Cross Cultural Management in South Sudanese - Case Study Example

? Cross Cultural Management Challenges South Sudanese refugee groups are the underprivileged recently emerged community in Australia. Many people from this group have been struggling in Australia with settlement issues. South Sudanese are one among the several refugee communities who were forced to leave their homeland due to the cultural oppression, civil war and rejection of human rights. After moving to Australia and settling there, this group faced enormous challenge in employment, housing and adapting to the culture. The main challenge that they were facing was with amalgamation to the conventional services and adjustment with the new culture. Australian government has provided huge assistance in helping those migrated Sudanese to settle in Australia. Sudan was considered to be the top sourced country for the Humanitarian Migration Program. A large number of Sudanese are now staying in Australia as indicated by the Census 2006. The record shows that in Victoria 6205 Sudanese were born which was 32.2% of the total Sudanese population staying in Australia (MIGRANT INFORMATION CENTRE, 2012). This suggests that more and more Sudanese population were joining the education and workforce in Australia. Living The first and foremost problem that the Sudanese faced was socialization. Socialization requires adaptation of the family members to the legal, cultural and social structure of Australia. There were many cultural gaps identified between Australian community and the Sudanese that included understanding the cultural context. Another problem was difficulty in speaking English. The people coming from Sudan were originally from diverse ethnicities and spoke different language. According to Census data of 2006, 25.1% of the Sudanese people spoke Dinka, 46.6% spoke Arabic and 9.1% spoke Neur (MIGRANT INFORMATION CENTRE, 2012). Hence these three languages are recognized to be most important. It is very confronting and difficult to stay in a new country, learn their language, adopt to their culture and at the same time feel not respected and accepted by the society (Licina and Dharmalingam, n.d.). Working Employment becomes the most vital part of an individual life. To sustain its livelihood it becomes important for an individual to fetch employment. This was a huge problem for Sudanese. This would also provide them with the ability to settle more aptly and nicely in the new environment. Employment also leads to many psychological effects on an individual. Getting employed not only provides a stable income but also removes the anxiety of financial problems and feels getting respected and accepted in the society (DIAC, 2012). By getting employed they would also gain gradual understanding regarding the culture and system of the new place. But the Sudanese had been struggling hard for the employment. Difficulty in gaining employment was mainly due to the racial discrimination and lack of skill and experience. English speaking problem was also a major reason for their unemployment. Studying Education is another important aspect from which the Sudanese were deprived of. However since they were not well acquainted with the English language and did not have adequate educational background from their previous country so they faced difficulty in understanding the education system of Australia. AMEP provides a free training on English of 510 hours to the new arrival, who arrived as refugees. But this was considered as an unrealistic educational support. The Sudanese never used the language English earlier, in such a situation it was difficult for them to learn a foreign language which they have never used. Moreover learning is a process that individual need separate time to adopt; so this measure was of no help to them. Thus this problem still remains there. Moreover the quality of school education available at Sudan is quite poor. Leaving some of the vocational training the opportunity of education in Sudan is quite limited (Commonwealth of Australia, 2007). Discussion There were several issues that made the livelihood of the people from the Sudan more difficult. Racism and discrimination was one of the major issues. Discriminating someone on the basis of skin color, nationality, social and cultural believe is just difficult to accept. The Sudanese had to face huge consequences due to this. They were deprived of education and employment owing to this. Children who joined schools were discriminated on the basis of their skin color. The people started to feel rejected in the society and wanted to move to some other places where they will get respect and recognition. It was seen that this also affected their health since it created unnecessary stress that in turn generated social and psychological consequences (Due, 2008). The Sudanese were habituated to move in groups, which were not acceptable to the Australian who named them as “gang group”. Since they were new to Australia, often the elders in the family started fearing that the children may fall into false group that may create problem in future (Atem 2009). The entire situation was creating problem for the culturally and linguistically diverse group to live, to study and to work in Australia after leaving their homeland Sudan. The cultural gap that exists between the culture of Sudan and Australia created culture shock among the students coming to Australia from Sudan. Culture Shock is defined as the physiological and psychological impact on a person who is undergoing the process of initial adjustment in an unfamiliar place and culture. In a multicultural situation like in which the Sudanese are the culture shock creates a situation of non specific tension making the person to be in a readiness state to adapt to anything which the new culture demands. It also creates an anxiety that results into confusion of what to do, when and how to do (Craighead and Nemeroff, 2004). Oberg (1960) revealed six aspects of culture shock. Firstly culture shock creates strain due to the psychological adaptation to the new culture. Secondly it develops a sense of deprivation and loss owning to the reason that the person moving to the unknown country would leave all their friends, possession, status and profession. Thirdly an individual may feel getting rejected and not accepted by the new culture. Fourthly the foreigner may suffer from confusion regarding role expectation, actual role, self identity and feeling. Fifthly the cultural gap between the old and the new one also creates an anxiety, surprise, indignation and disgust. Lastly, since sometime they would feel that they have failed to cope up with the new environment and culture so that may create a feeling of helplessness among the individual. The Sudanese who came to Australia as refugees were already down trodden since they were psychologically and physically depressed, along with the fear and uncertainty of survival in the unknown country in their mind. The students who are coming from Sudan for the purpose of study they are already in melancholic state as they have left their friends, family and more importantly a known environment. After coming to Australia and finding a wide gap between the culture and religion, the Sudanese were undergoing cultural shock. Moreover the difficulty in communicating was an additional problem for them. Communication becomes a very important aspect when adjustment to new environment comes. Even if the Sudanese were trying to adapt to the culture of Australia, communication problem was restricting that. Dinka, Arabic and Neur were the languages they speak; these languages were very different from English, which is spoken in Australia. Because of all these difficulties it took more time for the Sudanese to adjust in Australia. Recommendations The Sudanese were affected from culture shock after coming from their homeland. Apart from this they were also suffering in the everyday livelihood, study and while working. However it was pretty clear from the above discussion that the educational and working environment of Australia was much better than that of Sudan. If the Sudanese adapt themselves to the culture of Australia then they would have benefitted. From religious point of view Southern Sudan is religiously and culturally different from Northern Sudan. Southern Sudanese are seen to follow Christian and animist beliefs whereas Northern Sudanese were seen to follow Muslim and Arab belief. Thus for Southern Sudanese it would be much difficult to settle in Australia. The students and other Sudanese should take initiative to form forums for the Sudanese so that any new comer can get initial assistance from the older one. They should organize activities and events where the Sudanese can participate and give them “at home” feeling. They should design their own websites that provides enough information to the newcomer regarding Australia and where they can find what. It may also contain some translation facilities that would convert Arabic words to their corresponding English word. At the same time the Sudanese students should not panic or be afraid and maintain their composure. Adaptation to the new culture would not happen within a day; it is a long process and requires dedication and effort from their side too. They should not feel sigh to mix with people with different culture; any preconceived notions should not be hamper their thoughts and feelings. In schools and colleges special training sessions should be designed by the Sudanese students, for the new comers providing them training on English and how to adopt with the cultural beliefs and background of Australia. They should also go for implementing some initiatives that would provide the initial support to the Sudanese students like forming communities for Sudanese so that they can help the newcomers. The Australian students should be asked and instructed not to discriminate between their Sudanese classmate and others. A multi-cultural environment should be promoted within the educational institutions. The organization where the Sudanese would be joining after completing their education should not discriminate between the Australian and Sudanese. The recruitment and selection process should be strictly based upon skill, expertise and knowledge of an individual and not on the cultural and religious believes. Apart from that the older employees should also assists the fresher by providing them moral support. The government should implement some regulation that would make it compulsory for the companies to recruit certain percentage of Sudanese in their organization. Proper training should be given to the candidates especially on the organization structure, framework and their belief so that they do not feel alien to their workplace. Moreover to make the stay of the Sudanese more comfortable and making their adaptation to the Australian culture easier, government intervention becomes more important and necessary. The Australian government should revise their immigration norms such that the migration of Sudanese becomes much easier. At the same time they should go for promoting the culture of Sudan, so that the Sudanese do not feel rejected and deprived. For instance the festival followed by the Sudanese should also be followed in Australia. In case of some important festivals, the days can be marked as national holidays. As far as livelihood of the Sudanese are concerned, the government should take initiative to create separate community or zones where the Sudanese may stay comfortably. The local people should be requested to be cooperative and should not be worried or fear about any threat. REFERENCES Atem, P., 2009. Housing Barriers for African migrants in Australia [pdf] Available at [Accessed 10 May 2013]. Commonwealth of Australia, 2007. SUDANESE COMMUNITY PROFILE [pdf] Available at [Accessed 10 may 2013]. Craighead, E.W. and Nemeroff, C.B., 2004. The Concise Corsini Encyclopedia of Psychology and Behavioral Science. New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons. DIAC, 2012. Settlement policy, Department of Immigration and Citizenship, Australia Government [online] Available at [Accessed 10 May 2013]. Due, C., 2008. Who are strangers,?: ‘absorbing’ Sudanese refugees into a white Australia, Australian Critical Race and Whiteness Studies Association, < http://acrawsa.org.au/files/ejournalfiles/59ClemenceDue.pdf > [Accessed 10 May 2013]. Licina, D. and Dharmalingam, A., n.d. Cultural and economic adaptation of Sudanese refugee migrants in Melbourne: a Dandenong case study [pdf] Available at [Accessed 10 May 2013]. MIGRANT INFORMATION CENTRE, 2012. South Sudanese Cultural Profile [pdf] Available at [Accessed 10 May 2013]. Oberg, K., 1960. Adjustment to new cultural environment. Practical Anthropology, 7, pp. 177-182. Read More