East West Culture Differences Cultural Studies Essay

eastbound double-u nicety Differences Cultural Studies EssayIn todays global worry environment, with the increase in global parentage and in foreign investment, more and more of us atomic number 18 required to understand people coming from countries and horti finales diametric from our ingest, so the repair of difference among Oriental and Occidental refinings on international trade becomes increasingly exposed. Therefore, this article carrys multidimensional analyses of these matters arising out of ethnical differences in transnational commerce. International trade is the interchange of goods and services among diverse countries. Owing to various socio- grows, enormous differences know in commercial culture of nations. The East and the West ar the two mainstream cultures in the instauration blottowhile, the gaps of them ar obvious, come forwarding in values, conventions, languages, consumption patterns, social organizations and structures, etc. This paper aims at discussing the heathenish differences that argon faced in todays commercial transaction in the military man and evolving appropriate measures to appropriate with those. Key words East-West cultural differences international trade international colloquy1. IntroductionThis section is an introduction, which gives a general delineate of the immenseness of cross-cultural talk, purpose of this thesis, and the significance of the thesis.1.1 The importance of being aware of the East-West cultural differencesIn our area of expanding technology and shrinking geography, people of diametric cultures pay off increasing frequency of contact and need for effective colloquy on a daily basis. Speaking a different language is an obvious obstruction to intercultural communication, but a greater and more difficult hurdle is to speak a different culture. Even though we may learn the words, the grammar, and the recognizable orthoepy of a language, we may still non know how to navigate around the greater obstacles to communication that are presented by cultural difference.The cultures of the East and the West authentically distinguish separately other a lot. This is beca exp overthrow the culture systems are two separate systems on the whole. Due to the far distance and the steep areas between the East and West, the two cultures seldom communicate until recent centuries. So they grew up totally in their possess ways with almost no interference from the other. There are so many differences in culture between the East and West. However, there is a trend that the culture in both countries has been mixture.There are problems may be caused by our failure to recognize cultural differences. Nowadays the world is becoming a good deal more mobile than ever before. With the powerful modern acid tools ilk airplane, people can travel to other counties just in a few hours. Under this stage setting, it is non uncommon to find some problems caused by the ignorance of cul tural differences. Apart from different languages (and you volition bene pass greatly if you can learn to understand, speak or write some of them), each country has its own social systems and laws and ways of implementing them to resolve problems and disputes during international businesses. In addition, the diversity is reflected in commission philosophy, operating procedure, marketing methods of merchants and the specialised trading activities.In conclusion, to be boffo and skillful as an international trader it is important to recognize and accept that there are differences between the East and the West.1.2 Purpose of the studyEntitled On the East-West Cultural Differences and the Influence on the International Trade, this thesis endeavors to probe into the nature and practical method to give a description of various kinds of cultural differences, their impact upon international commerce, and how to deal with the difficulties appearing in the business communication.Eastern pe ople often find oneself confident that they know quite a bit roughly western culture. In fact, they may have seen many western films, may eat at KFC regularly, may know more about the National basketball Association or about current popular music than many Americans, may speak quite fluent English, but that does not necessarily entail that they know western culture the way a Westerner knows it. It doesnt mean they know the cultural grammar or can swim in those cultural waters. It doesnt mean they can avoid miscommunication or steady conflict during communicating. Just as Wolfson points out, In interacting with foreigners, native speakers tend to be quite a tolerant of errors in pronunciation or syntax. In contrast, violations of rules of speaking are often interpreted as bad manners, since the native speaker is unlikely to be aware of sociolinguistic relating. (Wolfson,1983 62).The thesis attempts to make out a system and makes comprehensive study of the pervasive culture by means of definitions, classifications to improve the culture awareness. From some researchers perspective, culture is like an iceberg in the ocean, what we see and feel much(prenominal) as artifacts, clothing, was the surface part of iceberg, this part is easily to be recognized, while the hidden part of iceberg such as values and beliefs which are not immediately observable and felt, rather, hidden behind the daily verbal and nonverbal communication, and directs and regulates peoples speech and behavior. The assumption of the denomination of this category is that different areas in the world are characterized by different values and features.1.3 Significance of the studyKnowledge about cultures, both general and specific, provides perceptiveness into the learned behaviors of a group. It helps the learner to gain awareness of what makes a people unique. The factors are its customs and traditions, values and beliefs, attitudes and concepts, hierarchies and roles, prison term and space relations, and verbal and non-verbal communication processes. reading gained in cross-culture studies will enable businessmen to become more cosmopolitan, to cope more effectively abroad, to reduce stress and resolve conflict more pronto in the international area.Now with the Open Policy, many enterprises are involved in international trade. Those engaged in the import-export trade, depending on their misgiving and skills in cross-cultural relations, can each advance or hamper their sales and exchanges. Transcultural studies benefit businessmen as followsFoster interaction, good will and customer relations, as well as business and profits. In a competitive society, the global businessman should function like an intercultural researcher seeking various ways to cook good relationship with his partners whose behaviors are strongly affected by cultural, social, personal and psychological factors. exactly the cultural factors exert the broadest and deepest influence on them.Of fer disc everyplace understanding of both interior(prenominal) and international markets. To be successful in international business, a good market research project requires as much careful planning as a well-designed product. Market research must allow for cultural differences in a foreign market. For example, o range of mountains juice is not a breakfast drink in France Middle Easterners prefer spicy toothpaste the Japanese like rice and tuna for breakfast. These cultural differences will help integrity make a successful marketing decision.Provide insight relative to organizational culture and personal behavior. Intercultural study offers us better understanding of the culture in which one is going to bet. For example, one aspect of American culture is that people must work hard to accomplish their objectives. We can see this in the corporate culture of Microsoft, while Chinese tend to work together and accomplish a project step by step with explicit graded relationship.Help one to gain a better sense of self and cultural heritage for more effective intercultural interactions.In order to create cultural synergistic solutions to problems lying in international business, a global businessman must know his culture and business practice to deal with different partners with different cultures.In a word, cross-cultural study offers better international relationships, which are bound to be enhanced when management, sales, and technical personnel can deal with cultural differences within the world market place.2. The difference between east culture and west cultureSuccess on international business journey depends significantly on understanding culture and appreciating how profoundly values, attitudes and behaviors are shaped by it. Unfortunately, culture is a complex phenomenon, The understanding of which is aided neither by the circulate use of the terminus in everyday conversation nor by the wealth of definitions in current use. At the very outset, we face the challenge of developing an understanding of culture that both captures its essence and will serve as a practical guide to the broad spectrum of cultural diversity.2.1 A brief introduction to cultureThe word culture often brings up more problems than it involves. So far, culture has been specify in many ways by a wide range of people from diverse backgrounds. Culture, according to Robert Kohls, the former Directorof Training and Development for the United StatesInformation Agency, is an integrated system of learnedbehavior patterns that are characteristic of the membersof any given society, the total way of life of particulargroups of people. It includes everything that a group ofpeople holds, says, does, and makes-its customs,language, material artifacts and shared systems ofattitudes and feelings. Culture is learned and transmittedfrom coevals to generation. It is not identical withthe genetic heritage that may differentiate one group ofpeople from another. These differences in sharedsystems of attitudes and feelings are one of those more sharp areas of difference that foreigners experiencewhen they leave home.Culture affects peoples ways of thinking and theirviews of the world. Every culture has its distinctcharacteristics that make it different from every otherculture. Some differences are quite evident (e.g.language, religion, political organization, etc.). However, in a word, culture generally refers to the knowledge, beliefs, arts, laws morals, customs, habits, and capabilities acquired by individuals who interact in a specific area of society. Otherscan be so subtle that while foreign visitors may bevaguely aware of them, making adjustments is acomplex process and one may hang on uncomfortableand off balance for quite some time.2.2 Causes for culture differencesThe cultures of the East and the West in truthly distinguisheach other by a lot. This is because the culture systemsare two separate systems on the whole.The origin of the eastern cultur es is mainly from twocountries China and India. Both of the two cultures aregestated by rivers the Yellow River in China and theHindu River in India. These two cultures weredeveloped for several thousand years and formed theirown styles. Then in Dang Dynasty of China, theChinese culture miniature by brusque went overseas to Japan,mixed into the Japanese society and shaped theJapanese culture nowadays. Though a bit different fromthe Chinese one, it belongs to the same system.When the two gravel rivers gave birth to the easternculture, another famous culture was brought up on theMesopotamian Plain-the Mesopotamian Civilization.This civilization later on developed into the cultures ofthe Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome. And these twoare well-known as the base of the European culture.Like the Chinese culture, the European one also crossedwaters. When the colonists of England settled down inAmerica, their culture went with them over the AtlanticOcean. So the American culture is simil ar to theEuropean one.At the same time, the difference of the languagesystems adds to the cultural differences. In the East,most languages belong to the pictographic languagewhile the Western languages are mostly based on theLatin system.Other factors like human race difference counts aswell. But whats more, due to the far distance and thesteep areas between the East and West, the two culturesseldom communicate until recent centuries. So theygrew up totally in their own ways with almost nointerference from the other.2.3 The Role of Culture in BusinessWith the knowledge of globalisation, cross-culturecommunication is indispensable to an open society inwhich we do it today. Therefore, cultural differences areeverywhere. The cultures between the East and the Westare distinguished by a rather large scale. It means notonly the opinions or ways of thinking are different, buthow do people behave in daily life is also not the same,sometimes may even the opposite. This paper will first b aseprobe into the causes for cultural differences and thensome of the typical examples to illustrate the culturaldifference between east and west, finally, ways to fit indifferent cultures.What role does culture play and can it be a positive one? A manager in a Swedish pharmaceutical firm described what happened when a multicultural team was put together.Product design was traditionally carried out at our Stockholm headquarters. Once, by diagonal or design, we brought in an international team to discuss the design of a new allergy product. Due to extreme differences of opinion on what constitutes good medical exam practice, the team designed the new product with maximum flexibility to suit the major demands of each country.Later, we discovered this flexibility to be of great advantage in developing and marketing international competitive products.Regarding cultural differences as a challenge rather than a problem may mean a little more investment of time and funds, but it is more likely to produce international workable teams, systems and products. This general approach albeit with variances in each case, has helped Japanese, Germans and Scandinavians adapt successfully to international markets. It has also helped cultivate the deep awareness of quality and consumer-friendliness, which characterizes the products of these successful countries, and pervades business thinking and aspirations.So if international companies are to tackle the challenge of culture where do they start? Let us look in more detail at the areas of business activity, which need to be culture-responsive. Steven Globerman discussed this issue as followsCulture differences do not as a rule that prohibits doing business internationally, although they often oblige management to modify the way business is done from region to region. while modifications may be required, to a greater or lesser extent, in virtually all of the international firms activities, the particular areas that seem to be a ffected by cultural differences are the marketing and personnel relations functions.It points in the right direction and its implications are clear managing and communicating with a culturally different or varied workforce requires new methods and techniques. Success in this first objective is needed so that the company may understand consumers whose behavior and tastes are different from that of the home country.3. The basic content of business communication3.1 Understanding GlobalizationAlthough globalization has come to the worldmost of the worlds businesses are not globalizedBusiness globalization is the ability of a corporation to take a product and market in the entire civilized worldInternational firms have subsidiaries or components in other countrieshowever, control of the foreign operations is maintained at the home country headquarters. Multinational firms allow their foreign operations to exist as internal organizationsMost firms are internationaleither sourcing produci ngor exportingThus the personnel of an organization must have a global mindset in order for the firm to succeed in the international marketplace. Laurent (1986), in a study of multinational corporations, found that successful multinational corporations do not flood out the individuality of different cultures completely in the corporate culture, that intercultural contact can promote a determination not to adjust to other cultures, and that new management theory and practice can be presented only to individuals who are culturally able and willing to accept itRhinesmith (l993) states The corporate culture contains the values, norms of behavior, systems, policiesand procedures through which the organization adapts to the complexness of the global arenaCompanies with franchises abroad have had to make certain adjustments to accommodate the taste and preferences of individual countries for example. Tex-Mex cuisine is prepared kosher in Israel. According to Rhinesmith (1993), Diversity-b oth domestic and international will be the engine that drives the creative energy of the corporation of the xxfirst centurySuccessful global managers will be those who are able to manage this diversity for the innovative and competitive edge of their corporations. Since globalization has become an irresistible trend pervading throughout the world, international businessmen should take it into reflexion and try their best to better cross-cultural business communication in the course of their international business journeys.3.2 Understanding Intercultural CommunicationThe term intercultural communication was first used by Edward T. Hall in 1959. Hall was one of the first researchers to differentiate cultures based on how communications are sent and received. Hall defined intercultural communication as communication between persons of different cultures. The subject of intercultural communication is beset by a major problem, since there is really very little agreement on what people mean by the idea of culture in the first place.Intercultural business communication is a relatively new term in the business world and is defined as communication within and between businesses that involves people from more than one culture. Intercultural business communication allows us to work on the procedural issues of country-to-country contacts, diplomacy, and legal contexts it allows us to become involved with the substantive, cultural level and helps sensitize us to differences. It also allows us to gather information to make decisions when we are in an intercultural environment (Rohrlich, 1998).3.3 The specific embodiment of business communicationBusiness communication refers to the exchange of information resources and the touch of each other for a set purpose to establish a commercial relationship based on mutual benefit promoting the business activities to succeed. Cross-culture Communication in commerce is either a sort of business proceedings, or procedures for culture dialogue and betting game. To make business communication more effective, honest social relation need to be created. Business Communication communication used to promote a product, service, or organization relay information within the business or deal with legal and similar issues. It is also a means of relaying between a supply chain, for example the consumer and manufacturer. Business communication is somewhat different and unique rather from other type of communication since the purpose of business is to get profit. Thus to make good way for profit the communicator should develop good communication skills. Everyone knows that in the present day trends the knowledge alone wont be a fruitful one to have sustainable development. By knowing the importance of communication many organizations started training their employees in betterment of Communication techniques.Essentially due to globalization the world has become a Global village. Thus here the importance of cross cultural comm unication plays a vital role. Since each and every nation has their own meaning for each and every non verbal actions.The way we appear speaks a lot about us in business communication. A neat appearance is half done verbal communication. But developing communication is not a day work, it needs constant y archeozoic practice. There are several ways to get trained in excelling business communication such 1. by our own, 2. by practicing from trainers, 3. by internet contents, 4. by books.4. Cultural differences exhibited in international tradeNumerous studies have been done to identify specificcharacteristics that distinguish one culture from another.The cultural difference between east and west is noexception. Lets sum up some of the typical examples toillustrate such differences.GreetingHow do we Chinese greet each other? Informally, if wemeet a friend in the street, we are used to saying Hi,have you had your repast? or Where are you going?When it is the case of two gentlemen, they t end to persuadehands.However, in the western countries, the abovequestions are just questions, not greeting at all. Theymay think youre inviting them to dinner if you askabout their meals. Usually, theyll just give each other asmile or greet with a Hi. Theyll shift hands only insome formal sides. By the way, Westerners can leave a party or meeting halls without a formal conge,nor should they shake hands with every attendee likemost of us will do here.Showing GratitudeThink of the situations below. Your mother is busy inthe kitchen. She suddenly asks you to institute a trough forher. You do so. Whatll your mothers response be?Probably shell just continue doing the cooking. After awhile, the dinner is ready. Your mother hands you yourbowl of rice. Whats your response? Probably just beginto eat.Chinese rarely say Thank you to other familymembers for receiving help or service. Neither will wesay so between good friends. Its such an unpopularresponse that if you say it, the counterp art will think youare treating him as a stranger, otherwise you are lackof intimacy.But in the West, thank you is one of the mostfrequently used sentences. Teachers will thank a studentfor answering a question husbands will thank his wifefor making a coffee.Table MannersThe ways people eat-the table manner, reallydistinguish a lot. Chinese use chopsticks or sometimeseven grasp rice straightly with hands as Indians do. Thethin and long chopsticks cannot be used to cut food, sowe use teeth as knives. We hold our food, meat orvegetable, with the chopsticks, send them to the mouths,bite off a part and remain the other part on thechopsticks. Thats the usual way we eat. We are alsoused to holding up our bowls when having rice or soup.But all these are considered rude in the Westerncountries.The etiquette in the West requests that when eating,bowls and plates cannot leave the tables. Food should becut by knives to fit into the mouths. Your mouth cannottouch the plates or bowls. So the reg ular process is cutyour steak on the plate with fork and knife, send themeat cube into the mouth with fork and nothing will bereturned back but the fork alone. The reason for this is probably because of the different dining tools andmenus.SymbolizationSymbolization is how people imagine or regardsomething, which reflects the way of people thinking.We oftenattach different signicance to different colors, becausewe feel differently when facing different colors. On thelast day in the APEC summit held in Shanghai severalyears ago, the presidents from all over the world worethe traditional Chinese Dang suits and took a phototogether. The colors of the suits were chosen bythemselves freely. However, its quite interesting to findthat most Easterners chose red while most of thewesterners like blue. To explain this, its easy torealize that what red means is almost opposite in theEast and the West. Red means luck, fortune here.Chinese often use this color to decorate in festivals,such as red lanterns, red Chinese nodes, and red bangers.But red stands for blood, revolutions in the West. So thepresidents avoided wearing the ill-fated color.In the East,dragons are imagined as something like snake and areflowing in the sky for most of the time. The dragon issaid to have the face of the horse, the horns of the deer,the ears of the ox, the carcass of the snake, the claws of theeagle and squama of the fish. We regard dragon as Godand view ourselves the offspring of the dragon. The Godof Dragons of the four seas can charge the rainfalls. Butin the West, people think dragons as dinosaurs, whichcan stand on the ground with feet and fly with hugewings. They lay eggs just like dinosaurs. The dragons ofthe West have the ability to step up fire, instead of water.The fire can destroy everything so the dragons are notwelcomed at all. They even become the symbol of theDevil.Unfortunately, attempts to categorize culturalcharacteristics often end up in cultural stereotypes thatare unf air and misleading. In adjusting to your studyabroad environment, you will therefore have to deal notonly with real cultural differences, and also withperceived cultural differences. Keep in mind that peopleof other cultures are just as adept at stereotyping weChinese as we are at stereotyping them-and the resultsare not always complimentary. The following are a fewexamples of the qualities (some positive, some negative)that others frequently associate with the typicalChinese hard working, being economical, reserved,and ignorant of other countries, generous, hospitable, andsuperstitious. While a stereotype might possess somegrain of truth, it is obvious when we consider individualdifferences that not every Chinese fits the abovedescription. Most Germans, Japanese, Italians, etc.,have stereotyped perceptions of the American, just asmost Americans have stereotyped images of Germans,Japanese, Italians, etc. In short, misperceptions mayexist on all sides. Frequently, the stereotype of t heAmerican is far from complimentary the boorish touristwho expects everyone to speak English, the arrogantpatriot who thinks every country in the world shouldpattern itself after the United States, the drunken revelerwho sees the anonymity of traveling abroad as anopportunity to drop all civilized inhibitions-all havecontributed to the development of this unfortunatestereotype. It is up to you to behave in a manner that willconvince your hosts that this is indeed an unjustifiedstereotype that cannot be applied arbitrarily, at least(prenominal) toyourself.5. Conclusion5.1 Research findingsWith the globalization of the world economy, organizations, especially multinational corporations, are culturally diverse in their formation of the workforce and in handling al kinds of business activities. China has seen an increasing number of FIE (Foreign Individual Enterprise) entering the Chinese market, since the country adopted the policy of opening to the outside world more than twenty yea rs ago.The culturally diversified workforce has brought greater vitality to business, but business people today are facing many problems in their cross-cultural communication. More and more business people have become aware of the strong impact from culture, and they have come to realize the importance of understanding cross-cultural communication.As all nations have their own cultures, it is not difficult to find that people bring along with them their cultures wherever they go and tend to cling to them.As more and more Chinese business people are employed by FIEs, they are facing the same problem of learning and respecting foreign cultures as the Western business people do with the Chinese cultures.In many cases, business people find that it is really nor easy to communicate with people from different cultural backgrounds. Sometimes, people may mistake someone as a culturally identical person, which often ends in troubles. In order to avoid misunderstandings in our cross-cultural communication, we should pay attention to the ways to decrease or eliminate the cultural conflicts.5.2 SuggestionsGlobalization, for better or worse, has changed the way the world does business. Though in its early stage, it is all but unstoppable. At the same time, it also provides for global businessmen a challenge as well as chance. To be triumphant in international business, one should learn how to live with it, manage it and take advantage of the benefit it offers. The globalization of economics has created a confluence of cultures when it comes to business practices. Meshing these cultures has proved difficult even as it has proven necessary. In many cases the quest for a one-size-fits-all set of standards for global business behavior has progressed quite far. Global business is moving toward a world standard.In this sense, it is unpractical to accommodate stereotyping cultural theories to developing relationship in the course of international business that is developing all time along. With time going, more and more new problems and conflicts will occur when doing business internationally whatever in managing, negotiating or cooperating. Cultures will gradually melt with each other, but rooted values and norms will still cause the occurrence of clashes. Thus problems can only be solved in certain circumstance at certain time. Invariable solutions with shaped cultural ideas will only lead to prejudice and more conflicts while adaptable solutions according to specific situation of intercultural communication is more valuable and worthy of being conserved.Nothing can be unchangeable, thus is the same with the study of cultural differences in the course of international business. Therefore, dynamic research should be furthered and kept so as to keep up with the development of international business.