This activity is important because you may want to work abroad during your career, or you may manage employees who do. Working in a foreign country has unique difficulties ranging from confusing nonverbal language, differences in living arrangements, special taxes on income, and a general lack of social support. Building self-efficacy is important, as it is a strong predictor of motivation and job performance.
The goal of this exercise is to demonstrate your understanding of self-efficacy by reading a case and answering questions.
Read the case about expatriate self-efficacy and answer the questions that follow.
Organizational expatriates, or people who are sent to another country for work purposes, have a surprising failure rate of up to 40%. Failure results in not meeting goals and/or returning from the foreign assignment early. Overwhelmingly, this is due to cultural differences that make personal and work life more difficult for the expatriates and their families.
Successful expatriates have higher self-efficacy to adjust to the new country and culture than those who are unsuccessful. Therefore, top companies are committed to significant training not just for expats, but for their family members.
Lockheed-Martin offers a program called “Second Nature: Security Skills for the Traveler†that covers ‘what if’ situations from what to do if you have a car accident to necessary travel paperwork. HSBC, one of the world’s largest banks and financial services organizations, offers an international management program that allows for experience-building in global offices. Their listings for the various foreign programs say that are looking for ‘navigators,’ ‘explorers,’ ‘captains,’ and ‘tailors,’ emphasizing the excitement of working in a foreign culture.
Edelman, an international communication strategy firm, offers employees the opportunity to participate in its Global Fellows Program. Their Follow the Fellows blog allows expats to report on how they overcame problems or navigated new practices in their foreign assignments. Past fellows may also give information sessions to other Edelman employees about their experiences.
If you are thinking about building your self-efficacy to work overseas before taking on a long-term work assignment, you can try a stint with WWOOF, World-Wide Workers on Organic Farms. The short-term volunteer experience allows you to live with a farming family to learn organic farming methods in another country, worldwide.
Which of these would be an example of verbal persuasion used correctly?
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