陳蕙雅思教材 - 雅思閱讀精選 (International Business and Cross-cultural Communication)

International Business and Cross-cultural Communication

The increase ininternational business and in foreign  investment has

created a  need for executives with  knowledge     of foreign languages and

skills in cross-culturalcommunication. Americans, however, have not been

well  trained in       eitherarea and, consequently, have  not enjoyedthe same

level of success innegotiation in an international arena           ashave their

foreign counterparts.

Negotiating is theprocess of communicating back and forth for the purpose

of reaching an agreement.It involves      persuasion andcompromise, but in

order to participate ineither one, the negotiators  mustunderstand  the  

ways  in      which  people are persuaded and how compromise  is reached within

the culture of thenegotiation.

In many internationalbusiness negotiations abroad, Americans are perceived

as wealthy andimpersonal.  It  often   appears  to  the foreign  

negotiator  that the  American  represents a  large multi-million-dollar

corporation that can afford to pay the price without bargaining further.

The American negotiator'srole becomes that of an impersonal          purveyorof

information and cash.

In studies of Americannegotiators abroad, several traits have been

identified that may serveto confirm this  stereotypical perception,while

undermining thenegotiator's position. Two traits in particular that cause    

cross-culturalmisunderstanding are directness and impatience on the part

of  the  American   negotiator.  Furthermore,     American   negotiators  

often   insist on  realizing short-term goals.Foreign negotiators, on the

other hand, may value        the relationship established betweennegotiators and

may be willing to investtime in  it for long-term benefits. Inorder to

solidify  the relationship,  they  may opt  for  indirect interactions  

without  regard for  the  time

involved in    getting to know the other negotiator.

Clearly,  perceptions and differences  in values affect the  outcomes of

negotiations and thesuccess  of  negotiators. ForAmericans to play a  

more effective role in  international business negotiations, they must put

forth more effort toimprove cross-cultural understanding.

國際商業和跨文化交流  國際貿易和海外投資的增加產生了對具有外語知識和跨文化交 流技巧的經理的需求。  

然而，美國人在這兩方面未得到良好的訓練，因此沒有在國際談判 中象他們的外國對手一樣成功。 談判是為了達成協議而反復交流的過程。 它包括說服和妥 協。  

但是為了去進行說服和妥協，談判者必須懂得在談判的文化中怎樣說服人和怎樣達成 妥協。 在國外的國際商務談判中，美國人被視為富有和不帶個人情感。

在外國談判者看來， 似乎美國人代表著一個龐大的擁有數百萬資財的大企業，不用進一步地討價還價就能出得起 價錢。

美國談判者的角色變成了一個沒有個人感情的資訊及現金的供應者。 對在國外的美

國談判者的研究中，我們找出了損害談判者能力的幾個特點，或許證實這個已成定式的看法。 尤其引起跨文化誤解的兩個特點是美國談判者的直截了當和缺乏耐心。  

此外，美國談判者 經常堅持實現短期目標，而外國的談判者會珍視建立談判者之間的聯繫並願意為長期利益投 入時間。

為了鞏固這種聯繫，他們會選擇非直接的交流而不計較投入用於瞭解對方的時間。 明顯地，價值觀的不同和理解上的差異影響了談判的結果和談判者的成功與否。  

美國人要 在國際商務談判中扮演更為有效的角色，他們就必須投入更多的努力提高跨文化的理解力。