Effect of Cultural Shock and Cultural Adjustment on International Mobility - Essay Example

? Effect of Cultural Shock and Cultural Adjustment on International Mobility Introduction The movement of people between and within countries has been noted to be on the rise especially with the increased globalisation. In some countries, the number of foreigners could be exceptionally high such as in the Gulf countries where Furnham (2010) notes that foreign workers comprise about 75% of the total semi-permanent population. Business people, students, missionaries, volunteers and asylum seekers among other groups of people would become temporary or permanent sojourning expatriates in foreign countries more often. These people face a myriad of challenges when in a new environment. In the context of this paper, focus would be on the educational sector and how cultural shock affects international mobility. Most universities have more than a third of the students classified as foreign or international, an observation that continues to take prominence even in other lower institutions of learning (Akhtar & Bo 2010). In developed cities, foreign communities would even have their own specialised worship places, shops, radio stations or even newspapers. In this paper, with examples drawn from university students in foreign countries, the challenges involving cultural shock and cultural adjustment would be evaluated. Various push and pull factors inform on the increase in migrations: leisure, to proselytise or to trade, among others. Some move so as to escape the difficult conditions back in their homelands whereas others would be attracted to specific places. They could face persecution due to their political or religious stands and therefore seek asylum or refuge. Others would move due to employment opportunities as well paying jobs attract them or education, attracted by the superior education systems. Furnham (2010) observed that American universities, for instance, have over half a million of the international students. The US is said to offer the greatest opportunity for higher education for international students globally. Citing a particular example, the University of Southern California had about 7,000 foreign students in 2009 with the majority being from Korea, China and India. The author goes further to estimate the number of young people seeking education in countries other than their mother countries at five million. Cultural Shock With the world continuously shrinking due to globalisation, researchers have been keen to study the characteristics of expatriates who succeed in foreign countries. Analysing various research studies tackling this issue, Furnham found out that majority of the researchers concur on the importance of social skills and uses the term “cultural intelligence” to refer to the “blend of social and emotional intelligence, reflecting sensitivity to and ability to manage people’s beliefs, behaviours and motivation in culturally diverse settings” (2010, p. 28). The social identity theory explains one’s social self which borrows from being a member of a group. Further, the social identity concept argues on a combination of one’s knowledge of being a member of a social group and the associated value or emotional component (Terry et al. 2006). But it has been noted that most expatriates fail in their assignments in foreign countries because of cultural differences (Yue & Le 2012). As such, those who develop the ability to quickly adjust and acquire intercultural competencies would have a competitive advantage. Those who take long in cultural shock could be greatly disadvantaged. Coined by the anthropologist Kalervo Oberg in 1960, the term cultural shock refers to an affective disturbance resulting from an interaction of one’s conceptualisations and realities. According to Miller, Matveeva and Nekrassova (2011), cultural shock results from an individual’s psychological expectations not conforming to the new cultural setting. Individual management in a foreign country could cause one frustration, depression and homesickness. Cultural shock takes place in four stages that overlap as discussed by Katsioloudes and Hadjidakis (2007). In the first stage, the honeymoon stage, there would be the initial reaction encompassing fascination, enthusiasm, enchantment, admiration and having superficial relationships with the hosts. The foreigners would associate more with those exhibiting politeness and speak their language. In the second stage referred to as the crisis stage, there arises initial differences in values, concepts, language, symbols and familiar signs which cause the feeling of anxiety, anger, frustration and inadequacy. An individual would start having unpleasant feelings comprising of anger and frustration due to unfavourable events considered to be offensive and strange to one’s cultural attitude. At the recovery stage, the crisis would be resolved through various strategies with the foreigner learning the host country’s language and culture. This would be when the new culture starts making sense and a reduction on negative responses and reactions occurs. Finally, the sojourner begins to enjoy the new culture even though there would be anxiety and strain occasionally, referred to as the adjustment stage. This whole process has been largely described as the U-shape of cultural shock stages even though Furnham (2010) observes that since the same process repeats when the sojourner goes back to the home country, a W-shape would describe the process better. Referred to as own culture shock or re-entry shock, this reverse culture shock would be a result of psychological and psychosomatic consequences of the process of readjustment to primary culture. Consequences for International Mobility The new cultural environment makes one’s habitual system orientation inadequate due to the difference in representation, behavioural expectations, perception of behaviours and norms and values. In a habituated culture, one could behave without necessarily having to think of the myriad of factors beneath appearances as postulated by the cultural iceberg theory (Miller, Matveeva & Nekrassova 2011). This means that there could be information, not apparent, which causes the existence of a hidden system that controls behavioural values and norms. Hence, in a foreign culture, one could be psychologically or even physically uncomfortable as a result of culture shock. The culture shock would exist from just a few days to even months depending on various factors. No matter the duration, cultural shock would pose significant effects on the victim. In their study seeking to understand the impact of cultural difference on foreign students attending higher education in Estonia noted to attract many foreign students, Miller, Matveeva and Nekrassova (2011) acknowledge that cultural shock could greatly impart stressors on a foreign student thus discouraging the influx of foreign students currently experienced. These consequences could either be psychological or physical (Guru et al. 2012). Psychologically, the foreigner could be under pressure in an effort to psychologically adapt to the new environment. There could be a feeling of loss with regard to possessions, profession, status and friends and a feeling of isolation which could be an unpleasant experience amidst the foreign culture. Such persons could be anxious often causing indignation after comprehending the difference in culture and a feeling of inadequacy due to the inability to adapt. The duration, intensity and need for adaptation of such consequences of culture shock could be attributed to a myriad of factors. The most critical of these as observed by Miller, Matveeva and Nekrassova (2011) would be the previous experience of such a person in a foreign culture. According to these researchers, the more exposed one would be to diverse cultures, the more prepared such a person would be for better adjustment. These could be categorised as either internal or external factors. The critical internal factors to consider would be age, personal traits and gender. Externally, the perception of the existence of a wide cultural distance could yield undesirable effects. The last stage of the cultural shock process referred to as cultural adjustment describes the re-establishment of routines, which yields valued outcomes to an individual and restore the feeling of control (Katsioloudes & Hadjidakis 2007). This, to those in foreign countries, would refer to the level with which they acquire the feeling of comfort and security while in the host country. In this stage, four approaches could be employed: separation, integration, marginalisation and assimilation (Pilote & Benabdeljalil 2007). From the perspective of an organisation, the degree of adjustment would greatly influence the performance of an employee towards the completion of the intended mission. From an individual foreigner perspective, adjustment would determine psychological well-being and job satisfaction (Terry et al. 2006). The stress theories support this argument noting that uncertainties increase stress among foreigners and thus hinder adjustment. According to Miller, Matveeva and Nekrassova (2011), failure to facilitate the adjustment of foreigners in the new cultural context could lead to a prolonged period of confusion feeling with regard to processes, values and norms as well as with regard to identity, procedural, content and relational matters. As such, taking the context of students, attention to the process of adjustment to the new culture would be important in the achievement of better learning experience and individual growth due to the enriching cultural experience. It would thus be observed that various international centres of higher learning have incorporated what Hesse (2011) refers to as intercultural literacy in their curricula so as to enhance cultural adjustment. This according to the researcher reduces the negative cross-cultural experience by the foreign students. In addition, this approach propagates an understanding of the foreign culture hence harmony among the involved students which creates a just, safe and sustainable global community. However, it remains widespread in educational institutions the marginalisation and distancing of the foreigners from the hosts. Borrowing from the culture-learning theory which emphasises on the need to possess culturally relevant behaviours and skills through interaction with the host nationals, training and cross-cultural experience, various organisations have developed social support networks as revealed in the study by Yue and Le (2012). Social interaction propagates sharing of information on culturally acceptable behaviours and norms which reduce the uncertainties that could arise in the foreign context. It helps mobilise psychological resources and propagate cultural adjustment. Categorising these into two, Katsioloudes and Hadjidakis (2007) observe that socio-economic support would reduce depression and loneliness while instrumental support would reduce the uncertainties involving cultural transitions using information on social regulations and norms. In learning institutions, each foreign student could perhaps be assigned a mentor who would guide through the new culture as the student goes through the stages of cultural shock up to the realisation of cultural adjustment. Also noted as a consequence of cultural shock on international mobility would be the selection process for expatriates. According to Katsioloudes and Hadjidakis (2007), organisations adopt selection processes for those to be sent on missions abroad based on their cultural adjustment tendencies. In as much as the success factors for adjustment could be universal, there would be those specific to certain cultural contexts. With the findings of Hesse (2011) attributing the failure of managers in the international context to their inability to adjust to the foreign culture as opposed to lack of leadership and technical skills, more organisations seek to select workers who would easily adapt to the culture in context. For institutions of higher learning, it has become common practice for encouragement of applications from students coming from specific countries whose cultural practices align to those of the destination country (Akhtar & Bo 2010; Pilote & Benabdeljalil 2007). As such, these host institutions spend less resource in ensuring that the students adjust to the new culture, an essential factor for effective learning. In fact, some organisations would give incentives to attract the intended group and discourage the unintended lot. Conclusion With globalisation comes the increased need to move to other countries, experience new cultures so as to ensure organisational growth and sustenance of competitive advantage both in a regional scope and internationally. Cultural shock has been noted to cause stress on foreigners thus reducing their productivity in the various organisations. It occurs during the introduction to a new culture and environment and also when resuming the original culture and environment. To curb failure in organisations, cultural adjustment has been noted to be essential. This issue of cultural shock has caused organisations to adopt practices and processes that propagate quicker adjustment to the culture. This has been effectively executed through selection process, use of social support networks and incorporation of cultural literacy courses in schools’ curricula. In as much as majority of organisations could have adopted the appropriate strategies, many more organisations still need to align their practices in this direction. Reference Akhtar, N & Bo, S 2010, ‘Cultural anxiety and its impact on students’ life: a case study of international students in Wuhan University’, World Academy of Science, Engineering and Technology, vol. 42, pp. 1714-1720. Furnham, A 2010, ‘Human mobility in a global era’, in The Psychology of Global Mobility, Springer Science+Business Media LLC, New York, pp. 23-45. Guru, R, Siddiqui, MA, Ahmed, Z & Khan, AA 2012, Effects of cultural shock on foreign health care professionals: an analysis of key factors’, Journal of Environmental and Occupational Science, vol. 1, no.1, pp. 53-62. Hesse, A 2011, Factors influencing expatriates’ ability to cross-culturally adjust, thesis, Port Elizabeth, Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University, viewed 6 February 2013 from http://dspace.nmmu.ac.za Katsioloudes, MI & Hadjidakis, S 2007, International business, Butterworth-Heinemann, Oxford, OX. Miller, L, Matveeva, E & Nekrassova, N 2011, ‘The internationalisation of Estonian higher education: how the Estonian cultural context impacts the experience of foreign students’, Baltic Journal of European Studies, vol. 2, no. 1, pp. 103-118. Pilote, A & Benabdeljalil, A 2007, ‘Supporting the success of international students in Canadian universities’, Higher Education Perspectives, vol. 3, no. 2, viewed 6 February 2013 from http://hep.oise.utoronto.ca Terry, DJ, Pelly, RN, Lalonde, RN & Smith, JR (2006). ‘Predictors of cultural adjustment: intergroup status relations and boundary permeability’, Group Processes & Intergroup Relations, vol. 9, no. 2, pp. 249-264. Yue, Y & Le, Q 2012, ‘From “cultural shock” to “ABC framework”: development of intercultural contact theory’, International Journal of Innovative Interdisciplinary Research, no. 2, pp. 133-141. Read More