Culture concepts and characteristics

Culture & Negotiations

Globalization has brought many benefits and potential growth opportunities for companies around the world. Companies may now expand their reach to sell their products to countries on the other side of the planet, but there are some issues that have to be approached and resolved prior to doing business overseas: the negotiations between company "A" in the United States and company "B" in Singapore, for example, have to take into account cultural differences and cultural traditions. This paper reviews some of the negotiation styles that need to be understood and practiced in the context of doing business in foreign lands.

When business representatives from different cultures meet in a negotiation setting there needs to be understanding of the cultural foundations of each negotiator. When an American business representative is interesting in negotiating a deal for his company to establish a manufacturing plant in Singapore, for example, the American must understand that Singapore is home to three "dominate cultural groups" (Chinese, 76.4%; Malays, 14.9%; and Indians, 6.4% of the population) (Osman-Gani, et al., 2002, p. 820).

The link between culture and negotiation, according to author Osman-Gani, can be best understood through four approaches: culture as a "learned behavior"; culture as a "system of shared values"; culture as a "dialectic"; and culture "in context" (821). "Culture as a learned behavior" is defined as those behaviors that attempt to reflect the attitudes of the (foreign) culture, but some negotiators read "how to negotiate" manuals and think this will help in understanding the foreign culture, but doing this "fails to explain individual differences in negotiation styles" (Osman-Gani, 821). The author's "culture as a system of shared values" means that the one culture must have some similarities with the foreign culture, but wait, this also fails to explain negotiating style differences. "Culture as dialectic" is more dynamic than the first two but the bottom line is the Chinese negotiating style is collectivistic and the American style is individualistic, so there has to be some give and take. . "Culture in context" suggests that negotiation styles between Americans and Chinese in Singapore really boils down to negotiation based on individual personalities and cultural values.

After conducting surveys in Singapore (to Chinese negotiators, Malay negotiators, and Indian negotiators), the author reports that the most prevalent style of negotiating for all three cultures in Singapore was "intuitive" negotiations. Americans going to Singapore to entertain the possibility of establishing business there, need to know each of the three cultures prefers to deal.

Religion plays an important part in the cultural life of every country, and a peer-reviewed article in the Journal of International Business Research points out the cultural realities regarding the negotiation styles of Muslim Iranians, Buddhist Taiwanese and Christian Americans. The independent variables in this research -- religion, collectivism, education, age, gender and work experience -- were tested through empirical surveys of the three cultures. The "devotion to religious rules" is far more prevalent among Muslims than among Christians and Buddhist groups (Farazmand, et al., 2011).