Denmark: Negotiating Across Cultures - Part 1

From ExecutivePlanet.com

Impact of Cultural Differences on Negotiations

The difficulties experienced by Western firms in negotiating with the Chinese are legendary. It should also be mentioned, though, that while cultural differences can exacerbate difficulties in a negotiation, it is by no means the case that all difficulties are necessarily attributable to cultural differences.

At times a negotiation may fail for other reasons. Nevertheless, the participants may find it convenient to attribute the difficulties to culture ones. So what are the common difficulties experienced by negotiators as they navigate the hazards of cultural protocols?

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The nature of cultural differences:

These dimensions of culture can be summarized into three broad categories: Thought processes, patterns of behavior, and approaches to managing conflict.

Thought processes affect how we define problems either broadly or narrowly and what we consider to be relevant information. They also influence our reliance on cold logic and/or emotion in making decisions as well as our flexibility in dealing with situations.

Finally, thinking processes also affect the relative importance that we attribute to a task and to the interpersonal aspects of a situation. Thus, the French tend to be logical, the Latin Americans emotional, while the North Americans are much more problem focused in their decision-making.

At a behavioral level, managers from different cultures differ in the way that they approach negotiations. In Asian cultures it is customary for the negotiators to strive to establish a relationship prior to dealing with task-related issues.

North Americans, by contrast, are much more inclined to deal with the substance of a problem rather than spending time on developing a relationship. Similarly, issues of protocol are very important in Japan and China. The management of conflict is crucial in initiating, developing, and sustaining a relationship; yet, this is a crucial area where there are many profound differences across cultures.

Proceed to part 2

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