Intercultural communication in negotiations

When is someone a good intercultural negotiator? List 5 characteristics of a good negotiator. Can you learn to be a good negotiator or are you born one? What elements of intercultural communication do you need to consider in intercultural negotiations?

Characteristics effective intercultural negotiators: Observant Patient Adaptable Good listeners Keep their promises Negotiate in good faith Realise culture influences everything Speak in a polite way Use humour only when appropriate Do their homework on the countries Don’t critise the other’s country …..?

Which characteristics do you think you have that would make you a good negotiator?

Fisher (1980) 5 elements in intercultural negotiations: Players and the situation Decision-making styles National character Culture noise Interpreters and translators

What affects the outcome of intercultural negotiations? Policy (concept, negotiators, role, protocol, significance) Interaction (language,persuasive,time) Deliberation (trust,risk-taking,internal decision-making systems) Outcome (form of agreement) (Moran and Stripp)

Protocol 3 classifications Tribal Collective Pluralist

Person’s responsibility Tribal: Support family and follow rules of society Collective: Group contribution, honour, conformity Pluralist: Personal growth, achievement, independence

Interaction with strangers Tribal: With strangers, aloof & formal; with friends: warm, welcoming, trusting Collective: Does not stand out, friendly yet noncommittal to strangers Pluralist: Informal, direct communication

Life objective Tribal: Respect of group, contribute to family Collective: Succeed at work, to get opponent to concede something Pluralist: Success beyond goals

Business environment Tribal: strong vertical hierarchy, leaders inaccessible Collective: Shared power, no one stands out, open offices Pluralist: Layered hierarchy, private spaces, best offices for top management

Conducts business Tribal: Must control, manipulative, correspondence limited Collective: Divided responsibilities, strategy and ritual are important; Pluralist: direct, formality with strangers, correspondence to may

Feedback Tribal: Avoids details, not accountable, subjective Collective: within the group consensus a must, nothing negative Pluralist: direct, specific, objective, impersonal

Decision-making Tribal: Decisions at the top, pride, emotion Collective: Consensus, final decisions from the top Pluralist: Independent, rational process, middle management approval

Problem solving Tribal: Blame assessment more important Collective: Problems are evaded; someone loses face; conflict, no problem admitted Pluralist: Addressed quickly, rationally; analysis after the fact (Chaney & Martin,2004)

Intercultural negotiation models Sociopsychological model Principles model Directional model Interaction model Package deal model

How important are the following things in intercultural negotiations and why? Location of meeting Time of meeting Duration of meeting Number and status of negotiators Gender of negotiators Social talk before the meeting Making notes during the meeting Making a report of the meeting Negotiating over dinner Talking about details Reaching agreement very quickly

Cultural background Understanding cultural background is vital to successful international business communication. Basic cultural orientation centres around the following items: Beliefs, values, attitudes, behaviour and norms (ethnocentrism)

Values Beliefs Assumptions about the world and how it works Assumptions about right and wrong, preferability

Attitudes Behaviour Norms Expressions of values, influences on thought and action Behaviour Human action Norms Expected or typical behaviour

Ethnocentrism An egocentric view is ‘I’ centered. An ethnocentric view is ‘we’ centered. It is based on the social group. You judge all other groups according to your own standards, behaviours and customs and you see differences as inferior. Ethnocentrism causes stereotyping and prejudice.

Recognizing cultural differences The obvious differences: Age Language Gender Physical ability Family status Educational background

Less obvious cultural differences Social values Roles and status Decision-making customs Concepts of time Concepts of personal space Body language Social behaviour and manners

Legal and ethical behaviour Corporate cultural differences

Guidelines for good intercultural communication skills Assume differences until similarity is proven Take responsibility for communication Withhold judgment Show respect Empathize Tolerate ambiguity Look beyond the superficial Be patient and persistent

More guidelines Recognize your own cultural bias Be flexible Emphasise common ground Increase your cultural sensitivity Send clear messages Deal with the individual Learn when to be direct Treat your interpretation as a hypothesis

Negotiating across cultures Personal relationship Tolerance for open disagreement Different problem-solving techniques

How to communicate successfully in international business Realize and become aware of your own communication behaviour: Always be open to new information Realize there is more than 1 perspective Forget about stereotypes and defined categories

When there is a conflict in intercultural communication In intercultural conflicts the following can be of influence: Thinking patterns Language barriers Cultural context

1. Thinking patterns (Kaplan,1970) English speakers: linear in language (inductive, deductive reasoning) There is one central idea and all the other ideas are related to this central idea. To prove something, the relationship between these ideas is explained.

Thinking pattern Romance language speakers: Although similar to the English they allow greater freedom for digression or introduction of other material into the conversation. The pattern shows that the Romance speakers are more inner-oriented and rely more on feelings and expectations in their behaviour and judgment.

Pribim (1949) thinking patterns In the Western world Universalistic Nominalistic or hypothetical Intuitional or organismic dialectal

1.1 Universalistic Dominated by the principle of identity of thinking and being. Hierarchical system of rigid concepts Can be directly proved by human mind French, Mediterraneans, Latin America

1.2. Nominalistic/hypothetical Puts emphasis on induction and empiricism. Thinking is dominated by hypothetical concepts. Knowledge based on our sense perceptions and freely formed conceptions Anglo-Saxon countries

1.3. Intuitional/organismic Mixture of universalistic and nominalistic. It denies the existence of innate ideas but assumes that, with the assistance of the insight of the human mind, we are able to attribute knowledge to the general truth. Intuition and unity of the whole Germany, Slavic Central European countries

1.4. Dialectical Denies the principle of the existence of innate ideas. It assumes the mind can fully understand the universe and discover the general truth. Explanations follow the evolutionary process of thesis, antithesis and synthesis. Sub Sahara Africa

2. Language Barriers 3 Major barriers in intercultural communication Verbal communication styles Variant meanings Indirect verbal language

2.1. Verbal communication styles Direct: verbal messages used to show our intentions in the process of conversations. Indirect: used to conceal or camouflage our true intentions. (low context <-> high context cultures)

2.2. Variant meanings Situational context is not emphasized Important information usually occurs in explicit verbal messages Self-expression, verbal fluency and eloquent speech are valued Opinions and intentions used to persuade others are expressed directly.

2.3. Indirect verbal messages Explicit verbal messages are not emphasized Important information is usually carried in contextual clues (place, time, situation, relationship) Harmony is highly valued, using ambiguous language and keeping silent People talk around the point, avoid saying ‘no’.

3. Cultural context Determinants of conflict: Face Interrelation Favour Seniority Status Power Credibility Interest Severity of conflict Gender