Intercultural Communication: Business Negotiations
One of the sources of miscommunication is rooted in culture. American businesspersons have a certain set of assumptions that drive their verbal actions. In chapter 6, you learned about some of the maxims of conversation in English. Other cultures have their maxims of conversation. In this exercise, you are asked to compare and contrast the maxims as applied to a series of negotiations between a Japanese and an American team over a film equipment contract. Ultimately the negotiations fail. The question is, why? Please view the video Doing Business in Japan, reread pp. 180-184 in A Concise Introduction to Linguistics and answer the following questions (Value each question:
1. What are the maxims of conversation in American English. (pp. 180-184, video).
2. What are the maxims of conversation in Japanese discourse (pp. 184, video).
3. In what ways are the differences reflected in the verbal behavior of the American team versus the Japanese team?
4. What is the composition of the American team versus Japanese teams? How does each reflect the organization culture of the businesses they represent?
5. Compare and contrast the following issues of social behavior (20 points):
• Use of first names.
6. Over what specific points did the either teams misinterpret what the other was saying? Give four examples from any phase of the negotiation.
7. If you were counseling each team, what sort of advice would you offer?
• The American team.
• The Japanese team
Extra Credit: Often as a reaction to ethnocentrism, linguistic or otherwise, it is often tempting to over-romanticize another culture. Based on this video and on Internet research, address the question whether Japanese maxims of conversation facilitated or limited the country’s response to the earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear disasters involving Fukushima in March 2011.