AN EXPATRIATE'S NIGHTMARE: AN EXPERIENTIAL EXERCISE IN COPING WITH OVERSEAS ASSIGNMENTS Developments in Business Simulation and Experiential Learning, Volume 25, 1998 AN EXPATRIATE’S NIGHTMARE: AN EXPERIENTIAL EXERCISE IN COPING WITH OVERSEAS ASSIGNMENTS Rebecca J. Morris, University of Nebraska at Omaha ABSTRACT What happens when international experts are sent to a foreign country to train local workers? How can experts successfully complete their task given the unusual and confusing customs of the workers? This experiential exercise is designed to provide participants with an opportunity to practice coping with cultural differences in a manufacturing training scenario. This exercise has been successfully conducted in graduate and undergraduate classes in international management. INTRODUCTION Multicultural aspects of management are increasingly integrated into the business curricula as colleges and universities respond to the recognized need for a workforce that has a broad appreciation for the issues faced by managers in multicultural settings whether abroad or at home. This experiential exercise was designed to provide students with an interesting and fun way to experience some of the frustrations encountered by managers in overseas assignments while also providing a “safe” environment for their experimentation with coping strategies. THE EXERCISE Participants are assigned one of three roles. The first role is filled by a small group of participants who serve as “international experts” hired by a foreign government to train its people in the manufacture of a product. A second group of participants play the role of the citizens of Copernia, an intensely private and collectivist society with cultural customs and taboos that are unknown to outsiders. The third group of participants serves as anthropologists conducting research on the customs of the Copernians. Difficulties in coping with cultural differences are revealed as the international experts attempt to train the Copernians in the construction of the product. The exercise provides participants with an opportunity to not only develop an appreciation for cultural differences but to actively experience them. Because the exercise involves a mythical culture and hypothetical training task, it can be effectively utilized to develop sensitivity to cultural differences in a variety of settings. Exercise Objectives The exercise has the following learning objectives: 1. To provide students with an opportunity to explore some of the difficulties of international business through a task-related exercise. Unlike other experiential exercises that use a non- business setting, this exercise requires students to conduct a training session for manufacture workers from another culture Students respond well to the “realism” of the exercise and have little difficulty transferring the lessons learned to a business context. 2. To provide students with an opportunity to experience an international business interaction from “the other side.’ Because the exercise involves students playing the roles of workers from a different culture, they develop an appreciation for the often unintended consequences of an ethnocentric approach to international relationships. After completing the exercise, students display much greater understanding and sensitivity to the impact their actions and speech may have on the feelings of others. 3. To demonstrate the importance of training and cultural preparation to the success of international ventures. A central part of this exercise is that students in the expert role are 53 Developments in Business Simulation and Experiential Learning, Volume 25, 1998 ignorant of many of the cultural customs and beliefs of the people they are to train. Their lack of knowledge of even basic cultural customs serves as a hindrance to the accomplishment of any productive work Students completing the exercise recognize the importance of advance cultural preparations to the selection and implementation of an appropriate training strategy. 4. To demonstrate appropriate and inappropriate coping strategies for dealing with cultural differences in a work setting. Past experience in conducting the exercise with either faculty or students in the expert role has demonstrated its power to elicit many unintentional examples of inappropriate coping strategies. In debriefing, the leader can point out these inappropriate approaches and suggest more appropriate methods. Because students in the trainee role can discuss how they felt when these inappropriate strategies were utilized, the exercise provides a powerful demonstration of the unintended impact of ethnocentric approaches. Exercise Background This experiential exercise is based on a session conducted in training expatriate employees for major corporations as described in Hagerty (1993). The exercise uses a paper model called a Hexaflexagon (Joint Council on Economic Education, 1992) as the focus of the training role- play. The roles have been carefully written to provide participants with customs and language differences that are based on actual cultural practices in different countries while avoiding insensitive stereotyping. Past Participants Reaction to the Experience Students and faculty members have expressed a strong positive reaction to the exercise experience. Comments from undergraduate students indicate that the Hexaflexagon exercise is very helpful in increasing their sensitivity to cultural differences Several students reported successfully using some of the suggestions presented in debriefing to explore cultural differences with foreign students. Students who served as “experts” commented that while they found the experience to be frustrating, they felt more confident in dealing with future multicultural experiences as a result of what they had learned. CONCLUSION The importance of this type of an experience for students and managers in today’s business environment is demonstrated in the following quote, “It is now generally recognized that culturally insensitive attitudes and behaviors stemming from ignorance or from misguided beliefs (“my way is best,” or “what works at home will work here”) not only are inappropriate but are often the cause of international business failure” (Dowling, Schuler & Welch, 1994: 13). An awareness of cultural differences is critical for success in a multicultural environment. This exercise has been proven to be an effective way to provide participants with an opportunity to not only learn about cultural differences but to experience them in a meaningful yet fun way. Complete directions for the exercise are included in Morris (1997). REFERENCES Dowling, P.J., Schuler, R.S. & Welch, D.E. (1994). International Dimensions of Human Resource Management. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Publishing. Hagerty, B. (1993, June 14). Trainers help expatriate employees build bridges to different cultures. The Wall Street Journal, pp. B 1, B6. Joint Council on Economic Education. (1992). Work, Human Resources, and Choices. (Teacher Resource Manual). New York: Author. Morris, R.J. (1997). Building Hexaflexagons overseas: An experiential exercise in coning with cultural differences. Journal of Teaching in International Business, 8(4), pp. 49-64. 54 Table of Contents Volume 25, 1998 Marketing Goes to the Movies Bringing Experiential Learning to a Principles of Marketing Course Investment Analysis Application Using In-house Spreadsheet Models SugarCoated Statistics: An Exercise for the First Day of Class Improving Undergraduate Student Involvement in Management Science and Business Writing Courses Using the Seven Principles in Action Establishment and Funding for Interuniversity / Multidisciplinary Student experiences The Prospects of Creative Teaching: A Discussion with Patricia Sanders The Simulation and Classroom Assessment Techniques Developments of Management Skill Assessment Games as Instruments of Assessment: A Framework for Evaluation The Role of Artificial Intelligence in Business Curricula Threshold Solo Competitor: A Management Simulation (V1.0) a Windows-Based. Play Alone, Total Enterprise Simulation and Assessment Instrument Toward An Understanding of One's self-concept Total Enterprise Simulations and the Internet: Improving Student Perceptions and Simplifying Administrative Workloads The Expatriate an Assignment Orientation Game An Expatriate's Nightmare: An Experiential Exercise in Coping with Overseas Assignments Analyzing Experiential Exercise: Using the Scientific Method for Problem Solving The Second Component to Experiential Learning: A Look Back at How ABSEL has handled the Conceptual and Operational Definitions of Learning Predictive Models of Learning: Participant Satisfaction of Experiential Exercises in Business Education Accelerating Moral Development through Use of Experiential Ethical Dilemmas Ethical Dilemmas to use with Business Simulations to Teach Ethics The Class Approach in Behavioral Simulation in a Business Policy/Strategic Management course: A Progression toward Greater Realism An Exploration of the Emergence of Process Prototypes in a Management Course Utilizing a Total Enterprise Simulation How Organizations Are Improving Their Performance Utilizing Electronic Commerce: Examples From The Internet The Market Access Planning System (Maps): A Computer-Based Decision Support System For Facilitating Experiential Learning In International Business An Excel Workbook For Student Planning And Interface With A Simulation Game Design Of Multi-Media Based Pedagogy For Leadership Training Panel Discussion On Using The Internet For Courses Valuing And Enhancing Teaching: Sharing Tips Via The Web The Buddy Project: A Semester Long Project Aimed At Developing An Appreciation For Diversity Enhancing The Excitement And Learning Retention In The Classroom: The Power Of Magic The Supervised Management Internship: A Job Or Learning Experience Team Ware™ An Online Moderated Class Discussion Facility And Beyond A Neophyte Distance Educator's Experience Learning Management By Practicing Management: A Report Of Significant Student Service In 1997 Integration Of Academic And Service Learning: Students' Perceptions About Its Effects And Outcomes The Value Of Incorporating A Service Learning Component Into Course Content: A Presentation And Roundtable Discussion Business Games Teach: Thoughts on the Sources of Conflicting Conclusions on their Effectiveness Antecedents Of Learning In The Simulation: A Replication Using Student Journals To Enhance Learning From Simulations Technological Change And Intertemporal Movements In Consumer Preferences In The Design Of Computerized Business Simulations With Market Segmentation Integrating The Marketing Curriculum Using Collaborative Learning Teaching Time Management In A Sales Program: The Application Of A Computer Simulation Game Adapting Interactive Computer Simulations For Content Based Esl Instruction Multimedia And Student Expectations Synthesizing Data For Media Simulations Composing A Team Health Promoting Behaviors-A Decision Making Exercise Does it really Work? An Application of the Group Interaction Framework Administering the MIT Beer Game: Lessons Learned A Paperless Economy? Instructing Students on the Aspects of Successful Electronic Commerce Maximizing Learning Gains in Simulations: Lessons from the Training Literature Observing General Ability in a Total Enterprise Gaming Simulation FReach Teach: A Computer-Based System for Teaching Advertising Media Planning An Integrated Business Instruction System An Experiential Exercise you can Tinker With Experiential Exercises or Computer Simulations? Cash Flow Statements: Are They Important in Business Simulations? Holistic Cognitive Strategy in a Computer-Based Marketing Simulation Game: An Investigation of Attitudes Towards the Decision-Making Process Barnga: A Game on Cultural Clashes The Many Faces of Culture: Understanding Country and Corporate Culture Students' View of the Use of Business Gaming in Hong Kong Assessing General Management Interest What is the Future of Business Gaming? Starting a Small Music Trivia Business Exercise and Other Innovative Icebreakers An Integrated Approach to Behavioral Skill Development Career Focus: A Student and Business Learning Experience The Use of Concept Mapping in Teaching Strategic Management An Experiential Approach to Developing Mission Statements Business Games in Brazil-Learning or Satisfaction A Simulation within a Simulation: Job Layoff's and Emotional Reactions