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Further reading
Conn, S., and Rieke, M. (1994). The 16PF Fifth Edition Technical Manual (Champaign, 
IL: Institute for Personality and Ability Testing, Inc.).
Fukuyama, F. (1992) The End of History and the Last Man (New York: Free Press).
Gesteland, R. (2001)  Cross- Cultural Business Behaviour (Copenhagen Business School 
Press).
Gregory, R. (2011) Psychological Testing: History, Principles, and Applications, 6th edn 
(Boston, MA: Allyn & Bacon).
Mendenhall, M., Dunbar, E. and Oddou, G. (1987) ‘Expatriate Selection Training and 
Career- Pathing: A Review and Critique’ Human Resource Management 26(3): 331–45.
Wild, J., Wild, K. and Han, J. (2006) International Business: The Challenge of Globalisation 
(Harlow: Pearson).

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15
Teaching Cross- Cultural 
Communication
Introduction
In this chapter, we draw upon our wide experience of teaching cultural aware-
ness and cross- cultural communication to UK and international students at 
both undergraduate and postgraduate level, and of running training courses 
for business and diplomatic staff, briefing them for working and living 
overseas. We aim to provide examples of good practice and to analyse the 
effectiveness of different teaching methods, providing some of the tools we 
have found to be of value in teaching this important subject. ‘One of the goals 
of cross- cultural training must therefore be to alert people to the fact that they 
are constantly involved in a process of assigning meaning to the actions and 
objects they observe’ (Trompenaars and Hampden- Turner, 1997: 196).
Summary
Course design
Teaching methodology
Language training
Presentations across cultural boundaries
Country briefings
Case studies
Critical incident scenarios
Cultural capsules
Cultural assimilators
Simulation and role playing
Cultural proverbs
True/false exercises
Cultural values checklists
Business in a foreign culture checklist
Stereotype and perception exercises

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Teaching Cross- Cultural Communication 275
Areas covered include the teaching of
cross- cultural awareness, 
communication skills, specific country/regional briefings, business pro-
cedures, negotiating skills, building and sustaining multinational teams, 
and language training. All these aim to develop intercultural competence, 
which can be described as the ability to interact effectively across cultures. 
‘Learners cannot simply shake off their own cultural baggage, for their 
culture is a part of themselves, has formed them and created them as social 
beings’ (Byram and Morgan, 1994).
Training aims to provide benefits in the following areas:
breaking down cross- cultural barriers;
building trust between cultures;
developing self- awareness and learning about one’s own strengths, weak-
nesses and prejudices;
acquiring cognitive information, that is, facts about the target culture;
developing an understanding of how one’s own culture is seen by 
foreigners;
opening up new cultural horizons;
developing improved interpersonal skills and sensitivity towards those of 
another culture;
developing awareness of conventional behaviour in situations in the 
target culture;
stimulation of intellectual curiosity in and empathy towards the target 
culture;
developing an understanding that we all exhibit culturally conditioned 
behaviour.
This chapter aims to bring together the theory and practice in the earlier 
chapters which we have found effective in our own work in this area, and to 
offer suggestions for those responsible for the design and delivery of courses 
relating to cross- cultural communication problems.