Cross-cultural Management Competence in Australian Business Enterprises

This paper identifies four critical cross-cultural management competencies derived from a larger study that examined the expatriate career management practices of twenty Australian business enterprises with a physical presence in the East Asian business region.Results point to the need to reassess existing cross-cultural management competency development practices pursued by Australian business enterprises, so that interactional management skills and transactional management com munication skills are enhanced. Other cross-cultural management compe tency constructs identified included transformational management skills. In addition, while foreign language skills were also identified, the result was marginal.Evidence from this study confirms the need for stronger attention by Aus tralian organizations to cross-cultural management competency development as well as more informed means of developing Australian expatriate managers prior to international career appointments.