Cross - Cultural Challenges and Adjustments

Nowadays, being successful in the national market for a company is not enough. Due to globalization, there have been many international investments, mergers and acquisitions. Because of these activities, companies are required to think about new measures to remain competitive in the global market. The necessity of transferring knowledge and developing international management has increased. Cultural factors since long have played a paramount role in influencing the success potential of any company. The person entering another culture will be challenged on many levels and have culture shock as a sense of powerlessness, lack of control, an inability to predict outcomes, estrangement, isolation, a loss of meaning and more. When employee enters in a different culture, he has to study, understand, adopt, mix or transit in that culture, otherwise he will be isolated by the foreign culture In this meaning, expatriation and expatriates have become an essential part of international management and companies’ success in the global market. Degree of cross-cultural adjustment should be treated as a multidimensional concept i.e. adjustment to work, adjustment to interacting with host nationals and adjustment to the general non-work environment. The role of an expatriate is regarded very significant since the main task is to act upon maintaining the organizational structure and philosophy of Multinational Corporations (MNCs) while following the rules and regulations of work within living in a new cultural environment, expatriates are bound to face challenges and make adjustments in their lifestyles in order to make their assignment more effective. Understanding cultural differences is one of the most significant skills for firms to develop in order to have a competitive advantage in international business. The objectives of the study are to examine challenges faced by the expatriates and adjustments made to the challenges. The study highlights various challenges like the psychological, socio-cultural and work challenges.