Intercultural Communication Practices of China-US Comparison and Contrast - Essay Example

Intercultural Communication Practices of China-US Comparison and Contrast By Intercultural Communication Practices of China-US Comparison and Contrast Introduction Globalization, which refers to the highly active exchanges of activities between regions and countries across the world, has enabled the multidimensional connection of things and people regardless of temporal and spatial confines, permeating all walks of life from finance to politics, ideology to information, as well as from technology to media. As a result of this dynamic international interaction, several organizations and institutions, no longer static or isolated are expanding into every cranny and nook of the globe. Thus, one of the biggest challenges that face such institutions and organizations is the ever increasing cultural diversity of the workforce, as well increasing number of prospective clientele with varying cultural backgrounds. Cultural nuances, language barriers, as well as value divergence can easily result in unintended misconceptions, misunderstanding, and low efficacy in communication, particularly, in a multinational environment. Intercultural communication, also referred to as cross-cultural communication, therefore, acts as a lubricant that reduces frictions, helps resolve disputes and conflicts, and improves work efficiency. It also acts a coagulant, enhancing team work collaboration, integrating collective strength and wisdom, and uniting multiple cultures between ethnicity and race, resulting to a desirable virtuous circle of interaction effect. This paper compares and contrasts the cross-cultural communication business practices of China and the US. It identifies three aspects of culture that make up people’s understanding between one another in a business setting, particularly, non-language and language code, cultural beliefs and values, and cultural preconceptions and stereotypes. Discussion Culture refers to the multifarious ways, commonly held by a certain group of people and passed on inter-generationally and interpersonally, of organizing and perceiving the world. It is neither innate nor instinctive; rather, it is taught and learnt, handed down from generation to generation in a larger community and is imprinted and reinforced gradually into individual’s minds with time. Apparently, culture influences the way in which people in a given context communicate, as well as the way they view each other. Therefore, one institution’s or business’ conduct as developed within a given environment and reflecting the workforce’s cultural identity may, in many occasions, not blend or be applicable to another culture. Intercultural communication shows the exchange of emotions, ideas, as well as information by means of words, language, and body language between persons for diverse backgrounds. Non-language and language code Language as a medium of culture is an important part or aspect of culture; it has a unique cultural connotation. The differences that exist between various languages are marked characteristics of intercultural communication and present a fundamental obstacle. China mainland has more than 56 ethnic groups with more than 80 dialects that are in use today. These sub-languages are not mutually intelligible or interchangeable to varying degrees with each other. Despite the fact that all the Chines people are of one nationality, they cannot communicate with one another when they come from different geo-linguistic places. For instance people from the south of China where Minnan and Cantonese languages are prevalent cannot easily communicate with people from the north where the official Chinese language, Mandarin is adopted. This however has been helped by the efforts by the Chinese government of promoting Mandarin as Chinese official language (Li 43). The linguistic challenge has two respects, context and semantics. It is of great significance for business to understand not only the meaning of words, but also the context in which the words are used for them to successfully venture into a different market. For instance, the Chinese are prone to buying brands that are associated with fortunate meanings, as long as the other qualities are the same. This is what Pepsi, and American beverage company realized when they went to China and thus did not phonetically attempt translate Pepsi into Chinese as many foreign companies would do, but it called itself “Bai Shi Ke Le”, which refers to everything in China being enjoyable. This ensured that it become a success when it debuted in the Chinese markets. In sharp contrast, a Chinese battery manufacturing company when venturing into the US market failed to consider semantics or idiom and literally translated the name of its product into “white elephant”, which unlike its version in Chinese, has a negative connotation in US English. Such a name thus messed up the product’s sales in the US from the onset. Just as language code is related to culture, so is non-language code. In intercultural communication, non-language code supplements language code, and help people get meanings across and interact with one another despite of cultural disparities. According to Hall (105), high context cultures use implicit means such as body language, facial expression, and symbolic objects in order to interpret messages compared to low context cultures that use more explicit means. In Chinese culture for example, giving a lotus as a present or gift implies that the giver is glorifying the integrity of the receiver. This is because; the lotus in Chinese is a symbol of purity. In the US, however, there are those that consider a lotus as a bad omen, thus giving it out as a gift may be interpreted as cursing the receiver. Insignificant and subtle as it may be seen or considered, non-language code has the ability to either break or make efforts in business to a certain extent. Chinese business women, for example, may unintentionally leave a bad or negative impression on American negotiators due to their lack of firmness of handshake and eye contact, which is as a result of their adherence to the ancient tradition of the “Four Virtues and Three Obedience for Women.” This required that woman obey their fathers before marriage, their husbands once they are married, and their sons when widowed; further, women were expected to adhere to proper virtues, countenance, speech, and conduct. Despite the fact that these traditions are somewhat obsolete, they still wield a stealthy effect on the behavior of Chinese women in business, thus investing them with negative views of aggressiveness and docile personalities in women. As a result, Chinese women in business are thus subconsciously persuaded to avoid direct stare. Often, many Americans misread this, since they culturally consider a firm grasp and eye contact as connoting confidence, trustworthiness, and honesty. In this regard, a suspicious and doubtful atmosphere is thus created even before negotiations can take place, which is likely to jeopardize the interests and outcome of the two parties. Cultural beliefs and values Most often, people appraise their surroundings based on systematic cultural beliefs and values. Despite globalization and a globe that is increasingly interconnected, there still exists cultural divergence amongst various cultures and ethnicities, which plays an important role in people’s dogmas. American business culture values individualism and emphasizes individual independence, achievement, productivity, and competence. Task oriented mentality and individual autonomy is what is expected, which means that individual objectives are sanctioned alongside group interests. In contrast to the American business culture, Chinese business culture values collectivism over individualism. Chinese value nothing more than overall harmony; for them, personal interests and goals cannot in any way take priority over overall group interests and objectives. Collective and communal harmony outweighs the specific individual needs. China have originated from Confucianism, the Chinese people are thus influenced by this philosophy to view themselves as part and players in a larger community and that they are expected to follow and adhere to the rules of that larger community, as well as conform to the behaviors of the other members and avoid obtrusiveness. According to collectivism, merging into a larger group harmoniously without calling attention to individual and personal interests is important for success to be achieved. In this regard, employees from China may consider American business culture as being cold, not caring, and indifferent. On the same breadth, self-reliant and confident American worker might have a difficult time adapting to a Chinese work environment where the prevalent atmosphere is people-oriented. The difference between collectivism and individualism also affects people’s communication styles; particularly, individualistic cultural values and beliefs encourage people to express themselves and speak openly, while collectivism cultural values and beliefs teach people to express themselves subtly and control their feelings (Yuan 6). Therefore, American employees try to be straightforward in whatever they do, since assertiveness and straightforward behavior represents the individual’s self-assurance, efficiency, and competitiveness. However, in a more traditional Chinese culture, the idea of indirect maneuver is considered as respect and politeness, although the idea of beating around the bush to sound others out is usually time-consuming. As a result of Chinese influence, most Chinese employees and business people have the tendency of showing modesty with regards to personal or individual achievements, and thus when they receive praise from an American supervisor, they behave ashamed which somewhat confuses the American supervisor and also leaves a negative impression that the employee is either not competent or not confident. Initiatives versus Chines philosophies Often in the American job market, leadership skill is mentioned, and employers usually prefer candidates who are potentially inclined to change the status quo or take initiative, instead of those who wait passively. This quality however, may not be considered as being favorable by the Chinese business culture, where keeping the working routine and following the set work order is the norm. Thus, taking initiative to create changes is considered as meddling with other people’s affairs and going overboard-beyond one’s roles and duties. Usually, this kind of culture is experienced in Chinese governmental institutions where leaders at the helm push the subordinates to follow orders and the authoritarian culture is the norm (Chen 54). Further, in China, the dormant ambiance is obedience. Conclusion In the current highly interconnected and globalized business world, the world is confronted with a mix of culture, race, and gender. Thus, effective intercultural communication is important since it presupposes the suspension of prejudiced preconception, ethnocentric biases, and the values of wrong and right rested on one particular standard and stand-point. Communicative flexibility and cultural relativity are the heart of intercultural communication. It enables people to realize the sign of lingering problems and correct them before conflicts occur, especially in multinational business environments (Solomon and Schell 112). For effective intercultural communication between the Chinese and Americans, this paper therefore recommends that people be tolerant and open-minded, listen, agree to disagree, stop overstressing diversity, and allow silence to do the talking. Works Cited Chen, G. Intercultural Communication Research. Beijing: Higher Education Press, 2009. Print. Hall, E. T. Beyond Culture. Garden City, NY: Anchor Press/Doubleday, 1976. Print. Li, J. Passport: China. San Rafael: World Trade Press, 1996. Print. Solomon, Charlene, and Michael S. Schell. Managing Across Cultures: The 7 Keys to Doing Business with a Global Mindset. New York: McGraw Hill Professional, 2009. Print. Yuan, W. “Intercultural Communication and Conflict between American and Chinese Colleagues in China-Based Multinational Organizations.” ProQuest, 2006. Print. Read More