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A report undertaken by Ipsos called "Culture at Work" throws some interesting light on intercultural skills in the international workplace.

The intercultural skills most commonly reported by these business included: 

A new report from Ipsos finds that businesses need and want people with intercultual skills.

John Worne agrees, stressing the importance of knowing your foreign languages and being culturally aware as a company.

As a training consultant, one of the best aspects of my work is seeing how different industries approach employee training.

I'm lucky, I get to meet HR, L&D and Training Managers from across industries and businesses and to them about their work. In my last visit to Paris, I was blown over by the proactivity and dedication to training by a natural resources company. 

As a company, it is never easy to unify an existing business with a newly acquired one through a merger or aquisition.

In fact, a study by Isaac Dixon, "Culture Management and Mergers and Acquisitions," showed that cultural differences were at the heart of 30% failed mergers and aquisitions. 

According to a survey of more than 100 senior Human Resource managers, 81% of companies agree that international work experience is a crucial criterion for leadership in a global organization.

Why? Because international leaders cannot lead global teams without the necessary intercultural skills and insights. 

The survey, "The Importance of Cultural Skills in Senior Managers," conducted by RW-3 LLC, an international training organization, and ORC Worldwide, a global human resource consulting firm, was designed to measure the importance of cultural competencies and global experience as criteria for senior management.

"During the current liquidity crisis, we've seen yet again how the global economy is entirely interconnected and how international cooperation is critical for the world's economic well being," said Michael S. Schell, president of RW-3.

At this moment in time, the increase in cross border human traffic has meant that companies are no longer dealing with a homogenous native community from which they recruit their staff.

Companies are now facing cross cultural challenges in how they recruit, manage and develop a multi-cultural staff. One area of note where HR and management are finding difficulties is in the interview room.