Adventure English: Experiences with Face-Saving

Peter W. Cardon and James Calvert Scott, Utah State University

Background

 

When conducting business with Chinese, it is crucial to understand Chinese face-saving practices. Face-saving refers to protecting the positive social image of others. Compared to Americans, Chinese are particularly sensitive to face-saving and otherwise enhancing the social image of others in a variety of situations, including business. This sensitivity leads Chinese to use face-saving strategies such as avoiding public disagreements; using intermediaries to avoid direct conflicts; recognizing individuals (particularly high-status individuals) with honorifics; using ritualistic apologies to smooth relationships even when not at fault; employing other signs of respect; and communicating with ambiguous phrases to allow ways out or opportunities to make expressions of obligation. The Chinese sensitivity to face is largely due to their strong relationship orientation. A focus on the permanence and mutual obligation of relationships causes Chinese to dread face-loss. Face-loss generally occurs when individuals violate social norms. However, face-loss also occurs when others do not recognize one’s face. For example, directly rejecting a request may cause considerable face-loss since it signals that the person receiving the request is not granting face to the person making the request. Chinese face-saving practices allow all members of a social interaction to preserve dignity and to avoid embarrassment.

Objectives

 

Participants should learn that: 

  1. When conducting business with Chinese, people should understand Chinese face-saving practices in order to avoid miscommunication and enhance social interactions.
  2. When preparing to conduct business with the Chinese, a variety of resources and techniques may be used to develop appropriate communication skills.

Preparation

 

Time: Approximately 45 to 60 minutes of class time will be necessary to complete the discussion questions and other learning activities related to the case. Additional time outside of class will be necessary for some of the research activities.

Participants: Approximately 10 to 40 participants can be engaged in the discussion and other learning activities.

Supplies: Resource materials about Chinese culture (see the Selected Sources about Chinese Culture section); copies of case study for participants. 


Instructions

 

  1. Briefly introduce the Chinese concept of face-saving and several key face-saving practices employed by the Chinese.
  2. Distribute the case study “Adventure English: Experiences with Face-Saving” and ask each participant to read it.
  3. Discuss the following questions about Part 1:
    1. How did Jackie Wong establish a relationship with Cory Wright and the Adventure English company? How does this relate to the notion of face?
    2. How did Cory Wright initially respond to Jackie Wong? How well did this response address the face of Jackie Wong?
    3. How do you think Cory Wright’s use of humor was perceived by Jackie Wong after a request was made that the children be taken care of well?
    4. In terms of face, how do you think Jackie Wong felt about receiving Cory Wright’s prompt price proposal fax?
    5. What other aspects of Part 1 do you think relate to face-saving? Why?
  4. Discuss the following questions about Part 2:
    1. What expectations do you think the Taiwan group leaders had for being greeted the airport? Do you think they felt the airport and transportation arrangements were respectful? Why?
    2. In what order did Superintendent Li and Jackie Wong present their American counterparts with their gifts? Was there a distinction among gifts? What do you think this manner of gift-giving indicated about face-saving and face-granting? 
    3. How did Robin Phillips present gifts to and accept gifts from members of the Taiwan group? In what ways was this different from the Chinese approach? Why do you think Superintendent Li may have felt a loss of face?
  5. Discuss the following questions about Part 3:
    1. Do you think Jackie Wong’s apology was based on a feeling that Jackie had done something wrong? Why? How do you think Robin Phillips interpreted the apology? Why?
    2. For whom was Jackie Wong acting as an intermediary? How did Jackie Wong’s acting as an intermediary help save face? 
    3. What requests did Jackie Wong make? Do you think Jackie Wong felt that the Taiwan group’s requests were being honored by Robin Phillips? Why? How do you think Jackie Wong felt about Robin Phillip’s references to business-oriented solutions? Why?
    4. Why didn’t Superintendent Li voice her concerns when Robin Phillips approached her? 
  6. Discuss the following questions about the Epilogue:
    1. Why do you think Jackie Wong and Superintendent Li would not return phone calls or other communications?
    2. Do you think Jenny Chan lost face? Why? What effects might this have on Adventure English?
    3. How could the American hosts have acted differently to show respect (give face) to the Taiwan group leaders and avoid loss of their business in subsequent years?
  7. As time permits, try some of the other learning activities pertaining to this case study.

Other Learning Activities

 

  1. Divide the class into pairs. Ask the participants to role play the following two situations: (a) Robin Phillips accepting gifts from and giving gifts to Superintendent Li as described in Part 2 of the case and (b) Robin Phillips addressing Jackie Wong’s concerns as described in Part 3 of the case. Each partner should take one turn as an American character and one turn as a Chinese character. After role-playing these situations, ask the participants the following questions (Questions a-c apply to the American role, and questions d-e apply to the Chinese role):
    1. How were you (the American) sensitive to potentially face-losing situations for the Chinese?
    2. Were you (the American) uncomfortable communicating in a way that avoided face-losing situations? Did you feel this was dishonest? Why? Do you think you should modify your behavior to match that of your Chinese counterpart? Why?
    3. Were you (the American) able to show respect (give face) to the Chinese and still accomplish your business purposes? How? Could you hold your ground on what you considered unreasonable requests and still avoid causing a face-losing situation? How?
    4. How did you communicate in order to protect yourself (the Chinese) from losing face and avoid causing your counterpart to lose face? Did this feel natural? Why?
    5. What are situations in which you think Americans are particularly sensitive to saving one another’s face? Do you think these situations arise in business very often? Why? How do you think these situations are similar to and different from how Chinese might perceive them?
  2. Ask the class (individually or in groups) to develop a plan for the following situations:
    1. Meeting a Chinese delegation arriving in the United States
    2. Sending a Chinese delegation off to their home country
    3. Arranging a welcome banquet for a Chinese delegation
  3. Ask the class (individually or in groups) to research one of the following topics (with a focus on business settings) and to share findings in either oral or written form:
    1. Chinese humor 
    2. Taboo conversation topics
    3. Appropriate and inappropriate gifts
    4. Chinese business card etiquette

Selected Sources about Chinese Culture

 

  1. Internet sources:
    1. http://www.executiveplanet.com/community/default.asp?section=China
    2. http://www.chinapoint.com/news/business/asia/news.htm
    3. http://www.chinaunique.com
  2. Book sources:
    1. Li, J. (2000). Passport China. Novato, CA: World Trade Press.
    2. Gao, G., & Ting-Toomey, S. (1998). Communicating effectively with the Chinese. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.
    3. Chen, M. (1996). Asian management systems: Chinese, Japanese and Korean styles of business. London: International Thomson Business Press.
  3. Journal article resources:
    1. Krone, K. J., Chen, L., & Xia, H. (1997). Approaches to managerial influence in the People's Republic of China. Journal of Business Communication, 34(3), 289-315.
    2. Hwang, K. (1987). Face and favor: The Chinese power game. American Journal of Sociology, 92, 944-974.


Adventure English: Experiences with Face-Saving

 

Characters:


 


 


 


 


 


 

Part 1

 

Adventure English is a company in Sacramento, California, that provides international students with short-term English learning in the classroom and in authentic environments, homestays with American families, and daily sightseeing excursions as well as extended tours to popular U.S. cities. Adventure English attracts many small groups of students from Asia and Latin America for short four-week tours.

 

In March Jackie Wong placed a telephone call to Robin Phillips. Robin explained that Cory Wright was in charge of setting up programs and forwarded the call to Cory. “Hello, Director Wright. I am Jackie Wong from Taiwan. I am sorry to disrupt your schedule and be so bothersome. Last year, Principal Jenny Chan guided a school from our region to your school. She said their children were very happy. You made a very safe and valuable trip for them. My school also wants to join your program in Sacramento. We know your program is very prestigious. We look forward to developing friendly relations with your school. Our school would like to make a trip every summer.”

 

“Jackie, thank you for your call. We would be happy to help you. If you just let us know the dates you’re interested in, we could fax or priority mail you a price proposal and optional activities for the trip. Once you’ve received the information, we’ll talk some more. We would love to have you visit us in Sacramento.”

 

“Director Wright, it is important that the children are taken care of very well. The Taiwan group from last year reported that one student had problems with the homestay family.”

 

“Jackie, our homestay families are wonderful. Your students, by and large, will have great experiences. However, sometimes there are problems with homestay families. This is the exception but is also unavoidable. I can confidently tell you that our homestay families are better than those of any program I know.”

 

“Thank you very much. We know you will take good care of our children. Their parents will worry very much – we must reassure the parents, Director Wright. The parents give us a great responsibility by letting us take their children.”

 

“Jackie, you don’t need to worry, we take great pride in making sure the kids have a great experience. After all, we’ve never lost a child yet” (laughter).

 

“Director Wright, thank you for your help. We look forward to your communication.”

 

After the phone call, Director Wright sent out a price proposal within one hour to the fax number Jackie Wong had provided. A month later Adventure English received a check paying for 40 children to arrive in Sacramento in July. The group Jackie had organized would spend three weeks in Sacramento and one week in Los Angeles.

Part 2

 

On July 3 the Taiwan group arrived. Judy Anderson had sent a set of five vans to pick up the Taiwan group at the airport and bring them immediately to the Adventure English center for a welcome party. Once at the center, the Taiwan group was ushered into a large room with many of the English teachers and plenty of refreshments. About five minutes after the party began, Cory Wright and Robin Phillips entered the room to greet their Chinese guests.

 

“Hello, everyone! You must be Jackie and Pat. Welcome to America!” Robin Phillips said to Jackie Wong and Superintendent Li, shaking their hands warmly. “It’s wonderful to have you here! Are you tired? You’ll have a great time here. And, who is your friend?” Robin continued, pointing toward a man with some of the students.

 

Superintendent Li said, “Greetings, President Phillips. We are honored to be here. That is Mr. Chang. We have brought some gifts we want to present to you.” Superintendent Li handed a beautifully wrapped gift to Robin.

 

“Thanks so much! Let’s see what we’ve got here.” Robin opened his gift to find several items. Robin beamed at the first item – a carefully crafted and painted statue of a horse. The next item was a plaque identifying the first annual Taichung School District-Adventure English partnership. Insignias of both institutions were on it. “This is wonderful – thank you very much, Jackie and Pat.” 

 

“Also, we have gifts for Director Wright and Miss Anderson.” Jackie Wong handed gifts to Cory and Judy. Cory was delighted to open the gift – a professional pen set with the name of the Taiwan school district engraved on each part of the set. Judy followed by opening her gift – a banner with Chinese calligraphy on it. Both thanked their guests.

 

“Thank you, again!” boomed Robin. “We’ve got some presents for you, too! We’ve got presents for all of the students as well.” Robin handed out Sacramento souvenir pins to all of the children. Then, he gave Superintendent Li and Jackie Wong two enclosed gift bags. 

 

“Thank you for your kindness!” said Superintendent Li. 

 

“Go on – open it!” exclaimed Robin. The children laughed at Robin’s jubilant emotions. Encouraged, Robin once again mentioned, “See what’s in the bag!”

 

Superintendent Li, apparently embarrassed, said, “Thank you very much for the gift. You did not need to get us a gift.” However, Superintendent Li still didn’t open the gift bag.

 

Robin, once again, mentioned “Go on and open it. It won’t hurt you” (laughter).

 

“You didn’t have to do this kindness,” replied Superintendent Li.

 

“Come on – open it up and see what we’ve got you,” Judy chipped in.

 

Superintendent Li, clearly uncomfortable, opened the gift bag filled with California honey, caramel popcorn, and several types of cheese. 

Part 3

 

After being in Sacramento for several weeks, Jackie Wong approached Robin Phillips. “President Phillips, I would like to speak to you about a few matters. We would like to thank you for all of your efforts. I think most of the children are very happy. I am sorry I must bother you about some matters. I do not want to be a bad guest. I am sorry that we cause you trouble. Please help me with a few matters.”

 

“Thank you for coming to me – what can I help you with?” replied Robin.

 

“Well, several of our students do not feel their teacher is very respectful. Also, some teachers let the children play too much. And, some of the activities have been changed. For instance, the water park activity was cancelled, and we went to a pioneer museum instead. The children really wanted to go to the water park. Superintendent Li worries that some of the students are not enjoying the food prepared by their homestay families.”

 

“As part of the contract, we agreed that some of the activities could be changed. Because there was a possibility of rain, we had to cancel the water park activity. We could do it another time, but we would have to cancel a different activity. As far as the food for the children, we really can’t control that. Possibly you could tell me which children are having problems with which teacher, and I could speak to the teacher,” replied Robin.

 

“No. It really wouldn’t be necessary to say which teachers. But, maybe, could you provide a Chinese lunch at the school for the final week so that the children have at least one meal they like each day? This would make our group much happier.”

 

“We’ll be happy to provide the lunch at whatever expense it is – we won’t add any amount for profit.”

“Don’t worry. I think everything will be okay,” replied Jackie Wong.

 

Later that day, Robin approached Superintendent Li. “Pat, I’ve been told you’re not satisfied with every part of the program. Perhaps we could talk about it. I’d like to make sure we get everything out in the open so that we can meet your needs.”

Superintendent Li looked surprised. “The program is great. The children are happy.”

 

Robin replied, “I’m glad you’re enjoying the program. Please let me know if there is anything we can do.”

Epilogue

 

Six months later when Cory Wright tried to contact Superintendent Li and Jackie Wong to promote the program for the following year, neither would return his phone calls or letters. Cory even contacted Jenny Chan, who had referred Jackie Wong to the program, to learn about Superintendent Li or Jackie Wong’s whereabouts as well as the possibility of future business with Jenny’s school. Jenny mentioned that she did not know how to contact Jackie Wong and that her group would be going to an English language center in New York for the next five years.