A Study on the Cross Cultural Training Effectiveness on

Employee Performance

A Synopsis of Major Project report

Submitted for the Partial Fulfillment of the Degree of

Master of Business Administration

Under the Mentorship of

Mr.Anuj Heer

Assistant professor of MBA

Submitted by

Anitika katoch,

University Roll No. 51MB5013510

4th Semester, MBA

Academic Session, 2015-16

Himachal Pradesh Technical University Business School

Rajiv Gandhi Government Engineering College Kangra Campus at Nagrota Bagwan

District- Kangra, Himachal Pradesh-176047
 STUDENT DECLARATION

I,Anitika Katoch, hereby declare that the project work titled A Study on the Importance of
Cross-Cultural Training Effectiveness on Various Organization have been done by me
under the guidance of Mr. ANUJ HEER, faculty of Himachal Pradesh Technical University
Business School Rajiv Gandhi Government Engineering College Kangra Campus at Nagrota
Bagwan .

This report is submitted as part of my MBA final year project and contains the most relevant
information which I have collected. It is my individual work and has not been submitted fully or
partially for the award of any other degree, diploma, and title or recognition earlier.

Date:
 TABLE CONTENT
CHAPTER PARTICULAR PAGE NO.
Chapter 1 Introduction
1.1 Background
1.2 Cross Cultural Training
1.2.1 Meaning
1.2.2 Definition
1.2.3 Model of Cross Cultural Cycle
1.2.4 Training Strategies
Chapter 2 Review Of Existing Literature
2.1 Introduction
2.2 Review of Literature
2.3 Research Gap
Chapter 3 Research Methodology
3.1 Introduction
3.2 Scope of the Study
3.3 Objective of the Study
3.4 Sampling
3.5 Type of Research
3.6 Collection of Data
3.7 Tool used for Analysis
Chapter 4 Chapter Scheme
Bibliography
 CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION

The following chapter will provide the reader with some background information on the subject
of Cross Culture Training and why it is considered as an important aspect of Indian companies
and firms/organisations employing employees from other cultures and backgrounds. The
problem discussion will then bring up significant factors regarding expatriation, which will lead
to the purpose of the research and the research questions for the Project.

1.1 BACKGROUND

An increase in globalization is generating many opportunities for Indian companies to expand

overseas. Many booming and developing industries in India like the information technology
sector, telecommunications and Business Process Outsourcing are heavily dependent on these
foreign markets. The trade relations between India and other nations have been growing since
1991. In Britain, Indian companies are the 2nd largest investors and fourth largest partners in
trading. More than 500 companies of Indian origin, mainly information technology industries
have invested and have many offices in Britain. Since the liberalisation started in the year 1991,
India has become Britains third largest investor.

Subsequently this has increased the need for workers/employees working in diverse cultural
environments. In the recent times number of cross-border mergers and acquisitions has increased
significantly. The massive size of many cross border deals worth Millions of dollars (for example
acquisition of Tetley, United Kingdom) indicates the global aspirations of the Indian
organisations. This globalization trend is presenting a challenge to the Indian organizations- i.e.
to develop proficient employees who would be competent enough and have the ability to work
efficiently in multi-cultural settings and who will also be an important link between the home
company and its subsidiaries. Further globalization has resulted in recruiting employees with
different languages, cultures and origin adding complexities to the firms and the organisational
culture. With differences in beliefs, norms, values, manners and etiquette there is plenty of room
for misunderstandings and poor communication. Hence, the firms should develop processes and
procedures in order to enable and train employees and managers on foreign assignments to
handle cultural diversity. In order to help employees to cope up with the stress and cultural shock
while dealing with a new culture they should be provided with the necessary cross-cultural
training. Hence cross cultural training is essential for both employees and expatriates who are
going to deal with employees of other cultures and origins.
The cross-cultural training will also be required for the Indian companies getting into Business
Process Outsourcing as the clients belong to culturally different environments. Working
effectively in cross-cultural context is becoming vital competence for aspiring managers (Harris
and Kumra, 2000). The report attempts to define the possible sources of cross-cultural
differences, its impact on business practices, competencies required for the expatriates, evolution
of cross-cultural training, issues to be considered while developing cross-cultural training and
different ways of training the employees.

1.2 CROSS CULTURAL TRAINING

1.2.1 Meaning

The term "cross cultural training" refers to a variety of different training courses. Each in essence
aims to develop awareness between people where a common cultural framework does not exist.
Cross-culture tries to bring together such relatively unrelated areas as cultural anthropology and
established areas of communication. Its core is to establish and understand how people from
different cultures communicate with each other and the culture of a society comprises the shared
values, understandings, assumptions, and goals that are learned from earlier generations,
imposed by the members of the present day society and passed on to the succeeding generations.

1.2.2 Definition

The cross-cultural training in general can be defined as Any intervention aimed at increasing an
individuals capability to cope with and work in foreign environment
The cross-cultural has also been defined as Formal methods to prepare people for more
effective interpersonal relations and job success when they interact extensively with individuals
from cultures other than their own

1.2.3 A model of cross cultural cycle

1.3 TRANING STRATEGIES

Training strategies bridge the gap between the capabilities of the individual hired and the role/
responsibilities of the job that he/she is being hired for. The four strategies of training are:

Firstly, MNCs may make use of expatriates for short-term or long-term international job
assignments. Accordingly, the kind of training and development initiatives differ. The focus
while training an employee for a short-term assignment would remain narrowly focussed on
what the objective of the assignment is, while cultural gaps and work-life differences would be
of minimal importance. However, for a long-term assignment there would be a significant
amount of time and effort expended in coaching the employee on the cultural differences,
workplace behavior and national etiquette, eating habits and coping strategies to help sustain
success during the assignment.

Secondly, the staffing orientation that is adopted in the subsidiary unit influences the training
impetus. An ethnocentric staffing strategy brings all the focus in training to cross-cultural and
cultural adaptation initiatives. And depending on the roles and responsibilities, the training
framework is determined. However, a polycentric approach to staffing shifts the training focus to
technology training and an extensive orientation/induction revolting around the parent company's
culture, policies and workplace values. Cross cultural training extends itself to 'knowledge' about
the parent country's work culture and a focus on acceptable and not acceptable work practices,
with a lot of it being learnt-on-the-job. And if the staffing approach is geocentric/rigeocentric, the
developmental efforts revolve around knowing the parent company and the particular technology
of the organization.

Thirdly, the control and coordination linkages that the parent unit wishes to establish with the
subsidiary unit drives the training budget and the strategy. When the linkages of control between
the parent and the host unit are closely established, the investment in training for compliance and
parity of practices and work culture between the parent and the host unit is the highest and
training assumes great importance. It is driven by global budgets and is a measure of
organizational growth. It is seen as a critical tool in the achievement of the global strategy for the
organization. Conversely, when the control linkages are we and the sub unit adopts a multi-
domestic existence, training assumes a local flavor and is driven by the philosophy of the unit's
management focusing around the local technical and managerial issues, specific to the industry
and the country of existence. Similarly, when coordination linkages between the parent and the
host unit are high, the training focus shifts to a global approach to inducting and ensuring that
coordination happens as required in the role.

Fourthly, the 'role and responsibilities of the position' determine the extent and content of
training. Roles that are higher up in the organisational hierarchy bring training focus to
individual contributions and to equipping employees with the skills related to leadership styles
and management challenges that are specific to the organisation/industry and the country of
practice. Jobs that are critical for organisational success in a host/subsidiary unit, for example,
research/sales, the individuals in these roles are selected as specialists, hence the training focus
would limit itself to global organisational objectives and on-going technology training.
 CHAPTER-2

REVIEW OF EXISTING LITERATURE

2.1 INTRODUCTION

A review of literature is a content of a scholarly paper, which includes the current

knowledge including substantive findings, as well as theoretical and methodological
contributions to a particular topic.
Literature Reviews are Secondary sources, and do not report new or original experimental
work. Most often associated with academic-oriented literature, such reviews are found in
academic journals, and are not to be confused with book reviews that may also appear in the
same publication. Literature Reviews are a basis for research in nearly every academic field.
A narrow-scope literature review may be included as part of a peer-reviewed journal article
presenting new research, serving to situate the current study within the body of relevant
literature and to provide context for the reader. In such cases, the review usually precedes the
methodology and results sections of the work producing a literature review may also be part of
graduate and post graduate student work, including in the preparation of the thesis, dissertation,
or a journal article. Literature Review is also common in research proposal or prospects.

2.2 REVIEW OF LITERATURE

(1) Working effectively in cross-cultural circumstance is becoming vital competence for

aspiring managers (Harris and Kumra, 2000).
(2) The cross-cultural training in general can be defined as Any intervention aimed at
increasing an individuals capability to cope with and work in foreign environment
(Tung, 1981, in Zakaria, 2000)
(3) The study by Peters and Lipit (1978) found USA employees different from those in
Latin American countries like Columbia, Peru and Chile, even within the Latin American
countries there was a difference between Columbia and Peru (good pay as the highest
ranked motivator) and Chile (creativity as the highest ranked motivator).
(4) The study by Neelankavil, Mathur and Zhang (1999) that analyzed India, Philippines,
USA and China for managerial performance and motivational factors in two different
studies found different managerial values, value dimensions and comparative
management. India was found closer to USA than China although the geographical
 distance is much lesser. For example for American managers drive and ambition were
important for success which is not the case in China. These countries differ in their scores
of individualism with USA (91) and china (7) and the other two falling in between.
Similarly the study of motivational factors found opportunity for advancement and
financial rewards to be least important while these factors were nearly very important for
employees in the other countries.
(5) The culture differences effect the managerial decisions related to performance appraisals
in multicultural workplaces and decisions in international business context (Lee and
Karakowsky, 2001).
(6) Huang (2004) stated, cross-cultural communication refers to communication between
people of different cultures. The cultural values are significant for individuals,
corporations and countries because they help people understand psychological thinking of
others, the norms of business enterprises, and the way to establish relationships with
other nations.
(7) According to Black and Mendenhall (1990), increased internationalization in the
economic, political, and social arenas has led to a greater frequency of, and depth in,
cross-cultural interactions; that is, contacts between two or more people from different
cultural backgrounds.

(8) According to Coupland and Wiemann (1991), miscommunication is the

term to interpret the reason of problems occurring in the working place. It is usually
applied very loosely to any sort of problem that might arise in interaction. They pointed
out that a sound interaction among people and the development of relationships are
essential to international business communication. Consequently, communication
problems should be eliminated or settled by using cross-cultural training as an auxiliary
tool.

(9) Kwintessential (2009) says that cross-cultural consciousness is very important to the
employees working in global companies, since it enables them to be sensitive about the
differences among different cultures. This consciousness can be improved systematically
through cross-cultural training. Cross-cultural training deals with the manifestations of
culture in the workplace and it has many applications. Its main purpose is to evaluate and
constructively tackle the challenges cross cultural differences can bring to the workplace.
(10) According to James (2009), the enlightened multinational company recognizes the need
to provide general cross-cultural training for all their employees and country-specific
training for those who are working with a single country.
(11) Smith (2008) stated, interpersonal communication skills play a big role in the corporate
communications process. The assessment of these skills is an effective way to discover
individual and team strengths in communication.
(12) It is valuable to investigate the role of a cross-cultural training program in interpersonal
communication, because the norms, roles, rules, customs, understandings and
expectations of interactions in people relationships are primarily defined and transmitted
by culture (Berscheid, 1995).
(13) According to Karmel (2008), acquiring cultural competence is a lifelong process that
can be assisted by the formalization of guidelines and criteria for the provision of cross-
cultural training.
(14) According to research of Caligiuri (2001) and Gudykunst (1996), the cultural
familiarization training could range from brief introductions of less than one day to
intensive orientations of several days or a week.

(15) According to Day (2007), cultural differences are potentially different values,
assumptions, expectations, and behavior which people bring to business as a result of
their differing backgrounds.
(16) According to Hall (2000), high and low-context cultures are the watershed of
cultural differences. People from different cultures find themselves increasingly working
together and communicating. As long as people get in touch with each other,
communication takes place, and sometimes when different cultures crash out sparks,
probably cultural shock and even cultural conflicts emerge.
(17) According to Williams (1994), cultural conflict can be identified by the
following signs: (1) It usually has complicated dynamics. Cultural differences tend to
create complex combinations of expectations about ones own and others behavior. (2) If
addressing content and relational issues does not resolve the conflict, it can be rooted in
cultural differences. (3) A conflict reoccurs or arouses strong emotions even though the
issue of disagreement is insignificant.
(18) The concept of high and low-context communication is associated with the theory
of individualistic-collectivistic cultures. Individualistic cultures are referred to as Low-
 context cultures; collectivistic cultures are referred to as high-context cultures
(Gudykunst & Ting-Toomey, 1988).

2.3 RESEARCH GAP

From the ongoing review of the existing literature it was found that not much has been explored
regarding cross cultural training effectiveness on employee performance study considering India.

Previous studies have focused on culture of people on continental basis. They assumed that
people of same continent have somehow similar cultural values but I want to differentiate that
cultural values varies largely from country to country. As stated earlier Indian people have more
diversity then others places. So there can be a need of providing different training for people
from different parts of India.

So to fill in the gap, the present research will be undertaken.

CHAPTER 3

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

3.1 INTRODUCTION

In the literature review the questions which need to be answered for the research are stated and in
this chapter the methodological approach which has been chosen to fulfill the research is
discussed. Each of the following sections will form a part of the research process. This will
follow with the collection of primary and secondary data which will fulfill the aims and purpose
of the study. The methodology is chosen depending on the purpose, objectives, scope and aims
of the study and justifies it.

Research methodology is a way to systematically solve the research problem. It can be

defined as a science of studying research problem.

Research is a careful investigation especially through search for new facts in any branch of
knowledge.
Redman and Mory define research as a systematized effort to gain new knowledge

Research can also be defined as the manipulation of things, concepts or symbols for the purpose
of generalizing to extend, correct or verify knowledge, whether that knowledge aids in
construction theory or in the practice of an art

3.2 SCOPE OF THE STUDY

3.3 OBJECTIVE OF THE STDUY

Main Objectives of this Project are:

To gain knowledge about culture, culture shock, expatriation and problems faced by
Indian Expatriates.

To understand the concept of CCT(Cross Cultural Training)

To know the impact of cross-cultural training on the employee performance.

To understand the different methods of Cross Cultural Training.

To know the fact why companies prefer CCT.

To know what employees think about CCT.

To understand the different dimension of cross cultural Training (CCT).

3.4 SAMPLING

Sampling Technique: Convenience sampling will be use.

Sampling unit: It comprises Employee, Student, and Business Man.

Sample Area: Jaipur, Delhi and Himachal Pradesh region will considered for research.

Sampling Size: 10% of respondent consider out of total population who has visited any foreign
country.

3.5 TYPE OF RESEARCH

Types of research design:

Exploratory

o Designed to generate basic knowledge, clarify relevant issues uncover variables

associated with a problem, uncover information needs, and/or define alternatives
for addressing, objectives.

o A very flexible, open-ended process.

Descriptive (who, what, where, how)

o Designed to provide further insight into the problem by describing the variables of
interest.

o Can be used for profiling, defining, segmentation, estimating, predicting, and

examining associative relationships.

Causal (If-then)

o Designed to provide information on potential cause-and-effect relationships.

 o Most practical in marketing to talk about associations or impact of one variable on
another.

3.6 COLLECTION OF DATA

The main tool that will be used in data collection is Semi structured Interview Questionnaire that
will be constructs for this purpose. Primary data will be collect by means of Interview and
questionnaire.

3.7 TOOLS USED FOR ANALYSIS

3.7.1 Simple percentage analysis

It is simple analysis tool. In this method, based on the opinions of the respondents, percentage
and bar chart is calculated for the respective scales of each factor.

Formula

Simple percentage = No of Respondents

Total No of Sample Size

3.7.2 Report Writing and Presentation

Report will be written in MS-Word which will encompass charts, bars, graphs and tables.

3.7.3 Statistical Tools

The tools which will be used in the report are MS-Word and MS-Excel.

CHAPTER- 4
CHAPTER SCHEME
Detailed/final project report will include the following chapters:

a. Introduction
b. Review of Literature
c. Scope and Objective of Study
d. Research Methodology (Details of methodology used in studying and collecting the data
and issue will be described)
e. Data Analysis and Interpretation
f. Finding and Recommendations
g. Conclusion
h. Limitations
i. Bibliography
j. Annexure
 BIBLOGRAPHY

Awang, Faridah, and Joy Roach-Duncan. "Cultural Differences And Their Effects On Conflict
Resolution In Business Settings." Journal for Global Business Education 10 (2010).

Caligiuri, Paula, and Ibraiz Tarique. "16 International assignee selection and cross-cultural
training and development." Handbook of research in international human resource
management (2006): 302.

Black, J. Stewart, and Mark Mendenhall. "Cross-cultural training effectiveness: A review and a
theoretical framework for future research." Academy of management review 15.1 (1990): 113-
136.

Gudykunst, William B., Stella Ting-Toomey, and Elizabeth Chua.Culture and interpersonal
communication. Sage Publications, Inc, 1988.

Harris, Hilary, and SavitaKumra."International manager developmentcross-cultural training in

highly diverse environments."Journal of Management Development 19.7 (2000): 602-614.

Li, Ji, and Leonard Karakowsky. "Do we see eye-to-eye? Implications of cultural differences for
cross-cultural management research and practice." The Journal of Psychology 135.5 (2001): 501-
517.

Peters, E. B., &Lippitt, G. L (1978). The Use of Instruments in International Training. Journal of
European Industrial Training, 2 (7): 24-26.

Pande, Amit, and Sandeep K. Krishnan. "Expatriation: The cross-cultural issues and design of
training for coping." Human Resource Development: Challenges and Opportunities. India:
Anmol Publications. Retrieved April 14 (2005): 2013

Williams, Angie, et al. "Young people's beliefs about intergenerational communication an initial
cross-cultural comparison." Communication Research 24.4 (1997): 370-393.
Waters, Everett, and E. Mark Cummings. "A secure base from which to explore close
relationships." Child development 71.1 (2000): 164-172.

Young, Tony, and Peter Sercombe. "Communication, discourses and interculturality." Language
and Intercultural Communication 10.3 (2010): 181-188

Zakaria, Norhayati. "The effects of cross-cultural training on the acculturation process of the
global workforce." International Journal of Manpower 21.6 (2000): 492-510.