The drama of international business: Why cross‐cultural training simulations work

Abstract

Purpose

To explain why cross‐cultural negotiations simulations are an excellent, active, and dramatic means of training employees to be culturally adaptable and literate.

Design/methodology/approach

Through a discussion of how drama plays an important role in creating learning that lasts, and by comparing passive, traditional classroom training with active, hands‐on, experiential learning. The paper discusses the high value cross‐cultural simulations in training employees to be culturally adaptable and literate.

Findings

Provides an explanation of how and why the dramatic elements of international business can and should be incorporated into cross‐cultural simulations and how those elements can dramatically enhance learning.

Research limitations/implications

It is not a detailed step‐by‐step discussion of how each of the author's simulations has been researched and written. It does, however, discuss the overall role that drama plays in creating and designing simulations that work well.

Practical implications

In creating educational material for the workplace and the classroom, these methods of adding drama to training materials, such as simulations, should enable trainers to realize that opportunities for creating learning that lasts are abundant and easily available.

Originality/value

This paper addresses a unique way of making simulations provide experiential context to training events.

Citation

Maguire Lewis, M. (2005), "The drama of international business: Why cross‐cultural training simulations work", Journal of European Industrial Training, Vol. 29 No. 7, pp. 593-598. https://doi.org/10.1108/03090590510621072