An Analysis of Intercultural Negotiations between the East and West Essay

Exe melt offive SummaryThis report provides an analysis and evaluation of an intercultural negotiation between USAs embrown Casual Shoes and mainland Chinas Chung Sun Manufacturing, provides a literature review of a prominent theory from the field and suggests recommendation to improve the mental process of intercultural talk between these two countries and companies.As the Case Study was identified as subpar negotiation, all(prenominal) issues from the Case Study were allocated into Intercultural, Verbal and Nonverbal.Following this, Hofstedes pagan Model was introduced in the literature review and critically analysed. This model include five dimensions1. Uncertainty Avoidance2. Power Distance3. Masculinity vs. Femininity4. individualization vs. Collectivism5. Short Term vs. Long TermSome strengths of the model included a voluminous taste size, indexes for all nations and easily hypothecate hypotheses. Alternatively, well-nigh limitations were an alleged sample misrepresen tation, non adequately analysing population on an individual level and a conviction lapse since dimension orchestrateulation.Major issues from the negotiations were then raise investigated and includedRushing the negotiations and failing to form an adequate relationship Causing offence by giving a gift to the Chinese representative non respecting the hierarchy of theChinse cultivationFailing to hire an interpreter for the negotiationsTouching the Chinese associates inappropriatelyRecommendations suggested preventing further intercultural issues and fixing current issues as government noted above includedHiring an interpreter and cultural adviserTranslating all written materials into ChineseCreating transparency within the negotiations process by asking for a peg strategy1 IntroductionIntercultural communication is becoming increasingly burning(prenominal) within a global context for businesses. In one study within China the artless being analyzed, all respondents to a su rvey agreed that it is critical to the success of the organization (73.9 powerfully & 26.1 moderately) (Goodman & Wang, 2007). In the following report, the success of an intercultural negotiation between China and USA giveing be assessed to ascertain all issues occurring across intercultural, verbal and nonverbal and how they do-nothing be fixed. This will be done by providing recommendations found on current literature in the field. Additionally, The issues of the case will be identified and analysed and a literature view will be undertaken of a germane(predicate) prominent theory in the field.2 Identification of Problems/IssuesWithin the negotiations between cook Casual Shoes and Chung Sun Manufacturing, there were several intercultural communication issues that offend the Chinese through what appeared to be a blatant disregard for their cultural barriers. These issues have been partitioned into three sections general, verbal and nonverbal.1 Intercultural IssuesThe start-o ff wrongdoing in their intercultural fundamental interaction was the letter given by MrBrown to Mr Deng. In addition to gift giving in the Chinese business culture being unacceptable ascribable to it being seen as bribery (UONI, 2011), it is especially offensive for a gift to be wrapped in white paper as red is the norm (Kwintessential, 2013). The fact that Mr. Deng refused the gift three times onward opening it aligns with the fact that Chinese whitethorn refuse a gift three times before opening it but not a fourth (Kwintessential, 2013). An some other contributing factor is the point that Chinese dont like to say no, and will often say yes just to save face (World Business Culture, 2013). The following mistake made by Mr. Brown was offering the foremost toast of the evening. In Chinese cultulre, it should always be the host who makes the first toast of the evening (Kwintessential, 2013).Additionally, Mr Browns lack of knowledge on who should leave the meeting first may have caused offence. As per Chinese culture, the foreigner should always leave first when a meeting is finished (UONI, 2011). Mr Browns misunderstanding of this could have caused discomfort for the Chinese. Mr Browns perception that the initial meetings with the Chinese would have resulted in a negotiation early was a fundamental misunderstanding as he failed to gull that the Chinese often forge relationships with individuals before partaking in business (Goodman, 2013).2 Intercultural Verbal Communication IssueAlthough Mr Brown and his team participated in lots of low talk with Mr Deng, further small talk could be encouraged to avoid causing offence and giving the impression that the negotiators completely care virtually time and not forging a lasting relationship (UONI, 2011). An additional verbal error made by Mr. Brown was his failure to hire a interpreter. In China, this is often viewed as a sign of disrespect for their culture (Fang & Faure, 2010). This lack of an interprete r and an overall lack of comprehension of English could have been the reason for the large amount of questions rather than the impression formulated by Mr. Brown that they were not serious about the business (World Business Culture, 2013). Further overmuch, the fact that Mr Brown and his team didnt make the effort to learn any Chinese at all for the negotiation might give off the impression that they are ethnocentric about their culture (Goodman, 2013).3 Intercultural Nonverbal Verbal Communication IssuesAlthough there were not many nonverbal communication errors, one fundamental nonverbal communication error made by Mr. Brown was his touching of the arm of Mr. Deng. Culturally, Chinese dislike being touched by strangers (Gao et al, 1996). As they were only just meeting and not yet properly acquainted, this may have been perceived as offensive.3 Literature ReviewHofstedes model has been used as it was utilized a starting point for many additional cultural models. Below, figure one shows the convergence of this model with other notable ones from the field of cultural communication studies. It can be deduced from this that Hofstedes model is the most diverse and complete good example as it encompasses all factors of other relevant models and shows evidence for the theoretical relevance. Figure 2 Comparison of Hofstedes cultural framework with other modelsSource Soares, Farhangmehr & Shoham, 2007, p. 281One assumption of this model is defining identity through nation. Many scholars (Steenkamn et al, 1999l Hofstede, 1984 Parker, 1994 Hoover et al., 1978) relief this approach.1 Literature ReviewHofstedes cultural dimension is a model crafted to identify the key differences across different cultural workplace values. Gert Hofstede formulated this model through complex statistical analysis on more than 100,000 IBM employees across the world. The results of this suggested that five dimension undercoats could be used to describe most all important(p) differences a mong cultures worldwide. These anchors provide points of comparison for each culture and allow different nations cultures to be contrasted and their disposition measured based on key traits (Lewicki, Saunders & Barry, 2011). These anchor points are personal identity/Collectivism, Power Distance, Masculinity/Femininity, Uncertainty Avoidance and Short Term/Long Term. Figure 1 below shows how this is commonly measured.Figure 1Source Hofstede, 2001The first dimension of the model is Power Distance. Power distance reflects the attitude a society holds on motive inequality and authority relations in society. This anchor can influence hierarchy, dependence relationships and organizational context (Soares et al, 2007). A low score is indicative of a society with little respect for unequally distributed power and closes are often spread through the organisation with feedback to bosses appropriate. Alternatively, a high score shows that the society depends highly on hierarchical structure s and may concentrate decision making at the top (Hofstede, 1980). Uncertainty avoidance is the second dimension of this framework. This dictates the extent to which people feel threatened by uncertainty and ambiguity and collectible to this avoid situations that may cause these feelings to occur (Hofstede, 1991). People with high uncertainty avoidance often have well defined rules for prescribed behaviours (Soares et al, 2007) and if these are not in place for new situations, they will strive to immediately move towards establishing them. Alternatively, those with low scores on this anchor will be less moved(p) by situations that may be ambiguous (Lewicki, Saunders & Barry, 2011).The next dimension individualism vs. collectivism, describes the relationships people have in each culture (Soares et al, 2007). In individualistic societies, people tend to act independently and look after only themselves and their direct families. In collectivist societies, members of the society hold a large degree of mutualness (Hofstede, 1980) and take care of their group in exchange for loyalty.Masculinity vs. Feminity is the scale anchor that differentiates societies where achievement and success is paramount (high masculine) and those where caring for others and quality of life is more important (low feminine) (Hofstede, 1994). Feminine societies are ones where quality of life is often more desirable than standing out from the crowd (Hofstede, 2014). Lastly, Long-term vs. Short Term is the dimension, which shows countries taste perception towards future rewards and perseverance or towardsshort-term gain and fulfilling past or present traditions (Hofstede and Bond, 1988).2 StrengthsSome strengths of Hofstedes model is the thoroughness and time points of his research which includes 116,000 data-based questionnaires from over 60,000 respondents across seventy countries in various decades (Hofstede, 1984 Hofstede, 1991 Hofstede, 2001). This is the most robust model in term s of sample size and variety (Smith et al., 1996). He links his dimensions with various external and internal factors, such as demographic, geographic, economic and political, and assigns indexes to every nation a feature unmatched by other frameworks (Kale & Barnes, 1992).In addition, the framework is highly useful in formulating easy hypothesises across a range of purposes and it continues to be the norm used in international marketing, psychology, management and sociology studies (Engel, Blackwell & Miniard, 1995 Sondergaard, 1994).3 WeaknessesAlthough some(a) critique Hofstedes research out-of-pocket to its alleged sample bias and its lack of inclusivity of the richness of cultures due to its sample size being based only on those working at IBM (Lewicki, Saunders & Barry, 2011), they fail to take into account further revisions of the model by Hofstede. At the transnational Institute for Management Development Hofstede administered the mental testing to international manager s from over 30 countries from a variety of both private and public organisations. The results yielded in these proved significantly similar to those in his original sample solidifying his original hypothesis (Geert, 2008). Another prominent critique is the fact that in both of these cases, there was a disproportionate level of males, members of the middle correct were over represented and education levels were much higher than average (Lewicki, Saunders & Barry, 2011), Additionally, some argue that in the model nation differences only account for 2 to 4 percent of variance in individual values, leaving at least 96 percent- if not more, unexplained.One scholar from the Academy of Management suggested that the model was incongruent with his own knowledge on psychological phenomena and suggests that analternative methodology be drafted (Ailon, 2008) to account for this 96 percent. Some academics claim that Hofstedes culture dimensions are blemished due to their categorizations of peo ple into national stereotypes rather than individual character. This is especially applicable for people living in ethnically diverse countries. (Venaik & Brewer, 2013). Lenartowicz and Roth (1999), however, contend that no wholeness methodology across any model is able to address the inclusive set of criteria relevant to cultural assessment in business studies. Lastly, it could be suggested that due to the time that the initial dimensions were formulated was so long ago they may be out-dated and no longer relevant. Others argue that the change in cultures occurs so easy that significant changes would not likely affect the model for a long period (Sivakumar and Nakata, 2001) perhaps until 2100 (Hofstede, 2001).4 Case AnalysisFive issues have been elect out of the initial ones identified and have been linked up with their relevant theories.1 Issue 1The first issue is Mr Browns flock to finalise the negotiation and his final comment suggesting impatience with the negotiations. As Chinas culture is predominantly long-term orientated (87 vs USAs 26) the Chinese representatives may take longer to finalise the negotiations due to having a disposition towards long term relationships (Zhang & Toomey, 2009). In addition to this, Chinese negotiators often need to form a relationship due to their low temperament to individualism 20 vs USAs 91 (Hofstede, 2014). This haste showed great disrespect for the Chineses efforts to form a long-term relationship with the company, an aspect commonly necessary for business arrangements to succeed in China (Fang & Faure, 2010).2 Issue 2As China is a highly particular culture on Trompenaars seven dimensions of culture model (Luthans & Doh, 2009), meaning that deciding on what is right and wrong or acceptable and unacceptable is highly dependant on the exact situation and relationships involved (Trompenaars, 1997) it was a grave issue not to hire a adapter to help overcome this barrier. Hofstede provides support for this theory by ranking China very low on the uncertainty avoidance scale (30), meaning that their rules may be very flexible and unique culturally (Hofstede, 2014).3 Issue 3As China is a high context society (Hall, 1985), the failed gift-giving resultant could correspond with a clash of this high context. Hall notes that within a high context culture messages are often covert and implicit, there is much non-verbal communication and the expression of reaction is frequently reserved and inward. The message that Mr. Deng did not want to accept the gift was most certainly covert and non-verbal and his reaction to the misfortune stayed reserved and inward most likely to save face (Goodman, 2013).4 Issue 4Halls theory additionally links to an important issue within the negotiation process. As Mr. Brown continually touched Mr. Dengs arm during negotiations, this may have been perceived as breach of outer space (Hall, 1985). The proxemics of the Chinese culture dictates that touching is rarely accepta ble (Communication Studies, 2014).5 Issue 5Another issue arising from the negotiations is both Mr. Brown toasting first at the dinner and him not leaving the dinner first. What he failed to consider when doing this was Chinas high power distance (80 vs USAs 40) (Hofstede, 2014). This suggests that China strongly values hierarchical institutions. Toasting first and disrespecting the Chinese cultural norm of the guests leaving dinner first could be perceive as disrespectful to the allege of the Chinese leadership and their subsequent authority.5 RecommendationsThree recommendations have been suggested to improve Browns Casual Shoes negotiation with China in analysis of the Case Study1 Recommendation 1The first and most important recommendation for Mr. Brown would be to hire a corporal communicator or interpreter. Although it would not be wise to hire a complete agent as it may detract from the personal relationship needing to be crafted between both parties for successful business undertakings, USA negotiators should hire an interpreter at the least or a cultural adviser at best to cut through the high context culture of the Chinese, show theChinese that they care about their culture and to offer priceless advice on the negotiation process to check off an optimal outcome for both parties (Lewicki, Saunders & Barry, 2011).2 Recommendation 2The USA negotiators should in future hire a translator to succinctly translate all of their written material including business cards, marketing presentations, business proposals, company history, product information and anything else relevant to the trip to Chinese using simplified characters (Fang & Faure, 2010, p. 138). This takes away fashion for misinterpretation on any element of business and eliminates any concept of ethnocentricity that could have been perceived as well as showing respect for their culture and language (Kwintessential, 2013).3 Recommendation 3The final recommendation is to identify whether either p arties or both parties will adjust their style of negotiation to the other parties cultural style. Confusion can sometimes arise when both parties are trying to adjust to the others negotiation style (Lewicki, Saunders & Barry, 2011, p. 245). A simple affirmation of whether this will be done can save much confusion and create an air of transparency. In many cases a secure middle ground (sometimes called joint strategy) can be agreed upon. This could be asked through an email or letter prior to negotiation commencement, or if this is not appropriate, they could ask to accost in camera with the highest authority of the Chinese party to respect their hierarchical institutions. 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