CROSS CULTURAL TRAINING

Abstract

The basic point to be understood while doing business with different countries is the culture of those countries. Many times, we take other culture for granted and feel that it is similar to ours. Many training organizations offer cross-cultural trainings, an example being Windham International. They help in gaining a competitive advantage in the global scenario by making organizations aware about other cultures. Work is done quickly and in a smooth manner. Companies can also avoid expensive mistakes with such trainings. Cross-cultural training had been a marginal idea some decades back. Now it has increased as main idea in the last some years with global organizations arranging for big and not so cheap list of cross-cultural programs of training for the employees. Conducting business in the global market without proper training can become a disaster. In global businesses, cross-cultural reasons affect all areas of the organization. Even if it is different-cultural teams or organization talks, the element of differences in culture ultimately affect business. Various aspects have been considered in training people to effectively function in a foreign culture. This project reviews six aspects that may help in cross-cultural training. The aspects reviewed are: Making appointments, Business attire, Communication, Business presents, Negotiations, Public behavior, and Business success meetings. Finally, the paper offers suggestions for the future direction of cross-cultural training.