Culture And Communication Style : China

     In business, successful communication is the key to success, and being able to relate to a customer is the best form of communication. This is why cross-cultural communication is so important as the business world continues to globalize itself. Unfortunately, “A lack of awareness about the culturally prescribed rules and norms of communication behaviors can cause public relations projects to fail, or worse, backfire.” (Zaharna, 2001, p.135).

A. Cross-Cultural Differences Company X is considering expanding its business to China. However, prior to moving into a new and foreign market, Company X must understand the various cross cultural differences that are relevant to properly conducting business in China. By being more sensitive to and understanding the cross-cultural differences, Company X's transition into the new market should be less challenging and improve its chances of acceptance. Language, work ethic and material culture are three cultural differences that should, first, be understood prior to pursuing opportunities in China.

In a business perspective, the oriental and western cultures remain a huge difference. Low-context societies such as American egalitarian culture, they emphasize on logic and facts, verbal messages are more direct and concise, individualism and extremely tolerant to changes. However, high-context societies such as Chinese hierarchy culture, they prefer non-verbal methods to express meaningful communications, group-oriented, and pay more attention to interpersonal relationships during business interactions. For example, a successful business interaction will count on interpersonal relationships among businesses and government. On the other hand, business dealings can be completely transactional with Americans, without building relationships to do so.

The following examines the nation of China and its trade relations with the world, particularly the United States. The focus is primarily on China’s culture and how it impacts business dealings with other countries. Areas examined include: Religion, Management Philosophy, and Business Etiquette. Also discussed is China’s growing status as a world super power and how that has impacted the global business landscape. Likewise, various trading partners are examined and the effects of doing business with China, specifically for the United States. Points of concern for the United States are things such as the

A variety of key cultural differences shape the behaviors and attitudes within both the United States and Japan. Key cultural differences as defined by the Hofstede model, such an individualistic society versus a collective society, short term orientation versus long term orientation, as well as direct communication style versus indirect communication style. This paper will focus on the key cultural difference within business communication styles of both. Then, it will conclude with analyzing any adjustments that would need to be made in order to conduct business in Japan.

Communication – verbal and otherwise – remains an important dimension of international management, and there are different communication styles, how communication is processed and interpreted, and how culture and language influence communication and miscommunication (Luthans & Doh, 2012).

The geographical area of China is more than 9 million square kilometers and as a result, it is the fourth largest country in the world. There are several ethnic groups in China, the Han Chinese is the largest group, and it is found in almost all parts of the country. Other minority groups include Tibetan, Zhuang, Korean, and Mongol. The Chinese society is high context and non-verbal. The Chinese people acquire the knowledge of what they are supposed to do and say even if they are not told through conversation. Voice and facial expressions play a critical role in determining the feelings in a person. They do not have facial expressions when in a conversation. Direct eye contact is avoided because it is viewed as a symbol of disrespect (Clair & Norris, 2011).

The People's Republic of China is the second-largest country in the world by land area, with a unique style of doing business. People from other countries would also look at America and think they have a unique style of doing business as well while we would see it as the norm. By the same token, China’s take on the business world, economy, and general way of shopping vastly differs from the American’s because Chinese business value personal relationships in comparison to American’s more impersonal style.

Many assume that their daily life and basic education is enough to be fluent in communication, gender and culture, but they are severely mistaken. As our society becomes more diverse the need to learn about communication and culture increases ever more, for with communication and understanding of one's identification, we can limit and decrease the bigotry in the world. Therefore, allowing to build a stronger foundation for a better society.

     On the other hand, Chinese worker are centered on relationship. Chinese focus on relationship with others and live in the world of trust. Chinese trust people around them in their work place. Often, Chinese did not require signing contract in every agreement unlike American where all agreement must be in contract. By trusting others credibility, it helps create a friendly working environment and promotes intimate relationship among the workers. However, their main weakness is their business culture, where they are quiet and reserved which will reduce their credibility when dealing with American. They weakness also made them a weak immediate decision maker. As for interpersonal problem, Chinese are very concern about the good relationship, and hold it as their top priorities. Chinese would not do any agreement or trade that could harm their relationship with others. Lastly, Chinese are very polite and indirect. They try as hard to prevent the relationship from

Chinese workers believe that close personal relationships are imperative to effective communication. American companies don’t share the same views and some organizations have even related this to workplace fraternization, which can result in disciplinary action. Since we don’t believe that these relationships are necessary, or even appropriate, we don’t form them and this could affect a bi-national workplace and possibly even carry over to business dealings outside of the company. The Chinese believe that, when conducting business with other people, a relationship must first be formed to gain the trust of business partners.

Another value that is very important in Chinese culture is trust. Trust lies at the heart of successful long-term intercultural business relationships. Therefore, Oldtown employee must be prepared in gaining the Chinese Manager in China trust to deal with business. In China, the cross-cultural business relationships, trust plays an indispensable role since partners from different cultures don’t always have the same values or assumptions about how business works. When trust is developed, partners can navigate difficult issues over time by fostering a candid exchange of ideas, issues and agendas. Developing trust can significantly reduce what Westerners often complain of in their dealings with Chinese counterparts: unpredictable behavior and a lack of transparency. As a Chinese executive at Google put it, “In China, your success depends on how well a person trusts you.”

This paper aims to explore the cultural barriers that GM encounters while doing business in China especially in terms of language and Asian mind difference. As a matter of fact, we cannot examine all the cultural barriers due to the scope of the paper. On the other hand, some differences emerging from different thinking behavior between US and China are exemplified in the second part of the paper. In the first part, the company information and the SWOT analysis of GM are given before going further with the Asian operations of the company.

With China emerging as a global power in business within the last decade, knowing about doing business in China has become more important than ever. There are both many advantanges and challenges with doing business in China in this modern era, and understanding both sides of this coin is the key to being successful in China. Some aspects to keep in mind include the cultural barrier, the price of the work force in China compared to the United States, and have the “made in China” brand be accepted back in the United States.

Cross-cultural communication is the process of exchanging meaningful and unambiguous information across cultural boundaries, in a way that preserves mutual respect and minimizes antagonism, that is, it looks at how people from differing cultural backgrounds endeavour to communicate. The study of cross-cultural communication was originally found within businesses and the government both seeking to expand globally. Communication is interactive, so an important influence on its effectiveness is our relationship with others. All communication is cultural -- it draws on ways we have learned to speak and give nonverbal messages. We do not always