Intercultural Communication between China and American.doc

It means If someone communicate with foreigners, how could he notice the differences and communicate with them gracefully because they have different languages and cultures. Nowadays, with the development of the world economy, the globalization has become an irreversible trend. Today’s society, unlike the previous which is closed, is a society of cultural fusion. Everyone in the world is easy to communicate with others by using lots of chat tools. So, intercultural communication is a very useful course both in international trade and in understanding foreign culture.

When we talk about other countries, the most important thing we have to point out is culture which including religion, history, customs, rules, moral sentiment, academic thought, literature, art and so on. What people talk about, how they talk about It, what they see, and how they think are all influenced by their culture. Culture Is a way of life that Is developed and shared by lots of people who share similar sets of traditions, beliefs, values, customs and norms that are passed down from generation to generation. For instance, American is influenced by religion, Protestant culture of Europe.

Puritanism, rationalism and idealism have been the three main sources of American culture. It including individualism, freedom, equality, heroism and so on. The heroism is a very norm idea in American life, we can see it from Holly Wood movies, like Superman and Captain America. And equality is reflected in all social activities and relationships, it refer to everyone has same rights and chances in doing something. But Chinese culture which Influenced by Confucianism. It doesn’t like religion, but ad made lots of principles for how deal with things and how get along with people In our dally life.

The core of Confucianism Is Rene, which Including love, tolerance, kindness, modesty and so on. Meanwhile, Confucius also said that relationship between people is very different, they have different positions, like elder brother and younger brother, the grandpa on mother side and grandpa on father side. And in Confucianism, family is the basis of the society and people relate to other groups and the country in the same way they relate to their family members. The type of social legislation represent its cultural values and social structure.

Greet Hefted offers an approach to understanding the range of cultural differences in value orientation. Hypotheses approach is based on the assertion that people carry mental programs or “software of the mind” that is during childhood and is reinforced by their culture. These mental programs contain the Ideas of a culture and are expressed through Its dominant values. To Identify five dimensions along which dominant cultural patterns are ordered: Individualism, uncertainty avoidance, power distance, masculinity versus femininity, orientation to time. From Book Intercultural The first is power distance.

Although in the low said everyone has equal power, all the people in a culture do not have equal power. Depending on the culture, some people may be in higher position than others because age, education, achievements. In Chinese culture, the more elder you are the more power you may have. But in American culture, personal achievements are more important than age. So countries with a larger power distance will believe that each person has his own position in order, and freedom is limited, so they should not disobey their boss’ decisions. In entrant, in low distance power, they have same equal right in talking about decisions.

The second is uncertainty avoidance. There always have lots of changes and uncertain things we must face, but different cultures have different levels in accepting these things. In high uncertainty avoidance cultures, people prefer to using ways to avoid uncertainty. So, they want to be more safe by draw up strategies of their country and company. But in low uncertainty avoidance countries, they don’t willing to think about strategies and Just by their experiences. In this thesis, Chinese culture is similar to American culture. The third is individualism and collectivism.

Individualism means the relationship between self and other people is loosed. Personal interests are more important than the group’s interests. So, collectivism means the group’s interests are more important than personals. Chinese culture is collectivism while American culture is Individualism. In China, members must obey the group and the group is in top position. On the contrary, American is much respect personal ideas and interests. The fourth is masculinity vs.. Femininity. Femininity means people more care about operate with others and be willing to keep well relationship with boss.

They very care about the quality of life and guarantee of work. But masculinity is more care about material possession and income. In this point, Chinese culture and American culture are same. Time orientation is the fifth concern of all cultures. “The time orientation refers to a person’s point of reference about life and work. ” Cultures with a long term orientation means raising and encouraging quality that longing for rewards in the future, firmness and saving money specially. China is a long term orientation country while American is not. We can find evidences from real life of American and China.

Most of Chinese people are more like to buy a house not to rent house, so they like saving money for the future. But American has completed credit system, they can spend money in advance. Each of five dimensions has deep influences of culture on the communication process. Accompanied Chinese culture and American culture, we may not difficult conclude that power distance, individualism and collectivism, time orientation are the Americans with these ideas in our mind. Further more, we could solve lots of problems in foreign area by using this thesis.

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Intercultural Tensions

Theme 1) Insiders and Outsiders: Although strategies for reducing intergroup tensions do exist, it is unlikely that misunderstandings and hostility can ever be entirely eliminated: agree or disagree. Name: Student #: Seminar Section: Professor: Class: Course Code: Due: Submitted: It is through extensive research in international relationships with the ever-present theme of insiders and outsiders that this essay has been cultivated. While strategies to reduce intergroup tensions exist; religious, ethnic and racial reasons will continue to cause violence and disputes in the international community and will never come to an end.

For centuries, discrimination between races has caused harm in society through slavery and segregation. Ethnic cleansing, ethnic pluralism, multiculturalism and any other attempts made to bring ethnicities together or to separate them are too often the causes of disputes and wars. Religion has produced an immeasurable amount of damage worldwide to society, and is one of the largest creators of separation between people. The above statements will be examined further in the following portion of the document.

It will use; wars, disputes, bad political decisions and the past thousand years of history to express the point that intergroup tensions will always exist. Religious tensions Religion is one of the greatest proponents for violence between people of all time. Christianity has caused wars since it was erected roughly two thousand years ago, not to mention, the religious wars that were fought before that time. Some explain the violence as consequences of different religion’s dogmas, to their specific faith. For instance, if a person lives their life abiding by the Ten Commandments and following Jesus then hey can go to heaven. However, that means that they must sacrifice their ability to steal, kill, covet thy neighbour’s wife, et cetera. Now, if a person from another religion is also sacrificing certain actions so that they can reach their promised afterlife, then there is a direct conflict on a religious basis in that monotheistic world. If these made up people both believe that there is only one god, and they are both under different expectations in order to be allowed into the holy afterlife, then of course there will be conflict.

When considered on a much larger scale, the conflict becomes increasingly dangerous. The war between the United States and Iraq right now was started over religion. The Islamic terrorist organization Al-Qaeda attacked U. S. soil on September 11th 2001 in the name of Allah, which caused the U. S. to retaliate. Currently, the war is still prevailing, seven years later. There are many efforts to end the war in Iraq however after analysis of the situation, the answer is that the soldiers must stay there as a present force. Ethnic Tensions

Persistent clashes among ethnicities are a major indicator of the never-ending hostility and misunderstanding of cultures. Ethnic pluralism has caused countries to revaluate their heterogeneousness, labour migration and expulsion, which has caused interethnic catastrophes that often result in civil war. When different ethnicities start migrating into an area the locals of that land become worried about preserving their culture. This worrying, usually evolves into negative impacts on the community due to hostility felt towards the forced change on the locals.

The term “ethnicity” is defined as a way to identify characteristics, such as cuisine, traditions, common ancestors or nationality to a specific group. From that, the volatile actions and conflicts that are disputed among ethnicities are more understandable when considering the family involved. The sense to protect ones family may provoke a person to fight, “If group members are potential kinsmen, a threat to any member of the group may be seen in somewhat the same light as a threat to the family. ” (Horowitz, 1991, p. 4). The hostility against other ethnicities comes from the inherent will to protect ones family members.

One of the most famous ethnic disputes is that which is fought over the Gaza Strip, “Perhaps the longest-lasting, and still problematic ethnic clash is that of the Israelis and the Palestinians. ” (McCannon, 2006, p. 411). Even after establishing peace for over half a decade in the 1990s the Israelis and Palestinians returned to war with each other. The strategy of a cease-fire between Palestine and Israel temporarily stopped the war between the two countries, however, the persistency of continuous ethnic conflict prevailed. Racial Tensions

Tensions between races are still very common all over the world and discrimination will continue to separate races. A recent study proves that in the new millennium people of different colours feel the need to have more distance in between them. The traditional more abrupt style of racism is less commonly used, however, now it is a quieter type of discrimination. The term used for the racism today is called institutional racism. It is a way of tactically disadvantaging specific races through policies and barriers to employment. It keeps the black community in the poor houses with the low paying jobs and bad health.

An example of institutional discrimination hurting the ethnicities and races is bank loans. The bank has set up a system of which they follow in order to see who is applicable for a loan. One of the features of the bank’s system is calculating who is in the highest financial percentile group. Seeing as white males have dominated the business world for hundreds of years the bank considers the white male to be in the top percentile group. This would then give the white male the advantage for a loan over a black male because their average incomes are not as much as the white male group.

The way this bank system works in the first place is only benefiting white males, which is discriminatory towards all other races and ethnicities. The whole political and institutional system needs to be reviewed and reconstructed in order to create equality among all races. This is unlikely to happen soon because it is a functional system, and possible replacements could wreak havoc across the U. S. So the racial discriminated against populous is left to wait for a new system that is not racist. The intergroup conflict continues once again without resolve. Conclusion

To compile everything covered so far, the following are strong proponents for why the intergroup tensions are forever existent. The religious wars that have been continuously destroying lives and whole countries for thousands of year will not ever reside in peace. The large scope of ethnicities around the globe have the opportunity to reframe from wars and complete turmoil, however, they choose to continue fighting regardless of peace treaties. The racially discriminated against population in North America, primarily the United States, are subjected to many more years of institutional racism.

Finally, to conclude the point that has been reiterated over and over again. Even though strategies to reduce intergroup tensions do exist, the global system will be plagued with hostility and misunderstandings because of religious, ethnic and racial conflicts. Works Cited 1. McCannon, J. (Ed. ). (2006). Barron’s how to prepare for the ap world history advanced placement exam. New York City, New York: Barron’s Educational Series. 2. Frymer, P. (2005). Racism revised: courts, labor law and the institutional construction of racial animus. American Political Science Review. 9, 373-387, 15. 3. Gonzalez, J. C. (2007). The ordinary-ness of institutional racism: the effect of history and law in the segregation and integration of Latinas /os in schools. American Educational History Journal. 34, 331-345. 4. Proudford, Smith, K. K. (2003). Group membership salience and the movement of conflict: reconceptualizing the interaction among race, gender, and hierarchy. The Journal of Philosophy. 19, 223-234, 11. 5. Williams, R. M. (1947). The reduction of intergroup tensions: a survey of research on problems of ethnic, racial, and religious group relations.

The Annals of The American Academy. 1, 166-167, 2. 6. Wilson, J. Q. (2008). The downside of diversity. The Wilson Quarterly. 32, 67-68, 2. 7. Hughes, G. (2008). Words, war and terror.. English Today. 24, 13-17,5. 8. (2007). In god’s name. The Economist. 385, 4. 9. Sekulic, D. , Massey, G. , & Hodson, R. (2006). Ethnic intolerance and ethnic conflict in the dissolution of Yugoslavia.. Ethnic & Racial Studies. 29, 797-827, 30 10. Horowitz, D L. (1991). Ethnic groups in conflict. Los Angeles, California: Berkeley University Press. 1-66, 4.

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Intercultural Communication and Business Practice

Intercultural Communication and Business Practice: The system of sharing symbolic resources by a group of people is known as culture and communication is basically the practice of making and exchanging these symbolic resources or meanings. Since intercultural communication is basically communication between people of various cultures, intercultural business communication is considered as the communication by people of different cultures between and within businesses (Chen, 2007).

The importance of intercultural business communication and impact of intercultural communication in business practice is largely because of diversity in the workplace. Most organization and businesses depend on intercultural communication since cultural differences do not prevent people from working with each other. Actually, in today’s business environment, the need for good intercultural communication skills cannot be underestimated since it results in better business. Revolutionary Shift in Business Practice through Intercultural Communication:

As compared to fifteen years ago, business ventures and practice are rapidly becoming more and more globalized (Shively, 2010). This is largely due to the fact that today’s world is characterized by an ever increasing number of interactions between people from different cultural and linguistic backgrounds. International business has begun to develop in more prominent cultures with the exception of only a few regions. Consequently, the revolutionary shift in business practice from an intercultural communication angle is the rapid development of international business ventures across the globe.

Business ventures and enterprises are now adopting an international or global perspective that enables them to conduct their business effectively across various cultures. This shift to international business from a global perspective is due to the fact that intercultural communication is a common daily experience, universal phenomenon and has been on-going for thousands of years. The increase of intercultural communication in the twenty-first century is also a factor that has contributed to the revolutionary shift in business practice.

From an intercultural communication angle, there are four major developments that were significant to the rapid growth of intercultural communication and revolutionary shift in business practice. These major developments include: 1. Developments in Transportation Technology: The developments in transportation technology has not only helped in shrinking the world to a global village but it has in turn created a means for people to travel anywhere within a period of days (“Chapter 1” n. d. ).

As a result of this easier and quicker traveling, people from different cultural backgrounds communicate in the modern world and engage in business ventures and practices. 2. Improvements in Communication Technology: Improvements in communication technology happened concurrently with those in transportation technology prompting the rapid movement toward a global village. These improvements have resulted in the ability of people to have instant vocal, video, textual and graphic communication. Consequently, conducting international business has also been made easier because of the instant global communication in various forms. . Changes in Patterns of Mass Migration: With the movement of millions of people across national borders, contacts with people from other cultures have now become a normal part of day-to-day life. This has made businesses to strive in attempts to adapt to the cultural diversity including advertising to communities using their respective language. Such efforts enable businesses to communicate effectively to their customers from different cultural backgrounds. 4. Globalization of the World Economy:

This is the major development in intercultural communication that has resulted in the revolutionary shift in business practice since international businesses have become a vital economic force for many nations. This development has been brought by the fact that intercultural communication serves as a platform for conducting international business through international communication. The globalization of the world’s economy has challenged business people to become more internationally aware and inter-culturally adept. Revolutionary shift in business practice is also evident in the fact that globalization has promoted mobility and made the abor market more challenging (Espinar, 2010). However, working in an international team and interacting with business partners or customers from different cultural backgrounds has brought challenges and the need for new attitudes and skills. For international businesses to gain competitive advantage, there is need for conscious efforts in acquiring new skills to communicate successfully in a global context (“Introduction”, n. d. ). Furthermore, the global business environment requires a broad training on intercultural communication because of the cultural diversity and increasing globalization. Cultural Diversity Management:

Since the need for communication is a fundamental principle in the success of any business, management of cultural diversity is crucial. This is because intercultural communication may present difficult impediments that cover the whole communication spectrum. These intercultural barriers and conflicts that characterize today’s workplace basically involve verbal and non-verbal communication factors which have a huge impact on communication with people of other cultures. The major intercultural barriers and conflicts include ethnocentricity, jargon and slang, stereotypes, eye contact, time and personal space.

Ethnocentricity is basically considered as the assumption that other cultures speak the same language with a person’s culture. This has resulted in businesses conducting their transactions on their language and contributed to the failure of these businesses in foreign markets. While every culture develops unique sets of jargons and slang and use them in their business ventures, people from other cultures do not understand their meanings resulting in intercultural communication barriers. Various cultures have distinct approaches to personal space and a lack of cultural understanding may make certain people uncomfortable (Evans, n. . ). Stereotypes and assumptions across cultures have distinct meanings which significantly impact effective intercultural communication. Understanding cultural norms concerning eye contact and time is essential in effective intercultural business communication. This is due to the divergent approaches to eye contact and time across various cultures. Throughout the history of management of cultural diversity in businesses, there have been significant changes in which has led to the adoption of new business practices in handling intercultural communication barriers and conflicts.

From a historical perspective, addressing these barriers and conflicts was based on the predominantly indigenous and homogenous workforce. Intercultural business communication was minimal because of the nature of the business environment that wasn’t culturally diverse. The general cultural diversity management was developed through anti-discrimination, equality legislation, workplace ethics and affirmative action. The management mainly relied on affirmative action and equality policies to handle the intercultural barriers and conflicts in the workplace.

This business practice and approach by the management developed in the United States and was intended to conquer the dominance of white males in the business and workplace environment. Generally, there was no strategic approach of addressing intercultural communication barriers and conflicts. Management practices in the handling of intercultural communication barriers and conflicts have changed over time because of the world’s increasing globalization. Given that people are no longer in an insular marketplace and have become part of the global economy, there is need for interacting with people of divergent cultures.

Consequently, management of and importance of workplace diversity has become a fundamental issue for management today (Green et al, n. d. ). One of the major changes in diversity management is the development of the necessary managerial skills to supervise a multicultural work environment. These managerial skills basically involve training on multicultural differences within the organization in order to treat business associates, colleagues, partners and customers with dignity.

The current approach in handling intercultural communication obstacles and intercultural conflicts are not confined to compliance driven or rights-based practices. While equality and other diversity management legislations are integral in the process, the current practices involve a holistic approach. This holistic approach is for the strategic use of the diversity of people in the business environment to achieve business and organizational incentives. Instead of focusing on making the individuals fit to institutional values, the holistic approach focuses on valuing the individual.

As a result, the management and business objectives are connected since the approach capitalizes on drawing potential from individuals’ diversity. Conclusion: Intercultural business communication is essential to today’s business environment because of the diverse workforce which is a reflection of the changing marketplace and world. While a culturally diverse workforce adds greater value to organizations and businesses, it also brings several challenges and conflicts that need to be addressed. Therefore, it’s important for managers to possess necessary skills in handling these challenges to communicate effectively.

References: “Chapter 1: Introduction to Intercultural Communication. ” (n. d. ). Learning Chapters, from www. cflo. edu. cn/jiaocai/109/147/992075/??. doc Chen, J. (2007, August 7). International Business Communication, from http://ccomm. bravehost. com/Report1. html Espinar, A. L. (2010). The Use of ICT In The Development of Intercultural Business Communication, from http://www. pixel-online. net/ICT4LL2010/common/download/Proceedings_pdf/LBV06-Larrea_Espinar. pdf Evans, K. (n. d. ). Six Barriers to Intercultural Communication, from http://www. how. com/list_6303080_six-barriers-intercultural-communication. html Green et al (n. d. ). Diversity in the Workplace: Benefits, Challenges and the Required Managerial Tools, from http://edis. ifas. ufl. edu/hr022 “Introduction. ” (n. d. ). Research on Contemporary Diplomacy, from DiploFoundation Education website: http://www. diplomacy. edu/language/communication/main. htm Shively, M. (2010, March 29). Intercultural Business Taboos: What to Avoid, from http://www. associatedcontent. com/article/2819950/intercultural_business_taboos_what. html

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Intercultural Communication Critical Essay

Intercultural Communication in a Global WorkplaceWilhemenia M Maxey Hana, A Joint Venture Between Health Snacks and Toka Foods March 09, 2013 Professor Marcus Payne Trinity International University The world consists of different countries. Every country has its own unique culture. People come from different countries have different belief and different customs. But with the globalization […]

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Effective Intercultural Communication

The management team from Asian Services international Group (ASIG)  will be in our office next week.  During their one week visit, we will present our marketing proposal and take them to visit some of the clients that will benefit from our joint marketing venture.  It is imperative that we be aware of and sensitive to […]

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Cultural Differences and Similarities Between Colombia and China

As Egger Hefted (2001) explained, culture Is comprised of power distance, Individualism, masculinity, uncertainty avoidance, pragmatism, and indulgence. If we use these components to analyze the two countries from the example, we find various similarities and differences that would greatly affect a business transaction between the two. Both Colombia and China share similarities in the […]

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