Teaching intercultural skills in the multicultural classroom

This paper evaluates the adaptation of the ExcelL Intercultural Skills Program to an international human resource management course, and critically examines the effectiveness of integrating case study methods with the skills based ExcelL program. The ExcelL program is a theory-driven and evidence-based group program that utilises classroom cultural diversity, student experiences and role-plays to develop specific intercultural skills. The primary purpose of the study was to assess the usefulness of ExcelL within a sample of 85 third-year university business students. Four methodologies were used: (1) questionnaires, (2) case studies, (3) course evaluation survey and (4) focus groups. After completing the program, participants demonstrated improvements in intercultural competencies required in business contexts as well as increased self-confidence and feelings of self-efficacy in cross-cultural situations. Additionally, participants demonstrated improved identification and articulation of cross-cultural business problems and formulation of appropriate intervention strategies to address these problems.