I. International Conflict Resolution
InterAct, Inc. provides training/consultation services in the resolution of international conflicts. Disputes arising from intercultural, inter/intracorporate and interpersonal differences are identified and systematically confronted with regard to:
- Corporate culture (paradigm)
- Organizational/corporate infrastructure –i.e. determination of management styles and hierarchical set-ups and their corresponding effect upon negotiations/ collaborations between upper/mid/lower level personnel
- Nodal change or traumatic events –e.g. merger/acquisition, organizational and policy restructuring, downsizing
- Information hoarding by joint venture partners/subsidiaries/departments impeding technological exchange/innovation
- Negotiation styles and tactics
InterAct, Inc. trains your corporate staff in the art of detecting intercultural peculiarities relating to conflicting styles of research, management, information dissemination, communication, anger management, negotiation, and strategic planning.
II. Multicultural Management and Team Building
InterAct, Inc. specializes in coaching executives and supervisors in managing multicultural teams. Many professionals are frequently baffled by, or unaware of, the individual and group psychological dynamics preventing the success of multicultural teams. The psychological dynamics of negotiation strategies and “in group” strategic alliances frequently thwart managerial initiatives. Intrapersonal, group, corporate and cross-cultural psychologies are commonly antagonistic towards each other leaving a fragmented and chaotic organization in their wake. InterAct, Inc. trains manaers to identify, assess, and redirect destructive multicultural team dynamics which impede corporate objectives.
III. Identification and Resolution of Intercultural Barriers to Goal Attainment and Workplace Harmony
InterAct, Inc. assists corporate personnel in the detection of, and skilled navigation through, intercultural barriers stemming from:
- Conflicting organizational structures and management philosophies
- Strategic imbalances in corporate/departmental hierarchies
- Non-integrated training programs
- Disjointed teamwork due to cultural and logistical separation
- Uncoordinated succession planning/management regarding joint corporate projects
- Incongruent departmental objectives
- Uncertain expectations relating to anticipated/actual downsizing or outsourcing
- Confused loyalties between subsidiaries/joint venture partners and parent corporations
IV. Global Data Base Attainment to Facilitate Strategic Planning
InterAct, Inc. assists corporate personnel in the development of programs to collect and disseminate global corporate information to facilitate expedient management decisions. Trainings provide corporate personnel with the ability to define/monitor intercultural and intercorporate information flow hierarchies which impede joint collaboration on R&D, sales, marketing, etc.
Expatriates – Global Change Agents
InterAc, Inc. coaches executives and human resource personnel in the utilization of expatriates as ambassadorial agents of global change. In conjunction with managerial objectives, InterAct, Inc. assists in the coordination of expatriate training to monitor, evaluate, communicate to management, and potentially alter:
- Conflicting intercultural, intercorporate, interdepartmental, and interpersonal paradigms, structures, roles
- “Perceived” vs. “actual” power hierarchies interculturally and intracorporately undermining corporate goals
- Information exchange tactics in intercorporate technological transfer
- Psychological intimidation/anger management tactics sabotaging work relations
- Resistance to parent corporation objectives
- “Unspoken” intracorporate strategic alliances
Ultimately, expatriates are trained to be “front-line” facilitators associated with mergers, acquisitions, joint partnerships, and technological exchange programs
V. Multicultural Diversity Training
InterAct, Inc. provides country-specific programs to train executive, supervisors, sales/marketing staff, expatriates, and support personnel in:
- American cultural patterns contrasted to the host cultural patterns of perception, thinking, behavior, religion, social relationships, anger management, and conflict resolution
- Psychological, physical and interpersonal ramifications of cultural shock
- Intrapersonal/corporate reactions to intercultural stress
- Differential rates of acculturation – individual/marital/familial transition through cultural stress
- Cross-cultural issues on the job
- Organizational issues – structure, business philosophies, decision-making process, leadership/managerial styles, information networks and flow
- Relationship issues – multicultural team building, motivation between supervisors/subordinates
- “External environment” considerations –e.g. relations between the local community and corporation, business and political climate, local government and labor laws
- Business protocol and establishment of interpersonal networks
- Business ethics
- Joint venture partnership considerations
- Understanding foreign assignments within the global context – i.e. identification of regional and global geopolitical, religious, and socioeconomic trends
Intercultural Bonding
Establishing personal rapport is essential to fruitful intercultural relations. InterAct Inc. trains corporate personnel in the psychological and philosophical dynamics of cross-cultural interactions. The influences of everyday life in addition to the cultural dynamics fostering an individual’s sense of identity, self-awareness, and potential racism/prejudice are examined.
VI. Expatriate Pre-Departure and Repatriation Training
InterAct, Inc. specializes in providing counseling services to expatriates and their family members prior to their departure overseas as well as while they are overseas. The key impediment to successful performance of an expatriate’s role is on-going life stressors. Consequently, InterAct, Inc. works with expatriates and their family members to reduce the transitional, acculturational, and repatriation stresses associated with foreign assignments.
InterAct, Inc. provides an employee assistance program (EAP)-type, brief therapy counseling model for expatriates and their families. A professionally-licensed therapist with extensive international and corporate experience guides the expatriate and their family members through the maze of changes and stressors related to overseas assignments. A standard therapeutic model would include:
- An overall assessment of the individual’s needs as well as departmental and organizational expectations (12 hours)
- Marriage/significant other therapy to identiy and work through unresolved relational issues (5 hours)
- Individual therapy for the accompanying spouse/significant other focusing on their needs (5 hours)
- Group therapy for the children focusing on their individual needs (3 hours)
- Family therapy to address pending family concerns/expectations and coordinate family cohesion and differential rates of acculturation (3 hours)
The result is an integrated individual, marital, familial, and intracorporate effort which maximizes the expatriate’s efficiency while overseas.
Repatriation commonly entails multiple stresses associated with the readjustment of the expatriate and his/her family to changes within their life styles, U.S. society, and parent corporation. A dissatisfaction with new assignments, and the personal stagnation, low motivation, and resentment that results, frequently culminates in high corporate attrition rates. InterAct, Inc. provides counseling support to repatriates and their families, preparing them for the difficult personal and professional impact of transition to the U.S.