An Analysis Of Conflict In Sino-Western Business Negotiation: An Intercultural Perspective

With the growing competition and the increasing of globalization, more and more organizations are finding themselves involved in communication across cultures, between cultures, and among cultures. Business activities are essentially cultural activities as well as economic activities. Hence, cultural factors obviously have great influence on business negotiating behaviors.This thesis demonstrates that differences in cultural background are much responsible for the occurrence of conflicts in business negotiation from an intercultural perspective by case studies. Comparative analysis is used to examine the different cultural roots between China and Western countries. Confucianism, Taoism and Buddhism have great influence on Chinese's values, causing them to be harmony-oriented, caring much about relationships and face during the process of negotiation. Western people, however, are much influenced by Christianity, The Enlightment and Pragmatism, therefore, showing themselves to be direct, outcome-oriented and individualistic. Meanwhile, this thesis highlights that Chinese negotiation styles are not only influenced by Confucianism, but also by Taoism, Legalism and Sunzi's thoughts. In order to achieve effective intercultural negotiation, the improvement of self-knowledge, understanding cultural differences, tolerance to diversity, and communicative competence are recommended.