Even the most carefully chosen employees may not be perfectly suited to the job requirements or the country conditions. Employee development aims at aligning employee aspirations and capabilities with organizational goals. The process usually goes under the rubric of Training and Development. The basic objective of training and development for international assignments is to cultivate cultural sensitivity. In other words, training and development must develop employees' awareness of their own cultural assumptions and cultural conditioning and give them a special kind of intellectual and emotional "radar" which alerts them to situations where cultural assumptions come into play. lO Figure 15.7 lists the top training needs of Americans working abroad, as determined both by Americans themselves and by host-country nationals. The fact that these training needs are ranked differently by Americans and by foreign nationals in itself reveals different cultural assumptions and perceptions about work.
Educating, training, and developing management is a multibillion-dollar business. In the United States and in Europe, most training is done by the companies themselves in their in-house development programs. Such in-house training may be supplemented by services provided by various organizations and universities. In the United States organizations such as the American Management Association and the Center for Creative Leadership offer a variety of courses on management skills and techniques. In Europe the European Foundation for Management Development (EFMD), in Brussels, provides guidance to the training directors of its member companies. The services offered by European universities, such as the London Business School, IMEDE/IMI in Switzerland, and the Center of Management in Europe in Brussels, are similar to those offered by universities in the United States. 1
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