Multicultural training as a tool increasing the work and management efficiency in an international environment: Qualitative survey of Czech businesses experience

Cooperation with people, both managers and employees, coming from different national cultures is becoming increasingly common in business practice. It often brings with it new perspectives, stimuli, or inspiration, but sometimes it also becomes the cause of misunderstandings, resulting from different culturally conditioned customs and expectations. In extreme cases, it can even result in cultural clashes and conflicts in the workplace. To avoid or overcome them successfully requires usually to be aware and know the different traditions of corporate behaviour in individual cultures and to apply and respect the main rules of successful intercultural cooperation and communication. The article deals with important prerequisites for successful employees’ cooperation in a multicultural setting including work in multicultural teams and leading these teams, the focus being the use of intercultural trainings. Using the method of a qualitative survey, it aims, in its analytical part, to find out to what extend do mid-sized and bigger Czech companies deal with the issues of a multicultural management through multicultural training. It looks at the main topics, methods and effectiveness of these trainings and formulates recommendations on how to organize these trainings in the most efficient way.