The Cultural Difference Of Nonverbal Communication in Crossculture Business Negotiations.doc

The Cultural Difference Of Nonverbal Communication in Cross-culture Business NegotiationsAbstract ：Ever since China joins to the WTO, international business increased a lot. However many business negotiations end with failure. The most important factor which affects the success of business negotiation is cross-cultural communication. The study of cross-cultural communication includes language communication and non-verbal communication. People usually pay attention to verbal communication in general during communication. They believe that language is the only way to transmit and comprehend information, while ignoring the importance of non-verbal communication. This paper attempts to introduce the basic ideas of non-verbal communication and apply relevant principles to account for some cross-culture business negotiation skills through case studies. This paper aims to make people understand the importance of non-verbal communication and the non-verbal language difference which is influenced by different social backgrounds so as to avoid business negotiations failure. Key Words：nonverbal communication; business negotiations; culture difference1. IntroductionWith the development of social economy and high technology, China's exchanges with other countries become more and more frequent, the study of cross-cultural communication is also developed. Ever since China joins to WTO, international business activities increased a lot. For businessmen who engaged in international business communication, its necessary to understand cross-cultural communication knowledge and skills so as to reduce or eliminate misunderstanding of non-verbal language which may caused friction and conflict. The study of cross-cultural communication can improve the communication efficiency which is of great practical significance. It will affect the success of international business communication . The cross-cultural communication study includes the verbal communication and non-verbal communication. According to a survey of interpersonal communication by Rey L Bodekesi: During the process of communicating of two persons, the information conveyed through language is only 35% of the total, while the remaining 65% is transmitted through the movements, posture, distance from each other and other non-verbal behaviours.3 (155) However, during communication, people usually only pay attention to verbal communication in general. They believe that language is the only way to transmit and comprehend information, while ignoring the importance of non-verbal communication. 2. A Brief Introduction to Nonverbal CommunicationBurgoon and Saine define "Nonverbal Language"as follows: Nonverbal Communication is all the communication movements except the language behaviour. Nonverbal communication refers to the actions which are sent out purposely, received with consciousness and may have a response. 2(1) Since nonverbal communication contains too many things and can be divided into many different systems, its impossible to deal with all non-verbal communication theories in details. So this paper will just focus on three major strategies of nonverbal communication which are devided by Bi Jiwan. The three major strategies are body language,paralanguage and environment language.2(6-7) 2.1 Body languageAccording to Ekman and Friesen's body language classification, the body language can be divided into five categories. That is embloms, illustrators, affect display, regulators and adaptors. The classification is based on the causes of the behaviour, the usage, and the code. 1 (13-18) First, emblems. Emblems is the type of action which has a clear meaning, often used replace the language acts. Emblems often have a clear cultural identity. Second, illustrators. Illustrators is a type of action which can illustrate the meaning of the conversation with the help of language. It can be used for stress, description, characterization and so on. Third, affect display. Affect display is a type of action mainly displayed through some facial expressions or other body parts movement which will reveal the speakers emotion or mood. Fourth, regulators. Regulators is a kind of movements which can be used to maintain or adjust the conversation atmosphere. People can advice the speaker to continue to talk, to repeat, or to further explain with the help of regulators. Regulators can be used in Turn-taking.Fifth, Adaptors. Adaptors can be divided into three types: self-adaptors, alter-directed and object-adaptors. Under normal circumstances, people will have many self-adaptor actions when they suffer from nervousness, such as eyes movements or perspiration. Alter-directed adaptor actions often occur when people have conversation with others. It often happens unconsciously, such as step forward or backward. Object-adaptor actions usually relate to the use of some objects, such as smoking, writing, graffiti and so on. 2 (15)2.2 ParalanguageParalanguage is the voice which often accompany with language. Samovar define "Paralanguage" as follows: paralanguage is a kind of sound behaviour which can accompany, interrupt or temporarily replace the language. It can accompany the language through the tone, volume, speed, clarity and parlance. It can interrupt the conversation with the voice such as “uh, umm, uhhuh”. It can replace the language, for example, use the voice “brr” instead of “I am cold”. 3 (177-178) In a word, it is necessary to pay attention to different attitude of silence, turn-taking and non-verbal sound in different culture during the process of international business communication. In fact, sometimes people will use silence instead of words as a response during their conversation. Brosnahan states that “Chinese people like to remain silence. They often treat people with silence and refuse to answer questions.” 2 (182) However, people in English-speaking countries will feel insulted in such situation. So the Chinese businessmen should remember that its better to response others in conversation while listening. The second way to response others is turn-taking.Turn-taking in paralanguage refers to the voice or words that the speaker uses to suggest the audience that he will give up, return or maintain the topic. It will help to avoid the embarrassed situation caused by science. The third way is nonverbal sound. Non-verbal sound is the voice which has no language meaning but can transmit some information. The sound mainly relate to volume control, body sounds and onomatopoeia.2.3 Environment LanguageEnvironment language is the study of the environmental impact in cross-cultural communication. It includes time and space in this paper.2.3.1 Message of space. Hall believes that space change would have an impact on communication. It can enhance the effectiveness of communication 4 (180). Hall divides space into three types: fixed-feature space, semi-fixed-feature space and informal space.Fixed-feature space is the space which is comparted by walls or other objects, such as the meeting room. Semi-fixed-feature space is the space which is comparted by by larger objects such as meeting table. Informal space refers to the bubbles of personal space which is maintained by people during communication. The bubble of personal space includes space、territory、territoriality and proximity. “People will protect their bubbles of personal space during the process of communication by instinct.” 8 (180) 2.3.2 Message of time. Hofstede divides time into two categories: monochoronic time and polychronic time. Monochoronic time emphasizes on "an effective Itinerary" and "speed". People in western countries, such as the North Americans, Swiss, Germans and so on tend to use monochoronic time. While polychronic time emphasizes on " multi-purposes at the same time". In the Middle East and Latin American countries, many people are accustomed to the polychronic time and have relaxed timetable and information feedback extension.6 (186)3. The Case study of Cultural Difference Of Nonverbal CommunicationThrough the practice, people find that "cultural mistake" is much more serious than “language mistake”. As a result, the words dont transmit the ideas clearly if people make language mistakes. While the cultural mistakes, might lead to a serious misunderstanding between the natives and the aliens. Sometimes it will cause hostility between each other.16 (255)3.1The Culture Difference of Body LanguageCase 1:At an international airport in an Arab country, a Chinese engineer wanted to express his appreciation attitude while checking the luggage. As he knew no Arabic, the only way for him was to shake hands with the officer.Both of the engineers hands were fullhis left hand was holding a small travelers bag and his right hand a piece of luggage. For the sake of convenience, the engineer quickly put the bag into his right hand and extended his left one to the officerhe was expecting a hand shake with the officer.Something happened unexpectedly. The officers smiling face turned pale and the smile disappeared at once. Instead of a courteous handshake, he slapped that engineers extended hand and walked away. 7（63）Analysis: Personal body movements and facial expressions can convey information which sometimes can cooperate with the language, and sometimes even can replace the language to convey information. What is wrong with the Chinese engineer in the case above? The point is that: he extends his left hand (instead of his right one) to the Arab officer for a handshake. What that engineer do not know is that, in Arab culture, left hand is dirty, and it is regarded as an insult if someone uses it for a handshake. 7（64）It is true that a business person could not have a complete knowledge of all other culture and customs. However, as a business person, he should learn as much as possible. Actually, more and more Western business magazines and journals have become more and more interested in study on cultural differences and teaching their business people how to behave accordingly in another culture.People of different cultures will have different understanding about body language. Business Communication is not only the exchanges and cooperation in the economic field, but also the exchange and communication between cultures, and cultural factors always play a crucial role. The same movements or expressions in different cultures may stand for different meaning. For example, Americans use thumb and index finger to make a circle instead "OK" as a symbolic gesture.But, in Japan, it is stand for "coin", the shape of "money". So in Japan the gesture means the money. In France, in most cases, the gesture means "zero" or "no value" . Use the same gesture on the same occasion can means different kinds of meaning in different culture and cause different kinds of responses. The same gesture, the Americans means "OK" the Japanese means "money", they want to know something about the price; French means "no value". In a word, in the process of business communication businessmen should know some cultural habits to avoid unnecessary misunderstanding.3.2 The Cultural Difference of Paralanguage Case 2: Some Japanese businessmen went to the United States for a large trade negotiation.At the beginning of the negotiations, U.S. representatives spoke a lot. They want to reach an agreement quickly. However, the Japanese representatives kept silent. They didt response except listening and recording. When the U.S. representatives try to talk with the Japanese, these American managers confused and felt frustrated. Because the American managers sometimes just got a "Hay" or a nod as the answer, even sometimes they got nothing but the silence. Finally, the U.S. manager concluded: "The Japanese do not want to do business with us.They are so rude, they even do not have a willing to talk with us !" This trade negotiation ended with failure.Analysis: More often the American-Japanese business communication runs into a loop: the more the American talks, the more silent the Japanese will bethey need time to digest what the American has just said; and the more silence the Japanese respond with, the more the American will talk. For those American managers, perhaps the saying “ enough is enough” is the best expression to describe their irritated feeling or frustration. This helps to explain why the American manager in the case above finally said :" The Japanese do not want to do business with us. They are so rude, they even do not have a willing to talk with us !" 7 (278) What makes the American-Japanese business communication runs into such a loop is the cultural difference of the two countries. They have different understanding of silence. Americans believe an eloquent speaker is regarded as a good communicator. For that reason, many Americans assume that one should be eloquent, and this should be the standard applicable everywhere in the world. However, what they do not know is that such a standard does not fit into the Japanese context. The Japanese culture, on the contrary, takes silence as an earnest way to think about what others have said (or are saying). Moreover, Japanese distrust “speakers”. As the Japanese proverb goes intosilence, “he who knows does not speak, and he who speaks does not know.” Thats the reason why many Japanese often remain silent or pause for a long time before they say anything. As far as silence is concerned, Japanese have all kinds of silence, each of which carries different meanings. And this is something many American managers have little knowledge about. 7 (277) In a word, we must pay attention to the turn-taking skills during business conversation. In English-speaking countries, silence is the worst response during the communication. Because they believe response is a expression of respect and attention. We must use non-verbal signals from time to time to maintain a context with others during business communication. 3.3 The Culture Difference of Environment Language 3.3.1 Message of space Case 3:An American went to an Arab country to meet his Arab counterpart for a business talk. The talk went on smoothly and both sides felt pleased.At the break, both stood talking casually. However, the Arab manager considered they knew each other quite well and that , therefore, they should stand closer to show their closeness in their bilateral relationship. So he moved closer to the American manager. The American manager was surprised by the move. Then he thought maybe that action was unintentional on the Arab managers part. He showed no sign in understanding the Arabs move, and just stepped back a bit to keep the distance.Unfortunately, the Arab managers further move made the American manager feel uncomfortable. However, as that was his first trip there, he did not wan