Cross-cultural communication: an integrated approach
Mill, R.C.
Hospitality and Tourism Educator 6(1): 67-70
1994
Document Number: 517471
The responsibility of US hospitality management programmes is to produce students who can effectively deal with people from a variety of cultural backgrounds while also being able to develop these skills in their employees. The various efforts of industry and academia to present cross-cultural training have focused on creating a sensitivity to people from other cultures. While laudable as a starting point, much more in-depth work is needed. Because it is impossible to anticipate every cross-cultural alternative that might be faced by the potential manager, cross-cultural education should focus on developing communication skills, the presence of which will make the student better able to interact with anyone from a cultural background different from his or her own. This can be accomplished through behaviour modelling. The article examines the increased need for cross-cultural communication, the response of business, education's response, an effective approach, and the need to develop empathy in managers. The article concludes that while the need to develop cross-cultural communication skills is becoming increasingly important, the responses of business and education have been disappointing.