Cross-cultural Training

By Author: John Beth
Total Articles: 17
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Today we are seeing many businesses expanding globally in order to increase their production rate; thus we are experiencing more cross-cultural teams within departments. As a result it is becoming essential for managers to be able to communicate effectively to all the cultures that form their workforce. Many have to learn how to understand culturally-informed behavioural patterns, ranging from communication styles to decision-making procedures. To aid this, there are a few guidelines that managers can follow to make this process easier; the success rate of these is further enhanced by undertaking a human resource training course.

A good strategy that deals with cross-cultural issues is one that will allow them to successfully interact with their employees; it should aim to reduce any possible misunderstandings that are a result of incomprehension and misinterpretation via language. Additionally the method of “open communication” can also see a high success rate; this involves the manager being interested in the productivity of their team. This should aim to encourage staff to vocalise their opinions and any uncertainties ...
... that they have in order to avoid confusions that could potentially lead to a company disaster. A human resource training course can aid a manager on this further as it is designed to give those who manage a winning advantage, and it can provide them with up-to-date research on subjects that enable them to affect change within their organisation.

Jonathan Beth has served as a consultant in HR Programme and business education programs. His recenlty launched marketing course is considered as one of the best in the industry.

It is essential to avoid any vagueness within communication, but gaining an overall consensus within a team can often become a challenge for leaders. Commonly, styles of communication vary throughout cultures; for instance, most western principles rely on a direct approach when presenting information to clients, often adopting a blunt style, while eastern cultures prefer to use a form that can sometimes be difficult to decipher as answers are regularly embedded in the way that the message is presented. Yet, a good manager is able to resolve these issues; they will be able to find a way that will make the dissimilar styles of communication more equal. Plus, through regular weekly reviews, a manager will be able to take time to plan a presentation strategy that will combine both preferred methods. A human resource training programme can aid this issue further as it provides the manager with excellent problem solving skills that will help them to create universal guidelines for his/her team to use.

Thus, with this sudden expanse of globalization within companies, managers are able to use this to their advantage and are therefore able to reduce cost and expand in productivity. However, this can only be achieved with excellent communication and structure, without this it is possible for a company to quickly become muddled. Yet, by undergoing a management course, such as a human resource training programme, and by following these basic points described above, leaders are able to gain substantial knowledge and abilities that will prevent this from occurring.