论文总字数：34514字

摘 要

时间存在于世界各个角落、各种文化中。不同文化对时间的观念和态度不尽相同，这便形成了时间观差异。中美文化在社会模式、历史背景、宗教信仰、价值观念等各方面的差异，都对其时间观念有所影响，因而在跨文化交际中尤其是在商务谈判过程中免不了有些误解与冲突。本文试图通过对比分析中美时间观念差异，并结合具体谈判案例探讨这些差异对商务谈判的影响，以此找出文化冲突的解决措施并提高我们的跨文化交际能力。

关键词：时间观；商务谈判；文化冲突；跨文化交际

Contents

1. Introduction 1

2. Literature Review 2

3. Differences in Temporal Concept Between China and America 3

3.1 Differences in Time Orientations 3

3.2 Differences in Time Patterns 5

3.3 Differences in Time Systems 6

4. The Influence of Different Temporal Concept on Business Negotiations 7

4.1 Contradictions before Negotiation 7

4.2 Contradictions during Negotiation 9

4.3 Contradictions after Negotiation 11

5. Solutions to Contradictions Caused by Different Temporal Concept 12

6. Conclusion 13

Works Cited 15

1. Introduction

Time is an important dimension of our life. Temporal concept refers to the individual perception and utilization of time, which is a silent language that we could not touch. And we unconsciously learn about concept of time in our daily life. Different people in each culture have different concept of time. Concept of time are mainly embodied in two important dimensions that viewing time as a rare resource, or on the other hand viewing time as an infinite resource. Some culture views it as a rare resource, and it could fleet. Thus we should make the most of time as possible as we can in our life; otherwise, we could not do meaningful things in limited life. Such cognition has an influence on people’s behaviors in each culture. Another culture views it as an infinite resource. In other words, we don’t need to deliberately control and master time. Hand over our own life to destiny, and then we can have a casual, comfortable life. Americans and Chinese reach a consensus on the former opinion. Thus it can be seen that time conception in different cultures has their own unique patterns. People of different cultures, their social practice and historical geographical environment are so different that their values, world view, outlook on life are not the same. As a result, the meaning of time people endowed and the method of using time are also not consistent. As American anthropologist Hall stated, “Time is manipulated less consciously, it is subject to less distortion than the spoken language. It can shout the truth where words lie.”(Hall, 1959: 1)

By analyzing and studying different temporal concept between China and America, the thesis aims at allowing readers to deeply understand temporal concept and then to analyze its influence on business negotiations by quoting some negotiating cases. After that, some useful solutions to contradictions caused by different temporal concept are illustrated. Finally, the closing part includes the conclusion, as well as the limitations of this thesis.

2. Literature Review

Temporal concept, are also called concept of time by different scholars. It is a term explaining how people perceive, and use time in communication. Greatly influenced by culture, the way people perceive and use time varies from culture and culture. American and Chinese studies on temporal concept are analyzed as follows. American studies on temporal concept have a very long history. Anthropologist Edward T. Hall concept of poly-chronic versus mono-chronic time orientation analyzed how cultures structure their time. In The Silent Language, Hall points out that culture has three levels: the formal, the informal, and the technical level (Hall, 1959: 63). Kluckhohn and Strodtbeck divide time orientation into three parts: past orientation, present orientation, and future orientation. According to Kluckhohn, “All societies have some conception of the past, all have a present, and all give some kind of attention to the future time-orientation”(Kluckhohn, 1953: 348). However, people from different cultures vary widely the concept of time and in the value placed on the past, present and future. In addition, people under different time orientations may have different opinions on the pattern of time. According to Davis, in future-orientated societies, time is linear (Davis, 2001: 201). However, in past and present-orientated societies, time is cyclical.

Chinese scholars have summarized some theories through the study on cultural differences on temporal concept. In China, the research on cultural temporal concept mostly focuses on introducing, recommending and commenting the theory of western scholars, which can be found in the monographs about intercultural and nonverbal communication published in recent years.

From my point of view, there are huge differences in temporal concept between China and America. And it is these differences in temporal concept that leads to the contradictions in business negotiations. No matter before, during or after negotiating, those contradictions caused by different temporal concept inevitably influence the result of the negotiation.

In summary, American scholars have proposed many theories on time through empirical research and quantitative studies. These theories can be scientifically validated through repeated tests and applied by many different scholars in different periods, places and among different cultures. In contrast, the research on temporal concept in China has a short history but has achieved a lot.

3. Differences in Temporal Concept Between China and America

China and America have different concept of time owing to their different cultural backgrounds, such as religious relief, social pattern and economic system. As the economy is developing rapidly, intercultural business contact is becoming more and more frequent. It is inevitable that some misunderstandings and conflicts occur when two cultures communicate. In order to avoid this problem, we should comprehensively learn about differences in time conception of each culture to facilitate the ability of international communication. Differences in temporal concept between China and America are mainly embodied in the following aspects: time orientations, time patterns, and time systems. Accordingly we can analyze it from three categories.

3.1 Differences in Time Orientations

Time orientation is one of the most important parts in time conception. Kluckhohn and Strodtbeck state that orientation toward time is a stable cultural difference (Kluckhohn, 1961: 100). People usually determine their positions and direct their behaviors according to where their culture lays emphasis on the continuum of time orientation. We can divide it into three aspects: past orientation, present orientation and future orientation. Firstly, past-orientated culture pays attention to old-style life. They prefer to look back through history. In social ethics, people show great respect for the elderly and parents. Chinese value tradition, including respecting ancestors and valuing family. Thus it is a great shame for us Chinese to slander ancestors and destroy one’s family. However, Americans are completely different because America is a nation lacking ancient history. Secondly, present-orientated culture pays more attention to the present and immediate pleasures. They think life is natural. It is meaningless for them to linger the past and fantasize the future. They agree that seizing the present is most important and it’s unnecessary to consider much about future. The style of present orientation culture is causal, but sometimes we feel it too lazy and short-termed. Thirdly, America is future-orientated. They usually pay more attention to long-term interests. They are filled with hope for the future. It is worth to work hard at the present for the sake of tomorrow’s happiness. Americans feel wasting time is shameful. They plaint that life is too short and limited, so they pay high attention to the time.

Differences in time orientations can be reflected in many aspects. The Chinese, with their tradition of ancestor worship and strong pride in their culture’s persistence for thousands of years, are another culture that uses the past as a guide for the life. As a Chinese proverb advises, “Consider the past and you will know the present.”(Xu Lisheng, 2013: 255) Americans, however, put great faith in the future. “Time is money” is generally acknowledged in America. They prefer to plan for the future. No matter how busy they are, they all can finish what they are doing now and move onto something else.

In usage of words, two different cultures adopt different opinions when using the same word. In English, “the latest news” means the newest message, but in the Chinese, it means the last message. What’s more, the “back” in “the story dates back to thousand years ago” has a meaning of “after” in the Chinese. In English, however, it has the opposite meaning. Furthermore, people in China quite value age and experience, which is the symbol of wisdom and authority. When we address others, we can use “Lao（老，old）”, “D a（大，elder）”. For example, “老王” (Old Wang), “大哥”(big brother) and so on all express respect. On the contrary, those respectful appellation words are not suitable in America, because “old” means youth is gone, and means having no abilities. We must address them by “Respected” or “Senior”, etc(Zhang Jinsong, 2003: 96).

In terms of attitudes towards changes, China is a society of pursuing stability, influenced by Confucius traditional culture and agricultural civilization all the time. China is past-oriented. Thus, we tend to make decisions by summarizing the experience and lessons of the past. We pay less attention to the future because it is unpredictable. “Enough is as good as a feast. （知足常乐）” , “Esteem the past and over the present.（厚古薄今）”, “Common fame is seldom to blame.（枪打出头鸟）”, “Ancestor’s rules cannot be altered.（祖宗之法不可变）” and other thoughts are all expressions of advocating tranquility and past orientation in China. America, on the contrary, is future-orientated. They advocate innovation and changes. Besides, Americans seldom review the past and value tradition. It is generally agreed that new things are superior to old things. Influenced by future orientation, Americans prefer to break the routine and bring forth the new through the old.

3.2 Differences in Time Patterns

According to some scholars, time and space coexist and overlap to some extent, which therefore leads to two kinds of outlooks on time(Jia Yuxin, 1997: 71). We can also divide time patterns into three: linear time, flexible time and cyclical time(Yan Wenhua, 2008: 73). Linear time and cyclical time are mainly introduced in this essay. We can use linearity and cyclicality to analyze differences between Chinese and Americans from some perspectives.

In linear-time culture, time is viewed as linear. America belongs to linear-time culture. People concentrate on only one thing in one period. Time is an important resource. Thus whether to manage and use time effectively or not can reflect whether you have abilities or not. There are some distinct features in linear-time culture. Firstly, punctuality is valued highly. People will think highly of those who are punctual rather than who are always late. Secondly, working on schedule is advocated. When dating, we need to make appointment in advance. Thirdly, it is correct and effective to focus on one thing in one period of time. Instead, handling several things in one period is equal to lack of concentration.

In flexible-time culture, people view time as flexible. They think time is served as relationship. We are the master, not the slave of the time. A one-hour talk can be extended to several hours. Schedule disruptions and temporary arrangements can be tolerated. Handling several things in one period is the reflection of effectiveness.

In cyclical-time culture, time manages everything. Time can cure everything. Time is a kind of reincarnation and circulation. A theory in China that man is an integral part of nature can embody this. In China, we are used to considering in the long term instead of establishing relationships based on immediate interests.

This kind of differences in temporal concept between China and America will make it easy to generate misunderstandings or conflicts in business communication. Chinese in favor of cyclical time conception assume that time and business opportunity can revolve. Chinese negotiators lay great emphasis on establishing long-termed cooperative relationships. Of course, negotiation time will last very long. Conversely, Americans cherish time as gold, liking fast-paced lifestyle. They will make an agreement within short time. Reservation is a kind of common social rule and meanwhile punctuality is fundamental.

3.3 Differences in Time Systems

Hall divide time usage in different cultures into two modes: One is Mono-chronic time. Another is Poly-chronic time (Hall, 1983: 45). Most Americans belong to the former system. Americans value time and they do only one thing in one period of time. In the process of negotiation, anything and any people should strictly adhere to schedule. Americans concentrate on the first thing and move onto something else. They use time very precisely. On the contrary, China belongs to poly-chronic time so we can do several things in one period, and causally dominate time according to our own needs.

Americans are dominated by mono-chronic time system in all aspects of life. Deeply influenced by this system, Americans pay much attention to deadlines. Everything must be completed within the stipulated time in that effectiveness is of vital. In this time system, the schedule may be unalterable and it is always put in the first place. Cultures like those of the United States and most of Europe tend to use this time system.

China belongs to poly-chronic time system. Poly-chronic time is characterized by multi-occurrence, which means many things can be handled in one period. And Chinese can interact with more than one person at a time. In this time system, time is viewed as quite flexible. Therefore, it’s very common for Chinese teachers to drag out their classes in order to finish the lecture.

To sum up, poly-chronic time is experienced less tangible than mono-chronic time. It will be helpful for us to handle business affairs and interact with others in different cultures if we grasp the differences between the two time systems.

4. The Influence of Different Temporal Concept on Business Negotiations

As the process of economic globalization accelerates, intercultural business cooperation between China and America has recently become more and more frequent. Accordingly due to those huge differences in temporal concept between the two nations, it cannot be denied that any small details will result in cultural conflicts or even communication failures during the whole procedure of negotiation. As a proverb says “Failure is the mother of success”. This proves that whether things succeed or not depends on our experiences and lessons. What’s more, China always has a tradition of respecting the aged. Thus we have a preference for choosing the experienced or elder staff as negotiators, as well as following a conventional rule. Chinese negotiators tend to spend time introducing and understanding before negotiating. And negotiating time can extend longer according to the situation. Nevertheless, American negotiators prefer to sustain innovations and develop new markets. Quick decision and planned preparations will be a better choice because American people think time is money. Therefore, American negotiators always strictly control the negotiating time and complete the signing of contracts within the stipulated time. It is different concept of time that caused many problems before, during and after negotiating. In this paper some cases will be quoted to analyze these problems in every phase of business negotiations.

4.1 Contradictions before Negotiation

Before negotiating, the two parties need to prepare for negotiation, collect relevant information, determine objectives, seek necessary permits from government authorities and so on. Although these details are prepared, problems may still take place due to different temporal concept. Chinese negotiators assume that establishing a good relationship is a key step at the beginning of business cooperation. However, American negotiators think time is scheduled. They will not care about irrelevant things but do things related to business.

Here is a case. An American team of two men representing Canwall, a wallpaper printing equipment manufacturer, went to a town north of Shanghai in the province of Jiangsu, China, to negotiate a sale to a new wallpaper production company. Charlie Burton, president of Canwall, traveled with his marketing director Phil Raines. The company had never sold its equipment outside the United States, and the two Americans were delighted with the warm reception they enjoyed in China. This was not the first meeting between the American company and the Chinese wallpaper factory. The manager of the Chinese company, Mr. Li, had been a member of a delegation to the United States. He had met with one of Canwall’s senior salespersons and the director of manufacturing. After these meetings and numerous letters and faxes, Canwall’s top people were now ready to negotiate the sale. The day they arrived they were met at the airport in Shanghai by Manager Li himself and transported in a chauffeur-driven car to the town. Their accommodation was in a newly built hotel, and while it was not luxurious, it was certainly comfortable. A few hours after their arrival they were treated to 12-course banquet given by their host, with several high-level municipal officials present. This red carpet treatment made them feel optimistic about the sale. They were eager to begin discussing the sale, but after lunch they were given time to rest. In the late afternoon one of the manager’s English speaking employees came by with the news they would be taken to see a local dance performance that night. The third day they finally sat down to meetings. Progress seemed very slow—each side giving generalizations about itself that seemed unrelated to the sale. After listening to various apparently unrelated points, the American thought“So what?” The Chinese also spent a lot of time talking about the American trade agent who had been in their town earlier. Burton wasn’t able to tell them much about that person, since he had never met him personally.(Solomon, 1985)

As reflected in this case, the huge differences in temporal concept between Chinese and American negotiators are quite obvious. On the one hand, Chinese negotiators gave them a warm welcome when American negotiators came to China, and arranged a lot of activities to entertain them. China belong to cyclical-time culture, as well as long-term orientation culture. This means Chinese people will pay much attention to relationship. Chinese negotiators don’t hurry to get down to business for the reason that forming a long-term relationship with cooperators before negotiating will help a lot; however, the Americans were eager to sit down and talk about business instead of doing some irrelevant things because America belongs to liner-time culture. American people tend to arrange time scientifically and reasonably so as to enhance effectiveness. On the other hand, we can find that the negotiation process was very slow. More time was spent by Chinese negotiators arranging activities and talking about issues unrelated to business. The negotiation didn’t take place until the third day of their arrival. As a result, the Americans thought “So what?” after listening to those unrelated points. Obviously, some misunderstandings and conflicts have already existed before negotiating.

4.2 Contradictions during Negotiation

During negotiating, it will produce more conflicts when different cultures clash with each other. Different time conception greatly influences the process of negotiating. China is typical of poly-chronic time culture. According to the above parts , Chinese can interact with more than one person and do more than one thing at a time. It is very common for Chinese people to extend their meetings. Conversely, American people take advantage of the negotiating time efficiently and sufficiently to complete details of business. There is an example as follows.

During the first round of negotiations between Chinese Company and US ITT Corporation, the attitude of the Americans suddenly hardened at the end of negotiation, and good agreement has been wildly on fault-finding. US representatives put forward unreasonable demand that made the Chinese very confused why U.S. Company blocks contract. The agreement is certainly beneficial to both sides. The negotiation broke up eventually. The failure of the negotiation with US Corporation makes Chinese company loss heavily in the preliminary economic budget. Later, Chinese company used strategies to adjust the negotiations, proposed extension of the negotiations, gathered all aspects of information, and finally knows the key point, which the other side thinks that Chinese negotiators are late for 25 minutes, US Corporation thinks this company is unreliable. Although the price can be accepted by the America, their psychological feelings of losing their promise make them hard to accept. So it leads to the postponement of the agreement(Kathleen Kelly Reardon，2002: 126).

In this case, negotiation failure between China and America mainly resulted from the ignorance of punctuality. It is widely assumed in the United States that time is money and punctuality can embody a sense of responsibility. Conversely, being late for meetings or failing to complete tasks punctually is the behavior of lacking integrity. Generally speaking, the failure of the business negotiation is that they have different time values. The Chinese ignored that Americans take punctuality seriously. As a result of cultural differences in temporal concept, the negotiation failed eventually. Apart from this, Canwall Company’s case can also reflect problems during negotiation. Although Burton and Raines had heard that negotiations took time in China, they had thought a week would be ample. Now time was running out and they were due in Beijing in two days. They already had learnt that getting plane tickets was not easy, so they were anxious to be on plane as previously arranged. The Americans began to ask pointed questions about what the Chinese were unhappy with, and where they needed to go over issues again. During the two sessions on the last day, the Americans tried to get the Chinese to focus on the unresolved points, but the Chinese seemed reluctant to do so. In this case, the American party affected by mono-chronic time culture prefers to shorten time of negotiation as possible as they can so that they can make efforts to complete each negotiation quickly. Spending too much time on negotiation with specific details of cooperation unresolved can affect the result of the agreement between the two sides. If the Chinese negotiator was aware of the importance of arranging the negotiating time reasonably, the American party couldn’t have hurried to finish the negotiation. To measure how a negotiation process goes is to see how many problems are solved. However, the Chinese negotiator was reluctant to handle unsolved points. Therefore, we need to attach much importance to differences in temporal concept between two cultures during negotiation in case of cultural conflicts, even negotiation failure.

4.3 Contradictions after Negotiation

After several rounds of negotiations, the final step is coming. Negotiators need to make decisions whether to sign an agreement or contract. This is a fundamental step in which there are conflicts and misunderstandings. And cultural differences, especially in terms of temporal concept, can result in the breakdown of a contract, when two negotiating parties discuss over the specific clauses. For Chinese people are past-time oriented, we pay much attention to relationships and experiences. However, American people are the opposite.

We can look back to the case of Canwall Company. After several rounds of negotiation, the Americans finally left with disappointment. The week after the Americans left, a Japanese manufacturer’s representative came to visit Manager Li’s office. He offered a lower price on the equipment than that of the Americans. However, his price on pattern-printing cylinders was higher. He also offered to have a company employee stay in the town for four months and train Chinese employees in maintenance of the equipment. The Chinese manager felt this was a better deal, and they also knew the Japanese company very well for they have been doing business for ten years. Finally, Manager Li decided to import the set of equipment from Japan although the actual price of the equipment was higher than that of the Americans.

As this case is shown, Chinese people are more willing to cooperate with old partners because we are greatly influenced by past time orientation. In business cooperation, Chinese people are quite conservative in terms of choosing business partners. Manager Li didn’t cooperate with the Americans partly because of the uncertainty of future development. It is clear that a good relationship to some extent contributes a lot to business negotiation. From the perspective of American people, they are willing to explore the market, and challenge new things. Therefore, in this case, Canwall Company is willing to enter into Chinese market, although future development is unknown. Just for American people belong to future time orientation, they will have a try and make efforts on the new and the unknown. Oppositely, Chinese people like to observe due decorum. What’s more, Chinese people value humanity in business. The signing of a contract not only means the establishment of business relationship, but also means the establishment of human relationship. Therefore, a contract signed sometimes can be changed if necessary. But American people will not do so. After a contract is signed, it shall come into legal effect. In a word, we still need to notice a lot in case of the failure of negotiation.

5. Solutions to Contradictions Caused by Different Temporal Concept

Temporal concept, as an important part of nonverbal communication, can bring so many problems in intercultural business communication. With frequent business cooperation between China and America in recent years, cultural conflicts and misunderstandings caused by different concept of time should be treated and solved seriously. In accordance with the above problems, we need to have a strong understanding of the other countries’ cultural deposits in intercultural business communication.

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