International Training Program Levels and Types

The programs offered to employees of international businesses today may be categorized according to their levels, or in terms of the tools utilized. Note that the cross-cultural training described in Levels II and III provides participants with a framework that enables them to deal with situations not covered directly in the training, whereas Level I training usually does not.

Level I

These programs offer the "Do’s and Don’ts" of international business, often mixing information about etiquette with advice on what types of business gifts to give and how to best form business relationships in other countries. They also may provide specific information about travel, banking, embassies, etc. These programs are most useful for employees with little or no international business experience. In the words of the old fable, these programs provide people with fish, rather than teaching them how to fish. At the end of these programs, participants have a good idea of how to conduct specific business transactions, but little idea how to generalize to other situations.

Level II

Level II programs teach participants how to fish; that is, they provide analytic tools which can be used to understand the relationship between culture and business. They do this by providing models of cultures based on research in the field of comparative sociology or anthropology. Participants learn to understand social and business transactions by applying these analytic tools, and are often tested through the use of critical incidents or case studies. At the end of these programs, participants are able to analyze general culture-based business transactions to determine how, in a specific culture, the business transaction might be different from the transaction in their own cultures.

Level III

At this level, specific information (typical of Level I) and analytic tools (provided in Level II) are brought to bear on:

1. Specific business problems or opportunities (such as sales or marketing, mergers or acquisitions) within the area of these employees’ professional scope
2. Assisting employees with relocation to other countries
3. Decision-making at upper levels (e.g., where to locate a new plant in a region)

At the end of these sessions, participants are able to apply the analytic tools and specific country, regional, and culture-based information to business problems in their areas of expertise.