Your question raises a complex topic. To blend in, my device is to make as to go out of your way to spend time with your co-workers. . Do a bit of chitchat each day, talking about work and non-work, and Eat together. Especially do something together out of the office.
By "blending in," I expect you mean blending into, to a great extent, white American culture. Your inquiry suggests you are a new worker in the US. There are the issues with also a native-born "blending in," and even harder for a non-native to do so. The level of hidden social and racial bias reaches from harmless and unobtrusive to plain and in front of you. The more s severely question is whether we, as Asian-American, should to blend in or r ask to be accepted for what we are.
In general, the closer you can think, talk, and act like the "ordinary American," the better you'll blend in. This is a huge challenge if you're not raised in America. Regardless of whether you will be, you actually may not appear as though you have a place. That is the reason each Asian American knows all about the inquiry, "where are you from?"
To blend in socially, you'll need to be proficient and conversant with social norms, in-trends, the American version of history, slang … etc. And behave with the accepted sort of social attitudes.
You would imagine that in the workplace, the task is simpler. It very well may be more straightforward here and there and harder in others. In addition to social norms, in the business climate, you also need to blend in with the organization culture (which will be different at each organization).
To start with, you can never separate out social interaction at work totally. Eating together and having the option to relax can be an important part of team building. In certain associations, I suspect social connections might be essential to progress into the more elite classes. For example, if you don't play golf with your chief, he may not get to know you and feel you have a place in the "club."
Furthermore, corporate culture is overlaid on top of social culture. Each organization has core philosophies that influence how and who makes decisions, how work is organized (i.e., who is responsible for what), how much accountability and what is right and what is wrong, accepted behavior, etc. To "blend in" here, you will require a thorough understanding and acceptance of the company philosophy. For example, an Australian working for a multinational company was identified as a potential future global leader. For his first international assignment, he was made a director in one of the organization's Japanese Partners. There he worked for a Japanese boss. In Australia, he has learned that his success comes from the being forward and challenging everyone openly. This conduct made a lot of pressure in the team since this was not the Japanese method to get things done. He failed to blend in. His manager pulled him to the side (and in the typical Japanese indirect manner))and told him that "nails that stick up are pounded down." He got the message to tone it down and express his opinions differently.
To blend in or not? That is the issue. It's your own choice of how far to go. Too much, and you might be called a "banana" or "Twinkie." Too little, and you are labeled a foreigner.
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