An American – Vietnamese cross – cultural study of asking for permission in the workplace

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES ************************ HOÀNG THỊ KIM THOA AN AMERICAN –VIETNAMESE CROSS –CULTURAL STUDY OF ASKING FOR PERMISSION IN THE WORKPLACE (Nghiên cứu giao văn hóa Việt-Mỹ cách thức xin phép nơi công sở) M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS Field: English Linguistics Code: 60220201 HANOI – 2016 VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES ************************ HOÀNG THỊ KIM THOA AN AMERICAN –VIETNAMESE CROSS –CULTURAL STUDY OF ASKING FOR PERMISSION IN THE WORKPLACE (Nghiên cứu giao văn hóa Việt-Mỹ cách thức xin phép nơi công sở) M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS Field: English Linguistics Code: 60220201 Supervisor: Prof NGUYỄN QUANG, Ph.D HANOI - 2016 DECLARATION I certify that the work presented in this research report has been performed and interpreted solely by myself I confirm that this paper is submitted in fulfillment of the requirement for the M.A Degree and has not been submitted elsewhere in any other form for the fulfillment of any other degree or qualification Hanoi, November 2016 Hoàng Thị Kim Thoa i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This M.A thesis would not have been possible to without the invaluable guidance, encouragement and support that I received from many people who I would like to show my sincerest gratitude and appreciation First and foremost, I would like to offer my greatest and deepest thankfulness and gratitude to Prof Nguyen Quang, my supervisor, for his enthusiastic and precious guideline and advice throughout the duration of my thesis Without his instruction and supervision, this thesis could not have reached the accomplishment Additionally, a very special thanks goes out to Mr Vu The Anh and Mrs Bui Thi Yen who aided me to contact American and Vietnamese officers to ask for their participation in my study From the bottom of my heart, I must acknowledge some American and Vietnamese officers for their energetic contribution in DCT and MCQ Last but not least, I am also very grateful to my family and relatives particularly my father, mother and sister who have always supported me and supplied the best conditions for me to complete this thesis ii ABSTRACT This paper is carried out at endeavor of exploring the linguistic politeness strategies utilized by the Vietnamese and the American people in asking for permission in the workplace From that, major similarities and differences between the two languages in this regard are revealed On the basis of quantitative method, discourse completion task (DCT) is employed to collect data from participants including thirty Vietnamese native speakers and American ones who are currently working in the workplace The result reveals that the positive politeness strategy namely ―being conventionally indirect‖ is the most common strategy used by American businesspeople while their Vietnamese counterparts prefer ―being optimistic‖ & ―giving deference‖ Moreover, some factors including ages, genders have great influence on the choice of politeness strategy for Vietnamese clerks whereas no significant influence of those one are made on the American counterpartners iii TABLE OF CONTENTS DECLARATION i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ii ABSTRACT iii LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS .vii LIST OF TABLES viii CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION 1 Rationale of the study Aim and objectives of the study 2.1 Aim of the study 2.2 Objectives of the study Scope of the study Significance of the study Research Methodology 5.1 Research Questions 5.2 Research Approach 5.3 Research Methods 5.4 Data Analysis Design of the study CHAPTER II: LITERATURE REVIEW & THEORETICAL BACKGROUND Key concepts defined and discussed 1.1 Communication 1.2 Cross-cultural communication 1.3 Collectivism & Individualism 1.4 Confucious value Speech acts 2.1 What is speech act? 2.2 Classification of speech act: iv 2.3 Asking for permission as speech act 11 Politeness and politeness strategies 12 3.1 Politeness .12 3.2 Politeness strategies 12 3.3 Politeness strategies in asking for permission .14 Previous studies on asking for permission 15 CHAPTER III: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 17 Research questions 17 Research participants 17 Data collection instrument 18 Data collection procedure 19 Data analysis procedure 20 CHAPTER IV: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION 21 Introduction 21 Findings and discussion 21 2.1 What are the major similarities and differences in American and Vietnamese perception of asking for permission in the workplace? 21 2.1.1 With boss 21 2.1.1.1 American findings 21 2.1.1.2 Vietnamese findings 22 2.1.2 With colleagues 23 2.1.2.1 American findings 23 2.1.2.2 Vietnamese findings 24 2.2 How the Vietnamese and Americans ask for permission in the workplace? .24 2.2.1 In some unimportant events 24 2.2.1.1 With colleagues 24 2.2.1.1.1 Vietnamese findings 24 2.2.1.1.2 American findings 26 v 2.2.1.2 With boss 28 2.2.1.2.1 Vietnamese findings 28 2.2.1.2.2 American findings 29 2.2.2 In some important events 30 2.2.2.1 With colleagues 30 2.2.2.1.1 Vietnamese findings 30 2.2.2.1.2 American findings 31 2.2.2.2 With boss 32 2.2.2.2.1 Vietnamese findings 32 2.2.2.2.2 American findings 33 2.3 What are the similarities and differences in the ways the Vietnamese and American ask for permission in the workplace? 34 2.3.1 Similarities 34 2.3.2 Differences 35 2.3.2.1 Differences in asking colleagues for permission 35 2.3.2.2 Differences in asking boss for permission .37 CHAPTER IV: CONCLUSION 39 1.Summary of main findings 39 2.Limitations 40 3.Suggestions for further study 40 REFERENCES 41 APPENDIXES I vi LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS DCT: Discourse completion task FTA: Face threatening act H: Hearer MCQ: Multiple choice questionnaire NPS: Negative politeness strategy PPS: Positive politeness strategy S: Speaker vii LIST OF TABLES Table IV.1: Americans‘ perception of asking boss for permission in the workplace Table IV.2: Vietnameses‘ perception of asking boss for permission in the workplace Table IV.3 Americans‘ perception of asking colleagues for permission in the workplace Table IV.4 Vietnameses‘ perception of asking colleagues for permission in the workplace Table IV.5 Politeness strategies with colleagues in some unimportant events as seen from Vietnamese respondents Table IV.6 Politeness strategies with colleagues in some unimportant events as seen from American respondents Table IV.7 Politeness strategies with boss in some unimportant events as seen from Vietnamese respondents Table IV.8 Politeness strategies with boss in some unimportant events as seen from American respondents Table IV.9 Politeness strategies with colleagues in some important events as seen from Vietnamese respondents Table IV.10 Politeness strategies with colleagues in some important events as seen from American respondents Table IV.11 Politeness strategies with boss in some important events as seen from Vietnamese respondents Table IV.12 Politeness strategies with boss in some important events as seen from American respondents Table IV.13 Vietnamese businesspeople versus their American counterparts in the use of politeness strategies with colleagues in some unimportant and important events Table IV.14 Vietnamese businesspeople versus their American counterparts in the use of politeness strategies with boss in some unimportant and important events viii fact that Vietnamese culture is collectivism and some expessions of friendliness are always shown with those having qual social status Another significant distinction between the two cultures is that American people not opt for ―minimizing imposition‖ strategy in some unimportant events whereas this strategy makes up 7.3% of Vietnamese participants in total In contrast, in some important events, ―minimizing the imposition‖ strategy is chosen by 12% of American people whereas Vietnamese counterparts ignores this strategy Table IV.13 Vietnamese businesspeople versus their American counterparts in the use of politeness strategies with colleagues in some unimportant and important events In terms of speaker‘s age, a larger number of Vietnamese participants opt for positive strategies such as ―being optimistic‖ and ―giving reasons‖ when they seek permission However, there is a slight reduction in the rate of choosing these strategies with the older speakers This is may be due to the fact that Vietnamese culture is hierarchical and Confucian belief has profound impact on the way people 36 behave Hence, to show respect to the elderly people or superiors, two above strategies seem not to be polite tactics Conversely, no distinction can be found for American counterparts in this regard As shown above, with regards to gender, there is no discrepancy in selecting the politeness strategies in both Vietnam and America 2.3.2.2 Differences in asking boss for permission With boss, there are also obvious distinctions between the two cultures in frequency and the effect of factors on the selection of politeness strategies Firstly, in America in both some important events and unimportant events, the politeness strategies used with highest frequency is still ―being conventionally indirect‖ tactic as their culture is low-context Therefore, everything is expected to show directly in America, even with those having higher social status On the other hand, the most prominent one is ―giving deference‖ strategy in both contexts in Vietnam As mentioned above, hierarchy is deeply rooted in Vietnamese culture; therefore, with those having higher social status, expressing respect is an indispensable part Another significant discrepancy between two cultures is that in both contexts, Americans not opt for ―giving reasons‖ strategy while over a tenth of Vietnameses apply for this strategy To explain, due to the feature of collectivism in Vietnamese culture which manifests the harmony in communication, giving an impersonal reason for request is the way of softening the demand and avoiding the brutally direct by the taking of trouble, especially, showing deference to boss With ―minimizing the imposition‖ strategy, the rate is vice versa with 22% of some American responses and noone of Vietnamese people selecting this one Actually, with culture basing on rules not relationships and individualism being appreciated, ―minimizing imposition‖ would be a suitabe way to give respect to others regardless of their age, gender or position 37 Table IV.14 Vietnamese businesspeople versus their American counterparts in the use of politeness strategies with boss in some unimportant and important events Concerning with the aspect of age, the American business people‘s choice of politeness strategies indicates no significant divergences whereas Vietnamese counterparts manifest a small distinction Corresponding to the terms of position, older speaker is the most respected case when asking for permission in Vietnam as all participants carefully select negative strategies to show consideration to the elderly self-image, especially ―giving deference‖ strategy For younger speaker, the proportion is smaller but inconsiderable With a regard to the gender, more deference is shown to male than to female in Vietnam in some unimportant events, however, in some important events, there is no difference between two genders By contrast, no significant discrimination can be found in American people‘s responses in this sense 38 CHAPTER IV: CONCLUSION Summary of main findings The main goal of this minor research is to investigate how Vietnamese people and American counterparts asking for permission in the workplace Furthermore, this study also aims at comparing and contrasting to figure out the similarities and differences between the two cultures in the ways of employing politeness strategies The major findings would be recapitulated and subsumed as followed: Initially, the Vietnamese and American people frequently ask for permission when they want to help someone or something which can make an impact on the others Almost participants from both countries ask for permission in some important and unimportant events, however, there is a variety of politeness strategies in each cases With colleagues in some important events and unimportant events, of the five applied strategies, Vietnamese businesspeople select different tactics depending on the speaker‘s age However, ―being optimistic‖ is the most popular one since this is considered an effective tactic in saving other‘s face and express typical Vietnamese characteristics - collectivism In another continent, American people prefer ―being conventionally indirect‖ tactic if they decide on asking for permission to preserve other‘s self-image regardless of the speaker‘s age, gender as directness is highly valued in the American culture Unlike colleagues, with boss, Vietnamese participants choose ―giving deference‖ with the highest proportion in both contexts because of hierarchy in their culture On the contrary, ―being conventionally indirect‖ is still the priority in the choice of politeness strategy in America Especially, in Vietnam, gender and age factors have an impact on giving responses with the older being more respectful and the younger and the same age being more friendly whereas there is no effects of gender and age factors on selecting politeness strategies in America 39 Limitations In spite of the researcher‘s effort during the research procedure and data analysis, certain limitations of the study should be noted due to time limitation and other unforeseen factors Firstly, as the only method of collecting data is DCT, nonverbal elements in a real context of workplace are not covered Secondly, a threat of drawing definitive conclusions for the whole population of the study is not avoided since the sample is not larger enough It is of great importance to take these mentioned limitations of the study into consideration in further studies Suggestions for further study From the results of the research along with the limitations of the study, several issues are worth considering for future research Initially, the result will be more reliable and the generalization of the study would be decreased if a similar study is conducted with a larger number of participants Not only verbal but also non-verbal language is frequently found in cases of seeking for permission Hence, a study on non-linguistic politeness in this regard should be welcomed further studies 40 REFERENCES Austin, J L (1962) How to Do Things with Words Oxford: Clarendon Press Blum-Kulka, Danet and Gerson (1983) The language of requesting in Israeli Society Language and Social Psychology Conference, Bristol Bobbie Kalman (2009) What is culture? Crabtree Publishing Company Brown and Levinson (1978) Universals of language usage: Politeness Phenomena Cambridge University Press Brown and Levinson (1987) Politeness: Some Universals in Language Usage Cambridge University Press Brown and Levinson (1994) Politeness: Some Universals in Language Usage Cambridge University Press Claire Kramsch (2000) Language and Culture Oxford University Press Chan, H L., Ko, A., & Yu, E (2000) Confucianism and management In O H M Yau & H C Steele (Eds.), China Business: Challenges in the 21st century (pp 179192) Hong Kong: The Chinese University of Hong Kong Darwish, Abdel-Fattah E., & Huber, Gunter L (2003) Individualism vs collectivism in different cultures: a cross cultural study Intercultural Education, 14 (1), 47-55 Durant (1997) Linguistic Anthropology UK: CUP Edda Weigand (2010) Dialogue: The mixed game John Benjamins Publishing Company F.Trompenaars & Charles Hampden-Turner, (2011), Riding waves of culture: Understanding Diversity in Global Business, Business & Economics Hoa Nguyen (2004) Understanding English Semantics Hanoi National University Publishing House Hill et al (1986) Universals of Linguistic Politeness: Quantitive Evidence from Japanese and American English Journal of Pragmatics Hofstede (1980) Culture’s consequences: International differences in work-related values Beverly Hills; London: Sage Publications 41 Hofstede, Geert, & Bond, Michael H (1984) Hofstede’s Culture Dimensions Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 15 (4), 417-433 Hofstede, G (1984) Culture’s consequences: International differences in workrelated values Newbury Park, CA: Sage Hofstede, G (1997) Cultures and Organizations: Software of the Mind London: McGraw-Hill Hui,C.H & Triands,C.H (1986) Individualism-Collectivism A study of crosscultural researchers Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology Hybels and Weaver (2008) Communicating effectively Boston: McGraw-Hill Leary (1995) Self-presentation: impression management and interpersonal psychology Madison, Wisconsin: WCB Brown & Benchmark Linda, K.Trevino & Katherine, A.N (2010) Managing Bussiness Ethics: Straight Talk about how to it right John Wiley & Sons, Inc Leech (1983) Principles of Pragmatics London: Longman Levine and Adelman (1993) Beyond Language: cross- cultural communication Prentice Hall Regents, Englewood Cliffs, NJ07632 Levine and Adelman (1982) Beyond Language: Intercultural Communication for English as a second language Prentice Hall Regents, Englewood Cliffs, NJ07632 Levelt W.J.M (1989) Speaking: From Intention to Articulation Cambridge, MA:MIT Press L Robert Kohls (1984) Values Americans Live By, Meridian House International Lu, M (1983) Confucianism: Its Relevance to Modern Society Singapore: Federal Publications Mark R Leary (1995) Introduction to Behavioral Research Methods Brooks/ Cole, the University of California Nguyen Quang (1998) Intercultural Communication Vietnam National University Hanoi Nguyen Quang (2003) Intracultural and Cross-culture Communication VNU Press 42 Nguyen Quang (2006) Lecture note on Cross-Cultural Communication ULIS, VNU, Hanoi Oberg, K (2006) Cultural Shock: Adjustment to New Cultural Environments Technical Information Clearing House (Reprinted with the permission from the Technical Assistance Quarterly Bulletin) Parks and Vu (1994) Social Dilemma Behavior of Individuals from Highly Individualist and Collectivist Cultures The Journal of Conflict Resolution Shoshana Blum-Kulka & Elite Olshatain Requests and Apologies: A CrossCultural Study of Speech Act Realization patterns Searle, John (1969) Speech acts: An Essay in the Philosophy of Language Cambridge: Cambridge University Press Searle, John (1979) Meaning and Expression Cambridge University Press Tamney, J B., & Chiang, L H.-L (2002) Modernisation, Globalisation, and Confucianism in Chinese Societies Westport: Praeger Publishers Tanveer Ahmed, Haralambos, David (2009) Website Design Guidelines: High Power Distance and High-Context Culture Ting-Toomey, Stella, & Oetzel, John G (2002) Cross-Cultural face concerns and conflict styles: Current status and future directions In William B Gudykunst & Bella Mody (Eds.), Handbook of International and Intercultural Communication (2nd ed.) London: Sage Pubications Tu, W (1998) Confucius and Confucianism In W H Slote & G A DeVos (Eds.), Confucianism and the family (pp 3-36) New York: State University of New York Press Varner, Iris, & Beamer, Linda (2005) Intercultural Communication in the Global Workplace (3rd ed.) Boston, MA: McGraw-Hill Trampanaars Valdes (1995) Culture Bound Cambridge CUP Yan, J., & Sorenson, R (2006) The Effect of Confucian values on succession in family business Family Business Review, 19(3), 235-250 43 Yau, O H M (2000) Chinese Cultural Values: Their Dimensions and Marketing Implications In O H M Yau & H C Steele (Eds.), China Business: Challenges in the 21st Century (pp 133-150) Hong Kong: The Chinese University of Hong Kong Yule, George (1996) Pragmatics Oxford: Oxford University Press 44 APPENDIXES SURVEY QUESTIONNAIRE (Questionnaire to ENS) The purpose of this questionnaire is to find out what you would naturally say in the situations below Your assistance in completing the following items is highly appreciated You can be confident that this questionnaire is for research purposes only and that you will not be identified in any discussion of the data Thank you for your cooperation!!! I Personal information Age: ………………………… Gender: II Male Female Questions Do you think it is necessary to ask for permission in the following situations? Please tick (x) in the appropriate column = very unnecessary = unnecessary = necessary = very necessary Situations Your To have your say in a formal meeting or boss discussion To have a pay-rise To leave the office early To have a holiday/ an annual leave I = neutral Your To give advice on a schedule colleague To swap your shift for hers/ his To help him/ her print a report To borrow a pen from him/ her Please put yourself in the following situations and write down what you would actually say in each situation: Situation 1: You and your colleague are discussing a small project in the office You need a pen to take note of some important points What would you say? a Your colleague is male? ………………………………………………………………………………… b Your colleague is female? ………………………………………………………………………………… c Your colleague is older than you ………………………………………………………………………………… d Your colleague is your age ………………………………………………………………………………… e Your colleague is younger than you ………………………………………………………………………………… Situation 2: For some personal reason, you have to swap your shift for your colleague‘s shift What would you say? a Your colleague is male? ………………………………………………………………………………… b Your colleague is female? ………………………………………………………………………………… c Your colleague is older than you ………………………………………………………………………………… II d Your colleague is your age ………………………………………………………………………………… e Your colleague is younger than you ………………………………………………………………………………… Situation 3: You are in the end-of-year meeting Your boss has just finished his speech and you want to have your say What would you say? a Your boss is male ………………………………………………………………………………… b Your boss is female ………………………………………………………………………………… c Your boss is younger than you ………………………………………………………………………………… d Your boss is your age ………………………………………………………………………………… e Your boss is older than you ………………………………………………………………………………… Situation 4: You want to travel overseas with some friends of yours You ask your boss for your annual leave What would you say? a Your boss is male ………………………………………………………………………………… b Your boss is female ………………………………………………………………………………… c Your boss is younger than you ………………………………………………………………………………… d Your boss is your age ………………………………………………………………………………… e Your boss is older than you ………………………………………………………………………………… Thank you for your cooperation !!! III Bản câu hỏi khảo sát (Questionnaire to VNS) Mục đích câu hỏi khảo sát để tim cách thức diễn đạt cách tự nhiên tình Với tình huống, bạn vui lòng đưa câu trả lời ngắn gọn bạn hay sử dụng môi trường công sở, nơi làm việc Tôi xin đảm bảo nội dung câu hỏi khảo sát bảo mật tuyệt đối sử dụng cho mục đích nghiên cứu Mọi thơng tin người tham gia khơng tiết lộ hình thức Tôi xin chân thành cám ơn hợp tác giúp đỡ bạn Hãy đánh dấu (√) vào chỗ thích hợp Thơng tin cá nhân I Họ tên:…………………………………………….Tuổi:……… Giới tính: Nam Nữ Email:………………………………………………… II Câu hỏi khảo sát Bạn nghĩ tình đây? Có thực quan trọng để xin phép tình hay khơng? Đánh dấu (x) vào cột thích hợp = hồn tồn không quan trọng = không quan trọng = Bình thường = quan trọng = quan trọng Situations - Xin phép phát biểu họp buổi thảo luận - Xin phép giám đốc tăng lương - Xin phép giám đốc sớm - Xin phép giám đốc nghỉ phép (thường niên) IV - Xin đồng nghiệp góp ý cho kế hoạch làm việc - Xin đồng nghiệp đổi ca làm - Xin giúp đỡ bạn in báo cáo - Xin phép mượn đồng nghiệp bút Bạn đọc câu hỏi đây, đặt vào tình đưa ra, sau viết điều bạn nói tình  Tình 1: Bạn đồng nghiệp thảo luận dự án nhỏ văn phòng Bạn cần bút đế ghi ý quan trọng Bạn nói tình đây? a Đồng nghiệp bạn nam? ………………………………………………………………………………… b Đồng nghiệp bạn nữ? ………………………………………………………………………………… c Đồng nghiệp lớn tuổi bạn? ………………………………………………………………………………… d Đồng nghiệp tuổi bạn? ………………………………………………………………………………… e Đồng nghiệp trẻ bạn? …………………………………………………………………………………  Tình 2: Xin phép đồng nghiệp để đổi ca cho cô ấy/ anh Bạn nói tình đây? a Đồng nghiệp bạn nam? ………………………………………………………………………………… b Đồng nghiệp bạn nữ? ………………………………………………………………………………… c Đồng nghiệp lớn tuổi bạn? ………………………………………………………………………………… V d Đồng nghiệp tuổi bạn? ………………………………………………………………………………… e Đồng nghiệp trẻ bạn? …………………………………………………………………………………  Tình huồng 3: Bạn họp cuối năm.Giám đốc vừa hoàn thành phát biểu bạn muốn phát biểu Bạn nói tình đây? a Giám đốc bạn nam? ………………………………………………………………………………… b Giám đốc bạn nữ? ………………………………………………………………………………… c Giám đốc trẻ bạn? ………………………………………………………………………………… d Giám đốc tuổi bạn? ………………………………………………………………………………… e Giám đốc lớn tuổi bạn? …………………………………………………………………………………  Tình 4: Bạn muốn du lịch nước với người bạn.Bạn đề nghị Giám đốc nghỉ phép thường niên Bạn nói tình đây? a Giám đốc bạn nam? ………………………………………………………………………………… b Giám đốc bạn nữ? ………………………………………………………………………………… c Giám đốc trẻ bạn? ………………………………………………………………………………… d Giám đốc tuổi bạn? ………………………………………………………………………………… e Giám đốc lớn tuổi bạn? ………………………………………………………………………………… Chân thành cảm ơn hợp tác bạn!!! VI ự hợp tác bạ n !!