Chapter 11: International and Cross-Cultural Negotiation

Chapter 11: International and Cross-Cultural Negotiation

International Negotiation: Art and Science

International negotiations are much more complex than domestic negotiations. They challenge the negotiators to understand the science of negotiation while developing their artistry.

·        The science of negotiation provides research evidence to support broad trends that often, but not always, occur during negotiation.

·        The art of negotiation is deciding which strategy to apply when, and choosing which models and perspectives to apply to increase cross-cultural understanding.

Environment Context

Factors that make international negotiations more challenging than domestic negotiations include:

·        Political and legal pluralism

·        International economics

·        Foreign governments and bureaucracies

·        Instability

·        Ideology

·        Culture

External stakeholders

Conceptualizing culture and negotiation

·        Culture as learned behavior: A catalogue of behaviors the foreign negotiator should expect

·        Culture as shared values: Understanding central values and norms, Individualism/collectivism, Power distance, Career success/quality of life

     and Uncertainty avoidance

Power distance

Definition: “The extent to which the less powerful members of organizations and institutions (like the family) accept and expect that power is distributed unequally”

·        Cultures with stronger power distance will be more likely to have decision making concentrated at the top of the culture.

Question

1. What makes international Negotiations different?

Two overall contexts have an influence on international negotiations:

·        Environmental context: Includes environmental forces that neither negotiator controls that influence the negotiation

·        Immediate context: Includes factors over which negotiators appear to have some control

2. How we do explain international Negotiation outcomes?

International negotiations can be much more complicated

·        Simple arguments cannot explain conflicting international negotiation outcomes

·        The challenge is to:

- Understand the multiple influences of several factors on the negotiation process

- Update this understanding regularly as circumstances change

3. What is the ten ways the culture can influence negotiation?

·        Definition of negotiation: Contract vs. relationship

·        Negotiation opportunity: Distributive vs. Integrative

·        Selection of negotiators: Experts vs. Trusted Associates

·        Protocol: Informal vs. Formal

·        Communication: Direct vs. indirect

·        Time Sensitivity: High vs. low

·        Risk Propensity: High vs. low

·        Groups vs. Individuals: Collectivism vs. individualism

·        Nature of agreements: Specific vs. general

·        Emotionalism: High vs. low