跨文化交際對商務(wù)談判的影響

1、x x x x x x畢 業(yè) 論 文The Effects of Intercultural Communication onBusiness Negotiation跨文化交際對商務(wù)談判的影響xxxx學(xué) 院 xxxxxxxxxxx 專 業(yè) xxx 級 xxx 班學(xué)生姓名 xxxxxxxx 學(xué)號 xxxxxxxxxxxxx 指導(dǎo)老師 xxxxxxxxxxxx 職稱 xxxxxx 完成日期 2010年 12月25 日 Abstract:Intercultural business negotiation plays an important part in international busine

2、ss activities and we will inevitably encounter cross-cultural issues. This paper will show the effects of Intercultural Communication on Business Negotiation through the comparison of culture differences in verbal and nonverbal communication, the modes of thinking, the values, the concept of time an

3、d space, and the styles of business negotiations, and put forward some useful suggestions to promote intercultural business negotiations go smoothly.Key words: Cross-culture; Business negotiations; Effects摘要： 跨文化商務(wù)談判是國際商務(wù)活動(dòng)的重要環(huán)節(jié)，在談判過程中不可避免會(huì)遇到跨文化問題。本文將通過不同文化在言語和非言語交際、思維方式、價(jià)值觀、空間觀、時(shí)間觀、談判風(fēng)格等的差異來分析跨文化交際

4、對商務(wù)談判的影響，并從跨文化的角度提出一些有實(shí)用價(jià)值的建議，以促成跨文化商務(wù)談判的順利進(jìn)行。關(guān)鍵詞：跨文化、商務(wù)談判、影響ContentsIntroduction .1 1、The Definition and Significance of Intercultural Business Negotiation .11.1Definition .11.2 Importance .22、The Reflection of Cross-cultural Differences in Business Negotiations .32.1Verbal and Non-verbal Communica

5、tion .32.2 The Modes of Thinking .72.3 The Values .82.4 The Concept of Space and Time.92.5 The Styles of Negotiations .103、The Ways to Deal With Cross-cultural Differences in Business Negotiations 123.1 To Know Social Customs and Taboos of Different Countries .123.2 To Recognize The Truth of Cultura

6、l Differences .133.3 To Respect and Tolerate Cultural Differences .13Conclusion .14Bibliography 15Acknowledgement .16IntroductionWith the rapid development of the Chinese economy, the growing interdependence between countries and companies has made the multinational business negotiations become more

7、 and more popular. In order to strengthen the international cooperation, negotiations are no longer limited to just the same country and the same area, but have given the way to different countries and different regions. Here are many factors which impact on multinational business negotiations such

8、as the social environment, the political environment, economic environment but the most difficult one is the factor of culture environment. International business negotiation is a kind of intercultural communication behavior. Both sides of negotiators not only need profound professional knowledge an

9、d excellent negotiation skills, but also need the skills of smooth foreign language communication and of removing culture distance. Because of the different backgrounds of two sides, the difficulty in cross-cultural negotiations is bigger than the domestic ones. Many obstacles take place not for the

10、 unreasonable profits allocation, but rather for the misunderstanding of different cultures.Therefore, we will mainly analyze the cultural differences between the east and the west to reflect the significance of cross-cultural communication to international business negotiation. Then we will come up

11、 with some corresponding strategies and skills to help the realization of win-win international negotiations.1The Definition and Significance of Intercultural Business Negotiation International business negotiations belong to intercultural business negotiation. Being aware of the definition and the

12、importance of cross-cultural business negotiation will help negotiators cut into the theme better and faster, and win the negotiation.1.1 DefinitionDifferent age, different countries and different people have different views on the same things, so the definition of cross-cultural business negotiatio

13、n will change in different circumstances. According to most general understanding, negotiation is a kind of behavior to coordinate the relationship between each other, meet their needs, and to achieve consensus by consultation with others. Gerard. I. Neil Aarons is the president of American Academy

14、of Negotiations said, “As long as people in order to change the relationship and to exchange ideas, as long as people in order to reach agreement they are in negotiations. The earlier definition of business negotiation is to achieve certain goods or services via a variety of transactions of negotiat

15、ions. The development of the market economy makes the conception of commodity extends from labor products to capital, technology, information , service, etc. At this moment, business negotiation refers to the form of all commodities trade negotiations, such as commodity supply and demand negotiation

16、s, technology import and transfer negotiations and investment negotiations.With the speed-up development of world economy, business activities among countries have become more frequent. Intercultural business negotiation has taken the central place in international business activities. In 1959, a Un

17、ited States anthropologists, Hoare, in his classic work The Silent Language put forward the term of cross-cultural communication for the first time, which refers to the communication activities held by those who come from different cultural consciousness and symbol systems, the main forms including

18、cross racial communication and cross national communication. International business negotiation is a kind of business talk based on cross-cultural communication, therefore the intercultural business negotiation means a various forms of international economy cooperation with people who are from diffe

19、rent countries and regions to transactions, such as the trade of international goods, services, technology circulation, and international investment. It is the process of consultation through the behavior of verbal and nonverbal communication to meet each ones needs. Because of the negotiations held

20、 on different parties which represent different social and cultural backgrounds, the difficulty is larger than the domestic business negotiations.1.2 ImportanceThe international business activities are not only a kind of economic activities, but also a kind of cultural activities. The economic globa

21、lization makes the cross-cultural business negotiation become the important content of the international business activities. It not only determines the ways of communication and cooperation between both sides in economy, but also reflects the various countries cultural collision and communication.D

22、ifferent cultures are the main factor that impact on international business activities and play a decisive role in the success of business negotiation. Business negotiation is not only based on exchange and cooperation in the economic benefits, but also have different cultural collisions in both par

23、ties. During the whole process of negotiations, one nations traditional culture and world view which reflects the special values and behavior standards of the culture, especially to international business negotiation are involved. Whether the negotiation is successful or not is directly related to t

24、he enterprises competitiveness in international market and the speed of its development, and sometimes it also affects the whole countrys image in international stage indirectly. It is undeniable that many factors influence the failed result, for example, the price quoted is too high; the production

25、 ability cant satisfy the needs of clients, but the influence of the cultural difference is really easy to be ignored in international business activities.At this time，it is really important to establish the awareness of the cross-cultural negotiation. Michael Bright who comes from the Northwestern

26、said that the essence of the negotiation is to get value and create value. If both parties can have the high sensitivity of cultural differences, and grasp their opponents negotiation styles, customs, language expression, they are likely to get values and also produce values and finally get the bigg

27、est success. In order to achieve these, we should win the cross-cultural negotiations by strengthening the cross-cultural awareness, understanding and respecting for the cultural differences. 2The Reflection of Cross-cultural Differences in Business Negotiations Cross cultural differences widely ref

28、er to the cultural differences in various countries and regions-that is the differences (especially in the western and eastern culture) reflected by different people who live in different environment that have the different languages, knowledge, values, ways of thinking, customs and so on. These wil

29、l make people have different views on the same things. In todays international business negotiations, it has become increasingly outstanding that the negotiation process is affected by verbal and non-verbal communication, values and modes of thinking, etc. So, being familiar with cross-cultural diff

30、erences is necessary for smooth international business negotiations.2.1 Verbal and Non-verbal Communication The information delivered in intercultural business negotiation often presents all kinds of incomplete features: one is the misunderstanding of information caused by the language differences;

31、the other one is the differences of non-verbal communication resulted in the information asymmetry.2.1.1 The Verbal CommunicationLanguage, as a kind of communication tool, is the information transmission media .The process of cross-cultural negotiation is actually a process that people make consulta

32、tions by using words. At the same culture background, average person can only understand the speakers content of 80% 90%, which means 10% 20% of the information can be misinterpreted or misunderstood. We can assume that when a negotiation party is using a second language to communicate with the othe

33、r, the proportion of misinterpreted or misunderstood will be rising. Therefore the cross-cultural international business negotiation always faces the language barrier.A typical example is the application and understanding of the English words “Yes” or “No”. Once an American firm negotiated with a Ja

34、panese company on the clause of contract. The American businessman was delighted to find that the Japanese always nodded which echoed “Yes” commonly, so he misunderstood that this negotiation was very smoothly. Until the time they wanted to sign the contract did they realize that in Japan “Yes” just

35、 stood for “I see” or “I understand”, and doesnt have the meaning of agreement. Its like the Brazilian who often say something difficult to express the meaning of impossible”. The same problem would also appear in communication with Indians, because the Indians use “Yes” as disagree and “No” as agre

36、e. This is the reflection of the different context society that has different meanings on the same action.Edward Hall, an anthropologist, divided the world culture into high context and low context according to the size of the direct level that language expression used. He took this theory to analyz

37、e communication from people that come from different cultural background. This high context and low context cultural influences are also not allowed to be ignored in international business negotiations. High Context Society“High context refers to societies or groups where people have close co

38、nnections over a long period of time” (Huang Yimiao,2006:14).In the high-context, people live together for a long time. Each one is familiar with their nonverbal communication in their daily life, so the direct verbal communication is just a small part to deliver the information when they need. They

39、 always pay attention to context rather than content, and try to establish the social harmony and pursue long-term friendship. Therefore, they are more implicit. Chinese is the representative of the high-context society. They always put the harmony as the premise before pursing benefits. In order to

40、 maintain the both sides faces, they often express their opinions implicitly and indirectly. Even if they dont agree with each others opinions, they also cant refuse the other directly. It is quite often to see that eastern negotiators make an ambiguous statement in the negotiation table with those

41、from other countries. Chinese businessmen and American businessmen always get into trouble in the usage of no. In Chinese mind, if their answer is no will embarrass the other party, so they never clearly express their views. But Americans dont understand this, they think that as long as the other si

42、de still does not give a clear answer, they need to continue. If encountering some terms cant be agreed, they would use some indirect negative hints or vague language such as “not bad” or “sounds fine” to respect the other party. Americans often misunderstand that Chinese agree with them, till a lon

43、g time not the further answer did they realize that Chinese answer stands for disagree. For the Chinese people, using the euphemism is to maintain the both sides face problems, but for Americans indirect communication is inconvenient and usually causes the other sides hostility.Therefore, during the

44、 intercultural business negotiation, if one party often uses connotation and polite words and tries to create a harmonious atmosphere and avoids friction, you should know that may be this is the embodiment of the high-context culture. Being politeness and using some vague languages are good ways to

45、ease the atmosphere of the negotiations. Low Context Society“Low context refers to societies or groups where people tend to have many connections but of shorter duration or for some specific reason” (Huang Yimiao, 2006:14).Compared with the high-context society, people in low-context are more

46、 direct and simpler: they often use clear and specific language or words to transfer in formations. Since the immigration and cultural exchange cause difficulties of their communication, westerners believe that the clear and direct expression is very important. Several thousand years of external exp

47、ansion and also the rapid development of the economy result in their fast-paced working style: using the direct language rather than equivocal and vague words .In their mind debating is a way to express ones view and beneficial for solving problems, and the differences of view never influence the so

48、cial relationship.Negotiators often discuss directly in the negotiation, whether they agree or not .They like to express their views clearly and regard it as a way to joint efforts to resolve the dispute with the other. However this kind of clear, straightforward and direct communication ways are no

49、t always be accepted by others. People who are from the high-context society will feel the low-context society of people are so mighty and have no sense to establish a long-term cooperation relationship with others. Cultural differences made high and low context have different applications in the fo

50、rms of compliment and answer. The eastern are shy to praise others working performance: even their colleagues do a good job they also only encourage them like continue to work hard, youll do better next time, on the contrary, westerns can always be more comfortable to appreciate others，such as oh, w

51、ell done (do) or you are pretty good.”(Youre good). In the form of answer, westerners hope their personal value can be recognized by the society, while the Chinese often remain their mind under cover, they also never dare to accept others appreciations and lest be buckled on complacency hat. So when

52、 the program was admired during the negotiation, westerners will usually feel happy and say Thank you”, but the response of the east often is “well, I am flattered”. At this moment, if the translator dont understand the culture differences and directly translated as, “where, where you are overprize

53、me. it will be likely to make a joke and be misinterpreted.In the same situation, people from different cultural contexts will have different expression methods. Although these differences provide many new chances in multinational communication, it also has a lot of objective obstacles in the ways p

54、eople used. So catching some features of different cultural context appropriately is good for us, especially for negotiators, to communicate with high-context people easily and effectively.2.1.2 The Non-verbal Communication Apart from oral language, in business negotiations, negotiators usually comm

55、unicate with others by some other methods like gestures, facial expressions and body language. The culture differences of non-verbal communication in Chinese and western negotiators may have this result when one party negotiator send some nonverbal signals, the negotiation rivals with different cult

56、ural background easily get into misunderstand. Sometimes, they even have different understanding and pass the opposite information on the same behavior. Body LanguageBody language is a kind of non-verbal communication that people use mainly through some dynamic body language such as gestures

57、, vision, smile and so on, to deliver the silent language in formations. Different countries have different expressions and meanings of body language.Gestures, for example “nod”. In China, the United States, Canada and most of other places in the world, it stands for endorse, agreed”; In Bulgaria and Nepal, it refers to disagree”; in Japan, a nod means: I see or I understand and does not have the meaning of agreement; in India, people with a shake to show agree and recognition. Moreover, Americans circle their thumb and forefinger to indicate OK, r