Along with the quick growth of globalization, the communication among people with diverse culture backgrounds also increases rapidly. In this situation, intercultural communication ability is one of the core components for business expatriates and the...
Along with the quick growth of globalization, the communication among people with diverse culture backgrounds also increases rapidly. In this situation, intercultural communication ability is one of the core components for business expatriates and their local employees.
Although Korea and China share a similar Confucian culture, there are still some culture differences due to their own history and specific environment. Intercultural difference could generate communication breakdown. Therefore, it is necessary for Korean business expatriates in China and their local employees to have intercultural communication training in order to achieve the best cooperation by understanding and adapting to each other’s culture.
The purpose of this study is to identify the training issues which can comprise the foundation for the development of training contents on intercultural communication between Korea and China. In order to accomplish this purpose, 40 Korean and 40 Chinese who work in Korean companies which had already made inroads to the Chinese market are interviewed about difficulties and training needs for better intercultural communication. The interviewing results are analyzed according to category and frequency.
As a result of the analysis, the intercultural communication issues between Korea and China are divided into three parts, understanding of the partner country’s culture and people, communication, and business and office customs. The Korean interviewees who work with Chinese experienced communication difficulty in the following order: difference of business and office customs (49%), understanding of Chinese culture and people (35%), and communication problems (16%). They expressed their needs regarding intercultural communication training in the following order: understanding of business and office customs (42%), understanding of Chinese culture and people (37%), and communication skills (21%).
The Chinese interviewees who work with Koreans had communication difficulty in the following order: difference of business and office customs (43%), understanding of Korean culture and people (35%), , and communication problems (22%). They expressed their needs for intercultural communication training in the following order: understanding of business and office customs (63%), communication skills (20%), and understanding of Chinese culture and people (17%).
Both the Korean interviewee group and the Chinese interviewee group had the highest percentage of the two main factors as related to the category of business and customs, regardless of communication difficulty and needs for intercultural communication training. In the category of communication difficulty, the Chinese interviewee group showed a slightly higher frequency than the Korean interviewee group. In the category of need for intercultural communication education, Korean interviewee group put more weight on understanding Chinese culture and people than Chinese interviewee group did for the reverse situation..
To conclude, the Korean interviewee group and the Chinese interviewee group showed a difference in their responses to communication difficulty and needs for intercultural communication training. Accordingly, these issues should be reflected properly in the development of training program contents based on the target objects and specific situations.
This study which provides fundamental data in intercultural communication training contributes to further discussion and exploration of training programs. It can also enhance the intercultural adaptation ability to achieve better intercultural communication between Korea and China.