You are attending a sexual-harassment training seminar for local managers in your company’s branch office in a Middle Eastern, predominantly Muslim, country. You were flown over with the trainers to observe their techniques and become familiar with the training materials because you, as a new human resources staff member, would be expected to give this course. The course has been a success for managers in the United States. The same materials have been perfected and are being used in the United States. The instructors call on local Muslim managers (men and women) to role-play and openly share stories about sexual harassment that involved them or that they had heard about. Near the end of the half-day session, several of the host-country employees uncharacteristically walk out. The trainers are dazed and become upset. 

Questions

1. What do you think went wrong?

2. What would you do in this case if you were one of the trainers?

3. Read the epilogue that follows, then return and answer this question: Who should do what, if anything, with the Muslim managers after this cultural mishap? Why?

Epilogue

Assume the trainers have been briefed on research that noted that “in 1993, a large U.S. computer-products company insisted on using exactly the same sexual-harassment exercises and lessons with Muslim managers halfway around the globe that they used with American employees in California. It did so in the name of ‘ethical consistency.’ The result was ludicrous. The managers were baffled by the instructors’ presentation, and the instructors were oblivious of the intricate connections between Muslim religion and sexual manners.

“The U.S. trainers needed to know that Muslim ethics are especially strict about male/female social interaction. By explaining sexual harassment in the same way to Muslims as to Westerners, the trainers offended the Muslim managers. To the Muslim managers, their remarks seemed odd and disrespectful. In turn, the underlying ethical message about avoiding coercion and sexual discrimination was lost. Clearly sexual discrimination does occur in Muslim countries. But helping to eliminate it there means respecting—and understanding Muslim differences.”