This training workshop was developed in 1990 by Joel Wallach and Gale Metcalf, co-authors of Working with Americans: A Practical Guide for Asians on How to Succeed with U.S. Managers (McGraw-Hill, 1995).  The book and the workshop were Wallach & Metcalf's response to requests they received from U.S. firms to enhance the ability of local Asian managers to work effectively within an American corporate context.  Still based in Asia after nearly two decades, Wallach & Metcalf ensure that their workshop continuously evolves in response to changing business trends in the region.

Intended participants include middle- and senior-level managers who are based in Southeast and East Asia, and who interface with American and other Western managers or consultants on a regular basis, including by means of e-mail, fax, and telephone as well as face-to-face. 

Wallach & Metcalf's clients for this workshop have included Dupont, Texas Instruments, McDonalds, Exxon, Eli Lilly, Amoco, General Dynamics, and the U.S. State Department.
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Learning / Performance Objectives
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The objectives of Working Effectively with Americans are...

• To increase participants' understanding of how Americans think, communicate, and behave in the work environment.
• To introduce participants to perspectives and techniques that will make them increasingly effective as they work with and for Americans.
• To introduce skills and perspectives that will enable Asian managers to become more effective as global managers.

Day 1 focuses on a wide range of intercultural issues in the workplace.  Addressed is on-the-job effectiveness in terms of...

• Building and maintaining personal relationships
• Giving and receiving "feedback"
• Effective decision-making in U.S. firms
• Problem-solving American-style
• Timelines, deadlines, and American time-consciousness
• When and how to take individual initiative
• Performance appraisals: What to expect, how to succeed
• What to do if you've made a mistake or overlooked somthing
• Business and personal ethics from an American perspective
• Summary: Being perceived as an effective manager

The morning of Day 2 probes deeply into a few critical communication skills:

• Disagreements and conflicts: What Americans expect, how they behave
• Management and leadership styles: How Americans control and guide
• Social etiquette in the diverse American workplace