Negotiation_Styles_Japan_vs_Usa

Negotiation Styles Japanese vs. United States The globalization of business has allowed organizations to do joint ventures in another country, create multinational enterprises, source resources from the other side of the world and sell products to new markets. In doing business with another country global managers must deal with cross-cultural negotiation. Negotiation is defined as a voluntary process by which the involved parties could reach an agreement on common business matters. Global managers can benefit from studying differences in negotiation behaviors and the reasons for them, which allows them to recognize what is happening in the negotiation process. Two countries with very different business and negotiation styles are Japan and The United States (US). John Graham, a California professor who has studied international negotiating styles, says that the differences between American and Japanese styles are well illustrated by their respective proverbs: the American believes that “the squeaking wheel gets the grease,” and the Japanese say that “the pheasant would not be shot but for its cry.” The Japanese are calm, discreet, patient negotiators; they are accustomed to long, meticulous negotiating sessions. Whereas Americans often rush straight to the matter at hand, the Japanese want instead to develop long-term, personal relationships. The Japanese want to get to know those on the other side and will spend some time in non- task interactions; general polite conversation and informal communication before meetings (nemawashi). Equality is strongly valued in the United States but it is less important in Japan. Therefore it seems that when conducting a business negotiation with Japanese, the first thing to do is to find out their position. In order to identify who has the higher social status and where could they fit within the people involved in the negotiation. The US is a very individualistic society, people feel little need for dependency on each other and this temperament is seen in the negotiation process when compared with the Japanese who are considered more dependent on group contribution rather than that of the individual Americans can be more self-centered and individual goals are mostly emphasized. People from individualistic cultures tend to make just a little different between in-group and out-group communication. They prefer clarity in their conversations to communicate more effectively and come in general directly to the point .In business they try to improve their connections and to gain more value out of them, not for establishing a good relationship but just to be involved in a calculative way, this could be seen in the class role play activity. Most Asian people focus on the harmony and loyalty within a company. Also In such cultures direct confrontation is always avoided as such expressions or phrases are used to describe a disagreement or negative statement, saying no would destroys the harmony of the group. Fundamental to the Japanese culture is a concern for the welfare of the group; anything that affects one member or part of society affects the others. As was seen in the class role play activity the Japanese team would not make any decision but consistently repeated that he would talk to his team first, he did not make any decisions on his own, neither did he say no to the Americans. Generally there are four stages in business negotiation process these are: 1. Non- task Interactions (small talk) 2. Task related exchanging information 3.Persuasion 4. Concession and agreement. Japanese spend more time in stage one and two than Americans. Japanese spend more time in building relationship compared to the Americans. They make a great effort in the beginning to establish a harmonious relationship. The typical Japanese negotiation may involve a number of non-task interactions and sometimes gifts. The exchanging information is the main part of the negotiation for the Japanese, where they are expected to ask so many question while offering little information and ambiguous responses. This is often looked down at by Americans, who would present as much information as possible and expect negotiations to be straightforward, at the same time, the Japanese put more weight on their trust of the other party rather than on the information provided. The Americans tend to spend the most time in the third stage of negotiation- persuasion; they consider this as most important stage of the negotiation process whereas this stage is not as important for the Japanese, because they believe if the relationship is there, there is no need to be persuaded. In our class’ role playing activity of negotiation there were a number of things that could have improved the negotiation. Preparation is very important in the negotiation process, especially in cross cultural negotiation’s. The American team should have researched as to how the Japanese would react in negotiating with Americans. One of the frustrations in watching the role play was that the Japanese team did not talk enough. I realize they were not supposed to come to a compromise or agreement, but in negotiations, as I mentioned above, the Japanese like to ask a lot of questions but do not like to give answers. So in this role playing they should have asked a lot more specific questions on the product, pricing and other issues. In the role play the Japanese made a mistake to make it as if they were not interested in the product at all. There should have been a lot more discussion, the Japanese translator or the low level manager Mr. Kawazaka (Lui), should have been whispering to his team members especially the two middle managers, Mr. Nishimuro (Bay) and Mr. Shenoas (Ahba) he has no real power to say anything, but anything the Americans said to him should have been whispered and discussed with his team before giving an answer. The boss, Mr. Ozaka (Mark) does not talk to the Americans and just listens, but Mr. Kawazaka should have showed that Mr Ozaka has the power and asked him a lot more questions before replying to the Americans. The Japanese goal was to stall the American team and make them come back for round two of negotiations. In the role playing, they did achieve this, but maybe a little too well. The Japanese are meant to show they are interested, in a real life situation, the American would have assumed that the deal is totally over because the Japanese asked little or no questions at all. The Japanese team should still have been friendly to the American team, as they are big about harmony and fostering relationships, but maybe the trust was yet to be built. The American team’s goal was simple, to sign a deal with the Japanese, obviously they did not even get close to this. As I mentioned above the Americans like to give as much information as possible and be straightforward, to the point. I think the American team lacked strategy; they should not have come in and began talking about the product. Through Mr. Kawazaka they should have talked to each member asked how they were, their families etc. Japanese like to build a relationship and build trust before going into business, which is opposite to the Americans, no mixing of business and pleasure. Americans focused on the persuasion process but Japanese see little importance in this. The American team did not prepare enough in advance or research adequately for this negotiation. They also did not sell their product very well, some members of the team did not speak up, which is not characteristic to Americans who are very individualistic and would be fighting to get this deal done to get a promotion or bonus. Although two countries may have very different cultures and styles in which they conduct business there are ways to come to a mutual understanding and agreement. In order to carry out a successful negotiation at the international level, both parties should be aware of the cultural differences of the other side and should have made ample amount of time and preparation before meeting face to face. Lack of knowledge and research will conclude the negotiation with wasted efforts and misunderstandings as happened in the role playing activity. References Alder, N. J. International dimension of Organization Behavior, Belmant, CA, Wadswoth Cellich, C., Jain, S. (2004) Global Business Negotiation: A Practical Guide, Thomson, USA. Ghauri, P.N., Usunier, J.C. International Business Negation 2nd Edition, Elsevier. Graham, J. L., Sano, Y. Smart Bargaining Doing Business with the Japanese, Ballinger Pub. Co. USA Hofestede, G. Culture and Organization, Mc Graw Hill, USA. Websites www.internationallawyercoach.com www.globalnegotiationbook.com www.globalnegotiationresources.com/cou/Japan