International Organisational Behaviour - What is meant by culture Essay

International Organisational Behaviour - What is meant by culture shock - Essay Example The role of culture is significant as culture is the core values of the individual (McLaren, 1998). Moreover, culture has a significant role in the overall personality and how one acts, behaves, how he is motivated, how he feels about different situations, how capable he is to manage difficult situations, how he or she speaks, how one acts and reacts etc. All these characteristics are highly critical for every individual and these characteristics for the individual in either making him a successful individual or making the individual an unsuccessful person. So it reveals that culture has a significant role in the life of the individual. Moreover, culture varies from one society to another as people live their lives and therefore it is important to understand and analyze the differences among different culture and how different people behave (Bochner, 2001). So this report would discuss such important aspects of humans. The aim of this assignment would be to provide a clear definition of the term cultural shock along with the elements and symptoms of cultural shock. Furthermore, this assignment would highlight the understanding of international organizational behavior with examples from daily life. In addition to all these, some of the ways to bridge the cultural confusion or differences are also mention in the assignment. Cultural Shock Cultural shock or culture shock is a common term that indicates the confusing and nervous feelings of an individual after leaving an environment that he/she was familiar with. The best example that could be observed regarding the cultural shock is the migration of people from one country to another. This migration often leads to psychological distress due to the unfamiliar environment and culture (Bochner, 2001). Culture shock aims to describe the unfamiliarity that an individual may have or face when entering different culture (Paige 1993). In addition, Kalervo Obe rg (1960) indicated that this term was to be applicable only on those people that travel from one place to another into new cultures. According to Adler (1975), cultural shock is a combination of emotional reactions when an individual is provided with a new culture which has no or little meaning and can lead to misunderstanding of new culture and experiences. The definition provided by Weaver (1968) indicates the concept of cultural shock in daily life. According to Weaver (1968), cultural shock is much like common cold as there is no particular way or approach to prevent it as a person may catch it over and over again. Each time a person tries to adjust or readjust his culture according to the place and environment, he/she go through cultural shock. Cultural shock is referred as a distress experience of a person as a result of unfamiliarity with the culture. Losing of all those factors that made the person a part of the society and community is one of the major reasons of cultural shock (Oberg, 1960). Furthermore, six aspects of cultural shock were identified by Oberg (1960) that includes i. Psychological adjustments that leads to strain ii. Sense of loss and unfamiliarity which leads to deprivation iii. Lack of social recognition iv. Confusion in terms of role and loss of self-identity v. Awareness regarding cultural differences followed by surprise and anxiety vi. Low morale as the person might not be able to cope with the new