A Study On The Importance Of Cross Cultural

Training Effectiveness In Various Organisations

A Synopsis of Final Project report

Submitted for the Partial Fulfillment of the Degree of

Master of Business Administration

Under the Mentorship of

Mr.Anuj Heer

Assistant professor of MBA

Submitted by

Anitika katoch,

University Roll No. 51MB5013510

3rd Semester, MBA

Academic Session, 2015-16

Himachal Pradesh Technical University Business School

Rajiv Gandhi Government Engineering College Kangra Campus at Nagrota Bagwan

District- Kangra, Himachal Pradesh-176047
 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

It gives me immense gratification to place on records my profound gratitude and sincere

appreciations to each and every one of those who have helped me in this endeavor.

I am ineffably indebted to College Director Name for conscientious guidance and

encouragement to accomplish this assignment.

I extend my sincere thanks to Mr.Anuj Heer for his cooperation and valuable suggestions to
initiate the study.

I extend my gratitude to RGGEC HPTU Business School,Nagrota Bagwan for giving me this
opportunity.

On a personal note I would like to thank all my batch mates for their support.

Any omission in this brief acknowledgement does not mean lack of gratitude.

Place Name Anitika Katoch

Date
 CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION

The following chapter will provide the reader with some background information on the subject

of Cross Culture Training and why it is considered as an important aspect of international

companies and firms/organisations employing employees from other cultures and backgrounds.

The problem discussion will then bring up significant factors regarding expatriation, which will

lead to the purpose of the research and the research questions for the Project.

Background

An increase in globalization is generating many opportunities for Indian companies to expand

overseas. Many booming and developing industries in India like the information technology

sector, telecommunications and Business Process Outsourcing are heavily dependant on these

foreign markets. The trade relations between India and other nations have been growing since

1991. In Britain, Indian companies are the 2nd largest investors and fourth largest partners in

trading. More than 500 companies of Indian origin, mainly information technology industries

have invested and have many offices in Britain. Since the liberalisation started in the year 1991,

India has become Britains third largest investor.

Subsequently this has increased the need for workers/employees working in diverse cultural

environments. In the recent times number of cross-border mergers and acquisitions has increased

significantly. The massive size of many cross border deals worth Millions of dollars (for example

acquisition of Tetley, United Kingdom) indicates the global aspirations of the Indian
organisations. This globalization trend is presenting a challenge to the Indian organizations- i.e.

to develop proficient employees who would be competent enough and have the ability to work

efficiently in multi-cultural settings and who will also be an important link between the home

company and its subsidiaries. Further globalization has resulted in recruiting employees with

different languages, cultures and origin adding complexities to the firms and the organisational

culture. With differences in beliefs, norms, values, manners and etiquette there is plenty of room

for misunderstandings and poor communication. Hence, the firms should develop processes and

procedures in order to enable and train employees and managers on foreign assignments to

handle cultural diversity. In order to help employees to cope up with the stress and cultural shock

while dealing with a new culture they should be provided with the necessary cross-cultural

training. Hence cross cultural training is essential for both employees and expatriates who are

going to deal with employees of other cultures and origins.

The cross-cultural training will also be required for the Indian companies getting into Business
Process Outsourcing as the clients belong to culturally different environments. Working
effectively in cross-cultural context is becoming vital competence for aspiring managers (Harris
and Kumra, 2000). The report attempts to define the possible sources of cross-cultural
differences, its impact on business practices, competencies required for the expatriates, evolution
of cross-cultural training, issues to be considered while developing cross-cultural training and
different ways of training the employees.
 CROSS CULTURAL TRAINING

Meaning

Cross-culture tries to bring together such relatively unrelated areas as cultural anthropology and
established areas of communication. Its core is to establish and understand how people from
different cultures communicate with each other and the culture of a society comprises the shared
values, understandings, assumptions, and goals that are learned from earlier generations,
imposed by the members of the present day society and passed on to the succeeding generations.

Definition

The cross-cultural training in general can be defined as Any intervention aimed at increasing an
individuals capability to cope with and work in foreign environment

The cross-cultural has also been defined as Formal methods to prepare people for more
effective interpersonal relations and job success when they interact extensively with individuals
from cultures other than their own

TRANING STRATEGIES

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 training are:

Firstly, MNCs may make use of expatriates for short-term or long-term international job
assignments. Accordingly, the kind of training and development initiatives differ. The focus
while training an employee for a short-term assignment would remain narrowly focussed on
what the objective of the assignment is, while cultural gaps and work-life differences would be
of minimal importance. However, for a long-term assignment there would be a significant
amount of time and effort expended in coaching the employee on the cultural differences,
workplace behaviour and national etiquette, eating habits and coping strategies to help sustain
success during the assignment.

Secondly, the staffing orientation that is adopted in the subsidiary unit influences the training
impetus. An ethnocentric staffing strategy brings all the focus in training to cross-cultural and
cultural acclimatisation initiatives. And depending on the roles and responsibilities, the training
framework is determined. However, a polycentric approach to staffing shifts the training focus to
technology training and an extensive orientation/induction revolting around the parent company's
culture, policies and workplace values. Cross cultural training extends itself to 'knowledge' about
the parent country's work culture and a focus on acceptable and not acceptable work practices,
with a lot of it being learnt-on-the-job. And if the staffing approach is geocentric/rigeocentric, the
developmental efforts revolve around knowing the parent company and the particular technology
of the organisation.

Thirdly, the control and coordination linkages that the parent unit wishes to establish with the
subsidiary unit drives the training budget and the strategy. When the linkages of control between
the parent and the host unit are closely established, the investment in training for compliance and
parity of practices and work culture between the parent and the host unit is the highest and
training assumes great importance. It is driven by global budgets and is a measure of
organisational growth. It is seen as a critical tool in the achievement of the global strategy for the
organisation. Conversely, when the control linkages are we and the sub unit adopts a multi-
domestic existence, training assumes a local flavour and is driven by the philosophy of the unit's
management focussing around the local technical and managerial issues, specific to the industry
and the country of existence. Similarly, when coordination linkages between the parent and the
host unit are high, the training focus shifts to a global approach to inducting and ensuring that
coordination happens as required in the role.

Fourthly, the 'role and responsibilities of the position' determine the extent and content of
training. Roles that are higher up in the organisational hierarchy bring training focus to
individual contributions and to equipping employees with the skills related to leadership styles
and management challenges that are specific to the organisation/industry and the country of
practice. Jobs that are critical for organisational success in a host/subsidiary unit, for example,
research/sales, the individuals in these roles are selected as specialists, hence the training focus
would limit itself to global organisational objectives and on-going technology training.
 CHAPTER-2

Review of Existing Literature

(1) Working effectively in cross-cultural context is becoming vital competence for aspiring
managers (Harris and Kumra, 2000).

(2) The cross-cultural training in general can be defined as Any intervention aimed at
increasing an individuals capability to cope with and work in foreign environment
(Tung, 1981, in Zakaria, 2000)

(3) The study by Peters and Lipit (1978) found USA employees different from those in
Latin American countries like Columbia, Peru and Chile, even within the Latin American
countries there was a difference between Columbia and Peru (good pay as the highest
ranked motivator) and Chile (creativity as the highest ranked motivator).

(4) The study by Neelankavil, Mathur and Zhang (1999) that analyzed India, Philippines,
USA and China for managerial performance and motivational factors in two different
studies found different managerial values, value dimensions and comparative
management. India was found closer to USA than China although the geographical
distance is much lesser. For example for American managers drive and ambition were
important for success which is not the case in China. These countries differ in their scores
of individualism with USA (91) and china (7) and the other two falling in between.
Similarly the study of motivational factors found opportunity for advancement and
financial rewards to be least important while these factors were nearly very important for
employees in the other countries.

(5) The culture differences effect the managerial decisions related to performance appraisals
in multicultural workplaces and decisions in international business context (Lee and
Karakowsky, 2001).
(6) Huang (2004) stated, cross-cultural communication refers to communication between
people of different cultures. The cultural values are significant for individuals,
 corporations and countries because they help people understand psychological thinking of
others, the norms of business enterprises, and the way to establish relationships with
other nations.
(7) According to Black and Mendenhall (1990), increased internationalization in the
economic, political, and social arenas has led to a greater frequency of, and depth in,
cross-cultural interactions; that is, contacts between two or more people from different
cultural backgrounds.

(8) According to Coupland and Wiemann (1991), miscommunication is the

term to interpret the reason of problems occurring in the working place. It is usually
applied very loosely to any sort of problem that might arise in interaction. They pointed
out that a sound interaction among people and the development of relationships are
essential to international business communication. Consequently, communication
problems should be eliminated or settled by using cross-cultural training as an auxiliary
tool.

(9) Kwintessential (2009) says that cross-cultural consciousness is very important to the
employees working in global companies, since it enables them to be sensitive about the
differences among different cultures. This consciousness can be improved systematically
through cross-cultural training. Cross-cultural training deals with the manifestations of
culture in the workplace and it has many applications. Its main purpose is to evaluate and
constructively tackle the challenges cross cultural differences can bring to the workplace.
(10) According to James (2009), the enlightened multinational company recognizes the need
to provide general cross-cultural training for all their employees and country-specific
training for those who are working with a single country.
(11) Smith (2008) stated, interpersonal communication skills play a big role in the corporate
communications process. The assessment of these skills is an effective way to discover
individual and team strengths in communication.
(12) It is valuable to investigate the role of a cross-cultural training program in interpersonal
communication, because the norms, roles, rules, customs, understandings and
expectations of interactions in people relationships are primarily defined and transmitted
by culture (Berscheid, 1995).
(13) According to Karmel (2008), acquiring cultural competence is a lifelong process that
can be assisted by the formalization of guidelines and criteria for the provision of cross-
cultural training.
(14) According to research of Caligiuri (2001) and Gudykunst (1996), the cultural
familiarization training could range from brief introductions of less than one day to
intensive orientations of several days or a week

(15) According to Day (2007), cultural differences are potentially different values,
assumptions, expectations, and behaviour which people bring to business as a result of
their differing backgrounds.
(16) According to Hall (2000), high and low-context cultures are the watershed of
cultural differences. People from different cultures find themselves increasingly working
together and communicating. As long as people get in touch with each other,
communication takes place, and sometimes when different cultures crash out sparks,
probably cultural shock and even cultural conflicts emerge.
(17) According to Williams (1994), cultural conflict can be identified by the
following signs: (1) It usually has complicated dynamics. Cultural differences tend to
create complex combinations of expectations about ones own and others behaviour. (2)
If addressing content and relational issues does not resolve the conflict, it can be rooted in
cultural differences. (3) A conflict reoccurs or arouses strong emotions even though the
issue of disagreement is insignificant.
(18) The concept of high and low-context communication is associated with the theory
of individualistic-collectivistic cultures. Individualistic cultures are referred to as
Low-context cultures; collectivistic cultures are referred to as high-context cultures
(Gudykunst & Ting-Toomey, 1988).
OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY

To understand the concept of CCT(Cross Cultural Training)

To know the impact of cross-cultural training on the employee performance.

To understand the different methods of Cross Cultural Training.

To know the fact why companies prefer CCT.

To know what employees think about CCT.

To understand the different dimension of cross cultural Training (CCT).

 CHAPTER 3

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

3.1 Introduction

In the literature review the questions which need to be answered for the research are stated and in
this chapter the methodological approach which has been chosen to fulfil the research is
discussed. Each of the following sections will form a part of the research process. This will
follow with the collection of primary and secondary data which will fulfil the aims and purpose
of the study. The methodology is chosen depending on the purpose, objectives, scope and aims
of the study and justifies it..
Research methodology is a way to systematically solve the research problem. It can be
defined as a science of studying research problem.

Research is a careful investigation especially through search for new facts in any branch of
knowledge.
Redman and Mory define research as a systematized effort to gain new knowledge

Research can also be defined as the manipulation of things, concepts or symbols for the purpose
of generalizing to extend, correct or verify knowledge, whether that knowledge aids in
construction theory or in the practice of an art

SAMPLING

Sampling Technique: Convenience sampling will be use.

Sampling unit: It comprises Employee, Student, International Assignee and Business Man.

Sample Area: Kangra region is consider for research.

Sampling Size: 10% of respondent consider out of total population who has visited any foreign
country and were available at the time of research.

Type of Research

Types of research design:

Exploratory

o Designed to generate basic knowledge, clarify relevant issues uncover variables

associated with a problem, uncover information needs, and/or define alternatives
for addressing, objectives.

o A very flexible, open-ended process.

Descriptive (who, what, where, how)

 o Designed to provide further insight into the problem by describing the variables of
interest.

o Can be used for profiling, defining, segmentation, estimating, predicting, and

examining associative relationships.

Causal (If-then)

o Designed to provide information on potential cause-and-effect relationships.

o Most practical in marketing to talk about associations or impact of one variable on

another.

Present research is Descriptive and causal in nature

The information needed for the study is mainly of qualitative nature, making face-to-face

interviews the chosen research design. There are several ways of conducting interviews but a

semi-structured model was chosen, because it offers a guideline through the interview while

opening up for the possibility of asking spontaneous questions (Bryman & Bell, 2007, p. 213). A

less structured way of conducting interviews also offers the possibility to get more in-depth

information (Fisher,2007,p.159),which suits this study well. The study is based on primary

information obtained at interviews with respondent and secondary information with general facts

and structures of the CCT program.

COLLECTION OF DATA

Sources of data

Primary Data:
Ten respondent were interviewed out of which three Respondents (.)
were interviewed face-to-face and two respondents were interviewed telephonically and was
guided to fill Questionnaire to collect primary information remaining five respondent are
requested to fill questionnaire directly. The interviews were conducted separately from each
other, to make the information more reliable. The interview questions were e-mailed to the
respondents one day prior to the interview, on request by the interviewees, so the respondents
had the opportunity to prepare their answers prior to the interview. This could cause answers to
be planned and less spontaneous. The purpose of this study is, however, to analyze the
effectiveness of the CCT program & its need, which is less likely to be affected by this. The
interviews were, as mentioned, semi-structured, which opened up the possibility to broaden
questions with new perspectives and ask additional, non-prepared, questions when interesting
answers emerged. This should help balance this bias and increase the reliability of the study.

Secondary Data:

Secondary data is collected from various books; journals research papers & internet. Research
done by other was also overlooked and important point taken from there.

Research Instrument

The main tool that has been used in data collection is Semi structured Interview Questionnaire
that has been constructed for this purpose. Primary data was collected by means of Interview and
questionnaire.