Negotiation Styles

Your communication skills will be put to the test during negotiations, especially if those negotiations include people with different personalities, approaches, and comfort levels. In international negotiations, differences in culture and communication styles become even more apparent. Read this article, which gives an example of Chinese and Brazilian companies negotiating an agreement and highlights the importance of finding a common understanding.

Finding a Common Language in Intercultural Negotiation

Executives from the Chinese energy company Sinopec and the Brazilian energy company Petrobras recently sat across from one another at a negotiating table to discuss a proposed business transaction. The leaders on both sides had only limited experience with international negotiation, and both teams were hesitant to get the conversation started. Without an understanding of each other's backgrounds, it was hard to know where to begin.

The reluctance to engage with people from another country is not uncommon. Language barriers may be just the tip of the iceberg in an international negotiation. Because each culture has its own customs for communicating in business and social situations, it can be difficult for members from different groups to bridge those gaps in a short amount of time.

"The cultural element adds another layer of complexity", says Gaylen Paulson, a negotiations expert. "It's harder to understand and explain the choices that the person on the other side of the table is making. It's harder to deliver value effectively because you don't understand quite as well what they're after and why they're after it".

Paulson, associate dean for executive education at the McCombs School of Business, facilitated the simulation in international negotiations between the executives from Sinopec and Petrobras, who were on campus participating in Texas Executive Education programs created for their respective companies. In the exercise, students were divided into teams – some with one Brazilian student matched up against two or three Chinese students, others with a Chinese student partnered with a Brazilian student to negotiate with another Sinopec student.

The simulation revealed some of the challenges inherent in negotiating across cultures. It also demonstrated some ways that those obstacles can be overcome.

Source: Rob Hendrick
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