Chapter1:Needs and purposes for communication: 10 survival, co-operation, personal needs, relationships, persuasion, power, social needs, information, making use of the world, self-expression.Com: dynamic, interactive, irrevocable, contextual.Human com. ----non-social (intrapersonal…); social (interpersonal, organizational, mass…) Physical com--- (animal, human-animal, human-machine, machine-to-machine)Components of com.:8 Message:the content of com and ideas from one person to another. Sender: the person who sends the message Receiver: receive Channel/medium: the ways of sending and receiving messages. Noise: the disturbances along the com process, which may result in unintended message perceived by the receiver. Feedback: the reaction from the message receiver to the sender. (Positive & negative) Encoding: the process of the sender putting the message into a signal Decoding: the process of the receiver interpreting the signal from the sender. Models of com: 3 the linear-simple, it is actually more applicable to public speaking than it is to interpersonal com; the interactive (circular)-emphasize the control and feedback; the contextualized-this model adds the dimension of a situation and its surroundings.Internal com:the com taking place within a given organization through such written and oral channels as memos, reports, proposals, meetings, oral presentations, speeches, and person-to-person and telephone conversations.(downward com, upward, horizontal) Downward: the com from the management to the employees, which is a one-way orders and infor. Upward: the transfer of infor in the opposite direction, from subordinate to superior. Horizontal: the com between the employees who work at the same level.External com: the com between the organization and the outside institutions and people-the general public, customers, vendors, and other businesses, and government officials.Intercultural communication: is the term first used by Edward T. Hall in1959 and is defined as interpersonal com between members of different cultures.Consist of cognitive, affective, operational components.Intercultural business communication: com among individuals or groups from different cultural backgrounds in a business environment.International com:takes place between nations and governments rather than individuals; it is quite formal and ritualized.Interethnic com: com between people of the same race but different ethnic backgrounds. Interracial com:it occurs when the sender and the receiver exchanging messages are from different races which pertain to different physical characteristics.Interregional com: the exchange of messages between members of the dominant culture within a country.Intercultural com as a phenomenon (universal, long time, daily occurrence); as a disciplinePotential problem in IC:avoidance of the unfamiliar, uncertainty reduction, withdrawal, stereotyping, prejudice, racism, misuse of power, culture shock, ethnocentrism.Culture shock: It is a psychological phenomenon that is experienced most often by those who, whether voluntarily or involuntarily, in the process of adjusting themselves to a new culture.5 stages of culture shock can be identified as: honeymoon stage, hostility stage, recovery stage, adjustment stage, adjustment stage and biculturality stage.Racism: the belief that one racial category is innately superior to another.stereotypes ：a form of generalization about some group of people, or a means of organizingimages into fixed and simple categories that are used to stand for the entire collection of people. ethnocentrism ：the view of things in which one’s own group is the center of everything, and all others are scaled and rated with reference to it.prejudice ：It refers to negative attitudes towards other people that are based on faulty and inflexible stereotypes. It is an unfair, biased, or intolerant attitude towards another group of people.Acculturation/enculturation：It is culture change that results from continuous firsthand contact between two distinct cultural groups.Chapter2Culture:is the total accumulation of beliefs, customs, values, behaviors, institutions and com patterns that are shared, learned, and passed down through the generations in an identifiable group of people. 3 categories of elements: artifact, concepts, behavior.Characteristics: learned; influences biological process; transmitted from generation to generation; selective; ethno-centric; an integrated system; subject to change.5 metaphors: an iceberg; an onion-symbol, hero, ritual, value (our software); the water a fish swims in; the story we tell ourselves about ourselves; the grammar of our behavior.Value: a broad tendency to prefer certain states of affairs over others. 3 types: universal values; cultural-specific values; peculiar expression or deviations of individuals within cultures. Florence Kluckhohn and Fred Strodtbeck (basic values): human nature; relationship to nature; sense of time; activity; social relationships (hierarchy, group, individual)Hofstede-Bond value dimensions (work-related values): individualism & collectivism; power distance; uncertainty avoidance; masculinity & femininity; long-term versus short-term orientation Trompenaars’s cultural dimensions of business executives includes universalism and particularism; individualism and communitarianism; neutral and emotional; specific and diffuse; achievement and ascription; attitudes to time; attitudes to the environment.Edward Hall’s high and low context orientation.Individualism (short-term, voluntary less intensive relationships):the extent to which a society is a loosely knit social framework in which people are supposed to take care of only of themselves and their immediate families. Collectivism (long-term, involuntary more intensive relationships): emphasizes common interests, conformity, cooperation, and interdependence. In-group out-groupPower distance: attitudes toward differences in authority. High- Philippines, Mexico, Venezuela. Low- Israel, Denmark, Austria.Uncertainty avoidance:a measure of how accepting a culture is of a lack of predictability. Strong-Portugal, Greece, Peru, Belgium, Japan. Low-Sweden, Denmark, Ireland, Norway, USA, Finland, Netherlands.Masculinity: comes from masculine and implies aggressiveness and assertiveness. (High-Japan, Austria, Switzerland, Mexico) Femininity:comes from feminine and stresses nurturing, caring attention to people’s feel ings and needs. (High-Scandinavian countries, Chile, Portugal, Thailand) Long-term orientation looks into the future; Short-term orientation stresses past and present. Kuluckhohn Hofstede 同&不同: all talking about meaningful values found in all cultures. Power distance相似hierarchy;individualism versus collectivism相似individual values and group values. But Hofstede adds more details and describes how these values are reflected in the attitudes and behaviors of people working in organizations. Institutional collectivism: the degreeto which organizational and societal practices encourage and reward collective distribution of resources and collective action. In-group collectivism the degree to which individuals expresses pride, loyalty, and cohesiveness in their organizations or families. Gender egalitarianism:the degree to which a collective minimizes gender inequality. Assertiveness: The degrees to which individuals are assert, confrontational, and aggressive in their relationships with others. Humane orientation:the degree to which a collective encourages and rewards people for being fair, altruistic, generous, caring, and kind to others. Future orientation:the extent to which people engage in future-oriented behaviors such as delayed gratification, planning, and investing in the future. Performance orientation: the degree to which a collective encourages and rewards group members for performance improvement and excellence.high-context culture ：a culture in which meaning is not necessarily contained in words. Information is provided through gestures, the use of space, and even silence. low-context culture ：a culture in which the majority of the information is vested in the explicit code. Example: A German, an American, a Japanese to the same restaurant, ordered a hamburger are the result of the negligence of the cook the meat of the three have burned the hamburgers, and asked the three people would say German paste directly criticize the meat, criticized the chef; Americans said that although the meat tastes very good, but bread, salad, shallot taste pretty good; The Japanese would say, bread, salad, onion is delicious.Chapter3Language: a symbolic code of communication of a set of sounds with understood meanings and a set of rules for constructing messages. Dialect; accent; argot; jargon; slang; branding; linguistics; semantics; syntactics; pragmatics; phonetics.The relationship between language and culture: Language is a reflection of culture, and culture is a reflection of language. Culture influences language by way of symbols and rules for using those symbols, as well as our perceptions of the universe. Language, on the other hand, would seem to have a major impact on the way an individual perceives and conceptualizes the world. Example: the Chinese and Japanese have a variety of words for rice and tea; 中英外祖母的称谓Language determinism:language determines culture. It was put forward by Sapir and Whorf. Example:in Hopi, if you want to say he is running/he ran, just say Wari. It refers to present continuous tense and simple past tense. But in English, as we know, tense is very important. Linguistic relativity:verbal communication ：communication done both orally and in written languageAt lexical level: denotational meaning and connotational meaning. Comparing Chinese and English word meanings--animals and metaphors; color words; number words; sports and idioms. pragmatics：it is the study of how speakers use the language to reach successful communication, and the study of the effect that language has on human perceptions and behaviors.At pragmatic level: pragmatic rules; face and politeness (Grice the cooperative principles 4 maxims: quantity, Quality, relation, manner maxim G. Leech 6 maxims: tact, generosity, approbation, modesty, agreement, sympathy maxim)Chinese conception of limao: respectfulness, modesty, attitudinal, warmth, refinement. Comparing Chinese and English Speech Act: address (3 differences-Chinese proper name is arranged in the order of surname plus given name; Chinese kinship terms have extended and generalized usage; most occupational titles can be used as address terms in Chinese), greeting and leave-taking, invitation(generosity and tact maxims) and response, compliment and response, apologies and response.Taboos: practices or verbal expressions considered by a society or cultures as improper or unacceptable.At discourse level: linear (linearity, object, logical-English); Semitic (zigzagged, parallelistic); oriental (circular, subject, spiral); romance (digressive, back-and-forth); Russian (dotted lines, freer). Comparing Chinese and English discourse patterns: linear and nonlinear language; deductive (topic-first, deductive, from general to specific) and inductive (topic-delayed, indirect, from specific to general) pattern.Characteristics of Verbal context: indirect (high) and direct; succinct (high, high), exacting (low context, low uncertainty avoidance) and elaborate (high); contextual (high) and personal; affective (high context) and instrumental.Chinese verbal style:implicit communication; listening tenderness; politeness; a focus on insiders; face-directed communication strategies.Translator needs to do: a high level of fluency in both of language being used; a comprehensive vocabulary of a specific subject area; highly sensitive to the contexts of intercultural communication.Chapter4Nonverbal communication: communication without the use of words.Functions of nonverbal: replacing, regulating, conveying, modifying, repeating, complementing, contradicting. Similarities and differences between verbal and nonverbal: both use symbols, are products of an individual, and require that someone else attach meaning to these symbols. Both are coding system that we learn and pass on as part of the cultural experience. Differences: verbal (structured, linguistic, clear, conscious, discontinuous, acquired and controllable) nonverbal (unstructured, non-linguistic, ambiguous, subconscious, continuous, natural, more universal and emotional) Interrelation between nonverbal com and culture: most of our nonverbal behaviors are learned, passed from generation to generation; they represent what a collection of people deemed important enough to codify and transmit to the members of that group.Cultural impact on nonverbal com:body movement-kinesics (posture, gesture, facial expression); eye contact-oculesics (中东，拉美，法国-direct); touch-haptics (日美加斯堪的-not); smell ; paralanguage; spatial language; temporal language. Ex. Hands on hips-Mexico-hostility; Malaysia-anger; us-impatience; Argentina-challenge.Paralanguage: between verbal and nonverbal. It involves sounds but not words.3类voice quality, vocal qualifier (volume, pitch, rhythm, tempo, resonance, tone), vocalization. Silence (low context-feel uncomfortable) Spatial language:(proxemics): t he study of people’s perception and use of space. 3类personal (intimate, personal, social, public zone), office, public space. Temporal language: the way in which time is used in a culture. (thinking, sensation, intuitive types) monochromic and polychromic time; punctuality and promptness; time frame.monochromic time (M Time) ：It schedules one event at a time. In these cultures time is perceived as a linear structure just like a ribbon stretching from the past into the future. polychromic time (P Time) ：schedules several activities at the same time. In these culture people emphasize the involvement of people more than schedules. They do not see appointments as ironclad commitments and often break them.body language ：refers to all nonverbal codes which are associated with body movements. It includes gestures, head movements, facial expressions, eye behaviors, postures and other displays that can be used to communicate.Etiquette: manners and behavior considered acceptable in social and business situations. Protocol: customs and regulations dealing with diplomatic etiquette and courtesies expected in official dealings with persons in various cultures. 6-initial business relationship; social entertainment; gift-giving etiquette; business dress; business scheduling; the use of humor.4 characteristics of negotiation: common interest, conflicting interest, compromise, criteria.。
摘要营销是商业中直接与消费者打交道的一个功能性领域伦理问题广泛地存在于营销领域中营销人员潜在的非伦理行为最容易受到消费者密切的关注乃至争议随着越来越多的企业步出国门将业务全球化营销人员遇到的伦理问题由于文化冲突的影响而变得日趋复杂因此理解文化差异对伦理决策的影响对于避免潜在的商业陷阱和制定有效的国际营销管理项目显得愈加重要特龙彭纳斯和汉普登在他们的研究中指出美国属于高度普遍主义国家而中国属于高度特殊主义国家本论文尝试着通过比较中美两国营销专业的本科生探讨性地研究文化维度普遍主义与特殊主义对营销伦理决策的影响本论文分析了普遍主义与特殊主义这一文化维度对伦理决策三个阶段的影响这三个阶段是伦理知觉伦理判断伦理行为意图研究的结果表明文化维度普遍主义与特殊主义对营销伦理决策有很大的影响在伦理知觉方面美国人比中国人更有可能认识到营销中涉及到特惠待遇的伦理问题在伦理判断方面营销中道义论评价对美国人作出的伦理判断的影响比对中国人作出的伦理判断的影响更显著而目的论评价对中国人作出的伦理判断的影响比对美国人的影响更显著在伦理行为意图方面目的论评价对中国人形成的行为意图的影响比对美国人形成的行为意图的影响更显著虽然本论文的研究在某些方面尤其在受试方面存在着局限性但作为一个探讨性研究其结果仍然可以证明整个伦理决策的过程的确受到文化维度普遍主义与特殊主义的影响关键词普遍主义特殊主义伦理决策营销文化差异AbstractAs a functional area within business that interfaces with the consumer, marketing tends to come under the greatest scrutiny, generate the most controversy and receive the most criticism with respect to potentially unethical business practices.As more and more firms operate globally, the ethical problems faced by marketing practitioners have become more and more complicated as different culture clashes. Therefore, an understanding of the effects of cultural differences on ethical decision-making becomes increasingly important for avoiding potential business pitfalls and for designing effective international marketing management programs.According to Trompenaars and Hampden-Turner, the U.S.A. is ranked as a highly universalistic culture and China a highly particularistic culture. This dissertation attempts to make an exploratory study on the impact of the cultural dimension “universalism versus particularism” on ethical decision-making in marketing by comparing Chinese and American marketing undergraduate students.The dissertation analyzes the impact of the cultural dimension “universalism versus particularism” on the three stages of ethical decision-making including ethical perception, ethical judgment and ethical intention. The results show that the cultural dimension “universalism versus particularism” has a great influence on ethical decision-making in marketing. On ethical perception, Americans are more likely than their Chinese counterparts to recognize ethical problems involving preferential treatment of one over another in marketing context. On ethical judgment, deontological evaluation has a greater impact for Americans than for their Chinese counterparts in marketing context and teleological evaluation has a greater impact for Chinese than for their American counterparts in the marketing context. On ethical intention, teleological evaluation has a greater impact for Chinese than for their American counterparts in the marketing context.Though this dissertation has several limitations especially in the aspect of subject, as an exploratory study, the results, in a sense, still prove the whole ethical decision-making process is influenced by the cultural dimension “universalism versus particularism”.Key words: universalism, particularism, ethical decision-making, marketing,cultural differencesChapter One Introduction1.1 Statement of the ProblemToday, it is difficult to pick up a newspaper or magazine that does not contain stories about questionable business behaviors, especially about the questionable marketing practices. Vitell, Lumpkin and Rawwas (1991)state, “Since marketing is the functional area within business that interfaces with the consumer, it tends to come under the greatest scrutiny, generates the most controversy and receives the most criticism with respect to potentially unethical business practices. Advertising, personal selling, marketing research and international marketing are all the subjects of the most frequent ethical controversy.”(p.366)Concurrently, research examining ethical issues of the marketing has increased dramatically in the last decade. Within this general stream of research on marketing ethics, ethical decision-making (EDM) has been identified as one of the major topics of interest. In a review article of the EDM literature, Ford and Richardson (1994) cited 62 articles investigating variables which have been hypothesized to influence ethical beliefs and behaviors. These variables are categorized into individual and situational factors. Variables that are related to the individual factors include nationality (i.e., culture), religion, sex, age, education, employment, and personality. Situational variables include referent groups, rewards and sanctions, codes of conduct, type of ethical conflict, organizational effects, industry, and business competitiveness. However, as more and more firms operate globally, an understanding of the effects of cultural differences on ethical decision-making becomes increasingly important for avoiding potential business pitfalls and for designing effective international marketing management programs.The concept of culture recognizes that individuals from different backgrounds are exposed to different traditions, heritages, rituals, customs, and religions. All of these factors establish and provide human beings with various learning environments and histories, which in turn cause significant variations in moral standards, beliefs, and behaviors across cultures (Vitell, Nwachukwu, & Barnes, 1993). In other words, culture not only influences learning, but also impacts what is perceived as right/wrong,acceptable/unacceptable, and ethical/unethical. For example, individuals with different cultural backgrounds may view the following terms dramatically differently, such as bribes, sexual harassment, sexual orientation, abortion, individual espionage, and religious beliefs. Failure to recognize these differences across cultures may result in conflicts and negative business consequences.While there are a number of conceptual frameworks for understanding cultural differences, such as the ones proposed by Hofstede (1980), Hall (Samovar, Porter & Stefani, 2000), Kluckhohn and Strodtbeck (ibid) and Trompennars and Hampden-Turner (1998),arguably the two most influential and widely known cultural perspectives that have been applied to business management and organization are the one of Hofstede and the one of Trompenaars and Hampden-Turner (Dahl, 2004). Both of them have studied people in multinational companies, collected huge databases and then classified nationalities in idealized, typical dimensions of culture.Although there is no dearth of cross-cultural studies of marketing ethics, almost all these ethical studies (both empirical and theoretical) have almost exclusively incorporated Hofstede’s cultural dimensions in defining or describing national culture to the exclusion of other contributions from the literature (Gopalan &Thomson, 2003). Contributions made by Trompenaars and Hampden-Turner (1998) that addressed the impact of cultural dynamic on human relationships have been virtually ignored by the scholars who have investigated the effect of national culture on ethics. This triggers the author of this dissertation to utilize Trompenaars and Hampden-Turner’s cultural dimension to explore the effect of national culture on ethics.1.2 Purpose and Significance of the StudyBased on the above discussion, this study attempts to fill a significant gap by extending the research scope of Trompenaars and Hampden-Turner’s cultural dimensions to the study of ethical decision-making. The emphasis of this study is placed on the impact of the dimension “universalism versus particularism” (or universalism/particularism) on the ethical decision-making process and criteria. More specifically, the primary purposes of this study are: (1) to utilize one of Trompenaars and Hampden-Turner’s cultural dimensions, i.e., “universalism versus particularism”, to explain the cross-cultural differences in ethical perception; (2) to test how “universalism versus particularism” dynamic influences the relative weight given to deontological and teleological evaluations when making ethical judgments and forming ethical intentions.Some argue that ethical issues cannot be the concern of business because business occupies a special place and that it will be impossible to fulfill its functions if it focuses on ethical issues. However, no business can operate purely on the basis of self-interest over the long run. As part of a larger social system, marketers feel the pressure of society’s concerns for truth, honesty, altruism, and respect for human beings. Trust, fairness, honesty, and respect for others are critical values that are essential to business success. The free market system, with its allocation of scarce resources, can and does drive out those who serve less well the needs of customers and the society. If the marketplace’s expectations are not met, the product and the company may go out of existence. To put it bluntly, those individuals who serve only themselves will be replaced by others who serve the needs of the marketplace better. To survive in the long term, business and marketing must operate on ethical grounds.Ethical problems faced by marketing practitioners stem from conflicts and disagreements and they are relationship problems (Chonko, 1995).Each party in a marketing transaction brings a set of expectations regarding how the business relationship should exist and how transactions should be conducted. For example, when you, as a consumer, want to purchase something from a retailer, you bring the following expectations about the transaction: you want to be treated fairly by the retail salesperson; you want to pay a reasonable price; and you want the product to be available as advertising says it will be and in the indicated condition. Unfortunately, your expectations might not be in agreement with those of the retailer. The retail salesperson may not have time for you; or the retailer’s perception of a reasonable price may differ from yours; or the advertising of the product may be misleading. In such situations, ethical conflict occurs as one individual believes that his or her duties and responsibilities to one group (e.g., the retail salesperson’s responsibility to the store) are inconsistent with his or her duties and responsibilities to another group (e.g., the retail salesperson’s responsibilities to the customer) or to himself or herself. Simply put, people will often disagree about which action is best in a given situation.Internationally, these ethical problems will become more complicated as different cultures clash. The significance of ethics and its impact on successful marketing should be amplified in the international context, particularly when the parties involved hold different sets of cultural values. Moreover, a firm expanding its operation to other countries by direct investment or joint venture will inevitably face ethical dilemmas that may not be encountered in familiar, domestic markets. Thus MultinationalCorporations’ ethical capability—organization’s capability to identify and respond effectively to ethical issues in a global context—is a sustainable source of competitive advantage (Buller & McEvoy, 1999). As we know, with the accelerated race of globalization, economic interdependence and interaction between countries are becoming ever stronger. In this massive tide of economic globalization, no country can develop and prosper in isolation. Therefore, it would seem important to understand the ethical decision-making processes and criteria of individuals from different cultures, and how differences in cultural values may affect decision-making processes and criteria.This study extends the research scope of Trompenaars and Hampden-Turner’s cultural dimensions to ethical decision-making and also shows some distinct patterns in ethical judgment and ethical intention to match universalism and particularism with the relative weight given to deontological and teleological evaluations. Findings from this study will allow international firms to better identify the inherent cultural differences which lead to different perceptions of ethical dilemmas of employees and to adopt effective sales management practices appropriate for those differences. Considering that individuals with different cultural backgrounds possess different ethical standards, some marketing practices might be perceived as ethical by some marketing practitioners and unethical by others. Therefore, a greater understanding of how cultural differences affect EDM across employees in different countries will allow international firms to formulate and adopt appropriate management practices that better safeguard against potential unethical behaviors.In addition, the present situation of China indicates that it is necessary to compare the differences in ethical decision-making between China and the U.S. China has learnt from her long history that isolation leads to backwardness. Development, progress and prosperity could only be achieved through opening to and integrating with the outside world, through stepping up exchanges and cooperation with other countries and through absorbing all fine results of human civilization. According to China Statistical Yearbook 2004, China’s share of world trade increased from about 1% to almost 6% between 1979 (when China started to open up) and 2003; China’s share of global inflows of foreign direct investment was almost 10% in 2003 (US $53 billion of a world total of US $560 billion) and China had 200,000 firms that were either foreign affiliates or funded from foreign sources, which made China the world’s largest recipient of FDI (Foreign Direct Investment) in 2003. And the USA is the top source countries forChina’s FDI. In fact, China’s economic interactions with the other nations not only lie in FDI inflows but also outward FDI flows. China is now increasingly visible as a foreign investor and the USA’s share of China’s outward FDI becomes greater and greater. In 2003, China overtook the US and became the 6th largest outward investor among developing countries. Given the country’s rapid economic development and the government’s interest in encouraging outward FDI, China might emerge as a large source of FID in the near future. UNCTAD’s (United Nations Conference on Trade and Development) Global Investment Prospects Assessment Survey found that a number of Investment Promotion Agencies (IPAs) ranked China as a possible top source of FDI during 2004-2007 (/TEMPLATES/webflyer.asp).1.3 OutlineThere are five chapters in this dissertation. The first chapter is introduction, which covers the purpose and significance of the study as well as the outline of this dissertation. Chapter Two is a review of relevant literatures; both theoretical and empirical perspectives are considered. In this chapter, the author firstly describes the definitions of three key terms in this study, i.e., culture, ethics, and ethical decision-making in marketing, and then states the relationship between culture and ethical decision-making. Secondly, a number of studies related to cultural differences are briefly reviewed. After that, the dissertation gives a general description of Trompenaars and Hampden-Turner’s seven cultural dimensions. Thirdly, the three major stages of ethical decision-making, i.e., ethical perception, ethical judgment, and ethical intention, are introduced. Finally, the relevant theoretical and empirical studies are reviewed. In Chapter Three Research Methodology, the author first advances the research hypotheses based on the literature review. And then the methodological procedures which will be used to test the hypotheses are presented. Chapter Four contains the results of the research and a comprehensive discussion of the results. Chapter Five is a conclusion chapter that will present the major findings, limitations of the study, implications for future studies and marketing practitioners.Chapter Two Literature Review2.1 Culture and Ethical Decision-Making2.1.1 CultureCulture is an umbrella word that encompasses a whole set of implicit, widely shared beliefs, traditions, values and expectations that characterize a particular group of people. Giving a definition to “culture” is not as easy as it sounds. “Culture is ubiquitous, multidimensional, complex and all-pervasive.” (Samovar, Porter & Stefani, 2000, p.36) Anthropologist, sociologist, psychologist, philologist, and so on—all kinds of experts or scholars have attempted to give a definition to culture.Kroeber and Kluckhohn (1952), in their extensive literature review, listed over one hundred definitions of culture in an effort to develop one that would be acceptable to a range of social scientists. They defined culture as “…patterns, explicit and implicit, of and for behavior acquired and transmitted by symbols, constituting the distinctive achievement of human groups…the essential (i.e., historically derived and selected) ideas and especially their attached values” (p.357).Hofstede (1984)refers to culture as “the collective programming of the mind which distinguishes one human group from another…the interactive aggregate of common characteristics that influence a human group’s response to the environment” (p.21). Besides, Hofstede (1994) proposes a set of four layers of culture, each of which encompasses the lower level, as it depends on the lower level, or is a result of the lower level. At the core of Hofstede’s model of culture are values, or in his words, “broad tendencies to prefer certain states of affairs over others”(Hofstede, 1994, p. 8). These values form the most hidden layer of culture. Values as such represent the ideas that people have about how things ought to be. In this way, Hofstede (1994) emphasizes the assumption that “values are strongly influencing behaviors” (p.9).Trompenaars and Hampden-Turner (1998) state that “culture is the shared ways in which groups of people understand and interpret the world…culture has three layers: (1) explicit products; (2) norms and values; (3) assumptions about existence” (p.20). Among these three layers, values determine the definition of “good and bad”, andtherefore are closely related to the ideals shared by a group and the basic assumptions in the third layers are somewhat similar to values in Hofstede’s model, a lower level of values, i.e. basic assumptions are the absolute core values that influence the more visible values in the layer above (Dahl, 2004).In the book International Business Culture, the author Mitchell (2000)gives us a formal definition “Culture is a set of learned core values, beliefs, standards, knowledge, morals, laws, and behaviors shared by individuals and societies that determines how an individual acts, feels, and views oneself and others” (p.4). Mitchell (2000) defines culture in terms of its components, he believed that “to view a country’s culture from the outside can be intimidating, but breaking it down into its components and understanding how each component is related to the whole can help to unwrap the enigma and provide some logic and motivation behind behaviors, including business behaviors”(p.5).The common thread throughout the above various definitions is the acknowledgment of differences in values and behaviors across different cultures. From these definitions we can see that culture has both physical and nonphysical components. The physical aspects of culture are tangible and functional, such as music, crafts, artistic objects, poetry and arts. The nonphysical aspects of culture constitute the mental values which people use to characterize their environment and view their relationships with nature. These cultural characteristics differentiate one group of people from another.In addition, we should also be aware that there is a significant debate about what level of analysis is desirable for the concept of culture to be a viable tool (Dahl, 2004).In more practical terms, national boundaries have been the preferred level of resolution, and therefore countries or nations are considered as the preferred unit of analysis. Just as Adler (1997) observes, “national boundaries are implicitly accepted as operational definitions of culturally distinct units in cross-cultural management research” (p.31).There are several good arguments for this: Firstly, the nationality of a person can easily be established, whereas membership of a sub-culture is more difficult to establish, particularly in cases where individuals may declare themselves members of various sub-cultures at the same time. The use of nationality is therefore avoiding unnecessary duplication and removes ambiguity in the research process, as the nationality of a person can usually be established easily. Secondly, there is considerable support for the notion that people coming from one country will be shaped by largely the same valuesand norms as their co-patriots (Hofstede, 1991). In fact, nearly all the empirical cross-cultural studies on ethics (e.g., Singhapakdi, Vitell, & Leelakulthanit, 1994; Armstrong & Sweeney, 1994; Karande, Shankarmahesh, Rao, & Rashid, 2000) have utilized nationality as a proxy of culture. Therefore, this dissertation was no exception and used two countries (i.e., China and the U.S.A.) as the surrogates of the cultural dimension universalism/particularism.2.1.2 Ethical Decision Making in Marketing2.1.2.1 Definition of Ethics“Unethical” acts were committed throughout history: Christianity has Adam eating the forbidden fruit, Cain murdering his brother. The majority of the ancient Greek philosophers devoted much of their time to developing theories of ethics. The early theories studied ethics from a normative perspective, meaning that they were concerned with “constructing and justifying the moral standards and codes that one ought to follow” (Vitell, 1986, p.4). On the other side, a positive perspective of ethics attempted to describe and explain how individuals actually behave in ethical situations.One of the major preoccupations of ethical theorists was to create a definition of ethics. As with the majority of concepts, ethics was defined differently by different theorists.Runes states that “ethical behavior refers to ‘just’ or ‘right’ standards of behavior between parties in a situation” (qtd. in Beu & Buckley, 2001, p.59). On the same line, Barry defines ethics as “the study of what constitutes good and bad human conduct, including related actions and values” (ibid).According to DeGeorge(1982), ethics is the study of morality. He argues: Morality is a term used to cover those practices and activities that areconsidered importantly right and wrong, the rules which govern thoseactivities and the values that are imbedded, fostered, or pursued by thoseactivities and practices. The morality of a society is related to its mores or thecustoms accepted by a society or group as being the right and wrong ways toact as well as to the laws of a society which add legal prohibitions andsanctions to many activities considered to be immoral (pp. 13-15).Similarly, Taylor defines ethics as “…inquiry into the nature and grounds of morality where the term morality is taken to mean moral judgments, standards, and rules of conduct” (qtd. in Akaah, 1996, p.606). Ferrell and Fraedrich(1991) describe it as “the study and philosophy of human conduct with an emphasis on determination ofright and wrong” (p.4).In the book Ethical Marketing Decisions, Laczniak and Murphy (1993) wrote, “ethics is one of those subjects where people cannot say anything of substance without revealing quite a bit about their own values and it has two dimensions” (p.10). First, ethics, via its foundation in moral philosophy, provides various models and frameworks for handling ethical situations (Laczniak & Murphy, 1993). That is, there are various approaches to ethical reasoning. For instance, ethics leads us to consider whether we should judge the moral appropriateness of business decisions based on the consequences for various stakeholders or on the basis of the intentions held by the decision-maker when a particular action is selected. Differing approaches may lead us to similar conclusions or divergent conclusions about the “ethicalness” of a particular action. The second dimension of ethics refers to ethics as the right thing to do (ibid). When people say that someone is acting ethically, they usually mean individuals are doing what is morally correct.From the above definitions, we can see the underpinning for having a feeling about what one ought to do comes mostly from our values. Carroll (1996) points out that “ethics is a set of moral principles that drives behavior… Values are the individual’s concepts of the relative worth, utility or importance of certain ideas. ...One’s values, therefore, shape one’s ethics.” (pp. 133-134)2.1.2.2 Ethical Decision Making in MarketingVitell (1986) applied Taylor’s definition of ethics to define marketing ethics as “an inquiry into the nature and grounds of moral judgments, standards, and the rules of conduct relating to marketing decisions and marketing situations.” (p.4) Marketing ethics examines systematically marketing and marketing morality related to 4P-issues, such as unsafe products, deceptive pricing, deceptive advertising, bribery, or discrimination in distribution (Smith & Quelch, 1993).Research on marketing ethics can be divided into six categories: causes of unethical behavior; the relationship between ethical behavior and profitability; social marketing ethics; surveys of various publics; development of normative ethical theories; and ethical decision-making. Within this stream of research on marketing ethics, ethical decision-making has been identified as one of the major topics of interest(Lu, Rose & Blodgett, 1999).Ethical decision-making is a subset of business decision-making because not all the business decisions have ethical ramifications. It is actually the business decision-makingwhen ethical considerations are involved. According to Holt (1990), decision-making is the process of identifying problems and opportunities, developing alternative solutions, choosing a preferred alternative, and then implementing it. When making a decision, the decision maker reaches a conclusion based on the evaluation of options or alternatives. Therefore, ethical decision-making can be defined as a process of choosing a course of action based on what is right and fair in and of itself, or for the common good.For the purpose here, ethical decision-making refers to discretionary decision-making behavior, which “determines how conflicts in human interests are to be settled and …optimizes mutual benefit…for people living together in groups” (Rest, 1986, p.1). Ethical decision-making in marketing refers to the process of making marketing decisions when ethical dilemmas are involved. In business firms, marketing is the most visible functional area because of its frequent interfaces with the customers. Most marketing decisions have ethical ramifications whether business executives realize it or not. When the actions are taken properly, the ethical dimensions go unnoticed and attention centers upon the economic efficiencies and managerial astuteness of the decisions. But such is not always the case. When a marketing decision is ethically troublesome, its highly visible outcomes can be a public embarrassment or even worse.Just as the process of business decision-making, the ethical decision-making process begins when an individual recognizes an ethical dilemma. Subsequently, the individual makes judgments and forms behavioral intentions that are thought to be predictive of actual behavior.2.1.3 Relationship between Culture and Ethical Decision-Making in MarketingFrom the above definition of ethical decision-making in marketing, we know that to explore the relationship between culture and ethical decision-making in marketing is actually to explore the relationship between culture and ethical decision-making.Matthew wrote “What good will it be...[to gain] the whole world, yet [forfeit one’s] soul? Or what can [one] give in exchange for [one’s] soul?” (qtd. in Chonko, 1995, p.4) This statement is at the heart of ethical decision-making, as is the following verse from Taoism: “[One] who stands on tiptoe doesn’t stand firm. [One] who rushes ahead doesn’t go far. [One] who tries to shine dims [one’s] own light” (ibid). These two statements imply gains and losses from actions. Actions imply a choice between alternative courses of action. Evaluating those alternative courses of action implies weighing the pros and cons of each alternative as seen by the individual and as seen by others with whom the individual interacts. These choices form the heart of the problems。
跨文化沟通与管理名词解释：1.emotional culture: A culture in which emotions are expressed openly andnaturally.2.diffuse(分散的)culture: A culture in which public space and private space aresimilar in size and individuals guard their public space carefully, because entry into public space affords entry into private space as well.3.ascription(归属)culture: A culture in which status is attributed based on who orwhat a person is.4.GLOBE(Global Leadership and Organizational Behavior Effectiveness):Amulti-country study and evaluation of cultural attributes and leadership behaviors among more than 17,000 managers from 825 organizations in 62 countries.5.polycentric(多中心的）predisposition（倾向）: A philosophy(原理) of managementwhereby(借以) strategic decisions are tailored to suit the cultures of the countries where the MNC operates.6.regiocentric predisposition: A philosophy of management whereby the firm tries toblend(混合) its own interests with those of its subsidiaries(附属物) on a regional basis.7.globalization imperative: A belief that one worldwide approach to doing businessis the key to both efficiency and effectiveness.8.family culture: A culture that is characterized(以……为特征) by a strong emphasison hierarchy(等级制度) and orientation(方位、定位) to the person.9.Eiffel Tower culture: A culture that is characterized by a strong emphasis onhierarchy and orientation to the task.10.token(象征性的) group: A group in which all members but one have the samebackground, such as a group of Japanese retailers(零售商) and a British attorney.(律师)11.groupthink(集体考虑): Social conformity and pressures on individual members of agroup to conform and reach consensus.(共识)12.upward communication: The transfer of meaning from subordinate(下级)tosuperior.(上级)13.personal distance: In communicating, the physical distance used for talking withfamily and close friends.14.polychronic time schedule: A time schedule in which people tend to do severalthings at the same time and place higher value on personal involvement than on getting things done on time.15.negotiation(协商、谈判): Bargaining with one or more parties for the purpose ofarriving at a solution acceptable to all.简答题：一、Hofstede’s Culture Dimensions:Hofstede’s massive study continues to be a focal point for additional research. The four now-well-known dimensions that Hofstede examined were (1) power distance,(2)uncertainty avoidance, (3) individualism, and (4) masculinity.(1)Power distance is “the extant to which less powerful members of institutions andorganizations accept that power is distributed unequally.”(2)Uncertainty avoidance is “the extant to which people feel threatened byambiguous situations, and have created beliefs and institutions that try to avoid these.”(3)Individualism is the tendency of people to look after themselves and theirimmediate family only.”(4)Masculinity is defined by Hofstede as “ a situation in which the dominant valuesin society are success, money, and things.”二、Trompenaars’s Culture Dimensions:Trompenaars derived five relationship orientations that address the ways in which people deal with each other.(1)Universalism vs. Particularism: Universalism is the belief that ideas and practicscan be applied everywhere without modification. Particularism is the belief that circumstances dictate how ideas and practices should be applied and something cannot be done the same everywhere.(2)Individualism vs. Communitarianism: Individualism refers to people regardingthemselves as individuals, while communitarianism refers to people regarding themselves as part of a group.(3)Neutral vs. Emotional: A neutral culture is one in which emotions are held incheck. An emotional culture is one in which emotions are openly and naturally expressed.(4)Specific vs. Diffuse: A specific culture is one in which individuals have a largepublic space they readily let others enter and share and a small private space they guard closely and share with only close friends and associates. A diffuse culture is one in which public space and private space are similar in size and individuals guard their public space carefully, because enty into public space affords entry into private space as well.(5)Achievement vs. Ascription: An achievement culture is one in which people areaccorded status based on how well they perform their functions. An ascription culture is one in which status is attributed based on who or what a person is.三、文化的洋葱理论Schein divides organizational culture into three levels:1. Artifacts. These "artifacts" are at the surface, those aspects (such as dress) which can be easily discerned, but are hard to understand.2. Espoused V alues. Beneath artifacts are "espoused values" which are conscious strategies, goals and philosophies.3. Basic Assumptions and V alues. The core, or essence, of culture is represented by the basic underlying assumptions and values, which are difficult to discern beca use they exist at a largely unconscious level. Y et they provide the key to understanding why things happen in a particular way. These basic assumptions form around deeper dimensions of human existence such as the nature of humans, human relationships and activity, reality and truth.。
