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Japanese and American Cross-Cultural Business Pragmatics: A Study.

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  • Additional Information
    • Peer Reviewed:
      N
    • Source:
      34
    • Intended Audience:
      Practitioners; Teachers
    • Subject Terms:
      Attitudes; Business Administration; Business Communication; Cultural Differences; Culture Conflict; Foreign Countries; Intercultural Communication; Pragmatics; Sociocultural Patterns; Stereotypes
    • Subject Terms:
      Japan; United States
    • Abstract:
      A study examined the extent to which culture-specific traits persist or change in American and Japanese business people who interact in business. Data were drawn from 13 interviews with both Japanese and American employees of Japanese companies. Interviewees were asked about their perceptions or stereotypes of people from the other culture before their initial contact with anyone from that culture, then about their current perceptions of business professionals and the business environment from that culture, focusing on changes in perception based on experience. General questions about frustration or confusion encountered in cross-cultural business interactions were also asked. Analysis of the interviews revealed ten major categories and 20 sub-categories for Japanese-American cross-cultural business pragmatics. Categories include: background; company profile; work (subcategories: attitude; territory; layout; workload); collegial relations/tsukiai; communication (subcategories: disagreement; body language; misunderstanding/breakdown; English language competence; thought pattern); decision-making (subcategories: timing; group vs. individual; power; technique); meeting (subcategories: participant inclusion; language problems; function; seating arrangement); training (subcategories: English language training; company training); negotiation/settai; and strategies for cross-cultural communication. Each category is discussed further. (Contains 19 references.) (MSE)
    • Publication Date:
      1998
    • Accession Number:
      ED412764