Communication Differences In Culturally Diverse Workgroups

China and Germany, as two of the biggest economies in the world, havelong-established and active cooperation in many fields. Successful cooperationrequires effective communication. Anyway, cultural differences may give rise tomisunderstandings. Therefore, the author attempts to look into the communicationdifferences between Chinese and Germans and try to explore the cultural root of suchdifferences.The focus of the thesis study is to look into communication differences in culturallydiverse groups within the specific Chinese-German communication context. Theground theory on which the thesis is based is the Effective Intercultural WorkgroupCommunication Theory (Oetzel, 2005). The research method adopted is qualitativeresearch through case study. A Chinese-German self-organized project team waschosen as a case. Data was collected through a face-to-face interview of one Germanteam member and written survey with two Chinese team members with questionsdesigned according to the theory model. In interview transcription analysis, ConstantComparative Method was used and coding was done accordingly. The case is laterdescribed according to the ground theory framework. Difference analysis is conductedbased on interview transcription segments concerning attitudes towards leaders'decision, approaches to task, conflict in daily process and conflict resolution.Finally, communication differences in culturally diverse workgroups are summarizedbased on the above case analysis. Further recommendations are put forward on how toachieve cultural synergy in culturally diverse workgroups. The limitation ofinsufficient data and specific directions for future research are pointed out at the endof the thesis.