SUPPORT .....SERVICES
Transcultural Synergy assist businesses involved in cross-border acquisitions, joint ventures or strategic alliances with their post merger integration challenges that arise from the differing organisational and national cultures. Our aim is to maximise human potential in transnational collaboration.
We also assist companies solve cross-cultural challenges
in international transfers, expatriation and general mobility issues, as
well as in multi-national marketing and business development. Our strengths
are working with European & Asian companies seeking better client &
staff relations transcending cultural differences.
It is recognised that intercultural management services are highly specialised, and are therefore run by local specialists who are able to cater to local customers. It is not economically feasible to run large international intercultural organisations across the globe, like the big accountancy firms. This is somewhat contradictory, since the nature of intercultural projects, especially in merger and acquisitions, is likely to be international by definition, requiring specialists in different parts of the world, who are both able to cater to the international aspect of the project as well as to the respective local situation
In view of this Transcultural Synergy has taken the view that while it is not economically feasible to hold offices and consultants in different parts of the world, it is possible to work with a network of alliances, who exist locally in their own right, but who also are able to work collectively with others in different parts of the world on specific projects. Transcultural Synergy is working on a framework that will allow this. This makes it economically feasible, but for the client it ensures that a project is centrally managed but can cater to local needs.
Together with our alliances of select providers of intercultural training and consultancy services in different parts of the world Transcultural Synergy support following services below:
Transcultural Synergy is in the business of helping corporate clients achieve
creative solutions to their international or cross-border business challenges.
This is a highly interdisciplinary and multi-cultural field. We are less
concerned with logistics, legislative, financial, technological or mechanistic
aspects of international business, but rather our expertise and focus is in the
people aspect, that is either internally in a firm's staff and management
(human resources) or externally in its customers (sales and marketing, CRM).
We help clients identify problems and co-design interculturally
compatible solutions to these international challenges, where there is human
interaction at any level involving several different business practices due to
diverse national cultures. The solutions can be in the form of consulting,
advice, coaching, counselling, training and development, manuals, research,
cultural audits, recruitment, organisational structure, strategy or
international business planning.
Through our network of associated partners we can offer
a range of services all aimed at assisting clients find solutions to their
cross-border challenges:
- Intercultural Team-building
- Cross-cultural Conflict Resolution / Prevention
- Partnerships
/ Joint-Venture Relationship Management
- Transcultural Negotiations & Meetings
- Multicultural Decision-making Processes
- Eastern &
Western Business Styles / Values
- Multicultural Strategy Planning
- Technology Transfer Management
- Managing across Cultures
- Overseas Operations
Turnarounds
- Core work
processes across cultures
- Relocation
Pre-departure Training
- Leadership skills
for International Business
- International multi-directional Knowledge
Management
- Corporate Culture across Cultures
- International Job Rotations & Assignments
- Culture Shock Management Counselling
- Personnel
selection for international assignments
- Effective global virtual
working (teams)
- Cross-company global
competencies development
- General Cross-cultural
Awareness Training
Methodology
Depending on the assignment, consultancy work may
typically involve a ‘Cultural Audit’ followed by recommendations and
implementation through training and counselling, all the time working closely
with the client as a team. Training and experiential learning workshops are
interactive, involving role-play and simulations in order for participants to
‘experience’ and ‘understand’ the cultural dimensions, raising awareness and
consolidating cross-cultural skills.
Consulting and training projects are designed with
the client to required specifications. All
consulting and training projects are custom-designed with clear objectives
to suit clients’ specific needs based on in-depth research (Cultural Audit)
of industry, company, key players and corporate culture.
Integral in developing intercultural skills is also
initiating action-oriented processes so that clients can manage the learning
process in-house, and most importantly create the conditions for a global
learning organisation with effective knowledge management across cultures.
Integral in developing intercultural skills is also initiating a action-oriented processes so that clients can manage the learning process in-house.
For a free, no obligation initial
consultation on your intercultural management needs please contact us.
Workshop
Styles
Transcultural
Synergy can offer workshops
which are designed to particular objectives, taking into account:
¨
specific client needs and project (strategic
context)
¨
overall training
objectives (expatriation, diversity
management, …)
¨
participants’ profiles (adaptability, interviews, job functions)
¨
client corporate
culture (global context)
¨
target countries
/ cultures involved
Generally
workshops tend to focus on ‘deep culture’, i.e. on cultural issues beyond
surface artefacts. ‘Surface culture’ is concerned with behaviour,
do’s and don’ts, etiquette, understanding of history, geography and economic
make-up, simple explanations and anecdotes, often information available
in books or cultural briefing courses, i.e. information about culture.
‘Deep culture’ looks below the tip of the iceberg at what is more
latent, what is less obvious and more difficult to articulate, and at the
skills needed when dealing with diverse cultures.
This may include beliefs, values, shared world views, rituals, principles
of expression, interaction rules, communication styles, dealing with dilemmas,
business practices, and modes of perception, hence issues which are less
easy to formulate in a quantifiable body of knowledge and which require
actual experience for a full understanding.
Consequently
workshops are not briefings or lectures about culture, but rather intensive
experiential activities fully involving participants in order to create
conditions for them to experience, and hence understand at a deeper level,
different cultural dimensions, and to facilitate their learning in finding
solutions to difficult situations. Workshop
leaders or trainers are not lecturers or bodies of wisdom, but rather mentors,
counsellors, coaches or facilitators who help participants in their own
exploration and learning. This involves
team building and group work with debriefing discussions.
Sample activities in culture-generic workshops may include:
v Perception: Exercises to demonstrate relationship between
perception and values
v Value Orientations:
A study of one’s and others’ (other cultures’) value systems.
v Observation: Observation skills as distinct from evaluation
v Critical
Incidents: Discussion on expected reaction of diverse cultures in mini scenarios
v Models: Intellectual (European) and sensory (American)
models in understanding cultural differences (Europe: 5-D, 7-D, US: left
& right, audio-tactile & visual etc.).
v Simulations: Role-acting simulations centred around business
decision-making and negotiation styles to facilitate understanding of differences
and work out possible solutions. Time-consuming
but most effective in facilitating deeper understanding.
v Conflict
Resolution: ways to mediate conflicts
from intercultural point of view
v Communication: Rules and roles, messages & media, hot
& cool, analogue & digital
v Organisations: organising principles – O-type and M-type structures,
‘glocal mesh’ issues
v Process
Consulting in small groups, small group discussions.
v Team-building
activities, situation-specific case studies, and action research tasks
v Some training
programmes (e.g. general cross-cultural awareness) may also be offered as
standard in-house modules.
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Fax: +44 (0)70 9237 0950 |
Tel: +44 (0)20 8755 5824 |