Sensitivity TRAINING

• The Sensitivity Training refers to the unorganized meeting held

between the group members, generally fewer in number, away from
the workplace to gain the insights of their own as well as others
behaviour.

• It is the mental ability that enables an individual to be sensitive and

to understand the emotions of others, and at the same time, being
able to manage his own behavior and impulses.
 Three Steps essential for a sensitivity training
program
• Unfreezing the old values: The group members should keep their old beliefs or
perceptions about the other members aside and motivate them to speak freely, whatever
is in their minds. By doing so, there is a chance that each member will be heard carefully,
and new relations can be formed by eliminating the misconceptions, that were created in
the past.
• Development of New Values: Once the member is allowed to speak freely, the behavior of
each other can be determined easily, through the interactions in the form of feedback.
Thus, at this stage, the members start developing the values or beliefs about each other.
• Re-Freezing the new ones: The beliefs formed through the interactions with each group
member, individual tries to freeze the perception or behavior in his mind. The success of
sensitivity training depends on how the trainees get an opportunity to practice their new
behaviors at their workplace.
 Cultural Sensitivity TRAINING
• Working across cultures is commonly seen as a challenging experience, with many
obstacles and differences often hindering progress or success. Even the best employees
can fail when they are operating outside their usual and familiar cultural context.
• Working successfully across cultures does not have to be challenging, however,
especially if you have the right intercultural knowledge, support and cultural sensitivity
training.
• Anyone with a high level of cultural sensitivity will adapt more easily and effectively to the
values, attitudes and communication styles of another culture.
• With a high level of cultural sensitivity, international managers or members of
international teams are able to better understand and harness the potential of their
multicultural team.
• Cultural sensitivity can help anyone working across cultures recognise what motivates
people in that culture and know how to reward performance.
 Cultural Sensitivity TRAINING
• Many western brands have shown a terrible lack of cultural sensitivity when they tried to
do business across cultures.
• When Pepsi used light blue for its product packaging in South East Asia, for instance, they
did not realise that light blue was actually the colour of mourning in that specific culture
so sales decreased and Pepsi lost money changing their marketing campaign.
• Providing cultural awareness training to the Pepsi team responsible for this new
branding could have helped avoid a costly and unnecessary situation.
• Employees working across cultures can benefit immensely from cultural sensitivity
training courses which will give them a solid cross cultural framework and skills to help
them to avoid cultural pitfalls and misunderstandings.
 Training at Infosys
• Infosys Technologies Limited, one of India’s biggest IT & software companies provided IT
services, solutions and consultation globally and employed over 49,000 employees
worldwide.
• Infosys has remained successful over the years in keeping the attrition rate lower as
compared to the industry average and has been recognized world over for its efforts in
training its employees.
• It was rated as the ‘Best Employer in India’ in 2001 and 2002 by leading Indian business
magazines.
• Infosys have 14 ½ week rigorous training module for freshers. These training module
encompasses both technical and soft skills training and gears the fresher for a
challenging career.
 THE GLOBAL BUSINESS FOUNDATION SCHOOL:
INFOSYS TRAINING PROGAMME
• The American Society for Training and Development (ASTD) has rated Infosys
Technologies Ltd as the world's best in employee training and development.
• The Global Business Foundation School is a structured programme to enhance technical
and behavioural competencies of fresh engineering graduates.
• The one-year programme equips freshers for the challenging software career ahead of
them.
• In addition to technical courses, fresh entrants are exposed to courses on communication
skills, interpersonal skills, management development and quality systems to absorb the
company's corporate culture
 MOTOROLA TRAINING Practices
• The innovative training programs of Motorola turned training into a continuous learning
process.
• In the 1980s, the training initiatives of the company culminated in the setting up of the
Motorola Education and Training Center, an exclusive institute to look after the training
and development requirements of Motorola's employees.
• The institute was later elevated to the status of a university - Motorola University - in 1989.
These training experiments became such a resounding success that employee
productivity improved year after year and quality-wise Motorola's products became
synonymous with perfection.
 MOTOROLA TRAINING PRactices
• Leading companies all over the world visited Motorola's headquarters to study the high-
performance work practices of the company. They discovered that Motorola's success
was built on the strong foundations of corporate-wide learning practices and that
Motorola University was the cornerstone of corporate learning.
• In recognition of its excellent training and development practices, the American Society
for Training and Development (ASTD) named Motorola the ‘Top Training Company’.
 nestle TRAINING Practices
• Nestlé is today the world’s leading food company, with a 135-year history and operations
in virtually every country in the world.
• Nestlé’s principal assets are not office buildings, factories, or even brands. Rather, it is
the fact that they are a global organization comprised of many nationalities, religions, and
ethnic backgrounds all working together in one single unifying corporate culture.
• The willingness to learn is an essential condition to be employed by Nestlé. First and
foremost, training is done on-the-job. Guiding and coaching is part of the responsibility of
each manager and is crucial to make each one progress in his/her position.
• Formal training programs are generally purpose-oriented and designed to improve
relevant skills and competencies. Therefore they are proposed in the framework of
individual development programs and not as a reward.
 Nestlé Apprenticeship Program
• Apprenticeship programs have been an essential part of Nestlé training where the young
trainees spent three days a week at work and two at school. Positive results observed but
some of these soon ran into a problem. At the end of training, many students were hired
away by other companies which provided no training of their own.
• Apprenticeship programs are very useful for everything. It’s not only a matter of learning
a particular skill, say bakery; employees also learn about microbiology, finance,
budgeting, costs, sales, how to treat the customer, and so.
 Nestlé Local Training
• Virtually every national Nestlé company organizes management-training courses for new
employees with High school or university qualifications. But their approaches vary
considerably.
• In Japan, for example, they consist of a series of short courses typically lasting three
days each. Subjects include human assessment skills, leadership and strategy as well as
courses for new supervisors and new key staff.
• In Mexico, Nestlé set up a national training center in 1965. In addition to those following
regular training programs, some 100 people follow programs for young managers there
every year. These are based on a series of modules that allows tailored courses to be
offered to each participant.
• In Singapore, to quote just one example, staff is given financial help to take evening
courses in job-related subjects. Fees and expenses are reimbursed for successfully
following courses leading to a trade certificate, a high school diploma, university entrance
qualifications, and a bachelor’s degree
 Nestlé International Training
• Nestlé’s success in growing local companies in each country has been highly influenced
by the functioning of its international Training Centre, located near our company’s
corporate headquarters in Switzerland.
• For over 30 years, the Rive-Reine International Training Centre has brought together
managers from around the world to learn from senior Nestlé managers and from each
other.
• All course leaders are Nestlé managers with many years of experience in a range of
countries. Only 25% of the teaching is done by outside professionals, as the primary
faculty is the Nestlé senior management.
 Toyota Debacle
• Ms. Hamp had been heralded as evidence of President Akio Toyoda’s focus on diversifying
the company’s mainly Japanese, male-dominated leadership and workforce. Global
economists touted it as a commitment to more female executives.
• While lodging in a Tokyo hotel during her move from the U.S., she was arrested under
suspicion of importing oxycodone tablets into Japan, where it is a tightly controlled
substance. Japanese media reported that the medication was packaged with jewellery.
• The arrest caused loss of face for Toyota, both in Japan and around the world. Police
raided Toyota’s regional offices after the arrest was made. The financial cost to the
company in terms of negative publicity, possible loss of senior executives, and additional
fall-out was huge.
• And all because, according to the company, Ms. Hamp was not properly prepared for her
new life in Japan.
 Toyota Debacle
Consider these 3 practical approaches for avoiding an international blunder similar to Toyota’s:

• Ensure your international transfers develop cultural awareness and global competency. All
employees transferring to positions in another country need to have interactive intercultural
training that includes role-playing and simulations of critical incidents to embed that learning.
This will assist international transfers so their companies won’t end up having to express
regret that they didn’t adequately prepare them with settling into their new job.
• Provide Country Specific Briefings to executives relocating to geographical areas such as
Japan. When transferring into a MNC in a country where diversity is a relatively new concept,
expect a heightened level of scrutiny and prepare your people accordingly. Experienced
cross-cultural experts will customize training sessions to help your international transfers
ensure a successful relocation and avoid international blunders.
• Provide insight to international transfers about culture-based expectations and practices.
Avoid an employee’s or expatriate’s costly return, arrest, or possible deportation by providing
training that includes relocation do’s and don’ts, international travel packing restrictions,
cultural taboos, and moving tips and traps.
Amazon
 Countless Opportunities

• At Amazon, there are countless opportunities to develop skills, advance in your

current career or get training through our Career Skills and Career Choice programs
for an in-demand field of your choice, regardless of whether the skills relate to a job
back at Amazon
 Career Choice
• Career Choice is available to Amazon hourly associates who have been employed for one
continuous year. With this program, the company pre-pays 95% of tuition and fees for
associates to earn certificates and associate degrees in high-demand occupations such
as aircraft mechanics, computer-aided design, machine tool technologies, medical
laboratory science, dental hygiene, solar technician and nursing
• Because of the great interest in Career Choice, we've built 39 onsite classrooms so
college and technical classes can be taught inside our fulfillment centers, making
associates' participation in Career Choice even more seamless by reducing the need to
commute for skill-building classes
• More than 16,000 associates have participated in Career Choice across 10 countries –
U.S., Canada, U.K., Germany, Spain, France, Ireland, Italy, Poland, Czech Republic –
and we’re expanding the program to South Africa, Costa Rica and Slovakia
 Career Skills

• Career Skills is a free, on-site training and development program available to all hourly
Amazon employees beginning on day one. The program offers classes on a variety of
skills such as resume building, interviewing skills, effective speaking, time management,
Microsoft excel and more. Employee development is important to us, and we offer
educational programs for our multi-national workforce to grow
• We have multiple employee training programs including re-training opportunities,
apprenticeships, career skills training, leader orientation, software developer training for
women, Pathways Operations Leadership Development program to develop high-
potential graduates, a relaunch program for women who had previously left the workforce
to care for their families, veteran apprenticeships, military leader program, a military
pathways program focused on high-potential leaders, fellowships, and mentorships
 A2Tech

• The Associate to Tech (A2Tech) program is a training opportunity for fulfillment associates with interest
in IT support. Associates can apply to open IT Support Technician roles in fulfillment centers and if
selected, be hired as a temporary technician for 90 days spending 6 hours of the work day getting
hands-on experience and 2 hours studying for the CompTIA A+ certification exams. Access to
eLearning materials and vouchers for the A+ 220-901 and 220-902 exams are provided by Amazon
Ops Tech IT. If participating associates obtain the A+ certification in the allotted 90 days, the technician
role becomes permanent
Thank you