DAD - The relational roots of intercultural communication

Over the years, the emphasis in IC has shifted to culture — particularly to the comparison of cultures in terms of values, beliefs, and behaviors. This course returns to the relational roots of the field with an updated form of the original concept of intercultural communication to demonstrate its applicability to current issues of domestic and global diversity, including but not limited to intercultural training and education for more coherent development of IC competence.

Guest faculty

Milton J. Bennett, PhD

Why participate

Intercultural practitioners (trainers, facilitators, consultants, coaches) and scholars of intercultural communication are impeded by paradigmatic confusion in the field; we generally want outcomes that improve communication, but we often use training and research tools that are based in comparative anthropology or cross-cultural psychology. 

Following the principle of “coherent theory generates powerful practice,” the course provides a practical way to improve coherence and effectiveness by coordinating both methods and outcomes within a communication paradigm. 

(Re)visit the fundamental what, why and how (practice) of understanding, developing, and using constructed observational categories to “engage with others” (relationally) in order to more effectively recognize and communicate across cultural differences.

The course instructor is Dr. Milton J. Bennett, whose Developmental Model of Intercultural Sensitivity (DMIS) and other contributions to the IC field are considered seminal. 

Participant profile/requirements

This course is for you if you are

• An early-career level intercultural practitioner (trainer, facilitator, consultant, coach) seeking a coherent introduction to the origins of the field.
• An intermediate-level practitioner (trainer, facilitator, consultant, coach) who designs and delivers intercultural training / learning in either domestic multicultural or global intercultural contextsand seeks to improve coherence and effectiveness of intercultural work.
• Academic / scholar working in intercultural communication and related fields who wishes to explore an updated communication-based alternative to various cultural comparison schemes often used for research and curriculum design in education, social service, and business contexts.

Contact us if you have questions about the suitability of this course for your circumstances.

Learning outcomes

In this course, you will learn how to help yourself and those you work with so that you/they can better: 

• Increase awareness of the origin and development of the field of intercultural communicationand explore how different knowledge paradigms relate to the goals of empathy and mutual adaptation.
• Appreciate the importance of using communication-based theory and practice to coherently facilitate developing communication competencies in domestic and global training and education contexts.
• Learn an updated and expanded version of the original intercultural communication approach to observing cultural differences.
• Share illustrative experiences of applying communication-based strategies to domestic and global training and education contexts.
• Apply innovative facilitation techniques based in communication theory, such as inoculation for stereotyping (while encouraging generalizations) and strategic/tactical integration.

Upon successful completion of the program, you will receive a Certificate of Participation listing 12 contact learning hours. 

For additional course details see the Institute for Developing Across Differences website.

Help yourself and those you work with:

• Better understand intercultural communication's origins
• Learn updated approaches to observing cultural differences
• Apply intercultural communication-based strategies in training and education
• Consider how to “inoculate" for ethnocentrism in this work

Early-bird rate € 1050

Standard rate as from 15 February 2026: € 1125

Available dates