This paper argues that cross-cultural training aimed at improving cultural sensitivity and awareness is a must for students and management trainees pursuing careers with international businesses and for U.S. companies actively seeking strategic alliances with foreign partners. It further argues that understanding the ego states of the parties involved and using this information as an analytical tool when devising training programs will help businesses succeed and ultimately survive in global competition. The paper examines the different ego states in cross-cultural interaction (child ego, parent ego, and adult ego); and the patterns of cross-cultural interaction as they would be experienced in persons meeting with the following ego states: child-to-child; parent-to-parent; adult-to-adult; parent-to-child; adult-to-parent; or adult-to-child. It is noted that cultural differences alone do not necessarily cause negative experiences in cross-cultural communication, and that it is only when the message sender's ego state is not compatible with that of the receiver that cultural differences between the parties become problematic and start to generate negative experiences and impede effective communication. Contains 18 references. (GLR)