Culture Difference in Business Negotiation

Globalisation, the expansion of intercontinental trade, technological advances and the increase in the number of companies dealing on the international stage have brought about a dramatic change in the frequency, context and means by which people from different cultural backgrounds interact, especially cross-cultural communication in international business. Global communications bring countries and cultures closer to each other every day even though they may be on separate continents. However, barriers to communicating still exist due to cultural differences as well as dialects. In the business world, cross-cultural barriers can be significant in conducting global commerce. International trade presents multi-level challenges dealing with cross-cultural communication. Language is the biggest problem and global companies recognize the need for employees who are fluent in several languages. Of course, in addition to language, religion, customs, methods of dealing with people also play a significant role in international negotiations. Once some link has the problem, which will lead to the breakdown of negotiations. Therefore, This requests negotiations both sides correctly utilize the negotiations skill, making the negotiations complete smoothly. 1. Definition Intercultural communication refers to the different cultural backgrounds of communication between individuals, that is, people from different cultural backgrounds of the interaction. In recent years, it causes most people's attention. In China, the language teachers to show great interest, reflecting the changes of the times and demands, has attracted people from the perspective of cross-cultural education of foreign language teaching in-depth thinking. 2. Case description Ma Ping works in a joint-venture company as an executive in China. His boss is an American named Steve. They are good friends Once, at a meeting with mostly Chinese participants including Ma Ping, Steve didn’t listen to much different ideas when asking for any suggestions on his new project. So he took it for granted that his new project would be quite satisfactory to everyone present at the meeting and decided to implement the plan. But to his great surprise and puzzlement, after the meeting, Ma Ping came to his office and told him that there were problems with the project, and the project might not work properly. This time, to Ma Ping’s surprise, Steve didn’t seem happy but even annoyed with this. Analysis: In China, if you disagree with your friend at the meeting, you can’t speak out in public. Because if you do that, your friend will lose his face. The best action is to talk with him in private . While in the western country, if you have a different idea about the project of your friend at the meeting, you must raise an objection instantly rather than in private later. I conclude that in business negotiations, cultural differences between the negotiating parties will often become an obstacle to the negotiations,and even lead to the breakdown of negotiations. Therefore, we should pay attention to some skills in the negotiations to avoid the breakdown of negotiations 3. Intercultural communication skills Business negotiation can be understood as a process in which two or more parties come together to discuss common and conflicting business interests in order to reach an agreement of mutual benefit . Negotiation can be considered a delicate business, made even more delicate by different cultural understandings. How can we avoid the subtle pitfalls and make deals go smoothly? There is a detail way to solve this ituation. 3. 1The preparation before the intercultural negotiation A good pre-preparation is a key note to have a successful negotiation. If we have a negotiation in hurry, we will know little about our partner and we can not get the most benefits during the intercultural negotiation. And of course, our partners will think that we did not pay much attention to this negotiation, so it can show our careless attitude about the business and our partner. Therefore, we will fail in the negotiation. So it is important to make a good preparation before we go into the intercultural negotiation, but how to make preparations before we begin the negotiation? Next there is some advice. First we must organize our team well, because the team is the oundation of our successful negotiation. We can keep our team as small as possible. But it does not mean what the less people our team has, the more effective work we can get. Some people who have specialized skills, communication ability, team spirit and gamesmanship must be contained in our team . 3. 2The bridge-building between the different cultures But just making those preparations a re not enough, we must know what will happen during the intercultural negotiation. Next this thesis will give us a detail explanation to the problems. Supposed there are two persons: Tom in the West and Marry in the Eastern country. They have the same likes and dislikes, and Tom recently spoke for days with Marry, his potential business partner and yet the barriers between them were never broached — and the deal didn’t get inked . The problem had to do with different conceptions of the negotiation process itself and misinterpretations of the other’s behavior. For Tom, negotiation is about pushing through a deal period. When he didn’t think their discussion was moving forward as quickly as he thought it should, his arguments became increasingly forceful. Because his opposite read this as disrespect, the negotiation essentially ended days before their talks did. Although globalizing communications and marketing have made the world smaller in many ways, deep differences between cultures remain. Despite similar tastes, Tom and Marry each approach negotiation in a way heavily conditioned by his national culture. Because they sat down at the table without understanding the other’s assumptions about the negotiation process, all they ended up with was an impasse. So, we must pay attention to the question that is how to build the bridges between the different cultures so that the degree of mistrust is diminished until it is non-existent. In order to prepare for our negotiations try the following: (1) Get to know the individuals that we will be personally dealing with. Making a one-to-one human connection is one of the best ways to overcome mistrust! (2) Background: checks into the company that we are doing business with. Get to know the company as much as possible. Have credit checks done on the company. Learn about their financial situation in any way possible. (3) Research the culture of the foreign company and sensitize ourselves to the possible differences that we may be confronted with. 4) Get the assistance of a company that is expert in dealing with such cultural differences that can give us some tips. 3. 3 Learn the other side’s culture It is very important to know the basic components of our counterparty’s culture. It’s a sign of respect and a way to build trust and credibility as well as advantage that can help us to choose the right strategies and tactics during the negotiation. Of cou rse, it’s impossible to learn another culture in detail when we learn at short notice that a foreign delegation is visiting in two weeks’ time. The best we can do is to try to identify principal influences that the foreign culture may have on making the deal. 3. 4 Don’t stereotype Making saaumptions can creat distrust and barriers that expose both your and the other side’s need, positions and goals. The way we view other people tends to be reserved and cautious. We usually expect people to take adventage of a situation, and during the negoations the other side probably thinks the same way, especially when there is a lack of trust between counterparts. In stead of generalizing, we should make an effort to treat everyone as individuals. Find the other side’s values and beliefs independently of values and beliefs characteristic of the culture or group being represented by your counterpart. 3. 5 Find ways to bridge the culture gap Apart from adopting the other side’s culture to adjust to the situation and environment, we can also try to persuade the other side to use elements of our own culture. In some situations it is also possible to use a combination of both cultures, for example, regarding joint venture business. When there is a diffculty in finding common ground, focusing on common professional cultures may be the initiation of business relations. 4. Conclusion International business negotiation is playing a more and more important role in our economic lives in modern society. Obviously, international business negotiations take place across national boundaries. This means that understanding the different cultural environments that exist among nations and considering cultural differences in all facets of business are crucial for negotiators in the operation of international business negotiation. International business negotiators are distinguished from each other not only by geographic location, language spoken, more importantly by the specific cultures in which they grow up. Cultural differences influence negotiation in many aspects, even before the face-to-face negotiation starts The understanding of negotiation in the western culture is alien to that of the eastern culture. Many Americans see negotiation as a good approach to resolve conflicts while Japanese or Chinese do not like it at all. The composition of negotiation team relies greatly on culture that defines the number and the selecting criteria of negotiators. Japanese or Chinese negotiation team is often large, usually led by an old person with high status. Whereas,American team tends to be small and its negotiators are chosen on the basis of competence at the issue under negotiation. Simultaneously, people from different cultures prefer to use different negotiating strategies and styles. Therefore selection of different strategies and tactics results in different outcomes in international business negotiations. Different selection of pragmatic strategies may produce different results in a business negotiation: a win-lose result, a win-win result or lose-lose result. In order to maintain a long-term cooperative business relationship between both negotiating parties concerned in a win-win business negotiation situation, the selection of strategies should be of crucial importance. Our nation is mentioning to establish harmonious society, if we want to be a successful negotiator, we should set up an atmosphere of harmony. I think the best result is a win-win result in international negotiation. So we will have many chances cooperate with our foreigner. Our Chinese people also can become the successful men.