The inter-cultural expatriate

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: India Inc. has shaped up right. In recent times, India has seen an influx of multinational companies, bringing with them a new asset – the expatriate manager. The expatriate is a global manager who is at ease in any part of the world and can replicate success systems for the parent company in diverse societies. But is it really smooth sailing? Has India Inc. welcomed the expat manager with open arms?

Financial wiz kids would argue that the benefits of an intercultural approach go a long way towards reducing risk and, thus, represent value enhancement for the company.

Companies operating in the global market are quickly discovering business success depends heavily on their expatriate managers’ knowledge and familiarity with the cultures in which they do business. Culture clashes have a momentous influence on an expatriate’s assignment, and understanding the host country’s culture is a significant piece of the puzzle. Since expatriate failure is costly for companies, it is beneficial for a company to provide cross-cultural training to its employees working on overseas assignments.

There are a variety of training techniques that prepare people for foreign work assignments. They range from documentary programmes that merely expose people to a new culture through materials about the country’s socio-political history, geography, economics, language and cultural institutions, to intense interpersonal experience training, in which individuals participate in role-playing exercises, simulated social settings and similar experiences in order to feel the differences in a new culture.

Successful cross-cultural programmes can include the following:

Host country information: Basic information about the assignee’s host country, including its history, common religions, political structure and recent events, so employees can understand citizens’ values and beliefs.

Behaviour adaptation: Although people have a hard time changing their cultural understanding, they can learn to alter their behaviour to adapt to a new culture. In this phase of cross-cultural training, expatriates examine the way they currently handle a situation and what is required in the new culture.

Local business etiquette: Even the most veteran and prolific employee can have difficulty without an understanding of business etiquette in other cultures.

Communication techniques: A manager going to live in a foreign country for the first time might not realise how communication styles differ around the world.