People in Business and Society
HBR articles summary
Article 1 - Getting to Si, Ja, Oui, Hai , and Da
How to negotiate across cultures
Sometimes you will find yourself with different norms of communication. “Yes” in one culture gets you
to a “no” in another. To be effective, a negotiator must have a sense of how his counterpart is reacting. In
an international negotiation, however, you may not have the contextual understanding to interpret your
counterparts' communication- especially unspoken signals- accurately.
For any negotiation, basic rules are fundamental; e.g. defining your BATNA (best alternative to a
negotiated agreement) up front, applying rules of principled negotiations, ensuring a beneficial outcome.
But they might not be enough to succeed. In cross-cultural context;
● Communication differs across countries and matters greatly,
● Awareness of key negotiation signals and adjustment of perceptions and actions are needed,
● Building trust according to the context at hand is fundamental.
=> Five rules of thumb to reduce miscommunication and improve outcomes;
1. Adapt the way you express your disagreement;
a. In some cultures, it's appropriate to say “I totally disagree” or to tell the other party he's
wrong. This is seen as part of a normal, healthy discussion. In other cultures, the same
behavior would provoke anger and possibly an irreconcilable breakdown of the
relationship.
b. The key is to listen for verbal cues; specifically, what linguistics experts call “upgraders”
and “down graders.”
i. Upgraders; to strengthen your disagreement; (Totally, completely, absolutely).
ii. Down graders; to soften the disagreement; (Partially, a little bit, maybe).
> Russians, french, germans, israelis, and dutch use a lot of upgraders with disagreement. Mexicans, thai,
the japanese, peruvians, and ghanaians use a lot of down graders.
2. Know when to bottle it up or let it all pour out;
a. Recognize what an emotional outpouring
(whether yours of theirs) signifies in the culture
you are negotiating with, and to adapt your
reaction accordingly.
, b. In some cultures, it's common and entirely appropriate during negotiations to raise your
voice when excited/laugh passionately/touch your counterpart on the arm/put a friendly
arm around them, etc.
c. In other cultures, such self-expression not only feels intrusive or surprising, but may even
demonstrate a lack of maturity or professionalism
d. What makes international negotiations interesting (and complicated) is that people from
some very emotionally expressive cultures may also avoid open disagreement. Open
disagreement in other cultures is seen as positive as long as it is expressed calmly and
factually.
3. Learn how the other cultures builds trust;
a. During a negotiation, both parties are explicitly considering whether the deal will benefit
their own business and implicitly trying to assess whether they can trust each other. In
some cultures, it is important to build trust initially rather than doing business right away
(relationship perspective vs business perspective). Demonstrate genuine interest and
make a friend.
b. Two types of trust;
i. Cognitive; based on the confidence you feel in someone's accomplishments,
skills and reliability. This trust comes from the head.
ii. Affective; based on feelings of emotional closeness, empathy or friendship. It
comes from the heart.
4. Avoid yes or no questions;
a. Yes and no can be interpreted differently in several cultures; “yes” may be used as no.
b. Build a cultural bridge for yourself to be a step ahead with the meeting; know the other
culture with who you are having a meeting with.
c. Avoid yes or no questions and ask open questions. Otherwise engage all senses and
emotional antennae for (non-) verbal cues.
5. Be careful about putting it in writing;
a. After you end a meeting, it is quite common to send a confirmation to the other one; this
can be rude in some cultures. As well as for a contract.
b. A contract can be seen as something to hold on and to have it as insurance, in other
cultures it can be seen as if the otherside does not trust the other party. Not having trust in
another can be very crucial in closing a deal in some cultures.
c. Be ready to revisit.
Universal rules; when you are negotiating a deal, you need to persuade and react, to convince and finesse,
pushing your points while working carefully towards an agreement. In the heat of discussion, what is
spoken is important.
But the trust you have built, the subtle messages you have understood, your ability to adapt your
demeanor to the context at hand, will ultimately make the difference between success and failure.
, Article 2 - How to build trust on your cross cultural team
Trust is highly essential for a high functioning team. Across cultures, there are a lot of different
communication styles, mostly conventions around time, giving feedback and disagreeing publicly.
Multicultural teams are prone to friction due to perceptions of ethnocentrism, with minority team
members feeling ignored or not taken seriously.
=> 5 tips to build trust between members;
1. Structure the team for success;
a. Create initial conditions that set up the team for success;
i. Clear and compelling direction (goal)
ii. Access to the information and resources they need to successfully carry out the
work
iii. Stakeholders in different geographies (everyone should be on one line)
iv. Team is staffed wisely
● Ideally people with;
a. Requisite technical intelligence
b. Cultural intelligence
c. Global dexterity
2. Understand the cross-cultural makeup of your team;
a. Leaders need to understand;
i. Different cultures
ii. Language differences
iii. “Fault lines”
iv. Potential misconceptions and miscommunication
v. Individual personalities
● Where does someone come from
● Where have someone worked
● Where have someone live
● In what kind of culture is someone raised (which norms and values)
3. Set very clear norms and stick to them;
a. Multicultural team; wide variety of different workstyles and personal preferences. Team
leaders must establish team norms that work best for everyone (rather than imposing your
own style);
i. Be aware of who on the team might find it difficult to meet those expectations
due to cultural backgrounds; you may need to have extra communication for
those team members.
4. Find ways to build personal bonds;
a. The power of personal bond will circle back to the team positively.
i. You can organize social events
