Question

Explain why a person's ability to bridge cultural differences must be considered during "selection" for international assignments. How can eTraining help in bridging cultural differences?

Answer 1

Culture means the beliefs and values that the people in any area share in common. The Indian culture is different from the American culture. Even within India the South Indian culture may vary from that of the culture of North India. The cultural difference may pose a lot of problem between the people. Once for a while the country-wide cultural differences could be easily cleared but if it comes to cultural differences across the countries then these differences must have to considered properly before selecting any person for the international assignment. Because a person may have language difference or living standard difference or dressing differences and these differences all along may pose a difficult scenario before the person because in many cases it may lead to Cultural shock leading to psychological disorientation creating negative feeling towards the host country if the person is not able to get clear ideas and can sometimes also result in failure of the international assignment. So in order to remove all these hurdles, the person who is supposed to be sent to other country should be provided with the online training modules where he can learn to know and become familiar with the culture of the other country so that whenever he turn up for the project in the host country he is not faced with much difficulty. E-training will also help the business in some aspects as to that it cost less for the business and provides them with the increased productivity if the person so trained because he was first provided real online training to cope up with the changed culture.