Training Concepts for Industrial Service Staff in an Intercultural Context

Industrial services have always been an important part of companies’ value chains and thus subject to many strategic decisions. They are also one of the differentiation possibilities now when markets are saturated and customers base their decisions mainly on intangible aspects of what companies offer. Carefully designed trainings are a basis not only for outstanding service delivery but also for keeping employees’ motivational levels and experiencing perks on both micro (organizational) and macro (economy) levels. After successful growth in the domestic markets, expanding the customer base and generating more revenue is only possible if companies shift their business to other markets, which triggers a need for a new skill set – intercultural competence. Intercultural sensitivity facilitates communication and interactions with people from diverse cultural backgrounds and represents an incremental part of any training concept and its delivery. According to the ESIC (European Service Innovation Centre) report, the Upper Austrian region is characterized by a strong manufacturing sector where service innovation driven transformation represents an inevitable step forward and is thus used as a large-scale demonstrator for the dynamic and broad impact of service innovation. As the Austrian region with the highest export rates and a broad international business presence, this paper focuses on companies in Upper Austria when elaborating on different trainings necessary for industrial service staff. Moreover, the paper emphasizes competences that should be acquired by trainings and intercultural differences that need to be taken into account when setting up trainings. The research is based on a literature meta-analysis.