Discussion: View Thread

I think Mihai has done an excellent job of presenting some of the
issues you'll face. Multicultural (in true sense of the word)
management education presents many layers of complexity:

Technical -- will my John Cleese tape work in Penang? (and forget the
LCD panel...most overhead projectors around the world project light
from the top rendering the opaque panel useless) Mihai covered this
well in his post. Make sure equipment you have rented or available to
you is compatible with your materials -- or vice versa.

Cultural -- material not appropriate for the culture will be at least
misunderstood and at perhaps patently offensive. Know thy audience,
especially the level of language fluency you're working with. Do NOT
cavalierly expect English fluency, even in management groups.
Challenge every concept you are presenting in light of your audience's
culture. Facilitating teambuilding in Asia is MUCH different than
doing it in Europe. It's an entirely different concept. Hofstede and
Trompennars are excellent references here.

Pedagogical -- what tools, techniques, and methods of instruction
will be most effective with the audience, on the basis of their
culture? As a US trained work psychologist, I try very hard to design
developmental activities/games/simulations for my programs that allow
participants to experience or "live" the concept. Didactic methods or
lecture is held to an absolute minimum. This, however, may not be
appropriate for all cultures.

Herein lies my question to the list: What differences exist between
cultures in adult learning models? For the more applied, how should I
adjust my training program methodology to be more effective with, say,
a French audience as opposed to a Swedish audience? Not content,
which may be cultural, but method of instruction?

Thanx!


Al Brockwell
AL_BROCKWELL@yr.com

On Mon, 27 Jan 1997, Albert L. Brockwell, Ph.D. wrote:

> Technical -- will my John Cleese tape work in Penang?
My experience: The greatest difficulties that I have is making the jokes
work in another culture. So all my stories, narratives and examples have
to be modified and tested before they can be presented. John Cleese is
not too bad in the Asian culture because he exaggerated much of his
facial expressions and action. But his jokes may not always be understood
in the Asian culture.

> Cultural -- material not appropriate for the culture will be at least
> misunderstood and at perhaps patently offensive. ... Facilitating
team building in Asia is MUCH different than doing it in Europe.
It's an entirely different concept.

My reaction: agree totally with your comment. Team work is perceived
differently between the East and West. Research in the former (HK
Chinese) suggest that they see a team as a gang with brotherhood to perform a
shared task. A gang emphasizes banding together with loyalty , cohesiveness,
complementing each other with little "cost and benefit" consideration,
sacrifice and commitment. Team is seen differently from the West.

> Pedagogical --.... Didactic methods orlecture is held to an absolute
minimum. This, however, may not be appropriate for all cultures.

Painful experience of facilitators: In ratings of performance as
lecturer, they may be negatively commented when they facilitate the
learning but not spoon feeding the learning. Learning through self
discovery facilitated by the learning designer may not be seen as
providing the learning. Without feeding the knowledge, learners in some
cultures consider the facilitator not fulfilling the role.

> Herein lies my question to the list: What differences exist between
> cultures in adult learning....For the more applied, how should I
> adjust my training program methodology to be more effective with, say,
> a French audience as opposed to a Swedish audience? Not content,
> which may be cultural, but method of instruction?

I do not have experience to compare Swedish and French. Surely, the
work of Hofstede and others will give some suggest ideas of the cross
cultural differences. I spend much time to modify training program
methodology when I have to work across the cultural line. If you are
interested in some of my observations, particularly in the East, some of
the articles may be interesting:

Pun, A. & Thomas, I. (1990). From teaching to learning: an approach to
trainer development. Industrial and Commercial Training, 22 (2), 9-16.

Pun, A (1990). Managing the Cultural Differences in Learing. The Journal
of Management Development, 9 (5), 35-40.

Pun, A (in progress). Theory, Model and Action for Managing Change: Bridges
meeting Revans in Hong Kong. Organization Development Journal.

These articles put emphasis on modifying the adult learning strategies to
make that work in the East. They may be helpful to those who have an
interest to make Western OB practices and Learning approaches work in the
East.


Aaron PUN EdD DPhil
Ex-chairman, HK Society for Training & Development
MD and OD consultant in Toronto