外资企业中拒绝语言的跨文化研究

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Chapter 1 Introduction

§ 1.1 Background of the Study

Let us first look into a case of cross-cultural communication the author once read

from a book, which inspires the main idea of this study:

In an American enterprise in Shanghai, a Chinese employee whose boss was an

American wanted to ask for a day’s leave for some private affair. He knocked on the

door of his American boss’s office and entered the room. Afraid of being declined by the

boss, the Chinese employee did not speak out his intention at the very beginning, but

addressed something else. The American boss was quite busy, so he interrupted his talk,

and asked what was the matter. Still the Chinese employee did not dare to ask for what

he wanted. This time the American boss was impatient and interrupted him for the

second time. Aware of the impatience of the boss, the Chinese employee took it for

granted that the boss did not like him and would not approve of his request. He was so

nervous that he began to stammer. Without being told of the real intention of the

employee after asking the same question twice, the American boss became annoyed and

could not help shouting at him. The Chinese employee was so frightened that he left the

office without mentioning a word of his real purpose of coming to see his boss.

What is the problem that results in communication failure in the case? It is

apparent that the Chinese employee knew little about the features of communication

style in American culture. Usually, Americans prefer to express their ideas directly and

clearly, at the same time, they expect clear and direct demonstration of other people’s

intentions, while they regard indirectness as a lack of sincerity. And directness is less

influenced by power distance between the speaker and hearer. But to Chinese,

indirectness is considered polite. So the mismatch between American and Chinese way

of communication causes misunderstandings. This phenomenon is called “culture

shock” in cross-cultural communication owing to cultural differences. The problem may

occur among Chinese when they are involved in intercultural communication as well as

among foreigners living and working in China. Thus the author chooses this topic as the

subject of the thesis in a hope that it will offer help to cross-cultural interactants to

achieve more effective communication.

Culture is a large and evasive concept, which is complex and difficult to define. It

is estimated that there are at least 150 definitions of culture. The most widely accepted

definition of culture is that: Culture is the total accumulation of beliefs, customs, values,

A Cross-cultural Study of Language-expressions of Refusal in Foreign Funded Ventures

behaviors, institutions and communication patterns that are shared, learned and passed

down through the generations in an identifiable group of people. (Linell, 2004)

Communication is defined as “a dynamic, systematic process in which meanings

are created and reflected in human interaction with symbols.” (Samovar, Porter and

Stefani, 2000) It shows our ability to share our ideas and feelings, and is the basis of all

human society. Though culture and communication are two different concepts, they are

directly linked and said to be inseparable, for communication is an element of culture,

meanwhile, culture is learned, transmitted and preserved through communication.

In today’s world, thanks to the ease of travel, the Internet and immigration, the

contact with people from different cultures is getting more frequent. The arrival of the

global economic system also leads to an increasing degree of communication across

different cultures, which is defined as intercultural communication or cross-cultural

communication. According to Larry Samovar (2000), intercultural communication is

communication between people whose cultural perceptions and symbol systems are

distinct enough to alter the communication event. Generally speaking, people hold three

different attitudes towards the communication between people from different cultures:

(1) In intercultural communication, there should be only one culture with its

corresponding norms; (2) There should be at least one dominant culture in intercultural

communication; (3) Different cultures should adapt to one another when people contact

with those coming from other cultures. The last one is the ideal model of intercultural

communication. Only when people with different cultural backgrounds communicate

under this model, the culture of any communicator will not be ignored, and the features

of each culture involved will be respected.

§ 1.2 Rationale of the Study

Globalization has given way to an increasing number of multinational corporations

to participate in various international business arrangements. International business has

brought people together from almost all parts of the world. And a great number of

organizations are involved in communication across cultures, between cultures, and

among cultures. People speaking different languages and from different cultural

backgrounds are working side by side. So effective and successful intercultural

communication is not a goal in future, but an urgent and real need here and now.

Since China’s economic reform and opening up to the outside world, more and

more foreign companies and investors have been seeking business opportunities in

Chapter 1 Introduction

China. Recently, China’s entry into WTO has made continuously great contribution to

the accelerating growth rate of foreign funded ventures in China. Thanks to the

geographically advantageous location, Shanghai has become the financial, economic

and trade hub of China. According to the statistics, by the end of August 2006, Shanghai

has attracted 43000 foreign invested enterprises to do business or make investments in

the city. Chinese people that work in these enterprises meet with people speaking

different languages, in different social behaviors and habits. Both Chinese and foreign

employees find it an imperative task for people from different cultural backgrounds to

communicate effectively in order to ensure the final success of the business of the

corporation. So this paper chooses a particular communication context ---- the foreign

funded ventures in Shanghai.

Also, this thesis is a study of intercultural communication with a concentration on

the analysis of the language-expressions of refusal and disagreement.

Language is the most common tool used by human beings to communicate

thoughts, ideas and views. Any language is both a means of communication and a

carrier of culture. Language-expression is the verbal part of the language. Definitely,

culture inflicts impacts on the language-expression of its people, at the same time,

culture is reflected in the language-expression. As a result, the ways of people of

different cultures to express such ideas as requesting, apologizing, refusing vary with

their cultural systems.

There has been an impressive number of researches on language-expression with

focus on different speech behaviors from various perspectives and with different

purposes. Theoretical approaches have been proposed, in line with the data from plenty

of languages in the world. Under most circumstances, value dimensions, value

orientations, such pragmatic theories as politeness theories, cooperative theories are

used by researchers to support the distinctive features of language-expression of

different cultures. But an overwhelming majority of the studies are conducted to prove

the unique features of language-expression of one single culture or simply compare the

differences in the way of various languages to express one idea like apologizing,

requesting, complimenting. The emphasis as well as the uniqueness of the present paper

is to reach a new research field ---- cultural adaptability on language-expressions of

refusal and disagreement, with its setting in foreign funded ventures in Shanghai.

A Cross-cultural Study of Language-expressions of Refusal in Foreign Funded Ventures

§ 1.3 Organization of the Thesis

The thesis is divided into five chapters, and it is organized as follows:

Chapter one is the introduction. In this part, the author describes the background of

the study, the rationale of the study, and the organization of the thesis.

Chapter two presents a theoretical background of the thesis, including related

theories on cross-cultural studies and politeness theories of Chinese and westerners.

Some of the previous related researches on language-expressions are also reviewed to

highlight the significance of the study.

Chapter three is about the design and implementation of the research. Such

information as purposes and hypotheses, instruments, research procedure and sampling

are provided.

Chapter four concerns data analysis of the research. SPSS is used to analyze the

data collected. And findings of this research are also shown.

Chapter five summarizes the whole thesis. It illustrates the main findings of this

research, points out the limitations of the research and gives some suggestions for

further research in this field.

Chapter 2 Literature Review

§ 2.1 The Main Theories on Cross-Cultural Studies

§ 2.1.1 Hofstede’s Value Dimensions

Geert Hofstede from the Netherlands has identified four cultural dimensions,

which are four pairs of contrasting values used to evaluate cultural differences among

different countries. Hofstede’s work is one of the earliest attempts to use statistical data

to examine cultural values. His survey is based on 116000 answers on questions about

values done by the employees conducted in a large multinational enterprise with its

branches in 67 countries. After statistical analysis and careful comparison, Hofstede

identifies four dimensions that represent elements of common structure in the cultural

systems to compare different culture values. And the position of each country in each

category is indicated by a score, depending on how it compares to the other countries.

Mainland China is not included in Hofstede’s first study, but it does include Taiwan,

Hong Kong, Singapore whose cultures originate from Chinese culture. Therefore, it is

meaningful to look at the scores of these cultures on Hofstede’s Index as reference when

we want to see the position of China.

Dimension One: Power Distance

Power distance is defined as the extent to which the members of a society accept

that power in institutes and organizations is distributed unequally. ( 许力生 , 2004)

People in high power distance countries such as Brazil, Singapore, India, Mexico, the

Philippines consider a hierarchical order as natural and important. And they believe that

people are born unequal. On the contrary, people in lower power distance countries such

as Denmark, Finland, Norway, New Zealand hold that human beings are equal by nature

There do exist differences in power and status in those countries, but people think that

the differences should be minimized.

Power distance greatly affects the way people set up their institutions and

organizations. In high power distance countries, the organizations feature a greater

centralization of power, a large proportion of supervisory personnel and a rigid value

system determining the worth of each job. (Samovar, Porter and Stefani, 2000) However,

in low power distance countries, organizations are flatter and distinctions are less rigid

or formal.

Power distance also has influence on the social distance between people whose

positions are different in a hierarchy. In terms of emotional distance, in high power

A Cross-cultural Study of Language-expressions of Refusal in Foreign Funded Ventures

distance countries, employees as inferiors usually show great respect for their bosses as

superiors and do not dare to criticize them when they make mistakes. People accept the

fact that it is bosses’ very right to enjoy special privileges that the employees do not

have. In low power distance countries, a boss is more approachable; meanwhile, an

employee is more likely to criticize a boss for his mistakes. In other words, bosses and

employees treat each other more like friends. They do not think there is much difference

between them just because of their different positions in the hierarchy. And by no means

does a relatively high position in the hierarchy stand for any special privilege or

treatment.

In terms of management practices, in a large power distance culture, employees are

used to expecting the leaders to make decisions and doing work in the way told by the

leaders. They are always reluctant to express their own views or disapproval, afraid of

taking responsibilities for the wrong decision. At the same time, leaders require

obedience from employees. In a small power distance culture, employees are

encouraged to express their own ideas and are expected to decide by themselves what

they should do and act on their own while leaders only give guidance and provide

advice.

The chart on page 7 summarizes Hofstede’s contrast in attitudes and behaviors

between cultures with large power distances and those with small power distances.

According to the score on Hofstede’s Power Distance Index, countries and regions

that are culturally Chinese belong to high power distance countries, which implies that

China is also a high power distance country, while most western countries belong to low

power distance countries.

Country or Region

PDI

Country or

Region

PDI

Malaysia

104

Italy

Philippines

USA

India

Netherlands

Singapore

Australia

Hong Kong

Germany

South Korean

Great Britain

Taiwan

Switzerland

Japan

Sweden

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摘要：

Chapter1Introduction1Chapter1Introduction§1.1BackgroundoftheStudyLetusfirstlookintoacaseofcross-culturalcommunicationtheauthoroncereadfromabook,whichinspiresthemainideaofthisstudy:InanAmericanenterpriseinShanghai,aChineseemployeewhosebosswasanAmericanwantedtoaskforaday’sleaveforsomeprivateaffair.Hek...

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