Case Study: Collaborating across cultures

BACKGROUND

Headquartered in the US and employing 9,000 employees across nearly 60 countries, our client is a world leader in the travel marketplace.

It merchandises and retails travel products and provides distribution and technology solutions for the travel industry. It supports travellers, travel agents, airlines, corporations and others travel suppliers around the world, through a global network that includes key centres in North and South America, Europe and Asia.

CHALLENGE

As part of the client's drive to enhance performance and increase competitive advantage, a globally collaborative approach among employees is more crucial than ever. Teams compromising colleagues based across the world, working virtually, have become commonplace.

A key challenge, therefore, is how to ensure that employees can build relationships and collaborate effectively with colleagues, customers, partners and suppliers from different cultural backgrounds and with very different working styles and expectations.

In a related challenge, part of the client's rapid growth in recent years has been generated by a series of strategic acquisitions. This has created variances in working style across the organization, as employees coming from acquired businesses with different corporate cultures come together. Learning solutions were therefore required to address both country and corporate cultural issues, and to be delivered across the global organization.

SOLUTION

To address the client's strategic challenges TMA World designed an experiential blended learning solution entitled 'Applying Cultural Intelligence' (API). Since 2008 over 400 managers and employees have attended this programme across Argentina, India, Poland, the UK, Uruguay and the US.

At TMA World our philosophy is that building cultural intelligence - the ability to work effectively across cultures - starts with understanding oneself. For this reason the API programme begins with an online assessment using our Country Navigator e-learning tool. A subsequent classroom workshop enables participants to compare and contrast their own working styles with colleagues and country profiles, generating insight and understanding, and identifying strategies for cross-cultural interaction, communication, relationship-building and teamwork. Post workshop participants have ongoing access to an online database of information on key business cultures.

RESULTS

The API programme has been instrumental in building cultural intelligence across the client's business. To date, Learning Effectiveness and Impact approval ratings average 80%, and TMA World consultant approval ratings average 86%.

Participant comments post programme include: "Very impactful"; "Perfect course for people who deal on a daily basis with other cultures"; "Excellent"; "Very dynamic"; "An eye-opening experience"; "Do it!"

A key element to the success of the programme is the blend of classroom and online learning resources, which enable participants to address their specific cross-cultural challenges in a live session, combined with ongoing access to key cultural learning resources online.

TO LEARN MORE

Share |