Designing a Cross-cultural Training Programme for Assessors - ACSG

Cultural Assimilator(Cushner & Brislin, 1996)The Final AdvanceJane was asked to represent her company at a conference that was to take place in the capital city. Having justtransferred to this Latin American country, she was understandably flattered that her boss would ask her toparticipate and excited that she would have the opportunity to see the city. Everything went well - travel to the city,checking into the hotel, and so on - until the preconference cocktail party. Jane was approached by a youngwoman executive from a local firm who introduced herself as Dimorph. Immediately upon striking up aconversation she appeared to be making a physical advance. It seemed that every time Jane moved away,Dimorph moved forward. After some time, Jane found herself against a wall, unable to retreat any further.Dimorph kept her close distance. Having experienced enough discomfort, Jane curtly excused herself, returned toher room, and refused to attend any other social functions.How can you best explain this incident?1. Dimorph’s advance was of a sexual nature.2. It is very unusual in a Latin American country that a woman would be asked to represent her firm.Dimorph resented seeing another woman present and wished to make Jane feel as uncomfortable aspossible, hoping she would leave.3. The comfortable social distance usually kept between two Latin Americans is much closer than that forAmericans. Both Jane and Dimorph were seeking a comfortable distance.4. Jane was probably responding to the garlic on Dimorph’s breath.Foreign Policy DiscussionsNever much interested in newspaper reading or current events, Betty Bradley from the United States had stilldone quite well in her undergraduate studies in anthropology and won a scholarship for overseas study inGermany. Again reflecting her academic abilities, she was quite fluent in German, having studied it in both highschool and college. Upon her arrival in Germany, she settled in well and began her graduate studies. During fouror five informal gatherings of students at the local beer hall, German colleagues asked her about U.S. policy onnuclear arms in Europe, the U.S. presidenťs seeming unsureness in foreign policy, and recent trade agreementsbetween the United States and the former Soviet republics. Betty was unprepared for such questions and hadlittle to say, and so was not so frequently included in beer hall gatherings later on during her sojourn. Betty waspuzzled by the fact that she was not included.If Betty asked you what was going on, what would you say?1. The German students expected that Betty would have a great deal to say about the issues raised andwere surprised that she did not contribute to discussions.2. The German students were baiting Betty, trying to catch her in an inconsistency so that they could thencounter her arguments vigorously and show her to be poorly informed.3. The Germans’ concern with politics and foreign policy is a reflection of the authoritarianism they still haveas a national characteristic.4. The German students were very anti-American and rejected Betty for this reason.Page 3 of 10