Promoting Rapport 103

First, though, we describe an interaction during which the rapport was

mismanaged, to help show the kinds of problems that can occur and to
help illustrate our subsequent theoretical discussion.

5.2 An authentic example:

a problematic business meeting

This example, which is from Spencer-Oatey and Xing (2004, 2008),

concerns the visit of a Chinese business delegation to a British engin-
eering company with whom they had recently signed a deal. The visit
turned out to be highly problematic from a relationship point of view.
The Chinese cancelled all the training sessions that had been arranged
for them, and insisted on shopping and sightseeing for the whole of
the ten-day trip. Both parties were unhappy. The Chinese complained
that the British were commanding, in control, contemptuous and the
British maintained that the Chinese had no ethics and no due respect
for their hosts. Experiential Example 5.1 describes some of the things
that happened, and how the participants reacted. (Data on peoples
reactions were gathered through post-event interviews and video play-
back sessions.)

Experiential Example 5.1 Problematic incidents

1. Seating arrangements for the welcome meeting

The welcome meeting took place in the companys conference room which
had a large oblong table placed in the middle of the room. The British chair-
man sat at one end of the table, and the Chinese visitors sat round the rest of
the table. Five other British staff either sat or stood behind the Chinese vis-
itors because there was not enough room for them at the table. The British
chairman was aware that the room was too small, and was embarrassed about
this, but the company did not have a larger room on its premises as it was
primarily a factory building. He sat at the head of the table for practical
reasons so that he could see and hear the guests more easily. However, in
the follow-up interviews, the Chinese delegation leader complained as
follows:

It shouldnt have been that he sat in the chair position and we were seated along
the sides of the table. With equal status, they should sit along this side and we
should sit along that side, shouldnt we? That would have been the right way. You
see, they were chairing, and we were audience, which naturally means that you do
what you are told to. [His colleagues chorus agreement] They were, right from
the start, they were commanding, in control, contemptuous. In actual fact we
should have been given equal status [...]
104 Conceptualizing Intercultural Interaction

2. Team introductions and a return speech

The British chairman started the meeting by welcoming the visitors, and
then asked the British staff to introduce themselves in turn. When they had
done this, he invited each of the Chinese visitors to introduce themselves,
but this immediately caused confusion. The delegation leader turned to con-
sult the others, and one of them requested in Chinese that he do it on their
behalf. It was almost a minute before the delegation leader responded to the
chairmans request, and at this point he began reading out a speech.
Immediately the interpreter interrupted him saying, in Chinese, that they
should first introduce themselves. This resulted in further worried faces and
discussion in Chinese, before the visitors started introducing themselves
individually. In the follow-up interview and video playback session, the
Chinese visitors all argued that it was normal and polite for the head of the
delegation to say a few words of appreciation, and then introduce himself
and each member of the delegation. They were clearly offended that he had
not been given this opportunity. They discussed whether the interpreter was
to blame for this, but concluded that he must have known British customs
and that the British chairman cannot have wanted them to give a return
speech. The head of the Chinese delegation argued as follows:

According to our home customs and protocol, speech is delivered on the basis of
reciprocity. He has made his speech and I am expected to say something. [...] In
fact I was reluctant to speak, and I had nothing to say. But I had to, to say a few
words. Right for the occasion, right? But he had finished his speech, and he didnt
give me the opportunity, and they each introduced themselves, wasnt this clearly
implied that they do look down on us Chinese.

In the follow-up interview with the British chairman, he explained that cur-
rent delegations are very different from earlier ones, and that neither the
Chinese nor the British expect too much formality.
3. Business Relationships

The Sales Manager for China was away on an overseas trip when the visitors
arrived; he was due back during the middle of their visit. The Chinese visitors
expected that, since he was their old friend, he would make contact with
them immediately after he returned, either officially in the office, or unoffi-
cially at their hotel, or at least telephone them. However, when he made no
contact with them on the day of his return, they were annoyed. They repeat-
edly asked, and at one stage even demanded, the accompanying British staff
to contact him, and then asked for his home telephone number. This contin-
ued for the next few days, including the weekend.
The Sales Manager eventually arranged a meeting with them the following
Monday, one day before their departure. In the follow-up interview, he
explained that he needed to spend time with his family, since he had been
away on a long trip. However, from the Chinese visitors point of view, he
had failed to act as a genuine friend.
(Adapted from Spencer-Oatey and Xing, 2004 and 2008)