Question

Effective strategies for handling negotiations globally.

Describe a work or personal experience or if you have not dealt with a global negotiation, you may locate an article that deals with one of these techniques and describe it.

How would you handle it differently?

Which of the strategies do you believe is the most important and why?

Your initial response should be 200 to 300 words in length, include two academic sources that are properly cited

Answer 1

Negotiation Defined:

Negotiation is conceived as a process in which at least one individual tries to persuade another individual to change his or her ideas or behavior and it often involves one person attempting to get another to sign a particular contract or make a particular decision. Thus negotiation is the process in which at least two partners with different needs and viewpoints need to reach an agree ment on matters of mutual interest.

Meanwhile, Acuff (1993) has defi ned negotiation as the process of communicating back and forth for the purpose of reaching a joint agreement about differing needs or ideas. Negotiation is a process in which two or more parties exchange goods or services and attempt to agree upon the exchange rate for them. Arising from the foregoing defi nitions is the question whether the same applies to cross-cultural negotiation.

Global Negotiations:

All global negotiations are cross-cultural. Some domestic negotiations, in spanning across two or more ethnic groups, are also cross-cultural. Global negotiations contain all of the complexity of domestic negotiation, with the added dimension of cultural diversity.

Cross-cultural negotiations can be very intricate, as each culture, whether it is a high or low context culture, has its own distinctive approach relating to not only the negotiating process but their individual and religious practices, idiosyncrasies and expectations, with each culture cohered to their own norms, values, laws and beliefs, impacting on the outcome of the agreement. Members of different cultures focus on diverse aspects of an agreement, for example, one may focus on the legal side and the other on the personal aspects. In some cultures, documenting the agreement is signifi cant while in others the process and actual implementation is the focal point

For example, Americans negotiate a contract, while the Japanese negotiate a personal relationship. This is all due to the differences in cultural values and norms which stems from the dissimilarity in individualistic cultures such as the USA and collectivist cultures, namely, Japan.

WHAT IS A NEGOTIATION STRATEGY?

A negotiating strategy is the overall approach you take when you exchange proposals and counterproposals with another person when negotiating a settlement to a conflict. The ways in which one negotiates is directly influenced by your paradigm. A paradigm is a worldview; it’s a way of thinking or a set of attitudes that guide your behavior.

NEGOTIATION STRATEGIES:

• Win-win (Collaborative strategy): This strategy seeks mutual benefit; it uses a cooperativerather than a competitive approach to finding a solution. People with a win-win paradigm are empathic listeners; they try to see and understand theproblem from the other person’s perspective.
• Win-Lose (Competitive Strategy): This strategy uses a competitive approach to finding a solution;each negotiator is most concerned with his or her own needs.
• Lose-win (Accomodative Strategy): A negotiator using this strategy submits to the other person andignores his or her own 9needs.
• Lose-Lose (Avoiding Strategy) : This strategy uses an ‘if I go down, you are going down withme” approach.
• Win: This strategy occurs when negotiators are only concerned aboutgetting their own needs met and winning.
• Win-win or no deal (Compromising Strategy): This strategy takes inot account everyone’s needs. Thenegotiator is not happy until everyone wins.

The most important strategy is Collaborative Strategy because:

It involves ensuring that both parties' needs are met. Parties brainstorm on how to create mutual value and think outside of the box on collaborating on a solution. Collaborating is all about value creation and is commonly encouraged by those who support the principled negotiation format. Collaborators expand the pie and strive to meet an optimal agreement that maximizes everyone's returns. This style is great at forming strong bonds or maintaining good relationships. However, the collaborating style is the most consuming style and the most mentally exhausting style. It also requires the most preparation. In addition, it does not work as well with competing style negotiators as they may try to take advantage of the situation. In addition, collaborators need to be wary of how much information is shared in order to avoid being taken advantage of.