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Session 2360

International Culture in Industry Training: A Corporate Myth or a Necessity?

S. Y. Eidgahy Jefferson Community College

Introduction

Many changes throughout the corporate arena, both in the immediate and recent past, are bringing to light an increased need for cultural cognition in the “new world”. A post-industrial society, or more accurately an information generation is only the beginning. The new “world-order”, economic powerhouses, ethnic conflicts and a daily explosion of both knowledge and technology mandate a new look at industry training. Global business entities can no longer afford to ignore cultural differences, in fact even national industries consider this critical, simply due to the make-up of their employees or even more importantly, their customers.

Keiretsu is a Japanese concept for business alliances. To confront new challenges, the author has explored the principles of such groups and adapted Keiretsu to industry training programs. Relevant issues will be explored in the following segments: . Identification of New Needs and Goals . Fundamentals of Keiretsu . Corporate vs. Personal Elements . Progression& Development

Identification of New Needs & Goals

Industry training programs can be categorized into three general areas of centralized, decentralized and integrated systems. 1 The centralized approach to training exists when the training fimction is controlled or coordinated from a single organizational source. This approach is very advantageous specially in those organizations with similar operations among various offices, divisions or plants. In the decentralized approach to training, control of the training fi.mction is relegated to various levels and locations of the organization. This training system is utilized where products and services are diverse and therefore central training can only be at general levels. Finally, an integrated approach occurs when parts of both centralized and decentralized systems are combined to best meet the existing needs. This is advantageous for most organizations; for example, the employees of a company may need to be continuously trained in the advances in quality concepts, but each division may have its unique requirements depending on its individual products or services.

It would seem obvious that cultural understanding is paramount in any of the above training environments. In a centralized training system, various employees from different operations and locations gather in one place. Such settings often include trainees from multi-national locations or international employees. In cases where

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Eidgahy, S. Y. (1996, June), International Culture In Industry Training: A Corporate Myth Or A Necessity? Paper presented at 1996 Annual Conference, Washington, District of Columbia. 10.18260/1-2--6142