Introduction
The psychological process of adapting to a new culture can be referred to as cultural adaptation. Culture adaptation may include learning the language of a new culture, dress code and how to access goods and services in that particular culture. For a business to function effectively, organizations and individuals must adapt successfully and smoothly across cultural boundaries. Recently, whether on short-term or expatriate employment, people are progressively finding themselves in extraneous cultural situations. Therefore, the norms for acceptable and appropriate behavior in those new workplaces are different from those of their inherent culture. In most cases, the new norms violate an individual’s culturally ingrained beliefs and values; hence, there are several ways companies can ensure their employees adapt to the new culture.
Ways to Ensure Efficient Cultural Adaptation within Companies
To ensure swift culture adaptability within a short timeframe, companies can foster an environment of cultural diversity and inclusion. This is through encouraging and inspiring individuals to learn about other cultures through trying new foods, learning new languages, and socializing with individuals from different backgrounds (Levine, 2018). Companies can also distribute and publish information on how businesses run in diverse countries. This is of significance since when an individual travels between countries to work, they will already know how to behave in advance (Felipe et al., 2017). The company can also teach the new employers about the gestures and facial expressions used in that area since they mean different things in different cultures.
Conclusion
The cultural adaptation process is typical to every newly employed individual since they adapt to the new working environment and their colleagues. Cultural practices such as the mode of dressing, language, and types of foods consumed differ in different regions; hence they are part of the cultural adaptation process. Therefore, for a business to ensure effective cultural adaptation of its new employees, it should establish ways of ensuring effective culture adaptation. For example, encouraging the employees to learn about the new cultures through interaction with other colleagues.
References
Felipe, C. M., Roldán, J. L., & Leal-Rodríguez, A. L. (2017). Impact of organizational culture values on organizational agility. Sustainability, 9(12), 2354. Web.
Levine, R. A. (2018). Culture, behavior and personality: An introduction to the comparative study of psychosocial adaptation. (2nd ed.). Routledge.