Conflict Management in Global Companies located in India

Anne Julia Köster is a researcher and interculturalist specialized in communication and education. At present she is a doctoral candidate at the European University Viadrina in Frankfurt (Oder), Germany.

When R. J. House said being global is not just about where you do business , he wanted to point out that there are a lot more factors than new location that create challenges for companies when they internationalise their activities. Today modern infrastructure permits us to exchange information and to interact with business partners and colleagues around the world. Along with the globalisation of business cooperation come new challenges and conflicts that need to be faced by company leaders. It is argued that 45,7% of all joint-venture projects fail not because of financial, legal or organisational problems within a company, but because intercultural communication processes between employees of different cultural backgrounds lead to misunderstanding, frustration and failure of projects. The lack of intercultural competences among employees of global companies is often criticised and considered as the main reason for the occurrence of such intercultural conflicts. But how could the employees' intercultural soft skills be increased to prevent and solve these conflicts? The book gives answers to this question by presenting an intercultural conflict management model for global companies taking the example of four approaches to employee trainings practised in German, Japanese and US-American company outposts located in India.