Several salient cultural values manifested in american business practics = một vài giá trị văn hoá nổi bật được thể hiện trong các tập quán thương mại mĩ

Several salient cultural values manifested in American business practices Student: Lê Thị Hơng Giang Class: 44B2 - English Vinh university Foreign language department STUDENT: lÊ Thị Hơng Giang several salient cultural values manifested in american business practices (một vài giá trị văn hóa nổi bật đợc thể hiện trong các tập quán thơng mại mỹ) GRADUATION THESIS SUBJECT: CULTURE Several salient cultural values manifested in American business practices PART A. INTRODUCTION 1. RATIONALE OF THE STUDY At present, entering into the world economic family, Vietnam will not only receive a great deal of benefits, but also face with many immediate challenges. Which solutions are best for Vietnam to pass through these difficulties as well as to take its advantages? As we see, America has a great affect on the other countries all over the world and Vietnam is not an exception. It is clear that America is being on the way to become one of the largest counterparts of Vietnam in the present flexible and dynamic market-oriented economy. Actually, what has our country's businesspersons done to make good impressions on American counterparts? And how should they behave and communicate in order not to cause regrettable misunderstanding between the two parties? Possibly, we still remember how difficult Vietnamese negotiation team was in persuading and reaching an agreement with American one within the WTO (World Trade Organization) accession of Vietnam? Which hedges made the negotiation process last in such a long time period? Is it due to the differences in their opinion and business culture? All of these questions have inspired me to study the typical cultural features in business practices of Americans. It is my belief that a good understanding of culture generally and of business culture particularly would help us a lot in cross-cultural encounters with the aim to avoid possible misinterpretations. 2. AIMS OF THE STUDY * To make clear the salient cultural features manifested in American business practices. * To help readers understand more about American cultural values. * To show the other cultures’ attitudes to American business practices. * To give some contrasts between Vietnamese and American business practices. 3. METHODS OF THE STUDY * Analytic and synthetic method * Comparative method * Statistic method Student: Lª ThÞ H ¬ng Giang Class: 44B2 - English Several salient cultural values manifested in American business practices 4. SCOPES OF THE STUDY Due to the limitation of time and space, the study only focus on several salient cultural values without covering all of the American cultural ones. In addition, also due to the variety of American business practices, only some typical and popular practices will be referred to in the thesis. 5. DESIGN OF THE STUDY The thesis is divided into three main parts: Part A Introduction 1. Rationale of the study 2. Aims of the study 3. Scopes of the study 4. Methods of the study 5. Design of the study Part B Development Chapter I Theoretical background Chapter II Several salient cultural values manifested in American business practices Chapter III Some contrasts between Vietnamese and American business practices Part C Conclusion References Student: Lª ThÞ H ¬ng Giang Class: 44B2 - English Several salient cultural values manifested in American business practices PART B DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER I THEORETICAL BACKGROUND 1. CULTURE 1.1 Definition of culture Culture has been an attractive subject which many different scholars in every scientific fields through every period of time focus on studying. There have been a lot of definitions given, however, their some common points are easily found. Almost the conclusions are agreed that culture is the product of human beings and related to, both spiritual and material, other human aspects such as beliefs, religions, arts, artifacts, intellects, etc. In American heritage Dictionary, culture is defined as " the totality of socially transmitted behavior patterns, arts, beliefs, institutions, and all other products of human work and thoughts.”(1), at the same time, as " intellectual and artistic activity, and the works produced by it.”(1). Similarly, in Dictionary of English Language and Culture (Longman, 1992), culture is describe as' the customs, beliefs, art, music and all the other products of human thought made by a particular group of people at a particular time." On the one hand, if culture is understood via anthropologists and sociologists, its definition is not also much different from the above. For anthropologists, the term ‘culture’ used to refer to the universal human capacity to classify, codify and communicate their experiences symbolically. They mainly base on symbols to analyze and search for culture. Meanwhile, sociologists define culture as " the total, generally organized way of life, including values, norms, institutions, and artifacts that is passed on from generation to generation by learning alone."(Quoted in Dictionary of Modern Sociology) (6). In general, culture is an effective means to express and expose the characteristics of a nation as well as its smaller communities. As a result, what help learn best about a certain community is to understand its cultures. 1.2 Key components of culture As being referred to in the definition, culture consists of four elements that are " passed on from generation to generation by learning alone". These four elements are: • Values Student: Lª ThÞ H ¬ng Giang Class: 44B2 - English Several salient cultural values manifested in American business practices • Norms • Institutions • Artifacts Firstly, values include ideas about what in life have significant meanings. Values are considered as a foundation to make up the rest of the culture. Meanwhile, norms comprise expectations of how the behaviors of people will be in various situations. And consequently, to enforce these norms, each culture has its methods, called " sanctions". How strict the sanctions are depends on the importance of the norms, and when norms are formally enforced, they have the status of law. Values and norms are transmitted within the structures of a society that are called institutions. Finally, artifacts are " things or aspects of material culture - derive from a culture's values and norms". There is also another division that divides culture into interrelated "mentifacts", "sociofacts" and " artifacts". They belong, respectively, to ideological, sociological and technological subsystems. In particular, socialization depends on the beliefs subsystem; otherwise, interaction between people is governed by this sociological subsystem. Moreover, material objects and their use make up the technological subsystem. In addition, as we know, archaeologists pay more attentions to material culture, whereas cultural anthropologists study more deeply symbolic culture. However, both groups are highly interested in the relationships between two dimensions. Additionally, anthropologists refer to both consumption goods and the general process, which produce such goods, at the same time; they mention the social relationships and practices in which such objects and processes become limited. 1.3 Ways of perceiving culture There are a wide range of ways to look at or evaluate culture, however, due to the limited space of the thesis, only some typical ones of them will be analyzed in this part. Generally, culture is often differently perceived. For example, culture is viewed in relation with civilization, worldview, symbols, regions or religions. This variety is because culture itself includes a lot of meaning levels and expressions. 1.3.1 Culture as civilization There had been many contradictory opinions on culture. At first, culture is identified with 'civilization' and contrasted with 'nature'. According to this way of thinking, some countries or some Student: Lª ThÞ H ¬ng Giang Class: 44B2 - English Several salient cultural values manifested in American business practices peoples can be classified more civilized than others. Thus, popular and mass culture had been eliminated from the definition of culture. The theorist Mathew Arnold contrasted mass culture with social chaos or anarchy and linked culture closely with social cultivation or " the progress refinement of human behavior". Culture can be learned that culture is divided into 'high culture' and 'low culture’, which, in turn, refer to elite activities (museum-caliber art, classical music, etc.) and mass or popular activities (folk music, etc.). About these two divisions, there had been a variety of oppositions and criticisms. Nevertheless, so far, most social scientists reject the opposition of culture to nature. They evaluate equally for 'high culture ' and 'low culture', in other words, they recognize non-elites as just structured as elites, but in different ways. 1.3.2 Culture as worldview The notion of culture as 'worldview' is more intensive than earlier views. The notion was developed mainly by scholars in Germany, especially those concerned with nationalist movements such as the struggle to create a ' Germany' out of diverse principalities, during the Roman era. In this mode of thought, each ethnic group is characterized by a distinct and incommensurable worldview. However, the distinctions between 'civilized' and ' primitive' or 'tribal' cultures are still showed in this approach to culture. As for anthropologists, by the late 19th century, they had broadened more the definition of culture that can be applied to a wider variety of societies. Noticeably, culture was clinked to the theory of evolution that all human beings were assumed to evolve equally and the fact that all human beings had cultures must, to some extent, originate in human evolution. As a result, they often find out processes of domination and resistance. In the 1950s, sociologists began to study subcultures, and by the 20th century, the idea of corporate culture, which is distinct and adaptable within the context of an employing or a workplace, began to be popularized. 1.3.3 Culture as symbols In the symbolic view of culture, the legacy of Clifford Geertz (1975) and Victor Turner (1967), symbols have role to be " both the practices of social actors and the context that gives such practices meaning "(6). 'Symbol gloss' written by Anthony P. Cohen (1985) becomes a tool to communicate and understand of the social actors. These symbols limit the thoughts and expressions in Student: Lª ThÞ H ¬ng Giang Class: 44B2 - English Several salient cultural values manifested in American business practices intelligible terms to the members of a culture. In brief, " symbols make culture possible, reproducible and readable”(6). Meanwhile, according to Pierre Bourdieu (1977) symbols " give regularity, unity and systematicity to the practices of a group"(6). For instance: • Law and order - stock phrase in the United States • Peace and order - stock phrase in the Philippines 1.3.4 Cultures by regions Each region possesses its own cultural characteristics. But, as a matter of fact, many regional cultures have changed considerably because of the contacts with others such as colonization, trade, migration, mass media or religion. Here, some influences of religions on culture willl be mentioned. In Africa, in spite of many varied origins, African culture is shaped by European colonialism, especially in North Africa, Arab and Islamic culture. In Americas, peoples that inhabited the continents before the arrival of Europeans, people from Africa, and the European immigrants (typically Spanish, English, French, Portuguese, Italian and Dutch) have had strong influence on the American culture. In Asia, several transnational cultural influences still exist, although Asian nations are of cultural diversity. It is Chinese writing and religion (Buddhism and Taoism) has a remarkable impact on the writing and cultural traditions of Korea, Japan, Vietnam and some other East Asian nations. Besides, South Asian peoples have been much affected by Hinduism and Islam for hundreds of years. In Pacific, the indigenous cultures take priority over others despite the impact of the contact with Western culture. However, some countries such as Australia and New Zealand have been predominated by the culture of white settlers and their descendants because of their domination before. In Europe, due to the legacy of colonialism, the continent carries the characteristics of the Western culture. The spread of the English language and a few other European languages have proven for the influence of European culture. Dominant influences include ancient Greece, ancient Rome and Christianity. Finally, in Middle East and North Africa, the defining characteristic is Islam that is derived from Persian (Iranian) culture and variations of the Arabic language. Besides, this region is also home to Israel and Judaism, and Christian minorities. Student: Lª ThÞ H ¬ng Giang Class: 44B2 - English Several salient cultural values manifested in American business practices 1.3.5 Cultures by religion Religion is an integral feature of cultures throughout human history. The term 'religion' is defined in the Dictionary of Philosophy and Religion as follows: " .an institution with a recognized body of communication who gather together regularly for worship, and accept a set of doctrines offering some means of relating the individual to what is taken to be the ultimate nature of reality"(6) Religion is often regarded as a codification of behavior that can be shown by the ' ten commandments of Christianity ' or the ' five precepts of Buddhism ‘. Religions, typically, are Abraham, Eastern and folk. To start with, Abraham religions consist of Judaism that is "one of the first recorded monotheistic faiths and one of the oldest religious traditions still practiced today “(6), Islam, the Baha'i Faith and Christianity that were " the dominant features in shaping European and the New World cultures for at least the last 500 to 1700 years"(6). Next to this, Eastern religion is mostly influenced by and originated in India and China. Thanks to cultural diffusion and the migration of peoples, Indian and Chinese religions, including Buddhism, Hinduism, Confucianism and Taoism, have been spreaded and become pervasive across Asia. Finally, folk religions practiced by tribal groups are common in Asia, Africa and the Americas. Similarly, folk religion tends to meet human needs for reassurance in times of trouble, healing, averting misfortune and providing rituals that address the major passages and transitions in human life. Folk religions can have considerable influence; even become the state religion, as with Shintoism (Japan). 1.3.6 Cultural studies By the late 20th century, cultural studies really developed when Marxist thought was reintroduced into sociology, at the same time, sociology and other academic disciplines such as literary criticism were combined. The analysis of subcultures in capitalist societies became a focus of the movement. Because of the inappropriateness of the 18th and 19th distinction between ' high' and ' low' culture for the mass-produced and mass-marketed consumption goods, cultural studies generally focus on the study of ' popular culture ' with consumption goods (such as fashion, art, and literature). So far, when some anthropologists have also joined the project of cultural studies, they almost do not accept to identify culture with consumption goods. In addition, many of them reject the limit of the notion of culture; as a result, they deny the notion of subculture. " Instead, they see culture as a Student: Lª ThÞ H ¬ng Giang Class: 44B2 - English Several salient cultural values manifested in American business practices complex web of shifting patterns that link people in different locales and that link social formations of different sales "(6). Thus, any group can make up its own cultural identity. 1.3.7 Cultural change Cultures both recognize and resist change, depending on cultural traits. It can be said that, in each culture, there exists " dynamic influences that encourage acceptance of new things and conservative forces that resist change". (6) Both change and resistance to it result from three kinds of influence: 1) Forces at work within a society 2) Contact between societies 3) Changes in the natural environment Thus, the environment, inventions and contacts with other cultures are main elements that cause cultural change. For example, agriculture was invented by the end of the last ice age, and afterwards, many other cultural innovations were brought about. There are some ways to result in cultural change, i.e. diffusion (the form of something moves from one culture to another), acculturation (the replacement of the traits of one culture with those of another), cultural invention (any innovation that is new and found to be useful to a group of people and expressed in their behavior but which does not exist as a physical object). (6) 1.3.8 Cultures within a society Large societies often have subcultures. The distinctions among subcultures may be resulted from the age of its member, or by their race, ethnicity, class or gender. Furthermore, a subculture is determined as distinct by the qualities that may be aesthetic, religious, occupational, political, and sexual or a combination of these factors. The definition and ways to evaluate subculture would be more deeply mentioned in the following part. 1.3.8.1 What is subculture? As being defined in the American Heritage Dictionary, subculture is " a cultural subgroup differentiated by status. Ethnic background, residence, religion, or other factors that functionally unify the group and act collectively on each other"(1). Thus, to determine if the any subgroups within a cultural group, firstly, we must identify what that cultural group is. Student: Lª ThÞ H ¬ng Giang Class: 44B2 - English Several salient cultural values manifested in American business practices Similarly, the definition loaded from the free dictionary of an American website is that " a subculture is a set of people with distinct behaviors and beliefs that differentiate them from a larger culture of which they are a part "(6). There is also another definition for the term 'subculture' in the Dictionary of English Language and Culture (Longman, 1992) that is " the behavior, beliefs, and customs of a particular group of people within a society, often a group whose behavior is disapproved of by almost people". 1.3.8.2 Ways to identify a cultural group To identify a cultural group, some motions need dealing with: 1) Beliefs 2) Values 3) Attitudes 4) Religions These elements are very important in understanding or analyzing how a cultural group is determined. 1.4 American cultural values 1.4.1 Value 1.4.1.1 What is value? The definitions of value are very various. According to Robin William, value is regarded as “criteria for selection in action”(3), meanwhile, Ralph Henry Gabriel defined value as ‘an ideal, a paradigm setting forth a desired and esteemed possible social reality.”(3). Similarly, but more cautiously, Ethel Albert described value chiefly through ‘ verbal behavior’ without being mistaken for ‘ the actualities of conduct’. In general, value might be known as a principle, standard or quality considered worthwhile or desirable. Also, values allow us to “evaluate people and items for usefulness, goodness, pleasure, ability.”(1). Within the analysis of culture, there is a tendency to maintain two contradictory orders of value which are ‘‘high-level ideals [that] are not intended for universal, literal realization” and “the practical guides to behavior” (3). Thereby, the characteristic tensions of a society can be defined by the contrasts between ‘its ideal and realistic values’ and between ‘its standard and achievements’. Student: Lª ThÞ H ¬ng Giang Class: 44B2 - English . Giang several salient cultural values manifested in american business practices (một vài giá trị văn hóa nổi bật đợc thể hiện trong các tập quán thơng mại. CULTURE Several salient cultural values manifested in American business practices PART A. INTRODUCTION 1. RATIONALE OF THE STUDY At present, entering into