Every time I've been somewhat active and feel I need a break I come back here. If you're new to this blog, or just didn't know this, I have fibromyalgia and 2 months ago I had a cervical diskectomy (C4-7) and fusion, so I'm still recovering from that. Yesterday the neurologist scheduled a nerve conduction test for the legs to see what's going on there. I still do have some neurological symptoms, but it can take up to a year to know what's going to be permanent affect from the nerve blockages that the surgery treated.
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In my textual discussion, I'm continuing with the "In-Country" sub-section, but now I'm starting the sub-sub-section "Job factors." Again, I'm skipping points that aren't relative or otherwise don't contribute anything new, although sometimes I might repeat a point for various reasons, such as drilling a point in, to emphasize it.
"In contrast to the positive impact of role clarity and role discretion on work adjustment, conflicting signals about what is expected of individuals in a new work setting (e.g., role conflict) would be expected to increase uncertainty and inhibit adjustment...
Proposition 10: Role conflict and role novelty will be negatively associated with international adjustment, especially work adjustment." (p. 309)
I definitely had lots of conflicting signals including (but not necessarily limited to):
> conflicts between what I expected my work to entail before arriving and what I experienced after arriving
> conflicts between what I was told about my work and how I was actually treated (i.e., commending me but not rewarding me otherwise with more responsibility, for example)
> conflicts between what I was doing and other potential future opportunities I was told about (e.g., being involved in helping start a work in the USSR)
As was my way, I generally did not react much to things, continuing to take a wait and watch stance, although if I did respond it generally didn't seem to be what they wanted, which increased the confusion about what they really wanted, and eventually led me to believe that what they wanted had nothing to do with my work, but just total submission - that's all (!) they wanted.
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"Nicholson (1984: 178) argued that 'high discretion roles... make it impossible simply to conform to job specifications, role descriptions, or practices of previous incombents.' Therefore, high role discretion would lead to modes of adjustment characterized by efforts to change the situation.
Proposition 11: International transfers that involve high role discretion will be associated with individuals utilizing modes of adjustment characterized by efforts to change the situation (e.g., the work role), whereas international transfers that involve low role discretion will be associated with individuals utilizing modes of adjustment characterized by efforts to change themselves." (p. 309-310)
All of my positions with the mission were "high discretion," except for the ones with the U.S. office, which were pretty well defined and explained. According to this text and proposition, then it should have been expected that I would responding with efforts to "change the situation." For example, I might try to define the position more by organizing or portions of it. I was supposed to be a secretary in a new position, that is I was the first one to fill it. However, I didn't try to do anything terribly unusual in that process like defining the secretary - boss relationship, for example. So there was nothing to make anyone unhappy in what I did, but I can see how just taking charge in those things could have enabled me to take the same approach in other aspects of my life there, including social relations with other members of the mission. In the field of education we might call that transfer of learning.
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"Proposition 12: International transfers that involve low role novelty will be associated with individuals utilizing modes of adjustment characterized by efforts to change the situation (e.g., the work role), whereas international transfers that involve high role novelty will be associated with individuals utilizing modes of adjustment characterized by efforts to change themselves." (p. 310)
This, I think it a case of "false dilemma" faulty logic, in which the options are A) be bored in a non-novel role or B) change it. I opted for option C) (try to) get personal satisfaction outside of work.
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The next sub-sub-section is: "Organizational culture factors."
"The greater the difference between the organizational culture of the subsidiary organization in the foreign country compared to the organization in the home country, the more difficult the international adjustment would be.
Proposition 13: High organizational culture novelty will be negatively associated with degree of international adjustment, especially work adjustment." (p. 310)
Earlier in the article the authors explained that international adjustment has three components: work adjustment, relational adjustment and adjustment to the general environment.
In my case I wouldn't really be comparing my experience of the mission at home and abroad. Rather, I compared my prior experience in East European mission settings and similar (I thought) situations to the Vienna mission culture I found myself in. As I've said before, there was a huge gap in the difference between these two, but I think the biggest thing was how they were so controlling. And, incidentally, while I was in Vienna I had some contact with people from other missions working in Eastern Europe and I don't think their missions were like what I experience in the mission I was working with.
In the beginning I was well adjusted vis a vis relating well with Austrians and the general environment, but I had poor work adjustment, and by that I mean poor adjustment to my work place culture.
While I never changed my attitudes about Austrians or the culture, pressures from work ended out making me withdraw from those efforts as a way to try to lessen stressors from the mission. So on the surface it might have looked like at that point I wasn't adjusted to anything, even though I still knew German and would like to have had more contacts that way. I never wanted to withdraw from that for any reason other than mission pressure on me to be reined in. By the end of my time in Austria my German was good enough that I could hold a pretty good philosophical or theoretical discussion with a native speaker.
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That's all for this article, so I'll start another one next time.
