Who Should Attend ?

Company managers and staff working and dealing with the North Africans from the Maghreb (Algeria, Mauritania, Morocco, Libya, Tunisia).

Benefits of Attendance

The aim of this seminar is to significantly improve the participants’ effectiveness in their professional relationships with North Africans from the Maghreb, enabling them to be operational right from the start.

At the end of this training, participants will have acquired insights and techniques to:

• Be aware of their own cultural baggage
• Fully understand North African context and culture
• Analyse possible situations in which misunderstandings may arise and identify ways of communicating
• Reduce stress and misunderstandings
• Decipher and understand decision-making and negotiation processes

Training Approach

Programme Outline

Module 1 : Understanding cultural differences

1. Intercultural awareness, the key to success in international business

• Taking stock of one's own cultural baggage
• The basics of effective intercultural management
• Identifying and going beyond cultural stereotypes

2. Key aspects of North African culture

• Geographical information: defining the Greater Maghreb area
• Arabs and Berbers: a mix of peoples
• The impact of colonial domination: colonies and protectorates
• All the richness and diversity of a thousand-year-old heritage 
• The issue of democracy
• Highly promising economic ambitions

3. The impact of values and behaviour patterns on professional dealings and relationships

• Vital bedrocks: the family and tribe
• A sense of hospitality and honour
• The key role of women in the Maghreb
• Islam as a guiding force
• A respect for age and authority
• The role of the individual in and via the community
• A flexible view of time

4. The North African corporate world

• A paternalistic environment
• The impact of Islam in business life
• The control exercised by the state and the authorities

Module 2 : Succeeding in work with the North Africans from the Maghreb

1. Effective communication with the North Africans from the Maghreb

• The challenge of implicit communication
• Interconnecting networks
• The value of gestural communication and appearances
• Arabic and French used for business

2. Adapting your working methods

• Availability, distance and an open mind
• Building a specific company culture to boost staff loyalty
• Responsiveness and feedback: getting the most from creative people
• Decision-making and supervision: conflict avoidance
• Pitfalls to be avoided

3. Successful meetings and negotiations with the North Africans from the Maghreb

• Giving relationships that personal touch
• Negotiating and haggling: identifying decision-makers
• The virtues of patience and perspective
• Giving your best and taking the long-term view
• Understanding written contracts, their interpretation and implications
• Organising the post-negotiation phase

4. Final handy tips

• Caution, patience and humility
• Protocol and etiquette
• Social standards, gifts, business cards, dress code
• Sensitive subjects: politics, history, religion
• Humour: a double-edged sword