跨文化商务交际 IBC Chapter 1-6

Chapter 1
Ⅰ Basics of Human Communication
1. Could you list some needs and purposes for Communication?
➢Survival
➢Co-operation
➢Personal needs
➢Relationship
➢Persuasion
➢Power
➢Social needs
➢Information
➢Making sense of the world
➢Self-expression
2. How do you define COMMUNICATION?
"Communication occurs whenever meaning is attributed to behavior or the residue of behavior."——Samovar and Porter
Attribution: means that we draw upon our past experiences and give meaning to the behavior that we observe.
Residue: refers to those things that remain as a record of our actions.
3.What are the two major models of communication to illustrate the process?
3.1 The Linear Model by Aristotle : more applicable to public speaking
3.2 The Contextualized Model : with the dimension of a situation
Ⅱ. Business Communication
1. Would you illustrate the structures of business communication?
2. Three types of internal communication
Downward communication, horizontal communication, upward communication
Ⅲ. Intercultural Communication
1.What is intercultural business communication?
It is the communication among individuals or groups from different cultural
backgrounds in a business environment.
2. What are the fields related to the multi-disciplinary approach
to the study of IC?
Anthropology; sociology; psychology; education; linguistics
IV. Learning Intercultural Business Communication
1. What are the potential problems that might arise in IBC?
a. Avoidance of the unfamiliar (Birds of a feather flock together.)
b. Uncertainty of reduction (Reduce the uncertainty in every meeting with
strangers from different cultures.)
c. Withdrawal (Withdrawal from the communication event)
d. Stereotyping (Mentally organize your experiences and guides your behavior
toward a particular group og people.)
e. Prejudice (Rigid and irrational generalization about a group)
f. Racism (Superior because of color of skin.)
g. Misuse of power (Handle the power incorrectly to control people or things))
h. Cultural shock (Anxiety from losing all familiar signs.)
i. Ethnocentrism (Your own culture is correct.)
2. What is appropriateness and what is effectiveness?
a. Appropriateness means that the valued rules, norms, and expectancy of the relationship are not violated significantly.
b. Effectiveness is the accomplishment of valued goals or rewards to costs and alternatives.
3. What are the 3 requirements to make communication both appropriate and effective?
a. Knowledge
b. Motivation
c. Skilled actions
Chapter 2 Understanding Cultures and Their Values
Ⅰ. The Nature of Culture
Definitions of Cultures P43
Dictionary: "the arts and other manifestations of human intellectual achievement regarded collectively".
Ⅱ.The basics of cultural values
Definition of Value
"Values are matters of preference".
Three types of values P48
Universal values
Cultural-specific values
Peculiar expression or deviations of individuals within cultures
III. Understanding Cultural Patterns
1.Five basic values that appear on Kluckholn and Strodtbeck's chart for each
orientation: P52-55
1）Human nature ：good, evil, a mixture of good and evil
2）Relationship to nature ：subjugation to nature, harmony with nature, mastery over
nature
3）Sense of time：past, present, future
4）Activity ：being-oriented, being-and-becoming, doing-oriented
5）Social relationship ：hierarchy, group, individual
2. The GLOBE Study:P60-61
9 dimensions of cultural variation：
1）Institutional collectivism
2）In-group collectivism
3）Power distance
4）Uncertainty avoidance
5）Gender egalitarianism
6）Assertiveness
7）Humane orientation
8）Future orientation
9）Performance orientation
Power distance: Refers to attitudes toward differences in authority.
High power distance cultures: power is distributed unequally; some members have greater resources and influence; status and rank are clear-cut; employees have a great deal of respect for those in high positions. Decisions and activities focus around personal face-to-face relationships, often around a central person who has authority.
Low power distance cultures: Power is not emphasized; employees are
more comfortable approaching and even challenging their superiors.
Task-centered. Decisions and activities focus around what needs to be done. Division of responsibilities.
3. Hall's High-and Low-context Orientation p61-63
Hall distinguishes among cultures on the basis of the role of context in communication.
Definition:P61
(1)High-context culture: most of the information is in the physical context or is internalized in the people who are a part of the interaction.
(2)Low-context: most of the information is contained in the verbal message, and very little is embedded in the context or within the participants.
Contrasing High-context and Low-context cultures:P62
From high-context to low-context:
Chinese,Korean,Japanese,Arab,Greek,Spanish,Italian,English,North American, Swiss, German
Establish social trust first
High-context Value personal relations and goodwill
Agreement by relations and goodwill
Negotiation slow
Get down to business first
Low-context Value experience and performance
Agreement by specific, legalistic contrast
Negotiation as efficient as possible
Four major differences in how high-context and low-context cultures affect the settings:P63
(1) Verbal messages are extremely important in low-context cultures.
(2) Low-context people who rely primarily on verbal messages for information are perceived as less attarctive and less credible by people in high-context cultures.
(3) People in high-context cultures are more adapt at reading nonverbal behavior and the environment.
(4) People in high-context cultures have an expectation that others are also able to understand the unarticulated communication; hence, they do not speak as much. Comparison between Low Context and High Context P63
Questions:
Compare high-power distance with low-power distance cultures and give a list of some major differences between Chinese and Western cultures.
Chapter 3 Comprehending Verbal Communication
I. The Basics of Language
Definition of Language
"A language is a symbolic code of communication consisting of a set of sounds (phonetics) with understood meanings and a set of rules (grammar) for constructing messages."
The way language works:
Linguistics — is just one of the many ways to think about language. It divides up the study of language into 4 parts: Semantics——is the study of meaning
Syntactics——is the study of structure or grammar of a language
Pragmatics——is the study of how meaning is constructed in relation to receivers, how language is actually used in a context in language communities
Phonetics——is the study of the sound system of language
The Relationship Between Language and culture
1)The influence of culture on language
1. Language as a reflection of the environment
In Chinese, only one word for 骆驼.
In Arabic, over 400 words for a variety of 骆驼.
Eskimos use different words for "snow".
The Chinese and Japanese have a variety of words for "rice" and "tea".
Connotational meanings varies due to different geographical environment:
English word "zephyr" connotates the same meaning as "东风" in Chinese.
2. Language as a reflection of value
In Chinese, there is an elaborate system of kinship terms.
In Japan (high power distance culture), titles are always used.
Navajos do not have a word for "late" because they don't have a sense of time.
II. Meanings of Words
Denotational meanings —Dictionary definition
Connotational meanings —Extended meanings or associated meanings
III. Speech Acts and Politeness Across Cultures
1. Pragmatic Rules and Politeness
Pragmatic transfer —Use of rules of speaking across speech community.
Pragmatic failure usually results in more serious problems than grammatical errors. (Thomas, P. 90)
Face and politeness
"Face" is "the kernel element in folk notion of politeness" (Brown &Levinson).
Definition of "face" ——an individual's self-esteem
Positive face: the desire to be approved of
Negative face: the desire to be unimpeded in one's actions
Nearly all speech acts are face-threatening acts; they infringe on the hearer's face wants.
2. Positive face and negative face
Brown characterized positive face by desires to be liked, admired, ratified, and related to positively, noting that one would threaten positive face by ignoring someone. At the same time, she characterized negative face by the desire not to be imposed upon, noting that negative face could be impinged upon by imposing on someone.
Positive Face refers to one's self-esteem, while negative face refers to one's freedom to act.
The two aspects of face are the basic wants in any social interaction, and so during any social interaction, cooperation is needed among the participants to maintain each other's faces.
3. Cooperative Principle with four maxims (by Grice)
Quantity maxim: give the right amount of information（足量）.
Quality maxim: make your contribution one that is true （真实）.
Relation maxim: be relevant（相关）.
Manner maxim: be perspicuous （明晰）.
4. Politeness principle with six maxims (by G. Leech)
Tact maxim
Generosity maxim
Approbation maxim
Modesty maxim
Agreement maxim
Sympathy maxim
Leech's politeness principles apply to most societies, but some of them are not suitable to the Chinese culture.
5. Four notions underlying the Chinese conception of 礼貌：
respectfulness —self's positive appreciation or admiration of other concerning the latter's face, social status, etc. modesty —self-denigration (自贬)
attitudinal warmth —self-demonstration of kindness, consideration, and hospitality to other
refinement —self's behavior to other which meets certain standards
6. Face and 面子or 脸——Different concept of "face" and "politeness"
The different concepts of politeness lies in the fact that Chinese politeness is to know how to attend to each other's 面子and to enact speech acts appropriate to and worthy of such an image while the western politeness is to meet the desire to be approved of and the desire to be free from impediment.
7. Comparing Chinese and English Speech Acts
1) Address:
order of surname plus given name in Chinese
extended use of kinship terms in Chinese
Most occupational titles can be used as address terms in Chinese, but their English equivalents are not necessarily used in the same manner.
2) Greeting and leave-taking
Greetings：
Giving regards to others directly:
Commenting on sth. as a means of greeting each other:
Using address forms as greetings:
Using non-verbal forms as greeting:
Leave-taking:
English: a couple of minutes' talk in preparation for leaving.
"Well, it's been lovely to see you again, but I must be going. I hope we'll be able to get together again before long."(In typical western contexts the guests would usually find reasons to leave related to themselves rather than to their hosts)
Chinese: often stand up suddenly and say "I'm leaving now".
"I'm sorry to have wasted your time." "You must be very tired."
English: A smile and a gesture of farewell would be enough.
Chinese: “请留步”，“慢走”，“我送送你”，“请回”，“别送了”
3) Invitation and response
In both Chinese and English, invitations may be unambiguous or ambiguous
Unambiguous invitation — between intimates, giving time, place, or activity and a request for a response Ambiguous — between non-intimates, with a lead or pseudo-lead, depending on whether it leads to a successful social environment .
Chinese notion of attitudinal warmth and refinement underpin Generosity and Tact Maxims.
4) Compliment and response
To one who is offering a compliment, nothing would be more embarrassing than the rejection of his compliment. It is here that intercultural misunderstanding is likely to occur.
English
A: This is really a nice sweater.
B: I'm glad you like it.
A: You did a good job.
B: Thank you/Thanks.
Agreement maxim is followed here by using “ thanks”.
Chinese
A: Your sweater is very good.
B: I bought it for only five yuan.
A: You did the job very well.
B: That's the result of joint efforts/there is still much room for improvement.
Modesty maxim is followed here by using compliment rejection and disagreement.
5) Apologies and response
But people in different cultures have different ways of expressing apologies. What demands an apology in one culture may not be taken as offensive in another. The Chinese are less frequent and more flexible in making apologies.
China:
A. occurs between people of unequal social status.
It can be used to express gratitude: 给您添麻烦了，让您破费了。

Gratitude is expressed directly in English, and indirectly in Chinese for the purpose of considerations for others. The West
A.necessary whenever inconvenience or offense is made with little consideration of the status or social power of the people concerned.
IV. Discourse Pattern Across Cultures
1. Cultural Thought Patterns （CTPs)
•Kaplan came to a finding of 5 cultural thought
patterns
paring Chinese and English Discourse Patterns
①Linear and nonlinear language:
●Linear —a beginning and an end, logical and object oriented.
●Nonlinear —circular, tradition oriented and subjective
●In IB situations, people respond to a dialogue based in their linear or nonlinear orientation.
Example:
U.S.
Answers to why questions. Answer why and assume the what.
Japan
Give more details that do not need linear links. Tell what happen and assume the why
②Deductive and inductive patterns:
●The deductive pattern —from the general to the specific (topic-first, direct)
●The inductive pattern —from the specific to the general (topic-delayed, indirect) Example:
Asian - Inductive
because of
Y (topic, background, or reasons)
X (comment, main point, or action suggested)
Western - Deductive
X (comment, main point, or action suggested)
because of
Y (topic, background, or reasons)
V. Verbal Styles
1. Characteristics of Verbal Styles (What are high-context/Implicit and low-context/Emplicit communication cultures?)
①Indirect vs. direct
listener's abilities to infer speaker's intentions VS. speaker's ability to express their intentions
②Elaborate (Arab), exacting (U.S) and succinct （简洁）(Japan)
③Contextual VS. personal
④Formality (asymmetrical power relationships) VS. Informality (symmetrical power relationships)
⑤Affective VS. instrumental
⑥Be aware of listener's reactions, process-and-receiver-oriented VS. Focus on what the speaker is saying, goal-and-sender-oriented
paring Chinese and English Verbal Styles
English verbal style —— ping-pong
Japanese verbal style —— bowling
Chinese verbal styles ——convey meanings indirectly, vague terms and double negatives, aim at harmony, speak humbly
five key aspects of Chinese verbal style summarized by Ge Gao and Stella Ting-Toomey : 含蓄，听话，客气，自己人，面子
Chapter 4 Perceiving Nonverbal Communication
I. The Basics of Nonverbal Communication
1. Defining nonverbal communication
Definition of nonverbal communication:"Communication without the use of words."
2. Comparing verbal and nonverbal communication
Important differences between verbal and nonverbal communication:
•Verbal：structured, linguistic and clear
•Nonverbal：unstructured, nonlinguistic and ambiguous.
•Verbal: conscious, discontinuous, acquired and controllable
•Non-verbal: subconscious, continuous, natural and uncontrollable
II. Cultural Impact on Nonverbal Communication
Classifications of nonverbal behaviors:
1. Body Movement
•posture (姿势）—— standing, sitting, squatting，etc. P.130
•gesture （手势，举止）——V, illustrators, regulators, affect display (hand gestures p.132-133)
•facial expressions ——smiling and laughing, showing anger (frowning, shouting, gesturing)
2. Eye Contact (Table 4-1. p.138)
3. Touch —— touch culture and non-touch culture
•When used properly, touch can create feelings of warmth and trust; when used improperly, touch can betray trust and cause annoyance.
•Touch interpreted as power in many cultures: more powerful people touch less powerful people.
1) hand-shaking (differs in intensity and duration)
2) Hugging and kissing (for old friends, but inappropriate in business situations)
4. Smell
A number of elements affect the meaning we give to a smell, culture influences our reaction to each of these variables:
5. Paralanguage (副语言)
It involves sounds but not words, lying between verbal and nonverbal communication. It is divided into 3 categories:
•V ocal qualifiers （语音修饰特征）
•V ocalization （元音化/浊音化）
•Silence
Vocal qualifiers （语音修饰特征）—— volume, pitch, rhythm, tempo, resonance, tone
Vocalization （元音化/浊音化）
•Non-word noises "un-huh, oooh, mmmh, etc."
•Language fillers "okay, you know".
•"Oops" —used to show recognition of a mistake or minor accident, often as part of an apology.
"Oops! I'm sorry. I just made you miss your bus!"
•Used as connectors of ideas, to indicate that sb. is ready to speak or that more time is needed to think things over.
Silence
•In low-context cultures, people usually view silence as communication gone wrong and generally are uncomfortable with silence
•In high-context cultures, people consider silence an integral part of business and social discourse, rather than a failure of communication
6. Spatial language
Personal space
•People from high-context cultures were observed standing closer when talking to someone. Low-context cultures appeared to dictate a greater amount of interpersonal space.
Office space
Public space
7. Temporal language —— refers to the way in which time is used in a culture. Four basic personality types, each of which experiences time in a unique way that affects their communication with others:
•The thinking types: planning, logically plotting issues out through time
•The feeling types: viewing the present through past experiences
•The sensation types: perceiving time mainly in terms of the present, more action-oriented
•The intuitive types: viewing time primarily in terms of the future Monochronic and polychronic time
•M-time cultures: emphasize schedules, a precise reckoning of time, and promptness; rude to do two things at once (Europe)
•P-time cultures: emphasize the completion of transactions and the involvement of people rather than a rigid adherence to the clock (Latin America and the Middle East)
Monochronic and Polychronic Time Systems
Punctuality and promptness (M-time)
•When doing business in countries that adhere to M-time schedules, it is important to be on time for meetings, whish typically end at the appointed time so that participants can be on time for their next meeting.
•When doing business in countries that adhere to P-time schedules, it is common to find business meetings starting late and finishing late.
•Mis-communication in some cases lies in the differences between the two time systems. Someone form M-time culture would find P-time confusing; someone from P-time would find M-time lacking human warmth.
Time frame
•Time frame is the amount of time you allow for something to be done.
•When conducting business with persons from cultures whose attitude toward time differ from your own, it is advisable to verify whether the meaning of time is, for example, Latin American time or U.S. time.
Task to do:
Give examples to illustrate how punctuality and promptness is related to cultures of monochronic and polychronic time systems.
Chapter 6 Intercultural Business Etiquette and Protocol
Ⅰ.The Importance of Appropriate Etiquette and Protocol
II. Defining Business Etiquette and Protocol"
Nan Leaptrotte: Protocol is what to do in a given situation. Etiquette is how to do it gracefully . III. Cultural Differences in Business Etiquette and Protocol
1.Initial Business Relationship
How to make a positive first impression?
Manner of dress
Professional appearance
The color of your dress or tie
Your body language
Handshake, Posture
The amount of eye-contact on introduction
Where you put your hands
How you accept and present your business card and the actual content of the card
1) Naming systems
First or given names are used almost immediately by people from the U.S. and U.K.
More formal in many other cultures: titles are used to indicate their profession or educational level in Germany, Italy and China.
2) Appointment making
The ways varies: a phone call, writing a formal letter of request, the use of a “go-between” or emissary
3) Business card etiquette
In U.S. business people do not always exchange cards unless there is a reason to contact the person later.
But in most cultures, the Middle east, Asia, the Pacific, it is a meaningful ritual to exchange cards as
a norm.
2. Social Entertainment
1) Dinning practices （differ as to what to eat, how to eat, when to eat, where to eat, reflecting different culture’s underlying values）.
2) Drinking Protocol
In some cultures, alcohol helps to break down the strict social barrier between classes and allows for a hint of informality to creep in.
Muslims — No alcohol
American — Very little
In many Asian countries — a lot
Russia — best known drinking culture (a measure of manhood)
2.Social Entertainment
5) Tipping
Tipping cultures: America, European countries
Non-tipping cultures: Australia, New Zealand, Japan, and China (in the past)
3.Gift-giving Etiquette
Where gift-giving matters: Japan (highly important), Middle East(Important but not fatal), Latin America and Central and Eastern Europe (more as a courtesy), Australia, Canada, US, Uk, Northern and Southern European countries (not important in Business).
6. The Use of Humor (including wits, sarcasm, nonsense, irony, etc.)
6.1 The importance of humor in IBC:
1)Humor is used to cope with stress, build relationships, break the ice in negotiations, lift morale and so on.
2)Humor helps us more effective in the way we communicate both verbally and in written form.
6.2 Understanding the cultural differences in humor
1)The rules of humor are basically culturally determined. Sometimes humor does not translate.
E.g. In U.S and U.K, humor is included in business negotiations and presentations. In Germany, Japan and China, humor finds no place for business negotiations.
2)Each country has its own brand of national humor to tickle the collective funny bone.
3)There is a high risk of embarrassment by introducing humor into business or even social occasions.
6.3 Techniques for employing humor in international business
Proper etiquette and protocol means maintaining your own values while respecting those of others. It does not mean slavishly following the rituals and practices of others to please your host.。