Socio Cultural Characteristics Of Social Exchange With Host Country Nationals

Modernization and cultural exchange is a grand aspect of life, especially in the twenty-first century. Without international trade, immigration, and exchange of language, the world would be highly divisive. Cross-cultural experiences have led to many technological and innovative ideas. Globalization has many positive outcomes; however, there exist many adverse effects of the process. Historically, cultures have been contained within their own territories, and nationalities were condemned to people groups and immediate areas. As transportation improved and inter-dependence rose, more conflicts and domination accompanied them. Columbus in the Caribbean, Cortes in Central America, Pizarro in South America, and various European nations in Africa are all examples of people groups being conquered for their “well-being” or to bring them “civilization.” Over the course of centuries, people formed cultures based on their commonalities. In present-day, the world is faced with new problems in respect to identity. Individuals find themselves in opposite corners of the world, unable to identify with their peers or even families. Essentially, their sense of belonging is eradicated, leaving them seemingly isolated, even if they find themselves in their birthplace. In the society of today, where one lives does not equivalate to “home.”

Productivity in the new culture is experienced to an extremely positive extent. Business dealings and negotiations become secondary nature to the expatriate, and the expatriate’s journey becomes a great success in the perspective of their employing company.

The opportunities to work abroad are more today than they have ever been in the history of mankind. The big planet Earth has become a small global village and sovereign barriers seem to have disappear. While working in a foreign country, some individuals

First of all, such lifestyle really gives new opportunities to an individual. The development of economy and the globalization process make it possible for an employee to stay almost anywhere around the Earth. Change of environment and new astonishing experiences are profound for self-education and personal growth. As a result, the person become more proficient and establish his unique identity.

Just moved to another country? Are their customs, traditions, and values unfamiliar to you? Constantly feeling tired, depressed, and lonely? Experiencing crucial migraines or always feeling sleepy? Well, you may be suffering from culture shock. When speaking of “culture shock” one immediately defines it as moving or visiting a foreign country of sorts that is unfamiliar to the individual. However, although that may be true there are other forms of culture shock such as changing jobs, moving to a new home, or even purchasing new items for oneself. I have visited India multiple times at different points in my life to see family and friends, and for each time I have visited I noticed a different effect culture shock takes a toll on me physically and psychologically. To help me unveil methods to manage and prevent occurrences of culture shock I will be using an assortment of articles. Specifically, I will be citing scholarly articles written by Catherine Lombard, Jonathan Rempel, and Junzi Xia. Along with the use of our textbook Understanding Intercultural Communications written by Stella Ting-Toomey and Leeva Chung. A way to interpret culture shock is to envision it similarly to a disease. It has different stages and effects on every individual, it is hard to isolate, and many don’t feel the pain or discomfort until some time has passed. Everyone experiences culture shock in some shape or form, some with heavier impacts than others; however, there are various exercises for

First, relocation begins when a candidate accepts the job offer and it is hugely necessary to embark on a pre-assignment trip to the foreign country. In this case, the expatriate can have a first-hand experience of the challenges ahead. Additionally, the expatriate could undergo an acclimatization process with such pre-assignment trip. In the same token, the expatriate will get to meet new people who might be willing to render some assistance as a first timer in the foreign land. For instance, during my first oversea assignment, the pre-assignment trip brought me in contact with citizens and foreigners who facilitated my acclimatization and in no distance time, I became fully integrated into the society. This is why it is imperative to prioritize

Expatriation is a complicated and complex process which is influenced by a number of matters, especially the qualification and fit in the subsidiary are mostly influenced by the expatriate him-/herself. However, how well an expatriate adjusts to the foreign environment is often also influenced by how well his/her family, if they are coming with him/her, are able to adapt to the new surroundings. In the following the terms “traditional expatriation” as well as “dual-career couple” also referred to as DCC, will be defined, furthermore a number of differentiating reasons will be mentioned.

I would like to start off this final assignment by stating this course has been very informative in many ways and has allowed me to evaluate myself and cross cultural interactions in a new and invigorated way. At the beginning of the course I was skeptical of the objectives, largely due to my previous learning experiences, while attend the Joint Senior Enlisted Academy four years ago the faculty brought in very well respected speakers to convey similar topics. My personal willingness to take an alternative perspective or delay judgement on the topics they were discussing was lacking, reflecting back on that time now I feel it was largely due to taking the group’s perspective and how the speakers were introduced by some of the instructors prior to their presentations. I don’t think the instructors were maliciously trying to sabotage the presentations, there were references to members from previous classes getting upset because of the speakers’ liberal leanings, they were just giving the class a heads up to the nature of the presentation, but this led me personally not seriously considering their ideas or experiences.

The significance of regulating employee relations cannot be underestimated. A cohesive workforce and harmonious working environment are necessary ingredient for an organization that seeks to grow its potential. As some of the important resources of a company, employees’ welfare ought to be of great concern to the company. Making the employee comfortable within the organization starts with ensuring good relations among the workers. The possibilities of constant conflicts and potential disputes at the workplace are enough to make employees resign to move to other companies. Consequently, the high turnover rate damages the reputation of the company, further undermining any growth prospects. Regulation of employee relations is a necessary initiative. In the international spheres, the significance is emphasized by the diversification of cultures of the employees. In managing employee relations at the international level, certain issues take precedent over conventional approaches to employee relations. For instance, security would be a priority concern for workers in a country ravaged by wars or political instability. Similarly, health becomes an important issue in regions prone to constant epidemics. Failure to address such important issues may lead to the departure of employees. The unique resource abilities of specific employees and their potential to drive organizations to success, calls for strategic efforts and initiatives to retain them. Maintaining foreign expatriates in

The ability to adjust can be assisted by defining the goals and objectives of the firm; clarity of the job design also helps this process. Therefore the capability of adjustment by expatriate and spouse/family must be considered at the selection stage of the international assignment. Shaffer et al., (1999) research show that more emphasis on designing global positions should exist where jobs are clearly defined and the employee has greater decision-making authority. Job design refers to the role clarity, its discretion and novelty, which in turn relates to the success of the international assignment. A supportive organisational culture both home and abroad will enhance expatriates ability to adjust thus increasing their effectiveness on the job. This should include repatriation support by the provision of a buddy or assignment of a “special employee” to help expatriate navigate the cultural and business terrain as used in the Amos Tuck School’s

This report reflects upon the existing ethnocentric attitudes of both expatriate professionals and their families, and those of the host nationals. It outlines how the cultural differences and diversity of expats in foreign countries in contrast to those of the host nations, work in some cases to ostracize, and isolate the expat from their new community. This reports seeks to outline a strategy to bridge these cultural disparities, between the in-group and the out-group. This concerns the social, professional and everyday environment in which expatriate would engage and communicate with the host nationals. People are naturally ethnocentric, and the process of achieving ethnorelativism will come with experience and better understanding of different cultures will encompass a worldview that gives different perspectives. This report gives advice to expatriates and Host National Countries in how to bridge ethnocentric stigmas, and to communicate effectively to achieve mutual understand and respect between different cultural parties.

Repatriation is the process of returning back home from the expatriate assignment. It has been noted that middle level managers who have completed their expatriate assignment and are returning to their home countries have opted to leave their mother companies due to a failure to readjusted and reintegrate. This has led to the high turnover middle managers that are repatriating to the United States. The United States of America has the majority of employees who are under the expatriate scheme. These expatriates are expected to have a positive career development which has been the opposite in reality. This current study tried to explore the causes of the high turnover rate and the

Expatriates face substantial uncertainty regarding their new role in the organization when they first arrive in their new location. Any information they gain regarding the new job, the organization, and the larger cultural environment will help them learn what to expect, how to interpret various stimuli they encounter day-today, and what the appropriate behaviour is in a given situation. Especially at culturally challenging environments, with social networks, which are also are also very rich informational networks, the expatriates may be left out of important decisions and information if they are unable to penetrate existing informational networks.

But talking about foreigners’ point of view towards women expatriates, the halo effect plays an important role. Halo effect means that our judgments can be influenced by our overall impression. As in the current situation, while the local managers assume the women would not have been sent abroad unless they were “the best”, foreign managers create overall impression that the woman expatriate is “good” if she was sent. In addition, a research on international management competences was made and the results show that women are more sensitive to cultural differences which result in ability to work effectively with managers from other countries.

the main reason is the lack of a repatriation program (Hurn 1999). Last but not least, during the employees’ stay abroad there have been many changes in the home countries and also in the company. They have not been kept up-to-date with these changes and moreover, the employees have changed during their stay. Therefore, the expatriates have certain expectations and if these expectations are not met there is a possibility of resignation (Stroh et al. 1998). The focus of the studies that have been referred to is mainly on the United States and China. A literature research showed that there is a limited amount