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 Pre- departure training
Types of courses can include:
cross- cultural awareness;
country-specific briefing;
language courses;
international negotiation skills;
multinational team building;
transfer of skills and knowledge across cultures;
repatriation training.
Pre- departure training aims to provide cultural briefing for those going 
to live and work in foreign cultures. Specialist organizations involved in 
this field include the Centre for International Briefing in Farnham (UK), 
International House, London, the Clingendael Institute in The Hague, 
CIDA in Borden (Canada) and the Norwegian Government Training Scheme 
(NORAID). In addition, a number of university business schools also pro-
vide specialist short briefing courses tailored to a company’s requirements. 
There are advantages in using outside agencies as they provide a supportive, 
neutral and residential venue away from the pressures of the office, with 
access to a wide network of specialists and a mix of delegates from different 
nationalities for discussion groups.
Business culture training can range from a one- day seminar or work-
shop to longer programmes that can include simulation exercises in which 
participants are immersed in another culture over several days. Courses 
can be scheduled on fixed dates or specially customized and tailored 
to specific needs. The latter are especially appropriate if the schedule 
dates are inconvenient, if there is an issue of commercial confidentia-
lity or if a group from the same company is about to move to the same 
location.
Ideally, non- working partners and, where appropriate, teenage children 
should be involved in some aspects of the training. This is highly desirable, 
as life for them may often prove to be more difficult, at least initially, as they 
have to get to grips with a new routine in a new culture, whereas the working 
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Selection and Preparation for Foreign Assignments 109