中美商务文化差异.docx

1、中美商务文化差异Contrastive Analysis on Intercultural Business Communication between China and America【Abstract】There is a great discrepancy between Chinese culture and American culture、More and more people have come to realize the cultural impact and possible negative consequences that come from inappropri

2、ate communication during international business transactions、 This study aims to examine the main difference in business communication between China and America and make contrastive analysis on them,and attempts to study the impact of the difference on intercultural communication and put forward som

3、e advice to achieve a successful intercultural communication、This paper finds that there is much difference between Chinese and American when people have a business communication, that is China cultural is collectivism large distance ,strong uncertainty avoidance,high context, polychromic time cultu

4、re、 While American cultural is individualism,small power distance,weak uncertainty avoidance,low context,monochromic time culture、The findings of this study will help practitioners become more cognizant of cultural difference in business communication, and thus be able to prepare more effective stra

5、tegies to manage a perfect intercultural business communication、【摘要】中国与美国的文化之间存在着巨大的差异,在国际商务交往的过程中,越来越多的人认识到由于文化差异的影响而导致的消极结果。本文旨在找出商务交往过程中中国与美国之间文化的差异,并进行了对比分析。本文发现,中美商务交往的过程中确实存在着巨大的文化差异,中国文化强调集体,具有等级性,规避不确定性,间接性以及时间多元性。而美国文化则强调个体,等级性比较低,直接性以及时间单元性。本文的研究结果对跨商交流务参与者认识文化差异从而顺利进行商务交流具有一定的帮助作用。【Keywor

6、ds】culture ,intercultural communication, cultural impact【关键词】文化,跨文化交流,文化影响 IntroductionWe might think that Chinese and Americans are totally different people、 Not only the way they look different, but also the different cultures、 So, what are the differences between Chinese and American culture? Mor

7、e and more people have come to realize the cultural impact and possible negative consequences that come from inappropriate communication during international business transactions、 It is appropriate to give some consideration to the subject of intercultural communication and training、 The ability to

8、 communicate at various levels by writing, speaking,debating, negotiating or simply talking became one of the most important skills necessary to be an effective manager or a businessman、 Nonverbal communication the so-called silent language is a source of many misunderstandings、 In the world where d

9、istances are diminishing and technological progress makes rapid, almost instant communication possible, there is more potential danger of a conflict, misunderstanding,or simply of a business loss, resulting from our deficiencies or inabilities to communicate successfully、 Apart from basic communicat

10、ion skills,intercultural awareness is extremely important in a world where international contacts increase and become crucial to opening new markets and new avenues for international business operations、 Literature ReviewAs Barnard (1938) states, “communication” is one of the three essential element

11、s to an organization, as well as “common purpose” and “willingness to serve”、Zuoxiaoping (2005)pointed that the influential power of communication could be a determinant of a corporate culture when communication is taken from various facets: not only as exchange of information, but also as collectio

12、n, storage, reproduction and transfer of information Previous research has shown that culture influences peoples preferences of conflict management styles、Based on the results of a comparative study of 318 Taiwanese and 245 American business employees, Knutsonetal(2000) concluded that compared to Ta

13、iwanese Chinese,American participants perceived the existence of conflict more frequently and preferred a direct, solution-driven conflict management style、Kameda, N、 (2001) states that any business, trade or educational mission conducted in a foreign country requires some kind of understanding that

14、 we enter an entirely foreign world of thinking, responding, perceiving reality、Renyi(2010) says that the so-called silent language of non-verbal behavior is limited to an entirely different cultural code than the one we are familiar with、 Renlingling also finds that the type of responses we receive

15、 may be misinterpreted by us or we can misunderstand completely what was being said or not said、Lijunru(2007) did a survey about the difference of praising and responding words between Chinese and American,and found that it is obvious choose when Chinese and American responding praise and compliment

16、、Liuxianfang(2007) points out that American culture emphasizes the individualism and self-realization, totally focus on business operations target, strength and competitiveness、American never fix business with pleasure、 However,Chinese culture is indirectly,Chinese would like to talk business while

17、eating、 DiscussionAccording to the Concise Oxford Dictionary, culture is the arts and other manifestations of human intellectual achievement regarded collectively、 From anthropologic perspective,culture is the customs, civilizations, and achievements of a particular time or people、From Social Perspe

18、ctive,Culture is what a society does and thinks、 Culture covers everything of a society、Communication is derived from the Latin word communicare, meaning to share with or to make common, as in giving to another a part or share of your thoughts, hopes, and knowledge、It is the perception of verbal and

19、 nonverbal behaviors and the assignment of meaning to them、In western cultures, communication is studied as the means of transmitting ideas、 Western cultures emphasize the instrumental function of communication; that is, effectiveness is evaluated in terms of success in the manipulation of others to

20、 achieve ones personal goal、 Definitions of communication from many Asian countries stress harmony, which is most notable in cultures with a Confucian tradition、 Intercultural communication refers to communication between people whose cultural perceptions and symbol systems are distinct enough to al

21、ter the communication event、There is much difference in the intercultural business communication between China and America、Some contrastive analysis has been done as follows,which contains several obvious aspects、 Past Orientation vs、 Future OrientationAs we all know,China has a long history of five

22、 thousand years with a resplendent civilization and tradition、 Chinese are proud of their five-thousand-year civilization and their intelligent and diligent ancestors who created such a splendid culture、 So Chinese movies almost tells some unknown history stories of the famous ancients or the anecdo

23、tes of the Royal,such as “Zhenhuanzhuang”, “jingzhongbaoguo” and so on、So we can say that China cultural is past orientation cultural、 In Chinese eyes,there is a strong belief that the past should be the guide of making decisions and discovering truths、 The Chinese proverb “consider the past and you

24、 will know the present” clearly states how important history is to the study of their culture、 As Sangren(1987) concluded: “for China ,history itself is the text through which heavens order can be known”、 It is no wonder that history is important to both the Chinese people and anyone seeking to unde

25、rstand the Chinese、But American cultural is a typical future orientation、American believe future would be better than present and past, “new”, “innovative” are the most poplar words standing for revolution and hope、 The themes of most American movies are about exploration into Space,time travel for

26、future and so on、 American are curious and they prefer to imagine what will happen and what they can or should do in the future or under some particular circumstance,such as “2012”, “Avartar”, “Star Trek” and so on、Products in China would be regard as being of high quality if the seller or the brand

27、 has long experience of selling it,so Chinese advertisement would like to use “old age ”, “hundreds years stores” etc to make their products popular among consumers、 In America,some new things may be sell like hot cakes because of their unique feature ,so sellers would like to advertise the new with

28、 “never get ” or “get it before others” etc、 Individualism Versus CollectivismIndividualism means that the society is individual oriented,which is a loosely knit social framework; individuals are supposed to take care of themselves (I Culture ),such as America, North European countries and so on、How

29、ever,collectivism is group oriented society which is a tightly knit social framework; individuals can expect their relatives, or other in group to look after them(We Culture or I-less Culture),such as Asian countriesIn America culture, the interest of the individual prevails over the interests of th

30、e group、But in China we find societies in which people from birth on-wards are integrated into strong, cohesive in-groups、Such a difference usually reflects in the America and the China advertisements、 For example, as Chinese have the tendency of following suit, the Chinese advertisements take advan

31、tage of such kind of psychology、 Advertisements tend to focus on group behavior because Chinese consumers always believe the more people buy a product, the better quality it will have、 To be exact, they try to persuade consumers into purchasing the advertised with the masses、 We can find many exampl

32、es in our daily life, which stress group behaviors such as “when everybody adds fuel ,the flame rise high”, “the more people the more strength”, “even the dog swaggers when its master win favor”、These show the collective culture of Chinese people in their work、 They are greatly ready to cooperate wi

33、th group members、 They tend to have a homogeneous work with little differentiation between managers and workers、 The high value placed on the collective fosters mutual dependence in a group environment:they interact and conduct work activities as group efforts,everyone has duty to contribute his most to the collective、Howev