answer the question 3.

Managing Multicultural Team Training Case prepared by Abderrahman HASSI and Giovanna STORTI Company Background InternaCom is one of Canada's largest telecommunications companies, with subsidiary offices in Singapore, Tokyo, New York, Berlin and So Paulo. The company is a regional leader in information and communication technology services. InternaCom specializes in mobile communication, broadband high-speed Internet, local and long distance telecommunication, mobile wireless and digital technology services. The company also develops and delivers innovative products and services specializing in network infrastructure and management solutions. InternaCom continually seeks to explore new emerging markets in order to further expand its communication services worldwide. InternaCom was recently awarded a multi-million dollar international contract in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) with the mandate to put in place state-of-the-art communication infrastructures in several governmental organizations in Dubai. In order to do so, the company mobilized a group of experienced telecommunication engineers and IT technicians working in various development centres around the world. Amanda, a senior engineer from Toronto, was selected as the project leader for the new venture in Dubai on the basis of her extensive North American experience in telecommunications and specialized studies in management. Her qualifications best complement the operational needs and requirements for the UAE overseas project. With the assistance of several of InternaCom's senior managers, Amanda selected three junior engineers as team leaders: Katarina from Germany, Kazuo from Japan and Zakaria from Morocco. InternaCom has an explicit corporate policy requiring that all multicultural teams be exposed to basic principles and notions on how to better deal with colleagues from diverse cultural backgrounds and enhance their intercultural understanding. At the outset, Amanda took a few weeks to quickly draft a training plan highlighting items to discuss about the upcoming scheduled cultural diversity training. This would be the first meeting with her new team regarding the upcoming training session for their employees. The latter is tentatively scheduled to take place within eight weeks, with an estimated time frame for the Dubai project to begin within six months. Informal Meeting of the Project Leader and Team At the first meeting held by the project leader and the three selected team leaders, Amanda began with an introduction of the training plan highlighting the following components to discuss: 1) the training outline; 2) the training content; 3) the main objective; 4) the training methods and techniques; and 5) the instructor. The presentation of every item was followed up with a brief informal group discussion with comments from each team leader. Constructive criticism and suggestions were strongly encouraged among the team members. Amanda: First of all, I would like to take a moment to thank all of you for taking the time out of your busy schedules to attend this meeting on such short notice. There is absolutely no need for me to stress once again how important diversity management training is in the workplace, especially in our organization, with the demands of our new international ventures. Those of you who attended the annual meeting with the president last year know exactly what I am referring to! In any case, let us move along directly to the point of our meeting. I would like us to take this opportunity to go over each component of the following training plan and discuss any points, comments, suggestions or feedback you may have. Although we have already met, we'll take a minute to go around the table quickly so you can present your background again before moving on to a discussion of the items. Zakaria: Good morning everyone, my area of specialization is in wireless networks. I have been working in the area of voice and data communications for the past five years in North Africa and the Gulf region. Katarina: My area of expertise is with broadband infrastructures designed to deliver Internet services to virtually all areas of a specific region, including remote geographical locations. Some of the projects I've worked on include building and connecting major networks on continental Europe. Kazuo: I am a specialist in mobile communications with extensive experience in overseas markets. I have worked in different countries for the past eight years, specifically in Singapore, Malaysia and Japan. Amanda: Thank you everyone, now let's move on to the content of our training plan which primarily consists of ways to deal with colleagues from diverse cultural and ethnic backgrounds, which is the main topic of the upcoming training session for your employees. Zakaria: Amanda, the idea of immediately starting off with such an important training session on diversity doesn't appear reasonable at all. Personally, I wouldn't recommend it from the get go. Wouldn't it be much more appropriate to begin with a preliminary training session given that most members of the teams don't know each other very well? I'd strongly suggest that the first training session be considered as a pretext for the team to meet and socialize and simply get to know each other, a sort of introductory team-building exercise. Amanda: Unfortunately, we don't have the luxury of time or the financial means for a preliminary training session. So, given the constraints we have, we'll have to just go ahead with our scheduled training and do the best we can with what we have. Katarina: What is this training about? Are we going to learn more about technical skills in diversity management as well? Amanda: Not this time. Apparently, the training session will be predominantly theoretical. There may be other training sessions in the future that will focus on more technical aspects, but this one is strictly from a theoretical perspective. Katarina: Well, wouldn't it just be a waste of time then? What use is a training session if it doesn't include a component that focuses on technical skills? How would that work out? I can't see the benefit of such a training exercise for our employees. Zakaria: What approach or methods will be adopted to deliver the content of the training? Amanda: For the most part, the preferred medium of delivery for diversity management training within our company is based mainly on case studies. Zakaria: Although the subject may be interesting, the lack of theory in case studies could pose a few challenges. As you know, most cases are generally specific to a given context and may not lend themselves well to other, different settings. Wouldn't you agree? Kazuo: I would have to agree with Zakaria on that point. I am not convinced that the use of case studies would be efficient. Training is an art and the only way to learn is by observing and practising what senior colleagues do. Besides, the training content is too specialized and is not specific to our company. Would that not be problematic? Katarina: Do you have a clearly defined training outline, schedule and objectives for us to look over? Amanda: The objective of the training session is to better understand how to deal with colleagues from diverse cultural backgrounds. Katarina: Isn't it simply too vague to be considered an objective? Perhaps we should be more specific and include a little more detail; we most definitely also need to find a way for it to be measurable. Otherwise, the session would not be useful to participants working in teams. Amanda: As for the schedule and the outline, the instructor will provide participants with a copy at the beginning of the training session. Katarina: It would be preferable, not to mention helpful, to have it beforehand, at least to have some time to look it over, as some of us may want to adequately prepare and research the topic. Is this the usual procedure before delivering a training session of this nature? Amanda: Let me look into that and get back to you. Kazuo: Since you mentioned that an instructor will provide us with the required documentation, and simply out of curiosity, do we happen to know who will deliver the session? Amanda: I have been meaning to discuss that too. The instructor will be an external consultant from a very respectable training firm specialized in cross-cultural management. He is a young fellow, in his mid-thirties, who is very energetic and passionate about his area of expertise. I had the chance to meet him at another training session at headquarters a few months ago and we really enjoyed his training style. Zakaria: Isn't the consultant a little inexperienced to deliver this type of training session, being only in his mid-thirties? It would be more appropriate to have an experienced executive or a senior manager with extensive experience in the field to train participants in cultural diversity, wouldn't you agree? Kazuo: Of course. Amanda, I would also have to disagree with the idea of bringing in a young external consultant to deliver a training session on diversity management; a senior and more experienced colleague is a much better choice. I would rather have a mentor or senior employee from the company give such an important kind of training, because as we all know, wisdom comes with age. What could we possibly learn from a young inexperienced consultant who is still wet behind the ears? Katarina: If I may add my view on that, an external consultant is not familiar with the company's issues and challenges, and how could he possibly deliver a training session on diversity in our company effectively if he doesn't even have an idea of the dynamics among our teams? He may have some experience in his field, but he must also have substantial knowledge of our company and industry. Amanda: He is a very dynamic consultant and we are quite sure that you will like his style; he tends to use a lot of debate in his training sessions. He has had exceptional reviews and very positive feedback; we wouldn't have someone who doesn't know his field deliver a training session to a group of experienced professionals from diverse cultures. Zakaria: Amanda, we understand where you are coming from, but let's be honest here: that can't possibly be a suitable training technique for these sorts of sessions. We can't be serious. Kazuo: Personally, I do not learn by using debate as a learning technique because of the hostility it tends to generate among the employees. Do these training sessions require mandatory attendance? If not, we have way too much work to focus on and time is critical these days. Katarina: I think that would clearly apply to all of us here today. I would prefer to avoid these types of sessions and concentrate on more important things. Our deadlines are tight and time is a novelty for us as well. Zakaria: I would have to agree with Katarina and Kazuo. At the end of the meeting, Amanda was unpleasantly perplexed due to the overwhelming and unexpected criticism among the group. She hadn't expected so many different perspectives on the issues that came up. As a result, she hesitated to discuss them any further and informed the team that she would address the points with senior management and draw their attention to the issues raised at their meeting. She assured the team that she would get back to them as soon as possible with comments and feedback from upper management. Questions & Discussion 1. What do you think about the way the preparation for the training was carried out? Justify your answer. 2. As a result of the discussion, what would you do in Amandas place now? 3. As a member of the senior management committee, what would you propose in order to rectify the situation