Question

Cite how the following are VALUABLE TO FOREIGNERS operating in a local business organization: legal, educational, spiritual, and cultural values.

Read as your Reference ( and other HBO textbooks)

Newstrom, J.W. (2011). Organizational behavior: 2011Human behavior at work. Boston: McGraw-Hill.
Livermore, D. (2010). Leading with cultural intelligence. Boston: Amacom.

Answer 1

How legality is valuable to foreigners?

There are generally considered to be five legal systems in the world today: civil law, common law, customary law, religious law, and mixed legal systems.

Civil law systems have their origin in the Roman legal tradition. Civil systems vary widely, both in procedure and substantive law, so conducting research on a particular nation's civil law system should include looking at that nation's specific system of law, but they do have some trademark characteristics. Nations with civil law systems have comprehensive, frequently updated legal codes. Most importantly, case law is a secondary source in these jurisdictions. France and Germany are two examples of countries with a civil law system.

Common law systems, while they often have statutes, rely more on precedent, judicial decisions that have already been made. Common law systems are adversarial, rather than investigatory, with the judge moderating between two opposing parties. The legal system in the United States is a common law system (with the exception of Louisiana, which has a mix of civil and common law).

Customary law systems are based on patterns of behavior (or customs) that have come to be accepted as legal requirements or rules of conduct within a particular country. The laws of customary legal systems are usually unwritten and are often dispensed by elders, passed down through generations. As such, customary law research depends greatly on the use of secondary sources. Oftentimes, customary law practices can be found in mixed legal system jurisdictions, where they've combined with civil or common law.

Religious legal systems are systems where the law emanates from texts or traditions within a given religious tradition. Many Islamic nations have legal systems based in whole or in part on the Quran.

Mixed legal systems refer to legal systems where two or more of the above legal systems work together.

How education is valuable to foreigners?

International education is a catalyst for leading change around the world

1. The world of international education is a melting pot of individuals and learning with a global perspective ensures students are exposed to different cultures, ethnic groups, religions and languages, enriching society in the process and broadening the academic experience for everyone.
2. It also, of course, establishes a multicultural learning environment which makes it the ideal setting for increasing students’ cultural awareness and fostering their understanding and appreciation of those who come from a different background to their own.

Importance of International Education

• Broadening world views and ways of thinking by experiencing different cultures firsthand.
• Benefiting students with future career opportunities by providing more life experiences and personal connections.
• Complementing and accelerating fluency in speaking, reading, and writing foreign languages.
• Providing an alternative academic experience by taking courses not offered elsewhere while earning credits towards graduation.
• Providing opportunities for leadership development through interactions with different cultures.
• Providing opportunities for personal growth and development by gaining self confidence and life experience.

How spirituality is valuable to foreigners?

Whether or not one identifies with religious or spiritual beliefs or practices, religion plays an important role in shaping cultures and societies, both in the United States and abroad. In most study abroad locations, there will typically be a dominant or mainstream religion and one or more minority religions, as well as individuals who identify as atheist/agnostic/non-practicing. Seeking to understand the interplay between culture, religion, society, and individual practice or beliefs of the dominant and minority religions in your host country is a fascinating aspect of the study abroad experience, and some of the most interesting cultural sites to visit in your location may be places of worship.

However, your personal religious beliefs and practices or lack thereof may be perceived and understood differently in your host culture, depending on their relationship to the majority and minority faiths in the region, than they are perceived at home. There may be cultural expectations related to religious faith and practice in your location that run counter to your personal values and beliefs. Navigating the subtle terrain of faith, spirituality, and practice can be difficult in a foreign environment. It can also be difficult to understand how your own religious identity fits into your host culture. Each person’s experience of this aspect of their identity abroad will differ, but you are encouraged to think about potential challenges for cultural adjustment ahead of departure.

How cultural values are valuable to foreigners?

• Two powerful cultural factors that work against spirituality in Western societies today are materialism and individualism, especially in combination.
• In promoting the importance in life of money and possessions, materialism is a cultural antagonist of the spiritual, hindering or distorting its expression. Historically, individualism was concerned with freeing the individual from social regulation, including by the Church. But, as sociologists have noted, it is a two-edged sword: the freedom we now have is both exhilarating and disturbing, bringing with it both new opportunities for personal experience and growth and the anxiety of social dislocation. The hazards of individualism are growing as it becomes increasingly associated with the belief that we are independent of others.
• Morality is an important dimension of religious belief and practice. Values provide the framework for deciding what is important, true, right and good, and so have a central role in defining relationships and meanings.
• Consistent with what is known about wellbeing and with Durkheim’s ideas about social integration, most societies have tended to reinforce values that emphasise social responsibility and self-restraint and discourage those that promote self-indulgence and antisocial behaviour.
• Virtues are concerned with building and maintaining strong personal relationships and social affiliations, and the strength to endure adversity. Vices are about the unrestrained satisfaction of individual desires, or the capitulation to human weaknesses.
• Individualism and materialism reverse these universal virtues and vices, thus weakening one of the core social functions of religion, one which is central to health and wellbeing.