cultural shock

1. Week 3
Chapter 6

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

3. 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.

4. 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.

5. Upon her arrival in La Paz, Bolivia, from Atlanta, Georgia, Katherine
Montague asked directions to the ladies’ room at the local university.
Upon entering, she observed three males using urinals and made a
hasty retreat. Her U.S. colleagues explained that all restrooms were
unisex; Katherine decided to take a taxi to her hotel.

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

7. 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)
Major Symptoms of Cultural Shock

8. Asia Shock (a type of cultural shock U.S. people
experience) has five progressive stages:
• with the culture, e.g., the language,
food, and local customs.Frustration
• to understand the rationale behind the
local ways of doing things.Unwillingness
• U.S. persons label Asians as dishonest
because they say one thing and do
another; consider face-saving as
dishonest.
Ethnocentricity
• use of unflattering labels for Asians.Racism
• U.S. persons form clubs rather than
intermingle with people of the culture.Avoidance

9. 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.

10. 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
U.S. dress and that of the
Philippines.
Resynthesis
• The integration of ideas not
found in either culture (U.S.
traveler to China chooses to
eat neither American nor
Chinese food, but prefers
Italian).
Image source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/jedi-holocron/

11. Stages of Cultural Shock
Reentry shock; follows the stages identified earlier: excitement,
crisis or disenchantment, adjustment, and adaptation.
Acceptance or adaptation phase; feel at home in the new culture
and become involved in activities of the culture.
Adjustment phase; you begin to accept the new culture, try new
foods, see the humor in situations.
Crisis or disenchantment period; excitement has turned to
disappointment.
Excitement and fascination with the new culture; the
"honeymoon" stage.

12. Problems Related to Reentry 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.

13. 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).

14. 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
U.S. government
system
Ability to develop
contacts in new
culture
Patience and
resiliency

15. 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

16. Training Models
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
Image source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/shaisharma/

17. 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 U.S. persons are
leaving behind and must be based on the idea of equity
(the ratio between what is contributed
and what is received).

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

19. Aspects of Cultural Shock
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.

20. Social Class and Poverty-Wealth Extremes
mentors in host culture can be
helpful in advising U.S. 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.

21. 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.

22. 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 U.S.
persons.
The private self may include feelings, personal
information, and opinions. The private self is
large for the Japanese; it is small for U.S. persons.

23. Public and Private Self - The Johari Window
Arena Blind Spot
Hidden Unknown
Things I Know Things I Don’t Know
Things
Others
Know
Things
Others
Don’t
Know

24. "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 U.S. 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 U.S. seem rushed and impersonal.
Somehow home isn't what one had
remembered."

25. “Upon return, U.S. 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
Americans are of their own material well-
being, and (2) guilt for having mouthed
many of these same insane complaints at
an earlier time.”

26. 26
Homework

27. Image source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/vernhart/