Part b- cross cultural management (student's review of a peer's posting)

PART A: Summary of Lecture and Article Sarah Khursan 11 September 2007 6: 14 PM I) What aspects of the chosen paper are relevant to this weeks lecture? Analyse and clearly state the relevance.
In contemporary business setting globalisation have been an emerging and important factor, as the boundaries of countries are blurred, businesses now have the ability to enter global markets through out the world. However, for this to be achieved managers need to have a good understanding of different cultures as in business, conflict and disagreement is inventible. This weeks lecture focused on how conflict can be resolved though effective negotiation, similarly the journal article by Reynolds, N, Simintiras, A & Valchou, E (2003) emphasize the same point. Reynolds et al (2003) emphasize the importance of effective negotiation when undergoing intercultural negotiations. Reynolds (2003) states that ‘ managers spend more than 50% of their time negotiating’ and when negotiating with other cultures managers should be aware and respect the differences to avoid conflict.
Reynolds et al (2003) also portrayed the link between different negotiation styles and different cultures, which was also discussed in the lecture this week. Such as different cultures being individualistic or collective, centralised or de-centralised, which was discussed in this weeks lecture. The link between trust and negotiation style is also portrayed both in this weeks lecture and this journal article, such as some cultures find relationship building to be an important aspect.
II) How are the points made in I) relevant to the weeks lecture? Discuss.
Negotiation is extremely important to avoid conflict or solve conflict when dealing with international managers and or companies. Therefore, Reynolds et al (2003) emphasize of the importance of understanding different cultures and their negotiation style is highly vital and relevant to this weeks lecture. This week’s lecture portrays a deeper view of the negotiation process such as portraying that ‘ every negotiation party has its own interests, priorities, and strategy’ (Santha, 2007) therefore for a negotiation party to be successful they need to research the culture and gain a good understanding of it. The journal article realises this point and portrays the growing importance of cross cultural negotiation studies. The way Reynolds et al (2003) has done this is by portraying the growing interest in ‘ international business negotiation studies’, this is depicted in (Appendix one), where it portrays the number of articles published concerning international business negotiation has risen from (5) on the scale during the year 2000, to (26) on the scale in 1998.
The article is also relevant to this weeks lecture is because it portrays how different cultures use different negotiation styles, and their negotiation styles are affected by their context. For example the lecture offers us with various cultural characteristics such as some cultures will make decision and behave in an individualistic manner, while others are more collective. The article emphasizes the point made in the lecture by portraying a direct link between negotiation styles and different cultures, and portrays that context ‘ can impact on negotiation styles’(Reynolds et al 2003). An example portrayed to reinforce this point is some cultures require ‘ trust’ and ‘ relationship-building’ before commencing business. Therefore, their negotiation style and approach will be different with different parties, depending on the level of trust created between the two negotiating parties and the relationship.
III) Why are these points significant? Critically evaluate using academic references.
It is important to gain an understanding of different cultures, and their negotiating style as future managers. This is because the way managers negotiate can lead to managers not only avoiding conflict, however also resolving conflict if conflict was to arise and also learning from it by seeing the other parties point of view. Situational factors such as room arrangements, selection of negotiators, time limit and geographical location (Francesco & Gold, 2005) are all important when negotiating, so is the cultural and negotiation strategy. Therefore, gaining an understanding of international organisational cultures negotiation style is very important when dealing with the other parties, as it can impact greatly on the outcome of the negotiation. This is therefore why the point that the article makes in regards to emphasizing the importance of understanding ‘ different international negotiation style’ is vital.
Chiappini, and Nickerson (2003) agree with this point and state that by ‘ understanding cultural differences the intercultural communication can be used to gloss over the increasingly deep divide’ between cultures during the negotiation process. However, Varner (2000) does not agree that gaining an understanding of the other parties culture is sufficient knowledge, Varner (2000) takes this issue one step further and emphasizes that ‘ business people need to take into account the national culture, the general business culture, and the specific corporate culture, and in addition they must be aware of the individual communication styles of who they are negotiating with’. Overall, this point is significant, as evidently managers need to be well aware of the dynamics of the negotiation process and the influence of the culture they are dealing with, to maximise the result in the negotiation process and to solve any conflict that may arise because of the cultural differences.
Reference list:
Chiappini, F & Nickerson, C (2003), ‘ Intercultural Business Communication: A rich Field of Studies’, Journal of Intercultural Studies, Vol. 24, No. 1, Pp4-15
Francesco, A., Gold, B. (2005). ‘ International Organizational Behaviour’, 2nd ed. Prentice Hall, Upper Saddle River, N. J
Reynolds, N, Simintiras, A & Valchou, E (2003), ‘ International business negotiations: present knowledge and direction for future research’, International Marketing Review, Vol. 20, No. 3, Pp. 236-261
Varner, I (2000), ‘ The theoretical Foundation for Intercultural Business Communication: A conceptual Model’, The Journal of Business Communication, Vol. 37, No. 1, Pp. 39-57
Attachments: appendix 1 interest in international business negotiation studies. doc; international business negotiations article. pdf;
PART B: Students Review
Sarah’s points are significant as they demonstrate the importance of negotiation between different cultures. Sarah states that understanding other cultures is important as it can influence the outcome of the negotiation, this is vital as many different cultures may have ‘ different information sharing strategies in negotiation so managers must be aware of them when negotiating’ (Adair, Brett, Lempereu, Okumura, Shikherev, Tinsley, Lytle, 2004, p87). Miller and Lin address the problem solving approach where objectives are exchanged between parties in search for different options to meet both parties desired decision this may lead to a win win situation (Lin & Miller, 2003, p. 287) and as Sarah points out the parties may also be able to learn from each others opinions as well as being able to avoid conflict.
Lastly, Sarah touches on the significance of understanding other cultures and ‘ using that understanding to realise what each party wants from the negotiation (Lieh-Ching, 2003, p. 568) as well as being aware of the different communication styles of who they are negotiating with. ‘ Experts are able to understand who they are negotiating with as well as understanding national negotiating styles and in doing so they respect and accept their cultural beliefs and norms’ (Lieh-Ching, 2003, p. 568) thus it is crucial that managers are able to understand differences in negotiating styles and cultures so that they are able to resolve conflict and learn from it as well as understanding other cultures as this can influence the outcome of the negotiation.
Reference list:
Adair, W, Brett, J, Lempereu, A, Okumura, T, Shikherev, P, Tinsley, C and Lytle, A 2004, ‘ Culture and Negotiation Strategy’, Negotiation Journal, pp. 87-107
Lieh-Ching, C.,(2003), An Examination of Cross-Cultural Negotiation: using Hofstede framework, Journal of American Academy of Business, Cambridge, Vol. 2, Iss. 2, P. 567-570.
Lin x, Miller S. J. 2003, ‘ Negotiation Approaches: Direct and Indirect effect of national culture’, International Marketing Review, Vol. 20 No. 3 pp286-303.
PART B: Another Student’s Review (of Part A)
Week 7 Part B! Reflection of another student’s summary.
Sara has demonstrated a good understanding of the case she has presented and in relation to this weeks lecture.
Mentioning situational factors show great importance as all the situational factors play a major role in the negotiation process. I did not realise that a large percentage (50%) involved managers being involved in negotiations across different boards. When putting a figure that large into context it does make me and I would assume others as well feel the importance of having a successful negotiation.
The growth in international business negotiations has lead to an increased interaction among managers who have socialised in different national cultures, Kumar (1999). Sara has also explained this by using the example from Reynolds et al (2003) that the importance of understanding different cultures and their negotiation style is vital and relevant to become successful. To avoid conflict the negotiation must be controlled.
It is important to gain an understanding of different cultures, and their negotiating style as future managers. This is because the way managers negotiate can lead to managers not only avoiding conflict, however also resolving conflict if conflict was to arise and also learning from it by seeing the other parties point of view. The point that Sara made above shows great significance as explained, to become successful as well as avoid conflict between the negotiating parties, it’s very important for the negotiation process to be successful for a win-win result to be achieved.
This student’s summary of week’s 7 reflection has been informative and has enlightened me with a fact that was not known previously.
References:
Kumar. R. (1999), Communicative Conflict in Intercultural Negotiations: The case of America and Japanese Business Negotiations. International Negotiation Volume 4. Pg 63-78.
Reynolds, N, Simintiras, A & Valchou, E (2003), ‘ International business negotiations: present knowledge and direction for future research’, International Marketing Review, Vol. 20, No. 3, Pp. 236-261