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venky1979
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Culture Shock Essay 15 Apr 2007, 08:24
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Can I use the following essay theme as an example for have you ever experienced culture shock? What Does it mean?

1) Travel abroad to client s-ite
2) Face a totally different attitude towards work and work environment by the client
3) Its Effects on me and what I do to change it
4) conclusion

Any pointers??
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EconGirl
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Culture Shock Essay 15 Apr 2007, 11:26
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I don't see why not... Hard to give pointers having so little info. to work with. good luck!
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dukes
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Culture Shock Essay 15 Apr 2007, 11:36
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venky1979
Can I use the following essay theme as an example for have you ever experienced culture shock? What Does it mean?

1) Travel abroad to client s-ite
2) Face a totally different attitude towards work and work environment by the client
3) Its Effects on me and what I do to change it
4) conclusion

Any pointers??
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My guess is that this is one of the Insead essays. I think the main point is to demonstrate your ability to go into a new cultural situation, adapt, integrate, and become comfortable with it. While you might be able to make it work, writing about how you tried to change things might send the wrong message.
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ps_dahiya
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Culture Shock Essay 15 Apr 2007, 21:06
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Though I am NOT admitted to INSEAD but I believe my essays were good enough to get me an interview. So I will give u some ponters.

This essay is about a culture shock (personal or work) that was totally new to you and how you managed to get out of it, adjusted and excelled. It should NOT be one of your work accomplishment. For example you were sent to Jammu and Kashmir to implement a project and how frightful you were when you walked home daily. But with your courage you managed to adapt in the environment after talking to locals and found out "safe routes" etc etc.... I mean an interesting story....
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venky1979
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Culture Shock Essay 16 Apr 2007, 01:35
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Thanks dukes, dahiya and econgirl
Let me clarify the theme a bit more

Well the exact situation I had in mind was
At the client site most developers had ten plus years of focused experience in one technology (c++ programming language) and domain (Energy sector) and I had just five years in a variety of technologies and business domains. Also the manager at the client site was a senior developer who was involved in the project since its inception.
To the client’s developers I was like a manager managing my team which was based in India. It was difficult for them to accept me in that role because of my lack of depth in both technology and business domain. I knew that if I had to continue my work smoothly and earn a name for my company I had to make myself acceptable to the team.

So My solution
1) Observed the work culture of client (noticed that most people place personal issues above meeting deadlines, do not work late nights and weekends. Also noticed they were very weak in knowledge management and testing quality processes)

2) In our work culture we even work at times 24*7. I leveraged on extra time available to studiy thier technoloogy and domain, and helped them establish metrics for testing and quality and earned an acceptance with the team as a capable team member. Also leveraged on the time zone differences to meet deadlines. Gradually inspite of my lack of expertise I gained an acceptance


What I wanted to know is does this qualify as a case of culture shock?
Will this create a negative impression of me as a workaholic :) (which i am at time though)

Also If this is not good enough Is it possible to use a casual event like I went touring In tokyo. I was shocked to see people drink beer in a Buddha temple. Drinking in a temple?? This was so against my culture (buddha being an Indian god as well) It took a while to get adjusted to the mannerisms out there and eventually got over it.
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ps_dahiya
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Culture Shock Essay 16 Apr 2007, 06:15
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I would suggest NOT to talk about work. Culture shock is when you suddenly in an uncharted territory but with your strengths you came out of that. The tokyo example looks a little bit more personal to me so I won't advise you that either. Dig deeper and you will find certainly find something...

just my 2 cents