International human resource management lesson 06

6 ORIENTING AND TRAINING EMPLOYEES FOR GLOBAL ASSIGNMENTS CONTENTS 6.0 Aims and Objectives 6.1 Introduction 6.2 Orienting Employees for Global Assignment 6.3 Approaches to Training 6.3.1

UNIT III

6

ORIENTING AND TRAINING EMPLOYEES FOR GLOBAL ASSIGNMENTS

CONTENTS

6.0 Aims and Objectives

6.1 Introduction

6.2 Orienting Employees for Global Assignment

6.3 Approaches to Training

6.3.1 Action Learning and the Experiential Approach

6.3.2 Transferability across Cultures

6.3.3 Organizational Learning

6.4 Integrating Business Strategy with International Training

6.4.1 Components of Effective Predeparture Training Programmes

6.4.2 Impact of Different Learning Styles on Training

6.4.3 Types of Cross-cultural Training

6.4.4 Cultural Assimilators

6.5 Let us Sum up

6.6 Lesson End Activity

6.7 Keywords

6.8 Questions for Discussion

6.9 Suggested Readings

6.0 AIMS AND OBJECTIVES

After studying this lesson, you will be able to:

 Describe the need for orientation and training of employees going on global assignment

 Discuss the components of predeparture training

 Explain cross-cultural, action and organisational training

6.1 INTRODUCTION

The management philosophy of a company, whether ethnocentric, polycentric, regiocentric, also influences the type of training For example, ethnocentric companies will provide all training at the headquarters and these will be designed and delivered by home nationals polycentric On the other hand, polycentric companies will rely on local managers to assume responsibilities for seeing that the training function is carried out wherever appropriate Geocentric companies organise training courses in different parts of the world, where a particular function is being best carried out

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Today, more and more companies are spending substantial amounts of money on training and development of their employees to attain long-term organisational goals Training programmes are designed and delivered after extensive research and preparation so as

to deliver acceptable returns on investment, and to secure sustainable competitive advantage

The cost of expatriate failure is very high Therefore, MNCs take great pains to select the right persons and provide them with appropriate training before their departure as well as on arrival in a particular country This cross-cultural and job-related training is also necessary because multinationals have to deal with clients and suppliers from different countries and conduct negotiations to set up joint ventures and strategies alliances and manage subsidiaries abroad Therefore, they invest heavily on the training of all employees, particularly on expatriates

Training is the process of altering employee behaviour, attitudes, and knowledge in a way that increases the probability of individual and organisational goal attainment 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 Box 6.1 provides an example

Box 6.1: Cultural Ignorance is Bad Business

An American company eager to do business in Saudi Arabia sent over a sales manager to

‘get something going’ The salesman began calling contacts soon after his arrival After many disappointing appointments, the salesman ran into an old friend, who gave him an introduction to some basic rules of Saudi etiquette and how to do business with the Arabs The salesman learned that he had repeatedly insulted his contacts by his impatience, refusal of coffee, ‘business first’ attitude and aggressive selling Even incidental acts such

as handling people or papers with his left hand and exposing the side of his shoe while sitting on the floor were improper Saudi customs

Effective training can prevent many errors and minimise the impact of others Some of the biggest complaints against expatriates revolved around personal shortcomings in areas such as politeness, punctuality, tactfulness, orderliness, sensitivity, reliability, tolerance and empathy Effective training programmes can minimise these personal problems Training can also improve the overall management style In terms of leadership, the locals would like their expatriate managers to be friendlier, more accessible, supportive and receptive to subordinates’ suggestions

Figure 6.1: Schematic Representation of Training and Development

Proper training can address some of these demands It can enhance group decision-making skills, team work and leadership effectiveness Training and development is a subset of Organisational Development (OD), culture change and knowledge management Figure 6.1 is a schematic representation of training and development processes as practised

by MNCs It also shows the link with the recruitment and selection process

Recruitment

International team

Pre-departure training

Post-departure training International

assignment

115 Orienting and Training Employees for Global Assignments

In order to compete successfully in a global market, more firms are focusing on the role

of human resources as a critical part of their core competence and a source of competitive

advantage As Kamoche (1996) points out, the human resource refers to the accumulated

stock of knowledge, skills and abilities that the individuals possess, which the firm has

built up over time into an identifiable expertise An indication of the importance of training

and developing staff is the increasing number of multinationals that establish their own

‘universities’, or ‘schools’ Motorola, McDonald’s Hamburger, and Disney universities

are good examples of these in-house training centres; several European, Japanese, and

Korean firms have similar arrangements

Training aims to improve current work skills and behaviour, whereas development aims

to increase abilities in relation to some future position or job—usually managerial

6.2 ORIENTING EMPLOYEES FOR GLOBAL

ASSIGNMENT

International positions require an extensive orientation to familiarise the employee with

culture, language and other unique aspects of the assignment Familiarisation trips could

also be arranged for the prospective expatriates so that they can actually visit the country

of their posting and live like natives there for a while The orientation programmes,

generally cover areas such as:

Pre-arrival Orientation

(i) Cultural briefing: Explaining the traditions, customs, living conditions, clothing

and housing requirements, health stipulations, etc

(ii) Assignment briefing: Throwing light on length of assignment, vacations,

compensation package, tax implications, repatriation policy etc

(iii) Shipping requirements: Shipping, packing, storage, housing facility in the new

location etc

Post-arrival Orientation

Once global employees arrive in the host country, they will require further assistance in

‘settling in’ Someone should receive them and help them in obtaining housing

accommodation, establishing bank accounts, getting driving licenses, arranging admissions

to school for dependent children etc

(i) Cross-cultural training: Differences in culture, language and laws may make it

difficult for the global employees to be on track quickly In order to lead a normal

life, they need cross cultural as well as language training The failure to provide

such training may create adjustment problems for the expatriate manager and the

resultant culture shock (the inability to adjust to a different cultural setting) may

compel the expatriate to quit the field altogether Firms can help employees avoid

culture shock, of course, by using selection tools to choose the employees with the

highest degree of cultural sensitivity An important part of an expatriate manager's

training, further, should be an overview of the legal and ethical issues that are likely

to be encountered on the overseas assignment

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6.3 APPROACHES TO TRAINING

6.3.1 Action Learning and the Experiential Approach

An approach to both individual and organizational learning, based on this concept of learning by doing, which has widely adopted in British and international companies is that

of ‘action learning’ This was originally developed in the UK in 1960s by Reg (Revans, 1965) who then began to set up educational programmes in Belgium, India and Egypt, based on these principles He sees learning as inextricably bound up with the process of management, arguing that everyone in the organization should be engaged in learning This presupposes the availability of information in the organization sufficient to enable learning to take place throughout the organization Revans (1965) suggests that there are four forces bearing on management decision-making:

 the need for economy of time and management effort;

 the analytical approach of the scientist, available to the manager, whilst not forgetting intuition which is the first weapon of management;

 the ability to understand and contain variability and risk by the use of statistical methods;

 a greater understanding, through the social sciences, of human beings as a determinant of success in the enterprises

The first two aspects were seen as crucial in the upstream work of British Petroleum Revans goes on to develop this into a specific methodology of management learning that

he calls ‘system beta’, with five phases:

 survey, the first phase of observation;

 hypothesis: theory development and conjecture;

 experiment: testing practice;

 audit: the comparing of actual and desired results;

 review: relating the specific result with the overall context

Revans (1965) also describes a ‘system gamma’ that is the personal predisposition of the individual manager, his set or subjective consciousness This has an influence on the way problems are approached and tackled A further system, ‘system alpha’, describes the relationship between the impersonal situation and the personal value system of the individual manager

It was on these basic principles that action learning was established on the premise that knowledge can only be the outcome of action

Kolb (1976) developed the concept of experiential learning as a process or cycle comprising four stages, which also mirror Revans’ system beta, as follows:

 concrete experiences; followed by;

 observation and reflection; leading to;

 formation of abstract concepts and generalizations; leading to;

 testing of the implications of concepts for future action, which then leads to new concrete experiences

Kolb sees this as the way learning happens, as it is governed largely by the pursuit of goals that are appropriate to our own needs

117 Orienting and Training Employees for Global Assignments

6.3.2 Transferability across Cultures

In the cross-cultural context Hughes-Weiner (1986) qualifies the learning process

described by Kolb as follows:

 Concrete experience: People from different cultures are likely to have different

background and different experiences

 Reflective observation: As a result of different behaviour patterns, socialization

and institutional and work experiences, individuals from different cultures may make

different assumptions about what they see and understand through their experiences

 Abstract conceptualizing: Because people from different cultures have different

cognitive frameworks, this may lead them to focus on irrelevant information or

misinterpretations in a particular situation, thus drawing wrong conclusions and

theories in a different cultural situation from their own

 Active experimentation: Behaviour differences between cultures may lead to

misinterpretations and misinterpretations of the meanings of such behaviour outside

their own cultures, leading to confusion and frustration

In order to partly overcome the problems of simply transposing the experiential model on

to other cultures, Jackson (1995) proposes four learning modalities as follows:

 Receptivity: Learners are predominantly receptive to practical stimuli or theoretical

stimuli for learning depending on their cultural backgrounds and their experiences

in national educational systems

 Perception: Learners are more intuitive about sorting and judging information, or

are rational in a step-by-step approach in judging the quality of information that is

the basis for making decisions

 Cognitive: Learners are more subjective in the way they make decisions and

solve problems based on personal judgement, or base their decision-making more

on logic and scientific approaches

 Control: Learners prefer to rely on their own initiative or on the direction of an

instructor

Results from surveying management ‘learners’ (both management students and

managers) across the UK, France, Germany, Poland, Taiwan and Lithuania are as follows:

Receptivity Modality

In the practical-theoretical dimension, the main difference exists between the Polish

and French groups, with the Polish management learners having an overriding preference

for practical educational stimuli, whilst the French have a comparatively theoretical

preference The learners from Taiwan are the most socially oriented, expressing a

preference for learning with others The Lithuanian learners are somewhat different to

the Polish on this dimension, in that they have a comparatively greater preference for

learning from reading the text, but prefer to explore how to do things rather than looking

at underlying concepts The British too are social learners with a preference for practical

activity and learning by doing The German learners express a preference for learning

by doing and learning from simulations in the classroom

Perceptual Modality

Again, on the intuitive-rational dimension, the Polish learners account for the major

differences They express an overriding preference for dealing with information and

ideas in a rational way British learners express this preference most strongly Both

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Lithuanian learners and those from Taiwan express a preference more strongly for practicality over ingenuity

Cognitive Modality

The Poles, Lithuanian and German learners show the greatest preference for decision making through logical processes, with the learners from France, Britain and Taiwan being the most subjective in their approaches to making decisions

Behaviour Modality

The learners from Poland and Taiwan show the greatest preference for an instructor-directed approach, with the Germans and Lithuanians the least so The French have the least preference for self-initiated learning, with the Germans and then British preferring

a self-initiated approach

It is evident from this study that British management ‘learners’ favour practical and social learning activities, are intuitive, subjective and favour taking the initiative in their learning This may be an ideal cultural basis on which to build concepts of a total learning organization

6.3.3 Organizational Learning

Although organizations as entities cannot learn (only individuals as corporate agents can learn) conditions in the organization can be created in order to facilitate this learning Hence Argyris’ (1992) single- and double-loop learning represent a cyclical process where actions (single-loop) or governing variables (double-loop) are adapted or changed (Figure 6.2)

Figure 6.2: Argyris’ Single and Double Loop Learning

Single-loop learning takes place when mismatches between the outcomes that are intended and those that actually occur are corrected by simply changing the actions that were initiated in the preceding cycle Double-loop learning occurs when these mismatches are corrected by examining and altering governing variables and then actions Such governing variables are sets of beliefs and values that can be seen to drive and guide people’s action as agents for the organization

Senge (1990), who has had much influence in developing and propagating worldwide

the concept of the learning organization, proposes five ‘component technologies’ that contribute towards developing learning organizations:

 Systems thinking: This is essentially an ability to see above the isolated parts of

the system, and to see how it all fits together

 Personal mastery: This involves continually clarifying and deepening personal

vision, to focus on energies, and developing patience in order to see reality objectively and to provide a commitment to develop mastery

Governing

Match

Single-loop

Double-loop

Mismatch

119 Orienting and Training Employees for Global Assignments

 Mental models: This involves an ability to understand and change shared mental

models which pervade the organization and prevent change

 Building shared vision: This is more than publishing a mission statement; it is

developing an ability to unearth shared vision and foster commitment rather than

compliance

 Team learning: This begins with capacity of members of a team to suspend

judgement and start to think together and to recognize the patterns of interaction

within a team that militate against learning Senge (1990) contends that teams are

fundamental learning units in an organization

Bovin (1998) suggests that the learning organization as a concept is a means of addressing

the requirement for the future organization in the changing international environment

This may also explain the differences between the concept of training and development

as an organizational sub-system, and an organization to learn He contends that the

classic business process in the 1970s and 1980s was that: (a) a mission was formulated;

(b) strategy was developed to achieve overriding business goals; (c) detailed objectives

were set to ensure the achievement of strategic goals; (d) in order to achieve these

objectives the necessary structures and processes were established; (e) job structures

and job descriptions were then formulated to fill the organizational structure; (f) people

were acquired who had the appropriate competences to fill the jobs as specified;

(g) people were developed to fit the organization

‘Advanced’ organizations (Bovin’s, 1998) are now realizing that this model is inappropriate

because of change demographics, as the gross number of people and specialist skills

available are decreasing Hence ‘human assets’ must be more ‘efficiently utilized’ At

the same time, competition for those competent people is increasing Managers have to

change their style to reflect more employee involvement, personal creativity and must

move from positional power to team leadership based on empowerment There is a need

to maximize on the currently available human potential, and for a more efficient control

on the investment in people development Hence (Bovin’s 1998) suggested business

process of the future seeks to recognize that people have different abilities, tending to do

what they are best at, and doing this more successfully as part of a team (Figure 6.3)

A learning organization is “an organization which facilitates the learning of all its members

and continuously transforms itself” (Pedler et al., 1989) Rather than the essence of the

learning organization being training, this implies individual and organizational

self-development, with an emphasis on the two aspects of learning by individuals and learning

by the organization (Mumford, 1988) The former, the individual learns by handling his

own responsibilities, but also by carefully monitoring performance The latter, the

organization, learns by discovering and correcting deficiencies in its actions

Figure 6.3: Business Process of the Future

Clarity vision and key strategic objectives Identify critical issues, i.e areas that must be focused on or improved

Design a programme or process involving key people to address and resolve issues Develop ability to improve and achieve signification results

A vigorous follow-up process to ensure effective implementation and results

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Check Your Progress 1

What are the different approaches to expatriate training?

6.4 INTEGRATING BUSINESS STRATEGY WITH INTERNATIONAL TRAINING

Most expatriates, whether PCNs or TCNs, are selected from within the multinational’s existing operations, though, some expatriates may be hired externally Once an employee has been selected for an expatriate position, predeparture training is considered to be the next critical step This is an important attempt to ensure some cultural familiarity, especially

if the expatriate’s host country is considered culturally tough Some form of cultural preparation is indicated because, functional ability alone does not determine success Effective cultural training also enables individuals to adjust more rapidly to the new culture As Earlay (1987) said a major objective of intercultural training is to help people cope with unexpected events in a new culture For these performance-related reasons, investing resources in training for international assignments can be justified easily (Robock

et al., 1989).

A large number of U.S multinationals have been reluctant to provide even a basic level

of predeparture training U.S multinationals tended to use training programmes for expatriates less frequently than European and Japanese firms (Tung, 1982)

A Price Waterhouse (1997) survey of European firms (including subsidiaries of non-European multinationals) revealed that cultural awareness training remains the most common form of predeparture training, and that it is still offered on a voluntary basis rather than as a mandatory requirement

6.4.1 Components of Effective Predeparture Training Programmes

Cultural Awareness Programmes

It is generally accepted that to be effective the expatriate employee must adapt to and not feel isolated from the host country A well-designed cultural awareness training programme can be extremely beneficial, as it seeks to foster an appreciation of the host-country’s culture

so that expatriates can behave accordingly, or at least develop appropriate coping patterns

Sieve et al (1981) cite the culture of the Middle East to emphasize this point In the Middle

East, emphasis is placed on personal relationships, trust and respect in business dealings; coupled with this is an overriding emphasis on religion that permeates almost every aspect

of life Without an understanding of the host-country culture in such a situation, the expatriate is likely to face many difficulties during the international assignment

The components of cultural awareness programmes vary according to country of assignment, duration, purpose of the transfer, and the provider of such programmes Tung, (1981) identified five categories of predeparture training, based on different learning processes, type of job, country of assignment, and the time available:

 Area studies programmes that include environmental briefing and cultural orientation;

 Cultural assimilators;

 Language training;

121 Orienting and Training Employees for Global Assignments

 Sensitivity training; and

 Field experiences

To understand possible variations in expatriate training Tung (1981) proposed a contingency

framework for dividing the culture and level of rigour of training Two determining factors

were the degree of interaction required in the host culture and the similarity between the

individual’s native culture and the new culture The related training elements involved

the content of the training and the rigour of the training

 If the expected interaction between the individual and members of the host culture

is low and the degree of dissimilarity between the home and host cultures is also

low, then the training should focus on task- and job-related issues rather than

culture-related issues The level of rigour necessary for effective training should be relatively

low

 If there is going to be high level of expected interaction with host nationals and

large dissimilarities exist between the cultures, then training should focus on

cross-cultural skill development as well as on the new task The level of rigour should be

moderate to high

The duration of training also depends upon these factors It could be one to two weeks,

in the first case, including focus on area briefing and sensitivity training; in the second

case it can extend from two weeks to two months including language training, use of

training assimilators and field experience in addition to area briefing and sensitivity training

Mendenhall, Dunbar and Oddou (1987), propose three dimensions—training methods,

low, medium, and the high levels of training rigour, and duration of the training relative to

degree of interaction and culture novelty—as useful guidelines for determining an

appropriate programme For example, if the expected level of interaction is low and the

degree of similarity between the individual’s native culture and the host culture is high,

the length of the training should probably be less than a week Methods such as area or

cultural briefings via lectures, movies, or books would provide the appropriate level of

training rigour On the other hand, if the individual is going overseas for a period of two

to twelve months and is expected to have some interaction with members of the host

culture, the level of training rigour should be higher and its length longer (one to four

weeks) In addition to the information-giving approaches, training methods such as culture

assimilators and role plays may be appropriate If the individual is going to a fairly novel

and different host culture and the expected degree of interaction is high, the level of

cross-cultural training rigour should be high and training should last as long as two months

In addition to the less rigorous methods already discussed, sensitivity training, field

experiences, and inter-cultural experiential workshops may be appropriate training methods

in this situation

Black and Mendenhall (1989), 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 behaviours in the

foreign location 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 to effective performance However, their theoretical model and

related propositions have yet to be rigorously tested