英语专业毕业论文-从中西方文化解读对比商务谈判.doc

北方民族大学学士学位论文 论文题目: 从中西方文化对比解读 国际商务谈判 院(部)名 称: 外国语学院 学 生 姓 名: 专 业: 英语语言文学 学 号: 20071499 指导教师姓名: 论文提交时间: 2011年5月 论文答辩时间: 2011年5月 学位授予时间: 2011年6月 北方民族大学教务处制International Business Negotiation from theIntercultural Perspective A Graduation Thesis Submitted byZhang YueIn Partial Fulfillment of the RequirementsForThe Degree of Bachelor of ArtsIn the Subject of English Language and LiteraturesToSchool of Foreign Languages and CulturesOf Beifang University of NationalitiesSupervisor: Liu XingMay 2011AcknowledgementsFirst and foremost, I would like to show my deepest gratitude to my Supervisor, Liu Xing, a respectable, responsible and resourceful teacher, who has provided me with valuable guidance in every stage of the writing of this thesis. Without her enlightening instruction, impressive kindness and patience, I could not have completed my thesis. Her keen and vigorous academic observation enlightens me not only in this thesis but also in my future study.Secondly, I shall extend my thanks to all my teachers who have helped me to develop the fundamental and essential academic competence. My sincere appreciation also goes to the dear students, who participated in this study with great cooperation. Last but not least, Id like to thank all my friends, especially my three lovely roommates, for their encouragement and support.内容摘要 随着经济全球化不断快速的发展，来自不同国家的公司之间商业合作的机会急剧增加。在这种大规模的跨国经济活动中，国际商务谈判的作用日趋明显。在此过程中，不同国家的谈判者在同一张谈判桌上就共同或是冲突的利益进行协商同时也注入了不同的文化。文化是影响国际商务谈判的重要因素之一。因此，文化的差异很有可能会引起谈判中产生冲突，要想取得有效的谈判，谈判者不仅要了解对方的文化与己的差异所在，更重要的是应该了解文化差异在哪些方面如何影响谈判。 关键词：跨文化；影响；国际商务谈判AbstractThe constant and rapid development of the economic globalization has rendered an increasingly frequent cooperation between companies of different countries. Business negotiation plays a major role in the large-scale transnational business activities. Negotiators from different countries with distinctive cultures get together and discuss their interests and conflicts; meanwhile, they bring diverse cultures to the negotiating process. Culture is one of the most important factors which have impacts on international business negotiation. Cultural differences will result in cultural conflicts in all probabilityThus, to negotiate effectively, it is necessary for negotiators to have a good understanding of cultural differences and to notice the influences caused by culture difference. Key words: Influences; Intercultural; International business negotiationiiiContentsAcknowledgementsi内容摘要iiAbstractiiiI. Introduction1II. Literature Review22.1 Definition of Business Negotiation22.2 Definition of Culture2III. The Influence of Cultural Differences on Business Negotiation33.1 Difference in Thinking Patten33.1.1 Individualism vs. Collectivism33.1.2 Small vs. Large Power Distance43.1.2 Authoritative vs. Consensus53.2 Differences in Verbal Behaviors63.2.1 Directness vs. Indirectness73.2.1 Informality vs. Formality83.3 Differences in Non-verbal Behaviors93.2.1 Differences in Kinesics93.2.1 Differences in Chronemics11IV. Conclusion13BibliographyI. IntroductionThe further development of economic globalization has increased business activities at various levels among members of different cultures. During these activities, cultural differences in terms of values, stereotypes, world views, and so on exert great influences on how businessmen of different cultures deal with negotiations and how they perceive and manage the conflicts.The increased number of business events gives rise to more communication across the two extremely different cultures, especially in the field of business negotiation. However, one common problem that most western and eastern negotiators face is the gap of different approaches to conflicts resolution. This problem always leads to incompatible communication behaviors, misunderstandings, or even the breakdown of negotiations. The knowledge of how cultural differences affect business negotiation will help negotiators to improve their ability greatly to foresee the possible pitfalls of international business negotiations.To investigate the interaction between cultures, communication, and conflict styles in international business negotiation, this paper examines the underlying relationship between intercultural business negotiations and culture differences. This paper endeavors to provide an insightful understanding of international business negotiation from intercultural perspective.The paper contains 5 parts. Part I introduces the subject and purpose of the study, as well as the structure. Part II focuses on the concepts and theories of intercultural and international business negotiation. Part III focuses on the influence of cultural differences on business negotiation through a deep analysis of the different thinking patterns, verbal and non-verbal behaviors and their respective impact on negotiators and the negotiating process. Part IV draws a conclusion on the previous discussion. II. Literature Review2.1 Definition of Business NegotiationAs for the definition of international business negotiation in general, there are some studies on it. It is commonly regarded that an international business negotiation is an activity that buyers and sellers absorb order to facilitate trading, or to resolve disputes and achieve their own economic interests. Production and development of Business negotiation is beneath the conditions of the commodity economy, and it has become essential in social and economic life. Generally, the process of negotiation consists of three different negotiation stages including the pre-, actual negotiation, and post- stages. The effective flow of the negotiation process can determine the success of a negotiation. 2.2 Definition of CultureThe word culture has numerous meanings. An early definition was provided by E. B. Tylor (1967), who treated culture as a complex of the society. Culture can be a set of fundamental ideas, practices, and experiences of a group of people that are symbolically transmitted from generation to generation through a learning process (Guo, 1997:25).Culture may as well refer to beliefs, norms, and attitudes that are used to guide our behaviors and to solve human problems. Moreover, we can see that culture from an interpretive and performance perspective by viewing it as a system of expressive practices and mutual meanings associated with our behaviors.III. The Influence of Cultural Differences on Business NegotiationSurvival in this multicultural world requires the ability to see through the eyes and minds of people from different cultural backgrounds. Intercultural sensitivity is a quality that enables business people to achieve a multicultural mindset. To achieve this competence, the first step would be to understand how cultural differences influence the business negotiation process.3.1 Difference in Thinking Patten3.1.1 Individualism vs. Collectivism Individualism-collectivism is the most widely studied cultural value related to the variability in negotiation, which could explain the common performance in business negotiation.People from individualistic cultures are more likely to act on principles, principles that are universal and apply to associates and strangers. American society negotiators from individualistic countries usually have a strong negotiating ability and high passion. However, the strong individualistic spirit makes the American staff members always try their best to reach their own goals. There is an instant and invisible competition around them, it is hard to judge whether they can work together perfectly or not.In comparison, collectivists are not unprincipled. Chinese people are considered collectivists because they view themselves as part of a team and place high priority on their in-groups. These collectivistic values have been hypothesized to value harmony and relationships. Chinese negotiators are expected to avoid conflicts and aggressive methods of dealing with them for the collectivist reasons of protecting social face and maintaining relationships. In negotiation, no one could be responsible for all the process while they believe the power and significance of teamwork. So they chose the negotiators who can work collaborate well at work and those who have a strong collectivistic spirit. They suggest that negotiation is never only one negotiators business but the whole teams obligation.3.1.2 Small vs. Large Power Distance The small-large power distance refers to, according to Hofstedes theory, is an attempt to measure cultural attitudes about inequality in social relationships. He is trying to measure how equal or unequal the people in a particular culture think people should be. Negotiator with different concepts of power distance is widely known (Davis, 1999:220).In cultures with small power distance (e.g. Australia, Austria, Denmark, Ireland, Israel, New Zealand), people believe that everyone is by nature equal to everyone else. There are differences in power and status in these countries, but people think they should be eliminated or minimized. Negotiators form these countries are always young, energetic, with high passion and they are really good at negotiating and controlling the negotiation. So the team may work perfectly and solidarity. However, the lack of enough experience may result in the young negotiators making some mistakes even fall in negotiation. In contrast, cultures with large power distance (e.g. Malaysia), position in a hierarchy is considered to be natural and important. People are unequal by nature. Negotiators in these countries would highly follow hierarchies, they are comfortable with hierarchical relationship, accept difference in power, therefore, the team always composed by men who is mature, stable and has rich experience as well as the most obvious feature :older in age. The advantage of this arrangement is the negotiator can deal with any situation clam and make perfectly decision. But this team is always unpopular in negotiation, because they always consume long time to make decisions. Japan is a country where each Japanese person always sticks to rating system. For example, once an American company carried on a negotiation with a Japanese company. American company sent the best and most wise negotiation team which was organized by young people and one lady. When the team got to Japan, they got cold reception and Japanese company refused to negotiate with the team at last. Reason is that people in Japan believe that young people, particularly women, do not suit to conduct important talks. In this case, we can infer that intercultural would influence the choice of negotiators organization (Guo, 2008:339). 3.1.2 Authoritative vs. Consensus The authoritative-consensus difference indicates the different style business negotiators employ when making decisions. Decision-making may be the most significant and complex connection in negotiation process. A right decision can make profits while a wrong one would hit our company seriously, not mention the profits. Culture plays an important role in decision-making process. Internal decision-making systems of negotiation teams are broadly classified as authoritative or consensus. The United States decision-making tends to be authoritative while the Japanese or Chinese one is characterized by consensus. Americans highly value individual rights and equalitarianism. Negotiators relatively have more authority than Japanese counterpart. Power is divided and dispersed precisely in order to avoid an absolute and centralized authority. The team leader may be given the authority to make decisions without consulting the superior. To Americans, the ultimate goal of negotiation is to accomplish the task, so specific issues are designated to individual negotiator who is given the authority to make decisions in terms of the issue he is responsible for, but not the matter of the whole group.Chinese negotiators are centralized and disciplined, avoiding an individual decision in any situation. Generally speaking, decision-making in China is known as bottom-up one. First, the Chinese negotiator starts with defining problems and the negotiators with lower ranks draft a proposal after achieving consensus within their own group. If the proposal is agreed, the decision will be passed upwards to the negotiators with higher ranks. Sometimes, when uncertainty arises, they will suddenly claim that they must submit the issue to higher authority, which may prolong the negotiation process. Until the decision has been approved by all the concerned team members at different levels of management, the consensus is built and the spokesman lets the other side know it. This consensus decision-making is slow, consuming much time. It takes a long way. Delays of a few months, or even years may appear in the negotiation with Chinese.Once American negotiation team carried on negotiation with Japanese team, both sides were exhausted due to the fierce and long time negotiating process. The American made decision immediately for the purpose of ending the negotiation while the Japanese team made decision with dely. Japanese negotiation leader explained that the original determined price is a little higher than the new price , he ought to ask boss for instructions. Due to the differences in decision-making, Americans often feel frustrated with the Japanese slow pace, perceiving them as stall, or uninterested in keeping the negotiation process alive. While to Japanese, American fast decision-making appears insincere and unprepared as they enjoy give-and-take（Chang，2008:74）.3.2 Differences in Verbal BehaviorsThe negotiation stage involves a face-to-face interaction, methods of persuasion, and the use of tactics. In this stage, verbal communication plays a significant role, and negotiators discuss and debate in various ways. Culture influences how people communicate both verbally. Obviously, different groups communicate in different ways. Some groups rely on direct communications while others on indirect communications；Some groups employ informal status marking system while others formal one. The more varied the methods of communications are, the more complex is the communications context and the more care must be given to understanding this context.3.2.1 Directness vs. IndirectnessThe direct-indirect style refers to the extent speakers reveal their intentions through explicit verbal communication. The direct verbal style refers to verbal messages that embody and invoke speakers true intentions in terms of their wants, needs, and desires in the discourse process. The indirect verbal style, in contrast, refers to verbal messages that camouflage and conceal speakers true intentions in terms of their wants, needs, and goals in the discourse situation. Such differences are obviously performance in negotiation. In a direct communication culture, messages are transmitted explicitly and directly, and communications are action-oriented and solution-minded. The action-orientation approach serves as a normative force for both conflict parties to press for resolution and early disclosure of problems. Thus American negotiators tend to step right up and tell other side to the face that they did wrong, favoring direct confrontation and discussing a problem freely. In negotiations, this means parties will often ask direct questions about interests and alternatives. American negotiators tendency to use explicit words is the most noteworthy characteristic of their communicative style. They prefer to employ such categorical words as “absolutely,” “positively” and “positively.” The English syntax dictates that the absolute “I” be placed at the beginning of a sentence in most cases, and that the subject-predicate relation be constructed in an ordinary sentence. By contrast, the cultural assumptions of him confident that he can go beyond it.In indirect cultures, people avoid confrontation when there is conflict. This is not to say that they do not address conflict; rather, it is done indirectly. In China, the emphasis on communication is indirectness and ambiguity. Most of the information is in the physical context or internalized in the individual, while little is in the explicit part of the message. The Chinese negotiators depend heavily upon convert clues to interpret a message given under certain context. They will tend to use language that is indirect, ambiguous, and understand unarticulated intentions and feelings, subtle gestures, and other environmental cues. The negotiators take it personally when the other party offers direct criticism of their company, their products, their work, or the proposal they have put on the table and will not conclude agreements with business partners whom they do not like. One of the often-mentioned expressions of indirect communications is the reluctance of most Chinese to say “no” directly. Similarly, other Asian countries are influenced by this concept especially in Korean. Korean negotiators do not make “negative response like “no, “or “I disagree with you,” or “I cannot do it,” Rather, they like to use more frequently than Americans circumlocutory expressions, such as “I agree with you in principle” or “I sympathize with you” ”. The importance of preserving group harmony is the primary reason why most Korean negotiators opt for the indirect style of communication in their negotiation table. The preference for indirect, ambiguous communication over dir