Fontaine, G. (2000). Skills for successful international assignments to, from, and within Asia and the Pacific: Implications for preparation, support, and training. In U. C. V. Haley (Ed.) Strategic management in the Asia Pacific: Harnessing regional and organization change for competitive advantage, pp. 327-345. Oxford, England: Butterworth-Heinemann. An earlier version published in Management Decision (1997), 35(8), 635-647.
Inquiries should be addressed to the author at: School of Communications, University of Hawaii, Honolulu, HI 96822 USA Phone (808) 956-3335; Email Home Page http://www2.hawaii.edu/~fontaine/garyspag.html
Skills for Successful International Assignments to, from, and within
Asia and the Pacific:
Implications for Preparation, Support, and Training
Gary Fontaine
University of Hawaii
Abstract: This paper first makes the case that effective preparation, support, and training for international assignments to, from or within Asia and the Pacific need to be based on sound models of the skills required to meet the challenges of those assignments for the assignees themselves, their families accompanying them, those managing them, and the hosts with whom they are working. The paper then presents the characteristic ecologies encountered on these international assignments; identifies copying with ecoshock, developing strategies to effectively complete essential tasks in a new ecology, and maintaining motivation as the three key challenges faced in those ecologies; and describes the skills useful in dealing effectively with these challenges. Finally, the implications for intervention programs to assist assignees in acquiring these skills and an illustrative training program outline are presented.
International assignments from anywhere, to anywhere--whether in business, diplomacy, employment, technology transfer, education, or whatever--typically involve journeys to “strange lands:” They are encounters with new ecologies; new and diverse sociocultural, physical, and biological environments. That certainly is the case with assignments to, from, or within a region as ecologically diverse in these respects as Asia and the Pacific: From Perth to Tokyo, Chiang Mai to Auckland, Suva to Calcutta, Honolulu to Jakarta, Beijing to Los Angeles, Seoul to Kuala Lumpur, Singapore to Cebu. Those new ecologies present several significant challenges to assignment success. To the degree that assignees are able to deal effectively with these challenges, their assignments will be successful. To the degree that they are unable to meet one or more of them, their success will be less than optimal--often they fail altogether.
Thus effective preparation, support, and training for international assignments need to be based on sound, research supported models of the skills required to meet the challenges of those assignments for the assignees themselves, their families accompanying them, those managing them, and the hosts with whom they are working. Though there has been less theoretical development than desirable in the intercultural/international assignment field, there are models of varying degrees of comprehensiveness from which to choose (e.g., Barna, 1983; Black, Mendenhall & Oddou, 1991; Furnham & Bochner, 1986; Gudykunst, 1991). One such model (Fontaine, 1989 & 1993a) is described here along with its implications for the skill-related objectives of assignee preparation, support and training.
The Ecology of International Assignments
As noted earlier, the ecology of an international assignment consists of the sociocultural, physical, and biological environment in which tasks on that assignment are completed. The ecology might involve, for instance, the skills, expectations, and relationships of the task participants, the characteristics of the physical resources available, and the health, safety, security conditions of the assignment site, respectively. There are several characteristics common to the ecologies of most international assignments (Desatnick & Bennett, 1977; Fontaine, 1989; see Figure 1). For example such assignments are usually characterized by travel to a place different from home; they typically involve special problems associated with time differences and communication; there are important cultural differences in the people and how they live and do business--particularly in how they resolve conflict, since some conflict is almost unavoidable interculturally; there is often less organizational, social, and technological support than at home; and assignees usually are more responsible for providing the structure of their daily, weekly, and monthly activities. These characteristics essentially define what "international assignments" are and set them apart from their domestic counterparts.
[Insert Figure 1 about here]
Other ecological characteristics differentiate one international assignment from another (Fontaine, 1989). For instance, the specific character of each of the above will do so (e.g., assignment to Thai verses Australian culture with a tropical or temperate climate). In addition, assignments may differ in organizational context (e.g., business, diplomacy, or foreign study); degrees of power assignees have relative to their hosts; the standard of living they find; and the type and novelty of the communication, transportation, manufacturing, educational, or other technologies needed to get tasks done. Of particular importance can be differences between assignments in duration (e.g., three days, three months, or three years), whether the destination is a cosmopolitan urban area with ample resources for support, entertainment, recreation, and so forth or a provincial one with very few; the availability of a supportive expatriate community; and a culture/language that eases or hinders entry into host country support groups.
The Three Challenges Faced On International Assignments
As I indicated, international assignments to anywhere, from anywhere typically involve journeys to new ecologies. Those new ecologies present assignees with at least three key challenges. To the degree these challenges are dealt with successfully, those assignments will be successful; to the degree they are not, success is much less likely.
The First Challenge: Coping with “ecoshock”
Those on international assignments commonly experience a package of physiological, psychological, and social symptoms including: Poor perceptual-motor coordination and short-term illness; anxiety or nervousness, often with no specific identifiable source; depression manifested in boredom, fatigue, wishing to sleep all the time, withdrawal from others, or the inability to get interested in anything; irritability and other mood changes, often over matters that otherwise might appear minor; fears of being taken advantage of, cheated, or discriminated against; feelings of vulnerability to disease, accidents, crimes, and failure; lowered effectiveness of thought processes particularly in judgment and decision making; and breakdowns in old social relationships and difficulty in establishing and maintaining new ones. These symptoms can directly affect the quality of their experience, their performance, and their motivation to stay. The symptoms are produced by assignees’ physiological and psychological reactions to a new, diverse, or changed ecology--a reaction that I refer to as ecoshock.
Ecoshock is caused by more than simply encountering a new culture and thus this first challenge requires more than coping with "culture shock" (Adler, 1975; Furnham & Bochner, 1986; Oberg, 1958) alone. Though cultural differences are often very important on international assignments, they represent just part of the new ecology encountered. As indicated in Figure 1, the ecology of an international assignment presents us with new arrays of activity and experience in a number of different categories. Encountering these arrays produces at least three reactions in assignees that together contribute to the package of symptoms described above.
Initially, at least, these new arrays can produce a change in our physiological state away from normal. Assignees to, from, or within Asia and the Pacific are likely to encounter major ecological changes ranging from travel distance to climate and topography to foods and smells--particularly if they are traveling between tropical and temperate latitudes--in addition to the myriad of cultural differences associated with the region. Travel dysrhythmia or "jet lag" is one such example of a primarily physiological reaction that occurs when we are confronted with light or darkness at a biologically irregular time resulting in desynchronization of several important circadian rhythms such as those regulating eating, sleeping, body temperature, and kidney and liver functioning. We are learning more about other physiological changes produced on assignments by new characteristics of the physical environment in particular, e.g., temperature, humidity, altitude, ultraviolet rays, food, alcohol, and so forth.
The new stimulus arrays presented on international assignments also produce changes in stress levels away from those optimal for performance and satisfaction. Most commonly these are increases in stress produced by the unpredictability of ecology due to cultural and other ecological differences--we are often faced with a threat to our competence in even the most mundane tasks. Further, we are stressed if our structure of activities is removed and--we are not plants--our removal from the social networks, upon which we depend for needs ranging from identity to companionship, can be the largest source of stress on an assignment.
In addition, the new ecology of an assignment often changes our attentional focus away from the specially favored activities and experiences with which our optimal moods are associated. That is, we are deprived from what we like to think, see and do. And we are often confronted with what we don’t like. For example, a long-term assignment to Adelaide can deprive us of mountain hikes that might be key to maintaining our positive moods or we may simply detest the heat, pollution, and noise in the summer in Tokyo. We may be deprived of our specially favored activities and experiences because: (1) they simply are not available in the destination, (2) they are available but culturally inappropriate for us to participate in them, (3) we may be distracted from them by other experiences or activities, or (4) we may find that the extra burdens of surviving and getting the job done abroad place them in a lower priority.
Back home most of us do not live "James Bond" lives. We may not normally participate in our specially favored activities and experiences daily, weekly, or even monthly--but frequently enough for our lives to be satisfying and to "keep going." Consequently, on an assignment we may not notice their absence for many months--perhaps not for a year or more. Thus, long after our bodies have adjusted to physiological reactions to the new ecology and long after ambient stress levels have diminished as the destination becomes familiar and predictable, we still just "don't like the place or the people." There is ample evidence that serious symptoms of ecoshock are more likely after one or two years than one month (Fong & Peskin, 1969; Lefley, 1989). Mismatches between our specially favored activities and experiences and those encountered in the destination abroad may be responsible for much of that delayed effect.
Coping with physiological reactions produced by the new ecology principally involves time and patience for the body to adjust itself. Coping with the stress produced principally involves time and patience to allow the ecology to become more predictable (though stress management skills may help). On the other hand, coping with mismatches identified above requires more than time or patience alone. Without active intervention these mismatches can produce an increasing deterioration of adjustment over time. Intervention should involve improving assignees’ skills of attentional regulation and attentional flexibility.
Attentional regulation is the skill to re-establish participation in specially favored activities and experiences by manipulating the ecology to reduce the distractions, finding situations in which their cultural inappropriateness is less a problem, or organizing time or social networks to allow participation in them sufficiently. Assignees can, for instance, learn not to be disturbed by traffic noise in the open architecture of the tropics as they listen to their favorite music or they may find a double-wall, air conditioned apartment to reduce the noise. Joining a golf club can commit them to play golf when there may be other “more important” things to do. Or the potential for useful “networking” such clubs may provide can help them rationalize that it is an important thing to do.
But attentional regulation may still not be enough to maintain optimal moods abroad. One frequently hears the complaint from those abroad that "there is nothing to do here" (and they may be talking about Hong Kong, Singapore, Los Angeles, or Sydney!) or "I’m bored and going crazy." What they often really mean is that there is nothing familiar to do! None of their familiar specially favored activities. The new ecology abroad may simply not provide the kinds of activities and experiences that assignees or their families enjoy, however well they can regulate their attention. In such cases they need to be more flexible. They need to have or develop the skill to derive optimal moods from a broader variety of activities and experiences. This attentional flexibility allows them to adapt their preferences to those supported by the overseas ecologies they encounter. There may not be any golf courses there, but assignees may find that strolls in a wooded park or table tennis or an afternoon playing mah jong can functionally replace golf. The key here is to learn what it is about golf that provides the optimal mood--walking on freshly cut, tailored grass with its distinctive sweet smell, watching the flight of a perfectly struck ball, or companionship, or the challenge of competition--and then to find it in other activities.
The Second Challenge: Developing strategies to effectively complete tasks in a new ecology
The shared perceptions of the world and strategies for completing the tasks of living and working in it are developed at home occur within a familiar, relatively stable, ecology. To the degree to which these shared perceptions are appropriate to--or tailored to--that ecology, the tasks are completed successfully and we are productive, successful people. If the ecology remains familiar and stable, these perceptions continue to be effective and our strategies become habits or "our way" of doing business and we become very good at it. Most commonly this is the case at home. Because our way continues to work and because most of those around us do it that way, too, our way becomes "the way" to do business. But we usually forget that it works--not because it is “the” way--but only because it remains appropriate to the ecology in which it was developed. On international assignments the ecology changes and the appropriateness of “our way” becomes problematic. International assignees are faced with the second challenge: Given that we expect and are skilled in doing tasks one way and those in the new culture expect and are skilled in doing them another, how are we going to do them well together? Do we continue do things our way, or try to adopt "their way," or compromise, or what?