The purpose of this paper is to enhance cultural sensitivity; develop awareness of cultural adaptation stages; and to provide an overview of key elements for integrating foreign workers into the workplace and community. In order to effectively facilitate the integration, we must explore the key concepts of culture, adaptation, and awareness. Culture can be defined as \u201cthe learned and shared values, beliefs, and behaviours of a group of interacting people\u201d (Bennett & Bennett, 2007). As a starting point for integrating foreign workers into the workplace and community, we must recognize that: (1) cultural differences exist; (2) all cultures are deeply engrained in the hearts, minds and behaviours of their members; and (3) no culture is superior or inferior to any other, they are just different. (Adler, 1998, p. 236) As foreign workers enter a new culture, an inevitable process of personal transition begins. It is important to note that adapting to a new culture is a \u201cprocess\u201d, not an event. In the case of foreign workers, it is mutually beneficial for hosting employers to foster a smooth transition. Cultural adaptation is, after all, about two cultures interacting with each other; and happy workers tend to be more productive workers and stay with their employer longer. Awareness on several levels is crucial to facilitating the integration of foreign workers. These include awareness of differences in cultural values and communication styles; your own cultural predispositions; the process of cultural adaptation including culture shock; and some practical strategies for fostering successful adaptation. The success of both existing and new workers will depend on how well prepared they and you are for this intercultural work experience. Enjoy the opportunity to interact and work with individuals from different cultures. The journey, even if a bit bumpy at times, will fill you with satisfaction if both parties engage in the enriching process of mutual adaptation and learning.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The purpose of this paper is to enhance cultural sensitivity; develop awareness of cultural adaptation stages; and to provide an overview of key elements for integrating foreign workers into the workplace and community. In order to effectively facilitate the integration, we must explore the key concepts of culture, adaptation, and awareness. Culture can be defined […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[930],"tags":[5361,8882,4686,6377,6378,6312,6379,1997,6380,6275,7433,15480,3005,6381,5252,26335,14784,13564,2380,16262,9331,17743,14790,1537,6382,20912,10101,20911,4874,2481,7812,367],"class_list":["post-4202","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-production","tag-adaptation","tag-al","tag-awareness","tag-comfortable","tag-culture","tag-differences","tag-different-country","tag-employee","tag-employer","tag-foreign","tag-foreign-workers","tag-fostering","tag-host","tag-integrating","tag-integration","tag-integration-of-immigrant-labour-into-workplace-and-communities-begin-and-ball","tag-ness","tag-people","tag-perceptions","tag-pl","tag-positions","tag-prod","tag-rene","tag-sensitivity","tag-shock","tag-some","tag-start","tag-t","tag-tan","tag-work","tag-worker","tag-workers"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/prairieswine.com\/rsc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4202","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/prairieswine.com\/rsc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/prairieswine.com\/rsc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/prairieswine.com\/rsc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/prairieswine.com\/rsc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4202"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/prairieswine.com\/rsc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4202\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/prairieswine.com\/rsc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4202"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/prairieswine.com\/rsc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4202"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/prairieswine.com\/rsc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4202"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}