Método de Solución de Problemas y Herramientas de la Calidad

As I discussed above, there is more to the work of being an English teacher in Korea than just the job. This is not to say that teaching skills are not valued or that mastering other aspects of living in Korea are not important, as you do need to learn how things work, how to cope with new cultural norms, how to get around, and how to meet your needs. But if you cannot learn to navigate the sensitive arena of Korean workplace politics, you will be perpetually confused by how events play out at best and profoundly miserable at worst. Kim Crosby’s teaching abilities and competence in the classroom availed her nothing when she faced problems with her

colleagues and could discern neither the underlying cause of the trouble nor the most effective way to resolve it. Narratives of workplace problems and how individual foreign teachers addressed their own difficulties are a way of displaying competence in Korea.

In Korea, “it is often more important the way you do something, than what you actually do or say. This is a universal characteristic not limited to Korea, of course, but in Korea a special importance is placed on mood and atmosphere that is quite in excess of what is considered normal in Western cultures” (Crane 1999, 26). Koreans call this concept of mood or atmosphere

kibun (Crane 1999, 25) and is considered vital to social relations. It is similar to what Westerners

call a vibe, an ambiance that reflects a positive state of mind. When someone brings negative emotions into a setting, they disrupt the kibun and ruin the vibe, as the negativity is perceived as touching others and spreading through the environment. Those who bring a positive vibe are improving kibun for everyone around them. When Kim Crosby could not work amicably with her coworker, it affected the kibun in her hagwon negatively, which did not reflect well on her.

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Taking her grievance to her boss demonstrated a lack of awareness of this important concept and/or an inability to address the disagreement in a culturally appropriate manner, thereby worsening the problem.

Comprehension of the underlying workings of the culture determines how foreigners are perceived by Koreans and influences their success on the job, which in turns affects their prospects for higher-status work and, to some degree, their standing among foreign teachers. Presenting yourself to Koreans in a way that will garner respect encompasses not just politeness, but manner of dress, tone and inflection in speaking, body language, and expression. There are allowances made for foreigners, as noted in the previous section, but the closer your behavior aligns with Korean expectations and the more awareness you cultivate for the same indicators in your colleagues, the more successful you will be in navigating the environment. If you are lucky, your personality and natural behaviors will already fall within acceptable parameters when you arrive, but not everyone is that fortunate.

Margaret Scates’s discussion of how she first found work in Japan, where even stricter expectations are in play, demonstrates how unaware many foreigners are and how long it can take for us to even realize why and how things happen as they do:

Margaret: I was a student and um, [soft laugh] and a friend of mine, um, had loans. I, I

was very fortunate, I didn’t owe money. A friend of mine had … well, I actually had a pretty good job, um, kinda boring administrative blahblahblah-boring job, but a good job nonetheless. It would’ve been a, a fine career path. Um. And she, she had loans and she wanted to travel and she had gotten, somebody had said, you know, go, go to Japan, go teach and she was nervous about the interviews so she dragged me [along]. I got the job... (Kelly: She didn’t?) and she didn’t.

Kelly: [laughing] Oh my god! Are you still friends?

Margaret: Yeah, actually, ironically, we are but that was, that was a tough one. It still

comes up. It was tough, it was a tough one, um, and of course it sort of sent me on a trajectory that’s been a career. Not only did I get to travel and, you know, blahblahblah,

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the great thing’s it was like, this is a career for me and, um, yeah. It, it was, it’s tough, it’s a tough sub-, subject between us.

Kelly: Yeah, I can imagine. So, did she ever get a job in Japan, or she didn’t pursue it

further?

Margaret: She took failure very poorly! She did not pursue it! [laughing] (Kelly: Oh…)

She didn’t pursue it.

Kelly: Because it seems likely to me that, you know, had she tried again she would’ve

have found something; there are so many jobs.

Margaret: Absolutely. Well, she’s not, she may not have, she actually would’ve done,

would’ve done better in Korea. A little, a little, the Japanese [long pause] … system is just a little constraining and I can see where she might not have done well, there. Um, the panty hose, the suits, the, um, teaching she’d have been fine, but the, kind of, the other stuff she might… Where Korea is, doesn’t have that so she would’ve actually done much better to come here.

Kelly: So what is she doing now?

Margaret: She’s, she’s unemployed.

Kelly: Oh no! [laughs] Did you tell her she can still come?

Margaret: I have encouraged her you know, it’s like, look, I can get you a hagwon job

and [snaps fingers] you know. It, eh, and, and the money’s good, the work’s hard, um, but the money’s good and you know, but she’s so far not taken me up on that. I think it’s sort of a sssore subject to come over here and have me sort of carry her.

Kelly: Right, right … But I think, too, there’s a certain personality that that successfully

makes the journey here, you know. (Margaret: Oh, absolutely. [softly])You’re talking about, she was really shy about the interview?

Margaret: Well, she wasn’t shy about it, she just had a, a very unique idea of what an

interview is. Um. This, this was, um, a Japanese company, I don’t know if you’re familiar with Japanese English schools. It’s a huge English school in Japan, GEOS. And um, and I just took it as, I didn’t know what to expect, so I showed up in a, in a, in a borrowed blue suit with a little white blouse. I mean, I didn’t know what, what to expect and I didn’t really take it seriously except for that it was a job interview and I took that seriously.

Kelly: There’s a job interview costume even in the States, you know?

Margaret: Yeah, and I just, and even though I didn’t, I wasn’t, like, thrilled about it, I, I

wasn’t going “Oooo, I wanna go to Japan,” I took the ah-, job interview seriously, the act of going on a job interview. She showed up in a cocktail dress. [soft laugh]

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Kelly: Oh my god.

Margaret: She had brace-, bracelets up to here [indicates point halfway up her forearm]

and her hair was down and all fluff-She looked like she was going out for the evening. She was in, like, an evening, you know, going out to, to … [soft laugh]

Kelly: Oh dear. Oh dear, I mean you can only imagine what they thought.

Margaret: And of course, five years later when I still worked for the company, it was

like [long pause] … They, she didn’t even make it in the door. I mean, essentially, they, they did the, the interview with her, but she essentially was eighty-sixed when she walked in the office.

Kelly: Well, so much is, is visual here.

Margaret: Yah, and I knew, it was like, five, three years later I figured it out. It was like,

oh, you didn’t make it past the elevators. But …

Kelly: They were just smiling and nodding.

Margaret: Of course, they were very polite. (I*Scates 2007)

It was only after spending time in Japan and, subsequently, Korea that Margaret was able to look back at that experience through the cultural lens she’d acquired and perceive that her friend never stood a chance of being hired; “she didn’t even make it in the door.” At the time of the interview, Margaret was as unaware of the nuances involved as her friend.

Her friend’s attire, for the Japanese interviewers, was so far from their expectation of proper business clothing that it is unlikely she was ever seriously considered. The incident Margaret describes is also revealing of the kind of reluctance to deliver bad news mentioned previously, as the interviewers politely went through the motions of a fruitless interview. Far from being baseless, the assessment of the incident that Margaret and I make in our interview is grounded in our long experience in Asia and our familiarity with and adaptation to the cultural expectations in play. Years of living in Korea and Japan had made us very familiar with what such employers would expect from their foreign hires and we had a clear understanding of the

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first impression she made with them. When contrasted with Margaret’s neat business suit and white shirt, her outfit would only seem even more flamboyant to them and even less appropriate for a teacher. Wearing a suit – even a cheap, dated, or ill-fitting suit – conveys the message that the applicant is taking the interview and the potential responsibility of the position seriously.

Allowance may be made for foreigners, but some attempt at professional attire is

expected and we knew, without a doubt, that evening clothes and flashy jewelry crossed that line. Korean teachers and businesspeople wear business clothing – suits, dresses, or skirt suits – even if they only have two or three outfits. For them, it is better to be turned out formally and have fewer choices than to present themselves in anything other than professional attire. The suits, skirts, and panty hose that Margaret describes are the uniform of teachers in Korea and Japan and, at later point in our interview, she describes her relief on learning that Koreans are more forgiving of foreign dress in that area. The clothing of foreign teachers tends towards the

idiosyncratic and, while few wear suits, neat and professional presentation is the norm. Melanie’s wardrobe seemed similar to mine, comprised of casual clothing typical of teachers back home – slacks, sweaters, tops, and the occasional jacket or skirt. Greta was fond of classic movie stars of the early 20th century and affected the same sort of style and, as she was more similar in size to average Koreans, she was able to buy clothing there. Kim’s wardrobe was more businesslike, with touches of flair like colorful scarves, and seems likely to have met with approval from her bosses. Korean employers would love foreigners to dress more formally, but have come to accept a casual aesthetic as one of our eccentricities.

If truth be told, it is not always possible for us to alter our clothing selection once we have arrived there. When I first went to Korea in 1994, my inadequate attire bothered me, but I had no money for the first couple months I was in Korea and I could not have changed my

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wardrobe had I wanted to. I was surrounded by neatly dressed, carefully coiffed and made up Korean women in nicely tailored, designer skirt suits and felt tremendously unfashionable for those first months. However, by the time I had sufficient money, I had learned that my choice of clothing would be forgiven and overlooked and that finding any clothing in my size would be problematic anyway. My frumpy sweaters and slacks were standard teacher’s uniform in the United States, but allowances were made for the foreigner and they would suffice for the time I planned to be there. Part of acclimating in Korea is not only learning what you have put up with, but recognizing when it is in your power to bend or ignore the rules.

Understanding acceptable apparel in the workplace is just one of many little competences that foreign teachers acquire and the longer you stay, the more you know. Within the foreign teacher community, exhibiting this knowledge through narrative, etiquette, conversation, or even attire is a way of not only sharing information, but displaying expertise. Foreign teachers

describe trying to form meaningful friendships with Koreans, but being thwarted by Confucian constraints, since only people of the same age can be friends and those relationships should be formed while young. Other examples of this same sort of expertise arises in discussion of Korean proxemics and the rarity of hugging. This canon of cultural comprehension is developed through willingness to adapt, length of residence, exposure to the competency of other foreigners, and efforts to learn the language and culture from the most reliable experts: Koreans. As is already made clear in previous chapters, this does not mean that the canon is a result of outright adoption of Korean ways. The canon represents a level of comprehension and the development of a skill set that enables waegooks to react appropriately and successfully in that environment. It results from grappling with the challenges that typical situations present. Those who make little attempt to try to understand Koreans or their culture deprive themselves of information that might help

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them adapt and make their lives easier. As a result, they are also less likely to remain and more inclined to make a midnight run when their frustration gets the better of them.

Like it or not, to survive and do well in the Korean workplace, you have to learn the rules, play by them as best you can, and try to make them work for you. Because they are transitory, foreign teacher community members rely on information sharing to quickly develop their knowledge base. The more you can learn about life in Korea, whether from your fellow teachers, your students, your Korean coworkers, or through personal experience, the better equipped you are to succeed in a Korean workplace and, by extension, in Korean culture more generally. But comprehension is not enough if you cannot employ that expertise effectively; successful navigation of common Korean events is one way of demonstrating effectual mastery of the waegook canon. Narratives grounded in this expertise are seen as a positive contribution in the foreign teacher community, where they are weighed against the narratives of others, and offer advice to newcomers, because the narrative of a veteran expatriate who has absorbed the canon is more than a story of an event in Korea. Their knowledge of the culture frames and permeates the scenes and events described, through the use of waegook language and lore, and the experienced listener who also has the tools to follow can easily envision the experience.

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