Previously, Surinder wrote a blog post on his observations about different cultural expectations and implicit communication patterns.  He discussed some ways that virtual team leaders could help limit cultural snafus in teams. As more companies are working with partners around the world and multicultural teams occur more and more often, understanding of cultural differences is important for team members and leaders — for both face-to-face and virtual teams. Companies are purchasing seminars to help educate expatriates and those working in varying cultural contexts. (See this NY Times article about cross-cultural training effectiveness). However, companies are also trying to cut down on costs for training and other “extras”, and some intercultural training methods, such as one-time seminars, can be of limited effectiveness. For these reasons, intercultural training may be an excellent candidate for transfer to virtual world environments.

In this post I discuss social learning theory and how it could be applied to cross-cultural training in virtual worlds. The discussion of social learning theory is based on an article from the Academy of Management Review by J. Stewart Black and Mark Mendenhall.

Social Learning Theory
Social learning theory is the basis for the design of many business trainings used today. It describes how people learn new behaviors through not only their own experiences and the results of those experiences, but also through observing the behaviors and consequences of others. In other words, people can learn behavior modifications from the modeled behaviors of others. In fact, learning through observation of others can be of critical import for socialization and assimilation into new cultures. One study found that people entering a new organization relied most on observing others for learning about their role and the organizational culture and that observation was the most useful method for gathering the appropriate knowledge. Examples of modeled behavior currently used in trainings include watching films or role-plays from which trainees gather information on behaviors and the consequences of those behaviors. Lectures can even serve as a sort of behavioral modeling if connections are drawn between actions and consequences. Social learning theory describes 4 elements necessary for learning:

• Attention
  The trainee has to pay attention to and notice the behavior that is being modeled. Some factors that influence whether or not the trainee pays attention and how much attention is paid include: the status of the model; the attractiveness of the model; the similarity of the model to the trainee; and the repeated availability of the model.
• Retention
  The information has to be stored in memory and understood.
• Reproduction
  The trainee has to be able to reproduce the behavior and check his/her performance against the modeled behavior.
  
• Motivation
  There must be some sort of internal or external motivation for the trainee to change his/her behavior, such as the belief that the behavior will lead to better job performance or ease stress in new situations.

Using Virtual Worlds for Cross-Cultural Training
Cross-cultural training in virtual worlds could aid in attention and retention through features that aid immersion. Reproduction can take place multiple times in virtual worlds without the need for trainees to visit a specific place. And motivation could be enhanced through a fun or game-like atmosphere. For example, 3-D immersive spaces can be designed that represent the target culture and avatars that wear clothing worn in the target culture (for example, the Virtual Forbidden City is an immersive replica of the Forbidden City in Beijing, and all the avatars wear clothing historically appropriate to the Forbidden City). Gestures and animations could be used to give appropriate non-verbal communication cues. The use of avatars also allows users to practice appropriate interpersonal distances. Voice communication capabilities would allow for communication in the target language. The training environment could be developed so that multiple users interact in a space at once or “non-playing characters” could be developed to interact with users and help simulate real world encounters.

Based on elements of social learning theory, Black and Mendenhall have offered several propositions for making cross-cultural training effective. Three of these propositions should transfer very well to utilizing virtual worlds and their features for effective training.

The first proposition is that using models similar to the trainee will result in greater attention to the modeled behavior and more effective training. The malleability of identity available through the creation of avatars in virtual worlds should help trainers create avatars that look, and possibly act, similar to the trainee. Or, as suggested by the Proteus Effect, the trainee’s own avatar could be used to show the desired behavior and reinforce it. The Proteus Effect occurs when experiences that take place via an avatar translate into transformed behavior, such as people who watch their avatar exercise are more likely to exercise themselves. Viewing their own avatar should enhance attention to the behavioral modeling and reinforce it through direct experience at the same time.

The second proposition is that modeled behavior that is similar to already familiar behavior is easier to retain and reproduce. Although in cross-cultural training situations, trainees may be learning behaviors that are not readily similar to their own everyday ways of behaving, virtual worlds could help assimilate the new behaviors into more familiar situations that help create mental connections in trainees’ minds. For example, the environment in which the behavior is modeled could be made to resemble a familiar place that brings some level of familiarity to the trainee. After the behavior is modeled in the familiar environment, the environment could then be changed again to one that the trainee is likely to face in the future.

The third proposition is that successive modeling aids retention of the target behavior. Training areas could be set up in a virtual world that allow for multiple interactions over time without the need to travel to a special training area. Behaviors could be practiced with other trainees in different stages and over several times so that the behaviors become gradually more intuitive and reproducible. As mentioned above, this could also be done through the creation of non-playing characters that the trainee interacts with over time. One group at the University of Texas is doing this in order to teach people about Afghani culture. Variations in the characters that are brought to the world each time it is played allow for many iterations and varying circumstances that trainees can learn from. (Article information on this project can be seen here.) The company Alelo is also using this premise to provide cross-cultural and foreign language training for educational organizations and for military organizations.

Cross-cultural training is one promising area for using virtual worlds to deliver efficient training as well as cut costs and resource commitments from organizations.  We may see over time that some of the features available in virtual worlds may actually increase the effectiveness of training over traditional seminars. Does anyone have any experience with or know of any other instances of virtual worlds for cross-cultural training? I would love to hear about them.