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1、 The Impact of Cultural Difference on Sino-American Business Negotiation CONTENTS Abstract……………………………………………………………1 Introduction………………………………………………………2 Chapter 1 Analysis of Cultural Difference Between China And America……………………………………………………………5 1.1 Individualism vs. Collectivism………………………

2、………5 1.2 Inductive Thought vs. Deductive Thought……………………6 1.3 Low-context vs. High-context………………………………7 1.4 View of Time ……………………………………………8 Chapter 2 The Impact of Cultural Difference on Sino-American Business Negotiation……………………………………………11 2.1 Impact on Goals: Contract or Relationship?…………………1

3、1 2.2 Impact on Communication Style: Direct vs. Indirect………12 2.3 Impact on Conflict Resolution……………………………13 2.4 Impact on Agreement Building: Bottle-up vs. Top-down……14 2.5 Impact on Risk-taking Propensity…………………………15 2.6 Impact on Decision-making: One Leader vs. Concensus……16 Chapter 3 Sugge

4、stions for Effective Cross-cultural Negotiation 3.1 Enhancing Cultural Awareness……………………………17 3.2 Preparing Well before Negotiation…………………………18 3.3 Overcoming Communication Obstacles in Business…………18 Conclusion………………………………………………………20 Notes………………………………………………………………22 Bibliography………………………………………

5、……………23 Acknowledgements………………………………………………24 Abstract：With the rapid development of economic trade between china and America , the business contacts of the two countries become more and more frequent , the importance of business negotiation gets obvious gradually. However, the huge cultura

6、l differences between the two countries may give rise to potential cultural conflicts and unnecessary misunderstandings. So it is imperative that negotiators should learn the cultural factors in Sino-U.S. business negotiation. The thesis emphasizes the importance of taking cultural sensitivities int

7、o consideration during business negotiation to make proper negotiation tactics. In view of such a situation, this thesis makes an effort to highlight the cultural impacts on negotiation and puts forward several suggestions in reconciling cultural differences in order to make the negotiation develop

8、smoothly. Key words: cultural differences; Sino-U.S. business negotiation; impact 摘要:中美兩國間經(jīng)濟貿(mào)易飛速發(fā)展，雙方商務交往活動越來越頻繁，商務談判的重要性也日漸顯現(xiàn)。然而，由于中美兩國之間存在著巨大的文化差異，中美兩國談判者之間很可能出現(xiàn)文化沖突以及不必要的誤解。因此，兩國商務談判者了解中美文化的差異顯得十分必要。中美雙方在商務談判中必須增強對文化差異的敏感性，制定出合適的談判策略。本文重點討論了中美之間的文化差異及其對商務談判的影響并提出了化解文化沖突的幾點建議，使中美貿(mào)易談判能順利

9、進行。 關鍵詞: 文化差異;商務談判;影響 Introduction Nowadays, due to the rapid development and integration of global economy, international business contacts and activities are increasingly frequent and complex. The unprecedented growth of international business has resulted in an increased volume of face-

10、to-face negotiation between members of different culture. While pursing the success of international business negotiation, it is imperative for negotiators to know the cultural difference of negotiating parties. As we all know, China is one of the largest economic country in the world, and Amer

11、ica is our biggest trade partner. Since the normalization of relations between China and America began 25 years ago, Sino-U.S. business relationships have been growing at a fast pace. Negotiations have often been a difficult process for both sides, for cultural and other reasons. Cultural difference

12、s of China and America constitute an enormous challenge for cross-border negotiation. Negotiation is a kind of basic human activity that we’re involved almost everyday. International negotiation is the process in which two or more entities from various cultural backgrounds discuss common and

13、conflicting interests in order to reach an agreement of mutual benefits. It is clear that international business negotiation refers to the negotiation that take place in the business world and deals with business relationship. It may be understood as encounters between firms(or economic organization

14、) with the goal of reaching agreement to gain economic benefits. It is no surprise that when business people negotiate across cultures, the process is often more difficult than within their own culture. Culture differences and communication barriers in how the negotiation game is enacted can lead no

15、t only to simple misunderstandings, but sometimes a complete breakdown of the process and relationship between the parties. When negotiating internationally, there are a variety of factors contributing to the result of business negotiation, such as geographical distances, political situation, econom

16、ic factors and foreign cultural backgrounds. However, the most crucial factor is the negotiators’ sensitivity and responsiveness to the new cultural context. But in fact, members with different cultural background may behave quite differently, and may focus on different aspect of business. Therefore

17、 it is better for both negotiating parties to understand their cultural difference well. Culture, in human’s history, has been defined in a variety of ways, and there is no agreement on a single definition of the term. More than a century ago, “culture” was defined as that complex whole which i

18、ncludes knowledge, belief, art, morals, laws, customs and any other capabilities and habits acquired by man as a member of society. More recently, “culture” was again treated as the collective programming of the mind which distinguishes the members of one human group from another. As America is a ty

19、pical Western country while China is a typical Eastern country, there exists huge cultural differences between this two countries. In the Sino-U.S. business negotiation, cultural difference must be paid much attention, or a lot of impacts will be produced, such as impacts on negotiating goals (

20、business or relationship) and attitudes (win/win or win/lose). This thesis focuses on the impacts of cultural difference on Sino-U.S. business negotiation. It is divided into three chapters. Chapter one is the analysis of cultural difference between China and America. For example, Chinese’s coll

21、ectivism vs. American’s individualism; low –context vs. high-context; time perception. Chapter two highlights the cultural impacts on Sino-U.S. business negotiation. It includes the following six impacts: goals, communication style, conflict resolution, agreement form, risk-taking propensity and dec

22、ision-making process. Chapter three presents some suggestions according to cultural difference for effective negotiations. Chapter 1 Analysis of Cultural Difference between China and America As is known to all, China is a typical Eastern country, while America is a typical

23、Western one. There is no doubt about their big cultural differences. In view of business negotiations, many researchers have found some core values concerning business cultures of China and the United States. 1.1 Individualism vs. Collectivism “Individualism-collectivism is the major dimension of

24、cultural variability used to explain cross-cultural differences and similarities in communication across cultures” [1]. Individualistic cultures emphasize personal rights and responsi- bilities, privacy, voicing one’s own opinion, freedom and self-expression. Collectivistic cultures emphasize comm

25、unity, collaboration, shared interests, harmony, tradition and public good. Chinese culture is collectivism-oriented. The Chinese people think that harmonious relationships are the basis of our society, they place high priority on collectivists’ interests and values. In their minds, a “we” cons

26、ciousness prevails: identity is based on the social system; the individual is emotionally dependent on organizations and institutions; the culture highlights social organizations; organizations invade private life and the clans to which the individuals belong. Different from Americans, when in busin

27、ess negotiation, Chinese people always choose mutual self-benefits, seek to advance the interests of the group and group rewards. Obviously, individualism is highly prized in the United States. In American culture, individual achievement, sovereignty and freedom are the virtues most glorified

28、and canonized. The value of the individual is supreme and it is the individual who has the capacity to shape his or her own destiny. They believe that “God always help those who help themselves”. In terms of business negotiation, American negotiators tend to be self-motivated and their business rela

29、tionships are based on self-interest. 1.2 Inductive Thought vs. Deductive Thought “Thinking patterns refer to forms of reasoning and approaches to problem solution. Thinking patterns differ from culture to culture, a logical, reasonable argument in one culture maybe considered as illogical and

30、undemonstrated in another culture”[2]. Sino-U.S. differences of thinking patterns mainly reflected in the inductive and deductive thought. Deductive thought is observing and considering everything in the world as a whole, paying attention to the overall function, complex relationship and operation

31、process but not care about the internal structure of something. Chinese people’s thinking patterns belong to this orientation. For a thing, they would like to consider from general to detail, from abstract to specific. Therefore, at the very beginning of a business negotiation, Chinese negotiators w

32、ould like to discuss the general rules which both parties should obey and mutual interests. They think that, once the general rules and cooperation willingness are determined, all the other questions are no more questions. They always emphasize the details must come after general principles. Ame

33、rican culture is towards inductive thought. It is a kind of thinking pattern that focuses on analyzing complicated things into several simple elements and then study one by one. As Americans are affected by linear thinking and analytical thinking patterns, they pay more attention to the logical conn

34、ects of a thing, in their minds, details is far more important than those abstract rules. So at the start of a negotiation, they will not act just like Chinese negotiators. Instead, they attach importance to specific aspects. They treat contract just as a set of clauses with legally binding that sho

35、uld be comply, that is to say, only real specific issues can make negotiation go smoothly. Americans are pragmatists, from their perspective, the beginning of negotiation process is a form, the world is made up of facts but not some concepts. 1.3 Low-context vs. High-context There is another effe

36、ctive means of examining cultural similarities and differences by categorizing culture into high or low context. It is the information that surrounds an event, it is inextricably bound up with the meaning of the event. In other words, it refers to the amount of information that a person can comforta

37、bly gain. Chinese are in the high-context culture, and American people are in the low context culture. People in high context cultures prefer to communicate indirectly. Meanings are internalized in the context of message and must be inferred to be understood. There is a large emphasis on nonverbal

38、 clues, such as facial expression, movements, speed of the interaction and other subtle forms of nonverbal communication. Low-context communication is like a computer program, everything must be specified in the coded message or the computer will not run. In the United States, common expressions and

39、 sayings such as “get to the point” and “say what you mean” reveal the Americans emphasize on the content above context. For them, the environment is less important and non-verbal behaviors are often ignored, communication has to be made more explicit. Feelings and thoughts are expected to express i

40、n precise words, and information is more readily available. Such culture usually values a direct, blunt style and dislikes ambiguity. In contrast, China, which has a relatively high-context focus in communications, has sayings “Be aware of people’s faces and observe the color hue of their voices” st

41、ress the need to see beyond the obvious and to be discreet rather than plainspoken. The difference in communication style explains why American negotiators often consider their Chinese counterparts overly rhetorical and “inscrutable” in the way they speak. On the other hand, the Chinese are likely

42、to consider Americans somewhat simplistic and nave. If the negotiation parties don’t understand the context culture difference of each other, misunderstanding will occur. 1.4 View of Time Time, as an invisible but basic concept in cross-cultural study has showed its importance and diversity in th

43、e international business negotiation. Chinese and Americans have rather different time perceptions, which often result in the communication misunderstan- dings. In the thesis, I classified their time orientation differences into the following two groups. 1.4.1 Mono-chronic vs. Poly-chronic System

44、According to people’s understanding of time, Edward T. Hall divided time orientation into monochromic time system and polychromic time system. Generally speaking, Americans have the characteristics of monochromic time system, and Chinese hold the features of polychromic time system. Mono-chronic ti

45、me system means doing only one thing at a time. People just concentrate on the special work for the specific time and spare no efforts to finish the task well. Sticking to the plan strictly and unable to stand to be interrupted are their consistent working styles. In American culture, people view t

46、ime in a linear sequence and will start, carry out and complete any activity or task before they move onto the next one. They emphasize the speed and efficiency of what they have done and wish to establish the short-term relationships with others. Poly-chronic time system perceives time in the oppos

47、ite way. People holding this concept regard time as separated and tend to do more than one thing simultaneously. For example, a Chinese manger may be on the phone, having a conversion with someone else in the room and taking notes, all at the same time. To polychronism, time plan is just a goal that

48、 maybe available in the future, it is allowed to be interrupted frequently and easily. So, in a Sino-American BN, Americans often appeared to be impatient and pursuit quick result. Relatively, as Chinese don’t care bout how much time consumed in order to establish satisfied cooperation, they will

49、have longer time to keep silent. Sometimes, they even perceive silence as a means of persuasion. 1.4.2 Past-oriented vs. Future-oriented Time orientation can also be divided into two categories: past orientation and future orientation. In America, people show great interest in the future, wha

50、t somebody has achieved in the past is not that important, the past has gone, it is more important to know what plan they have developed for future. Chinese have a strong preference for past time orientation. They make more of an impression with their past accomplishments than those of today. Past-t

51、ime orientation highlights past. Mostly, Chinese people admire the history and care about the past things, they prefer to explain the present through past experience. So when in an international BN with a Chinese negotiator, it will get better results if some past achievements or excellent aspects a

52、re referred to. Chapter 2 The Impact of Cultural Difference on Sino-American Business Negotiation Culture, as we said in previous parts, is a powerful factor shaping how people think, communicate and behave as well as negotiating styles. Different cultures have diff

53、erent values, attitudes, behaviors and linguistic styles, all of which can greatly affect the process and result of negotiations. Cultural differences of Sino-U.S affect the two countries’ negotiations in the following aspects. 2.1 Impact on Goals: Contract or Relationship? Different cultures

54、view the purpose or intention of a business negotiation variously. As we have discussed earlier, Chinese culture inclines to collectivism. Thus, Chinese culture can be regarded as relationship-orientated. A business negotiation is a time to develop a business relationship with the goal of achieving

55、long-term mutual benefits in the eyes of Chinese. Contract, for the Chinese negotiators, doesn’t mean finality but is generally a starting point. There is an old Chinese saying “you can hook the big fish with a long string.” Chinese business people are more willing to commit financial and human reso

56、urces to develop a new potential market because they believe that their long-term investment will eventually lead them to large profits. American negotiators, on the contrary, generally tending to attach great importance to the result. To be precise, contract is everything. They prefer to devot

57、e their energy and time to the contract itself and attempt to achieve the finalization of the deal. Viewing the interpersonal relationship as incidental, they think of the signing of a contract between the parties as their primary negotiating aim. To them, contract is a binding agreement that outlin

58、es the roles, rights and obligations of each party. 2.2 Impact on Communication Style: Direct vs. Indirect People from certain cultures tend to adopt direct and simple ways to communicate, such as Americans; while people from other cultures incline to choose indirect, more complex methods, such as

59、 Chinese. The difference in communication style, to a certain degree, also refers to how much people rely on nonverbal cues to convey and interpret intentions and information in dialogue. In business practice, what is actually said carries only part of the meanings of a message. Nonverbal cues, such

60、 as facial expressions, eye contact, gestures, touching pattern, silence can provide additional meaning. Chinese negotiators are more sensitive to and reliant on non-verbal cues. They will tend to use language that is indirect. A frequently quoted example to support this argument is the ambiguity o

61、f Chinese way of saying “yes” and reluctance of saying “no”. Indicators such as “maybe”, “difficult”, “I’ll try”, “inconvenient” all carry implicit meaning of “no” in Chinese context. Silence is another weapon often used by Chinese negotiator. Silence cues may be interpreted either as evidence of ag

62、reement or disagreement. It can also be interpreted as demonstrating seriousness and sincerity in considering the matter. However, it may also be understood as evidence of a lack of interest, showing disagreement without directly expressing a negative opinion and injured feelings. American nego

63、tiators are less likely to notice non-verbal cues. They prefer to express their opinion directly and to the point; the choices of their words are precise, open and frank. They send their message in an exaggerated way, rather than simplifying them. In a conversation, compared with Chinese way of show

64、ing interest and agreement by nodding or smiling, Americans prefer to use verbal response to directly show them out. Silence in American context can be interpreted as negative signal showing disinterest or boredom, thus they try to avoid silence in communication, and are more willing to express “I d

65、on’t know”, or “I don’t agree with you” rather than silence. 2.3 Impact on Conflict Resolution Conflict is very common in a business negotiation, not to mention in a cross-cultural business negotiation. On the whole, individualistic cultures meet confrontation actively while collectivist cultu

66、res tend to avoid direct conflict. For the collectivistic Chinese negotiators, the way they resolute the conflict is to ask for a third party, do their best to avoid the people concerning the problem and minimize inter-personal conflict. Under the influence of Confucian, Chinese people value harmony over conflict. It would be extremely rude and cause a loss of face to meet the conflict openly. On the contrary, conflict is regarded as an integral part of life by the people of individualistic cu