Cross-Cultural Effectiveness

The following agenda can be tailored to the specific countries you wish to focus on or are present at the workshop.

PROGRAM DATES: 26-27 July 2010
VENUE: Singapore
YOUR INVESTMENT: SGD 2,795

REGISTRATION: Please call 6322 1477 or email us at info@philipmerry.com

UPCOMING PROGRAM DATES:
19-20 April 2010
26-27 July 2010
18-19 November 2010

1. WORKSHOP OUTCOMES

These will be adjusted to suit your organisational needs

By attending this workshop you will:

Master trans-cultural skills vital for business success
Become aware of your own culture values and where they come from
Understand the mind of your Asian/Western partner
Learn to reconcile cultural differences
Clarify the key differences between Asian and Western values and their impact on business
Improve teamwork between staff from different cultures
Understand how to select and develop Asian staff for Western settings
Understand how to select and develop Western staff for Asian settings
Gain insight into how culture affects technology transfer
Understand cultures’ influence on national economic development
Understand country “image” and its impact on Global success
Understand protocol of working in Asia
Understand the dynamics of culture shock and how to avoid it
Receive a personal cultural profile based on the THT culture model

2. WORKSHOP RATIONAL

Working with people from different cultures is commonplace in today’s international business world. Joint ventures, inter-departmental teams, project teams, task teams, virtual teams – all depend on effective co-operation between people from different cultures for their success. Hence, it is vitally important that executives involved in these teams develop a high level of multi-cultural skills. Audits are regularly done to identify technical and financial problems when they occur; yet we seldom audit people and cultural issues that can have an enormous impact on business effectiveness and profitability. The workshop will enable participants to develop expertise in PMCG’s 4 skills – “DETECT”, “AUDIT”, and “RECONCILE” cultural issues, as well as develop expertise in face-to-face “CONNECTOR” skills.

PMCG 4 Culture Skills

a. CULTURAL “DETECTIVE”

investigating relationship, team, project and organisational issues

b. CULTURAL “AUDITOR”

identifying and analysing cultural patterns influencing projects

c. CULTURAL “RECONCILER”

developing skills to integrate, reconcile and improve cultural issues within teams and organisations

d. CULTURAL “CONNECTOR”

improving “face to face” cultural connecting skills

Numerous case studies drawn from workshop leader Philip Merry’s 37 years consulting experience in 50 countries. A mixture of content input and interactive/experiential exercises, will enable participants to gain a real appreciation of culture’s influence on communication and the ability to apply the learning to their business. The culture audit for the workshop is based on the work of Dr. Fons Trompenaars & Dr Charles Hampden Turner (THT) authors of the award winning best seller “Riding the Waves of Culture” – the number one culture model used in business today.

3. TOPICS

Will be tailored based on your organisational needs

Cultural Business Drivers – participants examine what are the cultural issues in their own organisation
Components of Culture – the 3 levels of culture focussing on where our cultural values come from and how they are learnt
Culture and profitability – participants examine how culture impacts their ability to make money. Many companies do not understand how lack of cultural awareness is affecting the bottom line either through lost sales/partner opportunities, or lack of internal efficiency caused by mis-communication between as colleagues from different cultures
Cross Cultural leadership competence – participants understand the primacy if cultural understanding as a key leadership skill in today’s “connected” world
Detecting, Auditing, Integrating and Connecting Cultural issues – participants develop competence in the 4 key cross cultural skills
Selecting and developing leaders for cross cultural competence – often selection decisions of all types are made with little attention being paid to the issues of both the cultural background of the selector and the candidate
Differences between Asian and Western leadership styles – participants examine the many problems caused because of different perceptions of “east and west”
Working in Asia – participants examine how to work effectively with the different cultures of Asia (participants choose the countries for focus)
Asians working with other Asians – participants focus on the clashes that can sometimes arise between Asians
Culture Shock – participants understand the components of culture shock, how it can affect performance and how to combat it
Causes of conflict between cultures – participants examine how different approaches to dealing conflict can often make the conflict worse, and learn how to “flex” their style
Culture’s effect on negotiations – participants work on a situation which has broken down due to cultural misunderstanding and develop a effectiveness
Joint Ventures success – all of the research on partnerships indicate that the major problems are caused by lack of understanding both the national and corporate cultures – participants examine the impact on their own company partnerships
Human resource policies and motivation across cultures – participants examine the different drives of cultures and how to tap into those drives to ensure optimum performance
Cross cultural communication – examination of the intricacies of direct and diplomatic styles in all of its verbal and non verbal forms
42 tips for doing business with other cultures
50 tips for managing and being managed by other cultures
3 Step Model for business success across cultures : -
Step 1. Be aware of your own cultural conditioning
Step 2. Understand and Respect the differences in the other culture
Step 3. Reconcile the differences

7 D Model indicating key Differences between Cultures

Rules – one universal rule or special circumstances?
Work Behaviour – individualistic or group harmony?
Emotions – reserved or more freely expressed?
Level of Involvement – partial or whole?
Status – what you are or what you do?
Control – Internal or External?
Time – Synchronic or sequential?

4. METHOD

The workshop will be highly practical with a mixture of short content inputs and interactive/experiential exercises. Individual and group exercises will enable participants to gain a real appreciation of culture’s influence on behaviour and communication. Numerous business case studies and dilemmas drawn from Philip Merry’s 31 years consulting experience in 33 countries will form the basis of the practical work. Methods will include: – short lectures, interactive/experiential exercises, Individual exercises, group discussions, simulations, role-plays, and paired discussion.

5. WHO SHOULD ATTEND

Teams made up of different cultures that need to improve their effectiveness
Anyone developing regional and global strategies
Anyone working with those from other culture where cultural partnership is important for teamwork and business success
Asians working with Westerners
Westerners working with Asians
Asians needing to understand other Asian cultures
Marketing and Sales people working in the global marketplace
HR managers developing culture sensitive policies
Anyone with responsibility for technology transfer across cultures