communication style at the vietnamese and american workplace = phong cách giao tiếp công sở ở việt nam và mỹ

LIST OF TABLES Table 1: Vietnamese and American working experience Table 2: Vietnamese and American working experience with Americans/ Vietnamese Table 3: Vietnamese and American self-

UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES & INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF POST - GRADUATE STUDIES

****************

PHẠM THANH HUYỀN

COMMUNICATION STYLE

AT THE VIETNAMESE AND AMERICAN WORKPLACE

PHONG CÁCH GIAO TIẾP CÔNG SỞ Ở VIỆT NAM VÀ MỸ

M.A Minor Thesis

Field: English Linguistics

Code: 60 22 15

Hanoi – 2012

UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES & INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF POST - GRADUATE STUDIES

****************

PHẠM THANH HUYỀN

COMMUNICATION STYLE

AT THE VIETNAMESE AND AMERICAN WORKPLACE

PHONG CÁCH GIAO TIẾP CÔNG SỞ Ở VIỆT NAM VÀ MỸ

M.A Minor Thesis

Field: English Linguistics

Code: 60 22 15 Supervisor: PHAN THỊ VÂN QUYÊN, M.A

Hanoi – 2012

- 1 -

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Certificate of originality of project report

Acknowledgements

Abstract

List of figures and tables

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION - 1 -

1.1 Rationale - 1 -

1.2 Objectives of the study - 2 -

1.3 Significance of the study - 2 -

1.4 The scope of the study - 3 -

1.5 Methods of the study - 3 -

1.6 Design of the study - 3 -

CHAPTER 2: THEORETICAL BACKGROUND - 5 -

2.1 Culture - 5 -

2.2 Communication - 6 -

2.3 Intercultural communication - 9 -

2.3.1 Definition of intercultural communication - 9 -

2.3.2 Hofstede’s and Hall’s cultural dimensions - 10 -

2.3.2.1 Hofstede’s cultural dimensions - 10 -

2.3.2.2 Hall’s cultural dimensions - 13 -

2.4 Communication style at the workplace - 15 -

2.4.1 Organizational culture - 15 -

2.4.2 Some potential problems in multicultural working environment - 18 -

2.5 Previous studies - 20 -

CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY - 22 -

3.1 Selection of participants - 22 -

3.2 Data collection instruments - 22 -

3.3 Methods of data analysis - 24 -

- 2 -

CHAPTER 4: RESULTS AND DISCUSSION - 25 -

4.1 Working experience - 25 -

4.2 Self – evaluation of the effectiveness of the intercultural communication at the workplace - 26 -

4.3 Punctuality - 27 -

4.4 Attitude towards team work - 28 -

4.5 Decision-making style - 31 -

4.6 Expressing oneself - 32 -

4.7 Conflict resolution - 36 -

4.8 Individual vs Collective responsibility - 37 -

CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION - 40 -

5.1 Conclusion - 40 -

5.2 Implications for people working in intercultural working environment - 41 -

5.2.1.Implications for people working in intercultural working environment - 41 - 5.2.2 Implications for Americans working with Vietnamese - 43 -

5.3 Limitation of the study - 44 -

5.4 Suggestions for further study - 45 -

REFERENCES

APPENDICES

- 3 -

LIST OF FIGURES

Figure 2.1: Definition of Culture by Ferrando G

Figure 2.2: Definition of Culture by Levine and Adelman

Figure 2.3: Definition of Culture by Nguyen Quang

Figure 2.4: Definition of Communication by Nguyen Quang

LIST OF TABLES

Table 1: Vietnamese and American working experience

Table 2: Vietnamese and American working experience with Americans/ Vietnamese Table 3: Vietnamese and American self-evaluation on the intercultural

communication effectiveness

Table 4: Vietnamese and American punctuality

Table 5: Vietnamese and American preference towards individual work and team

work

Table 6: Vietnamese and American priority in team work

Table 7: Vietnamese and American decision-making style

Table 8: Vietnamese and American reaction when assigned a too difficult task

Table 9: Vietnamese and American way of presenting new ideas

Table 10: Vietnamese and American way of conflict resolving

Table 11: The Vietnamese and American evaluation of personal contribution to the

team project‟s success

Table 12: Individual and collective responsibility for the team project‟s failure

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1.1 Rationale

Globalisation, internationalization, trans-border trade and cross cultural business are all terms that have been coined over the past decade(s) to reflect the reality of the world economy Growth and success in today’s global economy depend on being able to work internationally In this era of globalization, multinational organizations are dominating the world economy (Shuter & Wiseman, 1994) In recent years many researchers in applied linguistics and professionals working for an international company have emphasised the importance of knowledge of different cultures and they agree that globalisation has brought about the growing trend to communicate with people from different cultural backgrounds (Borgulya, 2007; Bakacsi et al, 2002) One of the central challenges faced by multinational organizations is to manage a workforce composed of people from different cultures (Joshi, Labianca, & Caligiuri, 2002; Shenkar & Zeira, 1987) Because employees from different cultural backgrounds often have different values, beliefs, and assumptions concerning various issues, misunderstanding or conflict could easily occur during intercultural interaction (Earley & Mosakowski, 2000; Ting-Toomey, 1999) As a matter of fact, problems relating to inadequate intercultural understanding have undermined international organizational effectiveness (Lindsley, 1999) On the contrary, effective intercultural communication contributes to a healthy working environment and productive collaboration among culturally diverse staff (Tokarek, 2006) Therefore, it is necessary to study intercultural communication in a multicultural and multilingual workplace Although there is extensive literature on intercultural communication, existing intercultural communication theories still have limited direct application to communication in a business setting (Beamer & Varner, 2008)

With the increasing importance of the Vietnam market in the world economy, many international companies rushed and planned to enter Vietnam to explore business opportunities International working teams in Vietnam are quite common these days This has spurred the need for cross-cultural research in Vietnam It was reported that the great barriers caused by cultural differences like difficulty of communication, different objectives and means of cooperation and operating methods, have led to the failure in people’s communication at the multicultural workplace This includes the communication between employer - employee and employee - employee in the same working environment

Although in this context it mainly includes opportunities and challenges of developing global society, the cooperation advantageous for the partners involved may change into

mutual competition The question like "how to understand Vietnamese/ American people

so as to work with them effectively" has occupied the minds of people who are planning to

work or have already worked in a multicultural organization That is why the author of this study decided to do a research on this field in order to investigate the need to manage problems of controlling and communication in the cross-cultural environment of companies

1.2 Objectives of the study

The objectives of this research are as follows:

- To investigate the typical characteristics in Vietnamese and American

communication at the workplace

- To identify the potential problems in Vietnamese and American

cross-cultural communication

The specific research questions are addressed as follows:

- What is the Vietnamese communication style at the workplace?

- What is the American communication style at the workplace?

- What are the similarities and differences in the communication style at

the Vietnamese and American workplace?

1.3 Significance of the study

It is hoped that this study will be of great use in helping people, especially those who intend to apply for a job or are working in a multi-cultural working environment, have

an overview of possible problems occurring when Vietnamese and American staff communicate with each other As a result, they can have deeper understanding of the two cultures and avoid misunderstandings when communicating with each other In addition, in the age of globalization when intercultural communication is common nowadays, this study hopes to contribute to the worldwide research on cross-cultural communication

1.4 The scope of the study

The study focuses on investigating Vietnamese and American communication style

at the workplace in some areas such as punctuality, group work, decision-making process, reaction to leaders’ command, presentation of new ideas, personal contribution and responsibility in teamwork results Other areas should be beyond the scope of this study

1.5 Methods of the study

All the supervisor’s guidance, other teachers’ ideas and opinions, and relevant items have been selected, studied, analyzed, synthesized and paraphrased The survey has been done by distributing a questionnaire to 30 Vietnamese and 30 American people who have experience in intercultural communication in different workplaces In addition, informal interviews with the Vietnamese and American staff have been conducted to have

a deeper view of the problems All collected data and information have been analyzed by using quantitative and qualitative methods

1.6 Design of the study

The study consists of 5 chapters:

Chapter 1: Introduction presents the rationale, the objectives, the scope, the

significance, the methods and the design of the study

Chapter 2: Theoretical background starts with the definitions of culture,

communication and intercultural communication Then, Hofstede’s and Hall’s cultural dimensions are presented and discussed After that the communication style at the workplace are taken into consideration as well as some potential problems in multicultural working environment are identified Finally, the previous studies is mentioned and evaluated

Chapter 3: Methodology presents the methodology used in this study This part

consists of 3 parts: the selection of participants in which the author gives some reasons for the selection and the description of the participants; the data collection instruments in which the instrument and procedure of data analysis are discussed; methods of data collection in which the methods and procedure of data collection are identified

Chapter 4: Findings and discussion introduces the results of the survey which

describe the differences between Vietnamese and American communication style, which leads to problems occurring when Vietnamese and American people communicate at the workplace Then, the findings are analyzed and discussed

Chapter 5: Conclusion presents the conclusion, implication for people working in

intercultural working environment, the limitations of the study in which the author states the reasons for the study’s limitations, and suggestions for further study

CHAPTER 2: THEORETICAL BACKGROUND

2.1 Culture

There have been a great number of discussions and conceptualizations of culture However, the definitions of culture might fall into two following categories:

+Definitions of culture based on the emphasis of one or more constituents

One of these is the definition by Garry Ferrando He states: “culture is what people have,

think and do as a member in a society” (cited in Nguyễn Quang [2007, p.16]) This can be

illustrated as in figure 2.1

Material objects

(HAVE)

Ideas,values, attiudes

(THINK)

Behavior pattern

(DO)

CULTURE

Figure 2.1: Definition of Culture by Ferrando G

Levine and Adelman (1993, p.17) hold that: “Culture is a shared background (For

example, national, ethnic, religious) resulting from a common language and communication style, customs, beliefs, attitudes and values.” They take culture as an

iceberg, with one-fourth floating and three-fourths sinking as in figure 2.2

Figure 2.2: Definition of Culture by Levine and Adelman

FOOD APPEARANCE LANGUAGE

VALUES

BELIFES

The small floating part presents the tangibility of culture (language, food, appearance); the large one sinking in the water expresses the intangibility (beliefs, values, attitudes, perceptions and communicative styles) According to Levine and Adelman (1993, p.17), people are hardly able to see the influences of culture to an individual The floating part of culture itself does not usually cause the difficulties in cross-cultural communication, but the sinking part with its components significantly influences on people’s behavior and

The term communication can be defined in many ways Myron W Lustig and

Jolene Koester (1996, p.29) defined communication as ―a symbolic process in which

people create shared meanings‖ A symbol in this definition refers to a word, action or

object that represents a meaning Meaning, then, is a perception, thought or feeling experienced and communicated by a person Meaning can be a personal experience which cannot be shared with others as such but needs to be interpreted as a message A message,

in turn, is a set of symbols used to create shared meanings (Lustig and Koester, 1996 p.29) For example, the words in this text are symbols that form the message that is communicated Symbolical interpretations are often attached to certain behaviour For

example, blushing can be interpreted as a feeling of embarrassment, at least in some cultures

According to Larry A Samovar and Richard E Porter (1991, p.8) communication

is ―a dynamic transactional behavior-affecting process in which people behave

intentionally in order to induce or elicit a particular response from another person‖ In

addition to the previous definition, they add the proponents of a channel, through which the communication takes place; a responder, who observe the communicative behaviour;

encoding and decoding, i.e the processes of producing and interpreting information; and feedback, which refers to the information available to a source that permits him or her to

make qualitative judgements about communication effectiveness As Samovar and Porter

put it ―communication is complete only when the intended behavior is observed by the

intended receiver and that person responds to and is affected by the behavior‖ Thus their

definition is largely based on intentional communication

In sum, communication has been long studied by philosophers, logicians, linguists, etc; and understood as a process in which the exchange of idea, information, feeling and attitude between two or more people take place An interaction is successful if not only the speaker well performs illocutionary acts but also the listener ensures that the information is understood in the way it is intended by the sender

It is evidently accepted that communication consists of two common categories: verbal and non-verbal as Tosh says:

“Communication can take play in many different ways Generally speaking, two categories of communication can be identified The first is verbal communication, that is communication using language and speech to share or exchange information The second

is non-verbal communication; that is communication without the use of language but depending rather on other channels such as body language, eye contact, physical appearance, attitude distance and physical contact.”(cited in Nguyen Quang Ngoan, [2004,

p.2])

The definition above is supported and diagrammatized by Nguyen Quang as in figure 2.4

COMMUNICATION

- Types of vocal flow

Figure 2.4: Definition of Communication by Nguyen Quang

Nguyen Quang (2007) argues that the factor of ―participants‖ plays an extremely important role, especially in the culture that is in favor of collectivism and hierarchy Therefore, Nguyen Quang (2007, p.44) proposes the following components of communication:

-Addressor-addressee‟s parameters:

-age -gender -occupation -education -foreign language acquisition/acculturation -marital status

-residence

-Participants‟ relationship:-blood relationship

-kin relationship -acquaintance

-Addressor‟s power -gender power

over addressee -educational/qualification power

-economic power -physical power

-Participants‟ mood -addressor’s mood

when communicating -addressee’s mood

-Participants‟ -addressor’s temperament

temperament -addressee’s temperament

-Participants‟ feeling -addressor’s feelings

2.3.1 Definition of intercultural communication

Intercultural communication is regarded as interaction between people who live in different countries and come from different cultural backgrounds It is, according to

Richards & Platt (1992, p.92), “an exchange of ideas, information etc between persons

from different cultural backgrounds” In other words, according to Samovar and Porter

(1991, p.10) intercultural communication occurs whenever a message is produced by a member of one culture for consumption by a member of another culture, a message must

be understood It plays such an important role that Deborah Tannen (1986, p.30) states:

“The fate of the earth depends on cross-cultural communication” (cited in Wierzbicka, A

[2003]) In addition, Wierzbicka asserts “different cultures, different languages, different

speech acts” (2003, p.25) These differences certainly lead to the great potential for

misunderstanding or misinterpretations in cross-cultural interaction It is easy to recognize that cultural hiddens and the components of the four layers of reference interact and influence each other in not only intracultural communication, but also cross-cultural communication Therefore, it is important to raise cross-cultural awareness for avoidance culture shock and communication breakdown

2.3.2 Hofstede’s and Hall’s cultural dimensions

2.3.2.1 Hofstede’s cultural dimensions

Hofstede (1980) argues that there are four dimensions of national culture: low vs high power distance; individualism vs collectivism; masculinity vs femininity; and uncertainty avoidance The fifth dimension was found by Harris Bond, which was called Confucian dynamism (Bond & Hofstede, 1988) Subsequently, Hofstede takes it into his framework in terms of long vs short term orientation

Low vs High Power Distance

Power distance is “the extent to which the less powerful members of institutions

and organizations within a country expect and accept that power is distributed” (Hofstede,

1997, p 28) Power distance describes how a society deals with the inequalities in power that exist among people

In low power distance countries, the authority is distributed within the organization Superiors are dependent on subordinates as consultation on a limited extent Therefore the emotional distance between them is relatively small: it is quite easy and pleasant for

subordinates to approach and contact their superiors For instance, in Scandinavian countries such as Denmark and Sweden, governments institute tax and social welfare systems that ensure their nationals are relatively equal in terms of income and power The United States scores relatively low on power distance

However, in high power distance countries, power is always centralized within the organization Only a considerable dependence exists from subordinators to superiors

―Subordinates respond by either preferring such dependence, or rejecting it entirely, which

in psychology is known as “counterdependence”: that is dependence, but in a negative sign‖ (ibid, p.27) High power distance countries thus show a pattern of polarization

between dependence and counterdenpendence (ibid) There are substantial gaps between the powerful and the weak Guatemala, Malaysia, the Philippines, and several Middle East countries are examples of countries that exhibit high power distance

In companies, the degree of centralization of authority and autocratic leadership determines power distance In high power-distance firms, autocratic management styles focus power at the top and grant little autonomy to lower-level employees In low power-distance firms, by contrast, managers and subordinates are more equal and cooperate more

to achieve organizational goals

Individualism vs Collectivism

“Individualism pertains to societies in which the ties between individuals are loose: everyone is expected to look after himself or herself and his or her immediate family Collectivism as its opposite pertains to societies in which people from birth onwards are integrated into strong, cohesive ingroups, which throughout people‟s lifetime continue to protect them in exchange for unquestioning loyalty”(Hofstede, 1997, p 51)

This dimension refers to whether a person functions primarily as an individual or within a group In individualistic societies, ties among people are relatively loose, and each person tends to focus on his or her own self-interest These societies prefer individualism over group conformity Competition for resources is the norm, and those who compete best are rewarded financially Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom, and the United States tend to be strongly individualistic societies In collectivist societies, by contrast, ties among individuals are more important than individualism Business is conducted in the context of

a group in which others’ views are strongly considered The group is all important, as life

is fundamentally a cooperative experience Conformity and compromise help maintain group harmony China, Panama, and South Korea are examples of strongly collectivist societies

The two dimensions (power distance and individualism) tend to be negatively correlated: larger power distance countries are also likely to be more collectivist; small power distance countries are more individualist When the authority is distributed, people are likely to be individualist When the authority is centralized people are likely to be collectivist

Masculinity vs Femininity

Masculinity and femininity means the extent of how the society views the role of male and female In ―masculinity‖ society, people are more competitive, assertive, and ambitious Moreover, accumulated wealth and material possessions are always valued (Usunier & Lee, 2005) People in this society focus on career and earning money, and may care little for others Typical examples include Australia and Japan The United States is a moderately masculine society Hispanic cultures are relatively masculine and display a zest

for action, daring, and competitiveness In business, the masculinity dimension manifests

as self-confidence, proactiveness, and leadership Managers in masculine cultures are assertive decision-makers They believe in facts rather than group discussions (Newman & Nollen, 1996)

Conversely, in feminine cultures, such as the Scandinavian countries, both men and women emphasize nurturing roles, interdependence among people, and caring for less fortunate people; relationships and quality of life are more valuable (ibid) Sweden is considered by Hofstede (1997) to be the most ―feminine‖ country Feminine managers are

―intuitive rather than decisive for consensus‖ and they listen to the suggestions of the

groups (Hofstede, 1997, p 94-96)

In feminine cultures welfare of the society is valued: people are caring for others, sympathy for the weak and pay more attention to the quality of life; while, in masculine cultures power and material progress are valued: gender roles are clearly distinct, people respect for the strong and pay more attention to competition and performance (ibid)

Uncertainty Avoidance

Uncertainty avoidance is defined as ―the extent to which the members of a culture

feel threatened by uncertain or unknown situations‖ (Hofstede, 1991) This represents the

extent to which people accept or avoid feelings of uncertainty People in societies with high uncertainty avoidance create institutions that minimize risk and ensure financial security They want predictable and definite futures Companies emphasize stable careers and produce many rules to regulate worker actions and minimize ambiguity Managers may be slow to make decisions before they investigate the nature and potential outcomes

of several options Belgium, France, and Japan are said to possess people who are motivated to avoid uncertainty in their worklines

Societies that score low on uncertainty avoidance socialize their members to accept and become accustomed to uncertainty For example, some people thrive on the excitement and stimulation they experience from the prospect of challenges and new opportunities Managers are entrepreneurial and relatively comfortable about taking risks, and make decisions relatively quickly People accept each day as it comes and take their jobs in stride because they are less concerned about ensuring their future They tend to tolerate behavior and opinions different from their own because they do not feel threatened by them India, Ireland, Jamaica, and the United States are leading examples of countries with low uncertainty avoidance

Long vs Short term orientation

Hofstede (1997) argues that the dimensions of culture can be described as a

society's "time horizon‖ or, the importance related to the future comparing with the past

and present This dimension denotes the degree to which people and organizations defer

gratification to achieve long-term success In long term oriented societies, ‖persistence

(perseverance), ordering relationships by status, thrift, and having a sense of shame is included in the value while in short term oriented societies, normative statements, personal steadiness and stability, protecting ones face, respect for tradition, and reciprocation of greetings, favors, and gifts‖ are included In Asia, China and Japan are regarded as typical

long term oriented countries with a relative high score while the United States and most other Western countries are more about short term orientation (Hofstede, 1997，p 168-169)

2.3.2.2 Hall’s cultural dimensions

High context (HC) or Low context (LC) communication theory is one of the most important theories in cross-cultural research, which can be viewed as a culture based on the messages that people within the culture prefer to use (Richardson and Smith, 2007) It properly links management style and staff behaviour to discuss the issue of cross-cultural management in communication Richardson and Smith (2007, p 480) refer to Hall (1976) and argue that cultures cannot be easily classiflied into HC or LC, but to some extent,

―some cultures tend to be at the higher end while others are at the lower end of the

continuum‖

In a high-context culture, people interdepend on each other Information is widely shared through the word with potential meaning High-context cultures such as Japan and China emphasize non-verbal messages and view communication as a means to promote smooth, harmonious relationships They prefer an indirect and polite face-saving style that emphasizes a mutual sense of care and respect for others They are on guard not to embarrass or offend others This helps explain why it is difficult for Japanese people to say

―no‖ when expressing disagreement They are much more likely to say ―it is different,‖ an ambiguous response In East Asian cultures, showing impatience, frustration, irritation, or anger disrupts harmony and is considered rude and offensive Asians tend to be soft-spoken, and people typically are sensitive to context and nonverbal cues (body language) For example, at a business lunch in Tokyo, the boss is almost always the senior-looking individual seated farthest away from the entrance to the room In Japan, superiors are given such favored seating as a show of respect To succeed in Asian cultures, it is critical for

managers to have a keen eye for nonverbal signs and body language Negotiations tend to

be slow and ritualistic, and agreement is founded on trust

By contrast, in a low-context culture, people tend to be individualized, kind of alienated and fragmented, people do not involve with each other too much Low-context cultures rely on elaborate verbal explanations, putting great emphasis on spoken words The low-context countries tend to be in northern Europe and North America, which have a long tradition of rhetoric, placing central importance on the delivery of verbal messages The primary function of speech in such cultures is to express one’s ideas and thoughts as clearly, logically, and convincingly as possible Communication is direct and explicit, and meaning is straightforward For example, in negotiations Americans typically come to the point and do not beat around the bush Low-context cultures tend to value expertise and performance and conduct negotiations as efficiently as possible These cultures use specific, legalistic contracts to conclude agreements

In summary, high context communication tends to engage an indirect way to express while low context communication prefers direct information exchange (Kim, Pan and Park, 1998, Richardson and Smith, 2007) In a low-context culture, people coming from other culture can easily match these machinations, but in a high-context culture, these high-context machinations cannot be easily matched by people coming from low context culture The characteristic of high-context communication is economical, fast, efficient, and satisfying However, programming is time-consumed (Kim, Pan and Park, 1998) Contrarily, low-context massages are more context-free than high-context communication, information about the character and background and values of the participants are less influencing on people to make deals, however, the reliance to make deal is upon the explicit communication (ibid) Hall’s work has gained renewed importance because of the explosion of business interaction between East Asia and the rest of the world However, the notion of high- and low-context cultures plays a role even in communications between people who speak the same language The UK and the US are good examples of this situation As we know, English is the mother tongue of both countries In addition, the American culture is based on the British culture Yet, British managers sometimes complain that presentations by U.S managers are too detailed Everything is spelled out, even when meanings seem perfectly obvious

2.4 Communication style at the workplace

2.4.1 Organizational culture

―Culture is the pattern of taken-for-granted assumptions about how a given

collection of people should think, act, and feel as they go about their daily affairs‖ (Joynt

& Warner, 1996, p 3) Hofstede (1997) addresses that there are two kinds of cultures: organizational culture and national culture, which differs when it comes to values and

practice Values come from the experience of life, in other words, one’s value comes from

family and school in the early year of his/her life While practices come from social experience: working The differences in national culture lie in values rather than practice While, in organizational level, culture differences appear mostly in practice rather than value (ibid) Ybema and Byun (2009) refer to Schneider and Barsoux’s (1997) argument that the parent country’s culture is often remained in multicultural companies, and the national culture of parent’s company is often challenged by the national culture of subordinate company, because of the foreign rule put on it National culture provides a principle for employees in organizations to understand how to work, how to approach to the goals and how they want others to treat them If the management within an organization fails to consist with these ―deeply hold values‖ together, the employee will feel unsatisfied and frustrated, thus will poorly perform (Newman & Nollen, 1996) Furthermore, the effectiveness of organization will decrease

Ybema & Byun (2009) emphasize that cultural difference influences communication between the peoples with different identity In this study, internal communication of organization includes two parts: management style and staff behavior

To some extent, management style imply superior part of the organization, similarly, staff behavior imply subordinate part in the organization Usually, because of the gap among these positions, barriers also occur during the transmitting of messages and information In addition, communication system is also taken into consideration It is the ways that are used within the organization to help colleagues to transmit messages and information Organization uses communication system to link people together and make them work toward organizational goals

Management style

Culture is a factor influencing the style of management Several researchers have emphasized the importance of culture on management style (Williams, Morris, Leung, Bhatnagar, Hu, Kondo and Luo, 1998; Morden, 1995; Koopman, Hartog and Konrad, 1999) Williams, Morris, Leung, Bhatnagar, Hu, Kondo and Luo (1998) discuss the

different way managers use to solve the conflicts within the organization Vietnamese managers rely on an avoiding style while US managers prefer a competing style Morden (1995) argues that leadership style is influenced by culture result in centralization or decentralization In addition, an effective management style facilitates communication and informational transmitting (Mcphee, 1985)

Vietnamese have a different point of view on the concept of leadership in comparison with western norms As a result, a distinctive in-group exists in the organization and bureaucratic regulations are used moderately Vietnamese leaders are not used to listening to subordinates or adopting team’s perspective Therefore, in Vietnam,important decisions are only made by leaders according to their individual experience or knowledge It is natural that Vietnamese leaders who possess authority determine the organization objectives In Western countries, a person has his/her individual right and a legitimate power to protect their ideas The belief has been deeply rooted in western organizational structure According to Martinsons and Westwood (1997), in most western organizations, decision-making in the system does not depend on its top managers or owners, instead, on a rational and impersonal set of rules with a well-defined purpose

Staff behavior

Staff is crucial asset of organizations They bring organization with their knowledge, skills, and experiences Webb (1996) argues that education provides important developments and has been viewed as one of the most important values of staff Skills of the labors will eventually leads to the inequality of their wages (Juhn, Murphy & Pierce, 1993) Wage is always viewed as the motivation part or the purpose of working Educational level, which has a positive relationship with skills, will determine the wage level of staff Thus, well educated staff will earn more and be more motivated than their less educated colleagues In multinational organizations, language is another important skill of staff that cannot be neglected (Usunier & Lee, 2005) According to Jiang (2000), there is a close relationship between language & culture Moreover, both of these two influence each other interactively Culture is immersed in its language and will influence the way of people expressing and receiving messages

Lots of researchers have highlighted the importance of empowerment within the organization to both motivate staff and achieve efficiency Empowerment within organizations leads to high productivity and high performance as well as the satisfaction of the employees themselves (Labianca, Gray & Brass, 2000; Kirkman & Rosen, 1999)

Communication system

System is procedures and rules in both formal (plans and budgets) and informal way It communicates plans and goals, monitors the organization and informs others of the developments within the organization (Hitt, 1995) System can be used to maintain the patterns in organizational activities, not only those which can be predicted but also those which are surprised ones (Simons, 1995) In multinational firms, communication system is the most important system in international knowledge transfer Erez (1992), referring to Bennis and Nanus (1985), states that communication is the exclusive approach group can exactly move toward the goal of organization In addition, he emphasizes that there is a closed relation between interpersonal communication and culture Interpersonal communication is one of the parts of organization communication system Communication forms the links which help group members to transmit the social values and facilitate their sharing (ibid) Collective action can be facilitated by shared meaning and shared communication mechanisms (ibid)

Furthermore, Kraut, Fish, Root and Chalfonte (1993) classify communication into formal communication and informal communication, according to their point of view, formal communication tends to be scheduled in advance, arranged participants, participants

in role, preset agenda, one-way, impoverished content and formal language & speech register The structural and functional characteristics of communication and the nature of the communication setting influence the degree of formal In terms of the different

characteristics, formal and informal communication suit to different situation, ―formal

communication tends to be used for coordinating relatively routine transactions within groups and organizations, while, informal communication seems needed for coordination

in the face of uncertainty and equivocality‖ (ibid, p 6)

In conclusion, national culture has a strong influence on different aspects of organizations Newman and Nollen (1996, p 754) refer to other authors and argue

that: ‖There is ample empirical evidence that national cultures vary and that a variety of

management practices, including strategic decisionmaking (Schneider & DeMeyer 1991, p 754) leadership style (Dorfman & Howell 1988; Puffer 1993), differ by national culture‖

We can conclude that multinational organizations are influenced by cultural difference In multinational firms, the communication goes beyond cultures and people with different identities The barriers to cross cultural communication in multinational firms come from the culture’s influences on organizations

2.4.2 Some potential problems in multicultural working environment

Multicultural environment often generate frustrating dilemmas Management at the workplace is a good illustration to this Cultural differences can create substantial obstacles

to effective teamwork—but these may be subtle and difficult to recognize until significant damage has already been done Some potential problems may rise as follows:

The first problem is the matter of direct versus indirect communication Communication in Western cultures is typically direct and explicit The meaning is on the surface, and a listener doesn’t have to know much about the context or the speaker to interpret it This is not true in many other cultures, where meaning is embedded in the way the message is presented For example, Western negotiators get crucial information about

the other party’s preferences and priorities by asking direct questions, such as “Do you

prefer option A or option B?” In cultures that use indirect communication, negotiators may

have to infer preferences and priorities from changes - or the lack of them - in the other party’s settlement proposal In cross-cultural negotiations, the non-Westerner can understand the direct communications of the Westerner, but the Westerner has difficulty understanding the indirect communication of the non-Westerner The differences between direct and indirect communication can cause serious damage to relationships when team projects run into problems Communication challenges create barriers to effective team-work by reducing information sharing, creating interpersonal conflict, or both

The second problem may lie in the difference of attitudes toward hierarchy and

authority A challenge inherent in multicultural teamwork is that by design, teams have a

rather flat structure But team members from some cultures, in which people are treated differently according to their status in an organization, are uncomfortable on flat teams If they defer to higher-status team members, their behavior will be seen as appropriate when most of the team comes from a hierarchical culture; but they may damage their status and credibility - and even face humiliation - if most of the team comes from an egalitarian culture When, as a result of differing cultural norms, team members believe they’ve been treated disrespectfully, the whole project can blow up Moreover, the face saving strategy

is also one of the main approaches in Vietnamese communication This may be due to Vietnamese societal structure, because in Vietnamese organisations, employees care about the reputation of their names, families and tribes Therefore, social reputation is a very important element for societal relationships in Vietnamese society

Moreover, cultures differ enormously when it comes to decision making—particularly, how quickly decisions should be made and how much analysis is required beforehand Not surprisingly, U.S managers like to make decisions very quickly and with relatively little analysis compared to managers from other countries Managers from other cultures may, for example, decline to share information until they understand the full scope

of a project But they have learned that they can’t simply ignore the desire of their American counterparts to make decisions quickly What to do? The best solution seems to

be to make minor concessions on process—to learn to adjust to and even respect another approach to decision making

In addition, accents and fluency can also cause trouble Although the language of international business is English, misunderstandings or deep frustration may occur because

of nonnative speakers’ accents, lack of fluency, or problems with translation or usage These may also influence perceptions of status or competence Nonfluent team members may well be the most expert on the team, but their difficulty in communicating knowledge makes it hard for the team to recognize and utilize their expertise If teammates become frustrated or impatient with a lack of fluency, interpersonal conflicts can arise Nonnative speakers may become less motivated to contribute, or anxious about their performance evaluations and future career prospects

Last but not least, non-verbal communication can be a big problem in multicultural environment Body language has a strong impact on communication between people from different cultures For example, in Vietnamese culture, most people unintentionally use facial expressions to express fear, sadness, happiness and surprise These facial expressions are less likely to be recognized by people who are from different cultural backgrounds

Usually managers may create more problems than they resolve by intervening The challenge in managing multicultural teams effectively is to recognize underlying cultural causes of conflict, and to intervene in ways that both get the team back on track and empower its members to deal with future challenges themselves According Jeanne Brett the wrong kind of managerial intervention may sideline valuable members who should be participating or, worse, create resistance, resulting in poor team performance Not talking about respecting differing national standards for doing business, such as accounting practices, but referring to day-to-day working problems among team members can keep multicultural teams from realizing the very gains they were set up to harvest, such as knowledge of different product markets and culturally sensitive customer service

2.5 Previous studies

Several researchers have contributed their studies in intercultural communication

area (Mary, 1993; Bennett 1998; Yum, 1988; Ybema & Byun, 2009) In ―Cross-cultural

communication for managers‖, Mary (1993) applies a multiple insights to managerial

communications In order to communicate effectively, Mary (1993) recommends managers

to think about seven issues before communication: Setting communication objectives, Choosing a communication style, Assessing and enhancing credibility, Selecting and motivating audiences, Setting a message strategy, Overcoming language difficulties, and Using appropriate nonverbal behaviors This study is designed only in a managerial

context In Bennett (1998)’s ―Intercultural Communication: A Current Perspective‖, he answers the question ―How do people understand one another when they do not share a

common cultural experience?” The question is answered from several aspects such as

levels of culture, intercultural communication processes and cultural adaptation (Bennett, 1998) However, the focus of this study is too wide, which does not stand on a managerial context but on a social context

In addition, Yum (1988, p.78) researches ―the impact of Confucianism on

interpersonal relationships and communication patterns in East Asia‖ He argues that the

discussion of most communicational studies stay on the surface of the problem and do not

go deeply to explore the source of problem Thus, in his study, Yum (1988, p.78) ―goes

beyond these limitations and explores the philosophical roots of the communication patterns in East Asian countries‖ But the focus of his study is on social contexts Also,

Yum (1988) only discusses the impact of Confucianism Confucianism can in parts be regarded as a culture, but not in its entirety

Moreover, Ybema & Byun (2009) ―explore issues of culture and identity in

Japanese - Dutch relations in two different contexts: Japanese firms in the Netherlands and Dutch firms in Japan‖ From three aspects: communication, the superior - subordinate

relationship and decision making, they illustrate that in different organizational environment, cultural difference influence people’s identity take On certain extent, Ybema

& Byun’s (2009) study is similar to this study; for instance, it engages a comparison between the people from different culture However, their study pays more attention to power and identity talks while other culture dimensions such as individualism, masculinity, and long-term orientation (Hofstede, 1980) have not discussed in the study It is interesting

to look into different culture dimensions’ influence on the communication among people working in intercultural communication Thus the purpose of the present study is to look into the potential problems within Vietnamese and Americans communication at the

workplace in different areas

CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY

3.1 Selection of participants

Participants were either American or Vietnamese employees who have had intercultural communication experience In this study ―American‖ refers to American English speakers, and ―Vietnamese‖ refers to a Vietnamese citizen I tried several ways to recruit participants, yet at the end, only two ways worked They are: 1) asking family members and friends to refer participants to me (network sampling), and 2) requesting participants to recommend qualified people to participate in this study (snowball sampling)

It is appropriate to use network and snowball sampling techniques when the target research population is not easily available (Keyton, 2005), which is the case of this study

In all, 60 people voluntarily participated in this study, including 30 Americans and

30 Vietnamese 19 participants were female and 41 were male All participants have university degree They are all working in the position of employers or employees in either state - owned or privately - owned, domestic or international companies These organizations were in a variety of industries

All of the 30 Vietnamese participants have experienced working with Americans

10 of them had studied or worked abroad Of the remaining 20 participants, six have been

to the United States on business at least once All the Americans have worked or are working in Vietnam All Vietnamese participants spoke English in their intercultural communication Three American participants are able to communicate with their Vietnamese coworkers in Vietnamese, and the other American participants mainly use English at work The majority of participants were less than 45 years old

3.2 Data collection instruments

This survey used questionnaires as the main instrument for data collection Besides,

informal interviews were also employed According to Burns (1999, p.25), ―triangulation

involves gathering data from different sources so that the researcher findings and insights can be tested out against each other.‖ The reason for this is that ―results from one form of data will help inform and refine the other data‖ (Verma, 1999, p.115)

Verma (1999) believed that questionnaire is a fundamental tool in the collection of data of many researchers Firstly, by using questionnaire, the researchers can obtain data quantitatively and the responses are gathered in a standardized way; therefore, the researchers’ study will be assisted with persuasive numbers concerning issues

investigated Furthermore, this method is quite cheap and potentially information can be collected from a large portion of a group with a similar or identical procedure

The questionnaire has two versions: the English version is for American people and the Vietnamese version is for Vietnamese ones The questionnaire was designed in the participants’ native language in order to make sure that they could understand the questions clearly The questions aim to discover the ways people communicate at their workplace; e.g what they will do in the decision-making process, how they will behave in team working, etc

The survey questionnaire consists of 12 questions The first two questions aim to discover the working background of the participants The third one asks the participants to rank the effectiveness of their intercultural communication Question 4 compares the punctuality of Vietnamese and Americans Question 5-6 are aimed at finding out the respondents’ behaviour when working in a team The following question identifies the Vietnamese and American way of making decision Question 8 discovers how Vietnamese and Americans deal with difficulties in task completion Question 9 is about presenting new ideas Question 10 discovers how conflicts are resolved in Vietnamese and American culture Question 11 and 12 aim to investigate the way Vietnamese and American think about individual and collective responsibility of Vietnamese and Americans for the success and failure of a team project The content of these questions has to be both relevant and consistent with the research topic and the scope of the study

The questionnaire with two versions then were distributed to 30 Vietnamese and 30 American in form of hard copy, word-formatted file and as an online version

The extra data collection instrument used in my study is informal interview By using this kind of data collection instrument, I can obtain supplementary information for

my study In fact, it is very useful to use interview for collecting in-depth information

When conducting interview, ―the data collected is said to be valid as it is an exact account

of what the interviewee has said The researcher can also find out important information which did not seem relevant before the interview and ask the interviewee to go further into the new topic‖ (Wikipedia) In this study, the informal interview was employed to gather

more information about people’s behaviour at the workplace by having informal small talks with some participants chosen randomly Through these talks, the respondents expressed their explanation for their choice, their opinion about each situation happening at their workplace, their expectation as well as some suggestions, which gave me a deeper

view of the way Vietnamese and American behave at work and the impact of culture on their behaviour

3.3 Methods of data analysis

In this study, both quantitative and qualitative methods are used After the data were collected from questionnaires and interviews, they were analyzed, synthesized and presented in tables Then, the analysis and interpretation would be presented and, finally, from which summaries and conclusions were drawn out