Lecture 6: Negotiating across cultures Flashcards
What is culture in the context of negotiation?
Culture represents the conscious ways in which we do things, often described as “what remains when one has forgotten everything.” It includes beliefs, opinions, and activities distinguishing groups of human beings, learned from childhood through socialization.
What are the three main aspects of culture?
- A quality of society, not individuals.
- Acquired and transmitted through socialization or acculturation.
- A unique complex of attributes affecting all areas of social life.
Why is understanding cultural background important in negotiations?
Understanding cultural backgrounds is vital for successful international communications and negotiations, as it influences negotiation styles, behaviors, and expectations.
What are some obvious and less obvious cultural differences?
Obvious: Age, language, gender, family status, educational background.
Less Obvious: Social values, roles and status, decision-making customs, concepts of time and personal space, body language, social behavior, legal and ethical behavior, corporate cultural differences.
How does culture impact negotiation?
- Actors: Emotionalism, personal style, risk-taking.
- Structure: Power distribution, hierarchies, leadership.
- Relationships: Communication, trust.
- Strategy: Hard bargaining vs. problem-solving.
- Process: Rules, time, transparency, disclosure.
- Outcome: Vague vs. specific, agreement vs. relationship.
- Interpretation: Win-win, lose-lose.
What is communicative dissonance in negotiation?
Communicative dissonance occurs when there is a failure to appreciate divergence of meaning, leading to misinterpretations, misunderstandings, and confusion in communication.
What are the characteristics of high context and low context cultures?
- High Context (Collectivist): Information is context-dependent, nonverbal cues important, face-saving essential, time is elastic.
- Low Context (Individualist): Information is explicit and direct, focus on individual freedom, time is of the essence.
How do high context and low context cultures approach the stages of negotiation differently?
- Pre-negotiation: High context focuses on relationships, low context on issues.
- Beginnings: High context uses a deductive approach, low context uses an inductive approach.
- Middle Phase: High context is flexible with time, low context emphasizes urgency.
- End Phase: High context prioritizes face-saving, low context prioritizes agreement.
What are Hofstede’s six cultural dimensions?
- Power Distance Index (PDI)
- Individualism vs. Collectivism (IDV)
- Uncertainty Avoidance (UAI)
- Masculinity vs. Femininity (MAS)
- Long-Term vs. Short-Term Orientation (LTO)
- Indulgence vs. Restraint (IND)
What does the Power Distance Index (PDI) reflect?
PDI reflects the degree to which a culture accepts unequal distribution of power and whether decisions by power holders should be challenged or accepted.
What is the difference between individualism and collectivism?
Individualistic cultures prioritize individual self-reliance and decisions based on individual benefit, while collectivist cultures emphasize group loyalty and decisions based on group benefit.
What does Uncertainty Avoidance (UAI) describe?
UAI describes the extent to which a culture feels threatened by ambiguity and uncertainty, preferring structured situations to avoid these feelings.
What does the Masculinity vs. Femininity (MAS) dimension indicate?
MAS indicates the degree to which a culture values achievement, assertiveness, and material success (masculinity) versus nurturance and social support (femininity).
What does Long-Term vs. Short-Term Orientation (LTO) reflect?
LTO reflects a culture’s perspective on time, tradition, and change, with long-term oriented cultures valuing perseverance and future rewards, and short-term oriented cultures valuing tradition and immediate results.
What does Indulgence vs. Restraint (IND) measure?
IND measures the degree to which a culture allows relatively free gratification of basic and natural human desires (indulgence) versus controlling or restraining such gratification (restraint).
