Crosscultural Communication and Negotiation

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Cross-cultural Communication and Negotiation

• Aim To examine the influence of culture on
  communication and negotiation processes in an
  international context.

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Cross-Cultural Communication and Negotiation
(cont.)

• Communication
• Definition
• Communication is a conscious or unconscious,
• intentional or unintentional process in which
  feelings
• and ideas are expressed as verbal and/or
  nonverbal
• messages that are sent, received and
  comprehended.
• This process can be accidental (having no
  intent),
• expressive (resulting from the emotional state of
  the
• person), or rhetorical (resulting from specific
  goals of
• the communicator)
• (Berko and Wolvin)

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Cross-Cultural Communication and Negotiation
(cont.)

• The Communication Process

Environmental factors
Noise
Sender
Receiver
Medium
Encodes message
Decodes message
Noise
Feedback
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Cross-Cultural Communication and Negotiation
(cont.)

• Negotiation
• Definition
• the process of communicating back and forth
  for the
• purpose of reaching a joint agreement about
  differing
• needs or ideas. (Acuff)
• a process in which two or more entities come
• together to discuss common and conflicting
  interests in
• order to reach an agreement of mutual benefit.
• (Harris and Moran)

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Cross-Cultural Communication and Negotiation
(cont.)

• Cross-cultural negotiation
• when the parties involved belong to different
• cultures and therefore do not share the same ways
  of
• thinking, feeling and behaving.
• (Casse)

6
Imagine

• the following negotiation situation
• You have been unable to complete your
  dissertation on time , due to unforeseen
  circumstances. You have arranged a meeting with
  your Course Director in order to ask him for an
  extension. Imagine (or role-play with your
  partner) the course of the meeting.
• Can you identify any particular and distinct
  phases?
• If so, what happens in each one?

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Business Negotiations

• 4 sequential stages in most business
  negotiations
• 1. Non-task sounding
• opening period, designed to get to know each
  other, establishing rapport, small talk.
• 2. Task-related exchange of information
• - extended period, facts are presented,
  positions
• clarified.

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Business Negotiations (cont.)

• 3. Persuasion
• - further explanation and elaboration, attempts
  to move each others positions, bargaining.
• 4. Concessions and agreements
• - mutual concessions, modification of fixed
• positions to reach agreement.
• (based on Graham)

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Business Negotiations (cont.)

• Relevant cultural concepts
• Hofstede
• Individualism/Collectivism (IC)
• Power Distance (PD)
• Uncertainty Avoidance (UA)
• Masculinity/Femininity (MAS)
• Long-Term/Short-Term Orientation
• Hall
• High-/Low Context
• P/M-Time

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Hofstede

• High uncertainty avoidance cultures (e g. Greece.
  Portugal, Latin American countries)
• relatively high anxiety
• Expressive communication style (use of hands,
  socially acceptable to raise ones voice etc.)
• Low uncertainty avoidance cultures (e g. Nordic
  countries, UK, Singapore)
• more sedate, phlegmatic style

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Hofstede (cont.)

• Cultures with strong achievement values/
  masculinity (e g. Austria, Venezuela, Italy)
• tendency to more competitive/assertive forms of
  communication.
• Cultures with strong relational values/femininity
  (e g. Sweden, Norway, Netherlands)
• less assertive, compromise seeking
• Exception Japan (ranked 1st) possibly due to
  strength of collectivism.

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Hofstede (cont.)

• High Power Distance cultures (e g. Malaysia, Arab
  countries, India)
• inhibits communication
• lower levels of disclosure, openness and
  informality
• Low Power Distance cultures (e g. RoI, New
  Zealand, Denmark)
• Low formality
• High disclosure and openness

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Hofstede (cont.)

• Highly individualistic cultures (e g. USA, UK,
  Netherlands)
• competitive communication style
• Highly collectivist cultures (e g. South Korea,
  Pakistan, Indonesia)
• Co-operative with ingroup
• Less clear cut and predictable than in other
  categories.
• (Based on Gudykunst et al.)

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Non-task sounding

• often important judgement is made about
  negotiation partners.
• influences subsequent negotiation phases
• very brief in US (5-10 mins.) (time is money)
• Much longer in relationship-oriented countries
  such as e. g. China, Brazil.

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Task-related exchange of information

• Two-way communication process
• Chinese, Japanese, Russians tend to have periods
  of silence during negotiations.
• Other nationalities, e. g. Americans talk to fill
  the silent periods ? divulge more information
• High-context cultures, e. g. Japan, reluctance to
  voice objections.
• First offer of American cos. usually close to
  final figure (save time!) much higher in other
  countries (e. g. Spain)

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Persuasion

• 3 basic styles of persuasion
• Factual-inductive appeals to logic (USA)
• Axiomatic-deductive appeals to ideals (former
  USSR)
• Affective-intuitive appeals to emotions (Arab
  countries)
• American negotiators more aggressive, using
  threats
• In China, Thailand this could lead to loss of
  face.
• In difficult cases recourse to mutual
  friends/change of location (restaurant)

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Concessions and agreements

• Asian cultures concessions when the end of the
  negotiations is in sight.
• US negotiators small concessions throughout the
  entire process.
• final agreement gentlemans agreement or formal
  contract.

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Summary

• Communication
• Negotiation
• Non-task sounding
• Task-related exchange of information
• Persuasion
• Concessions and agreements
• Hofstede
• Hall

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Cross-Cultural Communication and Negotiation
(cont.)

• Further Reading
• Simintiras, A.C. and Thomas, A.H. (1998), Cross-
• cultural sales negotiations. A literature review
  and
• research propositions, International Marketing
  Review,
• Vol. 15, No. 1, pp. 10-28.