This chapter explores three important topics related to management skills for global work and expatriate assignments: intercultural competence; a Skills Development Model for developing intercultural competence and global management skills; and a look at how global companies develop global management skills.

The present study quantitatively identifies undergraduate L2 Spanish learners’ beliefs regarding advanced-language use to determine if they influence how they perceive advanced Spanish, how they differentiate between different levels of intercultural competence, and how they rate overall language use of advanced L2 speakers. We found a disparity between L2 beliefs and behaviors, in terms of what they consider the most important, compared to what they are most sensitive to when evaluating the Spanish of advanced L2 speakers. We associate the disparity with constraints imposed institutionally by higher education and called for a reevaluation of societal and professional demands for advanced-language use, as well as academia’s institutionalized conceptualization of it, in order to generate greater synergy between students, language programs in higher education, and society at large. Doing so requires the implementation of assessment metrics measuring multiple dimensions of language use, and will ultimately facilitate the transformation of curricula and outcomes to more effectively meet the demands of the globalized landscape.

The present chapter uses a mixed-methods analysis to examine if L2 learners associate their learning with developing intercultural competence, and if these associations vary according to individual differences. It compares how L2 learners view language proficiency and sophisticated language use, and explores how they associate global citizenship with multilingualism. Responses to a survey were collected from N=67 L2 learners enrolled in either Tier I (basic language) or II (linguistics or culture) courses. Quantitative analyses revealed that age and instructional tier had a main effect on their level of intercultural awareness. Qualitative data showed that learners do not conceptualize language proficiency differently than sophisticated language use. Their definitions of global citizenship showed that they see multilingualism as the gateway to being a global citizen and language learning as the means to network with and learn from a global community. Agency and their roles as global citizens were only minimally mentioned; they self-identified primarily as L2 learners, not as L2 users with the ability to be agents of change on a global stage.

This final chapter of the book considers the implications of its findings for the intercultural field. The chapter explores a number of facets that are important both conceptually and from an applied point of view, including the relevance of ‘relating’ to intercultural competence and training, factors that affect the relating process, and the nature of the culture, context and behaviour interface. The chapter ends by suggesting some directions for future research. There are eight main sections in the chapter: intercultural relations and conceptions of intercultural competence; intercultural competence as behaviour: the contribution of interactional discourse; relational management as an interaction and evaluative process; the importance of context; exploring the interface of culture, context and behaviour; culture and social groups; intercultural relations and intercultural training; future research directions.

While Multicultural Counseling Training (MCT) and Intercultural Training (ICT) represent two prominent, culture-focused specialties that concern with cultural, intercultural, and human diversity issues, there have been surprisingly little to no intersections or interactions between the two disciplines up to this point. To bridge this gap, the current chapter offers a comprehensive and synergetic review of MCT and its relevance and implication for ICT. Accordingly, the present chapter systematically surveys and analyzes: (1) MCT’s historical roots and development; (2) its parallels and similarities to ICT; (3) the definition of multicultural counseling practice and training; (4) the advent of professional standards for MCT; (5) MCT’s operationalization and measurement of cultural competence; (6) its training models, methods, and techniques; and (7) the prevailing and emerging themes and issues of MCT. In this review, striking parallels and intriguing divergences between MCT and ICT are identified, juxtaposed, and examined, from their respective historical, sociopolitical, intellectual, and methodological traditions and contexts. Critical thoughts and recommended directions to encourage a greater intellectual cross-fertilization and interdisciplinary collaboration between the two specialty areas are considered and presented. As follows, this integrative review represents among the first systematic attempts to facilitate the linkage and the synthesis between these two eminent, allied disciplines.

Drawing on contemporary research findings, Jane Jackson’s chapter rejects the assumption that tertiary students who participate in a study abroad programme will always become more interculturally competent, global-minded and proficient in a second language. The chapter gives reasons for strikingly different sojourn outcomes and develops a rationale for intercultural interventions at all stages of the study abroad cycle. The chapter underscores the need to define key constructs when designing an intervention and explains how recent advances in theories, pedagogy and technology are bringing about exciting changes in intercultural education in study abroad contexts. The chapter draws attention to the numerous benefits of linking intercultural theories and study abroad research findings with practice to help achieve some of the common aims of internationalization, including enhanced intercultural learning and engagement and global-mindedness. It also explains the importance of systematically documenting and sharing the lessons learned from intercultural interventions to improve study abroad learning, teaching and assessment practices.

This handbook provides a highly interdisciplinary overview of the wide spectrum of current international research and professional practice in intercultural communication. It discusses key examples of contrastive, interactive, imagological and interlingual approaches as well as the impact of cultural, economic and sociopolitical power hierarchies in cultural encounters, which are essential for contemporary research in critical intercultural communication and postcolonial studies. The handbook explores the spectrum of professional applications of that research and introduces the theories step-by-step using ordinary-language explanations and examples. This makes the theory accessible to readers without specialized training in intercultural communication. The handbook will be a key reference text for advanced undergraduate, postgraduate and research students, lecturers and professionals in intercultural communication and related fields, including cultural studies, linguistics, anthropology, media studies, postcolonial studies, languages, sociology, history and affiliated sub-disciplines.

Claus Ehrhardt proposes an approach that considers politeness as an integrative part to intercultural communication. Intercultural communication and politeness, Erhardt argues, are both theoretical models and social practices, with politeness forming one of the most prominent links between languages, cultures and communication, allowing for deeper understanding of intercultural communication. At the same time, he calls for more extensive empirical work to fully explore the dynamics of social relations in intercultural communication.

Stephan Wolting explores storytelling as an essential contribution to the development of intercultural skills, knowledge and competences. In the light of research on individual and collective formations of identity, the author comes to the conclusion that the significance of storytelling is likely to increase in the medium and long term. Moreover, contemporary cultural and memory studies as well as research in creative and autobiographical writing highlight storytelling as an innovative and sustainable area for the development of intercultural communication.

F. Manuel Montalbán, Francisco M. Llorente and Evelina Zurita apply key ideas from critical assessments of study abroad contexts when they examine the effects of academic mobility on exchange students’ intercultural competence. Their chapter draws on comments from Spanish and South Korean students within joint internationalization programmes led by the University of Malaga and South Korean universities to analyse how exactly international students construct their cultural experiences. In particular, they discover three interpretative repertoires, which focus on fundamental aspects of these experiences: mastery and interest in the language, counter-stereotypic otherness and differentiation at the individual level. Some student comments demonstrate that progress in intercultural competence is frequently left to the spontaneous development of informal and personal interactions.

Jürgen Bolten explores intercultural competence as a form of general ‘action competence’, which is implemented in intercultural, i.e. uncertain contexts. In the context of increasing social mobility at nearly all levels and in most professions, intercultural competence is highlighted as more relevant today than ever before. However, that relevance correlates with a ‘rethinking’ of the concept, within which intercultural competence research has to expand its own horizons by integrating the hitherto still dominant focus on national cultural diversity into the much more complex field of micro-cultural diversity.

Milton J. Bennett sets out by providing an overview of assessing intercultural communicative competence (ICC) through a constructivist lens. Bennett uses the Developmental Model of Intercultural Sensitivity (DMIS) as an example of how constructivist theory and methodology can be applied to assessing ICC.

Darla K. Deardorff’s chapter provides an overview of established definitions of intercultural competence before it examines how it is developed in a variety of contexts, including education, healthcare and within international organizations. The chapter concludes by outlining some principles of intercultural competence assessment, as well as the changing assessment paradigm.

Stephen M. Croucher and Ming Li start by providing an overview of the concepts of cultural adaptation and cultural fusion, highlighting how newcomers adapt to the new culture while also maintaining elements of their own culture. Simultaneously, they argue, interactions between the dominant and newcomer cultures lead to cultural changes in the dominant culture. Using Bourdieu's notion of social capital, the chapter then discusses how social media play an important role in intercultural adaptations in terms of establishing interpersonal connections and acquiring intercultural communication skills and knowledge of the host society’s values and interaction protocols.