Global Manager: Cross-Cultural Training Program Report for SMC

This report examines the cross-cultural training and development of Mary Isaac, a senior project manager at SMC, in preparation for an overseas assignment in Japan. It begins with an introduction highlighting the importance of cross-cultural training in today's global business environment, emphasizing the need for effective talent management and equal opportunity. The report then analyzes Mary's background, including her experience working in various countries, and identifies her needs related to operating in a new cultural context, specifically Japan. It outlines goal setting for Mary, including establishing a positive and open-minded personality, developing communication techniques, and building emotional intelligence. The report then focuses on the delivery of a cross-cultural training (CCT) program, specifically the experiential cultural specific training based on Tarique and Caligiuri model, including role-playing, cultural coaching, and language training to enhance Mary's skills. The report concludes with recommendations for Mary and SMC, including the importance of continuous learning and adaptation in a global setting, and offers a reference list.

Running Head: GLOBAL MANAGER
GLOBAL MANAGER
Name of the Student:
Name of University:
Author Note:

1GLOBAL MANAGER
Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................2
Assumptions and Needs Analyses...................................................................................................2
Assumptions................................................................................................................................2
Needs...........................................................................................................................................3
Goal Setting & Evaluation...............................................................................................................4
Goal setting..................................................................................................................................4
Evaluation....................................................................................................................................4
Delivery of CCT Programme...........................................................................................................5
Role playing.................................................................................................................................7
Cultural coaching.........................................................................................................................8
Language training........................................................................................................................8
Communication development......................................................................................................9
Leadership approach..................................................................................................................10
Recommendations..........................................................................................................................10
Conclusion.....................................................................................................................................11
Reference.......................................................................................................................................12
Appendix........................................................................................................................................15

2GLOBAL MANAGER
Introduction
The role of cross-cultural training is considered to be one of the major characteristics of
modern day business practice where the role of the organisations is to focus on talent
management. From the research of Wach (2016) it can be derived that globalisation is the major
impetus to the process where companies are no longer restricted its market to the domestic
region rather expand it for substantial benefit. Therefore, it is important to deliver a better and
effective approach in order to recruit people all over the world and develop a better workplace
practice on the basis of equal opportunity and healthy business environment (Ho and Fung
2016). Hence, proper training and development of the people is highly important in order to
achieve the objectives. In this regard, this report is going to analyse the training and development
of the protagonist of the story, Mary Isaac who is the senior project manager of SMC. This report
aims to develop a strong goal setting and evaluating and also deliver proper cross cultural
training program for Mary that will help both SMC and Mary herself.
Assumptions and Needs Analyses
Assumptions
As far as the initial assumptions are considered, it can be seen that Mary is a successful
professional who is associated with SMC for a long six year. It is important for her to deliver
expertise and experience in the related field that can help both the organisation and individual
interests of Mary. In response to this, she would like to grab the opportunity of exploring new
scopes in Japan. As a matter of fact, she has profound experience in working in different
countries. She joined a Swedish engineering company in her initial days as an intern for a year.

3GLOBAL MANAGER
After completing her graduation she joined a construction company in Dubai. Furthermore, there
were number of short term overseas projects that was handled and supervised by Mary over the
years before joining SMC. Henceforth, she has enough experience in working with people from
different countries. It seems to be the fundamentals of setting up a strong cross cultural working
environment where it is important for the managers to deliver an optimistic business
environment for subordinates in different working region. As a matter of fact, the responsibilities
of the managers can also be developed through profound experience with people from different
cultural background.
Needs
Nevertheless, there are some needs that Mary Isaac must have in order to create a better
and effective cross cultural management practice. It is important to note that she does not have
enough professional experience in operating with Asian colleagues. The new project of SMC is
located at Port of Kobe, Japan. The Japanese people are very much concern about their cultural
values and ethos and the working culture in Japan is also reflected the same. It represents a
challenge for Mary to work with a completely different cultural scenario. In addition to this, the
language of the Japanese people is also new to Mary and she mostly worked in the European
market. Therefore, a number of important measures must be taken by Mary in the process of
training and development. For instance, focusing on creative and liberal personality is identified
as one of the important aspect that as a cross cultural manager, it is important for Mary. In
addition to this, communication is also identified as effective approach for the manager to boost
or motivate the culturally diverse team members. Identify the cultural differences and harnessing
both the similarities and differences of culture will also contribute to the effective characteristics
of a cross cultural manager.

4GLOBAL MANAGER
Goal Setting & Evaluation
For establishing a strong and effective cross cultural organisational practice, it is
important to set the goals efficiently so that the cross cultural training process can be set up
efficiently.
Goal setting
 Goal 1- To set a positive and open minded personality to influence the team members
effectively. (Short term goals)
 Goal 2- To develop better communication techniques by understanding and respecting
different cultural values of the team members. (Short term goals)
 Goal 3- To establish emotional intelligence in order to deal with interpersonal
relationship. (Short term goals)
 Goal 4- Set some positive norms and gesture so that all the team members will follow it
to set better cross cultural workplace environment. (Long term goals)
Evaluation
Goal 1 is associated with the practice of establishing a positive leadership style for the
managers which is the fundamental in every business environment. However, for cross cultural
practice the leaders must possess a liberal and open minded approach so that their focus will only
be set on the skills and performance rather than cultural differences. On the other hand, Tran
(2017) stated that communication is contributing effectively in shaping the leadership
characteristic. It is important to note that communication in cross cultural workplace can bring
integrity among the team members and facilitating a good and positive environment within the
workplace. In response to this, the importance and relevance of emotional intelligence is also

5GLOBAL MANAGER
essential for the cross cultural managers to influence the team members (Martin and Nakayama
2015). Interacting with them and helping them to solve problems is definitely a good aspect that
the company must follow in order to facilitate a strong organisational practice. Therefore, it is
important for the cross cultural managers to build up their emotional intelligence to a great extent
where it will cater a positive and effective influence over the team members. In response to this,
setting some norms and guidelines is also associated with the goals of the cross cultural leaders
because it is important to them to control and monitor the optimistic workplace environment
(Croucher et al. 2018). It is important to note that the norms and guidelines of the organisation
will deliver a strong impact over the employees where they will learn their responsibilities and
respect the vision and creativity of other team members. The role of the cross cultural leaders is
to guide the team members and brief them the significance of a cross cultural team.
Delivery of CCT Programme
For creating a cross cultural training program for Mary, the senior project manager of
SMC, it is important for follow a specific cross cultural program model that can help to deliver
proper guidance to the training and development of Mary. In this regard, this CCT program will
focus on the Tarique and Caligiuri model which is identified as one of the effective and specific
training model. The Model points out the significance of human resource in multinational
companies and the way training and development will help to deliver a strong and competitive
advantage for the organisation. As per the research of Geerlings et al. (2018) it can be stated that
the role of the Tarique and Caligiuri model is to facilitate a strong understanding of the global
business environment where the manager is going to operate a in a new culture and people with
different perception. Moreover, there are also a number of important aspects that the new

6GLOBAL MANAGER
manager can learn through the CCT program model of Tarique and Caligiuri. For instance, the
training program will help to deliver a practice of knowledge transfer where it is essential to
understand the organisational objectives and plan to shape the knowledge and innovative ideas of
the manager to the same way. Therefore, Bhawuk (2017) articulated that it is pertinent for the
multinational business managers to link their individual knowledge with the objectives of the
organisation. Moreover, in course of justifying the importance of CCT program, it can be stated
that for the expatriate managers understanding a new culture and the tradition is considered to be
a cultural shock. Therefore, it is always best for the international managers to put great deal of
thrust upon interaction and face to face communication with the team members. The relevance
and importance of communication is also corroborated by the research of Estrada (2018) which
derived the fact that communication in both verbal and non-verbal manner are contributed
enough for enhancing the skills of the international managers.
In response to this, the method of choosing the cross cultural training program is also
associated with the training model of Tarique and Caligiuri. As per the model of Tarique and
Caligiuri there are four types of instructional methods like the didactic culture general training,
didactic culture specific training, experiential culture general training and experiential cultural
specific training. For developing a strong and effective cross cultural training for Mary, it is
important to opt for the experiential cultural specific training. According to Mendenhall et al.
(2017) the experiential cultural specific training is resembled with the practice of developing the
skills of the expatriate manager through culture specific approach of the host country. The
practice includes role playing, cultural coaching and the language training of the manager
(DeNisi and Sonesh 2016). Moreover, it is also incorporates the skill development programs in
communication, emotional intelligence and pragmatic leadership approaches. From that point of

7GLOBAL MANAGER
view, it can be argued that the training method of experiential cultural specific training can
develop an overall development of Mary because she has experience in different cultures but
completely new to the working culture in Japan. The culture specific assistance will help Mary to
understand the specific importance of the cultural values and tradition of Japan. The project team
is also restricted to a small number of team member. Therefore, the experiential cultural specific
training will help Marcy to build up a personal interaction with the team members and influence
them positively.
A number of measures can be taken by the organisation and Mary herself for creating a
good and optimistic skill development in cross culture. The measures are aligned with the short
term and long term goals of CCT program. Therefore, the measures are as follows,
Role playing
As per the research of Groves, Feyerherm and Gu (2015) it can be stated that role playing
provides a safe environment for the managers to express and build up confidence that can help to
perform day-to-day activities. For a senior project manager, it is very important for Mary to have
self-confidence while receiving the Japanese companies. Moreover, the listening skills will also
be enhanced and developed which is also considered to be one of the major aspects for the
international leaders while managing cross cultural people. Bonaccio et al. (2016) opined that
paying attention to the voice of the team members will also help the manager to boost their
confidence and motivate them effectively. Furthermore, problem solving ability of the
international manager will also get enhanced due to the help of role playing. In the role playing
situation they will get a real life examples of the problems while performing in a new culture
(Jyoti and Kour 2017). Therefore, understanding the real life example will also help to foster a

8GLOBAL MANAGER
proactive nature of the managers. From this point of view, Mary will perform a role playing at
first as an on-job training and only answerable to the senior management for developing skills.
Cultural coaching
The practice of cultural coaching is identified as one of the major practice for the
business managers while performing in a new cultural zone. Lokkesmoe, Kuchinke and
Ardichvili (2016) remarked that in a new cultural environment it is important for the business
managers to facilitate an extensive knowledge of the culture and inculcating in-depth knowledge
regarding the new culture. As a result of that the cultural coaching is identified as one of the
most important and significant aspect for the international managers. As far as the benefits of
cultural coaching is concerned, individually it will help the managers to develop their cultural
understanding and respect the new culture by linking it with the workplace environment (Al-
Nasser and Behery 2015). Moreover, it is also essential to put a balance between the expatriates
and the host country employees. Therefore, it will put enough balance in setting up the
organisational culture and the new culture of the organisation. Therefore, it is important for the
international managers to put great deal of thrust on cultural coaching. For this, Mary will
contact with an expert who has profound knowledge in the corporate cultures and social norms in
Japan.
Language training
Mary would require a CCT (Cross- cultural training) with the objective of adapting to the
language and cultural differences between UK and Japan. Mary being an expatriate from the
organization, SMC, the UK based Marine Construction Company, would face significant issues
while adapting to the language changes. In this relation, the CCT would enable Mary in
developing cognition on the Japanese language. Strong hold on the language would permit Mary

9GLOBAL MANAGER
in developing the rate of operations as per the needs of the venture while operating in the
different markets. The differences in the dialects play an important role in supporting the
activities that Mary would undertake while improving the rate of operations as per the needs of
the venture.
Emotional intelligence and cognition are the important contributions that would be made
through the language training sessions (Clark and Polesello 2017). It would enable Mary in
developing a coherent knowledge of the different changes in the organizational operations.
Therefore, the language training sessions play an efficient role in improving the rate of
operations of Mary while operating as an expatriate in Japan.
Communication development
The development of efficient communication through the CCT is specifically based on
the assessment of the cultural aspects. Martin and Nakayama (2015) opined that culture plays an
important role in improving the communication. In this relation, it has been noted that Mary,
belonging to UK, has little knowledge on the cultural constructs that are being followed in Japan.
Therefore, the communication based training sessions would assist Mary in improving the rate of
interactions with the people in a diverse cultured population such as Japan. Verbal
communication carries the essence of gestures, which is an important factor that supplements the
efficiency of the communicational processes (Ladegaard and Jenks 2015). On the other hand, it
has been noted that the critical study of the preferences of cultural and emotional aspects of the
people in Japan would surely enable Mary in developing her interactions with the same for the
expansion of their business. Ahmad (2018) opined that communicational barriers and
dissatisfactions often creates a backlog on the prospects of the business growth in diverse
markets. In this relation, Mary’s communication based training would enable her in identifying

10GLOBAL MANAGER
the essence of communication in Japan and thereby create prospects of growth for the
organization through cognition on preferences and cultural attributes.
Leadership approach
Leadership in a foreign land is greatly subjected to cultural differences and the
adaptability of an in individual in new markets. Cumberland et al. (2016) opined that most of the
expatriates face significant difficulties in managing the operations in a foreign land with diverse
cultural constructs. In this relation, the CCT would enable Mary in improving the leadership
approaches through effective understanding of cultural elements in Japan. Therefore, the
development of knowledge on the Japanese culture would empower the initiatives of Mary in
representing her company in Japan while building on adaptability through efficient leadership
approach.
Recommendations
The recommendations are focused on both the personal and organisational level so that it
can help both Mary and SMC. For SMC, the recommendations are as follows,
 SMC must cooperate with Mary in order to bring an effective cross cultural training
practice. It is important to note that cooperation between Mary and SMC will help to
meet the organisational interests in terms of conducting a good cross cultural practice.
 Assessing the growth and development of Mary is also an important task for SMC to
facilitate expected training process. In some aspects, Mary relies on her senior managers
to evaluate the performance and skill development. Henceforth, misleading evaluation
can jeopardise the whole purpose of cross cultural development. The performance of
Mary will also get affected by this.

11GLOBAL MANAGER
In case of personal or individual level development of Mary there are also some
recommendations like
 Understanding the importance of the cross cultural training program. It is important for
Mary to perceive a clear view of the entire scenario and increase skills to a great extent so
that it can achieve the purpose of the training.
 Mary must keep in check the organisational objectives and find out the similarities and
weaknesses that she has while pursuing the cross cultural training program. It will help to
create a bridge between the organisational objectives and the CCT program.
Conclusion
The discussion is trying to develop a strong cross cultural training program which is
associated with the process of establishing effective measure for both SMC and Mary Isaac. It is
important for Mary to develop a strong organisational practice where the expatriates and the
Japanese workers can work efficiently. Moreover, the cross cultural training will also help SMC
to adapt new culture and sustain business successfully. Therefore, it can be concluded that the
report is highlighting the cross cultural training program and illustrate its effectiveness properly.