国际商务谈判简明教程
A Concise Course on International Business Negotiation
Chapter Eight
Cross-cultural Negotiation
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Learning Goals
Upon completion of this chapter, you will learn:
•
Language and communication
•
Understanding cultural differences
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Cultural conflict management
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CONTENTS
1. General Guidelines of Cross-cultural Negotiation
2. Nonverbal Aspects of Negotiation
3. Understanding Cultural Differences
4. Cultural Conflict Management
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1. General Guidelines of Cross-cultural Negotiation
In face to face communication, attempt to be natural while at the same time being aware
of inter-cultural issues. Rely on these general guidelines when negotiating with someone
from another culture:
a. Avoid discussing politics or religion unless the other person initiates the discussion.
b. Avoid highly personal questions.
c. Avoid any actions—even subtle ones—that could be perceived to mean you believe
your culture does things better than another.
d. Keep your communication simple and straightforward. Avoid slang, jargons, and
figurative expressions.
e. Enunciate words carefully and speak somewhat more slowly when communicating with
those who speak English as a second language.
f. Introduce frequent feedback to determine whether the listener has understood.
g. Resist the temptation to interrupt the speaker before the message is complete.
h. Keep the conversation positive. Avoid asking questions that would imply criticism.
i. Avoid telling ethnic jokes because of the possibility of offending someone.
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2. Nonverbal Aspects of Negotiation
Nonverbal behavior includes facial expressions, eye contact, gestures, body movements,
posture, physical appearance, space touch and time usage, which are different from culture
to culture.
1) Time
(1) Two different orientations to time exist across the world: mono-chronic and polychronic.
• Mono-chronic approaches to time are linear, sequential and involve focusing on one thing
at a time. These approaches are most common in the European-influenced cultures of the
United States, Germany, Switzerland, and the Scandinavia.
• Poly-chronic orientations to time involve working on several activities simultaneously.
(2) This orientation is most common in Mediterranean and Latin cultures including France,
Italy, Greece, and Mexico, as well as some Eastern and African cultures.
2) Space
(1) Space orientation differs across cultures.
They have to do with territory, divisions between private and public, comfortable personal
distance, comfort or lack of comfort with physical touch and contact, and expectations
about
创造环境
where and how contact will take place.
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2. Nonverbal Aspects of Negotiation
(2) Space also relates to comfort with eye contact. In the American and Canadian
dominant culture settings as well as many Arabian cultures, eye contact is taken as a sign of
reliability and trustworthiness. Similarly, in Asian settings, looking down is usually interpreted
as a sign of respect.
A good knowledge of nonverbal behavior will add to your negotiating strength.
颜色创造环境
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3. Understanding Cultural Differences
Differences among cultures can be explained according to four dimensions of culture.
1) Individualism—collectivism
• In individualistic cultures the focus of behavior can be unashamedly self-centered. The
individual can make objections, state his feelings and be openly judgmental. Success or
failure is left to the individual and does not cause the same degree of shame among the
group.
People tend to put tasks before relationships and to value independence highly. They are
expected to take care of themselves and to value the needs of the individual over those of
the group’s, community or society.
• In collective cultures the interests of the group are given priority over those of the
individual. These cultures rely on group consensus and the avoidance of conflict.
By contrast, they emphasize solidarity, loyalty, and strong interdependence among
individuals. Relationships are based on mutual self-interest and are dependent on the
success of the group.
2) Power differential
(1) High power differential
创造环境
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3. Understanding Cultural Differences
Some people are considered superior to others because of their social status, gender,
race, age, education, birthright, personal achievements, family background or other factors.
Negotiators from these cultures are comfortable with:
• hierarchical structures
• clear authority figures
• the right to use power with freedom
(2) Cultures with low power differential tend to assume equality among people. Generally
speaking, the more unequally wealth is distributed, the bigger the power differential will be.
Negotiators from these cultures are comfortable with:
• democratic structures and flat organizational hierarchies
• shared authority
• the right to use power only in limited circumstances and for legitimate purposes.
3) Uncertainty avoidance
Cultures differ in ways relating to uncertainty and ambiguity.
Some countries place high value on conformity, safety, risk avoidance and reliance or
formal rules and rituals. It may be difficult for outsiders to establish relationships of
confidence and trust with members of these cultures. Other cultures tend to value risk-taking,
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3. Understanding Cultural Differences
problem-solving, flat organizational structure and tolerate ambiguity. It may be easier to
establish trusting relationships with members of these cultures.
4) Masculinity—femininity
They refer to the degree to which a culture values assertiveness (over-confidence) and
social support. They also refer to the degree to which socially prescribed roles operate for
men and women.
• Japan and Latin America place more value on assertiveness, task-orientation and
achievement, more rigid gender roles and “live to work” orientation.
• Other cultures are rated more feminine (Scandinavia, Thailand and Portugal).
They value cooperation, nurturing, and their moral belief is more of “work to live”.
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4. Cultural Conflict Management
Negotiation is a conflict-solving process and different cultures solve problems in different
ways.
1) Effective conflict management
(1) The key to effective cross-cultural communication is knowledge of the potential
problems.
(2) The suggestion for heated conflicts is to stop, listen and think, or “go to the balcony”
when the situation gets tense.
(3) Redefine the conflicts without the self-reference criterion influence—the unconscious
reference to one’s own cultural values--which is the root of most international business
problems.
2) There are six elements which are common to all international business negotiations,
and which as a set distinguish international negotiations from domestic negotiations.
(1) In international negotiations, the parties must deal with laws, politics and political
authorities of more than one nation. These laws and policies may be inconsistent or even
directly opposed.
(2) A second factor is the presence of different currencies.
(3) A third element is the participation of government authorities.
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4. Cultural Conflict Management
(4) International ventures are vulnerable to sudden and drastic changes in their
circumstances. Events such as wars, revolution, changes in government or currency
devaluation have an impact on international businesses.
(5) International business negotiators also encounter very different ideologies.
(6) Different cultures have different values, perceptions and philosophies.
3) Rules of conflict management:
Rule 1: Religion teaches us to hate the sin not the sinner. If we view the problem as
something that needs to be resolved rather than someone, the chances of a successful
collaboration increase.
Rule 2: In international business negotiations, don’t just ask “what do they want?” It is also
important to ask, “Why do they want it?”
Rule 3: If you do not reach an agreement with the other side, does that really make things
worse for you?
Rule 4: If one party is highly opinionated or emotional, keeping quiet after they finish
speaking can be quite unsettling to them.
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4. Cultural Conflict Management
Rule 5: If all the participants view the process as fair, they are more likely to take it
seriously and “buy into” the result.
Rule 6: Keep a cool head and pay attention to the process and strategy, as well as the
substance of the negotiation. Yelling at each other is not negotiation; it is confrontation.
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Lead-in Words
效
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Practical Activities
Task 1: Case Study
Cross-cultural Differences—Different Styles
A commonly held belief is that men and women are fundamentally different in negotiations.
Some studies have shown that men more commonly enjoy the “competitive” aspect of
negotiation and will continue to bargain even after their objectives have been met. These studies
portray women as being on the other end generally more in tune with the interpersonal aspects
of negotiation, striving to build a cooperative relationship, and sometimes settling earlier than
necessary, forgoing additional gains for the sake of harmony.
In the same way, slight differences exist in negotiation styles among various cultures and
ethnic groups. Ardent, a German businesswoman, and Diana, a British businesswoman, are
doing a business negotiation. The German is a buyer for a large chain of department stores and
is interested in purchasing clothes manufactured by the British company. The following is a part
of the negotiation. Read it and the questions.
Ardent: ...good, I’ll take your advice and try that restaurant this evening. On my last few visits to
England I’ve been very impressed by the general standard of restaurants,
not at all like the bad image many people in Germany have of English cooking.
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Practical Activities
Task 1: Case Study
Diana: I’m very pleased to hear that. There has been, I think, big improvement in recent years.
Anyway, shall we get down to business?
Ardent: Yes, good. My position is that I’m prepared to offer you an item price of 285 for your
spring range dresses—up to orders of 2,000 we would expect a discount of at least 5 percent.
Diana: I wonder if we could go back a couple of steps and talk about what we hope to achieve in
this session.
Ardent: I’m afraid I don’t quite follow you...
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Practical Activities
Task 2: Role-play
(A, a junior clerk, is discussing with B, import manager, about claim)
A: What should we do when we find a shortage in the shipment?
B: You could do one of two things: you could lodge a claim with the ship-owner or with the
insurance company.
A: Do brokers take care of that?
B: Yes, they usually do.
A: Do they charge for that?
B: Yes. In Europe they charge a commission of one percent of the amount of the claim for
their collecting services.
A: How about in the United States?
B: They do the work without charge to the importer.
A: It’s part of the service on the broker’s side, isn’t it?
B: Exactly.
A: Is it enough that we have an on-board bill of lading to claim a settlement?
B: No, we must also obtain a statement from the vessel’s agents certifying that the goods
were actually loaded on the vessel at the time the vessel sailed out.
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Practical Activities
Task 2: Role-play
A: I see. By the way, how do we present proof of ownership?
B: We have to file the underwriters the full original set of ocean bills of lading, original
policy or insurance certificate and the original commercial invoice.
A: Who prepares a statement known as the protest?
B: The master of the vessel does.
A: Is the protest an official statement of the cause of the loss of the goods?
B: Yes.
A: Thank you. That’s all I want to know for the moment.
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Practical Activities
Task 3: Mini Negotiation
(Mr. Wilson is negotiating with Mr. Hu on the loss due to untimely delivery.)
W: Mr. Hu, we’ll have to lodge a claim for all the losses incurred as a consequence of
your failure to ship our order in time.
H: I am sorry for all the losses you suffered, but we should not be held responsible for any
delay due to force majeure. It is definitely stipulated in the contract, Mr. Wilson.
W: What evidence do you have to support that the delay was caused by force majeure?
I’m told that the delay was caused by your carelessness.
H: That’s not true. We can show you the weather reports of the last month. They are
respectively issued by China’s central and local meteorological stations.
W: Well, I’ll take them back and I suggest we meet again sometime tomorrow.
H: How about 10 o’clock tomorrow morning:
W: I suppose it’ll be OK.
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Practical Activities
Task 4: Student Assessment Record (SAR)
Instructions to students:
Name: __________ Date: ___________
• Sign and date this assessment when you are able to achieve each objective reliably and
consistently.
• Please tick when competence criteria have been met and answer the questions
accompanying each criterion.
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Competence Criteria
After studying this chapter, you are able to
1. learn cultural skills.
Answer the following questions.
1) What are some of the guidelines for negotiating with people from another culture?
2) What does nonverbal behavior usually refer to?
3) How many time orientations exist across the world? What are they?
4) What is space orientation mainly about?
5) In how many dimensions are cultural differences often explained? What are they?
6) List at least three rules of cultural conflict management.
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Competence Criteria
After studying this chapter, you are able to
2. understand culture and cultural conflict management.
Judge whether each statement is true or false.
1) In business negotiations people should limit their topic to business, never talking
about religion or politics. □
2) In a monochromic cultural background people often do several things
simultaneously. □
3) In individualistic cultures personal interests come before group interests. □
4) As a general rule, the size of power of differential in a society depends largely on
wealth distribution. □
5) It may be difficult for outsiders to establish relationship of trust and confidence
with members from a culture that avoids uncertainty and ambiguity. □
6) Always referring to one’s own cultural values and judging from one’s own cultural
criteria will likely cause problems in negotiations. □
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Competence Criteria
After studying this chapter, you are able to
3. improve your language skills.
Translate the following sentences into Chinese.
1) Mono-chronic approaches to time are linear, sequential and involve focusing on
one thing at a time.
2) Negotiation is a conflict-solving process and different cultures solve problems in
different ways.
3) Different cultures have different values, perceptions and philosophies.
4) Religion teaches us to hate the sin not the sinner.
5) If all the participants view the process as fair, they are more likely to take it
seriously and “buy into” the result.
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THANKS
感谢
F您的聆听
OR LISTENING
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