1. BBA 229 Training and Development
Lecture 9
Special Issues in Training and
Employee Development
Dr. S. Chan
Department of Business Administration

2. Trainers are often forced to deal with a wide variety of important issues that fall outside the traditional discussion of the components of instructional system design.

3. Training Issues Resulting from the External Environment:
Legal Issues
Welfare-to-Work Programs
Cross-Cultural Preparation
Managing Work Force Diversity
School-to-Work Transition 3

4. Cross-Cultural Preparation
Involves educating employees and their families who are to be sent to a foreign country (i.e., expatriates)
To successfully conduct business in the global market place, employees must understand the business practices and the cultural norms of different countries

5. Types of Employees in Global Companies
Parent-country national – employee whose country of origin is where the company has its headquarters (i.e., expatriate)
Host-country national – employee from the host country
Third-country national – employee who has a country of origin different from both the parent country and host country where he or she work
To prepare employees for cross-cultural assignments, companies need to provide cross-cultural training.

6. Hofstede’s Cultural Dimensions
Power Distance
Uncertainty Avoidance
Individualism – Collectivism
Masculinity – Femininity
Long-term – Short-term Time Orientation

7. Foreign Assignments
One key to successful foreign assignment is a combination of training and career management for employees and their families
Foreign assignments involve three phases:
pre-departure phase
on-Site phase
repatriation phase
Training is necessary in all three phases

8. Pre-departure Phase
Employees need to receive language training and an orientation in the new country’s culture and customs
the family should be included in the orientation
expatriates and their families need information about housing, schools, recreation, shopping, and health care facilities in the area where they will live
experiential training methods are most effective in assignments that require significant interpersonal interaction with host nationals

9. On-Site Phase
Training involves continued orientation to the host country and its customs and cultures through formal programs or through a mentoring relationship
expatriates and their families may be paired with a mentor from the host country who helps them understand the new, unfamiliar work environment and community

10. Repatriation Phase (1 of 2)
Prepares expatriates for return to the parent company and country from the foreign assignment
Expatriates and their families are likely to experience high levels of stress and anxiety when they return because of the changes that have occurred since their departure

11. Repatriation Phase (2 of 2)
Many expatriates decide to leave the company because the assignment they are given upon return has less responsibility, challenges, and status than the foreign assignment
Employees should be encouraged to self-manage the repatriation process

12. Implications of Cultural Dimensions for Training Design

13. Managing Work Force Diversity (1 of 2)
Managing diversity involves creating an environment that allows all employees to contribute to organizational goals and experience personal growth
This includes:
access to jobs
fair and positive treatment of all employees

14. Managing Work Force Diversity (2 of 2)
Managing diversity requires the company to develop employees so that they are comfortable working with others from a wide variety of ethnic, racial, and religious backgrounds
Managing diversity may require changing the company culture

15. Goals of Diversity Training
To eliminate values, stereotypes, and managerial practices that inhibit employees’ personal development
To allow employees to contribute to organizational goals regardless of their race, age, physical condition, sexual orientation, gender, family status, religious orientation, or cultural background

16. Managing Diversity through Diversity Training Programs
To successfully manage a diverse work force, companies need to ensure that:
employees understand how their values and stereotypes influence their behavior toward others of different gender, ethnic, racial, or religious backgrounds
employees gain an appreciation of cultural differences among themselves
behaviors that isolate or intimidate minority group members improve

17. Diversity Training Programs (1 of 3)
Diversity training –designed to change employee attitudes about diversity and/or developing skills needed to work with a diverse work force
Diversity training programs differ according to whether attitude change or behavior change is emphasized

18. Diversity Training Programs (2 of 3)
Attitude Awareness and Change Programs
Focus on increasing employees’ awareness of differences in cultural and ethnic backgrounds, physical characteristics, and personal characteristics that influence behavior toward others
The assumption is that by increasing their awareness of stereotypes and beliefs, employees will be able to avoid negative stereotypes

19. Diversity Training Programs (3 of 3)
Behavior-Based Programs
focus on changing the organizational policies and individual behaviors that inhibit employees’ personal growth and productivity
one approach is to identify incidents that discourage employees from working up to their potential
another approach is to teach managers and employees basic rules of behavior in the workplace
cultural immersion is also used

20. Training Issues Related to Internal Needs of the Company
The company’s internal environment results in pressures which influence training practices:
the need to train managerial talent
training and development opportunities for all employees (regardless of their personal characteristics)
use of the company’s compensation system to motivate employees to learn

21. Deloitte & Touche’s Recommendations for Melting the Glass Ceiling

22. The Succession Planning Process
Identify what positions are included in the plan
Identify the employees who are included in the plan
Develop standards to evaluate positions
Determine how employee potential will be measured
Develop the succession planning review
Link the succession planning system to other human resource systems
Determine what feedback is provided to employees