Business Negotiation
Japan VS United StatesIntroduction:
Undertaking any business requires a number of skills. These would normally involve negotiation which is defined as a voluntary process by which the involved parties could reach an agreement on common business matters (Cellich and Jain 2004). One of the main purposes of such a process is to enhance the elements of the business at hand; to gain a better deal than simply accepting or rejecting what the other party has already offered. However, according to Alder (1991) regardless of cultural differences, the negotiation process involves business communications, exchanging information and decision making. However, the area of business negotiation is the focus of this paper, as issues relating to the effect of culture on business negotiation process will be evaluated and critically discussed; focusing on the case of Japan and United State, where the negotiation styles in these countries are briefly examined.
Culture aspects of business negotiation: American culture VS Japanese Culture:
Greet Hofestede (1994), after extensive research found five dimensions of culture which are relevant to the international business. These are power distance, uncertainty avoidance, individualism versus collectivism, and masculinity. The majority of authors who wrote about business negotiation tried to analyze and to test theses dimensions to understand the relationship between them and business negotiation.
Power Distance: Japan has a higher power distance when compared with the united state according to Hofetede’s cultural dimension. Equality, a horizontal relationship, is strongly valued in the United States but it is less important in Japan (Graham and Sano 1985). Therefore it seems that when conducting a business negotiation with a Japanese, the first thing to do is to find out their position. In order to indentify who has the higher social status and where could they fit within the people involved in the negotiation. In high power distance societies like Japan, people occupying senior positions are more likely to use their position power in negotiating.
Individualism versus collectivism: individualism represents the extant to which a country emphasizes the role of individuals rather than the collective contribution of the group. In individualistic societies people feel little need for dependency on each other such as the united state as it shows high rating in individualism unlike Japan which has very low rating of individualism and they are considered more dependent on group contribution rather than that of the individual (Cellich and Jain 2004). However Americans can be more self-centred and individual goals are mostly emphasized.
Individualism outlines the link between the ‘individual and the collectivity which prevails in a given society’ (Hofstede, 1980: 213). The main distinction amongst individualism and collectivism is the way that people of various cultures classify themselves (Di Cesare and Sadri, 2002). They recognize themselves as either an individual or a member of a group. Individualism is the extent in which societies look after themselves and their immediate family while in collectivist societies, individuals belong to groups that tend to them in exchange for wholehearted allegiance (Torrington, 1994; Hofstede, 2015). Individualist actions are motivated by their own attitudes and customs, while collectivists are focused by collective norms (Kulkarni et al, 2010). Also, individualists are more focused toward undertaking a personal task, while collectivists are driven more in the direction of achieving balanced relationships (Kulkarni et al, 2010). In certain societies, being an individualist is seen as an advantage while in other societies it can be viewed as isolating. The amount of individualism or collectivism in a particular society will influence the essence of the relationship among the individual and the organization they belong (Hofstede, 1980). From the viewpoint of the organization, individuality can be looked at as the worker’s independence in distinction to the organization. The level of
Collectivism is any philosophic, political, religious, economic, or social outlook that emphasizes the interdependence of every human. Collectivism is a basic cultural element that exists as the reverse of individualism in human nature (in the same way high context culture exists as the reverse of low cont...
Depending on who you are and what you believe, you will have your own idea on the positives and negatives of individualism, and where you stand. Despite the fact of the good and bad in American Individualism, without the freedom of standing alone, we are nothing. To group individuals together, categorize them and classify them as a single entity is demeaning to each person’s individuality. There is a lot of positives and negatives that go along with being an individualist.
Noah Miller English Honors: D Ms. Hiller 13 December 2013 1984 Major Essay Assignment. Individualism is the one side versus its opposite, collectivism, that is the degree to which individuals are integrated into groups. When put into a collective whole, one might do for the whole more than one does for oneself.
In understanding the way that people negotiate, I believe that men and women negotiate differently. After the Mark Trask negotiation during class, I noticed that women draw on more examples or comparisons when negotiating. The reason for comparisons or examples might be that women feel as though their counterpart might be more likely to understand a position or opinion if they hear something that is relatable to them. On the other hand, men might be more likely to not engage in this technique because they see that sticking to the relevant information and not elaborating will get them to an agreement quicker.
Firstly, we can analyze that Canadians are individualism while Chinese are collectivism. Canada negotiators are more concerned with their sales over establish relationship with Chinese negotiators. They care ab...
Individualism in today’s society is the “belief that each person is unique, special, and a ‘basic unit of nature’.” The individualism concept puts an “emphasis on individual initiative” where people act independently of others and use self-motivation to prosper. The individualists “value privacy” over community the individual thrives to move ahead in life (U S Values).
“Individualistic cultures, in the western-hemisphere, [such as the United States,] emphasize… personal identity and self-determination. Conformity is far less pervasive in individualistic societies because democratic choices and laissez-faire viewpoints are somewhat considered.”
Collectivism and individualism, both have a fair share of issues. The articles that exemplify both collectivism and individuality are “1984”, “Anthem” and a poem called “Unknown Citizen”. Collectivism and individualism have an even amount of dilemmas, both collectivism and individualism come from totally different perspectives. The Struggles associated with a collectivism is that everything, every action, every thought, every person acts as a whole in unison, so there isn’t any room for different opinions and thoughts, as for an individualist society people have to sacrifice themselves both physically, mentally and overcome their
The topic for my real world negotiation is to come to an agreement with my supervisor for a promotion as well as an increased salary. I currently work as a student assistant at the student services Planning, Enrollment Management, and Student Affairs (PEMSA) department. My goal is to increase my hourly pay from $10.15 to $12.70, a 25% increase. Having worked in this department for three years, I have taken on tasks not part of my job description such as processing return mail, data entry, and supervision.
Zhang, Jian-Dong; Liu, Leigh Anne; Liu, Wu. “Trust and Decption in Negotiation: Culturally Divergent Effects.” Management and Organization Review, [early view].
jeswald w. salacuse (2) 005 ‘The Top Ten ways that Culture can Affect International Negotiations ‘. Available from < http://iveybusinessjournal.com/topics/global-business/the-top-ten-ways-that-culture-can-affect-international-negotiations#.Uzwdh6iSySp > [ 3 April 2014]
This dimension describes the relationship between the individual and the collectivism that prevails in a given society. Individualism means mostly caring of oneself and one’s immediate family. In contrast, collectivism relates to caring for both oneself and other groups.
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