Functions And Applications Of Nonverbal Communication In Intercultural Business Communication Settings

In intercultural business communication settings, much emphasis has been paid to verbal communication. In fact, those businesspeople who have a good command of nonverbal communication are more likely to succeed. Nonverbal communication should not be obstacles in intercultural business communication settings. Rather, an appropriate use of nonverbal communication should be an indispensable tool to the success of businesspeople who are engaged in intercultural business communication.Through researches and analysis, the writer finds that successful businesspeople pay much more attention to nonverbal communication so that they can seize the chances ahead of their counterparts. The theme of this thesis is nonverbal communication in intercultural business communication settings, with the focus on its functions and applications. The thesis consists of five chapters. In Chapter One, an introduction of the background, the scope, the method and the organization of the thesis are given. In Chapter Two, the thesis introduces the theories related to the theme of the thesis, including the theory of nonverbal communication, theory of intercultural business communication and theory of functions of nonverbal communication. In Chapter Three, four main parts of nonverbal communication: body language, environmental language, paralanguage and objective language are discussed in detail. Most of the examples selected occur in intercultural business communication settings. Other examples ranging from economics, politics, entertainment and sports are also used to illustrate the functions and applications of nonverbal communication. Chapter Four is the case analysis part. Two cases are given. The first case is from intercultural business communication settings. The second takes the film God of Gamblers as a typical example to illustrate the functions and applications of nonverbal communication. Chapter Five is the conclusion of the thesis. This part summarizes the importance of nonverbal communication and its functions and applications in intercultural business communication settings, emphasizes the importance of observing people's own nonverbal behaviors and also gives high attention to the decoding of others'nonverbal signals. Limitations and suggestions are listed as well.