Work Relations Between Immigrants and Old-Timers in an Israeli Organization: Social Interactions and Inter-Group Attitudes

Although immigrant workers have become an integral part of most organizations in immigrant-receiving countries, there is surprisingly little research on cross-cultural work relations, especially in the professional/white-collar sector. In Israel, where former Soviet immigrants comprise over 20 percent of the Jewish population, the presence of Russian-speaking workers and professionals is dense in almost every workplace.The current qualitative study is focused on everyday work relations and inter-group attitudes between long-time Israeli residents and recent Russian-speaking immigrants in the context of a medical organization. Twenty-five interviews with the veteran and new immigrant workers (conducted in Hebrew and in Russian) indicate that these groups diligently guard their social borders and separate identities, and share similar critical opinions on each other’s work ethic and competence. Conflicts arise around the issues of educational and work status gaps, relations with supervisors, and language use. The continuing use of Russian by immigrant workers is interpreted by Hebrew-speakers as a sign of their separatism and anti-Israeli outlook. The underlying mechanisms of mutual stereotyping are discussed.