Page 130 - DMGT548_GLOBAL_HRM

Unit 7: Training and Development

Language skills become an important aspect. PCNs can find themselves performing as Notes
communication conduits between subsidiary and headquarters, due to their ability to
speak the corporate language. It also can give added power to their position in the subsidiary as
PCNs often have access to information that those not fluent in the corporate language are
denied.
7.2.4 Practical Assistance

Another component of a pre-departure training programme is providing information that assists
in relocation. Practical assistance makes an important contribution toward the adaptation of the
expatriate to their new environment. Being left to fend for themselves may result in a negative
response toward the host-country’s culture, and contribute to a perceived violation of the
psychological contract.
MNCs take advantage of relocation specialists to provide the practical assistance. The local
orientation and language programmes are normally organised by the personnel staff in the host
country but the corporate HRM staff must liaise with the sending line manager as well as the HR
department in the foreign location to ensure that practical assistance is provided.

7.2.5 Job-related Factors

There are differences in the way people approach tasks and problems and that this can have an
impact on the learning process. The ability to transfer knowledge and skills in a culturally-
sensitive manner should be an integral part of pre-departure training programmes. An
international assignment can be a promotion to a managerial role for which the preparation is
effectively the international assignment.
In some firms, pre-departure training may not be provided to TCNs–to the extent that is available
to PCNs. This could create perceptions of inequitable treatment in situations where PCNs and
TCNs work in the same foreign location. As an Australian working in the Japanese subsidiary of
a U.S. multinational remarked, “We were third-class nationals in Japan. The Americans received
cultural training about Japan before they left the United States.”

Did u know? In a study involving survey responses of 72 human resource managers at
multinational corporations (MNCs), 35 percent of the HR managers said cultural
adaptability was the most important success factor in a foreign assignment (Dallas, 1995).

7.2.6 Cultural Assimilators

It is a programmed learning technique that is designed to expose members of one culture to
some of the basic concepts, attitudes, role perceptions, customs and values of another culture.
These assimilators are developed for each pair of cultures: one culture where the candidate is
currently working and the other culture is where he is proposed to be posted.
These assimilators require the trainee to read a short episode of a cultural encounter and choose
an interpretation of what has happened and why. If the trainee’s choice is correct, he or she goes
to the next episode. If the response is incorrect, the trainee is asked to read the episode again and
choose another response.

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