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What can I do about Culture Shock?

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Fouad Ghoneem Electrical & Automation Manager| SPCC KSA Cairo, Cairo, Egypt
The first thing to realize about culture shock is that it’s perfectly natural to experience it. Despite how often culture shock occurs, though, a lot of people are resistant to talk about it, and that’s one of the biggest mistakes you can make. If you feel yourself going through culture shock, take some time to reach out to others, especially other travelers, for help in adjusting to your new culture.
One of the other things you can do is force yourself to engage more in the culture that you’re immersed in. This can be difficult to do, because part of culture shock is feeling unhappy with the culture. But, as Robert Frost once said, “The best way out is always through.” Going out and interacting with the culture that surrounds you is going to help you overcome some of the difficulties you’ll be encountering.
Another thing that many people don’t think about is making sure to stay healthy while in their new home. One of the things that people with culture shock are tempted to do is stay home and eat junk food. It’s understandable, but it’s also unfortunate, because eating well and staying physically active can play an important role in not only staying physically healthy, but mentally healthy as well.
Staying in touch with your family and friends back home can be an important tool to help you avoid culture shock. Luckily, today it’s easier to do this than ever before – in addition to making long-distance phone calls and writing letters or postcards, you also have the option of using tools like webcams, email, and social networks to take part in more immersive conversations with people. Family and friends are often the foundation that we build our sense of self upon, so keeping the foundation strong can be essential in working through your feelings of culture shock.
Lastly, make sure to keep a realistic perspective. The honeymoon stage of culture shock involves you getting an unrealistically positive idea of the culture you’re immersed in, but the next stage involves an unrealistically negative idea of it, coupled with an unrealistically positive idea of your culture at home. Like they say, “the grass is often greener on the other side” – it’s important to keep a level head about your experience and remember that neither side is full of green grass and roses.
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Jen Jee Chan Managing Director| DotProjects Pte Ltd Singapore, Singapore
Empathising is key.. it is not easy but I would try to put myself in the shoes of the others.. recognising that the norms we know are not necessary the norms they know.

Start from there, before I judge or dismiss any action, behaviour, I would try to picture myself in his or her position, and rationalise the actions. It may not necessarily make it correct from my perspective but it sure helps in accepting and learning to work and move on..
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Luis Branco CEO| Business Insight, Consultores de Gestão, Ldª Carcavelos, Lisboa, Portugal
Dear Fouad
Interesting this question that posed
Thanks for sharing

I am convinced that if we use the 3 Principles that support the public victory habits and habits proposed by Stephen Covey in the 7 Habits of Highly Effective People there will be no culture shock.
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Daire Guiney Dublin, Dublin, Ireland
Dear Fouad,

One approach that many people do to avoid the shock of living and working in a new a different work culture is to throw themselves into their work by spending as much time at their workplace as possible and not immersing themselves in their adopted culture. The reason for this is that no matter where you go in the world today, workplaces general all look the same, with very similar layout, routines, HR policies and professional conduct. This is more obvious in organizations that are multinational and international in their presence. In some cases all you do is login to any devices and its the same as working from your own home country offices. Nowadays a lot of peoples social interaction is with their work colleagues and not from friends that they went to school or university with and have grown up with. Culture shock is a real and relevant occurrence that happens to people experiencing a new culture that is completely different to their own. it is not the same as being home sick or having a disruptive routine. Normally new people who move to a new country offices are assigned a liaison who can help them overcome language, cultural, food and local customs to somewhat overcome the initial stages of their interaction in a new culture. Also it is important to avoid breaking laws and local customs in countries very different to your own home country. The important note to takeaway is to know what you are getting into before you leave home and do not see it as a way to short circuit your own career progression plans.

Daire
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tom lite Sweden
I keep an open mind about people, processes and technology. I give them all the benefit of the doubt. That way I avoid culture shock.
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Denathayalan Ramasamy Chief Technology Officer| Atal Incubation Centre -CIIC Chennai, Tamilnadu, India
Oct 18, 2017 5:08 AM
Replying to Joseph Pangan
...
Acknowledge the shock.
Practice mindfulness.
Educate yourself about the culture.
Interact.
Evaluate/Analyze the feasibility of your adaption/embracing of the culture.
Feasible?
YES - embrace the culture. Enjoy the experience.
NO - Leave. You can't force yourself if it is not for you.

There are cultures though that are ethically wrong and may potentially be issues that project managers could face. Like cultures condoning discrimination and culture where bribery is rampant.
Agree with you on sequential steps; you made the conversation simple one
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Denathayalan Ramasamy Chief Technology Officer| Atal Incubation Centre -CIIC Chennai, Tamilnadu, India
Empathy is a key point;

Scrum master & Project managers should handle it based on stakeholder analysis outcome & update the team charter regularly
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Justin Fu Senior Systems Engineer| Parsons Bristow, Va, United States
thanks all for info
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