Introduction
This paper describes the negotiation process and what role cultural differences play in the outcomes of negotiations to the international community. It will also focus on the importance of negotiation to society and explain how cultural differences can lead to unfavorable negotiation outcomes.
Negotiating with a foreigner
Negotiation can either be face-to-face confrontation or electronic. When negotiating with a foreign party, it is advisable to have a face to face negotiation; this is likely to yield positive results. Researchers observe that during a face to face negotiation with a foreigner, the body language, facial expressions and cultural attitudes will be noted by the other party and might result in misunderstanding (Brett, 2000).
On the contrary, if negotiation has to occur between two parties which are well known to each other, then the best mode to carry out the negotiation should be through electronics or a third party. Many cultures around the globe prefer carrying out negotiations through a third party.
The use of a third party method is an indirect means utilizing an agent who has a mission to represent either of the sides to the other. The third party is in most cases, expected to be neutral. This extra party is also used as a facilitator for information exchange between the two negotiators (Brett, 2000).
In international negotiations, culture plays a major role in the regulation of values and norms that encompass the process of negotiations. These establish to members of a given society what they should regard as important and what should be left out. Norms, on the other hand, provide the members with the information on which behavior should be regarded as proper and improper within their culture.
Therefore cultural values and norms enhance the characters of individuals from different cultural backgrounds. This is why people of different origins perceive and react to situations differently, as well as react to behaviors of others. Cultural values such as those of individualism verses collectivism, egalitarianism versus hierarchy and direct versus indirect communications are some of the norms that are relevant to the process of negotiation (Blankley, 2006).
Individualism and collectivism tend to point out the preferences and priorities of cultures concerning goal setting of a particular society. In negotiation, this is important because goals reflect the culture’s behavior and at the same time act as a basis for motivation to that particular culture (Blankley, 2006).
It, therefore, follows that collectivists are likely to seek a winning result in the negotiations, while for individualists the negotiations are simply expected to come out as a win or a loss process. In hierarchy versus egalitarianism, different cultures have different ways to identify the issues related to power possession among leadership ranks. Thus, conflicts between different status groups take into consideration cultural and social structures in their negotiations.
This is why a negotiation between different cultural groups can lead to the conflict when trying to sort it out. Different cultures also have got varying measures related to the amount of direct and indirect communication in their internal cultures. It has however been discovered that cultures using direct communication methods are likely to reach agreements more easily as opposed to cultures using indirect communication (Lewicki et al., 2004).
Conclusion
I observe that the challenges in cross-cultural negotiations should be taken positively if an individual has to overcome them. If I happen to find myself in a negotiating situation, I will make sure that I understand both my interest in the conflict and the interest of the other party from a different culture.
In this connection, I will take the challenging assumptions that lie behind the basic interests of the other party seriously in order to prepare for effective negotiation. Additionally, I will strive to understand how the parties I will be negotiating to react to certain communication gestures.
References
Blankley, K. (2006). Cross cultural negotiation for U.S negotiation. Web.
Brett, J. (2000). Culture and negotiation. International Journal of psychology, 35(2): 97-104
Lewicki, R., Saunders, D., Barry, B., & Minton, M. (2004). Essential of negotiation. New York: McGraw-Hill.