The Adventure of Working Abroad: Hero Tales from the Global Frontier [Hardcover]

Joyce Sautters Osland (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 2, 1995

Every year, hundreds of thousands of Americans and their families accept the challenge of living and working abroad. But many of these prospective expatriates have little idea--beyond the mystery of changing money and finding the consulate--of the extraordinary experience that awaits them. Upon their return, many discover they have undergone a dramatic personal transformation. Now in possession of great self-confidence and expanded horizons, they feel capable of handling greater challenges than they would have dreamed possible.

People who work abroad are off on an adventure--what Joseph Campbell called a hero's journey, complete with miraculous deeds to perform, inscrutable instructions, and important gifts to bring back. Joyce Sautters Osland, a veteran expatriate with fourteen years of experience abroad, tells the story of this modern-day Odyssey as it is lived by the working people who are exploring today's global frontier. Using Campbell's metaphor as a guide, Osland creates a pragmatic framework for understanding--and mastering--the predictable challenges of each stage in the expatriate journey.

The Adventure of Working Abroad won't prescribe what to pack or how to find the train station, but it will convey the genuine grittiness of the overseas experience--all the fear, excitement, and exhilaration, as well as the transformation that expatriates undergo as they rise to the challenges of unknown languages and customs, an alien landscape, and unfamiliar obstacles.

Here thirty-five seasoned expatriates tell in their own words of the unexpected perils and enormous opportunities, the turmoil and triumphs, of life in an exotic new world. Osland uses their personal stories to provide insights and important tips that will help expatriates adjust to diverse cultural norms, face new responsibilities and sudden autonomy, and better equip themselves for the difficulties of repatriation.

Osland also explores why U.S. companies are not as proficient a

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Osland likens the work of expatriates to the myth of the hero's adventure introduced by Joseph Campbell in the 1960s. It's an effective metaphor as Osland, who teaches organizational behavior and has worked many years abroad, recounts interesting anecdotes regarding the tribulations and triumphs of Americans plying their trades in foreign countries. For example, Osland compares Jason's quest for the Golden Fleece to that of the expatriate setting forth on a journey abroad. Some readers may grow weary of the constant Campbellian, biblical, and literary references involving Moses, the Virgin Mary, and Ariadne and Theseus. Yet rather than writing a mundane treatise on how to cope with an overseas assignment, the author has written a thought-provoking, literate narrative that entertains and elucidates while it educates. Recommended for public libraries.
Alan Farber, Northern Illinois Univ.-Dekalb
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review

"Engaging stories, creative analysis and practical recommAndations make this book eminently readable and deeply thought-provoking. If you're going abroad, if you've been abroad, if you're sAnding an employee abroad, you need this book." —Janet M. Bennett, co-director, Intercultural Communication Institute

"Sometimes we tAnd to overlook the impact an overseas assignment has on the personal and professional life of a transferee. This book provides a good insight into the changes that take place during their sojourn. It also puts emphasis on the important and necessary role the corporation plays in providing support to assure a rewarding and fruitful experience for both parties." —Dori S. McFadin, manager, NIKE, Inc., International Services

"As one who has never lived more than six years in the same country since birth, I found many valuable insights in this book that reflect my own experience and could be extraordinarily useful to people embarking on experiences of living and working in another country and culture for the first time.... Indeed a 'magical friAnd.'" —Brizio Biondi-Morra, director, INCAE

"A delight to read for people who have lived abroad, and an extremely important guide to human resource managers and executives who are guiding companies into the global business dynamics of the twenty-first century." —Nancy J. Adler, professor, international management, McGill University

"A real groundbreaker in an important phenomenon long neglected in spite of so many people involved in a global economy. It really helps clarify the cognitive and emotional changes of expatriates." —Silvio DeFranco, former Minister of Economic Affairs and Development of Nicaragua

"Having worked for more than twenty years assisting corporations in developing and providing programs that facilitate the adaptation and productivity of employees and families internationally, I am excited by Joyce Osland's new way of looking at the expatriate life cycle. To those responsible for preparing international employees to function effectively in a foreign environment, she provides a valuable perspective on the challenges and opportunities of working abroad." —Nessa P. Loewenthal, director, TransCultural Services

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 244 pages
• Publisher: Jossey-Bass; 1st edition (August 2, 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0787901083
• ISBN-13: 978-0787901080
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 6.3 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,856,112 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Thought-provoking treatment from a sociological perspective, August 20, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: The Adventure of Working Abroad: Hero Tales from the Global Frontier (Hardcover)

Thought-provoking treatment of aspects of living and working abroad from a sociological perspective. Very descriptive of styles of expatriate living with a focus on the success of those who treat the experience as an adventure in another culture rather than isolating themselves from the country's culture in an expatriate community. I'd recommend this for anyone evaluating his or her own suitability for living and working abroad.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars thorough description of expat challenges; lousy metaphor, December 6, 2000

By 

Frank Sellin "political scientist" (Charlottesville, VA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Adventure of Working Abroad: Hero Tales from the Global Frontier (Hardcover)

Osland shines at listing all the facets of an expatriate's life and evaluating the prospects of different personalities to handle extended work stays abroad. Speaking as a frequent ex-pat who did considerable time in the Balkans, I can confirm that she hits plenty of issues and their corresponding anecdotes dead on (i.e., some still bug me in a good way :-)-- successful strategies as well as failures of immersion in the target culture, adjusting on the return home with a more complex self-identity, identifying areas of personal change and growth, to name but a few.

Osland's other great strength lies in her words of caution to corporate HQ's: they should learn to treat their expat employees better, especially on return, as well as figure out better and innovative ways to incorporate their skill sets and changed personalities.

The downsides of the book are at least two: one, the metaphor of the hero myth gets downright tiring in repetition and doesn't really add much. Second, if the introduction and appendix are any indication, that metaphor was used to justify a research project, to "see whether ... [it] was important to expats..." and if it was indeed "a useful metaphor." In a word, fluff. Nobody I know in social sciences designs research and expects it to be taken seriously if its only probative value is to undergird a personal literary whim. Designing operationalizable logic and testing is hard work, after all. What Osland was really after, but doesn't say so, is a description of common characteristics/issues and categories across expats. Her sample of 35 people is too small for statistical use and carries no qualitative logic as an alternative approach for small "n" studies, so her survey conclusions are at best tentative, but nonetheless somewhat interesting.

Still, I should repeat that as a description of the issues that face prospective and current/past expats, it's a useful, crisp, motivating and nostalgic read (my copy was at the library, so I don't know offhand how much it's worth at places other than Amazon). I'd give it 3.5 stars, but that ain't an option, so I'll round it up to 4.