Cultural Intelligence Negotiator

Globalization trends are irreversible and cultural barriers put hurdles in the way of the managers. Brett & Gelfand suggest that the main requisite which concerns the managers includes cultural intelligence in international business negotiations (Brett & Gelfand , 2004). International business negotiations refer to the negotiations existing among two parties at an international level. These two parties involve individuals probably from variant cultures.

In order to attain success in international business negotiation, the managers are required to integrate the benefits of the company and businesses with that of the cultures and ideologies of different nations all across the world. These negotiations in the cultures are emerging and with the changing trends these negotiations have become crucial. Cross culture negotiations is the new advancement and there is no way going back from it.

Culture is regarded as the values in a society and these norms play an important role in the development of the society. These values, beliefs and roles are interrelated in functional ways. (Triandis, 1994).

Making joint gains in international negotiations can seem difficult since both the parties might be incompatible in their ideologies and beliefs which can lead to unsatisfied outcomes in their intercultural negotiations. Besides, mutual adaptation from both the parties is also a promising strategy in order to overcome cultural hurdles which are existent in the different cultures.

Various cultural studies discuss the relevance of such cultural intelligence required for managers. The business negotiations are relevant for business negotiations at an international level. Cultural intelligence is the individual’s effective adaptation to new cultures and get involved in the ceremonies, belief and rituals of the particular culture which are of inherent value to the other individual (Early & Ang, 2003). Importance of cultural intelligence has been highlighted time and again. Negotiations considered to be successful in situations where in a manager hold cultural intelligence qualities.

It has been highlighted by CQ that there are certain capabilities of an individual in order to cross cultural boundaries. (Early, 2000) It can often be the case that an individual having emotional intelligence of a high level in a certain culture can lack CQ of a high level. International business negotiation is a complex subject since intercultural interaction is mixed.

In the stage of pre-negotiation, negotiator with a higher CQ would have certain knowledge of the negotiators of variant cultures. This results in the negotiator to have anticipation which is proper about the cues which are verbal and non-verbal and are transferred by negotiation party. An individual with low CQ will lack upcoming international negotiations which would be present in an individual with a higher CQ.

Negotiation process is a process which is complex (Thompson, 1991). The idea of CQ also has an influence upon the information identification, processing and sharing. Information sharing is a further impacted by CQ which can be inferred from a situation where in a negotiator having understanding of culture the negotiation counterpart will choose the most effective way to hold communication with alternate party. (Adair, et. al, 2001; Bret, Shapiro and Lytle, 1998).

In the stage of Post Negotiation, an individual with a high CQ will be able to consciously adapt the negotiation partner behavior and in this manner he ensures that such negotiations are being put at ease. (Earley, 2002.)

The other party should also high level of CQ while holding negotiations. This is so because the process of negotiation is inter-dependent able. Weiss (1994) was the one to propose various strategies which are culturally responsive and are important for negotiators. In order to make sure that negotiations are preceded in a manner which is improvised, adaptations are made by both the negotiators.

The distances which exist among different cultures i.e. Cultural Distance is another factor which affects international negotiations. Cultural distance leaves an impact of CQ. It refers to the extent to which the two cultures hold dissimilarity with each other. (Black & Mendenhall, 1991)

There are various other features of negotiations. One such feature is Power. CQ is very important for individuals which have less power and do not dominate.

Another important feature is the Venue. It is suggested that the venue should not be place or home country of one party because situation like this might create complications for opposite party. Higher CQ fixes this problem. It is preferred that venue a neutral is chosen for these negotiations.

The previous relationship is also features which affect negotiations. The impact of the CQ if parties have a previous relationship which existed is will be less.

Negotiators often exert impact on all the areas including the pre- negotiation, negotiation process and post negotiation. These features and moderators are deciding factors in the negotiation and outcomes of the negotiations are greatly dependent on these moderates. The venue of the negotiation, power dynamics, etc. plays a decisive role.

Bazerman et al. (2000) while discussing upon cross cultural negotiation literature suggested that the most common way of negotiation across cultures states deliberate changes in the negotiation. CQ is also an important variable in international business negotiations.

References

1. Bazerman, M. H., Curhan, J.R., Moore, D.A., & Valley, K.L. (2000). Negotiation. Annual Review of Psychology, 51, 279-314.
2. Black, J.S., & Mendenhall, M. (1991). The U-curve adjustment hypothesis revisited: A review and theoretical framework. Journal of International Business Studies, 22, 225-247.
3. Earley, P.C. (2002). Redefining interactions across cultures and organizations: Moving forward with cultural intelligence. Research in Organizational Behavior, 24, 271-299.
4. Earley, P.C., & Ang, S. (2003). Cultural Intelligence: An analysis of individual interactions across cultures. Palo Alto: Stanford University Press.
5. Gelfand, M.J., & Brett, J.M. (2004). Integrating negotiation and culture research. In M.J. Gelfand & J.M. Brett (Eds.), The Handbook of Negotiation and Culture. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, pp. 415-428.ek 5