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IMI helps professionals adapt to overseas assignments BY SALLY ACHARYA President Dwight D. Eisenhower had more than one idea that would influence AU. The most wide reaching, of course, was the notion discussed at a White House dinner about a school of international affairs that would focus not on conflict but on service. That conversation is enshrined in AU lore as the inspiration for the School of International Service (SIS). But Eisenhower had another idea, and it would impact what would be housed on the top floor of the spanking new SIS building he would soon dedicate. The well-traveled president was concerned about America’s reputation abroad at a time when booming business also meant an increased potential for misunderstanding. His concerns bore fruit in the founding of the Business Council for International Understanding, which shortly afterwards approached AU about training executives for the challenges they would meet while living and negotiating in unfamiliar cultures. The council with the unwieldy name was a pioneering effort in cross-cultural understanding that would evolve, some 40 years later, into today’s Intercultural Management Institute (IMI). Executives in the 1950s and ’60s who found themselves assigned to places like Jordan and Japan needed to know things they were never taught in business school. The stakes for their companies were high. In the early years of global business, 30 to 50 percent of executives stationed in such culturally disparate places as Japan returned home prematurely. The AU-based institute put together training programs that were unmatched anywhere in the nation and cut the dropout rate among executives dramatically. But if executives were venturing into unknown territory, so, in its way, was the institute. There were as yet no books on intercultural management, no journals, and no more than three or four organizations in the entire country providing training. The institute’s ability to compile up-to-date, cutting-edge information into hefty packets was one of its early strengths. Of course, the world has changed. Books and journals have multiplied; so have training programs, of varying quality. “Today, you don’t need to [provide Xeroxed handbooks], because you can get information off the Internet,” says longtime SIS professor Gary Weaver, who was involved in the early days of the program and is now director of IMI. The institute now focuses on cross-cultural orientation that develops skills through role playing as well as discussions. It also addresses the needs of the whole family, since an unhappy spouse or child is a major reason for executives to cut their assignments short.
Photos courtesy of IMI
Attendees at the Intercultural Management Institute’s 2004 conference titled “The Global Diversity Advantage” heard from a variety of speakers and worked in groups on intercultural issues.
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One thing IMI most emphatically does not do is provide “Do and Don’t” lists for different countries. Cultures are far too complicated for lists, Weaver says, and globalization has had an impact not just on Americans but on their overseas counterparts. After all, the Japanese or Jordanians in boardrooms overseas may be conservative and globally inexperienced, or may turn out to be graduates of AU. The changing world brings its own complications. For instance, Weaver says, the notion of “when in Rome, do as the Romans do” used to be so widespread that it would extend to such matters as accepting gifts that looked suspiciously like bribes. These days, that would violate ethical standards—as the gift-giver may well know—but a simple refusal could be equally problematic. Weaver once received a call from an executive overseas about an expensive scarf he had been offered. Would it be rude to refuse the gift? Or would accepting the scarf be tantamount to taking a bribe? Weaver suggested a tactful way out: Accept the scarf on behalf of the company and tell the gift-giver it would be framed and displayed for everyone to enjoy.
Moreover, IMI has expanded to train professionals in the nonprofit and education sectors, who will share some, but not all, of the experiences of corporate expatriates. Training isn’t cheap. But organizations find it worthwhile. According to one study, Weaver says, it costs less to train 30 managers than to send one home. “Plus,” Weaver says, “you get one guy in Yemen who blows a meeting and that can be a lot of money!” As businesses move to short-term assignments, intercultural training may be even more necessary, since the professional will have a shorter learning curve. And the fact that globalization has impacted even the farthest corners of the world does not mean that the world is Americanized. Nixon once noticed that his statements were followed, on the other side of the table, by nods and hai, or “yes.” He assumed it meant the Japanese had agreed to everything he said. But yes doesn’t always mean yes. Sometimes it just means, “yes, yes, go on.” That remains as true today as ever. While there are no foolproof do-and-don’t lists, “you can train people to be sensitive enough to look around and tune in,” says scholar in residence David Bachner. “If you go somewhere and automatically get introduced to an older person, don’t leave before saying goodbye to that person. Know what people talk about. If you go to the Middle East, you should know something about Islam—[just as if] you’re coming to Washington, you should know politics and the Redskins.” Training may take place in weekend institutes, individualized programs, or even on-site overseas. And it doesn’t end when the overseas job begins. There are also midterm sessions and reentry sessions, since reentry can often be surprisingly difficult. About 25 percent of people who have been overseas want to quit their job when they return, Weaver says. Reentry training can help reduce the shock of readjustment. And in the global world, intercultural training now works both ways. IMI has even prepared European executives for posts in the United States. After their IMI training, Weaver says, the Europeans adjusted enthusiastically to their new lives in Cleveland, Ohio.
| IMI’s spring conference, “Enhancing Cross-Cultural Effectiveness,” will be held on March 10–11 at AU. Visit www.imi.american.edu for details. |
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