A Cultural Perspective Of Negotiation Styles

Recent decades have witnessed a tremendous economic globalization undergoing in every aspect of human life and therefore international business negotiations have become more and more important for they constitute a fundamental part of economic activities. So it is necessary to know and understand the basic mechanisms found in negotiation styles and how they work under different cultural conditions. To better understand them, this research attempts to analyze the cultural elements which influence negotiation styles under different social and cultural circumstances for cultural issues are essential to analyze and compare social and economic actions. And this research is also aimed to apply cultural theories and concentrate on comparing different negotiation styles between China and America to illustrate how people from different cultures manage negotiations in different manners.China and America, as two most important economic powers in the world, have been cooperating, exchanging and negotiating in various economic areas and Sino-U.S trade now occupies a large proportion of the world trade. As a result, business negotiations between China and America are increasing dramatically. However, the negotiation styles between them are quite different due to huge differences in cultures including value systems, ethical standards and thinking patterns, which may bring about misunderstandings during the negotiation process even if the two sides are quite sincere. Therefore, to learn and know each other's cultures and understand different negotiation styles are of great significance. This may assist the two sides better understand each other, respect each other across their respective cultures so as to avoid conflicts that may arise from cultural differences. Only in this manner can the two parties bring about fruitful and mutual benefits and gain their economic endsThe beginning chapter of this thesis analyzes the purpose or aim of this research. Chapter Two presents a comprehensive review of theories on culture, communication as well as business negotiations. These theories lay a solid foundation for a further study of the roots and core values of Chinese and American cultures in Chapter Three. In Chapter Three it is found that attention is given to see how cultural differences produce different negotiating styles and how misunderstandings and communication failures occur because of different cultural perceptions. Chapter Four presents a comparative study of how cultures affect in negotiations and it also conducts a case study of actual negotiations that have been performed between Chinese and American negotiators in terms of cultural issues. This chapter clearly indicates that there are great differences between the two cultures, and what a tremendous impact these cultural differences can cause on negotiating styles. The thesis provides the following kinds of cultural differences involving time concepts, interpersonal relationship, face concern, power distance, attitude toward conflicts, risk-taking propensity and forms of agreement.According to the analysis conducted in the four chapters, Chapter Five offers some practical working advice to both Chinese and American negotiators and points out some limitations found in the research, which would hopefully help to furnish future studies in the related fields...