Chapter 8 EN Global Negotiation Summary

This chapter examined various aspects of a growing field of negotiation that explores the complexities of negotiating across borders. We began the chapter with a discussion of the American negotiating style, from both American and non-American perspectives. While there is a great deal of consistency in perceptions of the American negotiating style (e.g., Americans are straightforward, impatient), it is important to remember that there is also a lot of variability within cultures (i.e., not every American negotiates in the same way).

Next, we examined the results of a research program by John Graham and his colleagues that compared American negotiators with negotiators from several countries. Graham and his colleagues found that regardless of where negotiators were from, they negotiated the same level of outcomes on a standard negotiation task. The process of negotiation differed across countries, however, suggesting that there is more than one way to attain the same negotiation outcome. Finally, this research program also suggested that negotiators seem to use different strategies when negotiating with people domestically and internationally.

We then examined some of the factors that make cross-border negotiations different. Phatak and Habib suggest that both the environmental and the immediate context have important effects on global negotiations. We then discussed Salacuse’s description of the environmental factors that influence global negotiations: (1) political and legal pluralism, (2) international economics, (3) foreign governments and bureaucracies, (4) instability, (5) ideology, and (6) culture. We added one more environmental factor—external stakeholders—from Phatak and Habib. Phatak and Habib’s immediate context factors were discussed next: (1) relative bargaining power, (2) levels of conflict, (3) relationship between negotiators, (4) desired outcomes, and (5) immediate stakeholders. Each of these environmental and immediate context factors acts to make cross-border negotiations more difficult, and effective international negotiators need to understand how to manage them. We concluded this section of the chapter with a discussion of how to manage them. We concluded this section of the chapter with a discussion of how to make sense of global negotiation outcomes in light of the multiple factors that can simultaneously influence them.

Next, we turned to a discussion of Hoftede’s work on culture, the factor that has been most frequently used to explain differences in negotiations across borders. Hofstede defines culture as the shared values and beliefs held by a group of people, and is the most comprehensive study of cultural dimensions in international business. He concluded that four dimensions could summarize cultural differences: (1) individualism/collectivism, (2) power distance, (3) masculinity/femininity, and (4) uncertainty avoidance.

We then examine how cultural differences can influence negotiations. Foster, adapting work by Weiss and Stripp, suggests that culture can influence global negotiations in several ways, including (1) the definition of negotiation, (2) the selection of negotiators, (3) protocol, (4) communication, (5) time, (6) risk propensity, (7) groups versus individuals, and (8) the nature of agreements.

This chapter concluded with a discussion of how to manage cultural differences when negotiating across borders. Weiss presents eight different culturally responsive strategies that negotiators can use with a negotiator from a different culture. Some of these strategies may be used individually, whether others used jointly with the other negotiator. Weiss indicates that one critical aspect of choosing the correct strategy for a given negotiation is the degree of familiarity (low, moderate, or high) that a negotiator has with the other culture. However, even those with high familiarity with another culture are faced with a daunting task if they want to modify their strategy completely when they deal with the other culture.