Culture Shock Case Study

CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION
Introduction to the Study Culture shock has been defined as the stress induced by all the behavioural expectation differences and the accompanying uncertainty with which the individual must cope (Black and Gregerson, 1991, p. 462). Solomon (1994), in addition, described culture shock as an emotional and psychological reaction to the confusion, ambiguity, value conflicts, and hidden clashes that occur because of fundamentally different ways of perceiving the world and interacting socially among cultures. Also culture shock can involve such a situation where the various frustrations felt by the expatriate builds up, leading to the explosion of emotions such as anger, depression and homesickness (Black et al., 1999; Harrison

This project seeks to study how expatriates who are already on ground in Africa doing business overcame culture shocks and how future expatriate workers coming to do business in Africa can more easily overcome these cultural differences. The project intends to use Accra Ghana as a case study. Because of globalizations workers are rapidly moving from one continent to another. A lot of business opportunities in these countries motivate companies to expand into these regions particularly Africa. According to Deloitte (2013) Africa’s development shows characteristics that represent ample opportunity for the future and six major trends have been reshaping African economies and turning them into promising investment opportunities for the world’s largest consumer business companies. These major trends as identified by Deloitte (2013) are as

Increased urbanization levels: Currently, around 40% of Africans live in cities; by 2050, 63% of Africa’s population is expected to be urban and countries like Nigeria, Ghana or Angola will see urbanization levels of around 80%
3. Increased spending power: Africa’s steadily growing per capita income drives the emergence of consumer markets with a surprising level of sophistication and growing spending power. EIU forecasts that by 2030, the continent’s top 18 cities could have a combined spending power of US$1.3 trillion.
Solomon (1999) reported that recent data from a survey of United States-based companies estimated that there are about 350,000 overseas assignments, and these numbers are expected to grow in the next few years. According to Shi and Wang (2013) in the current age of economic globalization, more and more business expatriates have been sent for cross-national investment and overseas operation. However, the expatriates’ adaption is not always successful in a culturally different environment, since they are supposed to adjust to both of the local working environment and the life environment, which are unusually very different and challenging. Chen et al., (2011) stated that people are increasingly working in a diverse cultural environment where both organizations and individuals are facing the challenges of cultural diversity in a global world. Burke (2010) reported that there is an increasing need for more cross-cultural management research as business is