El salvador

This case was written by Susan Bartholomew based on individual(prenominal) interviews. Names, dates, and details of situations vex been modified for illustrative purposes. The various economic, political, and cultural conditions exposit are presented as perceptions of the individuals in the case they do non needs reflect the actual conditions in the region. The hithertots described are presented as a basis for classroom discussion rather than to illustrate effective or ineffective handling of a cross- cultural situation.December 10, 1998 The chore Offer fanny and Joanna Lafferty had Just opened a bottle of wine to share with fri prohibits who had semen to see their new apartment in Toronto when the teleph whizz rang. nates, a lanky, flabby development economic expert, excuse himself to answer the phone in the kitchen. Recently married, commode and Joanna were excited to be building a life together in the same city at final stage. As a development economist specializing in Latin the States, lavatory Laffertys work had interpreted him to Peru, Bolivia, and Guatemala on a series of trey- to four-month assignments over the previous three years. musical composition he develop it awayd the con exception and adventure of this fieldwork and had come to love the people and burnish, he also wanted a home base and steady presence in Toronto, w here Joanna worked as a charitable resource steering advisor. Just onward their espousals six months earlier, basin accepted a position with a Toronto-based non regimenal organization (non-government organization) focused on research, fund-raising, and government lobbying on issues related to rally American political refugees. end-to-end the 1980s, tens of thousands of refugees had fled political persecution and human rights abuse in war- orn interchange America to seek political asylum in Canada bunss field experience in Guatemala and his natural diplomacy were invaluable to the Canadian organization. H e was passionate intimately his work and quickly gained a reputation for being a sa. n. y and politically astute advocate of refugees cases. As Joanna went to get some wineglasses from the kitchen, she could realize her husband speaking in Spanish on the phone.Joanna had studied Spanish in college except had difficulty discovering the rapid, one-sided conversation. However, one phrase, Me allegre mucho, and tin cans giving grin as he ensure it, was impossible to isinterpret. Joanna returned to her guests in the anticipateliness room It sounds same(p) good news. Johns work with refugees in the Canadian nongovernmental organization had caught the attention of the United Nations High Commission for Refugees, headquartered in Geneva, and he had late returned from a one- workweek visit and series of interviews. While John had not been searching for a new rent out probability, the Geneva invitation had been too exciting to resist.John walked book binding into the sustenta tion room with a huge smile Forget the wine, I look at we should open some champagne. The U. N. has Just offered me the most incredible Job. In Geneva? Joanna asked excitedly. Decision The El Salvador assignment would be for 2 years, as a Program Officer responsible for organizing the repatriation of Salvadoran refugees from various refugee camps concealment to El Salvador and developing programs to run into the protection and well-being of such refugees in their return to Salvadoran communities. The position would report to the Charge de Mission of the El Salvador office.While this office was based in the capital city, San Salvador, the Job would also take up frequent travel to various field offices and refugee camps throughout El Salvador, Nicaragua, Guatemala, and Honduras. The take exception of the assignment excited John tremendously he also believed that this was an exceptional opportunity for him to make a real deviance in the lives of the refugees of Central America . He certainly wanted to accept the Job however, he would precisely go if Joanna would be exiting and happy to go with him.Two questions would weigh firmly on Joannas mind 1 . What almost the political instability of the part? The politics of El Salvador were complicated and difficult to record, and the story seemed to vary depending on the source. As Joanna gathered, the civil war in El Salvador had come to an end in 1992 with a U. N. -brokered peace treaty between the conservative government of the Republican Nationalist Alliance (Arena) and the Marxist-led Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front (FMLN). Throughout the war, the U. S. ad apparently spent more than $4 billion to lose the government and military, while the Soviet Bloc supported the FMLN. Human-rights groups alleged that right death squads had murdered 40,000 of the 70,000 people killed during the 12-year war. However, the peace agreement had signifi hucksterly trim back the size of the rmy, disbanded co rrupt police forces, purged the region of the most notorious human-rights abusers, and dis gird the FMLN, allowing it to dumb rig a legal political party. The country appeared to have made whole progress toward peace and democracy.The information and briefings they received from Salvadorans and other expatriates who had recently returned from the country suggested that life in the capital, San Salvador, was instead safe. Economically, the country was becoming more internationally open, with establishment of large export factories, increasing rivatization, and reforms aimed at stimulating unusual investment. While certain precautions were required, and the area was still heavily patrolled by armed forces, Joanna was t senile she could expect a relatively normal lifestyle. They would live in a highly secure part of the city, in the area populated by all the foreign embassies.They would also be living and traveling on a U. N. diplomatic passport (Laissez- passer), which would affo rd them excellent protection. 2. What about my career? Moving to El Salvador was the last thing Joanna had imagined when she married John Lafferty six months earlier. Joanna had worked in Toronto for three years as a human resource consultant after graduating with an MBA. She was bright and ambitious, and her career was advancing well. While she was very happy to be married, she also enjoyed her professional and financial independence.Besides, Toronto was not yet professionally rewarding, it was also home, friends, and family. However, Joanna was also ready for a salmagundi secretly, she had always envied John the sense of adventure that accompanied his work. whitethornbe this was an opportunity for her to develop her After much discussion, they decided that John would accept the assignment. January-March 1999 Predeparture Arrangements When John confirmed with the Geneva office that he would take the assignment, it was arranged for him to behave to San Salvador at the end of Mar ch and for Joanna to follow one month later.It was very much recommended in assignments of this kind to send married staff ahead of period to get settled into the Job before their spouse and/ or family arrived. This extract made sense to the Laffertys and had several advantages. First, it would give Joanna more time to glossiness off her current consulting rojects in Toronto and make a graceful follow from her present firm. She had a strong professional reputation and wanted to ensure she was remembered favorably by her corporate clients when she returned to Toronto two years later. Second, John would be able to get the housing arrangements settled before Joannas arrival.Johns employer would provide generous financial and logistical supports to staff in finding housing however, John also knew from past experience that dealing with local real earth agents and utility companies in Central America could be highly frustrating. Tasks that were quite simple in Toronto, such as havi ng a lease skeletal up and getting a telephone installed, Just didnt seem to follow any system or set of procedures. Tomorrow could mean next week or even next month. Patience, flexibility, and a good deal of get were usually required getting angry rarely helped.While John was used to the inconvenience and unpredictability of local services in Central America, he was uncertain how Joanna would react initially. John held a deep affection for the Central American people and felt hopeful that Joanna would develop an affinity for the culture as well. However, he hoped to at least have the majority of the living arrangements worked out before she arrived to make her transition to El Salvador as smoothen as possible. Finally, the extra time gave Joanna more opportunity to prepare herself for the transition.Joanna had taken a give on international human resource management as an MBA and was familiar with the phenomenon of culture shock in international assignments. She recalled from he r course that predeparture preparation and cultural orientation made a significant difference in helping employees and their families adapt to the foreign environment. Joanna was determined to read and short-change as much about Salvadoran history and politics as she could. She was also keen to improve her Spanish before she arrived and as shortly as the decision was made that they would be deprivation to El Salvador, she enrolled in night courses for six hours a week.As Joanna walked home from her Spanish class one evening, satisfy with her results on her comprehension test, she recalled with amusement a conversation she had had with Joan Taylor. Joan was the married woman of a senior executive with Altron, a Canadian firm with offices throughout Latin America. The Taylors had Just returned rom a two-year assignment in Guatemala City, and Joanna had contacted Joan to get some insight on the practicalities of living in the region. My serious Joanna, Joan began, you willing hav e a very fine life in Central America, or in most developing countries your husband will be sent to, for that matter.You will Just watch out for the grace cage syndrome. The what? Joanna had asked. As corporate executives or diplomats in third-world postings, we live a pretty high life, certainly a standard of living out-of-the-way(prenominal) beyond what we could have in our accept countries. Everything is there for you and everything is done for you. Its like living in a gilded cage. Some people love it, and get pretty spoiled after a while you cant imagine even making a sandwich for yourself . Humph, Joanna thought to herself at the time. That would certainly never happen to me.I am a professional. This is an incredible scholarship opportunity and I am going to make the most of it May 1999 Joannas Arrival Joanna arrived on a balmy afternoon, grateful for the warm ginger nut after a cold Toronto winter. She was excited to see John and tho slightly disappointed that their f irst drive into San Salvador would not be alone, but accompanied by a young Salvadoran named Julio Cesar, who had been assigned as their driver. On the drive from the airport, Joanna tried hard to follow his rapid jeering as he pointed out the sights to her.She had felt confident in her Spanish in the classroom in Toronto, but this instant she could barely understand a word Julio Cesar said. John, sensing her frustration, began to translate, and by the time they reached the house, Joanna was exhausted and discouraged. John was proud of the house he had found, next door to the Mexican embassy and only a block from a tennis club where most of the members were expatriates. He hought this might provide a good social base for Joanna if she got wishful for North American lifestyle. The large 12-room house was certainly impressive, with its shining terrazzo floors and two large gardens.Joanna wondered what to do with all the space. It was also quite secure, with metal debar on all the windows, and surrounded by 12-foot walls. This isnt a house, John, its a fortress, Joanna said in amazement. mieah . I know its a bit much, said John. nevertheless this is the one area of the city we are strongly advised to live in, for security reasons. Smaller homes or apartments Just ont exist. nearly of the families living here are either expats or very wealthy Salvadorans. Most have live-in help and need the space. But I dont want anyone else living with us . I want you to meet Maria. Joanna followed John out to the back of the get into .. house, and was introduced to a half-size, brown woman, vigorously scrubbing clothes. Maria worked for the family who lived here before it only seemed right that she should stay. She only lives a few blocks away, though, so she will go home each evening. After a week, Joanna soon lettered Marias work patterns. Maria would hand swosh all their clothes in the cement tub and hang them to dry outside, a chore that would take all day lon g, as Maria would often wash things three times.The following day she would return to do the ironing, which would take another abounding day. As Joanna sat in her study upstairs, reading her books and newspapers, she felt an kindle sense of guilt thinking of Maria, hand washing every last item of their clothing in the own clothes in a washing machine. Then, when Joanna found out that John paid Maria $6. 00 per day, she was furious. John explained to Joanna that this was the ustomary wage for the women from the barrios marginales who worked as domestic help for wealthy Salvadorans and expatriates.These marginal communities were small groupings of tin chanteys located in the ravines that surrounded the city. A few had electricity, but many of the communities, including Marias, still cooked their meals over fires and lit their homes with candles. Joanna began to slip more bullion into Marias pay envelope. Joanna hoped to make a friend of Maria and looked forward to having tiffin e ach day with her and learning more of the local way of speaking. Joanna realise now hat the formal Spanish she had learned in drill was vastly different from the language she heard each day on the streets of San Salvador.However, Maria refused to eat at the same table as Joanna and insisted on serving Joanna first in the dining room, and then eating her own lunch on the stone ill-uses in the back room. Joanna was deeply uncomfortable with this and began to eat lunch at the restaurant in her nearby tennis club instead. Other things began to irritate Joanna as well. For example, one day, she started to wash the car in the driveway. Suddenly, Marias son appeared and insisted that he do he Job for her, horrified that la Senora would undertake such a task herself.Another time, Joanna began to savvy up some of the plants in the garden for replanting the following morning, a gardener appeared at the door, saying that he was a cousin of Marias and would be pleased to take on additional gardening work. Joanna resented this intrusion into her daily life. If she was going to be spending so much time at home, she wanted privacy to read and study. It was going to be a while, she realized, before she found a Job. Joanna was disappointed with the Job prospects among local and even international companies. Most available positions were clerical, for which she was vastly overqualified. l didnt get an MBA to work as a file clerk she would think to herself angrily. Then, she would think sadly, My Spanish probably isnt even good enough to get a Job as a file clerk. One day, in frustration, Joanna called her two closest friends in Toronto, colleagues from her old firm. l cant win Joanna complained. l feel red-handed all the time. I feel indictable because I dont do anything myself. And I feel guilty if I dont hire local people to the housework. They need the money so much. Then I feel guilty that we pay them six dollars a day. We can afford so much more.I feel guilty that I have a maid and she lives in a tin shack in a ravine two blocks from my house. But John says we cant pay her more than the going rate because it would upset the whole balance of her community. He says they have their own economic structure and norms and we have to prize that. My Salvadoran neighbors tell me that if I pay Maria or the gardener more they wont respect me. But I do anyway, and then I feel guilty because I dont tell John. And then our driver, Julio Cesar . The sarcastic response was the same from both. Gee, Joanna, sounds tough.Beautiful house, a maid, gardener, and driver, afternoons at the tennis club n wonder youre so miserable. been a big mistake? She knew how much this Job meant to John, and it was a great step forward for his career. But what about her career and her own gratification? This had been a mutual decision. Something was going to have to change or they would be on a plane back to Toronto very soon. The question was what? Questions For discussion 1 . Is Joanna suffering from culture shock? What elements of the Salvadoran culture seem most difficult for her to adapt to? 2.Should Joanna have done anything differently in hurt of her preparation for moving to El Salvador? What do you think she should do now? 3. How could Joanna further her career as a human resource consultant while living in El Salvador? What skills could she develop? Would these skills be transferable if she moved back to Toronto? To another country? 4. If you were John, would you have taken the Job in El Salvador? If you were Joanna, would you have agreed to go? 5. Do you think international careers are feasible for dual-career couples? What issues are important to consider for the individuals tortuous? What can companies do to make foreign assignments more successful for couples and families? Is the happiness of the employees spouse the responsibility of the company? 7. What recommendations would you make to international organizations and companies sendi ng employees to politically unstable regions? Do companies have a responsibility for the physical arctic of expatriate employees? Does this responsibility extend to locally hired staff as well? 8. Do you think Joanna should pay her cleaning lady and gardener more than the standard $6. 00 per day? Why or why not?