Cultural Shock: Impact on Expatriates

PRESENTED BY:

DEEPESH S INGH (2009IPG14)

PRABHAT AGRAWAL (2009IPG45)

SAMARTH MANISH (2009IPG68)

ANKUAR RATWAYA (2009IPH123)

Cultural ShockA Physical or Emotional discomfort or anxiety that one suffer when coming to live in another

country or a place that is different from the place of origin .

“As the twentieth century ends, commerce and culture are coming closer together. The

distinction between life and art has been eroded by fifty years of enhanced communications,

ever-improving reproduction technologies and increasing ”

--Stephen Bayley (British Design & Cultural critic and Author)

Symptoms of Cultural shock • Isolation and frustration

• Sleeping a lot

• Home sickness

• Loneliness

• Loss of identity

• Lack of confidence

Cultural Shock Stages• Honeymoon Stage

• Frustration or Crisis stage

• Adjustment Stage

• Mastery Stage

• Reverse Cultural Shock Stage

• Acceptance, Integration & Adjustment Stage

Cultural Shock StagesHoneymoon Stages• Excitement , Adventurous

• Could last 6 months

• Initial Impression

Frustration• Homesickness

• Irritation & Anger

• Family support

Cultural Shock StagesAdjustment• Learning things

• Interaction with people

• Liking foods, culture

Mastery• Adaptation of culture &tradition

• Learn local language

• No more boring life

• Local friends

Cultural Shock StagesReverse Cultural Shock• Returning home

• Compare things around

• Do not like to involve much

Acceptance & Integration• Tries to teach others

• Start liking local company

• Life becomes normal

Cultural Shock Stages

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

6 Months 12 Months 18 Months 24 Months

Adjustment

Frustration

Mastery

Reverse Shock

Integration & AcceptanceHoneymoon Stage

Example:

Source: http://www.settlinng.jigsy.com/culture

Practical examples of culture shock:• The marriage of Pharmacia AB, a respected drugs company that was weak in the United States,

and Upjohn Co., a proud Midwestern firm that needed more international business and a newproduct line, looked good. Putting the merger into practice proved a lot harder.

• In Paris, when out for a morning walk you say "Bonjour!" to everyone you pass and get a cheery"Bonjour!" in return. Do that in New York and people will scurry away from you lest they beshot or molested.

• Eye contact for prolonged time is considered rude in Asia, while in the American corporateenvironment it is considered a precursor to a confident person.

Reverse Culture Shock:• Returning to one's home culture after growing accustomed to a new one can produce the same

effects as described above. This results from the psychosomatic and psychologicalconsequences of the readjustment process to the primary culture.

• This phenomenon, the reactions that members of the re-entered culture exhibit toward the re-entrant, and the inevitability of the two are encapsulated in the saying "you can't go homeagain," first coined by Thomas Wolfe in his book of the same title.

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