Business cultural training in a globalised economy

Abstract

As the economy globalises the concept of cultural training in business needs a rethink. As this paper explains, the key change is that every area of business increasingly involves multinationals, making the cultural analysis of countries as independent entities increasingly irrelevant. Cultural trainers are having to think in different terms in training businesses to improve performance in new markets, overseas branches, multinational teams, joint ventures and international mergers and acquisitions and above all to create trust. This change is presenting the models developed by thinkers like Hofstede, Trompenaars, Lewis and Meyer in a different light, placing emphasis on the concepts they have developed rather than the countries they apply them to. This paper explores how cultural concepts can be applied to business and suggests practical training activities to raise cultural awareness and improve business performance. The author concludes that cultural training is an aspect of management training, not an extension of language training, although understanding something about the language and even speaking it is important in avoiding misunderstandings and communication breakdown.