Page 66 - The European Business Review

Negotiation
CULTURE INFLUENCES THE WAY THE NEGOTIATOR
PRIORITISES HIS OR HER INTERESTS, AND
CULTURE ALSO DICTATES HOW THE NEGOTIATOR
ASKS FOR WHAT HE OR SHE IS SEEKING.
a better price with the vendor. You will get a
lower price only if the vendor reduces his or
her price expectations. Competitive negotiations
are also known as positional bargaining because
of the excessive focus on positions during such
Cultural prototype Impact on negotiation
negotiations. On the other hand, collaborative
negotiations are also known as interest-based
negotiations or integrative negotiations because
Collectivist vs. individualist
the focus is not really on asking the counterpart cultures
to reduce his or her expectations but, rather, the
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actually improve the payoff of both parties.
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also the way we assess other people’s behaviour. Low-context vs. high-context
cultures
Hence, culture has a strong impact on negotia-
tions. Each culture has a cognitive component
and a normative component. A culture’s cogni-
tive component deals primarily with the different
values that the culture espouses. These values
Hierarchical vs. egalitarian
affect our understanding and judgment of what cultures
is acceptable and what is not, what is right and
what is wrong and so on. On the other hand,
the normative component of a culture outlines
common rules of behaviour: how to sit, how to
greet people, how to eat, what to say, what not to
say, etc. Rules and norms are outlined by culture.
Let us try to understand in detail why and how
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tiator prioritises his or her interests, and culture
also dictates how the negotiator asks for what he
or she is seeking. When negotiators are involved
in the process of exchanging information, a
range of behaviours is possible. However, these
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For example, confrontation is a typical nego-
tiation behaviour but, while in some cultures
direct verbal confrontation is considered to be a
normal part of negotiation behaviour, in others
verbal confrontation is not an option. Similarly,
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66 The European Business Review January - February 2018
and priorities. For example, individualist cultures
might inspire the negotiator to seek self-interest,
while more collectivist cultures could inspire the
negotiator to seek objectives that would satisfy
the interests of not just the individual but also
of the community as a whole.
The following table sets out different cultural
prototypes and their impact:
In a collectivist culture, negotiators are likely to negotiate for
common objectives. In such a culture, it is more common to
negotiate in teams rather than alone. Also in a collectivist culture,
there may be aversion to direct confrontation.
In an individualist culture, on the other hand, negotiators are likely
to focus more on individual goals and individual gains. In the case of
such a culture, there are more possibilities of direct confrontation
during negotiation.
Low-context cultures prefer the direct exchange of messages and
sharing of information. High-context cultures share information
indirectly and meaning is embedded in many messages. As a result,
in low-context cultures, sharing information is easier as well as
more direct. In contrast, sharing information is more complicated in
high-context cultures, and both negotiations and decision-making
tend to take longer.
In hierarchical cultures, power distances are greater. As a result,
negotiation is possible when power distances have been reduced.
This is why negotiations are more likely to be held in teams. In
egalitarian cultures, it is easier to hold negotiations. Negotiations in
egalitarian culture tend to end more quickly as individual
decision-making is assumed. In hierarchical cultures, there is a
tendency to refer to higher authorities and, as a result, negotiations
tend to take longer.
East vs. West and Beyond
Traditionally the world was seen as East vs.
West. The Western hemisphere had a uniform
concept of the East and vice versa. However,
th
in the 20 century this prototype was replaced
by a more East-middle-West cultural proto-
type. Cultural psychologists divide the world
into three prototypes and each one has a strong
bearing on negotiations. These culture types are
dignity culture (Western culture), face culture
(East Asian culture) and honour culture (Middle
Eastern, Southeast Asian and Latin American
cultures). Jeanne M. Brett in her seminal work
Negotiating Globally (2001; third edition, 2014)
argues that these culture types can be described:
“in terms of six sets of characteristics:
self-worth, power and status, sensitivity