Q & A Table of Contents
Comparing The Asian Nation With The Western Nation
From: Massumi, Johor, Malaysia
Question: I'm doing a research project on the different styles of
negotiating between the Western nation and the Asian nation. I've to compare
and contrast their negotiation styles. Would you give some tips or any
articles that I can refer to. Thank you.
Response: It is interesting that your question arrived at about the same
time as the most recent issue of the Negotiation Journal, an academic
publication based at Harvard's Program on Negotiation. In the Journal there
are four articles on dealing with cultural diversity. None of them
addresses any 'real world' issues or contrasts -- however each of the four
articles contains references to articles or other publications that may
possibly provide some 'real world' information.
I find it hard to feel comfortable generalizing about Asians or Westerners.
Even within my own family or group of friends it seems dangerous to
generalize about traits that are peculiar to men or to women, or to other
'identifiable' groups.
In both the West and the East people are concerned about ego. In some
cultures that is called saving face; others do not recognize the issue with
the same degree of formality, but the same essential elements are there.
Sometimes the cultural concern appears to be helping the 'other side' save
face. In other cases, the focus is on saving one's own face.
The fundamental issue is that every person carries a substantial amount of
cultural baggage. By the same token, with the influence of global business
and communications, there is an increasing level of sharing of cultural
influences. It is quite risky to assume that because a person is from a
particular background they necessarily think or act in only one way. It
makes more sense to look to the interests of parties and try to get beyond
presumed cultural barriers by focusing on the end results desired by the
parties -- and why those results are important to them.
It is crucial when dealing with people you don't know to make sure you are
not treating them according to cultural stereotypes. By the same token, it
is fundamentally important to find out whether there are things you do or
say which they find offensive -- and to let them know what offends you.
The world is divided into an incredible number of groups; East and West,
North & South, Male & Female -- and these are not even the tip of the
iceberg. Within what you may refer to as the West there are thousands of
ways to define cultural differences. Even if you take a single country such
as France or Germany there are differences of language, religion, and even
corporate culture.
Generalizing about people is a challenging task. If we treat people as
individuals we are far more likely to find ways to convince them through
negotiation.
Good luck with your researches,
Steve
| 
