Abstract
The paper provides a discussion of intercultural competence in the healthcare industry context to determine the gaps in the approaches followed by Tenet Healthcare Corporation while training the employees. The goal of the global training and development program is also presented in the paper to identify the targets. Also, the paper provides an assessment of the learners, their backgrounds, and predicted barriers. The objectives to be achieved during the training sessions are formulated with references to the determined gaps and the set goal.
Introduction
Tenet Healthcare Corporation is a multinational company, and it requires an effective training and development program. It is important to guarantee that all employees in the United States and the United Kingdom are culturally competent and cooperate effectively (Tenet Healthcare Corporation, 2016). Although the organization promotes respecting diversity among employees, the development of the appropriate intercultural training program is based on assessing the aspects of intercultural competence in the healthcare industry, setting the clear goal of the training, and formulating objectives to complete with the focus on the learners’ needs.
Intercultural Competence Addressed by the Healthcare Industry
In the healthcare industry, intercultural competence is discussed not only when healthcare professionals work with culturally diverse patients but also when the diverse staff needs to collaborate effectively to guarantee high-quality healthcare delivery. While working with diverse patients, healthcare professionals need to address their cultural and language backgrounds, values, beliefs, and traditions to ensure that clients are diagnosed appropriately, educated regarding the care, and treated with respect (Deardorff, 2009).
Cultural differences and the misunderstanding of these aspects can lead to ethical issues. Still, more problems are observed in the interaction between employees as representatives of different cultures. While developing the training initiatives, it is necessary to respond to the issue of intercultural communication between employees who need to improve their awareness of cultural differences and to focus on cross-cultural communication with patients.
In Tenet Healthcare Corporation, employees are trained to respect the cultural backgrounds and differences of each other, and the resolution of the complicated cases is realized in a culturally appropriate manner (Tenet Healthcare Corporation, 2016). However, despite addressing the problem of intercultural communication between the staff and patients, Tenet experiences problems in responding to the problem of the diverse employees’ collaboration. It is important to improve the approaches to organizing the communication between representatives of English-speaking and Latin, Asian, and Arab cultures because current gaps include the decision-making, independence in problem-solving, and the appropriateness of supervision since representatives of these cultures perceive authorities, hierarchy, and autonomy differently.
The Overall Goal or Outcome of the Global Training and Development Plan Based on the Needs Assessment and Gap Analysis
While focusing on the needs assessment and gaps related to the current training followed in Tenet, it is possible to formulate the goal of this global training program that aims at addressing the weaknesses of currently used approaches. The analysis indicates that Tenet has the problem with intercultural training for expatriate managers and diverse employees in terms of improving the knowledge regarding intercultural communication; enhancing their teamwork, cooperation, and collaboration; focusing on the exchange of experiences; addressing cultural and language barriers. Also, the training should improve the interaction with diverse patients and address the ethical issues that appeared as a result of non-resolved intercultural questions.
Therefore, the goal of the global training program can be formulated the following way: to achieve the effective communication, cooperation, and collaboration between expatriate managers and employees, including culturally and linguistically diverse employees, with the focus on their enhanced teamwork, critical thinking, negotiation skills, decision-making, and problem-solving. It is expected that employees will improve their cultural awareness and learn how to communicate and cooperate, referring to the principles of intercultural competence (Graf, 2009; McClay & Irwin, 2008). These aspects are also expected to be generally followed while working with patients. Therefore, the training’s target goal is the improved cooperation between culturally diverse employees with the focus on the communication of expatriate managers and representatives of cultural minorities in the United States and the United Kingdom.
The Organization’s Learners, Their Backgrounds, Pre-Existing Knowledge, Skills, Cultural Dimensions, Expectations of Training, Barriers to Learning
The learners that are expected to participate in the training program are expatriate managers from the United States, who work in the United Kingdom, and employees working in different facilities in both countries. The pre-existing knowledge of managers is based on previous cross-cultural and ethical training. They are expected to be skillful in working with employees who are diverse in terms of their culture, age, and abilities.
However, expatriate managers are representatives of the English-speaking majority in both countries, and they expect to improve their skills regarding the cooperation with representatives of the European, Latin, Asian, African, and Arab cultures. The other group of learners is diverse employees who can be migrants. They were previously educated and employed in other countries. Their knowledge and skills regarding the intercultural communication can be different, as well as their learning styles, the desire to change their communication approaches, and their level of motivation (Homan, Buengeler, Eckhoff, Van Ginkel, & Voelpel, 2015).
It is possible to expect that learners have various visions regarding autonomy, individualism, hierarchy, cooperation, and teamwork. Possible barriers to learning include the managers’ focus on their preferred communication styles without adapting to the contexts and employees’ needs (Hassi & Storti, 2011). For the diverse staff, barriers can include the lack of language skills and traditional visions regarding the hierarchy and relationships between employees and supervisors.
SMART Objectives for the Organization’s Interculturally Competent Training Program
It is possible to achieve the goal set for the global training program while completing the following objectives that are specific and measurable:
- By the end of this training session learners will identify and address differences in cultures and potential problems related to the intercultural communication in 80% of cases;
- By the end of this training session, learners will adjust their behaviors and attitudes to participate in the work with managers or subordinates, individual work, teamwork, or group work effectively in 80% of cases;
- By the end of this training session, learners will negotiate their experiences, ideas, and decisions openly in 75% of problematic cases requiring the decision;
- By the end of this training session, 90% of learners will implement the cooperation and collaboration strategies when it is required.
These objectives are based on such fundamentals of global training as the necessities to define the culture, its values, and possible differences to contribute to cultural awareness. Furthermore, the additional important fundamentals followed in this plan are the focus on communication, cooperation, collaboration, and culture, as it is noted by Petranek (2004). These principles are correlated with the set goals and proposed objectives.
Conclusion
Even though Tenet Healthcare Corporation respects employees’ diversity, more attention should be paid to training the staff to achieve higher results. Designing an effective intercultural training program is associated with evaluating the aspect of intercultural competence in the healthcare industry and the company’s approaches to developing this quality among employees. The evaluation results are also important to set a clear goal of the training program and determine the targets. While referring to this goal, it is possible to formulate achievable objectives focusing on learners’ profiles and needs.
References
Deardorff, D. K. (2009). The SAGE handbook of intercultural competence. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. Web.
Graf, A. (2009). Intercultural training: Six measures assessing training needs. Journal of European Industrial Training, 33(6), 539-558.
Hassi, A., & Storti, G. (2011). Organizational training across cultures: Variations in practices and attitudes. Journal of European Industrial Training, 35(1), 45-70.
Homan, A. C., Buengeler, C., Eckhoff, R. A., Van Ginkel, W. P., & Voelpel, S. C. (2015). The interplay of diversity training and diversity beliefs on team creativity in nationality diverse teams. Journal of Applied Psychology, 100(5), 1456-1463. Web.
McClay, R., & Irwin, L. (2008). The essential guide to training global audiences. San Francisco, CA: Pfeiffer. Web.
Petranek, G. F. (2004). Global human resource development: The Four C Approach. Human Resource Development Quarterly, 15(2), 249-252. Web.
Tenet Healthcare Corporation. (2016). About the company. Web.