Promoting mindful encounters through intercultural competence and experience
Intercultural meetings and negotiations (Debrecen)
INTERCULTURAL MEETINGS AND NEGOTIATIONS
Learning Outcomes
International business meetings require some basic awareness skills, some of which are more to do with self-awareness and some of which are based on being aware of Otherness.
There are many key differences between and among cultures, but how and to what degree these differences can or will affect one’s business dealings with others equally depends on the openness to and tolerance of these differences in the individuals doing business together.
Chapter Nine in the e-book provides a theoretical background to this study unit.
The learning outcomes from the corresponding e-book are the same as here:
LO1: Several important, current trends on how international business meetings are conducted
LO2: Negotiation and meeting styles of several countries and types of cultures will be discussed as examples of how differences shape such communication
LO3: How to organize business negotiations and to hold meetings in an international setting, for which a video of key points will be used to help you to create your own navigational guide
LO4: How to use a tool box of tactics to deal with general cultural and business differences, in order to be more effective
In doing business internationally, focus on:
Becoming familiar with the cultures, histories, and ways of life of your business counterparts that differ from your own
Respecting how each of these aspects have effects on their behavior – and yours
Appreciating how a culture can affect communication style
Becoming alert to potential sources of conflict between your business counterpart’s values and your own
Developing an understanding of cultural stereotypes (i.e. the role of women in business)
2. Describe yourself from the list of adjectives below, then ask 4 people you know to describe you from the same list, a grid of overlap and difference can be built up.
ii. FILL IN THE JOHARI WINDOW PANES
1. Compare the lists others made about you with the list you generated about yourself.
Where an adjective appears on both lists, place it in the Arena Quadrant.
If an adjective appears on the individual’s list, but not on the group’s, place it in the Mask Quadrant.
When an adjective appears on the group’s list, but not on the individual’s, put it in the Blind Spots quadrant.
Any adjective that appeared on neither list can go in the Unconscious Quadrant.
To get started, pick the five or six words that you feel best describe you, from the list below:
Find 5 individuals from different cultures/ethnicities/religious backgrounds and have them fill the questionnaire in.
Comparing your own results with each of the 5 individual results you obtained, present to your class the top 3 most differing results you got in each of the 5 cases.
Assess your own culture by filling in a number on a scale between 0 and 10 the degree to which you feel each statement or description represents your country. 0 means do not agree at all and 10 means totally agree.
Source: Gannon, Martin J. Working across cultures: Applications and exercises. Sage: London, 2001, 46-7.
Identifying Your Own Personal Values Worksheet
The outcomes of this exercise can give you a snapshot of where your personal values are and what values you hold most dear at this moment in your life. These can and will change over the course of your lifetime, and may also be influenced by the business culture you (will) work in.
How to identify your own personal values:
1. On the list of 22 values, put a line through the 11 values that are the least important to you.
2. With the remaining 11 values, put a line through the 6 values that are the least important to you.
3. With the remaining 5 values, select the two that are the least important to you and rank them 4th and 5th.
4. With the remaining 3 values, rank them in order of importance, 1st, 2nd and 3rd.
5. Use your top 3 values to evaluate your life, particularly stressful or unhappy areas.
6. Use your top 5 values as a guide when making future decisions.
Preparing to hold a meeting with partners from other cultures
Stress and conflict in intercultural communication during business meetings and negotiations can often arise from the individual organizing and holding the meeting failing to create the necessary environment in the room.
There are four general categories of focus that a meeting leader may use to set the right tone at the start of the meeting, and keep that professional, harmonious tone going as the meeting progresses.
The first of these, Cultivate Self-Awareness, provides the foundation for any leader, while allowing participants to vent feelings – within set limits. Next, Ask the right questions, lets all present know that their input is valued and welcome, as well as that the chairperson of the meeting is in control, but not dictatorially so. Inviting participation involves turning the PowerPoint off and communicating together and not just lecturing. This keeps everyone in the room engaged, improving the possibilities for successful outcomes. Overcoming difficulties means that one recognizes that not every meeting can go smoothly, but reminds us that adversity is a hurdle to be overcome and not the point where professionals give up and stop communicating with each other.
Examine the four categories below.
How would you communicate in a manner considered respectful in your own culture to do each of the four?
Cultivate Self-Awareness
Assist others to remain focused and participative
Promote self and team reflection
Control sentiment, harness emotion and create passion
Foster team empathy
Uncover individual and team blind spots towards greater harmony
Ask the right questions
Appreciative Inquiry
Intellectual Humility
Promoting a meeting culture of curiosity and humility
The video is designed for LO2 and LO3. The prep sheet you will create will serve as your own navigational guide to organizing and holding a cross-cultural negotiation/meeting.
By exchanging ideas with fellow students, you can gain a set of such guides, and compare these with published sources.
Background source for video: Lewis, Richard D. (2006) When Cultures Collide: Leading Across Cultures. Nicholas Brealey Publishing, London.
Consider a specific culture you would be interested in negotiating with.
Watch the video.
On the basis of the questions contained in the video for preparing to negotiate with someone from another culture, prepare a prep sheet for the culture you have chosen.
Summarize what are to you the most important points in your prep sheet.
Present your findings to your instructor/class.
Cross-Cultural Checklist Worksheet
Think about another country or culture represented by a student in your group. If the class is culturally homogeneous, then have each student think about a country they have visited, lived or worked in – or even one they know a lot about, but have never actually visited.
2. Complete the checklist answering Yes, No or Don’t Know to each question.
3. Where you answer Don’t Know, how will you find out about the answer to this cultural question?
JOHARI WINDOW KNOWING YOURSELF EXERCISES
