The Impact of Sino-US Cultural Differences on Business Manner中美文化的差异对商务礼仪的影响

The Impact of Sino-US Cultural Differences on Business

Manner

Contents

摘要 (Ⅰ)

Abstract (Ⅱ)

Introduction (1)

Part One. Literature Review (1)

Ⅰ. Theories related to culture (1)

1. Definition of culture (1)

2. Cultural differences and their roots (2)

Ⅱ. Theories related to business manner (3)

1. Definition of business manner (3)

2. Root of Chinese and American manner (4)

Part Two. Impacts of Sino-US cultural differences on manner (4)

Ⅰ. On knocking up an acquaintance (4)

1. Greeting (4)

2. Personal space (5)

3. Addressing (5)

4. Exchanging business card (6)

Ⅱ. On dining-table manner (7)

1. Drinking (7)

2. Words in banquets (8)

3. Tableware (9)

4. Seating (9)

Ⅲ. On mode of thinking (10)

1.Integration and segmentation (10)

2. Spiral and linear (10)

Ⅳ. On value concept (12)

1. Interdependence and independence (12)

2. Modesty and Forwardness (13)

3. Friendship and privacy (14)

Ⅴ. On time concept (14)

Conclusion (16)

Notes (17)

Bibliography (18)

Acknowledgement (19)

中美文化的差异对商务礼仪的影响

摘要

作为世界上两大重要的国家和主要的贸易合作伙伴，如今中美两国的商务活动越来越频繁。然而，当两国进行贸易时，受文化差异的影响所产生的商务礼仪的不同是一个不可忽视的问题。如果不了解对方国家的文化礼仪，两国的商务进程很可能会失败。因此，掌握各国的商务礼仪知识是十分必要的，而且在进行贸易活动之前对这些差异进行研究也是十分值得的。

在本文中，首先对礼仪做出了定义和概念,介绍其基本的观点，然后再进行深入了解。但是本文的重心则从五个方面分析中美两国商务礼仪的差异，包括首次见面时的礼仪，餐桌礼仪，由于时间、价值观念不同看法，和思维方式的差异带来的礼仪。本文的写作目的是帮助两国的商人了解彼此礼仪的差异，使他们能够在商务进程中做出得体的举止，并尽可能地取得成功。

关键词：文化差异，商务礼仪，影响

The Impact of Sino-US Cultural Differences on

Business Manner

Abstract

As two most important countries in the world and major trade partners, nowadays the business activities between China and US are becoming more and more frequent. However, when the business deals take place across the two countries, the manner differences which are caused by cultural differences cannot be neglected. Therefore, the process of business activities can easily break down because of a lack of understanding of each country’s culture and manner. As a result, the knowledge of respective business manner is essential and it is worth the time to investigate those differences prior to starting business deals.

In this thesis, basic definitions and concepts are reviewed so as to give a general idea of business manner, and more important, to make a deeper understanding of it. But the focus of this thesis is put on the manner differences between the two countries from five aspects, including knocking up an acquaintance, dining-table manner, time concept, value concept and mode of thinking. The purpose of writing this thesis is to help the people both in China and America to recognize the manner differences, and therefore they can behave properly in the process of business deals and achieve successfully.

Keywords:cultural differences, business manner, impact

Introduction

The rapid development of science and technology are making the world smaller. Therefore, the relationship among countries is becoming closer and closer, especially between China and America. During the economic development of the globalization, the most obvious phenomenon is that the business activities between the two countries are becoming more and more frequent. However, because of the different economic backgrounds, values, and religious beliefs due to cultural differences, the business manner differs from each other, which leads to conflicts and frictions in doing business.

In order to reduce the conflicts, people should know the differences well in cultures and business manner between China and America. In the following studies, cultural differences and their influence on each country’s manner on different occasions are systematically presented. Besides, the author gives several cases to illustrate the differences of manner and shows how important for the business men in both China and America to understand those differences.

Part One. Literature Review

Presently, more and more people have realized the importance of business manner, thus many scholars engage in studying in this field. Since this thesis studies the impact of Sino-US cultural differences on business manner, a review on the theories of predecessors from two aspects including culture and business manner is indispensable.

Ⅰ. Theories related to culture

1. Definition of culture

There are many definitions of culture. The earliest and classic definition was put forward over 100 years ago by Taylor, a well-known British anthropologist,

who defined culture as “that complex whole which includes knowledge, belief, art, morals, law, custom, and any other capabilities and habits acquired by man as a member of society①.”

There are many other definitions from different perspectives, but nevertheless, we are concerned with those which are conductive to our understanding of the relationship between culture and business manner.

Geert Hofstede, an expert on management and cross-cultural differences, defined culture as “the collective programming of the mind which distinguishes the members of one human group from another …Culture, in this sense, includes systems of values，and values are among th e building blocks of culture.” From this point of view, we can see that culture is a system of values and norms which are shared by a group of people. By those values and norms, people in one group can judge what is good, right, and desirable.

2. Cultural differences and their roots

It is known that people across nations and cultures have different behaviors and beliefs. “Members of different cultures look differently at the world around them. Some believe that the physical world is real. Others believe that it is just an illusion. Some believe everything around them is permanent while others say it is transient. Reality is not the same for all people②.” For instance, age is highly respected in China. Young people are taught to respect the old when they are children. On the contrary, Americans encourage and promote those who are qualified and competent regardless of age and the young don't see the old in the same way as Chinese do. American culture is considered to be individualistic, whereas Chinese culture is characterized by collective.

Why cultures differ between these two countries? To answer this question, we should explore the roots of American culture and Chinese one. “In the United

States, it is estimated that 86% of the population is Christian.” C hristians believe in God who is almighty and the Creator of everything, heaven, earth, moon, animals and human. So they behave confidently and attach much importance to individualism. While in China, Confucianism is a philosophic thought that has spread not only in China but also in the whole East Asia for 2,500 years. “Confucianism can be conceived as involving six core values: (a) moral cultivation, (b) importance of interpersonal relationships, (c) family orientation, (d) respect for age and hierarchy, (e) avoidance of conflict and need for harmony, (f) concept of face③.” According to this thought, individualism has negative meanings. It stresses on harmony, face, peace and so on. All these have shaped Chinese traditional culture. Nowadays, the influence of Confucian can still be seen everywhere in China. With so many cultural differences, each country’s business manner must differ from each other.

Ⅱ. Theories related to business manner

1. Definition of business manner

Before discussing the definition of business manner, we should understand the meaning of the word, manner. Manner refers to a kind of standardized behavior in human’s contacts and communications which means more than politeness. Here is a definition of manner as follows: “Manner means form al rules of correct and polite behavior in society or among members of a profession.”

Accordingly, business manner can be defined as standardized behaviors and norms that should be abided by business people in their activities．In Ma’s opinion, he defines the business manner as follows: Business manner is the norms and criteria along with language, expression and behaviors, in different situation abided by two or more business parties, by which they express their recognition, show their respects to each other and exchange each opinion, in order to establish a

friendly and harmonious business relationship.

2. Root of Chinese and American manner

China, as the cradle of oriental culture, enjoys a reputation of the manner country. In China, manner is equal to courtesy and ceremony. As early as in Han dynasty, there were three great works, called “three li”, Yi-li, Chou-li and Li-ji, which together had a great influence in Chinese society.

However, America history is short, so is its manner history. The word manner was originated from French “manner”, whose original meaning was laissez-passer in court. Later, people found not only in court, but in social community they should abide by some norms and regulations. So manner became the laissez-passer of personal intercourse nowadays.

Therefore, American manner is not as profound as Chinese manner. That’s why Americans don’t care so much about manner as Chinese people do.

Part Two. Impacts of Sino-US cultural differences on manner

Because culture influences manner, the values, beliefs, attitudes and behaviors are vastly different from culture to culture. With such different cultural backgrounds between China and America, the business manner of the two countries is different beyond question. The specific differences will be discussed from five aspects as follows.

Ⅰ. On knocking up an acquaintance

1. Greeting

Greetings can be roughly divided into language greetings and non-language greetings. For the non-language greetings, it means besides saying something, they greet through facial expression or body language, such as nodding, smiling or

shaking hands. It is a common manner all over the world that people greet each other when they meet. But the ways or words they use to greet are different. In America, people greet each other as simple as: “hello” or “how are you?” or “good morning”, “good afternoon” according to the time. These are quite different from our China’s greetings. Take an example, a new American teacher in China was riding his bicycle in the campus when he met a Chinese student. The Chinese student asked him: “have you had your dinner?” Of course it is just a common Chinese greeting around meal time. But the teacher stopped and said: “I’m going to. Let’s go.” But the student had walk away, just leaving one word: “goodbye.” The American teacher felt surprised and embarrassed. Because to Americans, the greeting might mean: “I haven’t either. Come on. Let’s go to eat something together.” That is to say, if we greet Americans like this, they will consider we give them an invitation.

The other greeting in China is that: “Where are you going?” This is also improper when greeting an American. Because Americans put much emphasis on privacy and they think it is their privacy.

2. Personal space

Personal space is variable from person to person, depending on the gender, age, cultural background, and relationship to the people with whom they are communicating. In China, people are comfortable with a closer personal space than that of Americans. They think a short distance can enhance the friendship between people. But when conversing with the opposite sex, the personal distance is bigger, because Chinese people have a conventional concept on it. According Chinese culture, people should keep a bigger distance between men and women.

3. Addressing

In business activities, people are very sensible to the addressing others make

to them. Chinese culture is a formal one. In China, Mr. or Ms. is popular addressing, and complete name is also acceptable. But title and status are extremely important. Using titles is a sign of respect in China. For example, it’s proper to add ress someone Mr. Zhang, but it’s better to address him as Chief Zhang if he is a chief of a company. Chinese people always avoid calling people by their first names, unless they are longtime friends, for the use of a first name at a first meeting is considered as an act of disrespect.

Comparatively, Americans have a more informal culture. They believe that an informal, casual addressing demonstrates friendliness and sincerity. They often feel uncomfortable to follow the prescribed manner even in formal situations. Therefore, for Americans they always call someone by his or her first name, disregarding for titles and status. They think this is an act of friendship and goodwill.

There is another difference in addressing between China and the United States.

I n Chinese traditional culture, people consider that it’s a virtue to respect the old. “The old” stands for somebody who is full of knowledge and experience. So in China, people often call someone “oldsurname” to show their respect. But in America, it’s tot ally different. American culture speaks highly of the youth rather than the old. In their minds, youth are the symbol of future, hope and enthusiasm and all of those are declining when getting old. Relatively, the old are the group who are not respected by people. Therefore, Americans often try to avoid saying the word “old”. No matter old or young, they like to call someone by his or her name directly.

4. Exchanging business card

The business card is used in communication, especially on business occasions. It’s printed with the personal name, company’s information, phone number and address and it is always used as an introduction. But people from different

countries treat business card differently. Chinese people with a formal culture, tend to treat it with respect and ceremony. People often offer and receive it with both hands, looking at it carefully for four or five seconds, and then put it away cautiously and respectfully. Sometimes they may expect the counterpart’s business card after offering their own. However, the situation in America is of totally another kind. Many Chinese business men are struck by the way Americans treat this little piece of card. Americans treat it casually. When Chinese people politely offer their business card with both hands to Americans, the Americans may put it into pockets at once or toss it onto the desk immediately without a glance. That’s because American culture is an informal culture. They like do things in the informal and casual way and they think the business card is not necessary since they have met.

Ⅱ. On dining-table manner

Most of the international business activities are carried on not only in bland office environment, but also in the social places, such as restaurants, bars and so on. The purpose of dining with business counterparts is not only for a dinner, but also a prolongation of business. Due to the Sino-US cultural differences, there are a lot differences in dining-table manner between the two countries. Therefore, it’s necessary to know the differences in order to speak and behave properly while dining.

1. Drinking

Table culture is the most distinct part of Chinese culture. As Chinese culture is a typical collective culture. So they value relationship most. They don’t talk a lot about business in a dinner, but drink and toast much to establish a close relationship. How much you drink usually means how sincere you are. The Chinese toast “gan bei” literally means “empty glass”. However, the tradition of emptying glass can’t

be accepted by Americans.

American culture, on the other hand, is a typical individualistic culture. The concept of relationship is not as important as that in China. Americans value time and efficiency as most important. So they always bring business on the dining table. Although they also establish relationship in a business dinner, they drink properly but talk a lot about business. Some Americans regard that Chinese way of drinking is impolite and even a waste of time.

Therefore, when people from these two countries are not familiar with the manner, they may well make jokes or embarrassments. There is a joke between Chinese and American business men. A Chinese company just signed up a contract with an American company. And they invited those American representatives for a banquet one night. During the banquet, Chinese kept persuading American representatives to toast and bottom up till everyone was drunk, though the Americans said they couldn’t drink anymore several times. Then the next day when the Chinese representatives went to the place where they planned to meet for a second round of negotiation, they couldn’t find the Americans. After waiting for a long time, they called one representative who said: “we’re terribly sorry but we’re still in the bed. By the way, we really appreciate the beautiful food in the banquet, but we can never afford too much drink next time, please.”

2. Words in banquets

In China, people are taught to be modest from their childhood and modesty is considered as a Chinese virtue. Chinese people are passionate and hospitable. When they invite an American to come for a dinner, they always prepare a full table of delicious dishes but still say: “I’m sorry, but there are only a few dishes. Please help yourself.” The American is surprised: “since there have been so many dishes, why does he still say a few?” During the dinner, the host persuades the