Chapter 5 Handling Culture Shock Effectively
By ; numkwan wongpatum
Topic; • Defining the Terms: Culture Shock and Country Shock • Stages of Culture Shock • Managing Country and Culture Shock • The Role of Culture in Conflicts and Conflict Resolution • A Leader’s Role in Handling Culture Shock
What is Culture & Country Shock?
• How would you define culture shock? – Reaction to psychological disorientation – Fish out of water feeling
• Country Shock? – 1st series of adjustments one has to make in a new locale
What is Culture Shock? • Causes of Culture Shock – Being cut off from cultural cues and patterns – Living/working over an extended period of time in ambiguous situations – Having your values questioned – Being expected to operate at maximum skill and speed without fully understanding “the rules”
What is Culture Shock? • Effects/Symptoms of Culture Shock – Intense discomfort – Resentment – Homesickness – Depression – Variety of physical symptoms from psychosomatic illnesses
Country Shock vs. Culture Shock • Country Shock – Physical circumstances – The setting of the culture – Occurs/resolves quickly
• Culture Shock – Interaction among people – Behaviors that seem strange to others – Takes longer to begin/resolve
Country Shock • What can bring on country shock? – Unfamiliar weather patterns – “Strange” foods – “Bugs” (insects, spiders, etc.) that make life uncomfortable – Infrastructure differences
Country Shock • What can heighten the intensity of country shock? – New faces and communities – Getting physically sick
Stages of Culture Shock
• Honeymoon • Irritability/Hostility • Gradual Adjustment • Adaptation
The Honeymoon Stage • Characteristics – Occurs at beginning of deployment – Positive mindset – High expectations – Focus on similarities between home and host culture – Typically lasts 1-6 weeks
Irritability/Hostility Stage • Actions during irritability – Withdrawal from host culture – Interacting only with other Americans – Interacting only with other military personnel
• Actions during hostility – Verbal aggressiveness – Physical aggressiveness – Stereotyping
Gradual Adjustment Stage
• What it takes to get there –Time –Recognizing subtle cultural cues –Less isolation/greater comfort –More interaction with host culture
Adaptation Stage • How you know you’ve arrived – Greater enjoyment of local customs – Comfort with host culture communication norms – Realization that you will miss aspects of host culture when you return home
The Process of Adjustment Source: AusAID
Dealing With Country Shock • Ineffective responses – Returning to “mother culture” – Hide out (stay on base/compound) – Travel to areas of greater cultural diversity
• Effective response – Establish new routines for basic life skills
Managing Culture Shock • Effective responses – Realize almost everyone experiences a certain level of culture shock – Develop self-awareness of your behavioral expectations – Understand the local’s expectations for your behavior
Managing Culture Shock
• We inflict culture shock on others by… –being ethnocentric –not becoming “other” –failing to practice empathy –reinforcing the concept of “the ugly American”
Conflict • What is conflict? – Struggle over values and claims to scarce status, power, and resources – Perceived divergence of interests – Our working definition: When two related parties find themselves divided by perceived incompatible interests or goals, or in competition for control of scarce resources
Conflict
• Causes of conflict? –Value differences –Relationship clashes –Disagreement over data –Diverging interests
Culture and Conflict • Role of culture in conflict – It’s about who we are so it’s bound to impact conflict – It relates to what we think is important, and we often respond strongly when that’s challenged – It can be the direct cause of conflict – It can be a contributing factor
Culture and Conflict
• Culture affects conflict in how we… –Name (describe it) –Frame (conceptualize it) –Blame (assign fault for it) –Tame (resolve it)
Culture and Conflict: An Example
• Think about the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict – How does culture affect how it is described? – From what framework is it viewed? – Who is blamed? – What is the best way to resolve it?
Culture and Conflict Resolution • How would you define conflict resolution? – Eliminating the root cause of a conflict and seeking the solution to the problems which led to the conflict – Methods and processes of negotiation, arbitration, institutionbuilding which promote the peaceful ending of social conflict & war
Culture and Conflict Resolution • Methods of conflict resolution – Mediation – Diplomacy – Negotiation (most commonly used) – War
Negotiation • What is negotiation? –Striking a deal with someone –Bargaining –Discussing an issue with the hope of settling it –When two or more parties confer with one another to reach a mutually accepted outcome
Negotiation • Situations requiring negotiation skills – Personal life – Within squadron – While deployed with local population and leaders – With joint/coalition/allied forces – With other organizations (governmental and nongovernmental)
Personality & Negotiation
• Impact of personality on negotiation – Some traits more conducive to successful negotiation than others – Some traits counterproductive to negotiation – Some traits are better suited to other conflict resolution techniques, e.g., mediation, diplomacy, competingforcing, etc.)
Cultural Dimensions & Negotiation
• Hofstede’s Cultural Dimensions – Power Distance – Uncertainty Avoidance – Individualism vs. collectivism – Long-term vs. short-term orientation
Summary • Defining the Terms: Culture Shock and Country Shock • Stages of Culture Shock • Managing Country and Culture Shock • The Role of Culture in Conflicts and Conflict Resolution • A Leader’s Role in Handling Culture Shock