A Survey of American Cross-Cultural Training Programs for Germany

Date
2002-04Author
Holm-Franson, Jessica
Sims, Judy
Publisher
UW-Eau Claire Research Day (April 2002) and National Conference on Undergraduate Research, UW-Whitewater (April 25-27, 2002)
Metadata
Show full item recordAbstract
Every year, executives from the United States are sent overseas to conduct business in Germany. Yet far too often these executives or expatriates return home early. One reason why so many expatriates are unsuccessful overseas is the lack of sufficient cross-cultural training before departure. Consequently, the purpose of this research was to further understand the need for effective cross-cultural training and to evaluate existing cross-cultural training programs for Germany. In order to gather the data, a web-based survey questionnaire was administered to over 200 organizations in from the mid-west in the United States that conduct business with Germany. The survey included 11 questions exploring why the company sends executives to Germany and if the company prepares the executives with a cross-cultural training program before departure. If a pre-departure training program were offered, the survey also examined who conducted the training, the components included within the training, and the effectiveness of the training. Finally, the survey gathered information regarding German business practices and overall cultural differences considered most important by the organizations. According to the results, the majority of organizations (61.8%) did not provide cross-cultural training programs, 88.9% of organizations indicated that 0-25% of expatriates return early and most respondents cited "direct vs. indirect communication" as the number one business practice to understand before conducting business in Germany.
Subject
Conducting business in Germany
Cross-cultural training
Expatriates
German business communication
German business practices
Pre-departure cross-cultural training
Survey questionnaire
Permanent Link
http://digital.library.wisc.edu/1793/78861Type
Presentation
Description
This faculty/student collaborative research study was reviewed and approved by University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire’s Institutional Review Board for the Protection of Human Subjects (IRB Number: 2001-02#32). Ms. Holm-Franson’s poster was presented at UW-Eau Claire’s Research Day (April 2002); she also presented the research at the National Conference on Undergraduate Research (NCUR) in UW-Whitewater (April 25-27, 2002). Faculty Adviser/Collaborator: Dr. Judy Sims
Citation
Holm-Franson, J. & Sims, J. (2002, April). A survey of American cross-cultural training programs for Germany. Poster presented at UW-Eau Claire Research Day, University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire, Eau Claire, WI. Research also presented at the National Conference on Undergraduate Research (NCUR), UW-Whitewater (April 25-27, 2002)