International andCross-Cultural

Negotiation

McGraw-Hill/Irwin Copyright © 2011 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

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.

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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

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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

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“Factors over which the negotiators have influence and some measure of control”:

Relative bargaining power Levels of conflict Relationship between negotiators Desired outcomes Immediate stakeholders

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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

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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 Uncertainty avoidance

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Individualism/collectivism Power distance Career success/quality of life Uncertainty avoidance

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Definition: the extent to which the society is organized around individuals or the group

Individualism/collectivism orientation influences a broad range of negotiation processes, outcomes, and preferences• Individualistic societies may be more likely

to swap negotiators, using whatever short-term criteria seem appropriate

• Collectivistic societies focus on relationships and will stay with the same negotiator for years

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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.

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Definition: cultures differ in the extent to which they hold values that promote career success or quality of life.

Cultures promoting career success are characterized by the acquisition of money and things, and not caring for others.

Cultures promoting quality of life are characterized by concern for relationships and nurturing.

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Definition: “Indicates to what extent a culture programs its members to feel either uncomfortable or comfortable in unstructured situations”

Negotiators from high uncertainty avoidance cultures are less comfortable with ambiguous situations--want more certainty on details, etc.

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Culture as dialectic• All cultures contain dimensions or tensions

that are called dialectics Example: Judeo-Christian parables “too

many cooks spoil the broth” and “two heads are better than one” offer conflicting guidance

This can explain variations within cultures Culture in context

• No human behavior is determined by a single cause

• All behavior may be understood at many different levels simultaneously

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Definition of negotiation Negotiation opportunity Selection of negotiators Protocol Communication Time sensitivity Risk propensity Groups versus individuals emphasis Nature of agreements Emotionalism

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When choosing a strategy, negotiators should:

• Be aware of their own and the other party’s culture in general

• Understand the specific factors in the current relationship

• Predict or try to influence the other party’s approach

Strategies are arranged based on the level of familiarity (low, moderate, high) that a negotiator has with the other party’s culture

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Employ agents or advisers (unilateral strategy)• Useful for negotiators who have little

awareness of the other party’s culture Bring in a mediator (joint strategy)

• Encourages one side or the other to adopt one culture’s approaches or mediator culture approach

Induce the other party to use your approach (joint strategy)• The other party may become irritated or be

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Adapt to the other negotiator’s approach (unilateral strategy) • Involves making conscious changes to

your approach so it is more appealing to the other party

Coordinate adjustment (joint strategy)• Involves both parties making mutual

adjustments to find a common process for negotiation

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Embrace the other negotiator’s approach (unilateral strategy) • Adopting completely the approach of the other

negotiator (negotiator needs to completely bilingual and bicultural)

Improvise an approach (joint strategy)• Crafts an approach that is specifically tailored to

the negotiation situation, other party, and circumstances

Effect symphony (joint strategy)• The parties create a new approach that may

include aspects of either home culture or adopt practices from a third culture

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