Appreciating the Diversity in Multicultural Communication Styles.

"In today's world, national boundaries are constantly changing, and societies are moving toward greater interdependency and interconnectedness. The propensity of this increasing globalization poses unique challenges to the issue of how people from diverse cultural backgrounds attempt to effectively communicate on a daily basis. The need for effective communication in conjunction with cultural awareness, sensitivity, and understanding is intensified. As a result, the field of communication has been given an increasing amount of attention." (1) International business, the life blood of many of today's growing enterprises, brings executives into face-to-face contact with other executives of totally different cultural backgrounds. It has become evident that persons of dissimilar cultures are having more difficulties communicating effectively than they are with those from the same cultures. Intensive international competition further squeezes profit margins; and market conditions are changing so quickly that there is seldom time for a second chance at a mishandled contract negotiation because of some type of miscommunication. Therefore, international business communication becomes a pressing and imperative responsibility for those executives who are paving the way for advancement into international markets.

The Purpose of this Study

The importance of understanding the cultures of countries in which a company operates-as well as the similarities and difference between those cultures-becomes clearer when one looks at the multitude of blunders international executives have made because of their mental detachment to the differences of diversity in the multitude of international cultures that they may encounter.

Many stories of insensitive businessman can be found in many forms in the literature and the personnel files of multinational corporations and government agencies which give credence to the misreading of verbal and nonverbal communication signals and result in ineffective communications and loss of business.

When people have misunderstandings or commit "errors" when working with persons from different cultures, they are often unaware that any problem exists. Analyses of those problems and failures both at home and abroad have shown that the techniques, practices, and methods that have proved effective in one country may not work as well in other countries. To one degree or another, the success or failure of a company depends on how effective its employees can exercise their skills in a new location and how well they can communicate with people of different cultures. Therefore, there is a need for greater awareness of the impact of verbal and nonverbal behavior on international business communications, and if executives are to meet the challenges of an increasingly interdependent world during the twenty-first century, they will need to develop a better understanding of how cultural differences influence the operations of international businesses. A healthy dialogue between cultures will be an important step in ac hieving that needed understanding.

The Scope of the Research

We believe that business communication, especially in an interpersonal environment, is a special kind of people-orientated behavior and an established practice throughout the world. It is different from daily spontaneous communication; and to accomplish their responsibilities without any major complications, international business executives have to observe the rules of conduct of the host country in which they are doing business. Research has shown that if these rules are not followed, unanticipated predicaments may surface. (2) These rules dictate both explicitly and implicitly the appropriate modes of communication that indicate what to do and what not to do. According to these rules of communication, the instrument used for the survey consisting of 48 items was compiled by Ms. Dou from her experiences as an interpreter in several business negotiations involving multicultural corporations. These items cover a wide array of business communicative behaviors, ranging from initial contacts such as introduction s, shaking hands, addressing and use of business cards, to setting appointments, telephone etiquette, business negotiations, and gift-giving. The full list of items used is presented in the appendix at the end of this article.

The Research Study

To determine the various kinds of difficulties that business executives, with different cultural backgrounds may experience as they interact with their counterparts from other countries, a survey was taken of Chinese executives who have been doing business with Westerners and Japanese for an extended period of time. Survey data was also obtained from North American, European and Japanese business executives who have had business relationships in Shanghai, China on an ongoing basis. The survey technique involved both a questionnaire and post questionnaire interviews.

Respondents were asked to indicate on a 4 point scale, the degree of difficulty they experienced in conducting business with their host country; 0 = No difficulty, 1 = Minor difficulty, 2 = Moderate difficulty, and 3 = Major difficulty. The respondents were also urged to submit comments on specific aspects of their perceived cultural differences to which they felt most strongly. A total 100 questionnaires were distributed among experienced and professional Chinese business executives from several Shanghai Foreign Trade Companies. A total of 62 questionnaires were returned. With the other non-Chinese respondents 24 of 40 questionnaires were returned from North Americans, 26 of 40 questionnaires were returned from the Europeans, and 30 of 40 questionnaires were returned from the Japanese business executives. All participants had experiences in doing business with Chinese companies, some working exclusively in foreign-owned enterprises, joint ventures or cooperative ventures in Shanghai, and some from attending international exhibitions held in Shanghai, China. Comparisons were compiled for each of the four different cultural groups. The average scores for each item for each group were then calculated and are presented in rank-order according to major difficulties 3.0 to minor difficulties 0.0. Both personal and telephone interviews of the business executives were later conducted to further explain and clarify stated major difficulties.

From the data in Table One can be seen that North Americans and Europeans (the Western group) share a great number of perceived difficulties. What these two Western groups found most difficult had a similar rank order in the areas of language differences, concept of time and punctuality, control over the agenda, and telephone etiquette. The difficulty with smoking etiquette and persuasion skills did not have similar rank orderings; but these difficulties had rankings in the top twenty.

Japan, although an Asian country, also shared a strong similar ranking with her Western counterparts. The fact that Japan has seen its culture become more Westernized in recent decades most likely explains her similar rankings to the Western cultures. Very strong difficulties that Americans and Europeans experienced, namely, the concept of time and punctuation, and telephone etiquette were also the most difficult indicated by Japanese business executives. Many business executives complained about interruptions during talks and tardiness in business dealings with the Chinese. The following statement from a guide to international behavior, can attest to this overall perceived difficulty, "The same transaction that would take a week in New York, two in Paris, and three in Rio may take months in Beijing." (3) Most of the areas in which the Chinese business executives had the greatest cultural difficulties also did not overlap with those of Westerners; but some did overlap with their Japanese business counterparts , (Easterners), such as personal disclosure, smoking etiquette, drinking, and compliments. Seeing the uniqueness of touching as a major difficulty with the Chinese, we can now understand why a Chinese businessman would blush when a Western businesswoman imprints a social kiss on his cheek, or a Chinese businesswoman back away from a harmless hug. It was still quite unexpected to find that Chinese business executives who had long been exposed to Western culture norms should still have such difficulty with interpersonal touching. Chinese frequently show regard for a member of their own sex by physical contact, like shaking hands; but the opposite sexes rarely make any public show of affection, like hugging or kissing.

In analyzing the results of the survey it seems that those difficult areas that all four groups shared in common were mainly concerned with situations involving some kind of business negotiations, such as control over the agenda, persuasion skills, ways of gaining superiority over your counterpart, refusal tactics, decision-making, and ways of making concessions. Even the two other common difficulties of smoking and drinking had a close association with the business negotiation process, especially in an social environment. After interviewing many executives, it was easier to understand how frustrating some aspects of the host cultural norms could be to the executives. Here are some of the cases of miscommunication collected from the comments and the interviews. They are divided into verbal and nonverbal sections for the purpose of the paper.

Verbal Miscommunication

As indicated by the data, both American and European groups listed language differences as their primary difficulties (2.93 versus 2.95).

Previous research had already indicated language differences between English and Chinese in the dimension of phonology, lexicon, syntax and discourse. (4) Here are some examples of verbal miscommunications from the post survey interviews made by both Western and Eastern respondents.

An Australian businesswoman gave an account of her experiences when she first came to Shanghai. "Shortly after my arrival a number of years ago, I went to the bank on my way to the company. I was extremely surprised when the bank clerk asked me if I had had my lunch. In my country, his invitation would be regarded as an indirect invitation to lunch, and between unmarried young people it indicated the young man's interest in dating the girl. Since he was a complete stranger, I was quite taken aback. I proceeded to my company and was even more surprised when one of the clerks asked me the same question. I realized by now that it could not be an invitation, but was puzzled as to why they asked it. In the following days, as I was asked the question again and again, I came to the conclusion that people must be concerned about my health. I was somewhat underweight, and I supposed they must be worrying that I was not eating properly. Only later did I find out that the question had no real significance at all, it was merely a greeting."

A Western businessman said that he had difficulties in understanding the Chinese rituals of leave-taking, which seem to consist of implying motives of tiredness and business to the other party, such as "You must be very tired." "Tomorrow you will have to get up very early," etc. In a typical Western context the guests would usually find reasons to leave related to themselves rather than to their hosts. Another respondent wrote: "I'm often surprised by the seemingly abrupt leave-takings of my Chinese guests." In the Western culture, it is common to indulge in a couple of minutes of small talk, as preparation for leaving. "I hope we'll be able to get together again before long..." In contrast to this, Chinese visitors often stand up suddenly and say, "I'm sorry to have wasted your time," or "I'm sorry to have taken up so much of your time." This sudden, seemingly odd, behavior is the result of the Chinese perceived self which is closely connected with the self's orientation to others' needs, wishes, and expecta tions.

Many Westerners said that they found it hard to get used to the Chinese way of showing courteousness and modesty. Offering gifts, Chinese would make such remarks as "This is a small (humble) gift. It isn't very good, hut..." Westerners thought it ridiculous (or even offensive) to give a friend a gift which they themselves did not appreciate. Westerners couldn't understand, either, why Chinese people normally refused several times before accepting anything (such as an invitation) from anyone.

A North American businessman had complained about the indirection that permeates Chinese speech, even in English translation, saying that he frequently experienced frustration because "yes" or "no" did not always mean the same in China. The word "yes" in Chinese means OK, I want to respect you and not offend you. It does not necessarily show agreement. Instead of saying "not", the Chinese will say that something is "impossible." "Perhaps" and "maybe" can be particularly disconcerting to Americans. For example, "Maybe I will come with you" usually means "I'm coming." "Perhaps it is too far for you to walk" means "There's no way I'll let you walk." When something is "inconvenient," it most likely is impossible. Phrases that Western executives must learn to live or work with in China are "we'll consider it" (kaolu) and "we'll study it" (yanjiu). So, the communication style of a typical Chinese individual is indirect, extremely polite, and bordering on the evasive. It is particularly the case when a Chinese indiv idual tries to convey negative messages to others. Chinese business executives find it strange and rather offensive that Americans would extend an invitation to a social gathering without indicating when and where it would take place, and sometimes they did indicate the time and the place but then would add a phrase like, "you can come if you want to." This type of uncertainty leaves the Chinese businessman feeling doubtful whether the invitation made was really sincere. Also, when a Chinese is invited to dinner by a Westerner, they often feel that the Westerner is extremely ungenerous because of the small amount of food offered and because they are not constantly encouraged to eat more. On the other hand, being invited to a Chinese dinner, Westerners were often overwhelmed by the quantity of food. They were often given food they didn't particularly want, because their refusals were ignored.

With Westerners, "small talk" is one of the difficulties that they have with the Chinese. I asked an American businessman what he thought was the most important aspect of business communications. His answer was: "All you need are the five Ws and one H: who, what, when, where, why and how. Nothing else. If it's too long, you lose money." Many of them found it hard to understand the Chinese custom to converse first about unrelated matters before embarking on the business discussions for which the meeting was arranged. Chinese often feel it is important to get to know one another and develop mutual trust before getting down to business negotiations or problems; while Westerners (especially Americans) are more task-oriented.

During the interviews, many Western managers admitted that most Chinese business executives, especially in big cities like Shanghai, were very good at English, especially at the formal structure of the language. But it seems that they were comparatively weak at some nonstandard forms such as slang, word avoidance, euphemisms, proverbs, idioms and various types of verbal dueling. Take idioms for example, they are descriptive phrases and not intended for literal interpretation. "She is a cut above the rest," or "Go fly a kite," or someone is "snowed under." Chinese people would likely interpret these phrases literally. In other words, they thought of cutting someone with a knife from the above, flying a kite, or someone covered with snow. Moreover, Westerners found that quite often Chinese failed to understand the type of kidding or joking which is so prevalent in U.S. society. One of them even said "In such countries as China and Japan where formality, courtesy, saving face, and indirectness are all highly va lued, the custom of kidding may be totally inappropriate and lead to serious misunderstanding."

Nonverbal Miscommunication

During the interviewing process we also found that communication problems were not necessarily always verbal. In cross cultural business communications, such as in joint ventures, nonverbal signals could also be misinterpreted just as easily as could verbal communications. Unfortunately, the misunderstandings can be harder to rectify because the person may not be aware of the nonverbal cues that led them to assume that they aren't liked, or respected.

A male American manager blinking at his Chinese female subordinates was regarded as frivolous; a manager from North America was puzzled by the constant nodding and indirect eye contact of their Chinese staff members; a Chinese female employee felt insulted when her manager constantly raised his eyebrows during their conversation. Raising one's eyebrow has a sexual connotation in China. The "incorrect" distance (personal space) between individual American and Chinese businessmen engaged in conversation had led to the false conclusion that the other person was too aggressive and hostile or too cold and distrustful. That Chinese people often insist that Western guests receive their gifts or invitations has been mistaken as impolite behavior against individualism.

Sometimes the Chinese's smile makes an American feel inscrutable or even embarrassed because the Chinese do not readily show emotions. In many instances when the Chinese express their regrets or embarrassment or even distrust, they just smile. For example, in a buffet dinner, an American unintentionally broke a plate. Seeing it, the Chinese beside him gave a smile in order to comfort him. The smile just meant "that doesn't matter" or "don't take it to heart;" but the American wrongly took it as ridicule and felt embarrassed and angry. What's more, he felt uncomfortable in talking to this Chinese counterpart in their future negotiations.

Many Westerners claimed they could not get used to the Chinese smoking etiquette. Their criticism was that whenever two persons meet, whether they are smokers or not, one will produce cigarettes and offer one to the other, insisting that the other accept the offer, and each will also try to light the cigarette for the other. "The Chinese are very heavy smokers and customarily light up in most any setting, without asking."

When some Japanese interviewees were asked, why they felt that "business travel" was high on their list of difficulties, they explained that they just could not understand why and how Chinese businessmen went sightseeing during a business working trip. According to Japanese practice, a business trip is for business only, which should be strictly separated from private travel on one's own expenses.

These are only a few of the examples of the price paid for miscalculating, or simply ignoring, the cultural norms in international business. One of the most prevalent and most critical fallacies hampering effective communications and a misreading of the verbal and nonverbal communication signals appears to be that the message sender's mind is limited to his or her own personal feeling, desires, and needs when ending the message. Thus the message is fully understood by the sender but has no effect to the receiver. The potential and the largest barrier between divergent cultures exists in the misunderstanding between the sender encoding a message and receiver decoding of that same message. Therefore, the message sent is not always the message received.

Implications of the Survey

First, the authors believe that the tables, along with the samples from the post survey interviews, indicate that there exist many types of cultural difficulties that may have a major impact on the effectiveness of international communications.

Second, it could be postulated that there are many problem areas for research in the field of international business communication. It is hoped that this preliminary research helped to locate specific problem areas to which further research can be focused.

Third, it shows that the more diversity that may be found in cultural backgrounds, the more difficulty business executives might have in negotiating their international contracts. From the data and post interviews we can see how widely diverse East Asian and Western views are on the matter of verbal and nonverbal behaviors.

Fourth, it further proves that divergent value systems are at the root of the differences in cross-cultural business communication and that individualism-collectivism differences that has been researched by Hofstede (5) is of primary importance in West-East cultural values and accounts for the various mistakes in West-East business communications. (6) Last and most important, we now have a challenge to search for new ways to understand the different value systems involved and reinforced through traditions; as well as ways to minimize the gap between the cultural differences and to improve effective communications in international business. In accepting this challenge, we recommend that business people develop a working understanding and knowledge of the social and cultural context in which communication takes place; and also an understanding of the different cultural values that govern business behavior. We also recommend the development of cross-cultural training in business communications in both the East and the West. Appreciating multi-cultural diversities will help all of us to effectively communicate in an international environment.

WEI-LIN DOU is an Associate Professor at the Shanghai Institute of Foreign Trade in China. She was a visiting professor in the School of Business and Industry at Florida A&M University in 2000-2001. Professor Dou teaches courses in International Trade and Business Negotiations. Her research interest lies in the area of cross-cultural business communications and she has served as an interpreter for many business trade talks between China, America, western European countries and Japan. She holds a Master's Degree of Art from East China Normal University.

GEORGE WM. CLARK, JR. Ph.D., is an Associate Professor of Organizational Behavior and Cybernetic Management in the School of Business and Industry at Florida A&M University where he holds the 3M Chair in Business. His research interests lie in the areas of cybernetics, personality and intrinsic motivation.

(1.) Gao, Ge and Stella Ting-Toomey. Communicating Effectively with the Chinese, Vol. 5. London: Sage Publications, 1998, 1.

(2.) Ibid., 85.

(3.) Axtell, Roger E., ed. Do's and Taboos Around the World 3rd edition., New York: John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 1993, 34.

(4.) Dou, Wei-lin, "On the Language Differences in Cross-Cultural Business Communication," Journal of Shanghai University, 1, 1999, 37-42.

(5.) Hofstede, G. Culture's Consequences: International Differences in Work-Related Values. Beverly Hills: Sage, 1980.

(6.) Dou, Wei-lin, "On the Influence of Different Value Systems on International Business Communication." Journal of East China Normal University 2, 1999, 37-41. Table One The Areas in Which North American Business Executives Experienced the Most Difficulty 1. Language differences 2.93 2. Concept of time and punctuality 2.83 3. Control over the agenda 2.75 4. Telephone etiquette 2.55 5. Ways of getting superior over your counterpart 2.50 6. Smoking etiquette 2.50 7. Joking 2.50 8. Persuasion skills 2.36 9. Real invitation versus friendly 2.27

remarks and how to respond 10. Terms of address-name and titles 2.18 11. Refusal tactics 2.17 12. Ways of making concessions 2.09 13. Maintaining and saving "face" 2.09 14. Conversation distance 2.08 15. Maintaining friendships 2.07 16. Drinking and toasting 2.06 17. Business meals 2.06 18. Decision-making 2.05 19. Making a request 2.04 20. Business appointment-making 2.00 (On a 4-point scale, 0 = No difficulty 1 = Minor difficulty 2 = Moderate difficulty 3 = Major difficulty) Table Two The Areas in Which European Business Executives Experienced the Most Difficulty 1. Language differences 2.95 2. Concept of time and punctuality 2.94 3. Control over the agenda 2.71 4. Telephone etiquette 2.63 5. Decision making 2.53 6. Business appointment-making 2.41 7. Ways of getting superior over your counterpart 2.38 8. Making a request 2.35 9. Thanks and respond 2.31 10. Terms of addressing-names and titles 2.29 11. Shaking hands 2.29 12. Ways of making concession 2.28 13. Touching (embracing, kissing, patting) 2.24 14. Drinking and toasting 2.24 15. Persuasion skills 2.19 16. Smoking etiquette 2.18 17. Maintaining and saving "face" 2.12 18. Gestures 2.10 19. Business gift-giving and receiving 2.07 20. Business meal 2.06 Table Three The Areas in Which Japanese Business Executives Experienced the Most Difficulty 1. Concept of time and punctuality 3.00 2. Business travel 3.00 3. Business gift-giving and 2.94

receiving 4. Telephone etiquette 2.86 5. Control over the agenda 2.75 6. Maintaining friendships 2.63 7. Drinking and toasting 2.63 8. Refusal tactics 2.63 9. Maintaining and saving "face" 2.63 10. Making a request 2.63 11. Conversational taboos 2.63 12. Ways of making concessions 2.62 13. Status symbols 2.50 14. Business meals 2.50 15. Persuasion skills 2.50 16. Preparing for a negotiation 2.50 17. Words of politeness 2.38 18. Extent of personal disclosure 2.38 19. Smoking etiquette 2.38 20. Compliments 2.20 Table Four The Areas in Which Chinese Business Executives Experienced the Most Difficulty 1. Touching 2.58 2. Extent of personal disclosure 2.56 3. Smoking etiquette 2.49 4. Drinking and toasting 2.47 5. Compliments 2.45 6. Space usage 2.34 7. Eye behavior 2.32 8. Persuasion skills 2.30 9. Ways of getting superior over 2.29

your counterpart 10. Joking 2.26 11. Expression of your view 2.20 12. Refusal tactics 2.19 13. Ways of making concessions 2.17 14. Decision making 2.16 15. Gestures 2.14 16. Making business friends 2.13 17. Business gift-giving and 2.10

receiving 18. Conversational distance 20.9 19. Business dress 2.07 20. Status symbols 2.04 Table Five Comparison of Chinese Business Executives Perceived Difficulties to Japanese, North American And European Business Executives RANK ORDER OF DIFFICULTIES

NORTH DIFFICULTIES CHINESE JAPANESE AMERICAN EUROPEAN Touching (embracing, 1 - - - kissing, patting) Extent of personal disclosure 2 18 - - Smoking Etiquette 3 19 6 16 Drinking and toasting 4 7 16 14 Compliments 5 20 - - Space usage 6 - - - Eye behavior 7 - - - Persuasion skills 8 15 8 15 Ways of gaining superiority 9 - 5 7 over your counterpart Joking 10 - 7 - Table Six Comparisons of Perceived Difficulties of North American, European and Japanese Business Executives to Chinese Business Executives RANK ORDER OF DIFFICULTIES

NORTH DIFFICULTIES AMERICAN EUROPEAN JAPANESE CHINESE Language differences 1 1 - - Concept of time and punctuality 2 2 1 - Control over the agenda 3 3 5 - Telephone etiquette 4 4 4 - Ways of gaining superiority 5 7 - 9 over your counterpart Smoking etiquette 6 16 19 3 Joking 7 - - 10 Persuasion skills 8 15 15 8 Real invitation versus friendly 9 - - - remarks and how to respond Terms of address-name and titles 10 10 - -

RELATED ARTICLE: Appendix:

Questionnaire on Intercultural Business Behavior

Thank you very much for your valuable time and interest in completing the following questionnaire. (__) Male (__) Female (__) North American (__) European (__) Japanese (__) Other

To the left of each item is a scale on which you may indicate the extent to which this type of behavior caused you difficulty in your business with host partners. For each item, circle the number that designates the extent of difficulty that you have had (or are having):

0 = No difficulty 1 = Minor difficulty 2 = Moderate difficulty 3 = Major difficulty.

0 1 2 3 Introductions

0 1 2 3 Shaking hands

0 1 2 3 Terms of address-names and titles

0 1 2 3 Use of business cards

0 1 2 3 Business appointment-making

0 1 2 3 Concept of time and punctuality and waiting for appointment

0 1 2 3 Telephone etiquette

0 1 2 3 Initiating business talk

0 1 2 3 Bringing a talk to a close

0 1 2 3 Conversational taboos

0 1 2 3 Conversational contributions

0 1 2 3 Call on counterpart

0 1 2 3 Behavior between genders

0 1 2 3 Business correspondence

0 1 2 3 Making a request

0 1 2 3 Compliments and congratulations and how to respond

0 1 2 3 Real invitation versus friendly remarks and how to respond

0 1 2 3 Thanks and respond

0 1 2 3 Business dress

0 1 2 3 Business gift-giving and gift-receiving

0 1 2 3 Business meal 0 1 2 3 Smoking etiquette

0 1 2 3 Drinking and toasting

0 1 2 3 Touching (embracing, kissing, patting, etc.)

0 1 2 3 Eye behavior

0 1 2 3 Conversational distance

0 1 2 3 Gestures

0 1 2 3 Business Travel

0 1 2 3 Maintaining and saving "face"

0 1 2 3 Making business friends

0 1 2 3 Language differences

0 1 2 3 Extent of personal disclosure

0 1 2 3 Queuing or not queuing

0 1 2 3 Words of politeness

0 1 2 3 Preparations for a negotiation

0 1 2 3 Control over the agenda

0 1 2 3 Expression of your view

0 1 2 3 Persuasion skills

0 1 2 3 Ways of getting superior over your counterpart

0 1 2 3 Refusal tactics

0 1 2 3 Joking

0 1 2 3 Leave talking

0 1 2 3 Decision making

0 1 2 3 Image

0 1 2 3 Space usage

0 1 2 3 Ways of making concessions

0 1 2 3 Status symbols

0 1 2 3 Maintaining friendships

If there are more behaviors that have caused you difficulty in your business with host country, please describe the behavior in the blank space. Whatever you have to say about intercultural business relations will be of special help as we complete our project.