Decision making across cultures

Decision Making Across Cultures

The art of negotiation is in its structure a simple process. However, the factors involved transformed it into a complex practice, with elements which can turn it from a successful endeavor to a major failure if not practiced with thorough knowledge for sensitive issues such as culture, or negotiation skills. Therefore, when engaging into a negotiation process, due consideration must be given to risk management, the actual negotiation, and the decision making part. However, all these must be considered in the context of cultural diversity which combines both standard negotiation techniques with the specificities of cultural differences throughout the world.

In order to better describe the above, the American negotiation style is compared to the Chinese and the Japanese one. This endeavor better reveals the way in which culture transforms and personalizes the process of negotiation.

The American style of negotiation is rather unique because the cultural aspects are based on a mix of European culture. At the same time, given the worldwide knowledge of the United States as the biggest country in the world, with global recognition, the American style may be prone to self sufficiency. More precisely, it may be that one of the characteristics of American negotiation styles is relaxation. The American negotiator is most of the time a very self sufficient friendly individual (Lourie, 2003). This attitude almost always comes from the belief of representing a major country, if not the greatest country in the world. This is reflected in the way in which the negotiator, now presented as a generic individual, behaves. Given the friendly, opened type of character, the American style of negotiation seems to follow that path.

By comparison, the Chinese type of negotiation is of different nature. In general terms, as with the American situation, the Chinese do not enjoy a fast pace of the negotiation process. The Chinese are overall a people for whom the speed of development must be one to be controlled very thoroughly and one which can be adjusted on the way. Similar to this, the negotiation process in their terms must have a starting point of general affairs, where individuals meet and develop the ideas about their respective businesses. The Chinese style of negotiation is by no means a fast one, but rather a very calculated one.

Finally, the Japanese style of negotiation is mostly based on teams. As in China, the process of negotiation is a great endeavor. It implies a prior approval from one of the piers and thus a great honor. Especially the Japanese, they take great pride in being the representative of an idea, company, or leadership. One of the most important aspects of the Japanese style of negotiation is the respect he or she offers and the respect he or she demands in return. This is the basic principle of Japanese negotiation. From this point-of-view, if the counterpart fails to respect basic elements of the cultural practice of the Japanese, such as being late for the meeting, automatically the negotiation starts on the wrong foot.

Given this overall perspective on the styles of negotiation, it is important to view the principles of negotiation in terms of risk management and decision making for the American, Chinese, and Japanese negotiators. This is an important aspect because it reveals the cornerstone points of the negotiation process and the way in which each of the three cultures reacts to them.

The Chinese risk management is very low, in the sense that China rarely takes any chances on the negotiation process. This is largely due to the fact that China places its utmost trust on the actual principles which set their place at the negotiation table. Better said, "by laying down principles, China announces the basics of what China expects to accomplish in negotiations" (Matano, 1998). Therefore, the issue of risk is not no important as Chinese usually do not negotiate the single element which is under discussion, but rather a wider partnership, which may entangle potential cooperation in the future.

Risk management, although is not essential for Chinese negotiation is also related to the use of intermediaries. Therefore, until the negotiation is done with the most important people to have connections with the issue at hand, there are numerous discussions and negotiation meetings with intermediary people. This is also a technique to reduce surprises at the table of negotiation.

The Japanese risk management system is very peculiar because, as its Asian neighbors, the Japanese rarely take risks. They are very calculated negotiators. The politeness which is often misread, most of the times fails to betray any type of emotion or body language fault. In terms of decisions to be taken, "consistent with the culture-based value of maintaining harmony, the Japanese are likely to be evasive or even leave the room rather than give a direct negative answer. Fundamental to the Japanese culture is a concern for the welfare of the group; anything that affects one member or part of society affects the others. Thus, the Japanese view decisions carefully in light of long-term consequences; they use objective, analytic thought patterns; and they take time for reflection" (Business Management Class Online, 2010).

The Japanese risk management is most of the time nonexistent from a very simple point-of-view. The Japanese are very calculated, similar to their Chinese neighbors. Japanese negotiators do not take risks. They are very tied to their prepared negotiation strategies and very rarely move away from it. Given their prepare-in-advance techniques, they are rarely surprised and when they are, they prefer to take their time and reschedule the negotiation meeting. From this point-of-view, Japanese negotiators are by no means fast paced negotiators. Therefore, in terms of risk management, they chose to be silent and give their partners the chance to make the first steps.