The study elaborates the background of doing this research in great details. The scope looks from the broad issue of workforce mobility whether in international or local field, to the focus of teachers’ workforce mobility between Taiwan and Kinmen. The fact that more and more teachers in Kinmen are from Taiwan leads to the importance of exploring these teachers’ experience and their adjustment, in order to understand their needs or satisfaction influenced by the culture of Kinmen.
Background of the Study International Mobility
Nowadays the growth of globalization or international trade is accompanied by the international mobility of individuals who transfer knowledge, technologies, ideas, and other capabilities, and the international mobility is regarded as a kind of movement of capital (Solimano, 2006). In business field, some companies are successful but some face defeat. A few people regard that business strategy is the key factors and some believe it is due to organizational structure problem. Black and Gregersen (1999) concluded that in fact, having abundant human capital is the most important factor in creating and maintaining competitive advantages. Many organizations acknowledge this fact and so the international mobility of workers has increased, which is analogous to the capital mobility (Barro & Sala-i-Martin, 2003). Appointing overseas assignments or choosing suitable people as expatriates have become crucial and increasing amount of decisions for companies (Anderson, Charmaz, Josselson, McMullen, & Wertz, 2011).
The factors determining international mobility derive from a combination of push and pull factors. While sending countries wish to decrease the supply pressure (push factors), receiving countries hope to fill significant labor shortages (pull factors) (Bobeva & Garson, 2004). At world level, international mobility can generate positive benefits as knowledge
flows intensify and the match between supply and demand for skills improves (Jolly, 2003).
Local Mobility
While the global circulation of workers, especially highly-skilled workers across frontiers is intensifying, Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development [OECD]
(2003) stated that structural unemployment could also be lowered by encouraging greater labor mobility within one country. The United States and Canada both own stretched-out geography, but the differences in regional unemployment rates are larger and stickier in Canada. Coulombe and Day (1999) provided the finding that the mobility problem of Canada is concentrated among the less skilled workers. The youth Canadians with bachelor or graduate degree can migrate to another province more easily (Coulombe, 2000).
It suggested that human capital is a strong determinant of migration. Whether it is about cross-border mobility or regional mobility in one country, for both sending and receiving sides, there are potential gains derived from the relocation of labor from regions with a surplus of workers to regions with labor shortages (Fassmann, Haller, & Lane, 2009).
Cross-cultural Adjustment
As people relocate from the place they used to live to another meaning they also relocate from one culture to another. Every culture has its particular values which are widely shared by a specific group of people. When individuals are under to a new cultural context, they will find that some of their previous values and beliefs become useless. To adapt well to a new culture, the individuals have to understand the new culture’s underlying values and how these values lead to appropriate behaviors. The changes they make can be regarded as cross-cultural adjustment. Often cross-cultural adjustment is not an easy job for people whether their new working or living place is abroad or still within their own country, because any adjustment may disorder people’s routines and that generally followed by situations that challenge an individual’s self-esteem (Barker & Willis, 2008).
Mobility of Teachers from Taiwan to Kinmen
In Taiwan, the working mobility is also common. Many people have the experience of doing different jobs at different places in Taiwan. Every year, from May to August, the news of prospective teachers’ busy running about registering and taking teacher entrance exams around many places is already well-known to citizens.
Regarding the present situation in Taiwan, more and more people intending to be teachers come from Taiwan to Kinmen to take teacher entrance exams to give themselves the opportunity to teach. The background that more and more people from Taiwan try to obtain positions in schools in Kinmen is as below. Since 2004, the quantity of people who are qualified as being teachers have been more than the numbers of job vacancies in public school in Taiwan (Huang, 2006). The situation of excess supply of teachers has not changed yet. Under this condition, society is aware of the fairness of teachers’ exams and criticizes schools that do not join teachers’ joint entrance exams thus secure some people’s advantages through clandestine exams. In order to avoid people’s suspicion, many public schools join teachers’ joint entrance exams held by governments of different cities or counties including schools in Kinmen. The Kinmen Education Bureau has held teachers’ joint entrance exams since 2005, consequently, not only Kinmen natives have the opportunity to teach in Kinmen, people from Taiwan or other islands also have open access to teach there.
That is to say, there exists the combination of push and pull factors between Taiwan and Kinmen. Many people qualified as being teachers are hard to find jobs at schools due to less and less job vacancies in Taiwan. While in Kinmen, the open information of recruiting teachers of schools and the teachers’ joint entrance exams making people be assured of the fairness issue thus increasing people’s willingness to go far to Kinmen registering and taking the exam. On the part of Taiwan, the supply pressure of too many qualified teachers can be relieved to some degree. On the other part, Kinmen can own the wilder talent pool which is favorable for schools in Kinmen for selecting suitable teachers.
Differences between Kinmen and Taiwan Culture
The culture of Kinmen is unique. Its greatest difference from Taiwan is that Taiwan is a place with a lot of immigrants while Kinmen natives tend to move to other places for schooling opportunities or career development (Lu, 2011). So people in Taiwan, especially in cities of Taiwan, have learned to interact with others from different backgrounds, while the elder or middle-aged Kinmen natives who stay in Kinmen for most of their lifetime are less exposed to multicultural environment (Fang, 2005). Besides, During the Kaomintang’s retreat to Taiwan between 1949 and the 1980s, Kinmen suffered from great tension being the front line of Nationalist-Communist conflict. People’s activities in Kinmen were restricted by curfew and only limited interaction with outside world was permitted. Not only the geographic and historical reasons play big parts in shaping Kinmen’s culture, its main economic activity, tourism, also makes Kinmen an extraordinarily exuberant green place without industrial pollution or traffic jams (Crook, 2011). A quarter of the whole Kinmen area belongs to Kinmen National Park which is not allowed to be open to development. Apart from fishing, small-scale agriculture, tourism business is the pillar of Kinmen’s economies.
Owing to the more peaceful relations of ROC (Republic of China) and PRC (People’s Republic of China) now, it is possible to travel directly between ROC and PRC. Last year over two million citizens of PRC went to Kinmen to visit or transfer to Taiwan (Yang, 2011).
Anthropologists believe that culture is shaped by many different objective conditions:
spatial, social, economic, and organizational (Nanda & Warms, 2010). As noted above, with such special background consisting of historic, geographic, economic factors, the culture of Kinmen is very particular compared to that of Taiwan.
Cross-Cultural Adjustment of Teachers from Taiwan
Now that more and more teachers from Taiwan work in Kinmen, is there any spark when teachers from Taiwan clash against native Kinmen residents, teachers, students, or the
parents? Usually, shared nature of culture enables people to predict—within broad limits—the behavior of others in the society. Conversely, people become disoriented when attempting to interact in a culturally different society because they do not share the same behavioral expectations as members of the society (Andreatta & Ferraro, 2009). Plus, the move to a new environment is cited as one of the most unforgettable events in a person’s life as for most sojourners some degree of culture shock is inevitable (Bochner, Furnham, &
Ward, 2001).
Thus it is important to have research on cross-cultural adjustment issues of the teachers from Taiwan. They work and reside in Kinmen, a place its culture other than that of their upbringing residence. It is constructive for both teachers from Taiwan and the schools in Kinmen if the teachers can well adapt to the culture of Kinmen. To a certain degree, there is uniformity in schools, but when people get down and work with others, the most profound things should be paid attention to are the differences. The differences may appear slight, but the nuances can be enormously important. And the nuances are the embodiment of cultural difference. Andreatta and Ferraro (2009) gave a general definition that culture is everything that people have, think, and do as members of a society.
Through interacting with Kinmen natives, teachers from Taiwan develop ways to adapt to Kinmen culture. Noticing the process of acquiring Kinmen culture of these teachers inspired the researcher’s interest in understanding the way they go through enculturation. The researcher has found that teachers from Taiwan and teachers growing up in Kinmen are two different groups in schools. In a working context, colleagues can work in harmony, but when it goes to private life, there is a clear distinction between teachers from Taiwan and those who originally live in Kinmen. People usually spend their leisure time and discuss personal things with their own group members. The situation let the researcher even wonder the reasons behind resulting in this phenomenon.
Need for the Study
Realizing the Importance of Cultural Adjustment of Teachers from Taiwan
Capital is in forms of tangible and intangible. Human capital belongs to the later one, but it is also important for yielding useful outputs over periods of time. In schools, excellent equipment at schools is a good capital in a sense, but every school needs teachers to carry teaching jobs or implement school policies. Only with good teachers or administrators can it be possible for schools to operate well. Better adjusting to Kinmen culture helps teachers from Taiwan conduct their work contentedly thus creating the possibility to lead the schools they serve to prosperous prospects. This study hopes to have the schools or Kinmen Education Bureau be aware of the importance of teachers’ adjustment issues which may affect the operation of schools.
As difficulties, confrontations, or conflicts are unavoidable experienced by newcomers (Selmer, 2005), the teachers from Taiwan face challenges more or less related to cultural differences. If teachers can adapt to the culture in Kinmen, they may have fewer problems in working or living there. The drive of staying in Kinmen is demonstrated by teachers who keep adapting themselves to the new environment despite challenges they face in Kinmen.
Having Teachers from Taiwan in Kinmen Becomes a Current Trend
As mentioned above, in decades ago, positions in schools of Kinmen were historically dominated by the natives of Kinmen. The information about recruiting teachers was not necessarily announced on line so the information was mainly known by people in Kinmen.
Another reason is that competition for being a formal teacher was not that intense before, and fewer people would consider teaching in Kinmen.
But now the situation has changed, vacancies for teachers in Taiwan are much less than before and the information of teacher vacancies is open to public in every county in ROC.
Also, the process of selecting teachers is fairer than before. The chief judge grading the
competitors is a professor from Taiwan, not natives in Kinmen; and the problem of favoring Kinmen natives is no longer a big concern. Therefore, the proportion of teachers from Taiwan to Kinmen is getting increased. Accordingly, with open access to the information about teacher vacancies, and with less and less teacher vacancies in Taiwan, it is inevitable that teachers will continue coming from Taiwan to serve in Kinmen.
Cross-cultural adaptation is a significant challenge that derails newcomers’ success (Pitts, 2009). It is necessary to conduct study for shedding light on the area of adaptation of the teachers from Taiwan in Kinmen since teachers from Taiwan are still on the increase and may even become the main proportion of the total amount of teachers in the future.
Accordingly, the researcher finds the importance of looking into this unique teacher group whose number is still on the rise.
Pioneering on Having Attention on this Specific Field
Although there are empirical studies that have been done with regard to the issues of expatriates from companies, and few concerning the adjustment problems of transnational marriage in Kinmen, yet none has been found according to the settings of teachers from Taiwan to Kinmen.
Therefore, this domain now stands in need of research for understanding the problems that teachers from Taiwan may face and the process of their cultural adjustment. Since much less attention is being devoted to this area, it would appear that this study is the forerunner to pose an important issue in understanding the particular group—teachers from Taiwan working and living in Kinmen. Questions concerning adjustment condition of those teachers remained unanswered. This study is as well valuable to people who consider teaching in Kinmen helping them be prepared for the cross-cultural adjustment in the new environment.
The result of this study is thus significant in order to add to the body of knowledge in the field of cross-cultural studies among teachers on distant islands. Besides, it can create
awareness on issues of cross-cultural challenges and adjustments, not only to the teachers from Taiwan to Kinmen, but also to Kinmen natives in general in order to build a more productive workforce in years to come.
Research Purpose
Cultural clashes between foreign and local values are inevitable in which sojourners experience challenges (Phinney, 2003).The purpose of this study is to examine the challenges resulting from cultural differences faced by teachers from Taiwan in Kinmen and the adjustment made to cope with these challenges.
The study is conducted to provide useful information to persons working in schools or Kinmen Education Bureau and persons considering teaching in Kinmen. Additionally, it is hoped that knowledge of the sources of challenges of adjustment to Kinmen culture will be useful for schools in Kinmen to considerate if any actions can be taken to help teachers adapt well in Kinmen. So it should also be the goal of this study to provide guidelines for deans or notable persons in education field in Kinmen hoping to ensure success of both teachers from Taiwan and the schools.
Research Questions
The problem of this research is to study the challenges concerning cultural differences that teachers from Taiwan encounter and to examine whether they are able or not to overcome difficulties. Finally the school administrators in Kinmen can understand wheather the environment in schools is friendly to all the teachers.
1. What are the working adjustment experiences that teachers from Taiwan have in Kinmen?
2. What are the psychological adjustment experiences that teachers from Taiwan have in Kinmen?
3. What are the general adjustment experiences that teachers from Taiwan have in Kinmen?
Delimitations of the Study
This study is limited to teachers from Taiwan now in four junior high schools and two senior high schools in Kinmen; teachers serving in the junior high school on Lesser Kinmen are not included.
The use of a purposeful sample limits the inferences available. The study only includes teachers from Taiwan now in Kinmen. Caution has to be taken when drawing conclusions about people working in any government institutions in other remote places. Findings from the study may be representative of teachers from Taiwan to Kinmen, but may not accurately represent the perspectives of teachers in other places of ROC.
Representativeness of the sample population is by teachers from four junior high schools and the senior high schools of Kinmen. The nonrandom sampling is preferable in the situation of this study because only a small group of people will be observed and interviewed.
According to Durrheim (2008), a small nonrandom sample consists of a few information-rich cases helps the researcher to understand the particular in depth and other contexts or groups similar to those studied.
Definition of Terms Cultural Adjustment
Cultural adjustment can be seen as a process as individuals who were brought up in one cultural context move into a new cultural context, they tend to change their behaviors or mindset in order to adapt to the new environment. It is associated with individuals’ emotional states, cognitive perceptions, and personal traits thus referring to individual’s subjective well-being or satisfaction in their new cultural environments. (Kennedy & Ward, 1996; Apud, Johnson, & Lenartowicz, 2006). So adjustment represents the fit between individuals and the mainstream cultural context, which is the culture of Kinmen in this study.
Homeroom Teacher
A homeroom teacher is considered to serve as a pastoral role for their students, as well as an educational one since the homeroom teacher still has to teach a specific subject for several classes. A homeroom teacher in schools of Kinmen has to be with the students beginning from at least 7:00 in the morning to read with them, have tests for them, or supervise students’ sweeping work. Then from 11:45 to 13:15, the homeroom teachers have lunch with their students, direct them doing cleaning work, and take a nap with them.
Aside from these routine daily works, there are many other unexpected events causing from their students that a homeroom teacher has to handle. For example, settling fights or quarrels between students, responding suggestions or even complaints from parents, correcting students from any misbehavior such as breaking public property of schools, cheating on tests, being rude at teachers or classmates, encouraging and soothing students from bad mood, and leading class activities like relay race, etc.
Subject Teacher
In contrast to homeroom teacher, a subject teacher less bothers to handle students’
behavior problems or lead any class activity. What subject teachers need to focus is teaching a particular subject for students. Their time is free before 8:00am and from 11:45am to 13:30pm. No official responsibility is on them if students have problems outside the subject teacher’s class. There are still some subject teachers in schools in Kinmen are willing to spend time in consulting or disciplining students, but these are not obligated.