浅谈礼仪在商务谈判中的作用

浅谈礼仪在商务谈判中的作用IntroductionEtiquette is the process and means to show respect to each other in interpersonal relationship by certain, common procedures. The Etiquette can be said to be a person’s external appearance of inward cultivation and quality. Firstly, it can help people raise their self-cultivation. Secondly, it will promote social interaction and improve people’s interpersonal relationship. It also can purify the society. Since different countries have differentpolitical, conomical historical and cultural backgrounds, as well as different ways of developing, there are a lot of differences in etiquettes in many fields and many aspects, especially something related to culttural background. The good understanding of different etiquettes between the Eastern and the Western countries are becoming absolutely necessary and popular.Negotoaotion plays a virtual part in business activities. Negotiation between the seller and the buyer normally covers aspects inculding quality, quantity, packing, price, shipping, insurance, payment, complatints, and arbitration. To reach an agreement or to sign a contract, appropriate negotiation tactics and etiquettes shall be adopted.In modern society, it seems that the world is getting smaller and smaller, people are very active with frequent exchanges. Many countries are paying great attention to the combination of international etiquettes and national etiquettes. So we should enrich our cross- culture awareness and hold a changing attitude toward all kind of equettes. Etiquettes are the culture wealth of human being.This paper explores the different etiquettes in different countries in the international business negotiation settings, so as to make it possible for future successful negotiations.I Different Concepts Reflected from Negotiation Etiquettes in the East and the West.The cultural varieties make the world splendid. In order to do business actively and successfully. It is necessary for the businessmen to have the knowledgement and the required skills in interculture communication and enhance basic skills in using different cultures in negotions.Seen the Negotiation Etiquettes from IntroductionDifferent people show different appriciation of etiquettes in negotiations because of the differences of races, regions and characteristic features. Generally speaking, the western people are positive and agressive in negotiations, the Eastern people show the conservative and passive characteristic features. These differences rooted in the induvidual culture concepts. The most distingushed representive of the Western countries is America, The most distingushed representive of the Eastern countries is Japan. Let see the different culture concepts reflected in negotiationsFirst, American concepts seen from negotiations. Amercians are outgoing and good at expressing themselves, and most Amercian speak often hold suspection to negotion who say something indriectly and implicitly. Their negotiation styles are as followConfident and positiveDirect and strategic forestall one's opponent by a show of strength➢Clear attitude towards agreement and disagreement .➢Various ways of negotiations➢Cherish time and pay special attention to deadline➢Esp. Profitable➢Strong sense of laws and contacts➢Keen on package deal.➢Strong race superiority, hard to make concession An American businessman wanted to sell a new product to a Japanese businessman, they agree to meet.At their first meeting, the American businessman wasted no time. He introduced his product and after his introduction, he waited for questions in what he had said. To his surprise, the Japanese businessman showed nointerest in what had said, Instead, the Japanese businessman asked about the weather and holidays in their two countries. The American businessman felt frustrated and even annoyed. He concluded that the Japanese was ‘impolite’, and did not know how to do business. Furthermore, he decided, the Japanese didn’t like him, which explained everything.Anaiyze the situation and decide what went wrong? In fact, the Amercian businessman was ignorant of Japanese culture. He did not understand that before a business relationship can be established with the Japnese, he must first develop a good personal relationship with him. He should take the time to cultivate a closer relationship with the Japanese businessman, and then, taking about this company’product.Introductions are important aspects of our daily life. however, few people know how to make them properly. In business, there are two rules to be observed. First, the person of lesser importance, regardless of gender, is introduced to the person of greater importance. Second, the name of the more important person is mentioned before the name of the less important person.Seen the Negotiation Etiquettes from Eye ContactEye is an important aspect of body language. The Chinese saying: the eye is the window of the soul”. A lyric goes : “ your lips tell me no, but there’ yes, yes in your eyes ”. Eyes can speak in interpersonal communication .All cultures have their unique social rules governing their eye contact and these differences can make people feel uncomfortable without being aware of why they are uncomfortable .Eye contact shows trustworthiness, and integrity(= honest）. One does’ t anything to hide. When greeting and conversing with others , direct eye contact is highly valued by people of these countries. People expect the person they are interacting with to “ look them in the eye” . Not doing so implies boredom or disinteresting . Avoiding the partner’s e ye could discourage him from going on . The eye, however, is not steady, it is maintained for a second or two, move away quickly, staring at someone’s eye while talking is not polite.•In Northern American and Northern European cultures•. persons are very uncomfortable with prolonged eye contact.•What are the rules for eye contact according to the Chinese custom •If you are speaking in public，do you look at your audience frequently, or you bury your nose in your manuscript ion to read your speech all the time There is no written rules for eye contact in China, but it’s observed that Chinese people usu. lower our eyes as a sign of deference, but these differences can lead to miscommunication in the multicultural workplace.•The eyes can be very revealing during negotiation. The pupils of the eyes contract or dilate in response to emotions. Well-trained negotiators will watch the pupils for signs that you are willing to make concessions.•Because people of the Middle East know they may give away how they feel with nonverbal eye messages, they may wear dark glasses to hide such messages.II Respect Different Cultures and Making Good Use of EtiquettesIn international trade, visitors should act in accordance with local businss is a comman sayin g“Do as Romans do”,in chinaare show this you get to a place, you should obey the principle of local people but to have your own course to have you own characteristics shoule include to know the sensitive topic of local people,to respect the customs of local people and culture. In the following passage we will discuss matters needing affection by using in the international as example.2.1Know About Different Negotiation Taboo and StyleTaboo is a ban or an inhibition resulting from social custom or emotional aversion and that is a kind of culture.An object, a word, or an act protected by such a prohibition.Amercian Taboo:•“13”and “ Friday”“black cat”•Dislike 蝙蝠“ bat” , hate any product and packaging with bat luck.•Pay special attention to privacy•Avoid largesse and make-up, perfume and clothes to woman.•Keep appropriate distance .For example, a British mangagerwent to an Arab country for a business meeting with his Arab counterpart. Discussions went smoothly and both sides felt pleased.During a break, both stood talking casually. The Arab manager, thinking they now knew each other quite well, felt they should stand closer together to show the closeness of their bilateral relationship. So he moved nearer to the British manager. The British manager was surprised by this move, but thought the action was unintention on the Arba manager’s part. He stepped back a bit to keep the distance between them.The Arab manager, in his turn, was surprise by his British counterpart’s stepping back. He took it as a sign that the British manager was ignorant of his good intentions and again decided to move forward to show his good intentions and decided to move forward to show his sincerity. This further move, on the part of the Arab manager, made the British manager feel uncomfortable and even unhappy. Both felt frustrated by the situation, and neither of them understood why the other person felt the need to alter the distance between them.In the arena of international business communication, the more you know of the culture of the country you are dealing with,the less likely you are get into difficult.Features of international negotiationNot only share similar features with national negotiations but also have specific features•Political and diplomatic•International•Risky•Complicated•Wide- rangedKnowledge and Skills Requirements•Proper attitude towards negotiation•Good preparation•Awareness of cross-culture•Getting familiar with policy and international rules and laws.•Good command of foreign languages.American features in negotiation•Character: easy- going , out-going (in general )•Negotiation style:➢Confident and positive➢Direct and strategic➢forestall one's opponent by a show of strength➢Clear attitude towards agreement and disagreement .➢Various ways of negotiations➢Cherish time and pay special attention to deadline➢Esp. Profitable➢Strong sense of laws and contacts➢Keen on package deal.➢Strong race superiority, hard to make concession➢Vary from place to place (3 major areas)Three major area1. East of America, esp. people from the cities around the center ofNetwork in the northeast .Features: master all kinds of economic dynamics in the world at any time, strong activity, do business according to international custom andi nternational conventions, they are quick-minded and skilled at bargainingand profitable,at the same time they have a good command of business trade knowledge and skills.2. Mid-east of USA.Feature:People are kind, communicative, easy-going , they honor the contract and keeping one's word.Do business and purchasing from Sep. to Nov. each year.3. South AmericanFeature: treating others with sincerity, nice but hot-tempered, pay special attention to letter/ writing and credit .The final stage of business negotiations involves concession making and building toward agreement. Negotiation requires compromise. Usually, both sides give up something to get even more. However, the approaches used toget the compromise differ on the two sides. Americans and other western business executives tend to take a sequential approach to solving complex problems. That is, “let’s discuss and settle quantity, then price, then delivery, then after-sale service” and so on. Alternatively, the Asian approach is more holistic-looking at all issues simultaneously and not agreeing on any single issue until the end. Americans often are very upset by such differences in style of concession making. American managers report great difficulty in measuring progress. “After all, in America you are half done when half the issues are settled.”In Japan, nothing seems to get settled. Frequently, impatient Americans make unnecessary concessions right before agreements are announced by the Japanese. In the American view, a business negotiation is a problem –solving activity and the solution is a deal that suits both parties. From the standpoint of the Japanese, a business negotiation is a time to develop a business relationship with the goal of long-team mutual benefit. For the Japanese the economic issues are the context, not the content, of the talks. Settling any one issue is not really so important. Such details will take care of themselves once a viable, harmonious business relationship is established. Establishing the relation, signs the fist “agreement,” then the other “details”are settled quickly.In conclusion, American mangers will spend more time putting deals together with Japanese clients or partners than with other Americans. If the negotiation processes are handled adroitly, the American negotiations can look forward to long, mutually beneficial business relationships with Japanese partners.2.2Avoid Offending Taboo in Different CultureHandshaking is always be accompanied by a direct look into the eyes of the person you are shaking with, and sweet/ sincere smile as well as appropriate verbal communication.The way of handshaking in different cultures is different in intensity and duration. A firm handshake plus direct eye contact is the standard form of greeting in English-speaking countries .⏹People in American are taught to do so with a firm, solid grip from anearly age.⏹They usually step forward to shake hands, then loosen their gripsquickly, and back to a certain distance from each other.⏹The Chinese often hold hands at first, then come closer to each other,sometimes with hands still unloosened , even for a long time, esp. when two old friends meet after a long time.⏹People of the English- speaking countries always feel embarrassed anduncomfortable at what they think as “ over intimate”, while Chinese may take the English way of handshaking as unfriendly and cold, or not sincere enough.⏹Remember that women will offer their hand in both business and socialsettings in many countries.⏹The Germans prefer a firm handshake, which is seen as a symbol ofstrength and character.⏹The German culture uses the handshake more frequently than almostany other culture. This form of touch is the acceptable and expected form of touch in every situation, whether meeting a stranger or greeting one’s family. Not following this custom is viewed negatively.⏹The French generally have a much softer handshake. They may feeluncomfortable with the grip of a German, and the German may wonder about the limp handshake of the French. In the middle east, a limp handshake is more common than a firm handshake. Middle Easterners may put the free hand on the forearm of the person with whom they are shaking hands. As a result , the distance to the other person diminished.⏹The Japanese, used to bowing, may shake hands with foreign businesspartner but keep their arm firmly extended to keep a greater distance.In addition, they may slightly bow and thereby combine the Japanese and Western greeting ritual.⏹Above all we know:United Stated: firmAsia : gentle (shaking hands is unfamiliar and uncomfortable for some; the exception is the Korean, who usu. has a firm handshake; in Japan, handshake with arm firmly extended, accompanied by bow )British: softFrench: light and quick ( not offer to superiors); repeated on arrival anddepartureGerman: firm; repeated on arrival and departure; traditionally accompanied by a slight bowLatin American ：moderate grasp; repeated frequentlyMiddle Eastern : gentle; repeated frequently, and free hands placed on forearm of the other personFor example, at an international airport in an Arab country, a Chinese engineer had had his luggage checked and had been impressed by the friendly attitude of the Arab custom officer. He wanted to express his appreciation and, as he knew no Arabic thought he’d shake hands with the officer.Unfortunately, both the engineer’s hands were full. He was holding a small traveler’s bag in his left hand and a larger piece of luggage in his right hand. So the engineer quickly put the traveler’s bag into his right hand and extended his left hand for the handshake with the officer.Then, something unexpected happened. The officer’s smiling face turned pale and the smile disappeared. Instead of giving the expected handshake, he slapped the engineer’s extended hand and walked away angrily.We will think why was the Arab officer angry? He extended his left hand ( instead of his right hand ) to the Arab officer for the handshake. In Arba culture, the left hand is dirty, and using it for a handshake is regarded as an insult.III Flexible Use of EtiquettesCustom is the principle of communication between people a kind of language and a kind tool. Because the roots of custom ,culture are different from each other . People around the world different region obey different custom. China is one of the four ancient civilized country .Chinese race is the only race inheriting civilization of thousands of years. The Chinese customs have established a system of its own after gradual changes. The eastern society is inheritor of several ancient civilization , which once always chime in with eastern china . But the east and west have completely different customs and culture. As the step of our nation is reforming and opening up is accelerating , intercultural communication is becoming more and more frequent and the contact of customs and culture between east and west are increasing . It is necessary for us to know more about eastern and westerncustoms of communication .In terms of the customs of dress ,western men usually wear reserved western suit and white shirt with tie inside in formal social occasion . They like black so they usually wear black shoes .western women must be in dress in formal occasion. Today the Chinese dress are westernizing .Traditional Chinese dress for example QiPao , Zhong Shan Zhuang are fading from the stage of history .Men and women dress the same as the west in formal occasion.In terms of food and drink , western fast food and western style meal has a large proportion in Chinese food and drink market more and more people begin to try and accept these imported food . Mainland almost becomes an cultural fashion as an symbol of American culture in the field of food and drink . At the same time , French cultural of the noble .English culture of gentlemen also pour in to China with the communication of western and eastern culture many advanced western ways and methods of food and drink are brought in ,which inject new energy to the old traditional Chinese culture of food and drink . Of course , the long history and splendid culture of food and dink nation also has more and more effect on those of foreign country . There are a large number of Chinese restaurant appeared in everywhere in the world. Chinese cuisine is gradually beconing more and more popular and favorable .ConclusionFrom the discussion above, we can see there are thre mai differences between Eastern etiquettes and the Western etiquette. In modern society, it seems that the world is getting smaller and smaller, ineter people are very active with frequent exchanges. Human decency plays the basic role of social ethics. The international etiquettes combine ritual characteristics of various countries and people and can be understood by the people of different countries and nations. International etiquettes can be shared by more and more people of different countries, because etiquettes itself is a cultural phenomenon. Therefore, people are not only paying great attention to international etiquettes , but also different etiquettes in different countries and nations the final purpose is to do successful business with the help of etiquette.BibiliographyBeijin: International Business Research, 2001.Fang Yanmei. Difference of Transnational Commercial Etiquette Cultures. Guangxi: Journal of Guangxi Youth Leaders College, 2006.Lin Yeyun. Foreign Business Etiquette Training and Development Prospect. 关世杰:《跨文化交流学》, 北京大学出版社1995 年版。