The word “Culture Shock” was first introduced by world-renowned anthropologist Kalervo Oberg in 1960. He used the word culture shock to describe the anxiety resulting from not knowing what to do in new culture. Oberg defined culture “as occupational disease of people who have suddenly been transported abroad” and suggested that culture shock is “precipitated by the anxiety that result from losing all our familiar signs and symbol of social intercourse.” In other words the term culture shock refers to the situation where an individual migrates from a culture to which he/she is familiar with to an unfamiliar one resulting in new experiences and causing distress and discomfort or sense of loneliness. Oberg’s definition on culture shock was supported by many renowned scholars. For example, Hofstede has also defined culture shock as a “stress of distress following the transfer of a person to an unfamiliar cultural environment. Furthermore, Alder (1975) also agreed with Oberg and Hosted definition and state that culture shock is a set of emotional reactions which occurred when an individual leave its own culture and move completely into a new culture.
Different Theories on Culture Shock
Oberg was the first one to develop a model of adaptation that suggests that going abroad or working internationally put individuals through a cycle of distinct phase on a way to final adaptation. The model has four stages in which expatriate goes through. The first stage is honeymoon stage. In this stage expatriate is very excited about moving into different country. The expatriate viewed his new life as providing endless opportunities the expatriate is usually in the state of exhilaration. This is followed by crisis-phase, culture shock set in-In this stage expatriate realize that something not quite right. Expatriate feels frustrated, anxious and angry. In this stage expatriate realizes the problems and starts to cope with the new culture. This is followed by recovery stage. This third phase of recovery usually starts accepting that he/she has a problem and start to find ways to deal with the problems. Finally expatriate reached into Adjustment stage, in this stage anxiety and frustration vanishes and is replaced by confidence and acceptance of host values, the expatriate is able to work effectively and accept the culture and behaviors of host society are accepted.
Other Academic professors also came up with a model which was very similar to Oberg’s model but with a different terms. For example Adler in 1975, came up with a model which divided the process of adaptation into five stages: contact, disintegration, reintegration, autonomy and independence. Furthermore, Richard in 1974, came up with a model which named the four stages as: elation, depression, recovery and acculturation. Even though the model developed by Richard and Adler vary little bit compared to Oberg model but the general linear process of culture remains relatively constant.
However, one of the popular models on adjustment is U-Curve. It was initiated by Lysggard (1955). The U-curve is very similar to Oberg’s fours stages of transition. According to this model, expatriate progress at regular interval through three phases of honeymoon, culture shock, and finally adjustment. In the Honeymoon stage, expatriate is excited about moving into new culture; new environment intrigues the expatriate in much the same way as if the expatriate was tourist. This is followed by Culture Shock stage, in this stage expatriate is frustrated and confused because the new environment is not providing familiar cues and finally reaching to Adjustment Stage, in this stage expatriate start to understand the new culture, learn the way to get things done in the new culture. In 1963 the U-Curve model expanded to W shape when repatriation is considered in other words the expatriate achieve the mastery stage and begins to function effectively into the new culture almost as well as at home. Even though U-Curve has been a really popular model but After testing 54 years of testing the research support U-Curve has not been convincing. Although some support have found for the U-Curve but it has been criticized by many scholars. Some scholars argue that it is too vague and too generalized. However, due to the lack of methodological rigor in many of the investigations, a rejection or acceptance of the U-Curve by scholars or cross cultural trainers would be premature. Despite the lack of empirical support, the idea that expatriates might go through some systematic and discernible pattern of adjustment remains a very attractive notion both on an academic and a practical perspective.
There are a number of studies which have emerged on the culture shock but one of the most prominent theories on acculturative stress proposed by Berry (1970) was established as an alternative of word culture shock. The term culture shock was redefined as a form of stress. The reason for replacing the term Culture Shock with acculturative stress is the word shock is very negative while stress can be either both positive and negative aspects. The term stress was developed based on the concept of acculturation. Acculturation comprehends those phenomena which result when groups of individuals having different cultures come into continuous first-hand contact, with subsequent changes in the original cultural patterns of either or both groups. One of the popular acculturation model that has emerged in many studies by scholars is Berry’s acculturation strategies model .Which list four response or types or acculturation. These are Assimilation, Separation, Marginalization, and integration. This model describes possibilities of response around two dimensions and acculturation. The first, based on maintaining cultural identify and the second around maintaining links with other groups. Depending on how respondents react to these two dimensions. Berry’s (1991) model yields the fourfold classification of the acculturation model chosen by individuals. When individuals maintain a strong cultural identify, yet associated with member of other cultural group this leads to an integration strategy in which important elements of both cultures are blended. A separatist response refuses to identify with the host culture and idealizes home culture leading to increased ethnocentric societies and chauvinism. Individuals only weakly identifying among their culture of origin and becoming strongly attached to the host culture are assimiltionsit. Finally individual who does not have an interest in their own culture or fail to build relationship with the host local community are marginalized.
Problems Caused by Culture Shock in International Assignments
When an individual encounters a new culture and experience culture shock. The change and unfamiliarity within the new culture affect their psychological adjustment and participation in that new cultural surrounding. This psychological. This psychological mystification and emotional discomfort usually create tremendous amount of stress. The negative impact of culture shock individual psychology often includes a large and diverse set of symptoms such as anxiety, depression etc. However, not everyone will be affected by all of these symptoms but almost all people will experience some part. When depression, anxiety and feeling of helplessness accumulate individuals who are affected by these symptoms find it very difficult to pay attention to the learning of new culture as a result it decreased their motivation of adapting new environment. However, if an individual fails to fight against the symptoms of culture shock they are more likely to become a hostile to host nationals which may lead to handicap of interpersonal relationship. It is often discussed by many scholars dealing with psychological stress caused by culture shock such as depression, anxiety very significant for those people who come in contact with new culture.
Minimizing the Impact of Culture Shock
In this section three recommendations will be provided to the organization in order to minimize the impact of culture shock on their employees.
1. Cultural Awareness
In order to adjust quickly into a new environment. It is very important for expatriate to become familiar with the culture of the host country before departing. One of the main reasons for this it will provide expatriates a better understanding of host culture values and customs. With the familiarity of new culture expatriate can imagine of the problems or obstacles he/she might encounter as a result it will make the new surroundings more acceptable. According to research carried out by many scholars the more understanding and knowledge expatriate has about the new culture the more quickly he/she will be able to adapt to the environment. In a different culture, non verbal communication might be different, such as physical space between two people who are communicating. For example, For Americans twenty inches is normal distance during communicating. While Saudi Arabians prefer to stand closer during communicating. This can be viewed as rude and bad-mannered by Americans. Consequently when Saudi Arabian enters America, He/she might find hard to adjust in a new environment which is completely different to their home culture as a result anxiety and nervousness appear as he/she is not prepared to cope with culture shock. It is very important that expatriate has full knowledge and understanding of the new culture before they go there. This will not only help them to adapt quickly but will also lessen the chances of suffering from stress and anxiety. The disadvantage of this type of approach is it is very time consuming and sometimes it’s not possible to understand all the aspects of the new environment through books, journal etc. Before transferring expatriate aboard.It is very important that organization provide a range of literature on the country where they are sending expatriate these might include books, journals, newspapers etc.
2. Cross Cultural Training Programs
Another method recommend to organizations in order to lessen the impact of culture shock on their employees is to provide Pre-departure Cross Cultural Training programs. These are designed to reduce the uncertainty associated with a new environment. The purpose of these cross cultural programs is to provide information about the culture of new environment where expatriate will be working as well as to provide information how to interact with the people of that particular culture. Many Scholars have view cultural training as an effective tool for expatriate to adjust into a new environment successfully. Cross cultural training can be effective in sensitizing individuals to cultural issues, in facilitating adjustment to foreign culture, in improving work performance abroad, and in helping employees to develop a global mindset. Furthermore, a significant relationship between cross-cultural training and performances. Various forms of pre-departure and post-arrival orientation programs provided by the organization can lessen the impact of culture shock and improve cross cultural adjustment process. However post cultural training is more effective compared to the pre-arrival-cross cultural training. Even though it is acknowledged by many scholars that intercultural training help to reduce the impact of culture shock but some top-level manager believe this kind of training is very expensive, time consuming and an effective. It can cost companies up to $80,000 or more to provide a rigorous, in- depth to an expatriate. Therefore, Some organizational officials perceive cross cultural training program waste of time and money. In some cases managers feel that’s there is insufficient time to provide the necessary cross-cultural training required and decide to forego such training. One of the biggest disadvantage of training is it is not guaranteed that after receiving the extensive training expatriate will be able to adapt more quickly in the new environment. Even though studies suggest that cross cultural training help expatriate to adapt more effectively but everyone is different some expatriate may benefit it from it some might not . Although it is very cost effective to provide cross-cultural training and some manager find it ineffective but it is really important to provide some cross-cultural training to expatriate. If the company does not provide any cross-cultural training the expatriate might take time to adapt into a new environment or might fail completely. As a result company might incur huge cost.
3. Help and Support During the Assignment
It has been proven in many studies conducted by many scholars that social support and guidance contributes significantly in adjusting into the new environment. If the expatriate does not get any support and is being left alone, it would increase the negative impact of culture shock therefore making it more difficult to adjust in the new environment. Research also show culture that emphasize interdependence suffer less from psychological stress than who live in culture which emphasizes independence. In order to avoid being left alone lot of companies who send their expatriate abroad offers support with day-to -day life like banking, transpiration etc.. Many companies have their own relocating services that helps expatriate with all the basic tasks these include organizing schools for children etc. All these measures help to prevent culture shock. Overall it is very important that expatriate keep receiving support and assistance for the 1-2 months or until the expatriate settle into a new environment. Even though it is very time consuming but it will definitely help expatriate to settle into new environment easily .If the organization cannot afford to provide cultural-training to its employee providing support and assistance is the best method they can choose to help expatriate. The advantage of this type of approach is that company does not have to spend lots of money on training and secondly, the expatriate will be able to adjust more quickly