Paradoxical Experiences Of Expatriate Managers In Indonesia

Abstract

Although adjusting to a foreign culture is not easy, being immersed in another culture is an experience lived by a growing number of persons in the globalized world. It is intriguing that organizations often blame the individual when expatriate assignments fail (Deresky, 2002; Hodgetts, Luthans, & Doh, 2006) rather than recognizing that others may lack understanding of what it is like to be immersed in another culture. A study of Canadian expatriate managers who have worked for non-government organizations (NGOs) in Indonesia is presented. The research focused on interpreting the lived experience of expatriate managers using their own words and meanings. Written descriptions from participants were obtained and analyzed/synthesized using Giorgi’s descriptive phenomenological method (Giorgi & Giorgi, 2003). The central finding is that individuals experience paradoxical ways of being when immersed, living and working, in another culture. The enhanced understanding obtained may result in alterations to present human resource management practices and strategies utilized in facilitating and supporting expatriate assignments and, thus, benefit expatriate managers and organizations alike.