TheCulturalconflictsinAmericanandChina中美文化冲突.docx

1、TheCulturalconflictsinAmericanandChina中美文化冲突The Cultural conflicts in American and China&Its Influence on Intercultural Business Negotiation杨范婷Abstract: Culture is a distinguishing feature of a nation. Usually we divide culture into eastern and western categories. As the representative of eastern an

2、d western culture, China and America have a lot of incongruities in terms of cultural values which have deep influences on international business negotiation. This thesis aims to analyze the main cultural differences of the target countries using four cultural dimensions on five processes of cross-c

3、ultural business negotiation. After a general view of these theories I suggest some negotiating strategies and tactics to solve Sino-US cultural conflict appearing on the negotiating table.摘要： 文化是一个民族的基本特征，通常我们把文化分为西方文化和东方文化。作为中西文化的典范中国和美国在文化价值观上有着千丝万缕的差别，而这种差异又对两国间的国际商务谈判有着深远的影响。本文研究的目的是对这两个国家主要的文化

4、价值观的差异作一个分析，运用四个文化元素对跨文化商务谈判的五个过程进行分析。在对中美两国跨文化谈判的理论分析之后，作者提出相关的建议来合理得解决中美商务谈判的冲突。 Keywords: cultural difference conflict business negotiation cross-culture Sino-America关键字： 文化差异 冲突 商务谈判 跨文化 中美1 Introduction1.1 The current situation of international business Modern transportation, telecommunications

5、 and internet make the world a small highly interdependent and interactional village; globalization becomes a hot topic in the world economy realm; the multinational annexation and global economic infiltration accelerate the development of joint ventures, and international cooperation are among thei

6、r most prominent manifestations. All of these require negotiators despite their genders, regions, ethics or ages to sit together around the table and achieve the goals. With respect to negotiation, culture plays a crucial role in a cross-cultural negotiation, which has a significant impact on behavi

7、ors of the negotiators. 1.2 The status of China and America in international businessAmerica is a well-known great power in international business, who guides the mode of the world economy. And he takes the biggest quotient of international trade. He experiences the most intercultural business negot

8、iation and has his negotiating style spreading to every corner of the world. On the contrary, China is a young country in terms of international business, who applies her reform and opening-up policy only more than twenty years. Nevertheless, during these two decades she took on numerous direct or i

9、ndirect investments from developed countries through business negotiations. And America is Chinas biggest trading partner, so developing an appropriate way to cope with the cultural conflicts between the two countries is in urgent need and is a breakthrough of cross-cultural negotiation.1.3 A genera

10、l view of cultural conflicts appearing in Sino-US negotiationThe business negotiations base on incongruous cultural backgrounds brings obstacles in negotiating processes. The dominant culture of America includes individualism, egalitarianism, competition, masculinity and direct communication. Crossl

11、y, Chinas dominant culture is collectivism, face-maintenance, hierarchy, and indirect communication. These variances represent especially prominent on the negotiating table. Therefore, as an international negotiator, commanding negotiating techniques and tactics is the first thing, and comprehending

12、 different negotiating styles in accordance with different cultural backgrounds becomes a royal road to achieve the goal.2 Cultural analysis2.1 Cultural values and negotiation normsEveryone must have the experience of visiting a relative or friend, at the hosts home, you may find some habits and cus

13、toms different from your home even you are in the same country, city or even village. “When in Rome, do as the Romans do.” everyone follows this saying. Then what will “Romans” do is the topic I will explain in the following passages. 2.1.1 Four dimensions of cultural attributesRegarding culture as

14、a target, numerous studies have been done to classify cultural patterns. Based on Kluckhohn and Strodtbecks (1960) research, cultures can be divided according to different views towards relationship of humankind to nature, sense of time, activity and social relationships. Afterwards, Hall and Hall (

15、1976) offer us another means of examining cultural similarities and differences. Depending on what people pay attention to and what they ignore, Hall divided cultures into high-context and low-context patterns. In 1980s, learned from the prior scholars and after doing a lot of research, Hofstede (19

16、80, 1984) proposed that cultural attributes can be categorized to four dimensions which seem more specific and detailed to study culture patterns: Individualism/Collectivism, Power Distance, Avoiding Uncertainty and Masculinity/Femininity. And each attribute is briefly defined as follow:Individualis

17、m versus collectivismthe individualism expects personal freedom, being oneself, having self-reliance or self-interest, self-directed or self-oriented while collectivism accepts responsibility to family, tribal groups or nationalities and being group-directed and other-directed, having a concern for

18、others. The individualism advocates competitiveness and the collectivism values cooperation, etc (Hofstede 1980, 1984). The individualism-Collectivism construct is one of the major dimensions of cultural variation (Feng, 1999).Power Distancethe extent to which less powerful members of organizations

19、and institutions (such as the family) accept and expect power to be distributed unequally (Hofstede 1980, 1984); related to the degree of centralization of authority and the degree of autocratic leadership; having status consciousness or a hierarchy present and accepted within a society (Gulbro and

20、Herbig, 1998). In a word, it means in the high power distance country, those who hold power and those who are affected by power are significantly far apart, and in the low power distance country, those who hold power and those who affected by power are significantly closer. Uncertainty Avoidanceit c

21、an also divided into high uncertainty avoidance culture and low uncertainty avoidance culture. People from low uncertainty avoidance culture tent to take risk and people from high uncertainty avoidance culture try to avoid any risk. So members of high uncertainty avoidance culture spend much time in

22、 legislating and planning. Meanwhile, it means the extent to which people feel threatened by ambiguous situations and have created beliefs and institutions to try to avoid ambiguity. “The future is called perhaps, which is the only possible thing to call the future.”(Hofstede 1980, 1984)Masculinity

23、versus FemininityMasculinity is the extent to which the dominant value in a society is male oriented and associated with such behaviors as ambition, differentiated sex roles, achievement, the acquisition of money, and signs of manliness. Femininity stresses caring and nurturing behaviors (Hofstede 1

24、980, 1984). It also promotes sexual equality and holds that people and environment are important. Gender roles in feminine societies are more fluid than in masculine societies (Samovar, Porter and Stefani).In 1980s, through extensive statistical data, Hofstede (1980, 1984) found uniqueness and cultu

25、ral differences in behavior when comparing cultures. According to Hofstedes proposition, America can be categorized to individualism, low power distance, low uncertainty avoidance and femininity culture. China is categorized to collectivism, high power distance, high uncertainty avoidance and mascul

26、inity culture. Any of the four Hofstede dimensions could have an impact on: the methods used in negotiation, the normative expectations of each participant, and their interpretation of the behavior of others during each stage of the negotiation process (Gulbro and Herbig, 1998). And it could influen

27、ce the process and the outcome of the negotiations as well.2.1.2 Negotiation normsNegotiation is a science and also an art. Any activity a person employs to change the relationship and transfers the opinion to gain an end is called negotiation (Zhang, 1997). It is related to a process of persuasion

28、but not force (Acuff, 1995). By this token, business negotiation is to achieve a commercial goal exchanging mind and bring in profit. Science international business negotiation involves in another elementculture, the counterpart is from another cultural setting, it is more complex than negotiate wit

29、h an in-culture counterpart. To pursue the goal, the negotiators should apply appropriate tactics and try to reach the win-win end. It is a cooperative and pursuing mutual-profit process (Acuff, 1995). To achieve a win-win negotiation, first we should try to satisfy the other party. It means if you

30、give what your rival want you will gain what you desire for. Secondly, we must emphasize profit not position (Fitch and Ury, 1983). Negotiation is not a chess play, by contrary either party is a winner in a negotiation. This activity involves two parties, and interactions of mind. Thus, acquainting

31、yourself with the other party is especially important. Since negotiation can not be achieved without persons, and different persons represent diverse cultures (Xuan, 2003). Inevitably, cultural settings influence a negotiation from the essential aspect, and cultural conflict is the first obstacle to

32、 international business negotiation. 2.2 Cultural conflict assumptionsWhen two negotiators encounter for the first time, they will treat the other party under their own conceptions and religions. Their behaviors are in accordance with their own cultural basis and have an assumptive image of the oppo

33、nents; it would lead to various expectations of the other party. In any communication settings, of necessity, we anticipate what the opposite person should do and what he or she should not. This anticipation bases on particular cultural rules and is according to endowed meaning by an individual (Burgoon, 1991,