Group Of Expatriates Research Articles

Implementation of extended neonatal screening and a metabolic unit in the State of Qatar: Developing and optimizing strategies in cooperation with the Neonatal Screening Center in Heidelberg

Qatar is a country in the Gulf area and member of the Gulf Cooperation Council states. The country is populated by original Qatari tribes that amount to about 200,000 people and about 600,000 expatriates mainly from Arabic and Asian countries. Inbreeding over centuries and high rates of consanguinity in the Qatari population and in some groups of expatriates, in addition to large family sizes and rapid population growth, have contributed to a high frequency of autosomal recessive disorders. In December 2003 Hamad Medical Corporation in Doha and the University Children's Hospital of Heidelberg, Germany, started an extended state-wide neonatal screening programme for metabolic and endocrine disorders, with the laboratory situated in Heidelberg, Germany. All aspects of the screening process had to be adapted to the unique situation of the laboratory being 6000 km from the birthplace of the neonates. Within 32 months, samples of 25,214 neonates were screened. In 28 cases an endocrine or metabolic diagnosis was identified (incidence 1:901, in Germany 1:1728). In particular, a variety of monogenic metabolic diseases were prevalent, with 19 patients detected giving an incidence of metabolic diseases of 1:1327 (Germany 1:2517). Each euro spent on the screening programme saved more than 25 euros in health and social costs. The programme revealed a high incidence of treatable inborn metabolic diseases in the population of Qatar. A reliable screening for classical homocystinuria showing a unique incidence of >1:3000 and for sickle cell disease has now been added.

Cross-Cultural Challenges and Adjustments of Expatriates: A Case Study in Malaysia

Due to globalization and vision to be an industrialized nation, Malaysia acknowledges the inflow of expatriates into the country to meet the demands for skilled and professional manpower. This paper reports on a study conducted among a group of expatriates in Malaysia. The objectives of the study are to examine challenges faced by the expatriates and adjustments made to the challenges. Cultural clashes between foreign and local values are inevitable in which expatriates experience challenges. Indepth interviews were conducted with 20 male and female expatriates working in various firms and institutions in Malaysia. The study highlighted the psychological, socio-cultural and work challenges. Adjustments were based on individual initiatives based on the psychological and mental strengths of the expatriates, combined with efforts of peer expatriates, parent firms and host organizations.

Diasporic Identity, Transnational Agency, and the Neoliberal Reconfiguration of Global Migration

Diasporic Identity, Transnational Agency, and the Neoliberal Reconfiguration of Global Migration Thomas Lacroix (bio) Keywords Diaspora, transnationalism, globality, methodological nationalism, neorealism Diaspora and Transnationalism: Concepts, Theories and Methods. Eds. Rainer Bauböck and Thomas Faist. Amsterdam: University Press of Amsterdam, IMISCOE Research series, 2010. This book is the latest step in the long-standing dialogue between two academic fields: transnational studies and diaspora studies. These share a common initial intent: the will to place migrants' experience at the core of migration studies, rather than on the integration of migrants into the new host society or the development of origin societies. However, the two endeavors also differ. Scholars of diaspora have focused on the processes through which migrants maintain a shared identity despite their dispersion and its consequences for integration and state politics. In contrast, transnationalists focus on micro-level practices and networks forged by migrants across state borders without necessarily presuming a shared sense of belonging. Recently, the two fields of study have followed converging paths. Works on diasporas have increasingly incorporated micro-level activities in their analysis while, conversely, research on transnationalism has paid growing attention to the importance of macro-level dynamics and actors such as states. In 1999, Robin Cohen and Steven Vertovec's book and in particular their landmark "Introduction" heralded this convergence. Since then, diasporic groups are commonly perceived as a specific category of transnational formation. Admittedly, diasporas differ from other transnational communities, owing to an enduring group consciousness forged through cross-borders ties and practices. Although Diaspora and Transnationalism [End Page 401] endorses this view, it also reveals new perspectives on the scholarship not only in the two related fields, but others as well. Indeed, since the early 2000s, the concepts of diaspora and (to a lesser extent) transnationalism have permeated the vocabulary of policy makers. The growing number of diasporic policies formulated by states and intended to attract the economic favor of their expatriate groups has led some academics to revisit common assumptions and theories about the making of transnational and diaspora groups. In consequence, new theoretical stances have emerged. Diaspora and Transnationalism reflects the current re-composition of the academic debate. The book is divided into three sections that explore the theoretical, conceptual, and methodological frameworks of the two approaches. This opus is an effort to shed new light on diaspora and transnationalism by redrawing the margins that separate and juxtapose them. The project that underpins this work is one of redefinition, of pointing to the content of the concepts at issue and exploring possible combinations. At first sight, no common ground emerges from this collection of papers. In many regards, this book appears as a series of monologues on diaspora, transnationalism, and sometimes (but not always) their relationships. The aim of the book is not to weave together an overarching theory. Nevertheless, its merit is to provide a panoramic view of the variety of themes, perspectives, and methods through which the relationship of diaspora and transnationalism is currently addressed by students of migration. In the first place, the book illustrates the convergence between the two fields, which is partially related to the growing politicization of the notion of diaspora. In an attempt to provide a theoretical justification for this convergence, Thomas Faist argues that diaspora and transnational studies share the same epistemological terrain, one that lies between methodological nationalism and globalization studies. In addition, several other articles (by Valentina Mazzucato, Koen Jonkers, Kathrin Kissau, Uwe Hunger, Laura Morales, and Laia Jorba) show how recent methodological innovations have provided common methodological tools for the study of diasporas and transnational phenomena. But, in the second place, Diaspora and Transnationalism reflects persistent past and recent academic quibbles. Several contributions make the case that contemporary diaspora formations are an outcome of state efforts to engage with their nationals living abroad. In contrast, transnationalism appears as a grassroots process that escapes from state control (see Rainer Bauböck). In this respect, the book is strongly marked by a recent neorealist turn in migration studies (that will be discussed later; it illustrates the current re-evaluation of the role of the state in the formation of cross-border social entities. In this essay, I will successively present...

Impact of organisational justice in an expatriate work environment

PurposeThis study analyses the impact of organisational justice as encompassed by three components, distributive justice, procedural justice and interactional justice on self assessed performance and job satisfaction of employees in an expatriate environment. The study investigates the impact of these justice measures on expatriates and United Arab Emirates (UAE) nationals.Design/methodology/approachThe organisational justice measures developed by Niehoff and Moorman were used to test their impact on employee performance and job satisfaction amongst the two groups; expatriates who work in the UAE, and UAE nationals. Data were collected from employees working in the UAE. Descriptive statistics, inter correlations and regression analyses was used to examine the data.FindingsFor the UAE nationals group, distributive and interactional justice has a significant impact on both satisfaction and performance. All justice constructs had an impact on satisfaction for the expatriate group, but surprisingly none of these components of organizational justice had an impact on self‐perceived performance of expatriates. The effects of gender, age and salary levels were also explored.Research limitations/implicationsSelf‐perceived performance is used to measure performance which is a limitation and it would be of value to try to independently measure performance.Practical implicationsGiven the large expatriate workforce in the UAE, the study highlights the need for companies to train and educate their managers as to the impact of the perceived lack of justice on the motivation and commitment of their employees.Originality/valueThis study is the first of its kind in the UAE and was conducted in a highly diverse work environment.

Morbidity in expatriates—a prospective cohort study

Expatriates comprise an important, but rarely studied subset of international travellers. This study was performed to assess the incidence of health events in an expatriate group and to evaluate factors affecting this incidence. A cohort of 2020 Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) staff and partners living abroad were followed-up over 1 year. The main outcome measure was incidence of illness or injury serious enough to require consultation with a doctor. Data collection was by means of a self-administered questionnaire. Poisson regression was used to estimate the rates of health events and to test for association between health events and a number of independent variables. The incidence of health events was 21%. Trauma (incidence 5%), musculoskeletal disorders (incidence 4%) and infectious disease (incidence 3%) were the principal causes of morbidity. The incidence of psychological disorders was low (1%). Of significance, employees were at increased risk of morbidity when compared to partners, with a higher incidence of health events [incidence rate ratio (IRR) 1.4, 95% CI 1.1-1.9] and psychological disorders (IRR 5.9, 95% CI 1.0-34.1). Moreover, unaccompanied employees were at increased risk of health events (IRR 1.3, 95% CI 1.0-1.7), and of traumatic injury (IRR 2.3, 95% CI 1.3-4.3) when compared to accompanied employees. While the morbidity in FCO personnel is low in comparison to other expatriate groups, the higher risk of morbidity in employees and unaccompanied individuals merits further research, particularly to ascertain whether work demands, isolation or risk-taking behaviour are contributory factors.

British Merchants in Nineteenth-Century Brazil: Business, Culture, and Identity in Bahia, 1808-1850

British Merchants in Nineteenth-Century Brazil: Business, Culture, and Identity in Bahia, 1808-1850

Richard Wright's "Island of Hallucination" and the "Gibson Affair"

The "Gibson Affair" marked the height of Cold War paranoia that came to consume the group of black expatriates centered in Paris in the 1950s. In writing of the forgeries and surrounding events that bear his name, Richard Gibson argues that the economy of the scandal was determined as much by the question of political commitment to Algerian independence as it was to the question of affiliations to the United States and its government. The essay combines Gibson's informative memoir with a meditation upon Richard Wright's unpublished roman-a-clef (and only novel set in Paris), Island of Hallucination.

An Examination of the Goodness‐of‐Fit between the Expatriate Adjustment Model and Self‐Selecting Expatriates

The literature on human resource management has benefited by the inclusion of a widely accepted and validated theoretical model of expatriate adjustment. This model, with its supporting studies is based solely on the factors thought to influence the adjustment experience of expatriates that are sent on international assignments by their employing multinational corporations. It is assumed that this model can be universally applied to all expatriate adjustment situations. However, this author contends that while useful to the study of expatriate management, this body of literature, through the exclusion of other types of expatriates, lacks full explanatory power for key sectors. An introduction of self‐selecting expatriates is presented. Additionally, this paper provides insight and exploration into how the model described above is not fully congruent with this underrepresented group of expatriates and offers suggestions for future model modification and testing.

Tama Galut Etiopiya : The Ethiopian Exile Is Over

Kaplan points out that although the Ethiopian-Israeli community is by far the most discussed of all Ethiopian expatriate groups, relatively little has been written about Ethiopian Israelis that places them in the larger context of the Ethiopian diaspora, or even treats them as a diaspora community. Ethiopian Israelis are unusual in that their presence in Israel is predicated on a narrative that reverses the one found in other Ethiopian diaspora communities. Whether in migration stories, rituals, or transnational practices, it is primarily the millennia of life in Ethiopia that are represented as a diasporic experience, while their very recent arrival in Israel is portrayed as a return home. Kaplan analyzes different facets of Ethiopian-Israeli cultural life and seeks to demonstrate the connections between the narrative they have chosen and their need to establish their credentials as bona fide Jews in the Jewish state.

Reconfiguring the debate on engagement

For the past fifteen years, the question of whether it was possible to “engage” Burma's successive military regimes to achieve constructive change has dominated policy discussions in regional and international forums. This article examines how this question has structured the terms of the debate and prevented a compromise position that might have averted the present humanitarian crisis. Information drawn from research conducted with a wide range of Burmese pro-democracy activists based in Thailand also indicates that this humanitarian crisis has thrown many time-honored positions on engagement into flux. The growing diversity of viewpoints has produced several strategies to address the immense problems confronting the country. Regardless of which strategy is favored, three issues are of importance to activists: the changing nature of political legitimacy in the Burmese context; the right of exiles to participate in the country's affairs; and the problems associated with the military's continuing use of forced labor. This article examines these issues against the backdrop of shifting regional and international interests, with special attention focused on the viewpoints of expatriate Burmese who support a significant increase in different forms of cross-border aid, while maintaining sanctions on the regime. The article warns that this approach may actually be worse than the problems it seeks to solve. Evidence is presented to illustrate how the possibility of resuming international aid to Burma has increased political factionalism and ethnic divisions among different expatriate groups rather than resolving these long-standing problems.

Academics In Motion: cultural encapsulation and feeling at home

In this article we explore the concept of “home” and transnational experiences among expatriate academics in a multicultural housing complex of a private university in Ankara, Turkey. The international academics employed by the university and the educators working in the International School that is also located on campus constitute a sizeable proportion of the residents in this housing complex. Although on‐campus housing that comes with some degree of cultural encapsulation has considerable advantages for a group of expatriates, it also creates perplexities due to the distant location of the campus from the city center, the limited availability of social contact with the locals, and the “sterility” of the university environment. Based on indepth interviews with a small group of these expatriates, we present the quandaries of cultural encapsulation and feeling at home.

Examining the Preferences of Influence Tactics in Chinese Societies: A Comparison of Chinese Managers in Hong Kong, Taiwan and Mainland China

A few years ago, a group of Singaporean expatriates were signed to work in a coastal city in China. Being offspring of Chinese, they spoke perfect Mandarin and could easily mix with any Chinese on the street. Therefore, they were confident that they would not have any difficulties working with their counterparts in China. Their Chinese counterparts felt alike. However, a year later, the two parties had experienced so many difficulties working together that the frustrated Singaporeans were ready to pull out entirely. The joint venture was on the verge of collapse. At that point, the two parties finally sat down and examined the reasons for their frustration. They realized that cultural differences, together with differing expectations based on disparate experiences of political and management systems, were the major causes of the ongoing problems. Fortunately, the timely realization of the differences enabled them to review their assumptions and adjust their working attitudes toward each other according to the new understanding. Before long, the two parties had solved their problems. With improved communication, the joint venture has not only survived, but also prospered. The above incident happened between managers from the Mainland and Chinesespeaking managers from Singapore, where Chinese account for 70 percent of the population. Such incidents happen even more frequently with Chinese-speaking expatriates from Hong Kong or Taiwan, where Chinese dominate the populations. In fact, most Western multinationals that assign overseas Chinese expatriates to Mainland China do so in the belief that they will experience less cultural distance than their Western counterparts, and that a common language will facilitate communication. However, anecdotal evidence (such as the incident described above) show that Chinese expatriates in China can encounter just as many adjustment problems as Western expatriates. At times, the ‘‘culture shock’’ may be more severe—

Vaccine and international health programs for employees traveling and living abroad.

The growth of large international oi-ganizations, such as governmental/nongovernniental agencies and multinational corporations, is increasing the need for corporate medical During the 1980s and 1990s, multinational companies rapidly expanded their operations in less developed countries. Almost two-thirds of the industrial investment activities in developing countries is attributable to foreign expansion. The success of these ventures depends to a large extent on the skills and experience provided by small, talented groups of expatriates, short-term assignees, and frequent travelers. US-based niultinational companies typically total between 100 and 5,000 U S expatriates abroad at any given time, and some multinationals exceed 200,000. T h e health and well-being of such groups of expatriates is crucial to the success of ventures in less developed countries. This gives corporate medical programs a key role in the success of large multinational organizations. This paper will focus on vaccination, within the context of comprehensive corporate international health programs. Medcal programs are particularly important in view of the increased vulnerability of foreign nationals to disease and illness when working abroad. Such employees are more vulnerable to disease than local employees working alongside them, resulting in a greater requirement for medical care.’ There are two main reasons. First, they may not have been exposed to local direarec caused by infections and allergens to which local people have developed immunity or tolerance. Second, they are more likely to encounter high-risk situations in an unfamiliar environment. O n average, 5-7% of expatriates are unable to complete their assignment for medical and psychosocial reasons. Expatriate illness is expensive. If it necessitates repatriation of a key employee and their family, it can cost above $500,000. Less dramatic, but of greater overall

The Letters of Djuna Barnes and Emily Holmes Coleman (1935-1936)

THE LETTERS OF DJUNA BARNES AND EMILY HOLMES COLEMAN (1935-1936) INTRODUCTION Djuna Barnes once said she was the "most famous unknown of the century," though her writing and painting distinguished her, as did her haughty, cape-tossing gestures, auburn hair and acerbic wit. Born in New York in 1892, she grew up in a family that included a charismatic grandmother who was a journalist, salon keeper and theosophist. Her American father was a proponent of free love and her British mother an aspiring poet. When Djuna was five, her father's mistress joined the household, and Djuna's siblings and half-siblings were educated at home, where all the children were encouraged to write daily. The family split up for financial reasons in 1912, and Djuna helped support her mother and brothers by writing for the Brooklyn Daily Eagle. She was hired to write for the New York Press by novelist, critic and photographer Carl Van Vechten in 1913 and moved to Greenwich Village, where she shared a house with photographer Berenice Abbott, literary critics Malcolm Cowley and Kenneth Burke, Dorothy Day of the Catholic Worker Movement and a number of actors and artists. Her circle of friends was formed largely by the Provincetown Players, a theater collective that launched the career of playwright Eugene O'Neill and inspired Barnes to write her own final drama, The Antiphon, many years later. By 1921 she was on her way to Paris to write for McCaWs. These early influences portended a life that could not be ordinary. In Paris, Barnes was at the center of the expatriate group. She knew Man Ray, Sherwood Anderson, Ernest Hemingway, Edna St. Vincent Millay, Marsden Hartley, Sinclair Lewis, William Butler Yeats, Hart Crane, James Joyce, Natalie Barney, Gertrude Stein, Constantin Brancusi , Mina Loy and Edmund Wilson, but she was most impressed by the artist Thelma Wood, with whom she lived for eight years. When their relationship foundered in 1929, Barnes began to work with great intent upon Nightwood (1936), the dark and highly wrought modernist novel for which she is best known. Set in Paris and New York, Barnes' novel (which T.S. Eliot likened to an Elizabethan tragedy for its "quality of horror and doom") is the story of five tormented and tormenting The Missouri Review · 105 cosmopolitan characters. Though she resisted self-knowledge, Barnes' work was significantly autobiographical and documents in a poetic style the struggles of an early-twentieth-century woman with the problems of freedom, sexual and otherwise. Her rage at betrayals by her parents and friends generated the tormented characters of the satirical Ryder (1928) and Nightwood. After being rejected by numerous publishers , the latter novel was eventually published by T.S. Eliot at Faber & Faber and the following year in America by Harcourt and Brace. Emily Holmes Coleman was instrumental in the publication of Nightwood. Coleman was born in California in 1899, graduated from Wellesley College in 1920 and married in 1921. After the birth of her son in 1924, she spent two months in a mental hospital in upstate New York and later wrote about the experience in her 1930 novel, Shutter of Snow. Her poetry was published in New Statesman and transition, but she was better known for her literary zeal, keen criticism and volatile temperament. Coleman first met Barnes at Deux Magots in 1925 in Paris, where Coleman was society editor for the Chicago Tribune. They met again in 1932 at a rented country estate in England, where they and novelist Antonia White were guests of heiress Peggy Guggenheim. It was here that Barnes wrote much of Nightwood and Coleman kept an as-yet-unpublished diary that assessed Barnes in a way Barnes found too astute to bear. Though the two were judgmental of each other at first, they eventually formed a friendship that deepened after the 1934 death of their mutual friend John Farrar Holms, an erudite Englishman who was also part of their company in the summers of 1932 and 1933. These letters are a small portion of the voluminous correspondence between Barnes and Coleman. We offer them as a sampling of an intimate conversationbetween two American women writers whose significance has been underestimated. The...

Cross‐cultural adjustment of expatriates: Theory and research findings on American and Japanese expatriates

Theory and research findings of expatriate adjustment were examined to gain a better understanding of the adjustment process. Empirical studies have been focused on the failure rates of expatriates rather than on their adjustment capacity in foreign societies. Few studies have attempted to assess the level of adjustment for both American and Japanese expatriates in the same cultural environment. Future studies need to investigate how one group of expatriates can be better‐adjusted than another in different cultures, the differences in their adjustment to the different facets of cross‐cultural adjustment and the factors that enable one group to outperform the other group.

Psychophysiological reactions during the first year of a foreign assignment: Results of a controlled longitudinal study

Previous studies reveal that employees are exposed to several potential stressors during foreign assignments. This prospective multidisciplinary study followed managers (expatriate group) before and during their first year of an international work assignment. Concurrently, a matched reference group that did not relocate was observed. The secretion of the stress-sensitive hormone prolactin increased in the expatriate group during the first year abroad, compared to the reference group. Selfesteem, family relations, language skills, decreased internal locus of control and job promotion explained 32% of the variance in serum prolactin levels. Lower self-esteem and sense of coherence was related to increased serum prolactin. Increased working hours were associated with decreased work satisfaction. Job promotion was not related to work satisfaction. Mental well-being decreased in the expatriate group, compared to the reference group. Individual factors such as a strong sense of coherence and social provision attenuated decreases in mental well-being. A significant increase in cigarette and alcohol consumption was found in the expatriate group during the first year abroad. This study indicates that there are important psychosocial determinants influencing psychophysiological response patterns in expatriates. The present results put into question the generalizability of the ‘culture shock’ syndrome. The results have practical implications for guiding expatriates on time-limited assignments.

Cross‐cultural adjustment of expatriates: Theory & research findings on American and Japanese expatriates

Theory and research findings of expatriate adjustment were examined to gain a better understanding of the adjustment process. Empirical studies have been focused on the failure rates of expatriates rather than on their adjustment capacity in foreign societies. Few studies have attempted to assess the level of adjustment for both American and Japanese expatriates in the same cultural environment. Future studies need to investigate how one group of expatriates can be better‐adjusted than another in different cultures, the differences in their adjustment to the different facets of cross‐cultural adjustment and the factors that enable one group to outperform the other group.

Anatomy of Business-Government Relations: Fiscal Policy and Mercantile Pressure Group Activity in Nigeria, 1916-1933

In a review published almost two decades ago, Hopkins (1976, 29) observed that business history had “no following in African Studies.” A decade later, however, the situation had changed remarkably, though the important subject of the relationship between the State and the business community in colonial Africa still required further in-depth analysis based on case studies. Hence, Hopkins (1987, 131) stressed the “need to evaluate the precise balance of…[the] forces (which underpin this relationship) by placing them in the context of a particular colony at a specific historical moment.” He called for “additional research” in the form of case studies, such as is presented below, to shed light on the dimensions of business-government relations under colonial rule. Although scholars acknowledge the centrality of the State in the colonies (Smith 1979; Cooper 1981), they differ on the characterization of its role in the contest between indigenous and expatriate economic interests in the colonies. The conventional view (Crowder 1968, 305; Hopkins 1975, 189) depicts the colonial state as the “Great White Empire” which limited itself to mediating between these competing interests. The opposing school of thought (Rodney 1972; Smith 1979; Lonsdale and Berman 1979; 1980) posits that the colonial state was interventionist; it collaborated with expatriate business groups to exploit the colonies in the imperial interest. The weight of empirical evidence clearly tips the scales in favor of the latter position but the relationship between these dominant actors in the colonial economies was much more complex than this. As Berman (1990) has shown in a Kenyan case study, it was characterized by crisis and contradictions.

Illness behaviour in mental ill-health in Kuwait

Two hundred and eight individuals were interviewed in order to study the behaviour they adopt in relation to the most common somatic and emotional symptoms of mental ill-health. Illness behaviour included ignoring, brooding, self-help and consultation of others. Older individuals tended more frequently to resort to meditation, native healers and doctors. Males consulted doctors more than females. Brooding was more frequent in well educated subjects. A group of married expatriates who left their wives in their original countries were the most likely to consult doctors. Education and marital status were the most predictive of brooding and self-help behaviour. Self-help was the most commonly adopted illness behaviour. The results are explained in terms of the social and cultural background of the individuals studied because this influences their methods of expressing distress and their action in relation to symptoms.

Coping with Cultural Differences: Comparison of American Managers in Japan and Thailand

each item and, second, the importance of that ability in facilitating effective functioning in the host culture The results are interesting for the small number of items (one for abilities, three for importance) on which there were significant differences (a! = .05) between the two groups. Where abilities were concerned, the Americans in Thailand felt significantly more able than their colleagues in Japan to deal with different educational systems. As regards the importance items, the managers in Japan felt it more important to understand another's point of view accurately, while the managers in Thailand rated the importance of effectively dealing with changes in life style and effectively dealing with different political systems more highly than their counterparts in Japan. That the two groups perceive their abilities with respect to dealing with cultural differences to be very similar is not as surprising, perhaps, as the finding that there are few discrepancies in the perceived importance of dealing with those differences between the two host cultures. This could suggest that there are fewer differences than are commonly believed to exist between those host cultures or that the two expatriate groups deal with Fairly similar managerial cultures, somewhat divorced from the wider host cultures in which they operate.