Management of Culture Shock in Business for Business Etiquettes

Question: Discuss about theManagement of Culture Shock in Business for Business Etiquettes. Answer: Introduction The term culture shock generally refers to the discomfort that an individual feel when they visit a completely different as well as unfamiliar environment in terms of culture (Gunn, 2017). The term has also been adopted in the business sector to identify the issues like feeling of not knowing the ways to adjust with the new environment, feeling of anxiety and other emotional distresses that a business individual feel due to several reasons (Shi Wang, 2013). The reasons might be related to language, lack of cooperation from colleagues or some other factors. In order to discuss the culture shock in business the essay gives an overview of the term. The easy then discusses the human resource policies and other strategies which can help in addressing the issues of cultural shock. It also mentions that the strategies and policies help organizations in overcoming cultural shock along with suitable example of organization that has managed culture shock in their business. Discussion The term Culture Shock defines a feeling of anxiety, uncertainty or confusion that business individuals experience when they change their workplace and encounter an entire different environment (Van van, 2013). Culture shock can occur due to different reasons such as the unfamiliarity of the person with culture, language, business etiquettes and behavior and so on. The generally when a person shifts to a new country, he or she find difficult to adjust with the local customs, language and behavior. Work culture of the organization plays a crucial role in this regard. Work culture may vary in different countries. For example, the work culture of the persons previous organization might be different from that of the organization in which the person is presently working. Therefore, culture shock has an impact on the performance of the person. It creates difficulties for the person in building relationship with the organization. In order to address the issue, nowadays both international a s well as national organizations provide training to the business professional so that they can overcome the culture shock. There are some stages of cultural shock along with different approaches. Different researches have revealed several symptoms of cultural culture shock ranging from homesickness, feeling of frustration, suffering from isolation, lack of will to work and so on. Culture shock not only negatively impacts on the business individuals efficiency but on the other hand it also affects the growth of the organization. According to Lombard, (2014), it has been noticed that most qualified and efficient employees leave their jobs as they fail to deal with culture shock in the work place. As per the records and survey, the rate of sick calls is higher among the employees who move to a foreign country than the employees who work in their native country. Conclusion can be drawn from this that international organization should give more attention to the training program to overc ome culture shock (Roces Roses, 2013). In order to discuss how to overcome culture shock in business, an example of an Australian company, Woodside is given. The company had cultural issues and it had successfully managed it. The following are the strategies and measures that the company had taken to identify the issues of culture shock (Jack, 2014) and therefore, in order to help the employees to deal with cultural shock and overcome it, the company had adopted several training program. Along with that, some human resource policies were also taken. Some of the strategies had been mentioned below that the company adopted in order to manage culture shock. While identifying the issue related the related to culture shock the company identified cultural differences as the main factor for which business professionals were experiencing culture shock, which is the differences between the culture of his/her native place and culture of foreign country (Rajasekar Renand, 2013). Initially, those who moved to a United Kingdom for the purpose of working with the company had a perception towards the culture of the foreign country. It has been noticed that often individuals found their perception to be wrong and failed to adjust and adopt the culture. In order to address the issue, major effective measure that the company had taken is the training program regarding culture shock to help their employees to combat culture shock and adjust with the new work environment. The training process includes the process of evaluation and the suggestions. Individual differences were another major factor that deserves mention while discussing the root causes of culture shock experienced by the employees of the company. The ability to deal with the issues of work place as well as the ability to adjust with the new environment plays a major role in the matter of culture shock. It has been seen that some business individuals who were age old persons did not wish to adjust with a new work environment. Another reason behind this was their lack of will to come out from the comfort zone. Socio-economic class differences, education, age, sex and other factors were identified to be included in the individual differences. Different models and plans had been introduced by the companies as well so that they can motivate themselves to overcome the issue. Experiences of temporary stay or the experiences of the business professionals received during their visit to a foreign country also had an impact and it further increased the risk of culture shock. It has been noticed that when a business professional did not receive desired treatment from the country where they visited, had a strong influence on them in order to adjust with the culture of the country. As a result, they felt discouraged in coping with new work environment as well as the social environment and left their job. Therefore, the company had taken some measures like motivational strategies to keep their employee encouraged so that they can deal with culture shock. The article Could climate risk disclosure be the new bottom line for Australian companies? 2018 suggests that one of the largest companies of Australia, Woodside has effectively addressed the issue of culture shock and managed it. While recruiting overseas employees the human resource management of the company checked and understood the motivation of the employees to adapt the new work environment (Appannah Biggs, 2015). The human resource management of the company interacted to keep the employees engaged to their work. As per the result, it has been noticed, interaction also helped in preventing the employee withdrawal. According to Chiu et al., (2013), in case of employees from different cultural background, a healthy environment should be maintained where he or she does not feel deprived or isolated and the company applied that in their work place. In order to retain efficient employees, the organization kept their employees motivated so that they do not suffer from cultural shock. Learning program regarding culture shock was introduced in work place so that the employee themselves could evaluate them and take measures in order to avoid cultural shock. Conclusion In conclusion, it can be said to address the issue of culture shock, the essay defined the term culture shock. While defining the term, the essay also explains the idea of culture shock in relation with business. It discussed how culture shock affects the efficiency of business individuals as well as the strength and growth of organization. Meanwhile, it also discussed the root causes of culture shock. Three major factors have been discussed that increased the rate of culture shock in Woodside Company. Finally the essay concludes by mentioning the strategies and measures taken by Woodside Company that has successfully managed the culture shock in their work place. The factors were cultural differences, individual differences and experience of temporary stay. References Appannah, A., Biggs, S. (2015). Age-friendly organisations: The role of organisational culture and the participation of older workers.Journal of Social Work Practice,29(1), 37-51. Chiu, C. Y., Lonner, W. J., Matsumoto, D., Ward, C. (2013). Cross-cultural competence: Theory, research, and application. Could climate risk disclosure be the new bottom line for Australian companies?. (2018).the Guardian. 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