Methods of Cross-Cultural Training II:

Culture-Specific Concepts and Evaluation of Training

The training of cross-cultural competence and skills, 18/12/01 Julia and Natalie Kohlmeier

Contents

1. What is culture-specific training?

2. Classification scheme for training techniques 2.1 Experiential culture-specific training methods 2.2 Didactic culture-specific training methods 3. Evaluating cross-cultural training 3.1 Purpose of evaluating cross-cultural training 3.2 Evaluation designs Culture-Specific Concepts and Evaluation Of Training 2

1. What is culture-specific training?

Culture-specific training refers to “information about a given culture and guidelines for interaction with members of that culture”.

(Brislin & Pederson, 1976) This training is “specific to a particular culture”.

(Triandis, 1977) Culture-Specific Concepts and Evaluation Of Training 3

Contents

1. What is culture-specific training

2. Classification scheme for training techniques 2.1. Experiential culture-specific training methods - bicultural communication workshop - culture-specific simulation game - culture-specific role play - critical incidents exercise - case study

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2. Classification scheme for training techniques

by Gudykunst & Hammer, 1983

Experiential

Experiential- Experiential Culture General Culture Specific

Culture General

Didactic- Didactic Culture General Culture Specific

Culture Specific Didactic

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2.1 Experiential culture-specific training methods

Bicultural communication workshop

• participants learn intercultural communication through their interaction with members of the other culture • in a small group setting • three phases: 1. examination of critical incidents 2. nationals from both cultures meet in small groups and complete tasks together 3. summary, analyses and evaluation of the experience Culture-Specific Concepts and Evaluation Of Training 6

Culture-specific simulation game

• provide interactive opportunities to practice new behaviors and experiment with new attitudes and points of view • nonthreatening and nonjudgemental environment • does not involve interaction between members of the two different cultures • trainees learn about cultural differences when they participate as members of the culture and when the simulation is debriefed Culture-Specific Concepts and Evaluation Of Training 7

Culture-specific role play

• skill building • two participants take on characteristics of people other than themselves • learn how to interact in specific situations with members of a specific culture • participants who are not actively involved in the role play function as observers and look for certain things related to the objectives of the training • often involves interaction between members of the two specific cultures Culture-Specific Concepts and Evaluation Of Training 8

Critical incidents exercise

• confronts participants with conflict situations they can expect to encounter in interacting with persons from another culture • brief descriptions of situations in which there is a misunderstanding, problem or conflict arising from cultural differences • discussed in groups with members of both cultures • the exercise is to find an explanation Culture-Specific Concepts and Evaluation Of Training 9

Case study

• written description of a realistic situation • sufficient detail of the perspectives of the different characters • possible for the participants to analyze the problems involved and to determine possible solutions • followed by a set of questions • is designed for developing ways of approaching complex or stressful situations Culture-Specific Concepts and Evaluation Of Training 10

Contents

1. What is culture-specific training?

2. Classification scheme for training techniques 2.1 Experiential culture-specific training methods

2.2 Didactic culture-specific training methods - area orientation briefing - language training - culture-specific assimilator - culture-specific reading

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2.2 Didactic culture-specific training methods

Area orientation briefing

• factual information about the specific country and the attitudes of the country’s people • geography, climate, politics, educational system, customs, law • in form of a lecture Culture-Specific Concepts and Evaluation Of Training 12

Language training

• necessary to indicate an interest in the people and the culture • to facilitate the successful adjustment to the host culture • teachers incorporate experiential techniques (role plays) into language teaching Culture-Specific Concepts and Evaluation Of Training 13

Culture-specific assimilator

• trainees are sensitized to behaviors, norms, attitudes and values of another culture • by reading a series of episodes that are labeled as problem situations • trainees try to find the right interpretation of the behavior among several different possibilities • once trainees have chosen a possible interpretation they get feedback Culture-Specific Concepts and Evaluation Of Training 14

Culture-specific assimilator Advantages:

• trainees can work through the assimilator on their own (disc or book) • can be used with people from most cultures • less dependent on having people from the target culture available Culture-Specific Concepts and Evaluation Of Training 15

Culture-specific reading

• to read culture-specific books • to gain knowledge of a specific culture Culture-Specific Concepts and Evaluation Of Training 16

Contents

1. What is culture-specific training?

2. Classification scheme for training techniques 2.1 Experiential culture-specific training methods 2.2 Didactic culture-specific training methods

3. Evaluating cross-cultural training 3.1 Purpose of evaluating cross-cultural training 3.2 Evaluation designs 3.2.1 Classical design 3.2.2 Time 2 Training Group Only design 3.2.3 Time 1/Time 2 Training Condition design

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3. Evaluating cross-cultural training

3.1 Purpose of evaluating cross-cultural training

• to help in the development of more effective cross cultural training methods • justification for current or projected cross-cultural training programs (Blake & Heslin, 1983) Culture-Specific Concepts and Evaluation Of Training 18

3.2 Evaluation designs

3.2.1 Classical design

• a pool of businessmen are randomly assigned to training and control groups • only the training group participates in CCT • the dimensions of success of all participants are measured at Time 1 (before training) and at Time 2 (after training) • the program impact is the degree to which change from Time 1 to Time 2 differs between training and control group • “pretest - posttest control group design” Culture-Specific Concepts and Evaluation Of Training 19

3.2.1 Classical design Drawbacks:

• if trainees from the training group are members of the same organization as those in the control group there is a possibility of contact between the participants • the two groups should be comparable Culture-Specific Concepts and Evaluation Of Training 20

3.2.2 Time 2 Training Group Only design

• only a training group participates in the CCT program • dimensions of success are measured after the training • there is no measurement at Time 1 and no control group Culture-Specific Concepts and Evaluation Of Training 21

Drawbacks:

• this design makes it very difficult to estimate the CCT impact • intercultural competence of the participants is not measured before the CCT Culture-Specific Concepts and Evaluation Of Training 22

3.2.3 Time 1/Time 2 Training Condition design

• there is only a training group • dimensions of success are measured at Time 1 as well as at Time 2 • there is no control group • CCT impact is the change from Time 1 to Time 2 among the trainees • “one group pretest-posttest design” Culture-Specific Concepts and Evaluation Of Training 23

3.2 Evaluation designs

Conclusion

There is no ideal design that is applicable to all CCT evaluations.

The evaluator must select a design to meet the requirements of the specific CCT evaluation. This depends on the foci of the evaluation.

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