Intercultural competence as a capital in the labour market

In the case of dynamic changes in the labour market and high unemployment, the question of which abilities give a chance of finding a job, or maintaining it is particularly important. It concerns the employees as well as employers who are seeking suitable employees and they must know what skills are needed to develop their business. Adapting workers and businesses to the requirements of a changing economy becomes a condition of their survival and development. And these changes are related primarily to the processes of transformation and economic modernization, and globalization and internationalization of the economy. In this article factors influencing the increasing importance of intercultural competence in the Polish labour market and the implications of this change for employers and employees, that may occur in different types of organizations have been discussed. Intercultural competencies have been defined as knowledge, skills and attitudes to allow for establishing and maintaining positive personal contacts and professional relationships and effective communication with members of other cultures. The first part of this article concerns the factors of internationalization of the Polish labour market. The second one shows the consequences of this phenomenon for organizations: businesses, business environments and others.iwona.sobieraj@polsl.plPolitechnika ŚląskaSzkoła Wyższa im. B. Jańskieg