Cultural Diversity & Negotiations—A Global Perspective

By : Prof. Rajesh Asrani
Core Faculty Member,
N. R. Institute of Business Management, Ahmedabad, India
(P. G. Centre of Gujarat University for MBA)

NEGOTIATIONS

Since the inception of barter system, Negotiations have been economically important. In fact negotiations are a part of psychological abilities of individuals. Different books define negotiations in different ways. However there is no general consensus regarding a standard definition of negotiations. In Rome word “negotiari” derived from Latin root words neg (not) and otium (ease or leisure), in a summation meaning “not leisure”, suggests the characteristics of negotiations. Negotiations have not been a pleasant activity since inception.

An accepted definition of Negotiations: It is a process in which two or more parties of conflicting interests try to come to a common consensus or have a goal of reaching to a common agreement for a mutual benefit through a constant process of interaction and communication.

EFFECTIVE NEGOTIATORS

Some of the common characteristics of effective negotiators are having objective skills, patience tranquil and a good knowledge about party with whom the proposed negotiation is to be made. In the international arena, an effective negotiator would try to have a complete knowledge about the history of the country in which he is going to negotiate. An effective negotiator would be objective in the sense that he would not criticize the system, political structure and form of government of the country in which he is negotiating. He would also keep himself updated with the cultural dimensions of the country in which he proposes to negotiate. It is very important for a negotiator to understand that cultural dimensions play an important role in the process of negotiations. It is often seen that people belonging to ‘low context cultures’ would have lower negotiation skills than those belonging to ‘high context cultures’. Finally an effective negotiator would set apart all aggressions, exertions and emotions during the process of negotiations.

Source: - Robert T Moran William G strip: Dynamics of Successful International Business Negotiations

INTERNATIONAL NEGOTIATIONS

Culture is the added strategic dimension for global business. The same fact applies for international negotiations also. A famous socio psychological model presented by Jack Sawyer and Harold Guetzkow consists of five aspects: (1) goals that compel and motivate the parties to enter the process of negotiations, (2) the process of negotiation itself that involves communications and actions leading to (3) certain outcomes for each – all occurring within and influenced by (4) pre-existing back ground factors of cultural factors of cultural traditions and relations between and within parties, and (5) specific situational conditions under which the negotiation is conducted.1

In Disputes and Negotiations, A cross cultural perspective, P. H. Gulliver has observed that the process of negotiation is similar across the world in spite of the marked differences between the values, attitudes, culture, objectives and emphasis of different people.

Considerations in Cross-Cultural Negotiations

Glen Fisher in his work: International Negotiation: A Cross Cultural perspective has identified five considerations: (1) the players and the situation (2) styles of decision making (3) national character (4) cross cultural noise; and (5) interpreters and translators. Each of these considerations is considered in detail in view of different countries in this paper. Along with the same, negotiating variables cited as below would provide a culture centric view of negotiations in respect to selected countries.

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