Politeness strategies employed in salary negotiation by Vietnamese and Anglophone females in multi - cultural workplace in Vietnam Đoàn Thị Thu Hằng Trường Đại học Ngoại ngữ Luận văn Thạc sĩ ngành: English Linguistics; Mã số: 60 22 15 Người hướng dẫn: M.A. Văn Thị Thanh Bình Năm bảo vệ: 2009 Abstract. The topic of women integration into the workplace has received considerable attention from a number of scholars and researchers; however, the strategies especially politeness strategies utilized by women in workplace negotiation which includes salary negotiation have not been the focus of many studies. This fact, added with the researcher’s personal interest and some factual conditions, is the base on which the research namely “Politeness strategies employed in salary negotiation by Vietnamese and Anglophone females in multi-cultural workplace in Vietnam” is launched. Based on the findings of the research, some recommendations are made accordingly aiming at helping Vietnamese and Anglophone females to better attain their goals in salary negotiation in their multi-cultural workplace. Keywords. Giao tiếp; Giao văn hóa; Tiếng Anh; Chiến lược lịch sự; Đàm phán lương Content 1.1. Rationale of the study In the past years, women’s integration into the workplace has without doubt become wider and deeper in all aspects of the working life with the most easily recognized phenomenon of women performing tasks which are far beyond the limit of simple or assisting jobs. Instead, more and more opportunities are offered to involve women in taking over jobs which require more professional, analytical and even managerial skills – those who used to be considered suitable and manageable by men only (Rizzo, A.M. & Mendez, C., 1990). The question of how women handle problems arising in their workplace, much to the author of this paper’s investigation, has not received a good deal of academic attention and studies. Yet, there have been few researchers are attracted to this area of research in response to the fact that "skepticism surrounding women's ability to adopt managerial roles and responsibilities has prevailed since the advent of women within the corporate hierarchy" (Portello & Long, 1994). These researchers want to explore and explode the traditional view, long an impediment to women's progress through the managerial ranks, that women are not "as good as men" at negotiating. Other theorists, taking to heart either traditional cultural stereotypes or the theories of cultural feminists, have sought to explore whether women really do speak in "a different voice" than men when negotiating (Korabik, Baril, & Watson, 1993). Deriving from the initial interest in the topic of females’ participation in the workplace, after a period of time searching for necessary documents from different sources such as books, articles, magazines, previously implemented studies in the University Library and on the Internet, the author of this paper (here-and-after referred as “the researcher”) has realized that: Negotiation in the workplace is the common topic which has been discussed in general terms by a numbers of scholars and researchers; nevertheless, salary negotiation (SN) has not yet been of popular research topic and received only basic academic concern. Especially, the roles and abilities of women in handling workplace negotiation have not yet been studied in great focus. Even in the documents or works that deal with SN issues, the link between the achievement of SN results and the employment of related strategies such as negotiation strategies, persuasion strategies, politeness strategies (PSs), etc. has not been clearly defined. The researcher, besides having a special personal interest in the topic of the relationship between PSs and SN, is currently working in a multi-cultural workplace where most of the colleagues are females of both Vietnamese and Anglo-saxon nationalities. Additionally, thanks to the so called “network” relationship in the current workplace, the researcher believes to be able to get contacts with a necessary number of Vietnamese and Anglophone females in the sector. These factors, added with the fact that previous studies launched at the university have not dealt with the topic, have created an urge for the researcher to initiate the M.A thesis namely: “Politeness strategies employed in salary negotiation by Vietnamese and Anglophone females in multi-cultural workplace in Vietnam”. 1.2. Significance of the study The study would hopefully be of practical use for not only females working in multi-cultural workplace but also for working people in general. Moreover, the research would optimistically become a good reference source for those who are particularly concerned about the utilization of PSs in workplace and SN. If implemented successfully, this study would open up a fairly new research topic which has rarely been done at the University before. The research would also be a great contribution to other studies related to communication and negotiation skills. 1.3. Scope and scale of the study As the research title suggests, this study focuses on the employment of PSs in SN by Vietnamese and Anglophone females in multi-cultural workplace. Moreover, due to the factual working conditions of the researcher, the study will be implemented with the participation of females who are working in multi-cultural environment in Hanoi Capital, Vietnam. Multi-cultural workplace is limited to NGOs & foreign aided projects in which regular contacts between people of different nationalities are commonly found. 1.4. Objectives of the study The research is launched in order to investigate the utilization of PSs in typical situations of SN by Vietnamese and Anglophone females in their multi-cultural workplace in Vietnam. Specifically, the study aims at finding answers to the research questions: 1. What are Vietnamese and Anglophone females’ general understanding and common habits in SN? 2. What are the PSs employed by Vietnamese and Anglophone females in SN in Vietnam multi- cultural workplace? 3. Are there any differences in the choice of PSs in SN between Vietnamese and Anglophone females? If yes, what may be the core reasons and implications? 4. What are the recommendations for both Vietnamese and Anglophone females to better attain their expectations in SN? To address those questions above, the following hypotheses are made before the study is conducted: - Vietnamese females may not have sound understanding and greatly appropriate habits in SN. Anglophone females, thanks to the experience of working overseas, may be better equipped with such concerns; however, certain limits can still be found and suggestions made for a better change. - Due to the difference in cultures, mainly between oriental and European cultures, Vietnamese and Anglophone females, despite working in the same environment and possessing certain characteristics in similarity, will tend to employ different kinds of PSs (Vietnamese may tend to use more positive and indirect strategies whereas Anglophone will turn more to negative strategies). Therefore, they will achieve different outcomes after SN partly because of the difference mentioned above and added by other related factors. The research will be conducted in seek of the answers to the above-mentioned factors and to prove the hypotheses developed in advance. 1.5. Methods of the study The study is conducted with the combination mainly of deductive and inductive methods. The deductive method involves beginning with a general concept or given rule and moving on to a more specific conclusion; whereas inductive method is a process of using observations to develop general principles about a specific subject. In this study, a theoretical background concerning the research issue is developed based on the review of related literature, and the inductive method is utilized to prove the hypotheses made before the research. Importantly, embedded in the study is the utilization of quantitative & qualitative methods with questionnaire as the primary research tool added with and explained by notes taken during discussions with informants. Additionally, personal observations and consultation from experienced people working in the research field will make considerable contribution to the analysis and discussion of the survey results. 1.6. Organization of the study Following the standard format, the study is divided into three main parts namely Part 1 - Introduction, Part 2 - Development and Part 3 - Conclusions and Recommendations. Part 1 provides general and primary information such as the rationale, significance, scope and scale, objectives and methodology of the research. Part 2 consists of three Chapters which are: Literature Review, Methodology, Data Presentation and Discussion. The first Chapter reviews the related literature, specifically the overview of speech acts theories including necessary details of PSs and the overview of negotiation in the workplace with focus on SN. The viewpoints and ideas of the scholars added with the findings of previous related studies are also embedded in this Chapter. Chapter 2 introduces the research overall methodology, major approaches applied, data collection instruments utilized and procedures taken. The presentation and discussion of data collected can be found in Chapter 3 of this part. Part 3 embraces the research major findings, conclusions, recommendations of the research and suggestions for further studies. References and annexes that include the blank form of questionnaire and other related documents are put in the last pages of the paper. References Books, articles & journals 1. Austin, J. (1962), How to Do Things with Words, Cambridge, Mass: Harvard University Press. 2. Bach, K. (1979), Linguistic Communication and Speech Acts, M.I.T. Press, Arizona, 127-135. 3. Barron, L. A. (2003), Ask and you shall receive? Gender differences in negotiators' beliefs about requests for a higher salary. Human Relations, 56(6), pp. 635-662. 4. Blum-Kulka, S. (1982), Learning how to say what you mean in a language, Applied Linguistics, 3, pp. 29-59. 5. Blum-Kulka, S. (1987), Indirectness and politeness: Same or different, Journal of Pragmatics, 11, pp. 145-160. 6. Blum-Kulka, S. 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Websites 1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ retrieved 23 rd October 2008 2. http://www.quintcareers.com/salary_negotiation.html retrieved 27th March 2009 3. http://jobsearch.about.com/od/salaryinformation/a/salarynegotiat.htm retrieved 27 th March 2009 4. http://susanireland.com/salarywork.html retrieved 27 rd March 2009 retrieved 27 th March 2009 5. http://www.jobinterviewquestions.org/questions/salary-negotiation.asp retrieved 5th May 2009 . the researcher to initiate the M.A thesis namely: Politeness strategies employed in salary negotiation by Vietnamese and Anglophone females in multi- cultural workplace in Vietnam . 1.2. Significance. interest and some factual conditions, is the base on which the research namely Politeness strategies employed in salary negotiation by Vietnamese and Anglophone females in multi- cultural workplace. Politeness strategies employed in salary negotiation by Vietnamese and Anglophone females in multi - cultural workplace in Vietnam Đoàn Thị Thu Hằng