The most important element of any cross-cultural training program is self-knowledge. Trainees who have begun to grasp how their own background and values shape their biases and preferences at work are well on the way to understanding how these processes may work in others. However, a manager who is blind to the choices made at home, believing “this is the only way” will not be able to perceive or appreciate the varying decision-making processes used in other cultures.
A training program focusing on cross-cultural communication will have to include a lot of time for self-introductions, discussions and input of experience by the trainees. Each individual has come to this point by a different path, and the trainees’ knowledge of their own and others’ cultures is the jumping off place for the training program.
Examine Home Culture Values
An important component of the training program will be surfacing for the trainees those values and attitudes that their culture has taught them but that have remained largely unconscious and unexamined in their lives. For example, many North Americans have been raised to value independence, and are usually expected to make their own way in life as adults without further financial support from parents or other family members. It comes as a surprise to find that others consider this a shocking point of view. In many African cultures, in contrast, any financial gain by one member of the family is expected to be pooled to the benefit of the entire extended family. To support oneself without concern for family would be considered extremely selfish.
The important point here is not to determine which type of culture this person or that person belongs to; the need is for the trainees to examine their own values and family history to observe how each one feels and reacts about this and other questions. It is that personal knowledge, coupled with the knowledge that others approach life differently, that makes for a competent cross-cultural communicator.
Avoid Stereotyping
Training programs on culture often include charts or grids intended to provide an overview of the different types of cultures in the world. Two widely used examples are Kluckhohn and Strodtbeck's Values Orientation Theory and Geert Hofstede’s Cultural Dimensions.
Avoid the temptation to take these grids as a template into which individual persons can be fitted and described. They can only be applied to large groups, not individuals. For an individual, the usefulness of charts or dimensions of this nature is in encouraging self-reflection and in suggesting additional angles for analysis of observed behaviors and situations.
For example, an intercultural team may find itself in a conflict of values over the conduct of a project or program. At first glance, it may not be obvious what the conflict is about. A look at one of these models of culture variation may suggest new ways to consider the conflict: relationship to nature, perhaps, or future versus past time orientation.
These models, however will probably not be helpful in predicting the behavior of an individual or group, even if they are members of the culture described. It is not helpful to give a list of generalizations: “Thais are polite”; “Germans are direct”; “Japanese respect authority”; and the like. Human life is filled with contradictions and exceptions, and generalizations like these cannot do justice to the incredible complexity of the world’s cultures.
Personal Qualities Important Across Cultures
Experience shows that the people who succeed best in international and multicultural work and living are those who have developed mature qualities and attitudes. Empathy, self-reliance, tolerance of ambiguity and ability to fail and the so-called “soft” skills of management are some of the personal qualities that enable successful cross-cultural communication. These are not developed in a short training program, but are the outcome of an examined life. Cross-cultural training has more modest goals.
A good cross-cultural training program can give trainees the tools they need to move forward in the adventure of cross-cultural living. A basic definition of culture, an idea of one’s own values and history, and motivation to learn more about the world’s peoples and cultures are the tools that can be conveyed in a cross-cultural communication training program.
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