural trainer from the country the employee will work in. Use
   foreign in-house training personnel or contact your local Small Business Administration to find
   businesses specialized in this type of training. You can also locate this specialized training
   from online businesses like Intercultural Group, People Going Global or Interchange Institute.
   Ask for training in cultural practices in business, and in body language and facial gestures for
   the country you are doing business in. Many foreign countries emphasize hand and body
   gestures. Learning to identify these can help the negotiation run smoothly.
3. Train the employee to slow down. Most Americans and Canadians are trained to work on
   a schedule. They live fast-paced lives and stick to set times faithfully. Other cultures are not
   as defined in their daily schedules. Help the employee understand these different perceptions
   of time and be a little more flexible with scheduling meetings and other work related events.
   Understand that the negotiating partners may be more interested in the long-term relationship
   rather than just closing the deal in a week.
4. Train the employees in local culture, art, history and politics. This will give them topics
   of conversation not related to business to help remove the stress from the business
   negotiation. Explain the importance of complimenting a culture and country, without comparing
   it unfavorably to that of their native country. Allow the employee to demonstrate pride in their
   country without demeaning the foreign country.
5. Define the country’s cultural standing when referring to power, individualism, collectivism
   and masculinity vs. feminism. For instance, some countries put more emphasis on group
   communication rather than individual decisions. Teach employees to respect these differences
   even if they don’t coincide with their personal beliefs.
6. Train the employee to be aware of culture shock and its possible interference in the work
   environment. Explain the three stages of culture shock, which are initial optimism, followed by
   a period of frustration and gradual improvement of mood and satisfaction.

Careful screening is just the first step in ensuring the foreign assignee’s success. The employee
may then require special training, and the firm will also need special international human resource,
management policies for compensating the firm’s overseas employees and for maintaining healthy
labor relations.

Orienting and Training Employees on International assignment:

When it comes to providing the orientation and training required for success overseas, the
practices of most US firms reflect more form than substance. Despite many companies’ claims,
there seems to be relatively little or no systematic selection and training or assignments
overseas. Company executives tend to agree that international business requires that employees
be firmly grounded in the economics and practices of foreign countries. However, too few
companies actually provide such training.

Much of the training may include cultural components, which were cited by 73 percent
of successful expatriates as key ingredients to success (The Economist Intelligence Unit, 2010).
Training isn’t always easy, though. The goal is not to help someone learn a language or
cultural traditions but to ensure they are immersed in the sociocultural aspects of the new
culture they are living in. Roger N. Blakeney (Blakeney, 2006), an international business
researcher, identifies two main pathways to adapting to a new culture. First, people adjust
quickly from the psychological perspective but not the social one. Blakeney argues that
adjusting solely from the psychological perspective does not make an effective expatriate.
Although it may take more time to adjust, he says that to be fully immersed and to fully
understand and be productive in a culture, the expatriate must also have sociocultural
adaption. In other words, someone who can adjust from a sociocultural perspective ends
up performing better because he or she has a deeper level of understanding of the culture.
Determining whether your candidate can gain this deeper level would
figure in your selection process.

Required training

What sort of special training do overseas candidates need? One firm specializing in such
programs prescribes a four step approach.

) Level 1 training focuses on the impact of cultural differences and on raising trainees’
awareness of such differences and their impact on business outcomes.
2) Level 2 aims at getting participants understand how attitudes (negative and positive) are
formed and how they influence behavior (For example, unfavorable stereotypes may
subconsciously influence how a new manager responds to and treats his or her new
foreign subordinates).
3) Level 3 training provides factual knowledge about the target country.
4) Level 4 provides skill building in areas like language and adjustment and adaptation
skills.

Beyond these special training needs, managers abroad continue to need traditional skills
oriented training and development. At many firms, including IBM, such development includes
rotating assignments that permits overseas managers to grow professionally. IBM the firms
also have management development centers around the world where executives can home their
skills.

In addition to honing these managers’ skills, international management development
activities hopefully have other less tangible effects on the managers and their firms. For
example, rotating assignment can help managers form bonds with colleagues around the world,
and these can help the managers make cross border decisions more expeditiously Activities such
as periodic seminars (in which the firm brings together managers from its global subsidiaries
and steeps them for a week or two in the firm’s vales strategy and policies) are also useful.
They can help provide consistency of purposes and thereby improve control, by building
a unifying set of values, standards and corporate culture.

Trends in Expatriate Training

There are several trends in expatriate training and development. First, rather than providing
only pre-departure cross cultural training, more firms are providing continuing in country cross
cultural training during the early stages of an overseas assignment. Second, employers are using
returning managers as resources to cultivate the global mind sets of their home office staff.
For example, automotive equipment producer Bosch holds regular seminars. Here newly
arrived returnees pass on their knowledge and experience to relocating mangers and their
families.

With the more British citizens moving to India for jobs and business, the London based UK
India Business Council (UKIBC) started cross cultural training program for prospective
employees moving to India. Apart from understanding India, the participants were also given
insights on how to deal with Indians while in India.

One of the key decisions in any global organization is whether training should be performed
in-house or an outside company should be hired to provide the training. For example,
Communicaid offers online and on-site training on a variety of topics listed. Whether in-house or
external training is performed, there are five main components of training someone for an
overseas assignment:

1. Language
2. Culture
3. Goal setting
4. Managing family and stress
5. Repatriation

Training on languages is a basic yet necessary factor to the success of the assignment.

Although to many, English is the international business language, we shouldn’t discount the
ability to speak the language of the country in which one is living. Consider Japan’s largest
online retailer, Rakuten, Inc. It mandated that English will be the standard language by March
2012 (Thregold, 2010).

• In the United States, we place our palm upward and use one finger to call someone over.
In Malaysia, this is only used for calling animals. In much of Europe, calling someone over
is done with palm down, making a scratching motion with the fingers (as opposed to one
finger in the United States). In Columbia, soft handclaps are used.
• In many business situations in the United States, it is common to cross your legs, pointing
the soles of your shoes to someone. In Southeast Asia, this is an insult since the feet are the
dirtiest and lowest part of the body.
• Spatial differences are an aspect of nonverbal language as well. In the United States, we
tend to stand thirty-six inches (an arm length) from people, but in Chile, for example, the
space is much smaller.
• Proper greetings of business colleagues differ from country to country.
• The amount of eye contact varies. For example, in the United States, it is normal to make
constant eye contact with the person you are speaking with, but in Japan it would be rude
to make constant eye contact with someone with more age or seniority.

The goal of cultural training is to train employees what the “norms” are in a particular culture.

Many of these norms come from history, past experience, and values. Cultural training can include
any of the following topics:

Other employers, such as Nissan and Sony, have made similar mandates or have already
implemented an English-only policy. Despite this, a large percentage of your employee’s time
will be spent outside work, where mastery of the language is important to enjoy living in
another country. In addition, being able to discuss and negotiate in the mother tongue of the
country can give your employee greater advantages when working on an overseas
assignment. Part of language, isn’t only about what you say but also includes all the
nonverbal aspects of language. Consider the following examples:

 In the United States, we place our palm upward and use one finger to call someone
over. In Malaysia, this is only used for calling animals. In much of Europe, calling
someone over is done with palm down, making a scratching motion with the fingers
(as opposed to one finger in the United States). In Columbia, soft handclaps are used.
 In many business situations in the United States, it is common to cross your legs,
pointing the soles of your shoes to someone. In Southeast Asia, this is an insult since
the feet are the dirtiest and lowest part of the body.
 Spatial differences are an aspect of nonverbal language as well. In the United
States, we tend to stand thirty-six inches (an arm length) from people, but in Chile,
for example, the space is much smaller.
 Proper greetings of business colleagues differ from country to country.
 The amount of eye contact varies. For example, in the United States, it is normal to
make constant eye contact with the person you are speaking with, but in Japan it
would be rude to make constant eye contact with someone with more age or
seniority.

The goal of cultural training is to train employees what the “norms” are in a particular
culture. Many of these norms come from history, past experience, and values. Cultural training
can include any of the following topics:

1. Etiquette
2. Management styles
3. History
4. Religion
5. The arts
6. Food
7. Geography
8. Logistics aspects, such as transportation and currency
9. Politics

Cultural training is important. Although cultural implications are not often discussed openly,
not understanding the culture can harm the success of a manager when on overseas
assignment. For example, when Revlon expanded its business into Brazil, one of the first
products it marketed was a Camellia flower scented perfume. What the expatriate managers
didn’t realize is that the Camellia flower is used for funerals, so of course, the product failed
in that country (Roy, 1998). Cultural implications, such as management style, are not always
so obvious. Consider the US manager who went to Mexico to manage a production line. He
applied the same management style that worked well in America, asking a lot of questions
and opinions of employees. When employees started to quit, he found out later that
employees expect managers to be the authority figure, and when the manager asked questions,
they assumed he didn’t know what he was doing.

Training on the goals and expectations for the expatriate worker is important. Since most
individuals take an overseas assignment to boost their careers, having clear expectations and
understanding of what they are expected to accomplish sets the expatriate up for success.

Because moving to a new place, especially a new country, is stressful, it is important to train the
employee on managing stress, homesickness, culture shock, and likely a larger workload than the
employee may have had at home. Some stress results from insecurity and homesickness. It is
important to note that much of this stress occurs on the family as well. The expatriate may be
performing and adjusting well, but if the family isn’t, this can cause greater stress on the employee,
resulting in a failed assignment. Four stages of expatriate stress identified in the Selyes model, the
General Adaption Syndrome, are shown in Figure 14.5 “General Adaption Syndrome to Explain
Expatriate Stress”. The success of overseas employees depends greatly on their ability to adjust,
and training employees on the stages of adjustment they will feel may help ease this problem.

ACTIVITY 14.5

1. Explain why cross-culture differences training is important for overseas employees.
2. Identify the areas of training requirements based on culture in International
   Business.
3. Explain training employees on International assignments.
4. Explain Four-step approach of training overseas employees.
5. Describe “Expatriate Training”.

REFERENCES

1. Dessler G (2014), Human Resource Management, 14th Edition, Prentice-Hall
   ISBN-10: 0132668211
2. Derek Torrington, Laura Hall, Carol Atkinson, Stephen Taylor Torrington (2018)
   Human Resource Management_p10: Pearson Education Limited, Harlow, United
3. Gary Rees, Paul E Smith (2017), Strategic Human Resource Management: An
   international perspective 2nd Edition, Sage Publications Ltd, London United
   kingdom.
4. Mathis, Robert L., & Jackson, John H. (2015) Human Resource Management:
   Essential Perspectives, 7nd ed. Canada: South-Western/Thomson Learning
5. Julie Beardwell, Amanda Thompson (2017), Human Resource Management:
   A Contemporary Approach: 8th edition, Pearson Education Limited, Harlow,
   United Kingdom.

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