...HOW TO DEAL WITH CROSS CULTURAL PROBLEMS IN INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS NEGOTIATION. EMEM UDOBONG* ABSTRACT: Businesses all over the world today are extending their frontiers beyond domestic markets. In this global business environment, cross cultural negotiation becomes a common field of research. This is primarily due to the fact that the negotiating parties are often from different countries, with different cultural values and beliefs which they usually bring with them to the negotiating table. What is communicated, how it is communicated, how people think and behave during negotiations can differ across cultures. The purpose of this paper is to examine the effect of culture on negotiation and suggest ways to deal with cross cultural problems in international business negotiations. An analytical approach is applied in this research. The conclusion reached is that effective international negotiators need to know not only the fundamentals of negotiation, but also how culture can influence the negotiator’s behavior and the negotiation agreement. Understanding, accepting and respecting the cultural values of the other parties is very important as it will lead to a more successful outcome. * The Author is a legal practitioner and holds an LL.B (Hons) from the Igbinedion University, Okada. She is currently a postgraduate student of CEPMLP University of Dundee, Scotland, where she is pursuing an LL.M Degree in Energy Law and Policy. TABLE OF CONTENTS Page ABBREVIATIONS...
Words: 4743 - Pages: 19
...Case which deals with cross culture communication in negotiation. Erika, representing DGG, has three options to go to resolve this situation. First, DGG can bring a suit against Global to recover damages. This option is not the best option for DGG because though they will get that one-time fee if they win, their future in expanding in Asia may not go very far and there will be no benefit from shutting down Global. Second, DGG can try to arrange some sort of partnership with Global. This appears to me as the best option because it not only maintains a good relationship; it can also bring in steady income from the partnership. Lastly, DGG can find another company to take on the Luna Pens instead of the partnership with Global. Though this choice can be just as good financially, this will likely create a bad relationship between DGG and Global and stir up inconveniences in the future. DGG’s main aim is to find a way to get them the most benefit for their own company from these pens, now sold by Global. Global, however, just wants to continue using the brand “Luna” to sell their products without any troubles. This is an important brand name to Global, and it is not so much more important to DGG because they had abandoned it years ago. The issue only comes up because of the realization that someone else is receiving benefits from a brand that their own company worked hard to advertise. In the first situation, out of the 4 options I believed that D was the best option. Erika chose...
Words: 873 - Pages: 4
...1. Negotiation Trap: I must analyze what type of bargainer I am. Identifying my type helps me avoid fall into the negotiation trap. 2. BATNA: I must analyze what my BATNA is. This is my reference for the negotiation. 3. Focus on Interest: I will approach the negotiation with a focus on interest of the other party. Identifying the possible interest of other party involved in negotiation will help me analyze the possible ways of expanding the pie (creating more value). 4. Integrative Bargaining: Focus more on Integrative bargaining. Analyze multiple issues and interest, creating and claiming value and cooperative problem solving. Consider possible trade-offs to avoid conflicts and have a win-win situation. 5. Bargaining Zone: I must analyze my bargaining Zone. The zone where the buyer’s and supplier’s negotiation ranges overlaps. 6. Reservation Price: I have to write down my reservation price. This determines when to expand the pie create more value and when to walk away from negotiation. 7. Identify the power in negotiation: Identify exactly the type power in negotiation and analyze the persuasive skills required to move from perceived power to realized power. 8. After striking with the initial deal, I will have to keep my options open for re-anchoring. Negotiation Trap: * Identifying the type of bargainer helps to identify the potential traps. * Soft bargainers agree on deals worse than the BATNA and they fail to achieve best...
Words: 807 - Pages: 4
...referred to as “win-win” bargaining or distributive bargaining as well known as “win-lose” bargaining. Negotiator knows that there are too many situational and monetary variables for a single strategy to work in this case and often times the negotiator needs to utilize both approaches to effectively conduct negotiations. In this paper I will provide and explain an appropriate approach what situation the negotiator would utilize the technique. Defining Integrative and Distributive Bargaining There are two common approaches to any negotiation situation: distributive and integrative. Each is useful in specific contexts, and the same negotiator may utilize either or both strategies depending upon their desired goal. The largest difference between the two styles is the circumstance in which they are used. Often when we negotiation a one-time situation or purchase we will utilize a distributive bargaining approach and try to gain the best price or outcome where “we” are the winner and those we are negotiating with are the “losers” In these situations we rarely interact with the opposing party on a regular or future basis and are seeking the best possible outcome for this specific negotiation without interest in building a long-term relationship. In contrast, an integrative bargaining situation occurs when it is possible to produce a greater outcome together than either could reach on...
Words: 2238 - Pages: 9
...Negotiation Closing Deals, Settling Disputes, and Making Team Decisions David S. Hames University of Nevada, Las Vegas @>SAGE Los Angeles | London | New Delhi Singapore | Washington DC • •-*» •• • i ' w ' t * • * 5s" i- . •> - • • y . » " •• is • Acknowledgments Preface PART I: THE FUNDAMENTALS 1 The Nature of Negotiation: What It Is and Why It Matters Intended Benefits of This Chapter The Essence of Negotiation What Is Negotiation? 5 6 6 When Do People Negotiate? Technology 6 4 3 xvii xix 1 3 Why Has Negotiation Become a More Important Skill? The Workplace 7 8 9 10 11 How People Negotiate: The Dual Concerns Model The Pros and Cons of Negotiating The Shadow Negotiation 10 What Does a Negotiation Look Like? Conclusion and Implications for Practice READING 1.1 - ONLINE DISPUTE RESOLUTION: DO YOU KNOW WHERE YOUR CHILDREN ARE?, 8Y DAVID A . LARSON 1 3 19 READING 1.2 - BALANCING ACT: HOW TO MANAGE NEGOTIATION TENSIONS, BY SUSAN HACKLEY Preparation: Building the Foundation for Negotiating Intended Benefits of This Chapter The Essence of Preparation 23 23 23 The Preparation Process, or How to Make I t All Happen Strategic Planning: Establishing the Framework Defining the Situation Setting Goals 29 30 25 25 25 Determining Your Strategy Strategy Implementation: Operationalizing the Plan 30 The Component Parts of the Situation 30 Best Alternative to a Negotiated Agreement (BATNA) Reservation Prices or...
Words: 2095 - Pages: 9
...Managers must be able to understand if an inadequacy exists, he or she must be able to adapt to change for the better. When managers enter a company, he or she must be able to effectively perform job duties to make the company better. Managers that understand the areas that need work are adaptable to change and further learning. The ability to find an area to strive for improvement is important to managers who wish to succeed. Personally I know that my communication and negotiating skills are not as strong as others, but I am taking steps to learn more productive ways to communicate and negotiate. Learning new skills in communication will allow for better understanding of communication and negotiation procedures to help the company in different situations. The area that I perform negotiations and communicate job duties is in the field areas. I communicate the functions of each individual and negotiate time tables to perform duties during a job. If I could change my abilities to communicate and negotiate, the possibilities of advancement in the company are endless. My job is to oversee the safety and functionality of job performance from a thirteen man crew and negotiate a time table with customers to perform those jobs. Continuing learning and developing new communication skills and negotiating skills could possibly move me into higher positions of management. The competency I need to work on is delivering results. I would have to say that an accurate assessment would be that...
Words: 428 - Pages: 2
...An important part of our role as leaders is leading and managing through conflicts. Conflict can arise internally between team members, between a leader and a team member, between two departments, or between two leaders. A conflict can also arise externally between a team member and a customer, between a leader and a customer or between a team member or leader and a supplier or a vendor. Conflicts can have serious consequences including “product delays, increased costs, and dwindling market shares” (Dubrin 2010). Conflict also bars collaboration between departments or between team members. Before we try to resolve conflict, we must first understand conflict. Then, we must consider the five conflict management styles and determine which one to use in the specific situation. We as leaders can also use different approaches to resolving conflicts. This section of the handbook will discuss understanding conflicts, the different conflict management styles, and approaches to use to resolve conflicts. Understanding Conflict We cannot attempt to resolve a conflict until we fully understand conflict. Conflict is a normal and healthy part of relationships. When handled properly, conflicts can actually strength a relationship instead of destroying it. (Segal & Smith 2013) Many different things cause conflicts. Eight common causes of conflict are (Gatlin, Wysocki, & Kepner 2002): 1) Conflicting Needs – In the workplace, these needs could include resources, recognition, or power...
Words: 1840 - Pages: 8
...you'd prefer to walk; if it's a dollar higher, you'd do the deal. If you're the buyer, it's the maximum price you'd pay, and you'd be indifferent to doing the deal at that price point. Again, if it's a dollar higher, you walk; if a dollar lower, you'd take the deal. ZOPA (ZONE OF POSSIBLE AGREEMENT) = When the parties are "in the same ballpark" with respect to terms and pricing. Final Assignment We're going to analyze a real, albeit slightly older, deal here from the perspective of the main players (and there are several). Hopefully those players (at least their companies) and the property is familiar to you; this deal negotiation took place in 2001. The case in question is on the Harvard Business School Press site; access it (at a cost of $3.95) using this link. Here are the topics I want you to address in your analysis of this deal negotiation; I'm going to introduce into our work here a couple of new-ish concepts (although they were touched on in Getting to Yes) that I want you to explore on your own. I will include a definition for them in RESOURCES, but make sure you understand what they mean before you attempt to address. So here are the...
Words: 617 - Pages: 3
...1.0 introduction The Thomas Kilmann Model is simple tool that provides practice scenario of particular methodologies to managing conflict viably. The exploration upheld TKI offers a commonsense approach to launch safe and nonemotional discourse to resolve conflict. That is the reason its perfect for utilization in such a variety of diverse situations. It can additionally enhance organizational profit by helping individuals pick up knowledge into their own particular and others' conduct which thus helps them settle on better decisions about conclusions. The TKI is directed in simple to-utilize online and self-scorable configurations. Conflict is an inescapable part of human relationships. Where responsibility to mission and extended periods with negligible assets converge, not-for-profit work environments might be overflowing with conflict trades. Conflict can go out from administering varying viewpoints and clearly inconsistent concerns. Assuming that we can acknowledge it as a regular part of our zealous scene, it might be simpler to work with than in the event that we need (or wish!) conflict to never resurface. 2.0 Introduction of Thomas Kilmann Models. The Thomas-Kilmann Conflict Mode Instrument is intended to evaluate an individual conduct and behavior in certain scenarios. "Conflict Situations" are the scenarios in which the concerns of two individuals seem, by all accounts, to be incongruent. Conflict is a social culture...
Words: 1809 - Pages: 8
...Cell Phone Negotiations MGT 557 April 8, 2013 Cell Phone Negotiations In today’s society, cell phones have become and necessitate and also have become a billion dollar business. Distributors of cell phones look for maximum profit by buying from manufactures’ at the cheapest price. Not only does price matter in negotiations, but considerations for individual differences such as cultural differences must occur for the outcome of a negotiation to be successful. In today’s economy, it is not uncommon for companies to go overseas for cheaper manufactures’ cost to increase profits. However, American companies who wish to compete internally in manufacturing products face the high labor costs in the United States compared to foreign countries. In this paper, the author will discuss a negotiation between a Chinese and an American negotiation team over cell phone cost per unit and possible influences that go into the negotiations such as gender difference, personality, culture and perception, cognition, and emotion. Summary of Cell Phone Negotiation The negotiation involves two teams, the all-American negotiating team from the United States and...
Words: 992 - Pages: 4
...Negotiation Exercise 2 PM598 – Contract and Procurement Management 12/10/2011 The negotiation experience that I would like to discuss occurred between the T-Mobile customer support group and me. The negotiation was concerning the switch of my mobile cell phone plan from one mobile carrier to another. The switch would allow me to take advantage of a corporate discount provided by my employer. The contract with T-Mobile was ending and I called to advise that I would not be renewing the contract and I would like to port my telephone number to another mobile carrier. T-Mobile was advised that the second line on the contract was to be terminated and it would not be ported to Verizon. The contract negotiation consists of planning, conducting the negotiation and documenting the negotiation and forming the contract. The first step of the negotiation consisted of planning the steps to verify the existence of a contacting with T-Mobile and to see if there is a contract end date. Communicate and conduct the negotiation instructions for the contract end, confirm the contract for termination fees and line porting fees. Confirm a verbal contract with T-Mobile that indicates contract end date and the early termination fees. T-Mobile confirmed that the lines could be ported or terminated. I advised that I wanted to port the primary telephone line to Verizon and terminate the second telephone line on the account. T-Mobile confirmed that there would be not early termination...
Words: 1054 - Pages: 5
...alongside the Czech brew. In Czechoslovakia, the communist rule ended in 1989, resulting in privatization of many breweries and other government-owned enterprises. Anheuser-Busch wanted to get the opportunity in 1993 by investing in the Budvar and resolving the trademark issue. The Czech response was negative. Because Czechs consider Budweiser as something more than a brand name, a source of their own national pride with its geographic name. Also they don’t like selling off their businesses to Western companies and also they believe their beer is much more superior to Americans’. To win, Anheuser – Busch made huge efforts such as public relations acts, but also it kept its imperialistic intentions and at the end, it broke off the negotiations and implemented a new strategy of suing to win the right to Budweiser name on basis of...
Words: 764 - Pages: 4
...Face-Negotiation Theory (Conflict) Dr. Stella Ting-Toomey developed the Face Negotiation Theory as a way of describing how people from different cultural backgrounds handle conflict with each other. She bases her theory on two basic concepts: Face (how we want people to see us/our public self image), and Facework (ways of handling conflict). She has identified 7 core assumptions and 5 empirical propositions that when used in tandem illustrate the Face Negotiation Theory as of 2010. A copy of the assumptions and propositions has been attached at the end of this document. Regarding the first concept—Face (also described as self-face concern), to people from the east and some middle-east countries (China, Japan, Egypt, Iran) the concept of face is multi-faceted with its origins going back to the time of Confucius. For them, face involves the feelings of respect, honor, status and connection. The concept of Face is a very serious issue. Infact, under some conditions, it can be a life or death issue. One can save face, give face and have face taken away from them. For people mainly from the west such as the US, face is not a complicated thing--it usually just means the saving of face—we know we have it, and we don’t want to lose it (i.e. embarrassment in front of others). As you can see, there are huge differences in how each culture views the concept of face. This is a prime example of something that can and will cause serious intercultural conflict. To help...
Words: 1620 - Pages: 7
...http://www.solutionlibrary.com/business/management/miami-school-negotiations-paper_8g1f Miami School District Negotiation Paper Miami School District Negotiation Paper The Miami school district has announced that in the upcoming year, school boundaries will be redrawn due to unexpected increases in enrollment. The school board has created a plan for the students as the school is not large enough to accommodate each and every one of them. They have hired experts to redraw school boundaries to be submitted for the following year. Upsetting many students as they will not be able to stay at their present school, several parents have voiced opinions based upon the school district proposed plan. Most of the parents are concerned about the quality of education their children will receive, increased travel time, crossing economic and cultural boundaries, affect on property values, and social effects on children. With the following reasons against the proposed plan, I will address all of the stakeholders and their concerns. This paper will also discuss a developed plan to address stakeholders’ concerns as well as the negotiation strategy used to support the school board’s need to redraw the boundaries with the concerns of the stakeholders. Lastly, the paper will explain how ethics and culture affect the decisions. There are many stakeholders in this situation with the students being redrawn from their current school. The students, school officials, staff, teachers, school district,...
Words: 1242 - Pages: 5
...NEGOTIATION ISSUES, STYLES AND OUTCOMES IN BUIDING CONSTRUCTION PROJECTS IN THAILAND In construction industry, conflicts are inevitable in any construction projects. Construction projects require that every parties are related in term of negotiation such project managers, safety managers, clients, suppliers, designers, site engineers, and consultants. Negotiation is one potential consequence to succeed projects when comparing with other factors. Many negotiators need to understand their personal characteristics for bargaining. For any given issues, problem or conflict encountered, the participant has a negotiating position. Different construction projects have different conflict styles and different departments try to work together. Mr. Surapong Panja made a case study on “Negotiation Issues, Styles, And Outcomes: A Study of Building Construction Projects in Thailand”. He learned that construction industry always has conflicts that can be attributes to more factors such as change order, variation work, job safety, price adjustment (inflation or deflation), and time extension. These factors can produce many conflicts itself and may contribute germination and manifestation. Dispute is always negotiated by project participants, and the process of negotiation is the first task before considering other resolution methods. The project manager of contractor tends to use avoiding style. It is suggested that it is more important for negotiation outcome to understand the proper...
Words: 536 - Pages: 3
