Presence In Strange Lands (E Pub)
Strange Lands -- we were all born into one. Most of us over the years have by choice or necessity molded ours into the much more familiar and predictable place we call "home." But strange lands are still out there, everywhere. By "strange lands" I mean those relationships, teams, organizations, or foreign lands within which we must deal effectively with new peoples, cultures, places, and technologies. Increasingly we confront these lands abroad on global assignments for multinationals, in foreign study, or intercultural marriage, or even as tourists. We encounter them face-to-face or online as we participate more and more in geographically dispersed teams. And, of course, we encounter them at home every time we wander into our culturally diverse office, classroom or bar. Presence in Strange Lands focuses most significantly on those literal new lands encountered on sojourns abroad, though it deals significantly with these others as well.

"Why do we journey to such lands?" That, in a nutshell, is what this book is about. In spite of ecoshock, frustration, fatigue, failure, and sometimes danger what lures we sojourners from home to the road? What causes us to journey to these strange lands for an assignment, a career or a lifetime? What keeps us there? And, what entices us back there, again, and again–the job, the money, the adventure, the people and cultures we find, the challenges we encounter, the stories we can later tell? That is what this book is about. It is also about the tools we need to take with us to be optimally effective in these lands. But most particularly, it explores the experience of a "sense of presence" -- the heightened immediacy, broad awareness, vividness, responsivity, and clarity so commonly described by sojourners on these journeys. It explores what a sense of presence is, what induces it, what nurtures it, and its key role in helping us deal with the challenges to success encountered in these lands. It introduces the “presence-seekers” -- sometimes presence “junkies” -- for whom a heightened presence is the allure of a life on the road. And it describes what happens as we return to that once familiar land we called "home." Presence in Strange Lands unfolds through the words of numerous sojourners on a broad variety of journeys to very diverse lands (an excerpt from one such opens this prospectus). These descriptions of a sense of presence were elicited through several research projects with methodologies ranging from informal interviews, to focus groups, to web-based forums. They are intertwined with interpretation based on current research and theory to guide readers to a better understanding of their own experiences and to better deal with the challenges encountered in their own strange lands.
1116857851
Presence In Strange Lands (E Pub)
Strange Lands -- we were all born into one. Most of us over the years have by choice or necessity molded ours into the much more familiar and predictable place we call "home." But strange lands are still out there, everywhere. By "strange lands" I mean those relationships, teams, organizations, or foreign lands within which we must deal effectively with new peoples, cultures, places, and technologies. Increasingly we confront these lands abroad on global assignments for multinationals, in foreign study, or intercultural marriage, or even as tourists. We encounter them face-to-face or online as we participate more and more in geographically dispersed teams. And, of course, we encounter them at home every time we wander into our culturally diverse office, classroom or bar. Presence in Strange Lands focuses most significantly on those literal new lands encountered on sojourns abroad, though it deals significantly with these others as well.

"Why do we journey to such lands?" That, in a nutshell, is what this book is about. In spite of ecoshock, frustration, fatigue, failure, and sometimes danger what lures we sojourners from home to the road? What causes us to journey to these strange lands for an assignment, a career or a lifetime? What keeps us there? And, what entices us back there, again, and again–the job, the money, the adventure, the people and cultures we find, the challenges we encounter, the stories we can later tell? That is what this book is about. It is also about the tools we need to take with us to be optimally effective in these lands. But most particularly, it explores the experience of a "sense of presence" -- the heightened immediacy, broad awareness, vividness, responsivity, and clarity so commonly described by sojourners on these journeys. It explores what a sense of presence is, what induces it, what nurtures it, and its key role in helping us deal with the challenges to success encountered in these lands. It introduces the “presence-seekers” -- sometimes presence “junkies” -- for whom a heightened presence is the allure of a life on the road. And it describes what happens as we return to that once familiar land we called "home." Presence in Strange Lands unfolds through the words of numerous sojourners on a broad variety of journeys to very diverse lands (an excerpt from one such opens this prospectus). These descriptions of a sense of presence were elicited through several research projects with methodologies ranging from informal interviews, to focus groups, to web-based forums. They are intertwined with interpretation based on current research and theory to guide readers to a better understanding of their own experiences and to better deal with the challenges encountered in their own strange lands.
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Presence In Strange Lands (E Pub)

Presence In Strange Lands (E Pub)

by Gary Fontaine
Presence In Strange Lands (E Pub)

Presence In Strange Lands (E Pub)

by Gary Fontaine

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Overview

Strange Lands -- we were all born into one. Most of us over the years have by choice or necessity molded ours into the much more familiar and predictable place we call "home." But strange lands are still out there, everywhere. By "strange lands" I mean those relationships, teams, organizations, or foreign lands within which we must deal effectively with new peoples, cultures, places, and technologies. Increasingly we confront these lands abroad on global assignments for multinationals, in foreign study, or intercultural marriage, or even as tourists. We encounter them face-to-face or online as we participate more and more in geographically dispersed teams. And, of course, we encounter them at home every time we wander into our culturally diverse office, classroom or bar. Presence in Strange Lands focuses most significantly on those literal new lands encountered on sojourns abroad, though it deals significantly with these others as well.

"Why do we journey to such lands?" That, in a nutshell, is what this book is about. In spite of ecoshock, frustration, fatigue, failure, and sometimes danger what lures we sojourners from home to the road? What causes us to journey to these strange lands for an assignment, a career or a lifetime? What keeps us there? And, what entices us back there, again, and again–the job, the money, the adventure, the people and cultures we find, the challenges we encounter, the stories we can later tell? That is what this book is about. It is also about the tools we need to take with us to be optimally effective in these lands. But most particularly, it explores the experience of a "sense of presence" -- the heightened immediacy, broad awareness, vividness, responsivity, and clarity so commonly described by sojourners on these journeys. It explores what a sense of presence is, what induces it, what nurtures it, and its key role in helping us deal with the challenges to success encountered in these lands. It introduces the “presence-seekers” -- sometimes presence “junkies” -- for whom a heightened presence is the allure of a life on the road. And it describes what happens as we return to that once familiar land we called "home." Presence in Strange Lands unfolds through the words of numerous sojourners on a broad variety of journeys to very diverse lands (an excerpt from one such opens this prospectus). These descriptions of a sense of presence were elicited through several research projects with methodologies ranging from informal interviews, to focus groups, to web-based forums. They are intertwined with interpretation based on current research and theory to guide readers to a better understanding of their own experiences and to better deal with the challenges encountered in their own strange lands.

Product Details

BN ID: 2940148702061
Publisher: Gary Fontaine
Publication date: 11/05/2012
Sold by: Barnes & Noble
Format: eBook
File size: 2 MB

About the Author

Gary Fontaine is an Emeritus Professor in the School of Communications at the University of Hawaii. His primary professional interests center on persons, teams and organizations as they encounter the adjustment, performance and motivation challenges of "strange lands"-- novel and rapidly changing ecologies characterized by new people, places, cultures and technologies. He is particularly interested in the experiences these challenges produce, the strategies developed to deal with them, and the communication and other skills required to implement the strategies effectively. Over the years he has applied this focus to global assignments in business and government, our diverse, rapidly changing workplaces and communities at home, geographically dispersed teams, distance learning, knowledge creation and transfer, criminal justice, service delivery, and close relationships such as marriage. Most recently his emphases have been on coaching teams, managers and leaders to deal with intercultural and global diversity effectively and on self-organization and swarm optimization models of globalization in multinational enterprises.
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