International Hospitality Management

Abstract

This study of 51 hotel-school graduates working overseas determined that most felt somewhat ill-prepared for those job assignments. When asked to rate the personal and professional attributes of greatest importance for Skills international management, they gave the highest scores to cultural sensitivity, interpersonal skills, managerial flexibility, adaptive leadership, motivation and interest, intercultural competence (including etiquette), the ability to work with limited resources, and understanding of international business. Yet few had actually received any formal training along those lines. In fact, there was a negative correlation between importance and development of management skills: the more important a skill was perceived by this study's particpants, the less frequently it was developed by prospective overseas managers. The participants indicated that the most-effective training activities preparatory to international assignments were internships abroad, second-language studies, and study overseas.