Intercultural Training Iran

Beschreibung

In today’s global business environment, understanding other cultures provide a real competitive advantage: Negotiators can accelerate their discussions by minimizing communication hurdles, marketers can more effectively engage with target audiences in specific countries or regions, and product managers can make appropriate localization decisions. In Iran, it’s been “business as usual” for years. Despite the impact of economic sanctions made against the country over recent decades in an effort to influence Iranian policy, “the country has not been completely isolated from the rest of the world“ Any organisation wishing to successfully conduct business with Iran needs to understand and consider the mixture of traditional and modern influences which have an impact on Iranian business and social culture.

In this training the topics will be based on the following topics but can be adapted for the groups' needs and wishes:

• Iran geography, politics, economics, geopolitics, social issues…
• Iranian Culture – key concepts and values, traditions and gender roles
• Traditions and behaviors 
• Class based society
• Iranians relation with neighbors and other cultures
• Working practices, corporate world
• Managing Culture shock
• Recommended books, films and food

• The heritage of Persian and Zoroastrian culture
• A proud, ancient civilization
• From the empire to the Islamic Republic

• Status and experience
• Gender roles

• Family life
• Hospitality and courtesy
• Religion and tradition
• Taroof

• Time Issues
• Structure and hierarchy in companies
• Business meetings
• Working relationships
• Communication and negotiation
• Developing relationships, building trust
• Protocol and etiquette (do´s and don´ts)
• Networking and presentation
• Formality
• Outfit 

Methods

• Lecture and discussion
• Interactive examples in small groups
• Case studies and analysis 
• Participants experiences and cases 
• Reflection and exchange of experiences and ideas

Case Study

Daniel Hicks is a new manager in Iran. He comes from a direct culture, where he believes in telling it how it is. He demands results and is known to get things done, at any cost. Succeeding in his work is his greatest achievement. He has been called into this project phase as it has been suffering with problems and delays. He has been asked to put it back on schedule.

He is assigned a project team of 5 Iranian engineers who each have 8 – 10 years experience in their field. One of the engineers is a woman. They all speak relatively good English and have worked with several expatriate managers before. One of the managers, Mohammad Mirzaie has 15 years experience and joins this team as the Iranian project manager, slightly higher position than the other engineers. 

On Daniel’s first day on the job, he greets his team with a formal handshake and starts the meeting by saying: “We have a very tight deadline to meet in the next three months. It is our responsibility to meet this deadline no matter what. I can tell you from now that we will not be seeing our families much until this job is completed and things might get tense around here, so I expect all of you to share in this responsibility. Do you understand? Do you have any questions?” The project team are silent and shake their heads.

He takes out his project plan and starts going through the project phases and assigns tasks to each of the people. 15 minutes later, he pauses and says, “Is this clear? Do you have any questions?” Engineer Mirzaie begins to speak; “Mr Hicks, firstly we welcome you to our country and inshallah (god willing) we will work well together in this project and reach our deadlines, but maybe you need to give more time to the project. Things in Iran have their own pace. It will only take 3 months to get the materials from the suppliers, if they deliver on time, then only can our work begin.” 

Daniel Hicks is under pressure from his management to ensure this deadline is met. He tells Engineer Mirzaie, rather angrily “There is no re-evaluation. We HAVE to meet the deadline, no matter what. As I told you, this is our responsibility and we must meet this deadline, our whole project is on the line here. I will hold each of you responsible if this target and deadline is not met.” 

The Iranian team all start speaking at once to Engineer Mirzaie in the local language. Engineer Mirzaie asks for their silence by putting his hands up and giving them a firm look. “Mr Hicks”, he continues with a gracious smile, “you are new to our country and culture, you do not understand how things are done here. This will not work in 3 months, we must be realistic.” 

Daniel Hicks responds angrily, “Mohammad, you seem to not understand what a deadline is. If you cannot meet this deadline, then you and your team will be replaced by someone who can.”

The meeting ends with Daniel Hicks appointing tasks and deadlines to each person. He goes on to send an email to the team with the agreed minutes of the meeting and reminding each person of their tasks.

A week later, the team reconvenes, Daniel Hicks eager to hear about the progress of the project. One by one, the team report they were unable to complete their tasks and bring different excuses; a supplier has been changed, the quality of some material was not good enough, the ministry did not help provide the information, and so forth. The woman engineer, Ms. Salehi, however, has made some progress on her task and shares this with the group. Daniel Hicks gets frustrated with the overall outcome but wants to give Ms. Salehi recognition for her effort in this project. He replaces engineer Mirzaie with Ms. Salehi as the project manager and asks her to take the lead in the project. 

How can Daniel Hicks create a team effort? 

Ziel

• cooperations with Iranian partners will be optimized 
• Your staff is becoming more culturally diverse and is able to communicate effectively
• Contacts and projects run smoothly
• Less conflicts and missunderstanding
• You save time, energy and money 

Anforderungen an die Teilnehmer

No previous knowledge is required for the course.

Teilnehmer

• The training lasts for 6 hours virtually
• ​Everyone who is interested in the cultural, social, economical and political background of this ancient and still very exciting and upcoming culture in the Middle East
• designed for global leaders who need to build the capabilities to lead across national and international boundaries
• Leaders and Managers who would like to grow their business in Iran and to expand and improve their intercultural competencies for future projects
• the training is therefore open and bookable for all people