Cross- cultural Communication This page intentionally left blank

Culture-distance concept
The amount of distance or difference between one’s own culture and the 
host culture is directly proportional to the amount of stress or difficulty 
experienced. One of the major problems with culture shock is coping with 
ambiguity in trying to make sense of why things are done differently. 
Despite our good intentions of listening, standing back to observe and 
avoiding quick decisions, we very often (and particularly in times of stress) 
fall into the trap of becoming judgmental. It then takes cross- cultural matu-
rity to develop the culturally appropriate responses to the situations that 
confront us.
The stress of change
Many people experience stress and culture shock, even when moving within 
their own culture and country, particularly when there are geographical, 
climatic and social differences between regions. When people move to a 
different culture, these differences are emphasized and are therefore likely 
to cause greater stress.
As we have seen, the pressures are very often more intense for the frequent 
business traveller, whose lifestyle is likely to be characterized by a lack of 
adequate preparation and time for briefing, a disruptive family lifestyle, the 
frequent need to culturally ‘change gear’ and the need to ‘hit the ground run-
ning’. Stressors in the expatriate environment are defined as: ‘Uncertainties 
and demands in a foreign environment that are mismatched with an expa-
triate’s personal resources’ ( Bhaskar- Shrinivas et al., 2005: 257).
Cultural differences
Uncertainty over social role
Time differences
Feeling of isolation
Value conflicts
Role change – particularly for non-working partner
Security concerns
Inadequate public utilities
Ignorance of language
Non- availability of familiar food
Climatic differences
Poor after- sales service
Dealing with servants
Excessive bureaucracy
Finding accommodation
Children’s education
Dealing with corruption
Long distance from support network
Figure 6.3 Likely ‘stressors’

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Selection and Preparation for Foreign Assignments 113
Many of the above are experienced in any international move and can 
cause the feeling of culture shock to be heightened, as culture shock arises 
when we find our values are brought into question and we are expected to 
function in the new culture where the rules of behaviour are unclear to us.
People find the ambiguity they experience when they go to live and work 
in another culture very difficult to cope with. They want all the answers 
quickly and often cannot seem to obtain them. This can cause a great deal 
of frustration and the typical response is: ‘Why don’t these people act in the 
same way as we do?’ This feeling of frustration and confusion is very often 
because of uncertainty about the local conventions and how to act both 
socially and in business in certain situations.