Cultural Shock in IHRM

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