Is Intercultural Business Training Worth It?

I recently had an encounter with some Americans who worked closely with German colleagues — not very well. They felt that their hard work and efforts were underappreciated by the Germans and that they were regarded as a bunch of cowboys. They felt that compared to their Asian and European counterparts in the same company, they were the only ones following the rules. Meanwhile, the German headquarters did indeed think that these Americans were making up their own rules. The glaring stereotypes of cavalier American butting heads with straightlaced, humorless Germans popped in my mind. This seemed to be a clear case of intercultural communication problems.

Let’s dissect the relationship a bit.
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