answer questions
Building Cultural Agility Online Course
Dr. Bill Castellano
Professor HRM Department
Rutgers University School of Management and Labor Relations
Welcome to the building cultural agility online course.
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SESSION 5: How to Understand Yourself in a New Culture
Welcome to session 5: “How to understand yourself in a new culture.”
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Class 5
| Class 5: How to Understand Yourself in a New Culture | International Assignment Track: Expat Adjustment Course: Expatriation and Repatriation | Discussion Question What is Culture Shock? Describe three strategies for overcoming culture shock. |
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In class 5, we focus on helping you to understand yourself in a new culture and how to effectively adapt to your new environment.
In this session you will take the Expat Adjustment Course: Expatriation and Repatriation.
This week’s Discussion Question
What is Culture Shock? Describe three strategies for overcoming culture shock.
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"…It is good to know something of the customs of various peoples, so as to judge our own more soundly and so as not to think that everything that is contrary to our ways is ridiculous and against reason, as those who have seen nothing have a habit of doing."
René Descartes
Discours de la Méthode (1637)
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The words of René Decartes are as true today as they were almost 400 years ago. International experience has the power to shape individuals’ perceptions and competencies, such as cultural humility and perspective-taking, as noted in Decartes’ quote.
You can learn from your experience abroad as you build relationships, listen and observe in the new cultural context, cope with ambiguity.
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Features of Developmental International Experiences
Novelty
Challenge
Social Learning
Support
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The part that Decartes didn’t mention is that for international experiences to be developmental, they should have specific features, such as:
Novelty – including study or work in a new situation with different cultural values
Challenge – to overcome obstacles as you experience the disconfirmation of expectations, which require learning new behaviors.
Social Learning – that have significant, meaningful, peer-to-peer interactions with host nationals. You may need to work on something collaboratively, with common goals or develop deep friendships for these relationships to be meaningful
And Support – that provide you opportunities to practice culturally-appropriate behaviors and receive feedback, and feel emotionally safe to make cultural mistakes
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Developing Cultural Agility from Cross-Cultural Experiences
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However, having a novel experience in the host country is not enough. You need to work at learning how to be successful in the host country by trying new behaviors and revising your approaches. This is the way to build your cross-cultural competencies during an international experience.
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HAVE THE EXPERIENCE
REFLECT ON WHAT HAPPENED
REVISE THE APPROACH
TRY AGAIN
Novel for one might be too stressful for another.
Stress-related hormones higher in expatriates (Anderzen & Arnetz, 1999).
Stress response moderated by social support and individual differences.
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While developmental, being in novel situations is not always easy for some people. A noted study, compared professionals working in their home countries with a matched sample of expatriates working in host countries, taking blood samples to test for physiological changes in stress hormones over the duration of a few years. Their results suggest that during the same few years, expatriates had increases in their prolactin levels and decreases in testosterone levels. The comparison group of domestic employees did not. These physiological responses were at their worst in the first year but remained challenging while living and working abroad. The blood-sample study also found that the negative effects of living in the host country were mitigated when individuals had the individual characteristics necessary to adjust to life in their new country and those who had social support.
Novelty is individually determined and experienced. For those who can handle ambiguity with it causing anxiety will have an easier time adjusting to living abroad.
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Adapting to a host country takes time and the adjustment speed will vary from person to person and often consists of distinct phases including:
Phase 1. is the Anticipatory adjustment period: As you imagine the life you will have you might start feeling sad that you will miss family and friends while, at the same time, feel excited (or maybe even anxious) about what is to come
Phase 2. is the Honeymoon period: you are likely to feel excited and optimistic when you enter into a new environment or culture. While differences are observed, you will likely focus on the positive aspects of the new environment.
Phase 3. is the Cultural Shock period: This is the anxiety, and feelings of disorientation and confusion which comes from the challenges in adjusting to the host culture. It is often caused because of an inability to speak the language as competently as you do your native tongue and the inability to fit in as well as you did back home since you do not necessarily know the appropriate way of behaving. You may realize that ways of behaving and interacting are ineffective. You might experience self-doubt as you feel insecure about your skills as a professional or student. These feelings may appear slowly, affecting your emotional well-being over the course of weeks or months.
Phase 4 is the Recovery/Adjustment period: During this phase, you will experience increasing self-confidence and comfort in the host country. Your social networks may start to include host nationals and you are more tolerant of the things that you were frustrated by in the previous phase.
Phase 5 is the Anticipatory Repatriation period: During this phase you may be anxious about all that you have yet to experience in the host country that you wanted to, the things you won’t be able to do once you return home.
Phase 6 is the Reverse Honeymoon period: During the period when you first return home you might feel a burst of “celebrity” – everyone who loves you wants to welcome you home. You feel special as you share the stories from your experience to those who are interested.
Lastly, Phase 7 is the Reverse Culture Shock period: At some point, you are no longer unique or special in the eyes of those around you. You are fully home but you may sense that you don’t exactly fit in as comfortably as before. Your identity might have changed as you feel more cosmopolitan or “global”, especially if your home is more monocultural. You might seek out more opportunities to interact with other “globals” like you
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There are certain symptoms of culture shock.
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Culture shock has a variety of different symptoms, depending on the person. Some of these include:
Feelings of homesickness and remembering only the best of home (missing food, people, places)
Preferring to stay home and be alone, rather than socializing
Doing things that are atypical (e.g., eating or drinking too much, sleeping too much or not enough)
Complaining about the host nationals, the host country, the weather, the food – everything,
Having emotional regulation problems such as irritability, anger, depression, frustration, or lack of confidence
Having an inability to recover from a cold or flu
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There are ways to get out of the culture shock phase.
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Understand that this is a normal process and recognizing that culture shock is normal and will pass if you use appropriate coping mechanisms. Here are a few:
Before you go abroad, learn about the host culture so you are as cognitively prepared as possible.
Using social media and outreach, create your social network before and soon after you arrive – especially of host nationals who are positive and willing to help you learn how to do things in the host country.
Whatever sport or hobby you enjoyed in your home country, try to enjoy in your host country. This will give you the chance to connect with like-minded host nationals
Be good to yourself – eat well, get enough sleep, and exercise.
Once you are in the country, practice problem-focus coping rather than symptom-focused coping. For example, speak to host national professors or supervisors to understand how to succeed as a student or professional.
Don’t be too hard on yourself. Remember, it takes a lot of emotional and cognitive energy to live in a host county. Think of your emotional resources as having limited bandwidth and much of it is being taken up by being in a novel environment.
Lastly, please take advantage of counseling centers. Cultural shock is a normal process but not one to go through alone.
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Remember: Your cross-cultural competencies affect how you experience these phases.
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Remember your cross-cultural competencies affect how you experience these phases. Developing these competencies will help you more easily adapt to your new environment.
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Now go to the e-learning system to the International Assignment section and take the Expat Adjustment Course: Expatriation and Repatriation.
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The expat adjustment course will help you to understand yourself in a new culture, so as to have a meaningful and enjoyable experience.
The discussion question for this week, due by Friday, is:
The Discussion Question for this week:
What is Culture Shock? Describe three strategies for overcoming culture shock.
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THANK YOU
Thank you for completing the Building Cultural Agility online course.
Please ensure you have answered all of the weekly discussion questions,
And submitted your two reflection papers
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Thank you for completing the building cultural agility online course.
Please ensure you have answered all of the weekly discussion questions, and submitted your two reflection papers.
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