Culture Clash
Culture Clash
'We need to find the best person possible for this overseas assignment," Diane Kim said to Bert O'Brien. Diane was the president of an office equipment company in Sacramento and Bert was the personnel director. They wanted to hire a marketing director who would be based in Paris. They decided to advertise widely in publications such as the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times. Sense of humor mutes
stress of being overseasIn addition to sales experience, Diane insisted that the qualifications call for a sense of humor. Bert reminded her that this would make the announcement more expensive since the publications charged by the word. Diane replied it would be a good use of funds.
Having a sense of humor facilitates overseas assignments. Working overseas inevitably brings stress given that people have to make multiple adjustments to differences in work styles, relations with both superiors and subordinates, interactions with customers, and many other job and personal issues. Further, they often have to struggle in a second language. If people respond to frustrations by becoming upset and irritated, they experience a set of reactions that can threaten their health. Their blood pressure can rise, they can experience nausea, they may have difficulties eating and sleeping, and they can develop tension headaches. But if people can laugh about their difficulties, these potentially damaging physiological reactions do not occur.
Seeing the humor in frustrating situations involves more active thinking than becoming stressed out. Humor stems from understanding two or more categories that do not normally occur together and finding the "twist" that unites them. The discovery of the twist leads to the pleasurable experiences of smiling and laughing.
A musician tells friends, "I thought 'Smoke Gets in Your Eyes' was a song until I went to Los Angeles, where it was a weather report." Two categories, a lounge singer's standard and air quality, are being combined, and seeing the quirky reason for the combination is the basis of the humor. If people on overseas assignments think in this active manner, they may also think about various ways of dealing with problems they encounter.
Another advantage of using humor is that it signals to others that a person is pleasant and approachable. If a person is glum and complaining, others may keep their distance. But if a person can laugh and make jokes, others may come forward to offer various kinds of social support.
The purpose of this column is to increase understanding of human behavior as it has an impact on the workplace. Special attention will be given to miscommunications caused by cultural differences. Each column will start with a short example of such confusion. Possible explanations will be offered to encourage thought about these issues.
Richard Brislin is a professor in the College of Business Administration,
University of Hawaii. He can be reached through the
College Relations Office: cro@cba.hawaii.edu