2014-2015-1 《商务跨文化交际》期末口语考试

Oral Test For Intercultural Business Communication Course Directions: You’ll read 5 cases, with several questions for discussion followed. Please work in pairs and get prepared for the oral test. You should make up a dialogue for each case and analyze the case with the help of those questions. You should first point out the conflict/ conflicts in the case, and then analyze the reason/ reasons by figuring out the cultural differences. You should also work out the solutions. During the oral test, each pair will be assigned one case to analyze and your dialogue should last for at least 3 minutes. (40’) Case 1 A very distinguished 75-year-old Chinese scholar and statesman was being honored by a university in the eastern United States. He and his wife had just made the 21-hour flight from Beijing and they were met at the airport by some friends who exclaimed, “You must be tired!” His response was keyi, “It’s possible” or “It’s OK”. Of course he was tired! He was an old man who had sat on airplanes or in airports for 24 hours straight. But the context --- the meeting in an airport at night, the fact of his long journey, his slightly glazed eyes --- communicated the obvious. It was unnecessary to put it into words. Yet it is not hard for a Western imagination to suppose the situation in reverse. A traveler to Beijing gets off the plane after 24 hours of continuous travel and , in response to the same comment, “You must be tired!” replies, “Tired! I’ve never been so tired if my legs would work again! My eyes are so gritty with sleep that they feel like the Gobi desert was in that plane!” and so forth. Questions for discussion: 1.What does the old man’s answer mean? 2.What aspects of culture result in the different answers between American and Chinese? Case 2 American: I am very pleased to meet you, Mr. Sato. (The American extends his hand for a handshake). Japanese: (extending his hand and shakes hands with a weak, limp grip) So pleased to meet you, Mr. Rogers. American: This is my first time in Tokyo, and I look forward to our business association... Shall we begin our meeting? Japanese: (puzzled). Excuse me. (reaches into a card case and presents his card to Rogers). Here is my business card... American: ( Rogers takes out his wallet immediately and puts Sato’s card in it after quickly glancing at both sides; he fumbles through his credit cards looking for a business card)... I’m sure i have a card here... somewhere... Japanese: (acting hurt) Do not go to any trouble... American: (Finds one)... Ah, here’s a card... ( he hands Sato a bent card). Japanese: ( Sato graciously accepts the card and reads it very carefully, and turns it over to its flip side and its blank... He is puzzled...) American: Is there something the matter? (He sees that Sato San is uncomfortable). Japanese: Not really. American: Shall we begin our meeting? Japanese: That would be very nice, but perhaps we can first talk about ourselves a little bit... such as our positions in the company? American: Oh, sure... Japanese: (Sato has kept Rogers’ card in front of him all this time, holds it with his two hands and keeps looking at it...) Questions for discussion: 1.Why did Mr. Sato feel puzzled when Mr. Rogers first suggested starting their meeting? 2.Do you think it is proper for Mr. Rogers to put Sato’s business card into his wallet immediately? Why? 3.Why did Sato insist on introducing themselves, such as the positions in the company instead of beginning the meeting? Case 3 David Evenson, manager of a supermarket chain based in Milwaukee, was eager to establish trade ties China, one of the fastest growing economics in the world. Through a Chinese employee, Wu Xin, David reached an agreement to import 2,400 two- ounce packages of Chinese green tea from Xin Cheng, an agricultural and animal products importing and exporting corporation in China’s Zhejiang Province. The shipment came in just in time for the Thanksgiving Day sales peak. David, a tea lover himself, was impressed by the quality of the tea, and the packaging was better than he had expected. He anticipated good sales of the tea in his stores. He even took the trouble to have Wu Xin write some bilingual ads for the tea, which ran in major local papers and on radio stations. However, because of the small size of the transaction, the transportation per unit was quite high. In order to profit form this transaction, David’s accounting department suggested that the Chinese green tea be priced a little higher than the domestic and imported brands of tea they already sold. Mr. Sheng Jiao-ru, a representative from Xin Cheng, disagreed, suggesting that David cut the price to match other brands first; once the Chinese brand was established and recognized by the consumers, both sides could profit from economy of scale, selling a larger amount of tea at a lower price per unit. David, who was unwilling to start out selling at a loss, decided to go with his accounting department’s price proposal. Three weeks later Sheng called David from China and learned that the green tea had not sold well at all and had been returned to the warehouse. Sheng again suggested that David try lowering the price, but David seemed to have lost interest in the project. Over the next several months, Sheng was unable to interest David in further deals, and he finally let things rest for a time. Questions for discussion: 1.Why do you think David is unwilling to lower the price of the tea? 2.What alternatives do you think Mr. Sheng should have given that David might accept? Case 4 An American manager of human resource in Philips lightening company talked with a Chinese employee with great potential. The American manager wanted to know the development design and the position the employee wants to get in the company. But the Chinese employee did not answer the question directly; instead he only talked about the company’s future direction, promotion system and his current position. He talked for a long time, but did not give a definite and direct answer. The manager was puzzled and annoyed, because the same situation has occurred several times. Later, the manager complained to another human resource manager, Mr. Jia, “I only wanted to know the employee’s working plan in the next 5 years and the position he wants to get in the company, but why cannot i get a clear answer?” The Chinese employee also complained to Mr. Jia, “ Why are Americans so aggressive?” As the human resource manager in a multinational company, Mr. Jia knows that a different manner in communication brings about misunderstandings. So he did best to explain to the two sides, but it is not easy to reduce the obstacle between them. Questions for discussion: 1.Why did the Chinese employee not give a clear and definite answer? 2.What stereotype did the Chinese employee form towards American? 3.How can Mr. Jia effectively solve the awkward situation? Case 5 Greg Rossi, originally from Boston, Massachusetts, was in Nanjing working with executives from a fine dinnerware manufacturer on a plan to develop new designs that should be popular in the North American market. Although he worked with a number of executives, his chief counterpart was Zhang Zhihao, whose subordinates referred to him as Lao Zhang. Greg worked well with Lao Zhang for about six months, but then he began to notice that the working relationship was not as effective as it had been. Lao Zhang did not seem to be able to follow through on his commitments to Greg, and it appeared to Greg that Lao Zhang had become unable to provide leadership to his subordinates. This puzzled Greg, because in the earlier stages of their working relationship, Lao Zhang had seemed to be respected by his subordinates and by executives at about Lao Zhang’s level int he organization. The only possibility that occurred to Greg was that Lao Zhang was spending free time with the organization’s attractive younger secretary. It could have been a sexual relationship, but Greg didn’t know for sure. This secretary also received a lot of positive attention from Lao Zhang during the workday, but this in itself did not surprise Greg, since she was a very capable worker and, at least in Greg’s mind, deserved positive attention for her work. In addition, Greg thought to himself, i met my wife at my organization back in Boston, and she was a secretary at the time. We certainly didn’t break any rules, and besides, what we did was nobody’s business as long as it didn’t affect our work. Of course i was separated from my first wife at the time, and Lao Zhang isn’t. Are there cultural differences involved in Lao Zhang’s current relations with coworkers and in Greg’s reactions to Lao Zhang’s behavior? Questions for discussion: 1.Does Lao Zhang’s extra attention to the secretary affect his relationship with coworkers? 2.Are there any differences between Lao Zhang’s case and Greg’s situation when he met his wife? Are there cultural factors that people perceive differently? 3.How differently do people expect about leaders in American and Chinese culture? 继续阅读