Negotiatingfor an Employer
Negotiatingfor an Employer
Issuesthat May Influence a Negotiation within a Diverse CulturalEnvironment
CultureDifferences
Various cultures perceive andhandle different aspects of engagement such as time, protocols,communication and dress codes differently. Differences in culturalpractices are one of the issues that may influence negotiationswithin diverse cultural surroundings. For instance, people in Chinaand Indonesia place a lot of importance on time and they usuallyabhor lateness hence, in negotiating with them, one needs to observetime keenly to establish healthy relationships. On the other hand,while the Westerners seem liberal regarding dress code, the Chineseand Indonesians are modest and conservative. It is essential to notethat cultural differences influence the result of any negotiation aslack of understanding the cultural differences or failing to toleratesome aspects of certain culture may hamper any negotiation.
Communication
Both non-verbal and verbalcommunication will greatly influence the negotiation process amongthe team members and the employees across various countries. Usingthe wrong communication channels can result in a misunderstanding,which may lead to disagreements. Consequently, failing to select theappropriate conversation models for both non-verbal and verbalaspects creates a clash among parties. It would be important to notethat the Chinese and Indonesians favor indirect means ofcommunication. Moreover, body language may prove an essential aspectin negotiations since most cultures identify body languages withengagement.
Thenegotiation concept
If a negotiator fails to balancethe purpose of the meeting, then a mutual satisfaction will fail toestablish. If both parties fail to understand the concept, then theagreement fails. Besides, it is crucial to identify or evaluate thetype of the negotiator sitting on the other side of the table. Thenegotiation concept encompasses all issues, objectives, highlights,and interests of all members, which means that a negotiator mustexplain and balance all the elements to ensure that membersunderstand the issues under discussion. A shallow concept means thatthe negotiation will fail while an extensive and constructive conceptleads to a positive negotiation.
Anegotiation strategy to Apply within Diverse Cultural Environment
The most effective strategy toapply in a diverse cultural situation should encompass the inclusionof the existing differences, transformational leadership, andfamiliarization with the different cultures. Holding an effectivenegotiation would need the moderators first familiarize with theirculture in detail to see how others perceive it through unconsciousand conscious actions. Next, would be learning the other parties’cultures including the China and Indonesians.` Practicing self-awareness and paying attention are ways of showing respect,credibility and trust in the counterparty cultures. Where time doesnot allow for lengthy research, short identifications from previousdeals can help in picking the right tactics and strategies for useduring the negotiations.
Secondly, a negotiator should learnwhen to separate or integrate the goals and the importance of bothpersonal and multinational corporation interests. One can choose tobegin the meeting with substantive issues to determine the manner inwhich response approaches favor both parties (Mannix, Neale &Overbeck, 2011). Developing useful interactive formats and forumswill likely close the culture gap and bring all attendees to a commonplatform. Clearly explaining the goals and the benefits of thecontract on both sides will facilitate mutual satisfaction. Thus,learning to separate or integrate the goals according to theimportance and overall benefits levels will aid in balancinginterests of all parties as well as fairly reaching the finaldecision.
Dynamicsand Role of Multiparty Negotiations
Building trust is among the firstforces that build more than three-party negotiations. Taking time tomake friendship rather than the deal earns the cultures similar tothe West trust from the Chinese and Indonesian-like cultures (Mannixet al., 2011). In the subsequent phase, keeping up the promises asearlier agreed establishes worthy and reliability required for thenext step. Therefore, the proceeding stage will involve monitoringeach party’s way of maintaining their promises. The multipartynegotiations eventually become familiar with each other negotiations’approaches before signing to work together.
The role of multiparty negotiationsis finding and making use of shared goals as a vision that each partyadopts. Negotiation measures individual exchanges to evaluate thecommon interests necessary to balance agreements and bring successfulintegrations or business deals. Another role of mediation is to allowbetter and faster collaboration through the power of sharedinformation during meetings. The cultural differences promptapplication of efficient communication to bring mutual understanding.Moreover, multiparty negotiations enhance business productivitythrough expanding collaborations and partnerships.
PotentialConflicts Arising From Negotiating Within a Diverse CulturalWorkplace
A difference in language level ishighly likely to occur when mediating within a diverse culturalworkplace. As much as senior executives including the Chinese andIndonesians understand and speak English they prefer using theirstronger native language (Klenk, Beck-Greinwald, Angst, & Carle,2012). This difference along with troubled fluency and non-verbalbehaviors might bring misunderstandings. There could be conflictingnorms on decision-making. For instance, Westerners make decisionsbased on facts as their bottom line and do not play favorites.Sometimes even when the language used is similar differences incultural aspects, and language constructions may suffice as conflictelements. For example, some common words have different meanings indifferent cultures. Negotiations within the diverse culturalworkplace can experience trust issues arising from religion andgeographic differences.
MitigatingCultural Conflicts
Mitigating cultural conflicts oftenrequire a comprehensive understanding of the possible barriers toresolving the conflict, choice of technique to resolve the conflict,and the desire to resolve the conflict. Most importantly, thenegotiating team must cultivate a comprehensive commitment tomitigating potential conflicts and take accountability for linkingthe cultural gaps. As such, the people involved must haveself-awareness of their cultural prejudice, bias, and practice,understand numerous cultural factors that contribute to thedifferences, appreciate other people’s experience, work withinterpreters, and accept, tolerate, and appreciate other cultures.Moreover, the team must understand existing resistances such asfailure to examine one’s values or bias, tendency to blame others,and denial of the existence of the conflict. Exchanging informationregarding standard dos and don’ts of a particular culture beforethe negotiation meeting will not only prepare both parties for themulticultural environment but also make them self-aware. It would benecessary to include a translator to resolve any instances of thelanguage barrier, misunderstandings, troubled accent, and fluency.
Organizing an informalpre-negotiation will assist the parties to learn each other’sexpectations before the formal meeting (Mba Sr, 2015). This plan willset a better platform for selecting the strategy to apply fordecision-making. Outlining and acknowledging the differences in timeand religion during the first stages of the negotiation can give agood start to earn each other’s trust and respect. Appropriatetechnology can be used to relay the information across variousgeographical regions. Every member will have to go through theinformation before the meeting. This strategy will prepare allparties for the multicultural environment and make them self-aware.
Secondly, the team leader canorganize for an informal pre-negotiation will assist the parties tolearn each other’s expectations before the formal meeting (Mba Sr,2015). This plan will set a better platform for selecting thestrategy to apply for decision-making. The leader can include atranslator or a mediator during the meeting to help resolve anyinstances of the language barrier, misunderstandings, troubledaccent, and fluency. Fourthly, the leader can choose to outline andacknowledge the differences in time and religion during the initialstages of the negotiation as a way of earning each other’s trustand respect.
Benefitsof Cultural Conflict to a Multinational Company
A company’s beliefs, assumptions,and values tend to define its culture thus, when a firm operates ina culturally diverse environment, it tends to be diverse in otheraspects. Companies that tend to appreciate the diverseness in cultureallow employees to build positive relationships, which lead to thecreation of tangible benefits. Such environments allow people todefine issues based on various scenarios and cultures thus,employees manage to create diverse resolutions for the issues.Cultural conflicts allow a firm to achieve better productivity andperformance. The differences in perspectives of each culturalbackground present a broader range of challenges and ideas that mergeto formidable solutions that move the company ahead. Differencesyield stronger relationships that minimize instances ofdiscrimination on cultural background because members becomeself-aware during negotiation meetings (Mba, Sr, 2015). Clashing onvarious beliefs constitutes ways of bringing a common ground, whichtranslates, to working on practical means of communication leading tofuture better communication strategies that overcome culturalbarriers. Diverse backgrounds provide the company with newopportunities to enter new markets thus expanding global presence.Cultural conflicts create some form of diversity in that it allowspeople from different cultures to engage constructively and findsolutions to problems. These cultural conflicts and differencespresent a firm with opportunities ranging from the greater market,the enhanced body of skills, and broad experiences from differentpeople.
References
Klenk, A., Beck-Greinwald, A., Angst, H., & Carle, G. (2012).Iterative multi-party agreement negotiation for establishingcollaborations. SOCA, 6(4), 321-335.http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11761-012-0119-x
Mannix, E., Neale, M., & Overbeck, J. (2011). Negotiation andgroups. Bingley, U.K.: Emerald.
Mba Sr, I. N. (2015). Conflicts Encountered by MultinationalCorporations in Cross-Cultural Communication and its Solutions.Journal of International Business And Economics, 3(1).http://dx.doi.org/10.15640/jibe.v3n1a10