Culture Clash
Culture Clash
Even small differences
can cause exhaustion'It's not that I want to return to Australia, it's just that I feel exhausted here in America." Fiona Elliot was sharing her experiences in an e-mail to an old high school friend in Brisbane, Queensland. Fiona had graduated from the University of Sydney with an advanced degree in biology. Seeking to expand her work experience, she accepted a job with a biotechnology firm in Boston, Mass. She hoped to become involved in the development of improved drugs for adult onset diabetes.
Given that her native language was English, Fiona expected few adjustment difficulties to life in the United States. However, she found herself dealing with a number of small frustrations. People in Boston found her Australian accent difficult to understand and seemed to put no effort into listening more carefully. She discovered that she knew more about current events in America than any five people knew about events in Australia. She tried to keep up with world events by watching American television shows with the title, "International News." However, she felt these shows covered a small number of news stories and did so from an American perspective.
She found similar activities have very different connotations. She would go to a pub to have a beer and to chat with people. In Boston, she learned men and women don't simply socialize in a pleasant manner. In sharp contrast to Australia, bars in America are "meet markets" where people have goals other than conversation. She would try to be humorous in a droll, sometimes sarcastic manner that she learned in Australia. But instead of finding humor in her statements, Americans would become attentive and say, "Oh, really!" She became frustrated making so many choices when she shopped. She said she had to expend energy choosing among breakfast cereals, types of bread when she ordered a sandwich, and how she wanted her coffee beans ground.
This incident and analysis developed from conversations with Susan Hanggie of International Student Services at the University of Hawaii. In her experience, no single experience reported by Fiona would cause difficulties adjusting to life in the United States. However, these reactions to many experiences add up over time and can lead to feelings of exhaustion. People from other English-speaking countries are sometimes invited to workshops on cross-cultural adjustment shortly after their arrival in the United States. They often turn these invitations down, arguing that they don't expect any problems. Only later to they learn the lesson that dealing with many small unexpected difficulties can lead to adjustment challenges.
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