cross-culture-negotiation

Go-GoGlobal:TeachingWhatWeKnowofCultureandtheNegotiationDanceWendiL.AdairDepartmentofPsychology,UniversityofWaterloo,Waterloo,ON,CanadaTherearemultipleforcesactingtoglobalizeourlivesinthe21stcentury.Intheworldofbusiness,companiesarecrossingnationalborderswithpartnerships,mergers,andoutsourcing.Thereareincreasingnumbersofstudentsstudyingabroadandemployeesworkingabroad,makingcross-culturalencounterspartofthefabricofoureverydaylives.Livinginamulti-culturalworldinevitablyentailssocialexchangeandinterdepen-dentdecisionmakingwithpeoplefromotherculturalbackgrounds.Tobeeffective,today’snegotiatorsneedtounderstandnotonlyhownationalcultureinfluencesnegoti-ationstrategybutalsohowtoadaptandmanageculturaldifferencesatthenegotiationtable.Thisarticleusesrecentresearchoncross-culturalnegotiationinteractionstodevelopcontentandmethodsforteachingcross-culturalnegotiationskillsthatareapplicableinbothworkandnonworksettings.Thearticlewillbeginwithabriefreviewofhowcultureismostcommonlytaughtinthenegotiationclassroomtoday.Then,relyingonthemetaphorofnegotiationasdance,Iwillreviewmyrecentempiricalfindingsonculture,negotiationstrategy,andnegotia-tionstages.Iwilloffersuggestionsforhowtoteachbothcontentandskillsintheclass-room.Consistentwiththeexperientiallearningmethod,theproposednextgenerationapproachtoteachingglobalnegotiationincludesdevelopingbothanunderstandingofhowcultureinfluencesnegotiationstrategyandtheskillstoidentifyandworkwiththenegotiationstrategiescharacteristicofotherculturegroups.Keywordsnegotiation,culture,internationalnegotiation,negotiationpedagogy,cross-culturalnegotiation.CorrespondenceWendiL.Adair,DepartmentofPsychology,UniversityofWaterloo,200UniversityAve.West,Waterloo,ON,CanadaN2L3G1;e-mail:[e-mail]ssescontentandmethodsforbringingrecentempiricalfindingsoncultureandthenegotiationdanceintotheclassroom.Topicsincludedifferencesbetweenthelowandhighcontextnegotiationdance,offersasinformation,avoidingfirstofferanchors,andnegotiationstages.Methodsarediscussedforteachingthesetopicsusinganexperimentalexperientialapproachinaculturallyhomogeneousorculturallydiversenegotia-tionclass.ThankyoutoMichaelGrossforfeedbackandsuggestionsonanearlierversionofthispaper.NegotiationandConflictManagementResearchVolume1,Number4,Pages353–370ª2008InternationalAssociationforConflictManagementandWileyPeriodicals,Inc.353TheCurrentState:CultureintheNegotiationClassroomThetopicofglobalnegotiationisbecomingmoreprevalentintheclassroom.WhenAvruchwroteaboutthestateofcultureandnegotiationpedagogyin2000,henotedthatclassicnegotiationtextsofthe1980sdidnotmentioncultureatall,andthoseofthe1990sincludedmaybeabriefmentionofcultureassomethingtowatchoutfor(Avruch,2000).Althoughthetopicofcultureandnegotiationwasnotunknowninthescholarlycommunity(see,forexample,Cohen,1991;Fauvre&Rubin,1993)by2000ithadnotyetreachedthemainstreamclassroom,atleastinmostbusinessschools.However,recentlyempiricalresearchandtheorydevelopmentoncultureandnegotiationhaveexploded.Negotiationtextsusedintheclassroomtoday(e.g.,Lewicki,Saunders,Barry,&Minton,2004;Thompson,2005)devoteentirechapterstothetopicofculture.Andmultiplevol-umeshaveappearedbynegotiationscholarsdevotedtothetopicofglobalnegotiation(e.g.,Brett,2007;Gelfand&Brett,2004).Whatislessclearishowscholarsstudyingcultureandnegotiationteachtheknowledgeandskillsessentialtonegotiatingglobally.Experientiallearninghasalwaysbeenattheforefrontofnegotiationpedagogy(Kolb,1974;Lewicki,1997).Sincethesetechniquesincludeengaginginasimulation,analyzingone’sexperience,andchallengingone’sexistingtheoriesandknowledge,theyofferanidealapproachtodevelopexpertiseinanareawherepeople’snaı¨vetheoriesaboutnego-tiation(forexample,afixed-piebias)often‘‘needtobeconfrontedandlargelyputtorest’’(Lowenstein&Thompson,2000,p.400).Theexperientiallearningtechniquehasbeenfoundinthemajorityofnegotiationclassroomsinfourdistinctdisciplines:law,business,publicpolicy,andinternationalrelations(Fortang,2000).Notsurprisinglythen,oneofthemostcommonmeansofteachingcross-culturalnegotiationisthroughexperientialnegotiationsimulations.Traditionalcaseanalysisisanotheroptionchosenbysome,butthisarticlewillfocusontheexperientialmethodandhowcurrentresearchoncultureandnegotiationcanbeincorporatedintothisapproach.Areviewofnegotiationsimulationsdesignedtoteachcross-culturalnegotiationsrevealedtwotypesofexercises:thosethatteachculturalpreferencesandthosethatteachculturalstylesofcommunication.Inthefirsttypeofexercise,negotiatorsaretoldthattheyrepresentcompaniesfromdifferentpartsoftheworld.Theyaregivenascenariotonegotiateandtoldtheirpreferencesonthenegotiableissues.Informationaboutthenego-tiator’scultureisthenbuiltintothesepreferences.Forexample,theAbhas-Bussanexer-cise(Patel&Brett,2007)incorporatesIndianpreferencesforfixedpricingandJapanesepreferencesforflexiblepricingthatarerelatedtothenations’economicsystems.TheCobaltSystemsandSilverlightElectronicsexercise(Tinsley,2007)incorporatesU.S.andKoreanindustrialpolicies,financialsystems,andgovernmentalinvolvementinthepar-ti