Cultural Immersion Training 

Elixir​ ​Corporation  
─ 

Set forth by Training and Development Department 

Piya, Anum Naveed, Rabea Boubenider, and Marina A. Nlang Ondo 

 
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Overview  
Elixir Corporation is a crude oil refinement corporation which operates in all seven 
continents. Elixir was founded in 1993, under the leadership of Natalia Kurdishiat and has 
been able to grow to become one of the largest crude oil refinement companies. Currently, 
the company has been in multiple partnerships with fellow oil industry giants and as well 
as​ contractual partnerships with government oil exploration departments worldwide. 
Based in the United States, the company has a plethora of employees who work with the 
organization from all over the world. The organization’s commitment to diversity and 
inclusivity has allowed itself to integrate workers from all continents to the corporate 
headquarters in Houston, Texas.  
This initiative has presented a training need for the newly arrived employees, who have 
been having a difficulty understanding and acquiring the nuances in American culture. This 
has resulted in miscommunication between employees and their peers, superiors and 
other stakeholders in the company. Hence, a cultural training program has been 
assembled to address and remedy cultural differences among the international employees.  

Goal 
Our ultimate goal of this training initiative is to inform employees of the company issued 
cultural acceptance etiquette and to provide a base knowledge of how to interact and 
communicate effectively with stakeholders, clients and coworkers.  

Proposed Solution: 
● Elixir corp. Will develop a m
​ andatory​ lecture-practice based Cultural integration 
training program. 
●  
The training will be 4-weeks long and will take place at the transfers’ respective 
countries of origin prior to them boarding to the US. Trainees will be required to 
attend two sessions per week (2 hours per session/lesson). 
 
● The program will serve as main cultural immersion guide for foreign employees to 
minimize workplace performance gaps. By helping foreign employees and others 
considered unfamiliar with the american culture with the successful integration into 
the new cultural environment they will be living in, the company ensures a better 
personal as well as professional experience for its employees once in the U.S. 
 
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● This program will become part of the pre-employment screening process for all 
foreign employees and any other employee not having lived in the U.S. for the last 
10 years. 
 

Objectives 
Upon completing this training program, expat employees ​a​nd employees who have not
spent the last 10 years in the U.S. regardless of their nationality ​at Elixir Corp. will: 

• Have a deeper ability to communicate and abide by the general guidelines of 
American culture. 
• Effectively display professional communication/interpersonal skills in the 
workplace. 
• Develop confidence and comfort in navigating a new cultural environment 
waiting ahead.  

Target Audience and Learner and Context Characteristics: 

Target Audience​: All international employees coming to work in the corporate office in 
Houston. 
Participants​: Twenty-five mechanical, electrical and chemical engineers. 
To gather data about the participants and aide our needs assessment analysis, three 
different surveys were conducted to gather data about the learners. Two surveys are 
developed by the company and the other is priorly established.  
The evaluations include:
Self Evaluation
   Strongly  Disagree  Slightly  Slightly  Agree  Strongly 
Disagree  Disagree  Agree  Agree 

1  I feel that rules                   

about 
addressing my 
superiors are 
different from 
my country. 

2  I feel rules                   
about 
addressing my 
peers are 
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different from 
my country. 

3  I feel that                   
interpersonal 
etiquettes in 
the United 
States are 
different than 
what I am used 
to. 

4  I feel that                   
hygiene 
protocols in 
the United 
States are 
different that 
those in my 
country. 

5  I feel that                   
dining 
etiquettes in 
the United 
States are 
different from 
what I am used 
to. 

6  I feel that the                   

norms 
concerning 
physical 
contact and 
personal space 
in the United 
States are 
different than 
what I am used 
to. 

7  I feel                   
comfortable in 
introducing 
myself in a 
professional 
environment in 
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the United 
States. 

8  I am                   
comfortable 
with working 
individually. 

9  It is                   
comfortable 
for me to voice 
my ideas to my 
boss, even if 
they disagree. 

10  I feel             
comfortable 
about voicing 
my opinions to 
my peers, even 
if they 
disagree. 

 
Results 
 
Cultural Dimensions  Familiarity 
Communicating with superiors  45.00% 
Communicating with peers  68.00% 
Dining etiquettes  90.00% 
Hygiene etiquettes  98.00% 
Physical contact and personal 
space  49.00% 
Individual work  57.00% 
Voicing opposition to superiors  24.00% 
Voicing opposition to peers  44.00% 
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You 1.2 Learning Style Inventory.​ Organizational Behaviour Pg. 21 
24 Item Survey. 
 
This is to conduct contextual analysis of the learners to determine how the learn 
the best and feel comfortable retaining information. 

1. Can remember more about a subject through the lecture method with information, 
explanations, and discussion.  
2.  Prefer information to be written on chalkboard, with use of visual aids and assigned 
readings.  
3.  Like to write things down or take notes for visual review.  
4.  Prefer to use posters, models or actual practice and some activities in class. 
5.  Require explanations of diagrams, graphs, or visual directions.  
6.  Enjoy working with my hands or making things.  
7.  Am skillful with and enjoy developing and making graphs and charts.  
8.  Can tell if sounds match when presented with pairs of sound.  
9.  Remember best by writing things down several times. 
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10. Can understand and follow directions on maps.  

11. Do better at academic subjects by listening to lectures and tapes. 
12. Play with coins or keys in pockets. 
13. Learn to spell better by repeating the word out loud than by writing the word on paper. 
14. Can better understand a news development by reading about it in the paper than by 
listening to the radio.  
15. Chew gum, smoke, or snack during studies.  
16. Feel the best way to remember is to picture it in your head.  
17. Learn spelling by ‘finger spelling’ words.  
18. Would rather listen to a good lecture or speech than read about the same material in a 
textbook.  
19. Am good at working and solving jigsaw puzzles and mazes.  
20. Grip objects in hands during learning period.  
21. Prefer listening to the news on the radio rather than reading about it in the newspaper.  
22. Obtain information on an interesting subject by reading relevant material. 
23. Feel very comfortable touching others, hugging, hand-shaking, etc. 
24. Follow oral directions better than written ones.  

Scoring Procedures: If the description describes you well, then often which is 5 
points. If it describes you sometimes, then assign it 3 points. If it describes you 
seldom then assign it 1 point. 
  
Visual preference score: 
Auditory preference score:  
Tactile Preference score:  
 
Results 
 
Learning
Style Demographics 
Visual 45.00% 
Auditory 37.00% 
Tactile 15.00% 
More than One 3.00% 
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Learner Demographics and Context Information 

​ ​
Please​ Fill In the Information Below 

Please name your country of   

citizenship. 

How many languages do you   

speak fluently? Please name all. 

Have you ever lived in the United   

States? For how long? 

Have you ever visited the United   

States? For how long? 

How familiar are you with   

American culture? Scale 1-4 
(1; Not at All- 4; Very Familiar) 

What is the source of your   

knowledge about American 
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culture? Ex: Movies, tv shows, 

family, personal experience.  

What is one aspect of American   

culture you are very familiar with? 
For example: Communication 
etiquette, hygiene, dining 
etiquette, etc. 

What is one aspect of American   

culture you are not familiar with? 
For example: communication 
etiquette, hygiene, dining 
etiquette, etc. 

For our upcoming cultural   

immersion training, we would like 
for you to set learning goals for 
yourself. List 3 goals that you 
would like to achieve as a result of 
the training. 

Please indicate your gender.   

Please indicate your first   

language. 

Please indicate your title in the   

organization. 

   

   

   

   
 
Results 
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Needs Assessment Process 

A five week analysis has been conducted to determine where employees lack the 
knowledge and skills to thrive in American society. In efforts to close the gap, Elixir Corp. 
is trying to utilize a bold strategy to boost employee competency. Elixir Corp. aims to 
teach and train employees in the proper American cultural competencies. Some 
examples of competencies include: (1) Culturally sensitive verbal communication. (2) 
Learn colloquial language use on a daily basis in the United States. (3) Differentiate and 
identify non-verbal communication. (4) Improve on their interpersonal skills with 
stakeholders. (5) Communicate in a culturally sensitive manner, which is aligned with 
our diversity and inclusivity practices.  

Needs Assessment Conclusion 

Based on the data that was collected regarding the cultural immersion issue at Elixir 
Corporation, it has been concluded that 

● Learner’s knowledge of the United States come from popular media. 

● Learners feel that there are many differences in communication amongst other 
employees: especially in addressing one’s superior.  
● Learners primarily learn by visual and auditory styles of learning, so presentation 
of information should be aligned with their needs. 
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● In order to encourage higher order learning, we have used cognitive and 

constructivist learning theory: lecture, pre-test/post-test, role playing, and case 
studies.  

Cognitive Theory​: 

Cognitive theory of learning is concerned with the processes of the mind, and how 
those processes can be hightended to encourage lifelong learning. The objective of 
our training is for our trainees to understand and reflect on the cultural practices in a 
professional environment in the United States. This is why we are using lectures, charts, 
pre and post test to support their cognition and retention of information. This will allow 
them to problem solve and use prior knowledge to support the learning of new content. 

Constructivist Theory: 

Constructivist learning allows learners to apply the knowledge in a way that makes 
sense to them. It is a good way for the learners to personalize the content and analyze 
the information in a way that involves critical thinking and reflection on the information. 
To promote this, we have role playing and case studies that will allow the learner to 
apply their knowledge.  

Training Content 

I. General Module Components: 

Key elements of this training module that would be part of the core curriculum of 
the training sessions through the lessons are listed and described in the following 
the following table: 

Training Component  Description 

Case Study  A short film is played after the 
-Case Presentation   lecture presenting a 
(Short film)  topic-related case. The film will 
-Case discussion.  contain closed captions to 
  enhance the understanding of 
the audience, allowing for a 
more effective post-case study 
discussion session. 

Role play activity and Collective peer  Self-explanatory 

feedback 
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Guest Speaker   A local employee with 

-Guest’s story  experience working at a 
-Q&A  company’s U.S locations shares a 
lesson-related anecdote and 
gives relevant 
advice/recommendations to the 
trainees, who will be given a 
Q&A opportunity after the story 
(Which can also be interactive 
depending of the speaker) 

Pop quizzes  a pop-quiz is given at the end of the 

  lesson to assess the trainees 
understanding of the lesson’s main 
concepts and notions. 
 

II. Lesson Plan 

The training will mainly be composed of 8 lessons. These lessons will cover basic 
and essential topics regarding life and culture in the U.S. After briefly introducing 
the nature, reason and overall structure of the training program to the students, 
the Instructors will proceed with the sessions as per the following lesson plan: 

Lesson   Lesson Outline 

1. Time  1. Objectives 
  2. The time factor in America 
ii. The value of punctuality 
iii. General Do’s and Don'ts.  
3. Case Study 
i. Case Presentation  
ii. Case discussion 
4. Guest Speaker 
5. Lesson summary  
6. Pop quiz 
 
2. Physical Space  1. Objectives 
2. i. Physical contact and Greeting 
ii.Physical contact and Personal 
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Space 
iii.General Do’s and Don’ts 
   
3. Case Study 
a. Case Presentation  
b. Case discussion 
4. Guest Speaker 
5. Lesson summary  
6. Pop quiz 
 
3. Hygiene  1. Objectives 
2. i. General American Hygiene 
standards 
ii. Specific hygiene aspects. 
a. Daily Shower 
b. Body hair 
c. Odor concerns 
iii. General Do’s and Don’ts 
   
3. Case Study 
a. Case Presentation  
b. Case discussion 
4. Guest Speaker 
5. Lesson summary  
6. Pop quiz 
 
4. Equality   
1. Objectives 
2. i. The notion of Human Equality 
in America 
a. Gender Equality 
b. Social Equality 
ii. Human Equality and the law 
iii. General Do’s and Don'ts. 
3. Case Study 
a. Case Presentation  
b. Case discussion 
4. Guest Speaker 
5. Lesson summary  
6. Pop quiz 
 
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5. Privacy  1. Objectives 
2. i. The notion of Privacy in the 
American Culture 
ii. The “alone time” concept. 
iii. Privacy and conversations 
- Questions about Religion 
- Questions about age 
- Questions about income 
- Questions about marriage 
status 
iv. General Do’s and Don'ts  
3. Case Study 
a. Case Presentation  
b. Case discussion 
4. Guest Speaker 
5. Lesson summary  
6. Pop quiz 
 

6. Formal or Informal?  1. Objectives 

i. American culture and Informality 
a. Dress code. 
b. Speech 
c. Body Language 
 
ii. When/how to go formal? 
a. Dress code. 
b. Speech 
c. Etiquette 
   
iv. General Do’s and Don'ts  
3. Case Study 
a. Case Presentation  
b. Case discussion 
4. Guest Speaker 
5. Lesson summary  
6. Pop quiz 
 

7. Interpersonal Relationships  1. Objectives 

i. An overview of America’s 
Welcoming and 
Friendly culture. 
ii. Watch out for slangs and 
common expressions 
iii. Compliments 
iv. General Do’s and Don'ts  
3. Case Study 
a. Case Presentation  
b. Case discussion 
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4. Guest Speaker 
5. Lesson summary  
6. Pop quiz 
 

8. Shopping Etiquette  1. Objectives 

2. i. An overview on American 
Customer Service 
ii. Your rights as a customer 
iii. Loitering 
vi Window shopping  
v. Tipping  
vi. Payment etiquette. 
vii. General Do’s and Don'ts  
3. Case Study 
a. Case Presentation  
b. Case discussion 
4. Guest Speaker 
5. Lesson summary  
6. Pop quiz 
 

 
● Once the main training plan is executed, there will be a “closure” final session were 
the instructor would go over the topic covered during the training while engaging 
the trainees into a proactive discussion allowing him the opportunity to assess their 
knowledge as well. 

III. Final Assessment: 

At the end of the training session, there will be a comprehensive multi-part assessment 
exam composed of a topic-comprehensive case study followed by a related multiple-choice 
section and 3 short answer questions. 

Performance Evaluations 
To determine the effectiveness of cultural immersion training program, we decided to
utilize Kirkpatrick's 4 level-training evaluation model. Kirkpatrick ​model helps us
objectively analyze the effectiveness and impact of our training, so that we can improve
it in the future. This helps us improve the content of the training which ultimately helps
us save money in the long run.

The four levels are as follow:

1. Reaction: It is imperative to measure the reaction of your trainee because you

want your trainee’s to feel that the training they received was helpful. To
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accomplish this level ​we integrated employee satisfaction questionnaires in our

survey to identify their thoughts about the training. We started by identifying how
we will measure their reaction. Some of the questions that we asked our trainees
were:
● Did you feel that the training was worth your time?
● Did this training help you integrate in American culture?
● Did you like the venue?
● Did you like the medium through which it was presented?
● Did you feel that you learned something that you will be able
to use at work?
The responders were to chose strongly agree/disagree or agree/disagree.

2. Learning: This level is used to measure the change in your trainee’s knowledge,
skills or attitude. This helps you determine if you objective was successfully
incorporated and if your trainees understood the content. To fulfill this level we
designed a pretest to learn trainee’s level of knowledge before the training. The
pretest was hands on evaluation, where we paired an American employee with a
foreign employee to role play meeting each other for the first time in a business
conference. A post test mimicking the role played in pretest was created to learn
the change in their knowledge after the training.

3. Behavior: T​his level is challenging and harder to measure. This level plays a long
term role for the training. Behavior level is adapted to identify if the trainees
embedded any of the learning towards practice? We will conduct interviews and
observations after the training to learn how trainees have incorporated this
training into their daily work overtime​.

4. Results: ​This level is most costly and time consuming. Results level is identifying
which outcomes, benefits, or final results are most closely linked to the training.
Our goal is to help our trainees be comfortable in an American community.Post
test helped us measure trainees learning which helped us determine our next
incorporation of objective for future references.We chose to adapt the Return of
Investment analysis to determine whether the training added value to our
organization beyond the cost of training.

We realize that the Kirkpatrick 4 levels are very popular but also very expensive and
time consuming to mingle in a training program. Although that being said we decided to
utilize this model because cultural immersion training is fairly new to our company and
we wanted a thorough feedback so we may meddle with the content for future success
of this program. By going through each of the levels we were able to measure each
course that this training program is created for. This feedback is important to us as a
company because we want to be able to help people feel comfortable in a new
environment for which we believe is no better evaluation than feedback from our
trainees.
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Conclusion 
The Cultural Immersion Training created by the Training and Development department has 
systematically and scientifically defined the training problem, analyzed the learner and 
context characteristics, designed, developed and established learner evaluations for the 
target participants. This training will give our foreign employees working in our Houston 
office the opportunity to understand and integrate in to the American society and 
workplace.