Cultural Shock

Cultural Shock

Subsidiary of Sunshine C0.,Ltd., Vietnam

Topics
• Stages of Cultural Shock
• Alleviating Cultural Shock
• Aspects of Cultural Shock
• Relationships and Family
Considerations
• Public and Private Self


Terms
• Area training model • Intellectual model
• Asia Shock; will be talked • Interaction approach
about in detail in a few • Johari Window; can be
slides translated into one’s
• Cultural awareness public self and private self
• Cultural shock; is the • Multidimensional approach
trauma you experience
when you move into a
culture different from
your home culture


Terms; continued
• Platinum Rule • Self-efficacy
• Re-entry shock • Sensitivity training
• Self-awareness model • T-group


• Cultural shock is the trauma you
experience when you move into a culture
different from your home culture.

• Frustrations may include lack of food,
unacceptable standards of cleanliness,
different bathroom facilities, and fear for
personal safety.


People experience cultural shock
when they are in a country
where yes may mean no, where
prices are negotiable, and where
laughter may signify anger.


Understanding the expatriate

• If you have family living in other countries;
are an expatriate yourself; work in a global
company; have a neighbor who is from another
country or ethnicity; have friends, business
partners, or classmates of cultures different
than your own, then you are automatically
trying to understand the vibrant display of
cultural backgrounds around you.


"There has never been a more important
time for the world to reach out to each other
and be more than just tolerant but willing to
learn," said Anne Koark, British, President
and founder of Munich-based Trust in
Business.


What makes it tricky?

• We often take it for granted that our sense of
being polite, normal, rude, friendly etc. must
be understood by the people we deal with.
• But this is not the case.


Cultures' basic similarities and their
expressions
• It's true that we all share the same basic human
emotions in our lives, such as love, hate, anger
and passion.
• However, each culture has a distinct way of
expressing those emotions and has different
attitudes behind this expression - also in business
matters.
– We have to learn to overcome culture bumps beyond
the simple belief of tolerance.

Living as an expatriate
• Everybody who decides to live in another
culture goes through a cultural adjustment
cycle before he/she adapts to the new
environment.
• People go through the cycle at their own pace -
some take longer to go through the cycle and
others pass through it quickly.


Coping with Culture Shock
There are usually four phases that you may
experience.
Honeymoon:
– Everything is great, nothing is wrong; you’re
having a wonderful time.
Shock:
– There are so many differences in this country that
you don’t know how to deal with them. You didn’t
think things would be like this.


Negotiation:
– You learn to deal with the problems set before you
and try to integrate them with your own beliefs.

Acceptance:
– You are able to live well in the environment with
the differences you are experiencing.


Major Symptoms of Cultural Shock
 Homesickness
 Boredom
 Withdrawal (avoiding contact with host
nationals)
 Need for excessive amounts of sleep
 Compulsive eating/drinking
 Irritability
 Exaggerated cleanliness

 Marital stress
 Family tension and conflict
 Chauvinistic excesses
 Stereotyping of host nationals
 Hostility toward host nationals
 Loss of ability to work effectively
 Unexplainable fits of weeping
 Physical ailments (psychosomatic illnesses)


Asia Shock has five
progressive stages:
1. Frustration with the culture, e.g., the
language, food, and local customs.
2. Unwillingness to understand the rationale behind the
local ways of doing things.
3. Ethnocentricity; Labeling Asians as dishonest
because they say one thing and do another; consider
face-saving as dishonest.
4. Racism – use of unflattering labels for Asians.
5. Avoidance of the culture; People form clubs rather
than intermingle with people of the culture.


Some cultural
differences you may
experience due to
change in customs are:


• Friendship:
– Most people you will come in contact with will be
friendly. They will talk about current events,
politics, hobbies, and sports. However, personal
matters are often not spoken about such as
financial or family problems.
• Dress:
– The attire worn is usually informal, unless
otherwise told to wear formal clothing. It is not
necessary to wear Western-style clothing. Clothing
you have brought from home is acceptable.


• Greetings:
– When Westerners greet each other, whether male or
female, a handshake is generally the custom. Spatial
distance is a very important aspect of nonverbal
communication. Most Westerners stand 3 feet apart
when talking.
• Schedules:
– Westerners place a high priority on being punctual.
The phrase “time is money” is very common. You
will be expected to be on time to events that have
specific starting times, such as class, dinner
arrangements, appointments, etc.

Strategies for Coping with a New
Culture During Short Visits
• Nonacceptance of the host culture; traveler
behaves as he/she would in the home culture.

• Substitution - The traveler learns the
appropriate responses/behaviors in the host
culture and substitutes these
responses/behaviors for the ones he/she would
ordinarily use in the home culture.


• Addition - The person adds the behavior of the host
culture when in the presence of nationals but
maintains the home culture behavior with others of
the same culture.
• Synthesis - Integrates or combines elements of the
two cultures, such as combining Foreign dress and
that of the Philippines.
• Resynthesize - The integration of ideas not found in
either culture (Foreign traveler to China chooses to
eat neither American nor Chinese food, but prefers
Italian).

Problems Related to Shock

• Finding a new niche in the corporate
structure at home.
• Adjusting to lower standards of living.
• Problems reestablishing personal and
professional relationships.
• Dealing with readjustment problems of
children, including the difference in their
educational experience abroad.


To alleviate cultural shock, try to see
the environment from the perspective
of the host nationals.

Replace the Golden Rule (Do unto others
as you would have them do unto you) with
...
The Platinum Rule (Do unto others as they
would have done unto them).


Alleviating Cultural Shock by Careful
Selection of Overseas Personnel
 Sensitive, cooperative, able to compromise
 Open to others' opinions
 Reaction to new situations; appreciation of cultural
differences
 Understanding of own values and aware of values in other
cultures
 Reaction to criticism
 Understanding of Foreign government system
 Ability to develop contacts in new culture
 Patience and resiliency

• When I was selected to come to my current
country, the organization pulled me from one
Asian Country, brought me back to my home
country to de-culturalize me, then re-trained
me for my new Asian country.
• This made no sense to me at all, especially
since the trainer who was to prepare me for
coming here, knew absolutely nothing about
Asia, he had never been here.


TRAINING MUST BE
APPLICABLE AND DONE BY
SOMEONE WHO KNOWS ABOUT
THE DESTINATION COUNTRY
AND REGION FROM FIRST HAND
KNOWLEDGE!


Training Models
• Intellectual or classroom model - involves
giving facts about the host country using a
variety of instructional methods
• Area training or simulation model -
emphasizes affective goals, culture specific
content, and experiential processes
• Self-awareness or human relations model -
based on the assumption that the trainee with
self-understanding will be more effective in
the overseas assignment


• Cultural awareness model - emphasizes
cultural insight and stresses affective goals and
an experiential process
• Interaction approach - participants interact
with people in the host country
• Multidimensional approach - attempts to
combine cognitive, affective, and behavioral
aspects of training


Feedback and Rewards

• Appraisal and reward system must reflect the
purpose and expectations of the assignment (profit or
building a presence in the country).
• Reward systems may include special allowances for
housing, hardship, home leave, medical, taxes, etc.
• Reward system must compensate for what Foreign
persons are leaving behind and must be based on the
idea of equity (the ratio between what is contributed
and what is received).


Developing Employees to
Their Potential
1. Plan for repatriation, including reasons for the
assignment and how the employee will contribute
to the company upon his/her return.
2. Allow adequate time for readjustment before
employee reports to work.
3. Provide appropriate compensation for transition
expenses.
4. Assist in locating proper housing.
5. Show appreciation to family for their contributions.


Aspects of Cultural Shock the Expat Needs to
Understand.

• Cultural Stress - alleviate stress by
reading up on the country, studying the
language, and becoming aware of customs
and traditions in the culture.
• Social Alienation - cultivate friendships
with persons from home and host cultures;
include host nationals in social events.


• Social Class and Poverty-Wealth
Extremes - mentors in host culture can
be helpful in advising Foreign persons
regarding acceptable ways of dealing
with poverty-wealth extremes.
• Financial Information - should be
provided before going to the culture;
also financial counseling before reentry.


Relationships and Family
Considerations
• The failure of a spouse and other family
members to adapt to the new culture can cause
early return of expatriates; companies should
provide training for employees and their
family to minimize adjustment problems.
• Encourage children to discuss their anxieties
and fears.


The Johari Window can be translated
into one’s public self and private self.
• The public self may include information about
a person’s work, family, and interests. The
public self is small for the Japanese; it is large
for Foreign persons.
• The private self may include feelings, personal
information, and opinions. The private self is
large for the Japanese; it is small for Foreign
persons.


Public and Private Self
The Johari Window
Things I Know Things I Don’t Know
Things
Others
Arena Blind Spot
Know

Things
Others Hidden Unknown
Don’t
Know

"One of the byproducts of a successful adjustment to
the host culture is that our old notions of our culture
will never again be the same.

After one lives for a while in Switzerland or
Germany, the Foreign no longer seems to be the
epitome of cleanliness; when compared to the
Japanese, the typical American seems loud and
boisterous; after a stint in a developing nation,
people in the Foreign seem rushed and impersonal.

Somehow home isn't what one had remembered."

“Upon return, Foreign people encounter
friends, colleagues, neighbors, and relatives
complaining bitterly that they are unable to
find at the grocery store the correct color of
toilet tissue for the downstairs bathroom.
Such complaints stir up
(1) considerable anger at how unaware and
unappreciative most North Westerners are
of their own material well-being, and
(2) guilt for having mouthed many of these
same insane complaints at an earlier time.”

This is Reverse Culture Shock and
you NEED to prepare for this also!


Happy Journeys and Enjoy the
Adventure


Cultural Shock

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