Page 83 - Crossing Cultural Boundaries - Cees den Teuling

power and respect towards hierarchy are necessary instruments to force knowledge sharing in hostile environments in Russian companies. Another obstacle is the apprehension about failures. Recognising failures as a learning opportunity is widely accepted in the majority of Western organisations. In the Russian context, failures are kept secret by the employee(s) because of being anxious for possible negative consequences. However, this results in another learning potential to be “down the drain” (and gone forever).
However, mutuality and sharing in the development of the learning process, collaboration from Western partners/instructors with the Russian Institutions, make cultural differences less problematic, as argued by Inkpen and Crossan (1995). Knowledge and experience can flow from East to West, as well as from West to East. In such process, the Western partners address their present needs to be able to educate European managers, capable of dealing with a mosaic of separate cultures (Shenton, 1996).
Being aware of cultural aspects, avoiding stumbling about barriers, is an essential feature in establishing an effective cross-cultural training environment, especially the Russian. Institutional, linguistic and cultural barriers create an array of different expectations, atmosphere and attitudes. A specific topic to address is the role of the trainer and the emphasised role of interaction between trainer and trainee. Russian participants are used to a strong theoretical framework at the start. Mostly, they enjoy the unexpected and oriented to activation participative learning methods of the Western trainer, but are not comfortable with the different approach to learning in the more pro-active, practical, less theoretical oriented style of Western trainers (Gilbert & Gorlenko, 1999).
While using an Action Learning (AL) methodology, as argued by Lee, Letiche, Crawshaw, and Thomas (1996), Western academics can explore similarities and differences between Russian and Western learning systems and act as resources for Russian colleagues in the development of their own, uniquely Russian modules, courses and qualifications, and to assist in the westward movement of new knowledge and insights.
The importance of available prior knowledge, described as ACAP is discussed, commented on in the section to follow.
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