Japanese Business Etiquette: A Guide To Successful Communication

Miscommunication in International Business

You are to prepare a formal analytical essay strictly on Japanese Business Etiquette.

Business overseas requires a proper communication between the business people of both the countries in order to make the business meeting successful. Misunderstanding caused due to difference in communication styles results in loss of business opportunities. It is required to make some of the adjustments by both the sides of the people in order to make the business deals successful. Companies these days are expanding overseas in order to earn their businesses. This enables them to communicate with the people to other countries for their business (Brown, 2015). As per the case, Emily has to expand her business to Japan and thus she requires to study about the culture and business etiquettes of japan in order to make her business deals successful with Mr. Hamasaki. Japan is the place with very formal business etiquettes. The people who want to deal with Japanese have to be very formal in their communication.

There are many areas where the miscommunication can happen at the time of cross cultural businesses meetings. Some of them are discussed so that they can be overcome to make the communication effective.

Language is the most potential area where the miscommunication can happen. Japanese is a very difficult language especially for the people from Australia. Thus, keeping a translator who is well educated with Japanese should be kept along at the time of meeting the Japanese business people (Chaney and Martin, 2007).

Non-verbal communication: Japanese are very much homogenous in terms of their cultural values as they believe in the common values and culture from history. They have different meaning for different signs (Brink and Costigan, 2015). They believe in showing respect by bowing rather than shaking hands. All these should be kept in mind whenever one has to deal with Japanese businessman.

Negotiation: Japanese are very calm in nature. Raising voice at the time of negotiation may offend them as they do not like to be scolded or shouted at the time of meetings and negotiation. They try to build up a relationship at the time of business working and have great trust values (Cardon and Marshall, 2015).

These communication barriers can be resolved. This can only be done by taking some of the steps and keepings some of the things in mind. The first and the foremost thing that needs to be considered is the introduction part in the meeting. It is one of the toughest challenges for the international business persons. Bowing is the most important part to begin the meeting with nay of the Japanese (Christensen, 2014). This is the most professional and the formal way to greet the other person in Japan. The intensity and the depth of the bow is the amount of respect the person is showing. Thus, at the time of meeting with nay of the Japanese, I is required to great him with a deep bow. Language may be a problem at the time when an Australian meet with Japanese so keeping a translator is a good option at that time. Business card is another very important thing. Exchanging these business cards also requires a protocol to be followed. The business card that is known as “meishi” in Japanese needs to be hand over in a box. Bowing is again required at the time of receiving the card but this time it showed be sight and gentle. Food is the very important part of Japanese business meetings (Kernbach, Eppler and Bresciani, 2015). They also look for the table manners of the person at the time of meetings. Thus the people like Emily should learn the table manners followed by Japanese before conducting meeting with them. It should be remembered that the person should sit only when he or she is told to sit and not before that. Let the eldest person sit in the centre is the basic protocol to be followed. The major part is use of chopsticks. This should be learned before any dinner or meal meeting with the Japanese.

Communication Barriers and their Resolutions

To analyse more about Japanese culture and business etiquettes Hofstede model can be used. There are different dimensions that can utilise to determine the score of the country according to those dimensions (Betancourt, Green, Carrillo and Owusu Ananeh-Firempong, 2016).

Individualism:  Individualism is the elements in which japan scores 46 points. This suggests that majorly, the country shows the power of collectivism rather than the individual approach.

Masculine: In Hofstede model, Japan scored 95 in the area of masculine. This suggests that the country believes in high competition. According to individualism score, it has been analysed that the country believes in collectivism so it has been determined that Japanese have collective competition (Harzing and Feely,2008). The competition is there but not individuals but in groups. It has been analysed that the employees in japan feel more motivated when they fight in teams rather than as an individual. Thus, it can be concluded that the competition is there within the groups at great extent.

Uncertainty avoidance: in this context as well, the country scored very high that is 92. It is evident that the country has faced many natural disasters and calamity with grace such as earthquakes, volcanoes, tsunami etc. during this situation, the country learns to prepare themselves and face these situations without panicking (Shachaf, 2008). His is because of the nature of the society and their beliefs for the rules they make. The people in japan believes in planning and making standardised rules to follow for every situation they face, whether it be natural calamity or any happy moment.

Long term orientation: the country scored 88 in this aspect. This is because the county believes in long term orientation rather than short term profits. Such as the business at the country believes in earing the revenue and making the providing the profits to the stakeholders for long term rather than providing profits quarterly. They do not believe in short term earnings and plans.

Indulgence: children can become humans only when they get the knowledge and manners from the society in their childhood. The intensity to which the humans can control their needs and desires is based on their upbringing and the society the y lives in. if the people have weak control then they are indulgent in nature and if people have high control, they are restraint. In case of Japan, the people are restraint because the country scores 42 in the indulgence factor. The people of Japan think that they need to be controlled in their desired and remain stick to their social values (Martin and Chaney, 2012).

The Importance of Japanese Business Etiquette

As far as Emily’s case is concerned, she is from Australia where he culture is very different from Japan. Australian people believe is greeting the other person by shaking hands or hugging while Japanese are very formal in that case. Thus, Emily has to make many adjustments before conducting meeting with Mr. Hamasaki. The first adjustment that needs to be made is in context with the language. Keeping the translator with her is very important as she speaks English and learning Japanese in little time is not possible for her. She has to develop the taste buds as Japanese, she has to show the innovation in her sauces and taste according to the Japanese market. This enables her to get the knowledge about the Japanese people taste regarding the sauces and their dishes. Having the knowledgeable conversation with the Japanese people may help her to impress them. As discussed that Japanese is very much attached with its culture. Considering the cultural values of the country and deciding the name of the sauces may help her to impress the Japanese businessmen (Okoro, 2012). Emily needs to be very thoughtful to the tie of meeting with Japanese. She has to be generous at the time of meeting the people so that she can make the relationship with them. Japanese trust the people who are good in communication and interaction. Emily has to portray herself as friendly and trustworthy person so that Mr. Hamasaki can trust her and helps in her in expansion the business to Japan. Cross cultural communication is the not the easy task to be conducted (Kobayashi, Fisher and Gapp, 2008). There are differences in the culture and the beliefs of the people who belong to different culture. Thus, respecting each other’s culture can only help in making the global unity in businesses. Effective communication and respect for each other helps the companies to make successful deals rather and businesses.

References:

Betancourt, J.R., Green, A.R., Carrillo, J.E. and Owusu Ananeh-Firempong, I.I., 2016. Defining cultural competence: a practical framework for addressing racial/ethnic disparities in health and health care. Public health reports.

Brink, K.E. and Costigan, R.D., 2015. Oral communication skills: Are the priorities of the workplace and AACSB-accredited business programs aligned?. Academy of Management Learning & Education, 14(2), pp.205-221.

Brown, L.A., 2015. The Course Valuation Model and 10 Steps to Increase Course Value: The Business Communication Course. Journal of Education for Business, 90(6), pp.340-346.

Cardon, P.W. and Marshall, B., 2015. The hype and reality of social media use for work collaboration and team communication. International Journal of Business Communication, 52(3), pp.273-293.

Chaney, L.H. and Martin, J.S., 2007. The essential guide to business etiquette. Greenwood Publishing Group.

Christensen, M., 2014. Communication as a strategic tool in change processes. International journal of business communication, 51(4), pp.359-385.

Harzing, A.W. and Feely, A.J., 2008. The language barrier and its implications for HQ-subsidiary relationships. Cross Cultural Management: An International Journal, 15(1), pp.49-61.

Kernbach, S., Eppler, M.J. and Bresciani, S., 2015. The use of visualization in the communication of business strategies: An experimental evaluation. International Journal of Business Communication, 52(2), pp.164-187.

Kobayashi, K., Fisher, R. and Gapp, R., 2008. Business improvement strategy or useful tool? Analysis of the application of the 5S concept in Japan, the UK and the US. Total Quality Management, 19(3), pp.245-262.

Martin, J.S. and Chaney, L.H., 2012. Global Business Etiquette: A Guide to International Communication and Customs: A Guide to International Communication and Customs. ABC-CLIO.

Okoro, E., 2012. Cross-cultural etiquette and communication in global business: Toward a strategic framework for managing corporate expansion. International journal of business and management, 7(16), p.130.

Shachaf, P., 2008. Cultural diversity and information and communication technology impacts on global virtual teams: An exploratory study. Information & Management, 45(2), pp.131-142.