CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW
2.0 Overview
This chapter will discussed about the literature review and it will be divided into four sections which are expatriate adjustment, culture novelty, previous overseas work experience, and foreign language ability. These factors were chosen as they had been thoroughly used before in studies of organizational expatriates.
2.1 Expatriate Adjustment (Dependent Variable)
Expatriates are defined as individuals who relocate from one country to the other for at least one year (Littrell, Salas, Hess, Paley, & Riedel, 2006). Expatriate definition is different with short term visits because during a short term visit, individual is mentally aware that he or she is going back to home country, and is aware that it does not require as much adjustment as long term expatriation (Joshua-Gojer, 2012). Past researches have different views about adjustment and they have defined adjustment in terms of subjective wellbeing (Campbell, 1981) or unhappy feelings of expatriates about their circumstances (Munton & West, 1995). However, the most acceptable definition for adjustment was from Black (1988), he said that adjustment refers to psychological discomfort which can be categorised as work, general and interaction adjustment.
Black & Stephens (1989) classified expatriate adjustment into three-dimensions (i)general adustment– adjusting to housing food, shopping, and other aspects of the foreigner culture, (ii)work adjustment– meeting job responsibilities and performance expectations, and (iii)interaction adjustment – socializing and speaking with host country nationals.
Selmer (2005) argued that these are the certain aspects of expatriate adjustment. According to Lee & Sukoco (2010), these three aspects...
... middle of paper ...
...nteresting finding is that the fluency in the host-country language worsened the effects of role conflict on adjustment (Shaffer, Harrison, & Gilley, 1999). Although a business conversation may be conducted in English, people may certainly think in their own language according to their own cultural norms, which may not be fully understood. Another research said that, corporate language training is part of expatriate preparations (Hayet, 2000). Language learning may improve international adjustment and lead to increased satisfaction and fewer turnovers (Shaffer & Harrison, 1998).
The language barrier is potentially high in situations where cultures are widely differing and languages may not even share a common alphabet, for example between the West and China, making it extremely difficult for expatriates to acquire a high degree of language ability (Selmer, 2006)
"You're an expatriate. You've lost touch with the soil. You get precious. Fake European standards have ruined you. You drink yourself to death. You become obsessed with sex. You spend all your time talking, not working. You are an expatriate, see?" (Sun Also Rises, 115)1
Immigration is a complex process that results in a transformation of identity. Depending on contextual, individual, and societal differences this transformation can have either positive or detrimental results. Initially, the immigrant will be faced with an intense culture shock while settling into a new country. During this time, cognitive functioning becomes increasingly jumbled amidst the new context, resulting in immense identity confusion. This process of acculturation involves two specific issues regarding identity for each individual. These two issues include the delicate balance between remaining ethnically distinct by retaining their cultural identity and the desire to maintain positive relations with the new society. A variety of risk factors can contribute to the success or failure at effectively acculturating. Thus, those that directly experience more risk factors experience an even more delicate and complex transition often resulting in high levels of stress, confusion, social anxiety, and declined mental health.
Before Curtin gives readers an understanding of her philosophy of the framework of cultural adjustment. Curtin goes into great depths of the theoretical approach of Berry’s four acculturation strategies, Bourhis’ Interactive Acculturation Model (IAM), Kim’s Stress-Adaptation-Growth model and Bennett's Developmental Model of Intercultural
While exploring the multinational workplace, which consisted of immigrants from a variety of countries, I was able to distinguish three distinctive themes. The first is immigrants’ self-consciousness of having an accent. The second is mixing two languages in speech. The third is the problem of building an effective multicultural team.
Gaither informed us about international management, how she adjusted to her career, and the importance of being diverse in the workforce. International management is the practice of managing business operations in more than one country. When dealing with international management a person must be knowledgeable about the language, culture, and economic background of the various countries involved. Since Ms. Gaither was moving from one country to another she must adapt quickly to this fact. This ties into being diverse and marketable in for different careers. According to Ms. Gaither, a person that is bilingual earn 7% - 10% more income than someone who is
An immigrant's ability to adapt to a different nation has become an easier task than it was before. Customs, practices, religions, political standings and cultures have blended in many nations to create an almost global civilization where media and communication through the internet are connecting people from across the world. Societies are no longer a closed entity, causing migrants to emody a hybrid of different cultures and customs which entail their origional ethnicity, as well as fragments of other societies which have influenced and transformed them.
International businesses are also finding new ways of increasing diversity abroad. Instead of using expatriate employees as management, they are starting to hire locals. Companies that operate abroad are realizing that using expatriate employees is not a permanent solution. They are often expensive, and are not capable of translating their skills into the new environment. In a company that operates globally, it is important that the company knows how to relate to the local markets, and a great way to do this is by hiring local talent. Hiring locally is cheaper, there is not a language barrier, and they are accustomed to the business environment in the area(5). They can also help the business by providing a new perspective into international markets, and offer ways that the company can improve their diversity abroa...
A major challenge of doing business internationally is to adapt effectively to different culture. Such adaptation requires an understanding of cultural diversity, perceptions, stereotypes, and values (Hodgett &Luthans, 2005). Doing business overseas has its challenges as well as it rewards.
However, the collision starts when the challenges and problems face them in the host country even less joy of some or fade! Some of them suffer many of the problems that might hinder their studies. It is often the problems occur in the first year of traveling to the study, which represents the real beginning for a new life in a society that is different in terms of religion, customs, traditions and the way of life. Eva Hoffman is the author of “Lost in Translation” was happy when she moved to Canada but, she had never thought that the life is not easy there if she didn’t prepare herself for it. She faced many things that made her uncomfortable. According to Eva Hoffman “It was Saturday when she went with Canadian friends to McDonalds. They got their orders from the drive-in and they sat and eat in the car and that made her finicky distaste.” She didn’t feel comfortable because their cultures are different. When I came to the United States, I felt as Eva Hoffman’s feeling. I was studying English Language at TLC with my Colombian friend. Our religions are different and he was my best friend. One day, we were studying together then he went to order dinner for us. He didn’t asked me what I want! So, he brought a
Thomas, D. C., and Ravlin, E. C.,1995. Responses of employees to cultural adaptation by a foreign manager. Journal of Applied Psychology, 80(1),pp.133–146.
High turnover rate of expatriate: expatriate managers are frustrated with the performance and practices of local employees. And they do not have enough international experience and cross-cultural communication and sensitivity training.
In the present day organisations are expanding their operations to different countries of the world. They therefore need people to work there “expatriates”. Once the international assignment is completed, the expatriates have got to go back home, the process of repatriation begins. Even though most expatriates and managers presuppose that the repatriation process will be easy seeing as the employee is just returning home, research has substantiated that this is a tricky process. There is indication that it could be more difficult to adjust to the home environment as opposed to adjusting to life in a foreign nation. Therefore, repatriation process ought to be considered keenly (Baruch et al 2002).
Interventions suggested by the theories to adjust effectively are training to develop stress management skills such as coping strategies, orientation and proper preparation by learning social skills to survive in the new culture, learning of the host culture, especially behavioural-based social skill training, overcoming barriers to inter-group harmony and emphasizing inter-group similarities
The language barrier, which is also a difficult hurdle to encompass, serves as one of the most obvious cultural differences. A manager can delegate a task to be accomplished within a US based division and reap the expected results immediately. On the other hand, if an international manager is not familiar with the English language or culture, the same task may yield a different result. Language is the transmitter of both information and ideas. "The key to global competency is to develop the skills to cope, and that means integrating into the dominant culture and realizing how to properly interpret and analyze behavior" (Hayes, 1996). Being bilingual increases the advantage that foreign business partners have in interacting together. It nullifies the need of a third party translator. Business partners tend to be more open and receiving when communicating with bilingual personnel who speak there native language. "An understanding of the language allows the manager to pick up particular points of view, implied meanings, and other information that is not literal" (Moreno, 2006).
Therefore, this is able to encourage the ability to communicate and appreciate the depth and diversity of the world. Communication with two different countries, or three, or four, will further bring the world closer together, in hopes of closing the divide between some countries. By learning a second language, it can significantly broaden your native language as it gives you stronger vocabulary skills, improved literacy skills and a better understanding of the grammar and construction of your own native language. Furthermore, this can help you in other educational studies. Though it is possible to travel to another country without acquiring the native language, the experience you will have is greatly diminished as you will not see beyond the surface of their culture. Additionally, knowing the native language makes travelling easier, by being able to order meals in restaurants, ask and understand directions. Additionally, it makes it easier to find accommodation, it’s more enjoyable, informative and more satisfying. You are able to further understand and appreciate international literature, music and films, by being able to understand word plays, innuendoes, cultural references, metaphors and further improve your ability to speak the