Handling Culture Shock Effectively
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Culture Shock Video
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• Defining the Terms: Culture Shock and Country Shock
• Stages of Culture Shock• Managing Country and Culture Shock• The Role of Culture in Conflicts and Conflict
Resolution• A Leader’s Role in Handling Culture Shock
Overview
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• How would you define culture shock?– Reaction to psychological disorientation– Fish out of water feeling
What is Culture Shock?
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• Causes of Culture Shock– Being cut off from cultural cues and patterns– Living/working over an extended period of time
in ambiguous situations– Having your values questioned– Being expected to operate at maximum skill and
speed without fully understanding “the rules”
What is Culture Shock?
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• Effects/Symptoms of Culture Shock– Intense discomfort– Resentment– Homesickness– Depression– Variety of physical
symptoms from psychosomatic illnesses
What is Culture Shock?
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• Country Shock– Physical
circumstances– The setting of the
culture– Occurs/resolves
quickly
• Culture Shock
– Interaction among people
– Behaviors that seem strange to others
– Takes longer to begin/resolve
Country Shock vs. Culture Shock
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• What can bring on country shock?– Unfamiliar weather patterns– “Strange” foods– “Bugs” (insects, spiders, etc.) that
make life uncomfortable– Infrastructure differences
Country Shock
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• What can heighten the intensity of country shock?– New faces and
communities – Getting physically sick
Country Shock
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• Honeymoon
• Irritability/Hostility
• Gradual Adjustment
• Adaptation
Stages of Culture Shock
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• Characteristics– Occurs at beginning of
deployment– Positive mindset– High expectations– Focus on similarities between
home and host culture– Typically lasts 1-6 weeks
The Honeymoon Stage
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• Actions during irritability–Withdrawal from host culture– Interacting only with other
Americans– Interacting only with other
military personnel• Actions during hostility– Verbal aggressiveness– Physical aggressiveness– Stereotyping
Irritability/Hostility Stage
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• What it takes to get there– Time– Recognizing subtle cultural
cues– Less isolation/greater
comfort–More interaction with host
culture
Gradual Adjustment Stage
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• How you know you’ve arrived– Greater enjoyment of local
customs– Comfort with host culture
communication norms– Realization that you will miss
aspects of host culture when you return home
Adaptation Stage
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• Ineffective responses– Returning to “mother culture”– Hide out (stay on base/compound)– Travel to areas of greater cultural diversity
• Effective response– Establish new routines for basic life skills
Dealing With Country Shock
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• Effective responses– Realize almost everyone experiences a certain
level of culture shock– Develop self-awareness of your behavioral
expectations– Understand the local’s expectations for your
behavior
Managing Culture Shock
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• We inflict culture shock on others by…– being ethnocentric– not becoming “other”– failing to practice empathy– reinforcing the concept
of “the ugly American”
Managing Culture Shock
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Conflict Video
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• What is conflict?– Struggle over values and claims to scarce
status, power, and resources– Perceived divergence of interests– Our working definition: When two related
parties find themselves divided by perceived incompatible interests or goals, or in competition for control of scarce resources
Conflict
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• Causes of conflict?– Value differences
– Relationship clashes
– Disagreement over data
– Diverging interests
Conflict
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• Role of culture in conflict– It’s about who we are so it’s bound to impact
conflict– It relates to what we think is important, and we
often respond strongly when that’s challenged– It can be the direct cause of conflict– It can be a contributing factor
Culture and Conflict
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• Culture affects conflict in how we…– Name (describe it)– Frame (conceptualize it)– Blame (assign fault for it)– Tame (resolve it)
Culture and Conflict
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• Think about the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict
– How does culture affect how it is described?– From what framework is it viewed?–Who is blamed?–What is the best way to resolve it?
Culture and Conflict: An Example
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• How would you define conflict resolution?– Eliminating the root cause of a conflict and
seeking the solution to the problems which led to the conflict
–Methods and processes of negotiation, arbitration, institution-building which promote the peaceful ending of social conflict and war
Culture and Conflict Resolution
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• Methods of conflict resolution–Mediation– Diplomacy– Negotiation (most commonly used)–War
Culture and Conflict Resolution
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• What is negotiation?– Striking a deal with someone– Bargaining– Discussing an issue with the hope of
settling it–When two or more parties confer with one
another to reach a mutually accepted outcome
Negotiation
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• Situations requiring negotiation skills– Personal life–Within squadron–While deployed with local population and
leaders–With joint/coalition/allied forces–With other organizations (governmental and
nongovernmental)
Negotiation
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• Impact of personality on negotiation– Some traits more conducive to
successful negotiation than others
– Some traits counterproductive to negotiation
– Some traits are better suited to other conflict resolution techniques, e.g., mediation, diplomacy, competing-forcing, etc.)
Personality & Negotiation
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• Military personality and negotiation– Typical Airman may not be
predisposed to negotiation– Hierarchical mindset (chain of command)– Leans more toward compliance than
negotiation
Negotiation in the Military
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• When can negotiation skills be helpful to you?– Contingency ops– Peacekeeping ops– Humanitarian relief responses– Personal life
Negotiation in the Military
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• Hofstede’s Cultural Dimensions– Power Distance– Uncertainty Avoidance– Individualism vs. collectivism– Long-term vs. short-term
orientation
Cultural Dimensions & Negotiation
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As an Air Force leader, what is your role in handling culture shock
effectively?
Wrapping Up Our Discussion
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• Defining the Terms: Culture Shock and Country Shock
• Stages of Culture Shock• Managing Country and Culture Shock• The Role of Culture in Conflicts and Conflict
Resolution• A Leader’s Role in Handling Culture Shock
Summary