1
Marcus McCall
ORG 8511 Advanced Topics in Performance Management
XXXXXXXXXXCROSS-CULTURAL AWARENESS TRAINING
XXXXXXXXXXInstructor: Christopher Summerlin
XXXXXXXXXXDate:5/26/2020
1. Training Topics and rationale for these topics
Before getting into a discussion about the issues of the training and its reasoning, it is essential to understand what cross-culture is and why it is vital to any organization. Cross-culture refers to an area where people from different cultures come together and collaborate to deliver value. Organizations hire employees based on their quality, knowledge, and experience. Most of the time, they look after the cultural aspect of any employee. As a result, cross-cultural issues like cross-cultural communication gap takes place. Sometimes these issues reached an extent where workplace bullying takes place. To avoid such situations, organizations must offer training programs to their employees so that they can work effectively in a culturally diversified environment.
Training topics:
· Cultural awareness and it's associated with employee effectiveness
· Avoid Cultural Dimensions Theory
· Impact of diversified culture in a business
· Communication, communication, and communication
The rationale of each topic
Topic 1: To work effectively, a person needs to develop a comfort zone in the workplace. A workplace consists of people from different communities, religions, languages, and beliefs. In other words, people from different cultures are part of a work environment. Faster a person will get aware of people's culture; they will be able to create his/her comfort zone more quickly. As a result, effectiveness in work will take place sooner. Therefore, this topic must be conveyed through the training.
Topic 2: Hofstede's Cultural Dimensions Theory has segmented cultures in six different aspects. Mazanec et al XXXXXXXXXXstated that Hofstede's Cultural Dimensions Theory is one of the most useful tools to determine the culture of an employee. However, through the training, everyone should be suggested to avoid such theory as it will not be effective in resolving cross-cultural communication issues.
Topic 3: International business is one of the most profitable business segments for any firm. If any organization wants to expand its place in the international te
itory, it is essential to communicate with customers of that country. A person with better local knowledge and culture will only be able to communicate effectively in the new market. Hence, organizations are bound to hire local people rather than sending employees from the host country. As diversified culture plays a vital role in generating a profit and expanding the market; therefore, this topic would be further discussed in the training program.
Topic 4: Communication is the central and most vital activity work behind the success of a business. 90% of internal issues occur in an organization due to the communication gap (Bovée, Thill & Raina, XXXXXXXXXXIf an organization maintains a diversified work culture, employees will be hired from different parts of the country. These people might have different accents and other mother tongues. Building effective communication with these people is challenging. Training will offer the best way to communicate with all employees for the betterment of the organization.
2. Training Medium
The training can be offered both online and offline. Classroom training sessions will be introduced for the people who will opt for offline activity. At the same time, employees who will opt for online training can get any slot as they want outside the working hours.
Amazon claims itself as the most customer-centric company around the globe. Before making the statement, the management team of amazon ensured that they offer customer support in more than 200 languages. A similar training program also provided by Amazon to its customer support representative team. Amazon wants to remove cultural ba
iers by offering cross-cultural training to its representatives (Mcorpcx.com, 2020).
On the other side, Coca-Cola is another famous
and involved in the beverage industry that offers intercultural training to their employees to negotiate, make presentations, attend meetings, and create profitable deals with people from different cultures (Sangwan, XXXXXXXXXXIn this situation, a developed training program and topics discussed in training will be highly beneficial for the firm.
3. Length of training
The training has a specific size, which is six weeks. However, it will vary based on the performance of employees. The maximum time an employee will get to complete the training is ten weeks. During the training session, new employees will be offered 80% of their remuneration package. Existing employees will be provided an additional 30% of their remuneration package.
4. Detail about who will receive this training
The training will be offered to a few managers and all executive-level employees in different departments. If the sales department is taken into account, the training will be provided to sales managers and sales executives. Employees who will be involved in recruiting people or HR executives will also be a part of that training program. All customer support executives will have to attend the training program as they will be directly involved with customers. Apart from this, finance executives, operation executives will also have to go through the training session so that they can work effectively in a diversified workplace. A study by Govil & Usha (2014), stated avoiding employee conflict is one of the significant reasons for introducing cross-cultural training programs. The same intention also works in the cu
ent context. Giving this training to all levels of employees might restrict the rate of employee conflict in the workplace.
5. The detail on how to monitor and measure progress and training success
To calculate the effectiveness of the training program, a periodic examination will be held. An investigation will be ca
ied every week. A total of 6 reviews will be included for all employees. Where the scenario will be given based on which they will have to provide an answer. The concerned team will evaluate the solutions. An example question is presented in the following part.
Example Question: Suppose you are in the position of a customer representative, a customer called you, and his English is very poor, you are unable to understand his query. At the same time, the customer is very frustrated about the service he got. What will you do?
The presented question should be answered in such a way so that it does not make the customer realize that his English is low, at the same time, the answer given to the customer should be logically co
ect. Decisions that will be taken to answer such scenario-based questions will help the elevator to understand how the training is going on and how effectively it is working.
The examination will be held offline for all employees who will opt for offline training. At the same time, employees who opt for online will get an opportunity to give the examination on an online medium.
6. Information on recertification training, if necessary
Along with scenario-based answers, MCQ questions will also help the evaluator to determine how an employee makes himself/herself culturally diversified. In which a short question regarding cultural awareness will be asked. In addition to this, problems related to handling situations will be asked.
Example: Question: if you are calling a customer who is living in a European country, then what will be your first question to him? Answers: a) May I know details about your issue? b) is it a good time to talk? c) are you comfortable in English?
Based on the chosen answer from the provided options, employee effectiveness towards cultural awareness will be evaluated.
References
Bovée, C. L., Thill, J. V., & Raina, R. L XXXXXXXXXXBusiness communication today. India: Pearson Education, India.
Govil, S. K., & Usha, K XXXXXXXXXXThe importance of training in an organization. Advances in Management, 7(1), 44.
Mazanec, J. A., Crotts, J. C., Gursoy, D., & Lu, L XXXXXXXXXXHomogeneity versus heterogeneity of cultural values: An item-response theoretical approach applying Hofstede's cultural dimensions in a single nation. Tourism Management, 48, XXXXXXXXXX.
Sangwan, A XXXXXXXXXXCross-Cultural Training and Global Competencies – A Study of Indian MNC. Journal of Business and Management. 20-24.
Mcorpcx.com XXXXXXXXXXEight customer service strategies you can steal from Amazon. Retrieved from: https:
www.mcorpcx.com/articles/8-customer-service-strategies-can-steal-amazon