Case Study #18: A Fortune 500 Apparel Manufacturing Company Outsourcing IT Functions to a Vendor in India
Project: Training in cross-cultural awareness for working with Indian teams
Background:
A Fortune 500 apparel manufacturing company was in the first stages of an outsourcing engagement with an offshore IT service provider in India. As a company with a strong culture of care for employees and long-term employment, it was keen on making the transition to staff augmentation in India be as smooth as possible. CMCT was approached by the head of the applications development group for help with an up-front intervention that would help prepare the U.S. employees who would be working with the vendor’s team members in India.
Assignment:
Develop and deliver a cross-cultural awareness program for working with Indian teams customized to meet the orientation needs of employees who have not yet experienced working in global multicultural and virtual teams.
Intervention:
CMCT strongly advised that the U.S. managers and supervisors take the “Working with India” training first, so that they would be in a position to re-enforce the cross-cultural understandings and adaptive skills of their direct reports. A representative of the Indian IT service provider was also asked to attend. After this initial leadership-level session at headquarters, the training was extended to the various teams in different U.S. locations that were going to be impacted by the new outsourcing relationship. CMCT wrapped up this project with a set of concrete recommendations for next steps and integrating cross-cultural awareness into operational management of the outsourcing relationship going forward.
Result:
By providing cross-cultural awareness training up front, this company was able to avoid many of the usual pitfalls affecting U.S. companies in their first stages of working with outsourcing partners in India, and to reduce the transition stress on their employees.
Key Disciplines:
Cross-Cultural Training, Cross-Cultural Consulting, Training Needs Assessment, Training Program Development.
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For more information, contact CMCT, write to info@cmct.net, or call 510-525-9222.
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