Cultural Shock in IHRM

This essay discusses cultural shock in international human resource management and how organizations can deal with it. It explains the phases of cultural shock and the policies that can be initiated to overcome it. The essay also provides an example of Hewlett-Packard (HP) that successfully dealt with cultural shock.

Running Head: Culture Shock
Culture Shock

Culture Shock 1
“Cultural Shock in IHRM”
Cultural shock refers to the feelings of a person who moves from their native place to a very
different region. People face cultural shock when they realize that the environment in which they
have been and brought is totally different from the other environment in which they are living
now. Cultural shock is one of the major issue due to which expatriates are unable to focus on
their work in different environment (Okpara, 2016). Further, the below-mentioned essay talks
about the term cultural shock and the international human resource management policies that
could be initiated to deal with this issue in an organization. The latter part of the essay provide
organizational example that effectively overcome the problem of cultural shock attracted with
the management of their organization.
The problem of cultural shock arises in a person due to the unfamiliar environment, unknown
local customs, language and response of people. It is basically a feeling of a person which makes
them feel sad in an environment. Expatriates who migrate from different places to work in
multinational companies face such problem of culture shock. In addition, it should be noted that
this feeling also experienced with people who live to abroad for higher education. This feeling
makes it difficult for the people to stay in that place and work in the organization. The
experience of cultural shock has four phases that are honeymoon, negotiation, adjustment,
adaptation (Naeem, Nadeem, & Khan, 2015).
When a person is in honeymoon period then the difference between old and new culture seems to
be enlightening. People enjoy the feeling of working under different environment, under this
phase a person like eating different cuisine, wearing new dress and they enjoy the local habits as
well. These are the initial days of a person in new environment due to which they seems to like
everything of that new environment (Jackson, 2015). Next comes the stage of negotiation, under
this stage the person seems to feel the difference between old and new culture. This change
creates anxiety under them due to which the excitement decreases and frustration increases. This
phase comes under a person when have spent around 3 months at a different place. The
consistent unfavorable event makes the person aggressive as well (Bird, & Mendenhall, 2016).
This might occur due to language differences, traffic rules, food accessibility, government rules
etc. These are some of the factors that make them feel that they belong to a different culture.

Culture Shock 2
Negotiation leads to many problems under a person where they feel insomniac, change in
behavior, irritation etc. But after some time, these changes become a part of their life and they
slowly tend to adopt them as well. A person usually takes 6-12 months to adopt different culture
and sustain in that environment because after that, it becomes a part of their routine life and they
become habitual to it. This phase is called adjustment, when some positive signs are seen in the
behavior of a person. Lastly, the final stage of this process is adaption where a person fully
participates in the activities of the host culture and do not feel negative about it (Gunn, 2017). In
addition, they tend to adopt the language and taste of the host culture with the passing time.
Source: (Korbanski, 2016)
Further, it should be noted that it is quiet challenging for a person sustain under a host culture
while facing culture shock. The organizations need to consider this aspect and help people to
deal with this. The international human resource manager is the key personnel who play a vital
role in helping a person to release him or herself from the problem of cultural shock. In addition,
companies also face loss due to the culture shock, as due to this issue efficient people are unable
to sustain in the host culture of the company (Domingues, Sampaio, & Arezes, 2015).
Furthermore, talking about the international human resource management policies it should be
noted that there are varied policies that helps the organization to support their expatriate to work

Culture Shock 3
in a different environment. Reward and motivation can be one of the biggest factors that can
influence people in an organization. If the employees morale is boosted up by their managers and
they are being rewarded (monetary or non-monetary) for their achievement then they can easily
cope up from cultural shock (Oliver, 2017).
Cross culture, training also plays an important role in this case; the international organizations
should train their employees with the home and host country culture. This will help them to
adopt the environmental changes easily. Regiocentric approach is another, IHRM approach
under which the management employs managers from different part of the world. It is a
transition phase of polycentric and geocentric under which the management staff people from
different geographical regions. This activity is initiated to remove the influence of single culture
on the activities of the business, as most the people belong to different culture due to which they
support each other in sustaining in the current environment. This is also a good step for
organizations to operate themselves in different parts of the world just like Nike Inc. used this
strategy. This process helps companies in inputting people with different culture in the
environment creating good output out of it (Newsinger, 2015).
Further, taking an example of well renowned organization Hewlett-Packard (HP) that
successfully dealt with the issue of culture shock, it should be noted that this aspect could not
ban the growth of the company. The workforce of HP includes employees from different parts of
the world, so the company faces the problem shock on a regular basis. Further, it manage this
problem the company uses the synergistic approach of IHRM. This approach states that the home
country and host country ways are different but no culture tries to surpass the culture of another
place/ region. Under this approach, the management identified the similarities and differences of
different culture and do not force the employees to follow the home country culture (Kamal,
2009). Instead, the company tries to involve the expatriate the activities of the company, they
initiate meetings formal as well as informal to comfort the employees and help them to adopt in
different culture. The company HP understand the sentiments of people attached to their culture
due to which they do not initiate any activity that harm their interest because loss of an employee
is ultimately loss of the company as people of diverse culture are resources for the organization.
The company firstly analyzed the situation, and then determined the underlying cultural
assumption. Afterwards, accesses the cultural overlaps, then try to create culturally synergistic

Culture Shock 4
alternatives and lastly, they select one alternative and eventually, implement the selected solution
(Rowlands, & Iles, 2017).
Thus, in the limelight of above-mentioned events, it can be concluded, that cultural shock is one
of the major problem arising in international organizations day by day. The companies are
unable to use the efficient human resource present in different parts of the world due to this
issue. The company should regularly aim to motivate the employees and initiate policy that can
help them to overcome the feeling of cultural shock. Lastly, it should be concluded that cultural
shock is a natural process that takes time to get back on the usual life.

Culture Shock 5
References
Bird, A., & Mendenhall, M. E. (2016). From cross-cultural management to global leadership:
Evolution and adaptation. Journal of World Business, 51(1), 115-126.
Domingues, J. P. T., Sampaio, P., & Arezes, P. M. (2015, August). Management Systems
Integration: A Synergistic Approach. In Toulon-Verona Conference" Excellence in
Services".
Gunn, S. (2017). Globalisation, education and culture shock. Taylor & Francis.
Jackson, J. (2015). Becoming interculturally competent: Theory to practice in international
education. International Journal of Intercultural Relations, 48, 91-107.
Kamal, Y. (2009). Managing Diversity at Workplace: A Case Study of hp. Retrieved 5 April,
2018. https://www.bmefcolleges.edu.in/uploads/v3n2sl13.pdf
Korbanski, F. (2016). Dealing with workplace culture shock in your first job. Retrieved 5 April,
2018. https://graduateland.com/article/workplace-culture-shock
Naeem, A., Nadeem, A. B., & Khan, I. U. (2015). Culture Shock and Its effects on
Expatriates. Global Advanced Research Journal of Management and Business
Studies, 4(6), 248-258.
Newsinger, J. (2015). A cultural shock doctrine? Austerity, the neoliberal state and the creative
industries discourse. Media, Culture & Society, 37(2), 302-313.
Okpara, J. O. (2016). Cross-cultural adjustment of expatriates: Exploring factors influencing
adjustment of expatriates in Nigeria. International Journal of Cross Cultural
Management, 16(3), 259-280.
Oliver, P. (2017). The concepts of globalisation and culture. In Globalisation, Education and
Culture Shock (pp. 24-34). Routledge.
Rowlands, K. E., & Iles, P. (2017). Managing in a global context. Strategic Human Resource
Management: An International Perspective, 466.

Culture Shock 6