...Cultural differences in Daily communication between China and America 1. Introtion People have different lifestyle, thinking patterns, behaviors and values, which all inflect one another. In many cross-cultural conversations, misunderstanding can be caused by distinction in the understanding of a same word in the culture difference. A serious question may therefore bring great laghter, while an innocuous statement horrible anger,which caused by culture difference. Experts in sociology claimed that every single culture is distinctive. The word 'culture' is defined as follow in Oxford Advanced Learner's English Chinese Dictionary: customs,arts, social institutions, etc of a particular group or people. Among all distinctions, difference in daily life plays a special role. More details of lifes oversees are shown with the rapid development of communication and media. Facing that very difference between the Chinese and the American however, seems to have led to confusion and even further, false and unscientific evaluation, thus the eventual cultural conflict and descrimination. This paper will therefore focus on the distinction of the Chinese and American culture from the aspect of daily communication . 2.The Importance of Cross-Cultural Communication Because of various reasons, there are a lot of cultural differences between China and the U.S. This creates a barrier for cross-cultural communications. Due to globalization and social development...
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...American Intercontinental University Social Structure HUMA 215 – Topics in Cultural Studies 9/8/12 Abstract Cultural syncretism has transformed and shaped our world today; because of encounters years and centuries before our time we have religion and even art. Our modern culture was contributed to by the happenings of yesterday. Social Structure Introduction The legacies of cultural syncretism in the Americas and Africa can be compared and contrasted with the resistance to cultural change that westerners experienced in China and India. These encounters have left many legacies of change and differences in the culture today. Had syncretism not occurred or if syncretism had taken root during earlier encounters in China or India the world today would be different. Various cultural factors in would affect the outcome of syncretism tremendously. Compare/ Contrast Cultural Syncretism Cultural syncretism was active in some societies but not in all; syncretism was not affective in more cultures because some cultures were simply more developed. With the expansion of cultural syncretism, it was easier for Africa and the Americas to adapt than China and India Westerners. Africa and the Americas separated into different tribes which caused them to be weaker than China, India, and the Westerners who created a nation (Sayre, 2013). An example of this cultural syncretism is the Aztec tribe, which was a fairly large tribe; the Aztecs had so many neighboring enemies because of...
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...Cultural Syncretism and its Impact Joanna Abele, Cassandra Drapeau, Amanda Lawson, Brandon Nelson, and Crystal Wooten American Intercontinental University – Online March 3, 2013 Abstract In gaining an understanding of how early civilizations lived, we can see what impact they have had as they migrated to the New World. By examining what they left behind we can also see the impact they have had on many diverse cultures and societies today. Cultural Syncretism and its Impact Introduction Cultural syncretism occurs when two opposite cultures mix and blend their cultural beliefs, whether they be political or religious, to produce or to start a new culture or religion. Historically, syncretism has been seen as an attempt to reconcile disparities between various cultures. Africa and the Americas both had help with other factors like weapons, religion, and technological advancements. When it came to cultural beliefs, China and India’s values were very different. They would operate from outside of the traditional beliefs, which made them much more resistant to syncretism. Compare and contrast the legacies of cultural syncretism in Africa and the Americas with the resistance to cultural change Westerners encountered in China and India. When different aspects of cultural philosophies or religions blend together and disparities are compromised, cultural syncretism occurs. According to the 1830 American census 2.3 million people were of African descent and there was only...
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...Phoenix MMPBL 560 Managing in a Cross-Cultural Environment November 9, 2009 Managing across cultures is no easy task for any organization regardless of its economies of scale or long standing reputation in the market; the challenges are many, including coping with the flux of change, managing diverse groups of employees, communicating, and negotiating agreements with host countries. This paper illustrates how Johnson and Johnson, Allstate, Starbucks, Bank of America, Coca-Cola, Shell, Whataburger, and Sony USA address their cultural diversity. Thus, the authors of this paper analyze, evaluate, and assess the various successful best practices of these organizations to help Riordan Manufacturing’s situation. Riordan Manufacturing’s decision to open a new production facility in China has created some challenges involving the scarcity of Chinese skilled employees. Whereas leadership attempts alternative solutions to synergize the company’s strategies to address the situation, Riordan recognizes that the integration of a diverse workforce has the potential to alter the company’s performance (University of Phoenix, 2009). Accordingly, in analyzing cultural synergy strategies to help mitigate undesirable outcomes takes extra consideration, yet it is a necessary task (Hodgetts, Luthans, Doh, 2005). When reviewing Johnson and Johnson, it is evident that the company struggled with managing diversity and cultural differences. However, Johnson and Johnson stepped up...
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...MSc Management Cross-cultural Management module Cross Cultural Study of China and America Name of Student Name of Instructor Dated: Table of Contents S. No. | Topic | Page No. | Cross Cultural Study of China and America | | 1- | Introduction | 3 | 2- | Chinese Culture | 3 | 3- | Leadership styles and skills of China | 4 | 4- | Motivating others | 4 | 5- | Trust Builder | 5 | 6- | Talent retention | 5 | 7- | High Performance team | 5 | 8- | Management Style of China | 5 | 9- | The Guanxi | 6 | 10- | Individualism and collectivism | 6 | 11 | America’s Culture | 6 | 12 | Leadership Styles in America | 7 | 13 | Directive leadership | 7 | 14 | Participative leadership | 7 | 15 | Empowering leadership | 8 | 16 | Charismatic leadership | 8 | 17 | Management Styles of America | 8 | 18 | Ethical issues in cross cultural of China and America | 8 | 19 | Compare and contrast between China and USA | 9 | 20 | Conclusion | 11 | 21 | References | 12 | Introduction: This paper consists of cross cultural study of two developed countries named USA and China. These countries are well developed and exist in the major countries of the world. Both have an entire different culture in reference of behavior, leadership styles and management. China is the part of eastern countries and USA is a western country, both have entirely different environment and too far from each other. There are many roles that are involved in any organization...
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...Compare and contrast the legacies of cultural syncretism in Africa and the Americas with the resistance to cultural change Westerners encountered in China and India. What cultural factors caused the differences in outcomes? What legacies have the differences in types of encounters and degrees of cultural change left today? Had syncretism not occurred in the Americas, how might modern culture be different? If cultural syncretism had taken root during early encounters in China or India, how might they be different today? The quest for wealth and power brought Europeans to Indian shores in 1498 when Vasco da Gama, the Portuguese voyager, arrived in Calicut (modern Kozhikode, Kerala) on the west coast. In their search for spices and Christian converts, the Portuguese challenged Arab supremacy in the Indian Ocean, and, with their galleons fitted with powerful cannons, set up a network of strategic trading posts along the Arabian Sea and the Persian Gulf. In 1510 the Portuguese took over the enclave of Goa, which became the center of their commercial and political power in India and which they controlled for nearly four and a half centuries. Economic competition among the European nations led to the founding of commercial companies in England (the East India Company, founded in 1600) and in the Netherlands (Verenigde Oost-Indische Compagnie--the United East India Company, founded in 1602), whose primary aim was to capture the spice trade by breaking the Portuguese monopoly in Asia...
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...understand and appreciate another culture. Cultural difference is the biggest barrier in doing business in the world market. Hofstede (1993) believes that the spread of business onto the global stage brings the issue of national and regional differences to the forefront. Hofstede measures culture in five dimensions and teaches that cooperation across cultures is essential to human survival. These five dimensions are Power distance, individualism, masculinity, uncertainty avoidance , and long term orientation. In this paper, I plan to present some similarities as well as some differences in the culture of the United States of America and China based on Hofstede’s dimensions. The United States of America is frequently investigated in cross cultural research due to its economic power and because of its cultural representativeness. China as the largest market, and possibly the most appealing market in Asia, is entering into global collaboration with a wide range of foreign partners. There are only two dimensions were the two countries are even close to being similar and they are masculinity and uncertainty avoidance. A masculine society is driven by success and achievement. A company with masculine culture operates assertively and competitively. If the country is ranked lower on this scale they are referred to as a feminine society which means that caring for others and quality of life are of a greater value. There was only a four point difference on the chart for this dimension. The...
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...and Inclusion are a part of everyday life in America. Diversity is within every culture and group including ethnical groups, gender, and workplaces. Diversity is the similarities and differences where Inclusion is the act of being included in that diversity group. It is important to know and understand the diversity and inclusion to gain the knowledge and understanding of people around us. What are the dimensions of cultural diversity? Identify and briefly explain the dimensions by referencing both textbooks. “Cultural diversity is commonly interpreted in relation to ethnicity. However, the term should be understood within a broader context where it recognizes the unique attributes of all persons” (La Trobe University, Oct). The dimensions of culture diversity are the difference and similarities within the culture groups. There are many different dimensions within a culture group, such as, dress attire, language, race, and gender. Within a culture there are many different languages, especially in American culture. While some women must not show in sin in one culture, they may be allowed to show as much as they want in another culture. There also different diversities with genders and cultures. In one culture women are treated as equal as men, and in another the women must wait on the man and are not as high ranked as the man. Women may not even be allowed to be part of the work force in certain cultures. In America diversity with races where a major thing in the...
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...Influence of language difference and clique. Nowadays, as the development of international integration increases under the globalization. The communication between countries are increasingly frequent, and modern technology has also been widely used,people are now able travel to many country in short time. America continues to be the most preferred destination for international students, Many Chinese students choose American colleges as their future college. As a Chinese international student who study abroad in America, a majority of us face a same issue, the issue is international students cannot interacting with local culture. Due to different language and different place for international students, they cannot communicate with native speakers well and do not have many natives friends. The number of international students study abroad increase in recent 10 years, most of the parents rather to pay higher tuition that want their children have a better place to study. International education offers a student a unique experience and exposure to the world by interacting with people from different cultures, religion, and socio-cultural backgrounds. However, international students whose English is not their first language often finds difficulties integrating into the new culture as their ability to communicate fluently and effectively is thwarted. International students use barely English with natives and it is hard to communicate with others. In addition, it is hard to make...
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...with family and friends. As limiting as that was, it was an acceptable lifestyle in Nigeria. Coming to the U.S. and experiencing the differences in culture was a big shock to me. It was not an easy transition. I quickly found out that some of the things frowned upon in Nigeria were acceptable in this society. Some of the fundamental cultural differences between these societies are in their outlooks on divorce, homosexuality, and the roles of women. One of the differences that struck me was how briefly marriages lasted in America because of divorce. Although many marriages are arranged in Nigeria, married couples tussle to sort issues out for better or for worse, no matter what the situation is. I, like most Nigerians, believe marriage is a form of blessing if married couples are willing to grow old together. The divorce process is fairly easy in America; however, most couples will file for divorce at the first sign of trouble. My first year as a freshman in America was devastating mainly because many of my classmates were separated from their father or mother through divorce. The ideal “traditional marriage” is a man, a woman, and their children in Nigeria but now in America, it is his, hers, and theirs. Watching the news, listening to my peers’ discussion about divorce and doing studies on divorce increased my awareness that divorce in America must be the easiest thing in the world! My...
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...Michael Merrill Composition 5 February Multiculturalism in America Does anyone actually remember, at what age, when they realized that they were culturally different than the next little boy or girl? Did someone actually inform you that you were culturally different or was it learned on its own as you grew up? In the essay “They’ve Got to Be Carefully Taught”, Susan Brady Konig shares her experience about Cultural Diversity Month at her daughter, Sarah’s, preschool. During Cultural Diversity Month, Miss Laura is teaching the little preschoolers about the differences in each one of their cultural and ethnic backgrounds. The kids are being taught where their family came from, what race the kids are, and how it makes them all unique or different. Little preschoolers should probably have some type of knowledge of their background but not at two or three years old. One would agree with Susan Brady Konig that the idea of teaching multiculturalism in schools can cause cultural divides in this country. If it were to be taught in school, it should be taught later in life when students are able to comprehend and process the differences between ethnic cultures. Kids should be taught the alphabet and how to count instead of learning the color of their skin. They should grow up and learn the American culture before learning about their ancestral heritage. If a child wants to know where they came from or what their culture is, let their parents explain to them why their skin is that...
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...category of cultural identity in Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s The Thing Around Your Neck Dr Elizabeth Jackson University of the West Indies St Augustine, Trinidad and Tobago Having begun my academic career, not so long ago, as a postcolonial scholar, I have become increasingly critical of postcolonial theory on the grounds that for an increasing number of literary texts by so-called postcolonial writers, postcolonial theoretical approaches may have outlived their usefulness. One example is the Nigerian-born writer Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s collection of short stories The Thing Around Your Neck, published in 2009. My paper will examine the ways in which these stories explore the limits of diaspora as a category of cultural identity and move toward a more flexible conceptualization of the impact of globalization on people’s sense of themselves and their place in the world. Although the main characters in these stories are of Nigerian origin, few of them fit easily into the limiting categories of ‘Nigerian’ or ‘Nigerian diaspora’. This is not only because their geographical placement is often in flux, but also because their sense of identity is not based on nationality, national origin, or even a sense of belonging to a Nigerian diaspora. On the contrary, they can arguably be described as ‘cosmopolitan’ – not in the old elitist sense of the term, but in the sense of transcending the limitations of nationality or national origin as a category of cultural identity. ...
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...Avatar as an Allegory HUM3321-14 Sean Gilman Sean Gilman Jeffrey Bennett HUM3321-14 13 December 2011 Avatar as an Allegory In the 1600s and 1700s, the British began to migrate to and colonize “The New World”, America. As they arrived, they met a society for whom they displayed little compassion and much hostility. The British invaded their land and oppressed the Native American people for hundreds of years due to their cultural differences and lack of understanding. James Cameron’s 2009 film, Avatar mirrors the discovery of the new world, albeit in a very different light. The American military colonizes and destroys land on Pandora, while showing no regard for the welfare of the Na’vi. Avatar serves as an allegory for warfare and cultural hatred based on ignorance and a lack of multi-cultural acceptance and understanding. The Na’vi society of Pandora is an extremely naturalistic people. The Na’vi are the dominant species of Pandora, much like humans on Earth. They are a humanoid species that very much believes in the spirituality of nature and the world around them. In Na’vi society, there are marriage parallels, and they believe in an all-knowing God figure. This is itself, is a very strong correlation to the Native American cultures of early North America. Many of those cultures had similar beliefs. A lot of these Native American cultures believed in a strong connection between the physical world and the spiritual world, just like the Na’vi and their connection with...
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...Task 4 Rebecca Fertig 12/24/2012 Introduction Cross cultural marketing refers to the strategic process in which marketing is conducted among people whose culture differs from that of the marketer. The differences in culture occur in various aspects like social norms, values and language. The differences also include such aspects as the living styles and education of the people. This paper addresses the need for company A which is US based to understand cross cultural marketing in China. The paper clearly defines the different areas which the company must consider when launching into China. This results from the fact that cross-cultural marketing requires sensitivity on the marketer. Failure to understand the tactics leads to the eventual failure of the marketing. Understanding the culture of the Chinese people and incorporating it into the marketing mix of Company A will result to the success of the company. Major Cross-Cultural Issues That May Impact Company A’s Marketing Approach There are various issues that make the country of china and US tremendously different in their cultures. One is the social structure which is extremely hierarchical and formal in China. This means that people should know their place in the hierarchy and fix themselves accordingly (Dsouza, 2012). One is not supposed to cross the boundaries into other areas. This differs from the way it is in America and where the structure is informal and loose. This is based on the democratic...
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...Tonya Anderson June 6 2012 BUSN310 Professor Sparks Hello Class and Professor, Cultural differences create understanding between neighbors, friends, family and especially co-workers. This is very evident where I live in Denver. We are a city of many cultures all tossed together for work, shopping and living. When we look at the ethical behaviors in relation to culture, we are viewing two forms of beliefs and attitudes meshed together to create one action or thought. In the work environment this can be difficult due to the nature of the action or communication as it can cause confusion and obstacles. While it is customary to bow when introduced in a business meeting in Asia it is customary to shake hands in America. This may seem like a simple difference but in fact it is disrespectful if a bow or handshake is not performed by either culture. Ethically Asians see bowing as respect and a moral code. Americans find bowing a sense of weakness. So how do we make it work? “In some countries, bribery is part of the fabric of life and no business can be transacted without it. Without knowing whom to pay to grease the wheels, companies face frustration and failure”, (Pitta,Fung, Isburg, 1999). Bribing to grease the wheels is very common in not only Asia but in Eastern Europe as well. In America bribery is very frowned upon and will cause legal actions if discovered. The cultural differences pertaining to bribery stem from a long line of business growing up in non-democratic environments...
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