Culture Shock Experienced by Managers who Work Abroad

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In its evolution the multinational corporation faced serious contradictions. Evolving from its national context, the multinational corporation employs large numbers of employees of diverse nationalities and ethnicities. Westney (1993) notes that managers are, thus, caught between the institutional pressures to conform to the company norms and values, as well as to the cultural and social influences of its local national environment.
Foreign assignments require adjustment to new culture, new job, new language. The need to interact with host nationals at work and in general life makes the expatriate feel the culture shock. Culture shock can be best defined as a natural response to stress on immersing oneself in a new environment. The new environment makes new demands for which the people are not ready for. They neither have ready answers nor do they know what the appropriate response should be. This massive change creates stress. Stress related culture shock may take many forms: anger, anxiety, disappointment, embarrassment, frustration, impatience, confusion etc... Often times the adaptation process will not be smooth. Culture shock & work related stress often cause then blaming the host culture, nationals etc...
From a managerial perspective, the ethical problems manifested in the arena of international business represent real ethical dilemmas for the contemporary managers as they generate, at least on a short term, a conflict between the organizational economic performance (evaluated by measuring the turnover, the costs and the profits) and its social performance (evaluated by measuring the ethical responsibilities to the people outside or inside the organization) (Hosmer, 1987, p.3).
Major sources of ethical dil...

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...mpetitiveness.
Therefore managers working abroad face a range of experiences related to culture and organizational goals. Hence they need to be well equipped mentally and emotionally for the novel experiences along with the preparation in the technological arena which is the back bone of international trade.

Works Cited

Westney D E (1993). Organization Theory and the Multinational Corporation. St. Martin's Press, New York.
Global careers and cultural shock. Retrieved February 3, 2014 from http://www.geocities.ws/akottolli/global_careers_and_culture_shock.html
Hollenbeck, G. P., & McCall, M. W. (2003). Competence, not competencies: Making global executive development work. In W. Mobley & P. Dorfman (Eds.), Advances in Global Leadership (Vol. 3). Oxford: JAI Press.
Hosmer L. T. (1987). The ethics of management, Homewood, Illinois, United States of America.

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