| Fifty years ago it never would have occurred to the State Department or to a large multinational corporation to train formally their personnel--and their families--to live overseas. But what has come to be known as "cross-cultural training" or "intercultural orientation" is fast becoming a recognizably important component in the world of international business and international diplomacy.; The growth of cross-cultural training, however, has not usually brought with it the intended successful outcomes. Consequently, the methods, models, and techniques of cross-cultural training are continually being revamped, over-hauled and redesigned in an effort to achieve a training model that will deliver a higher degree of cross-cultural adjustment. The basic questions remain the same: How do we teach people to live happily (successfully) in a completely foreign culture? What do we teach them? Is it possible for training to achieve this goal?; Operating on the universal assumption that training will at least help to achieve the goal of cross-cultural adjustment, the major schools of thought and theoretical perspectives part company as to how it should be done. This study will attempt a theoretical dissection of cross-cultural training by examining pre-departure training programs in general and those of the Foreign Service in particular. Three focal areas will be emphasized in the designs of these programs: the role of training in the adjustment process, the role of communication in cross-cultural adjustment, and the cognitive processes related to cross-cultural adjustment.; Drawing from existing paradigms and theories through a multi-method approach of textual analysis, case history, interviews, and content analyses, this study will attempt to build a theoretical framework from which, through inductive and deductive analysis, a middle-range theory of cross-cultural training may be developed. |
