Answer

Following the decision by the global U.S. automobile manufacturer to internationalize into Eastern markets namely, Japan, China, and Singapore, it is quintessential to understand that both national culture and ethnicity impacts the process of knowledge management in organization. Additionally, individual factors such as learning style, levels of tacit knowledge accumulated by the managerial team, and their adaptive flexibility influenced not only the learning process, but also their effective adjustment to new host cultures (Armstrong & Yan, 2017). This understanding informs decisions on the development of plans for orientation programs for new hires for the Eastern market. Guided by this understanding, this paper evaluates the following elements. First, it discusses how Eastern markets will view new hire orientation, and how to tailor the new hire orientation to the market. Second, the paper discusses how Eastern markets perceives relationships between trainer and learner. Third, it evaluates responsibilities for training and the most suitable delivery methods.

Plans for Orientation Program for New Hires

1. How Eastern market will view new hire orientation

The orientation program will potentially be welcomed by the new hires. This statement is backed by the fact that international employees have a higher affinity for new knowledge, experiences, and skill sets that make empower them and make them adequately suited to work for multinational corporations. In addition, the new hires understand that global enterprises should nurture global thinking into their employees while also developing their leadership skills to suit the requirements of global leadership (Fyock, 2019). To master these new skills, it is imperative that the new hires will require to be adequately oriented through learning and development. The two best approaches to tailoring the orientation programs for new hires is through assimilation and onboarding. Onboarding denotes the process through which an organization integrates new employees and familiarizes them with the firm’s culture, practices and processes. It is also referred to as organizational socialization. It helps employees internalize the necessary behavior, skills and knowledge that makes them effective members of the organization. Onboard entails four phases which are; initial development, ongoing development, retention and separation (Fyock, 2019). The second way to tailor the orientation for the new hires is through cultural assimilation. The term cultural assimilation refers to the willingness and ability for an organization to quickly hire and teach its employees about organization culture and corporate behavior. Assimilation helps tailor the new hires to the orientation process as it helps them master the basic behaviors and culture of the organization.

1. How Eastern markets perceive the relationship between the learner and trainer

The relationship between the learner and the trainer can be predicted using national culture theories and models, namely the Geert Hofstede’s model. The model explains six dimensions and how they influence the culture of the individuals. As a result, the national culture impacts the perception of the new hires or learners from the Eastern countries towards their trainers. Khan and Khan (2015) explain that Eastern countries namely Singapore, Japan, and China have high power distance. This means the learners are likely to perceive the trainer as being more powerful. They will hold the trainers in high regard and show them respect. Considering the element of individualism, Eastern countries are considered collectivists (Siddique, 2017). Because of this, they will sustain a respectful relationship to a trainer who respects their need for collectivism and not subjecting them to individualism believes.

1. Responsibility of orienting new hires from Eastern countries and how the orientation will be delivered

The responsibility of training and developing new hires from the Eastern countries will be given to an expatriate. Armstrong and Yan (2017) insist that expatriation is the best approach for teaching and orienting new employees. The expatriates are trained and thus, have mastered adaptive flexibility and accumulated managerial tacit knowledge required to affect the much-needed adjustments among the new hires in the host country/ culture. The expatriates might not be competent in speaking the local languages used in the Eastern countries. They will need a translator to break the possible language barrier. The use of expatriates is important since it conditions the learners into beginning the assimilation process. It further orients their brains into shading the localized mentality and becoming effective global employees.

The orientation will be delivered through as a live orientation training session through the Zoom application. Live orientation exploits the use of new and digital technologies in bypassing the policies instigated to curtail the spread of the covid-19 health pandemic. Once normal operations resume, the trainer will schedule face to face meetings to continue with the orientation process. The trainer should make sure to apply the experiential learning theory (ELT) which dictates that knowledge should be created by transforming experiences (Armstrong & Yan 2017). According to this theory, human experience should be at the center of achieving holistic learning. This approach to learning could be conducted online after which the learners can be presented with practical sessions to reinforce their tacit knowledge. Combining live orientation with face to face sessions will reinforce the learning and make the learners better knowledgeable to perform their duties as global and cross-cultural employees.