 In this topic, we are going to talk about the relationship of cross-cultural training and assignment performance. You know that basically our basic objective of training is that expatriates, when they are sent to other locations, they are able to perform well. And cultural awareness training is provided because we want them to perform well on the assignments. And because the cultural differences are high when you are going on international assignments, therefore the importance of cross-cultural awareness training programs is very much high. But basically our objective is that people should be able to perform. So we have looked at different models of training. We have looked at Tong's model, then we have looked at Black and Mendelhal's model. Later on, other modifications have been made in these models so that we can arrive at an approach which can tell us how people are going to perform. So that is something which is related to a person's motivation as well as that person's ability to learn. So the theory of social learning has been incorporated in the models that are provided for particular training methods. So the social learning theory has got elements of attention, retention and reproduction of the behaviors. When that is incorporated in the previous models which we have discussed, then we arrive at conclusions regarding how people are going to perform well in these expatriate assignments. So let's take a look at the model which has been designed to actually arrive at the factors which lead to good performance on expatriate assignments. Okay, so let's take a look at the model. You can see that this is quite a complex model and obviously performance is a matter, is a function of complex dynamics. It is something which is related to cultural awareness training which you can see that it is existing on the left hand side of the model. But there are so many other factors which influence a person's performance and adjustment. So you can see that on the extreme left is cultural awareness training and on the extreme right it's adjustment and performance. But there are so many other interlinking factors which actually affect how cultural awareness training can lead to adjustment and performance. So number one, what can affect cultural awareness training is the contextual and the situational factors. And these contextual and situational factors include the time available, how much time you have to give in training. Then duration and nature, how long do you train for and what is the training of nature. And then cultural toughness, we have discussed the concept of cultural toughness in the previous topics that you can refer to that. This is something which is then going to affect cultural awareness training. Now contextual factors are then also related with individual differences. Individual differences between person to person, people differ from each other on the basis of various different factors. So individual differences they would affect how a person is able to get trained and is able to get motivated for applying the training. So individual differences could include the locus of control, it could include efficacy expectations, it could include outcome expectations. And these things are going to then lead to motivation which you can see is standing at the center of the diagram. So it could lead to motivation. Motivation then is going to affect how much attention do you give to the cultural awareness training. If you are motivated because of your strong locus of control, strong efficacy, strong expectation of outcomes. For example, if you think that you will benefit a lot of training, then you will feel motivated. If you feel motivated then in the cultural awareness training program, whatever material is being provided to you, whatever exercise is being done to you, you will direct attention towards it. When you direct attention, then attention would lead to retention. Retention also depends on your motivation that how long you can retain it. Because motivation is something which is going to define that okay, I want to learn and retain what has been told to me. And then again, retention is going to then lead to reproduction when you retain the information which is given to you. For example, if you are given an exercise of role play and you belong to an American culture and you are given a role play of a Japanese culture. And you play a role and then you forget what behaviors of Japanese culture you have represented. Then there is no reproduction, no retention. So, retention and then reproduction is something which is going to lead to skill development. You can see that from reproduction there isn't a direct link between adjustment and performance. The path of reproduction of behaviors that are learned in the cultural awareness training that leads to skill development. So, if skill development happens after cultural awareness training, your skill is improved, yourself dimension, your relational skills, your perceptual skills, they are improved. Then if you apply those skills to your situation, then you will be able to adjust and then be able to perform on the expatriate assignment. Now coming down to this diagram, you can see that incentives also play a very important role. If proper incentives are given to you regarding the cultural awareness training or the incentive which is inherent in the international assignment. If there is an incentive, then you will retain what is given to you in the cultural awareness training program. But if there is not an incentive, if you don't feel that it is something which is going to lead to your career development or it is going to lead to some skill enhancement, then you will not retain what has been told to you or what you have played or what you have exercised. And incentives are something which are drawn from your performance management systems. And performance management system of your organization is a vital and key variable in determining how you manage the performance of people, whether they are hired for domestic assignments or they are hired for the international assignments. So for the international assignments as well, your performance management system is the center of the activities which happen in order to manage the performance of people working in your organization. So this is a holistic and overarching model which defines all the possible factors which could affect, intervene, moderate or mediate the relationship between cultural awareness training and the performance of a person. It's not just a linear relationship, it's not just going to happen in a linear way that, okay, you have provided cultural awareness training, then a person is going to perform well. It is going to be moderated and mediated by all these variables, by all these factors, which if are in line are and are provided at the right time and the right place, then these training programs will lead to performance and adjustment in the expatriate international assignment. So this is the model which discusses about all these factors of cultural awareness training and how people will perform on an international assignment.