Do Your Employees Need Intercultural Services?

By Gary M. Wederspahn

Employees who have cross-border responsibilities and/or cross-cultural relationships need to be prepared to effectively handle the inevitable intercultural tasks and challenges involved. Providing them with the awareness, knowledge, positive attitudes, and skills they require is an important responsibility of international human resource managers. In many cases, it means finding appropriate intercultural services, products, and providers. Making the right selections and purchases often determines the difference between success or failure overseas and resources wisely spent or wasted.

The range of options available today is a diverse, and often bewildering, array of services, programs, products, materials, and tools. As Cornelius Grove and Willa Hallowell point out in USA & Europe in Business 2000 :

"Global business opportunities in the new millennium are generating new varieties of culture contact. Interculturalists are ready to promote the attainment of business objectives whenever the differing cultures are national, organizational, or even occupational."

Delivered in many styles, modes, and formats, these resources often are based on different definitions of intercultural effectiveness and different philosophies and theories regarding how adults learn. An additional complication is that the range of offerings now includes various related services such as relocation assistance, career counselling, and international assignment policy consulting. The experience and competence of the providers vary greatly. However, their sales and marketing materials universally promise excellent results and customer satisfaction. These assurances must be taken with a healthy amount of caution.

As potential buyers, especially ones new to the intercultural field, human resource managers can use some help in sorting through this cornucopia of alternatives and claims. It is difficult deciding which of the many well-packaged services presented to them would best fit their organization’s needs and budgets. Making the right choices enables them to avoid the risk of false starts and "buyer’s remorse" due to making purchasing decisions they may later regret.

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This article copyright © Gary M. Wederspahn. All rights reserved.

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