国际商务谈判中的非语言交际-文学学士毕业论文.doc

Abstract

Besides verbal communication, nonverbal communication also plays an indispensable role in international business negotiation in which the negotiators can get lots of favorable information about their opponents. Therefore, it is of great importance for the negotiators to have a good command of nonverbal communication. However, many people fail to recognize the significance and diversity of nonverbal behavior in international business negotiation. Although there is no lack of researches about the classification and importance of nonverbal communication, the researches about nonverbal in international business communication is rare.
This paper analyzes the important impacts of nonverbal communication and its classifications in international business negotiation with the help of the existing theories. Finally, it arrives at some solutions about avoiding misunderstanding for the misuse of nonverbal behavior during the negotiation.

Key words: international business negotiation; nonverbal communication; importance; diversity
中文摘要

在国际商务谈判中，非语言交际起着举足轻重的作用，通过非语言信息可以判断对方的真正意图，体会不可言传的交际内容，帮助谈判者及时做出正确的判断和反应。正确的非语言交际行为能起到加强信息交流的作用，而错误的非语言行为则可能因文化风俗不同引起冲突和误解。关于非语言交际的类型和意义,国内外不乏其研究成果，但其研究方向主要在跨文化交际的大范围上，鲜有专门研究其在商务谈判中的实际作用。
本选题在结合已有理论的基础上，探讨了非语言交际在国际商务活动中的作用、类型，在分析了相关例子后总结出防止和消除非语言交际的冲突与障碍的方法。由于在国际商务谈判中人们对非语言交际的了解程度较浅而影响谈判效益的现象屡见不鲜，因此，结合语言交流，观察谈判对方的非语言表现，准确地把握其非语言行为的变化，对掌握谈判大局十分关键。

关键词：国际商务谈判；非语言交际；重要性；差异性；

1. Introduction
With the rapid development of science and technology, the world is becoming a global village. The communication among international business negotiators is also becoming more and more frequent. The communication in international business negotiation can be divided into two kinds, verbal communication and nonverbal communication. On one hand, nonverbal communication is universal as it is used accompany with verbal messages or independently. On the other hand, nonverbal communication is important in international business negotiation, because it can exert influences on people’s communication, reflect the people’s thoughts and supplement the verbal communication. What is more, one distinct feature of nonverbal communication is its diversity in different countries. Thus, if people ignore it or can’t handle it appropriately, it will inevitably cause conflicts or misunderstanding when two or more cultures encounter each other.
This paper mainly explores the significance, classification and diversity of nonverbal communication in international business negotiation. Finally, it put forward some suggestions on how to avoid the conflicts or misunderstanding in international business negotiation.

2. Literature Review
The employment of nonverbal communication has a long history, which was the main way of transferring messages by our ancestors in human society before the invention of languages. Along with the increasingly frequency of cross-cultural communication in business world, nonverbal communication arouses the great attention of scholars. In 1959, Hall Edward T. and Hall Mild. Reed’s The Sounds of silence put forward the impact of culture on nonverbal communication through observing and analyzing the different nonverbal communicative behaviors among different races systematically, which provided fundamental basis for nonverbal communication. What’s more, Wolfson’s Rules of Speak in 1983, Bolinger Dwight’s Aspect of English in 1994 and Fred E. Jandt’s Intercultural Communication in 2000 all have profound research on this special communication skill. In China, there are also plenty of works in this field, such as Liu Runqing’s Language and Society in 1989, Hu Wenzhong’s Culture and Communication and Cross-cultural Nonverbal Communication in 1995 and 1999. However, most of these researches are not specific enough. Although the researches on nonverbal communication developed so fast and achieved delightful results, the common people, especially the international business negotiators still attach inadequate importance to the influence and employment of nonverbal communication on the entire process of communication. This paper focus on the importance of nonverbal communication in international business negotiation.
3. The Definition and Classifications of Nonverbal Communication
3.1 Definition of nonverbal communication
Nonverbal communication refers to the sending of a message without using words literally. （Li Qingming, 2007:95）Generally, nonverbal communication can be divided into several categories, such as kinesics, paralanguage, object language and environmental language.

3.2 Main classifications of nonverbal communication
3.2.1 Kinesics
Kinesics is the nonverbal behavior related to movement, either of any part of the body, or the body as a whole (Li Qingming, 2007:94). In short, all communicative body movements are generally classified as kinesics. Kinesics communication is properly one of the most important and obvious nonverbal communication form, including eye contact, facial expression, posture and gesture.
Eyes, almost in all cultures, are regarded as the “the windows of the soul”, which can promptly and precisely display the subtle emotional activities in the brain. As the most sensitive organ in the face, eyes express unlimited messages consciously or unconsciously. Though people can control their lower part of face, in accordance to culture convention, the upper part of the face, especially their eyes, always reacts spontaneously and rapidly. Therefore, eyes always speak louder than words. They have overwhelming power to help people express themselves and also get insight into others. When messages conveyed by language contradict that conveyed by eyes, the latter ones is more reliable.
Eye contact can convey a variety of emotion or attitude: agreement, appreciation, disgusting, objection and so on. During the international business negotiation, people can use the expressions of their eyes to encourage or prevent the speakers. If the listener keeps looking around or has blank eyes, it means that he/she is not interested in the topic or suggesting the speaker to change the topic or just close the talk. What’s more, the degree of the direct eye contact, the length of the eye contact and the way of people look at each other matters a lot during the conversation.
Facial expression, like a mirror, reflects the inside world of people. People are emotional animals whose feelings can be seen on their faces. Appropriate expression at the right time can make the conversation go smoother. Darwin (1872) pointed out that all human beings inborn with the common ways to express their emotions on the face. A frown shows displeasure; the winkling of one’s nose is a sign of dislike, disgust or disapproval; smile means friendliness, approval, satisfaction, pleasure, etc. Therefore, people should keep an eye on the opposite side’s facial expression for the deep favorable message during the business negotiation.
A person’s posture can speak numerous about his/her feelings, self image and attitude. The movement of head, arms, legs and feet can be very revealing. The recognizing of some postures is also similar among most cultures. Straight, head held high is generally considered confident, energetic and self-assured. Abrupt movement, shifting seating position, crossed arms or legs may signal defiance, disinterest or an unwillingness to listen. A businessperson should at least be aware of the inclination of the following postures: firstly, leaning forward shows openness and interest, while leaning backward or away from the speaker indicates a defensive posture or disinterest; secondly, crossed arms or crossed legs signals a defensive position and uncrossed arms shows a willingness to listen.
Gestures mainly refer to a matter of how to use the hands to convey a message. They are frequently used to strengthen the idea of the speaker or act as the role of supplemental specification to the main points. For example, hand chops are used by a speaker to cut through an argument. It is usually used with cadence of the speaker’s voice and the concept he/she is trying to make. Whereas, a second thought should be given before employing the gestures, for a slight difference in making the gesture itself can mean something quite different from that intended. A wrong interpretation of a gesture may arouse quite unexpected reaction.
Once a British businessman got everything done nearly perfectly because he was very careful with all he should do and demanded when he did business in Iran. Until one day he signed the papers and turned to give his Persian colleagues a big thumbs-up gesture, one Iranian executive left the room suddenly. The British executive didn’t have any clue as to what was going on and the Iranian hosts were too embarrassed to tell him. Finally, the Iran colleagues of the British business accepted his apology, but their relationship was damaged. (Hu Mengrong, 2008,300)
Actually, In Britain, the thumbs-up gesture means “good, great, well-played”, but in Persian culture it is a sign of discontent and highly offensive. This gesture also signals approval in China, the United States and Russia as in Britain.

3.2.2 Proxemics
Proxemics is the study of what governs how close one person stands to another. In other words, it is about the physical distance between two communicators (Li Qingming, 2007:96). In international business negotiation, different arrangement in space carries different messages of the distance. Therefore, it is vital that how far should people keep away from each other while they are talking, namely how large an office should be, what kind of table should be put in the meeting room, such as a round table, an oval one, or any other shapes in international business negotiation.
Distance from another person, or personal space, is a powerful concept, and researches suggest it directly relates to our interpretation of the meaning of message conveyed by the other person. It is generally recognized that the space close to people’s body left for the relatives or intimate friends, whereas space further away from that is open to persons one is less intimate with. People express their degree of intimacy and trust towards that person through choosing the distance when communicating to others. However, if a person from a culture where the personal distance is generally close, person from a culture where personal distance is generally greater may appear as evading and possibly mistrusting. And the person from the culture where personal distance is generally greater may feel threatened for the “intrusion” into his personal space.
In the counties of Arab, Latin, Mediterranean areas, people tend to show their welcome or friendliness by standing close to each other, usually 20cm to 30cm. However, the most parts of Asian area, European countries and North Americans get accustomed to large distance communication, normally 40cm to 60cm, or they will feel their privacy being invaded and uncomfortable. (Xu Xianguang, 2001,93)

3.2.3 Paralanguage
Paralanguage deals with how things are said beyond the actual meaning of the spoken words, which mainly include the pitch, volume, speed of the sound and the use of silence. (Li Qingming, 2007:100).
Pitch refers to the raise and fall of one’s tone. People generally will not feel comfortable when they hear a high-pitch voice, no matter how important it may be. A high-pitch voice often makes people nervous. Besides, it sounds more like scolding than talking. Therefore, people should try not to raise the voice unless some special occasion, such as calming down a noisy crowd or an excited group. However, everything has two sides, so is the case of pitch handling. Pitch can be charming and effective when used properly. For example, when inviting a team member to give his/her opinion, a little bit pitch-raise and fall in one’s voice will give the person an encouragement to speak up.
Volume refers to the loudness of one’s voice. People do need a loud voice, but it should be used prudently. Instead, the medium or low voice when communicating with each other is more preferred. Volume can add color to what people say, and it can also tell others what kind of person he/she is.
Besides, although business people are often taken as working against time, it does not mean that they should speak in a hurried or very fast way all the time. Actually, unless there is something really urgent, they should try to speak at a normal speed, about 110-150 words per minute (Shi Dingle, 2004:97).
What is more, various ways of talking among different countries make the conversation more complicated, which greatly influence the atmosphere. For example, the notion that Americans are talking too loud is often interpreted in Europe as aggressive behavior or may be a sign of uncultivated behavior. Likewise, the British way of speaking quietly may be understood as secretive by Americans.
Further importance should be also given to the amount of silence during the conversation, which always makes the communication more unpredictable. Like the Japanese proverb goes, “Those who know do not speak; those who speak do not know”, would be opposed by the Americans greatly，because even a slight silence is regarded as embarrassing in America.(Richard, 2004: 60)
4. The Popularity and Significance of Nonverbal Communication in International Business Negotiation
4.1 The porpularity of nonverbal communication in international business negotiation
Communication in international business negotiation is considered more often at the verbal level than in terms of body language and the signs and symbols that people use instinctively to convey messages and attitudes. Yet a survey shows that the 65% of the message is contained in nonverbal messages when people in face- to- face communication (Samovar et al, 1981). There is also another relevant research claiming that the content of what we said counts only 7% of the initial impression we left on each other, the rest are based on the nonverbal behavior when we meet somebody at the first time, such as the body language, accent and tone of the voice(Levine at al, 1982). These researches intensify our belief that human communication is make up of both verbal communication and nonverbal communication. During the negotiation, interpersonal nonverbal messages are presented in our postures, our dress, our facial expression, our gestures, the tone and loudness of our voice, the way we use personal space, even our body odor. As the phonetician David Abercrombie pointed out that while we speak with our vocal organs, we are conversing with our whole bodies (Peng Dingle, 2004:93). Therefore, people never stop sending information during the whole process of communication, intentionally or unintentionally, through what they say and what they behave.
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