THE DYNAMICS OF INTERNATIONAL CONSULTATION: CONTENDING WITH INTERDEPENDENT FORCES (NURSING, HEALTH, DEVELOPMENT).
Contributors: University of California, San Francisco.
Published: 1984
Number of pages: 269
Subjects: Political Science, International Law and Relations.
Description: This research examined the dynamics of consultation activities with host country nationals in overseas development assistance assignments. Qualitative methods were used to analyze open-ended interviews conducted in 1983 with 37 female U.S. nurses who worked in one or more assignments, primarily in less developed countries, for international, governmental, secular, and religious organizations for periods ranging from 2 weeks to 30 years. The findings encompass consultants' processes in contending with the complexity of multiple influencing forces encountered in international work. These forces stem from the mix of host and donor agency and country people involved; requirements of the work; and socio-cultural, political, and organizational aspects of host contexts in which consultation takes place and donor contexts from which consultants come.

Consultants' processes were analyzed as: personal adjustments to living and working in host countries involving changes in their own expectations and behavior to accommodate to contextual differences; developing collegial relationships requiring consultants' efforts to overcome their own perceived cultural arrogance and possible negative effects of representing influential donor agencies; recognizing the impact of their own beliefs and motivations regarding international work and political and organizational agendas in host and donor institutions on their actual activities; varied collaborative approaches depending on individual orientations and work circumstances toward accomplishing tangible tasks as well as helping host nationals develop their capabilities; influencing change through working with host power structures, promoting nationals' decision-making regarding the usefulness of introduced ideas, and enhancing nationals' visibility within their own systems; and evaluating the appropriateness and effectiveness of their work through developing their own criteria and interpreting subtle, indirect feedback. Because consultants were female, differences in roles and status of women in many host countries were significant influences on their work and leisure-time activities and required considerable personal adjustments.

These findings were synthesized into an interactive model of international consultation illustrating the interdependence of host and donor contextual forces, consultants' own orientations to international development, and their judgments about appropriate means in relation to desired ends. The "it depends" or situational nature of this interdependence was presented as a characteristic of international consultation.
Notes: Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 45-12, Section: A, page: 3739.

Thesis (D.N. SC.)--UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SAN FRANCISCO, 1984.

School code: 0034.