Training ensures success overseas.

(includes related articles).

Personnel Journal 70.n12 (Dec 1991): p.p27(4). (2797 words)

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Author(s): Shari Caudron.
Document Type: Magazine/Journal
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Abstract:

Employees set to be assigned overseas should be given cross-cultural training so that they
will be able to deal with the difficulties associated with living and working in another
country. Potential problems include family lifestyle adjustment, social relations, on-the-
job-communication, and negotiation styles. Organizational support for international
employees can improve the success rate of these expatriates. With personnel who are
equipped to deal with global issues, companies can better cope with the increasing
globalization of the business world.

Full Text :

COPYRIGHT A.C. Croft Inc 1991

Providing employees-and their families-with cross-cultural training before they're sent

overseas can help prevent costly expatriate failures.

Never show the sole of your shoe to an Arab. Always avert your eyes when speaking to a
business superior in Japan. Be sure to provide plenty of details when solving problems
with a German. Why? Because respecting another culture and its etiquette and customs
isn't simply good manners. It's good business.

Many business leaders focus on the functional skills needed for international work and
overlook the importance of cultural savvy. But most expatriate failures aren't caused by
problems with job skills. They're caused by an inability to adapt to an unfamiliar culture.
As Ken Yeager, president of St. Paul, Minnesota-based Commodities International,
explains: "If you want to succeed, it's important to understand the country and the rules it
operates under."
Yeager, who has experience managing projects for Control Data in places as culturally
diverse as Romania, Iran and England, believes that 99.9% of all expatriate failures
happen because of cultural adjustment problems. "In a sense, it's similar to why people
fail on the job in this country," he explains. "People aren't fired because they lack
technical competence; they're fired because they can't get along."

The difficulty of living and doing business in another country is illustrated best by the
enormous expatriate failure rate. In London, a city where you'd expect an easy adjustment
by Americans, the failure rate is 18%; in Brussels, it's 27%; in Tokyo, 36%; and in Saudi
Arabia, 68 out of every 100 American business people can expect to come home early
because of bewildering cultural differences.

Each failure costs a company anywhere from $250,000 to $1 million, depending on the
employee's salary, the location and whether a family transfer was involved. With cross-
cultural training, however, the potential for costly failure is significantly reduced.

Among the areas that cause concern for Americans in other countries include:

Negotiation styles. According to Patrick Caughlin, a trainer with Chicago-based

International Orientation Resources (IOR), negotiation styles vary widely from country to
country. In Russia, negotiations are conflict-oriented, with each party trying to put his or
her opponent on the defensive. Italians, on the other hand, have been known to argue
vehemently about points an American may consider trivial.

A look at Asian cultures reveals a consensus-oriented negotiating style, in which

everyone shares his or her opinion and the outcome must meet everyone's needs. "Here
you must first create a friendly environment," Caughlin explains.

"You never jump to the heart of the matter."

On-the-job -communication.

Without a proper understanding of cultural norms, Americans can make embarrassing

social blunder simply by trying to communicate with their co-workers. A common
mistake is an American's assumption that people from other cultures appreciate our
informal way of addressing each other.

In the U.S., people address each other by first names right after being introduced. But in
France, it may take three to six months before business associates feel comfortable
addressing each other without a formal title.

Differences in non-verbal cues also can block efforts to communicate. Standing too far
from an Arab or too close to a person from Spain can be interpreted by both as a lack of
interest.
Social relations. The quality of an American's social life can become very important
when he or she is working in another country, and family members and longstanding
friendships have been left behind in the U.S. But differences in social styles can interfere
with honest attempts at friendship.

According to Gary Wederspahn, director of program design at Moran, Stahl and Boyer
International, a Boulder, Colorado-based cross-cultural consulting firm, Americans
generally place high value on informality and casualness as a means of creating a
comfortable social environment.

"By contrast, the Europeans typically are more formal, both in dress and demeanor, while
entertaining guests," he says. "The Europeans may interpret our casualness as a sign that
we don't consider them worthy of making at a special occasion. Conversely, we may
interpret their formality as stiff and unfriendly."

Neither impression is true, he adds, but such conclusions often are reached when one
views reality through his or her own cultural values.

Family lifestyle adjustment. The concerns associated with lifestyle adjustment in another
country, such as where to shop, how to get the kids to school and how to decode the
public transportation system, are usually "the straws that break the camel's back," says
Noel Kreicker, president and founder of IOR.

The little stresses in an expatriate's life can mount up, she says. "After all, who wants to
spend three days looking for a lightbulb in a country that doesn't have hardware stores?"

Furthermore, because most job transfers involve working couples, finding meaningful
opportunities for an expatriate's spouse - the wife in 90% of all cases - is another
challenge. "She may be expected to entertain her husband's colleagues in a traditional
style," Kreicker explains, "which can be extremely difficult for a professional woman."

The lifestyle stresses placed on families are a significant factor in expatria failures, says
Kreicker, who cites her experience living with her husband and two small children in
Bogota, Columbia. "My husband, who as with an international law firm, was transferred
to Bogota on a one-year assignment with the expectation the assignment would be
extended. We were home within eight month because of the difficulty our family had
adjusting to lifestyle differences."

Kreicker started IOR after her return from Bogota in an effort to help other business
people and their families prepare for the differences they'll face living in another country.
Her firm works with HR professionals to develop highly individualized training sessions
for employees facing an overseas transfer.

Most firms develop training programs tailored to the needs of each client. "To be
effective, the programs must be country-and culture-specific," explains Gary Lloyd,
director of the Business Council for International Understanding (BCIU), a cross-cultural
training institute affiliated with the Amercan University in Washington, D.C.

A couple facing a transfer to Copenhagen, for instance, will be introduced to the legal,
educational and political system in Denmark. They'll learn about the social and economic
structure of the country and discuss common business and social practices. By identifying
and discussing American cultural values and contrasting them with values found in
Copenhagen, the couple also can identify potential points of conflict.

But more than training people to become "sensitive" to nationals in their host countries,
Lloyd says the training must take into account the professional responsibilities of
employees. "After all, that person is being sent there to do a job," he says.

For example, the managers of an electronic company sent to Iran to establish a telephone
switching station were aware that many Iranians believe in Allah as the supreme being. If
something were to go wrong these nationals might have had a tendency to attribute the
problems to Allah. Anticipating this, the company trained the Iranian employees in
extensive troubleshooting techniques.

By examining what the expatriate's role will be, with whom they'll interact, and what they
need to accomplish, cross-cultural training imparts the skills and information needed to
deal with such potentially difficult circumstances.

For companies that are sending large numbers of employees overseas, group training
available. Shell Oil for example, sent 800 employees through training at BCIU when the
company was establishing a petrochemical operation in Saudi Arabia. Thanks to the
training, there were only three employees who didn't survive the cultural adjustment.

Additionally, most training firms provide separate training modules for an employee;s
spouse and children, as their adjustment difficulties are different.

At Moran, Stahl and Boyer, for example, spouses are trained to understand the stresses
and challenges that their husbands or wives will face on the job. They'll also learn about
their options for work, if they exist, such as volunteering or consulting. The transferring
employee, on the other hand, is cautioned to understand that spouses actually have
tougher responsibilities, because they'll be dealing with "raw culture." This involves such
difficulties as learning how and where to buy groceries, how to communicate with
vendors, teachers and neighbors, and how to use public transportation.

The topics covered in training programs for children are based on the child's age, and a
variety of techniques are used to communicate cultural differences. These may include
role playing, games, making crafts or food from the country of destination, and listening
to other children who've lived in that country talk about their experiences.

"Generally speaking," says Gay Ann Thomas, children's trainer at IOR, "kids take their
cues from their parents. If Mom and Dad are unhappy, the kids will be unhappy," Most
cross-cultural training firms rely on resource people, who are specialists on a foreign
country, former expatriates or foreign nationals, to conduct the training sessions. Moran,
Stahl and Boyer maintains a list of more than 3,500 individuals who can assist with
specialized training for more than 70 countries.

The approach at BCIU is similar. "We seek people who have had hands-on country
experience, train them, and make sure they impart culturally accurate knowledge," Lloyd
says. "To keep freshness alive, we use individuals who have recently returned from a
particular country to conduct training on that region."

Length of the training sessions varies from a half-day session for employees facing a
quick business trip overseas to courses that last more than three weeks when language
training is involved. The amount of time HR professionals should schedule for their
employees depends on the country, whether a family will be accompanying the employee
and how much the company wants to spend because training isn't cheap.

For example, a three-day session for a family at BCIU can run as high as $10,000. But it's
worth considering, especially if that training can prevent a costly expatriate failure.

Jodi Zurawski, manager of foreign service employee programs at SC Johnson Wax in

Racine, Wisconsin, believes that training is well worth the investment. She coordinates
all cross-cultural training for the company's international work force of 13,000 employees
spread across 19 countries.

"Even if you spend $3,000 to train a person who decides after the training that he doesn't
want to go," she says, "you've still saved at least $300,000 - the combined cost of wages,
taxes, rent, moving and other expenses - by finding that out ahead of time." The
expatriate failure rate at Johnson Wax is less than 2%, an achievement Zurawski
attributes to cross-cultural training.

Language training is another area companies are exploring, but the jury is out on its
importance. Proponents of language study, such as Kreicker, believe that it's a critical
element in any cross-cultural training program, because it provides insight into the
country's culture.

"For example, in Chinese, there's no word for privacy," Kreicerk says. "When you go that
extra mile and study language, it indicates you truly want to understand the culture."

Richard Greer, president of Technical Language Systems Inc. in Denver, recommends

that those employees facing a foreign transfer concentrate on learning only a small
number of key sentences, and spend the majority of time studying the culture of the
country.

"If you keep your mouth shut and don't do much that is seen as offensive by those from
other countries, you may get by well," he said in a recent article in the Denver Business
Journal, "We have a saying: ~Language learning without the cultural awareness is labor
lost.' If you don't know about the culture you're dealing with, you're in bad shape, even if
you've studied some of the language."

In addition to cross-cultural training, there are several other steps HR professionals can
take to ensure the success of an expatriate venture. At Johnson Wax employees and their
spouses are sent on pre-assignment trips to the country of destination to look at housing
and get a feel for the people and their customs.

Whenever possible, HR employees also talk to the transferring spouses to answer

questions and address concerns. "They do this because so many expatriate failures
happen because of the spouse, not the employee," Zurawski says. Johnson Wax also
investigates the labor laws to find what, if any, job opportunities exist for the spouse, and
the company maintains regular contact with expatriates to make sure their needs are met.

But according to Lloyd, by far the best thing an organization can do to increase the
success rate of its expatriates is to strengthen company support for international
employees. "There's a lot of talk about globalization," he says, "but you still have to bribe
people to go overseas." It's the old out of sight, out of mind problem in which employees
come back from an international assignment and find little respect for their
accomplishments back home.

Although company support for international employees may be lagging, there does
appear to be increased interest in training those employees to perform better in their new
countries.

"The emphasis on globalization has increased our business dramatically," says Kreicker.
In 1988, IOR was handling two cross-cultural training programs a week. In 1990, that
number was up to eight programs a day. The same is true at Moran, Stahl and Boyer, for
whom business has increased by 30% since last year. Demand is especially high for
training programs on countries in Europe and Asia. Interest in programs on Lain America
and the Middle East is starting to rise.

To people in the business of expatriate training, it makes sense that training is on the
upswing. As Zurawski explains, "If you want your company to be global, you need
managers who are ready and able to tackle global issues. "Just because an employee is
successful in Racine, Wisconsin, doesn't mean he or she will be successful in London,
England."

Cross-cultural

Dont's

* Provide plenty of background information when working with Germans. They have a
saying, "You have to start with Charlemagne," which means they require detail and a
historical perspective on issues before feeling comfortable making decisions.
* Remember that the Japanese are interested in long-term relationships that generally are
based on trust, friendship, service and quality, rather than price.

* Remember to use formal titles with for French until you've known them for a
considerable length of time. The quick familiarity of Americans can be offensive to them.

* Realize that in Latin countries it isn't what you do that counts, but to whom you're
related. Americans tend to rank each other by occupation, but Latin Americans will want
to know who your father is. In Germany, on the other hand, credentials are what matter.
Forget about the importance of being a "self-made man." It's where you went to school
that counts.

* Offer a gift when invited to a Japanese home. Gifts must not be lavish, but in good taste
a nicely wrapped. Don't use white wrapping paper, however. It's a sign of death.

* Feel free to make physical contact - a pat on the back, a long handshake or even a kiss
on the cheek - with your associates in Europe and Latin America. These gestures are
almost always acceptable in a business setting. On the other hand, in India and Pakistan,
no type of touching is acceptable. People simply bow.

* Dress conservatively in Japan and avoid cologne and perfume. They aren't used in that
country traditionally and could be offensive.

Cross-cultural

Don'ts

* Don't ask a French person, "Where do you live?" or "What do you do?" It's similar to
asking an American, "How much money do you make?"

* Don't suggest casually to a German individual, "Let's get together for lunch sometime,"
unless you mean it. Taking the comment literally, the German is apt to take out a calendar
to schedule a time.

* Don't stand more than a foot away from a business associate in Saudi Arabia. Too much
distance is a sign of rejection.

* Don't expect your Latin American counterparts to stick to an agenda or start meetings
exactly at the scheduled time. They're more flexible with time and regard it as a long-
term commodity.

* Don't make the mistake of not knowing whether a person you're working with in
Czechoslovakia or Poland is aligned with the old communist system or the new
generation of free enterprise. Values, goals and expectations between the two groups are
apt to be very different.
* Don't say "no" to the Japanese. Because of their desire for saving face and maintaining
harmony, Japanese people have an aversion to this word. To avoid being impolite, they'll
either simply not respond, or they'll give an evasive answer such as "it's very difficult."

* Don't cross your legs or expose the hell of your foot during a business meeting in the
Middle East. This gives the signal to your host that they're worthy of being stepped on.

* Don't hold up your hand, palms outward, in Africa. Such a gesture is considered rude
and inappropriate.

Source Citation
Caudron, Shari. "Training ensures success overseas." Personnel Journal 70.12 (1991):
27+. Gale Arts, Humanities and Education Standard Package. Web. 4 Nov. 2010.