Not available / text

Thesis (M.Sc. (Hons.))-University of Western Sydney, 2007. / A thesis submitted to the University of Western Sydney, College of Arts, School of Education, in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science (Honours). Includes bibliographical references.

The field of intercultural communication has recently been introduced to Japan from the United States. The theories and concepts of this field have been developed based on Western social sciences, and they are likely to be culture-bound. This thesis investigates the possibility that modifying Western ideas in the field of intercultural communication would make the study of this subject more effective for Japanese learners.

This thesis is a review of relevant literature on business negotiation between Japanese and American and an analysis of cultural differences in negotiation from an intercultural perspective. The following four key issues are explored and analyzed with intercultural communication concepts: 1. major differences in approaches to the process of business negotiation between the United States and Japan; 2. potential friction between Japanese and Americans in business negotiation that is attributable to Japanese and American cultural differences; 3. the applicability and usefulness of an intercultural perspective in enhancing business negotiation skills; and 4. main factors affecting the use of an intercultural perspective in cross-cultural business negotiation and the degree to which they are manifested in the u.s.-Japan business negotiations.

This study set out to explore how multinational corporations incorporated the issue of culture into the planning process for crisis management. The research used a case study method with unstructured interviews conducted via email, phone and in person, and focused on the U.S. and Japan. Four of the interview subjects were established public relations professionals with experience in both countries, and one subject is a professor of intercultural communications in Japan. All interviews were transcribed and approved by the interview subjects before being analyzed and catalogued into themes. Those themes were then reviewed compared to the intercultural communications theoretical framework of power distance, high-context vs. low-context communications, and individualism vs. collectivism. Results revealed three main themes, including differences in PR between Japan and the United States, belief that culture should play a more substantial role in crisis communications, and actual use of culture in crisis communications. Responses showed that, regardless of a collective belief that culture should play a substantial role in crisis r;;- management, intercultural communication components often take over in emergencies. In conclusion, while all interview subjects saw value in cultural response, the broad scope of what that entails made it an impractical endeavor. Further, responses showed that the planning stage is not the most effective place to integrate culture into crisis communication. Research did suggest, however, that an updated PR model, adapted from the R.A.C.E. method, that incorporates elements of cultural communication consideration between the Action Planning and Communication stages could beneficial.

Increasing globalization and transnational trends in business have resulted in greater contact with people from different cultures. However, in any cross-cultural encounter, miscommunication and misunderstandings are likely to occur. In a workplace setting, these can seriously undermine job performance and employee relations. The Intercultural Sensitizer is a cross-cultural training tool that is designed to increase the likelihood that trained individuals will make accurate interpretations concerning behavior observed in individuals from other cultural groups (Albert, 1983) . The purpose of this study was two-fold: (1) to identify cultural differences between Americans and Japanese that can lead to misunderstandings in the workplace and hinder communication, and (2) to construct an intercultural sensitizer that will enable the two cultural groups to interact more effectively with each other. The study's five-phase research design was based on Albert's (1983) delineation of the construction of an intercultural sensitizer. Twenty-four episodes were constructed and statistically analyzed to determine if there was a difference in the way the two cultural groups responded to a given situation. Nine episodes yielded critical values significant at the .05 level. The study concluded that there while there are differences in the cultural perspectives of American and Japanese business professionals, the two groups also share common cultural assumptions. The study's findings have numerous implications for cross-cultural corporate training and higher education.