Blog Assignment 8

If I had the chance to take an international assignment in Italy after working in the United States for a few years, I would seriously consider it because it could help my career and give me valuable international experience. However, before deciding, I would want to think about the cultural differences between Italy and the U.S. and how they might affect my work and daily life.

One way to compare cultures is through Hofstede’s cultural dimensions. One difference is power distance. Italy generally has a higher power distance than the United States, which means workplaces may have a stronger hierarchy and employees may be expected to show more respect for authority. In the U.S., workplaces are often more informal and employees may feel more comfortable sharing their opinions with managers. Because of this, I would need to adjust to a more structured work environment in Italy.

Another difference is uncertainty avoidance. Italy tends to prefer clear rules and detailed planning to avoid uncertainty, while U.S. workplaces are usually more comfortable with flexibility and trying new ideas. This could mean that Italian companies rely more on formal procedures and planning when making decisions.

Communication styles can also be different. Italy is more of a high-context culture, where communication may rely more on relationships, tone, and body language. The U.S. is more direct and straightforward, which is considered a low-context culture. Learning to understand these communication differences would be important for working well with coworkers.

There are also other factors I would think about, like learning some Italian, adjusting to a new culture, and whether my family could adapt if they moved with me. International assignments can be challenging because people sometimes have trouble adjusting to the culture or work environment.

Overall, I would be more likely to take the opportunity if the company offered good support and if the assignment would help my long-term career. Working in Italy could help me gain international experience and develop skills that would be valuable in a global workplace.

Steps I can take to manage my stress throughout my career will be critical to preserve my longevity and health while I am working. My dad is working in the same field as I am entering into, and he has gave me plenty of advice as far as managing stress. The biggest thing I learned from him was the importance of bonding with the people you’re working with. If you enjoy who you are doing your job with every day, it doesn’t matter how terrible the project is because you’re surrounded by great people. When I was interviewing for full time positions, I was less concerned with the type of work I was doing, but rather who I was doing it with. Looking at the workplace stress guidelines and tips from OSHA. The first step employers should take is to acknowledge the stressors that are affecting their employees. You can’t fix any problems if you don’t understand what they are first. Next, employers need to provide both the flexibility to let employees take care of themselves and give them access to resources to support their stress and mental health. Obviously these are just guidelines and not an example of what a company actually does, and let’s be honest, the only companies actually providing “mental health services” are tech giants like google or Microsoft. I have personally never heard of a company within my field providing mental health services or mentioned managing stress. Maybe the construction world is behind with even acknowledging mental health, which would make sense. It’s interesting because from my internship experiences, the craft workers have more support than the office guys. Maybe in the next coming decades that can also be applied to the office workers.

(Just to note, the quizzes we had to take were extremely unhelpful and I felt did not help my understanding of my personal stress levels)

Last summer I had an internship with a construction company in Boise, Idaho. There I had the best working experience I had ever had, with a company, people, and a project that was really cool. I had an interview for a full time position, and I felt it went really well. Unfortunately, I did not get a job offer back despite the great feedback I got from my mentors and coworkers. I later found out the reason I did not get the job was because I started my internship late compared to everyone else, since Oregon State gets out of school a month later than semester schools such as Boise State. I felt really frustrated and disappointed with myself that I didn’t get a full time offer, but after talking with my coworkers and family about it, I realized two things. First, it was partially out of my control with me starting late. I found out that the company often knows who they want to hire about a month into everyone’s internship, which ,meant I didn’t even have a chance to show that I was a good employee. Second, construction is a small world, and it was important that I still showed up every day ready to work, because you never know what opportunities you may get in the future. I did hear from some people that other interns who did not get jobs drifted very far from the company, and I was told that I still had a strong connection and was in good standing with the company after I had left.

My main motivation for sticking with the internship was simply for my future. If I somehow work with this company or get back in touch with them, it was important to me to keep the good connections I had and leave my internship on a strong note. That was the “compensation” I was seeking when I told myself to keep working hard and show up every day. In the end of it, I got to work on a very unique project, and was able to learn a lot from the experience.

Welcome to blogs.oregonstate.edu. This is your first post. Edit or delete it, then start blogging!