As the author of Cameroon, I have had the opportunity to use the Cultural Detective model in a training setting with the model's creator, Dianne Hofner Saphiere. The reception and appreciation we received from the audience was very encouraging. Trainers will find Cultural Detective Cameroon to be comprehensive and helpful, covering topics from Cameroonian core values and the perception of these values by various foreigners, to ways of bridging Cameroonian cultures with foreign cultures, using real life critical incidents. The content of Cultural Detective Cameroon is drawn from years of experience training foreigners to understand this "Africa in Miniature."
Cultural Detective Cameroon contains the following stories and critical incidents:
- Cashing a Check:
Japanese administrative assistant Eiko Tai's interaction with a cashier in Cameroon.
- Promotional Materials:
James Markus, US African-American marketing director on assignment in Cameroon, responds to a request from his Cameroonian assistant.
- Protecting from Personal Harm:
An English manager, George Aitkens, arrives in Cameroon to find his assistant is gone without leaving his schedule or keys to his files.
- Washroom, The:
A Canadian banker on a business trip to Cameroon experiences "washroom discrimination."
- Inauspicious Speech, An:
US Americans, French, and Cameroonians in the electrical power industry.
- Lifelong Education:
A French expatriate HR director hears doubts about his professionalism and the expatriate system.
Cultural Detective Cameroon was authored by Emmanuel Ngomsi and Dianne Hofner Saphiere.