Enhancing Managerial Cross‐cultural Awareness and Sensitivity: Transactional Analysis Revisited

A major concern facing multinational corporations in the 1990s is how to prepare managers to operate effectively within another culture. Unfortunately, many corporations seldom provide cross‐cultural management training because it is considered unnecessary or ineffective by top management. Given such corporate mentality, a major concern facing trainers is how to develop cultural awareness and improve cultural sensitivity. Introduces a new approach for enhancing the efficacy of cross‐cultural training by extending one of the most effective psychotherapeutic counselling methods – transactional analysis – over the cross‐cultural setting. Presents conceptual framework which suggests that a crucial element of cross‐cultural training for managers must be to help them achieve an “adult ego state”, and thus ensure that they maintain the most effective cross‐cultural position – my culture′s OK, your culture′s OK. By using transactional analysis as a prerequisite to other approaches in cross‐cultural training, trainers can provide a more comprehensive programme which will not only enhance sensitivity and awareness, but ultimately lead to a greater usage of and appreciation for cross‐cultural training by organizations.