ABSTRACT
Work defines the self at its most basic motivational levels. From a perspective of US industrial/organizational psychology, most treatments of work focus on hiring and evaluation, and are pitched to stable employment situations in corporate settings. One approach to understanding this highly regulated area of human behavior is to review employment law across cultures—many examples worldwide are available online by googling “termination law” along with the country of interest. Another approach would be to take the perspective of an immigrant to a new culture needing to find work—for instance, a US citizen wishing to work in Portugal. Confrontation and simulation can be blended here and, for purposes of starting discussion, can focus on the immediate cultural environment rather than comparing across cultures. Attention can be given not only to the interaction of explicit rules with unstated underlying family between the persons involved but also to the emotions that may be expressed when personal values conflict with corporate ones.
