Transcript Culture, Communication and Language

Week 7
Starter
 Turn to the person next to you
 One of you needs to be person A and the other person
B
 You are neighbours and person A wants to borrow
person B’s car but person B does not want to lend it
 Person A has 3 minutes to persuade person B
 Tip: Be Creative!
What was the result?
Win - Lose
 Lose - Win
 Lose - Lose
 Win - Win
 What does win-win mean?
 What are the benefits of win-win?
Learning Objectives
 Identify situations in which conflict may arise
 Suggest some benefits of conflict
 Consider your negotiation style and the benefits and
drawbacks of it
 Practice negotiation skills
 Evaluate the impact of culture on negotiation situations
Conflict
 On your tables discuss the following questions:
 What is conflict?
 Can you think of some times when there might be
conflict in a working environment? In life outside
work?
 Is conflict always a bad thing? If not how can it be
positive?
Conflict definition
 Conflict is ‘the perceived and/or actual
incompatibility of values, expectations,
processes or outcomes between two or more
parties over substantive and/or relational
issues’
 (Ting-Toomey, 1994)
Conflict Management Styles
Collaborating
ASSERTIVENESS
Competing
Compromising
Avoiding
Accommodating
CO-OPERATION
*
Adapted from Thomas Kilman Conflict Styles Inventory (TKI) 1974
Conflict resolution mode quiz
 Take the quiz and see if you are right:
http://academic.engr.arizona.edu/vjohnson/ConflictManage
mentQuestionnaire/ConflictManagementQuestionnaire.as
p
 Find other people with your conflict handling behaviour
style and consider the positives and drawbacks of your style
 What are the benefits of knowing your style/the T-K index?
 When might it be useful to use a different style?
The 5 Conflict Management Styles
Explored
 Accommodating: ‘Go along to get along’. Low
assertiveness, high cooperativeness. Useful for
unimportant choice eg which restaurant to visit
 Competing: ‘My way or the highway’. Low
cooperativeness and high assertiveness. Quick,
thinking, logical, disregards feelings eg word limits
 Avoiding: ‘I’ll think about it tomorrow’. Low
assertiveness and low cooperativeness. Quick. Eg my
assignment!
5 Conflict Management Styles Cont
 Collaborating: ‘Two heads are better than one’. High
cooperativeness and high assertiveness. Takes a lot of
time eg group work/presentation
 Compromising: ‘Split the difference’. Medium
cooperativeness and medium assertiveness
Benefits of Thomas-Kilman
Inventory
Four objectives:
(1) Know that you have five conflict-handling modes
available to you at all times
(2) develop the ability to assess the key attributes of a
situation
(3) use the mode that best fits the situation
(4) switch to a different mode as the attributes of the
situation change
Conflict resolution skills
 What skills might be required to resolve conflict
effectively?
 What are some of the components of that skill?
Negotiation Skills
 When have you had to negotiate at work?
 How successful were you?
 If you weren’t successful, why do you think that was?
Negotiation Timings
 5 minutes to prepare
 20 minutes to negotiate
 http://www.online-stopwatch.com/countdown-timer/
Negotiation outcome
 In your negotiation groups including your observer discuss:
 What went well/not so well and why?
 What conflict modes were used?
 What stages did you go through/would have been useful to
go through?
 What do you needs to be done at each stage?
4 Stages of Successful Negotitation
Preparation is key
 Determine a need to negotiate
 Always know your ODE
 Optimal
 Desirable
 Essential
 Do an appropriate amount of research for the
situation
 Find fact and information
 Consider logical arguments and how you are going to
persuade
Negotiations continued
 On your tables define negotiation
 List reasons why negotiations can fail
 From your knowledge of cultures so far from the
course think of all the elements that could effect
negotiations with specific examples
Negotiation definition
‘Negotiation is the process by which two or more
parties attempt to resolve a perceived divergence of
interest’
(Lewicki et al., 2006)
What does culture add to
negotiations?

Emphasis on relationships and obligation from Eastern cultures – need to allow time to get to know
each other

Emphasis of face – thus avoiding displays of anger. Importance of speaking with one voice and
avoiding conflict (Collectivists)

Indirect v direct plan – indirect may appear to ‘jump around’ the agenda and reverse

Polychronic – may be doing others things at the same time

Hierarchy – eldest is most senior in China. Sometimes the decision maker may not be present but is
being kept informed

Preference for verbal agreements rather than written (high context) may even try to re-negotiate after
the settlement has been made

Use of methaphors and storytelling (high context)

Competition culutures – Korean and Middle Eastern need to feel that they have ‘won’
(Beamer and Varner)
Negotiating with different cultures
‘The entire concept of negotiation is perceived
differently by people from different cultures’
(French, 2010)
e.g.
 Western approach:
involving a
problem solving activity
sequence of events
 Japanese approach:
agreement reached elsewhere
Low-Context and High-Context Negotiation
Tactics *V&B (2011) p359
Low Context Negotiation Tactics
High Context Negotiation Tactics
Supporting argument with factual
data
Supporting arguments with personal
connections
Offering counterproposals
Offering counterproposals
Silence
Silence
Disagreement
Suggesting additional items
Threatening the opposing side
Referring to precedent
Attacking opponents’ characters
Deferring to superiors
Avoiding certain issues
Avoiding certain issues
Expressing emotion
Avoiding conflict
Insisting on a final position
Remaining open and flexible
Making a final offer
Revisiting and reopening items
previously negotiated
Learning Objectives
 Identify situations in which conflict may arise
 Suggest some benefits of conflict
 Consider your negotiation style and the benefits and
drawbacks of it
 Practice negotiation skills
 Evaluate the impact of culture on negotiation situations
University Challenge
 In 2 teams everyone make up the hardest question you can
think of based on today’s session (that you know the
answer to)
 Take it in turn to ask your question to your opposite
number
 2 points if they answer it correctly
 1 point if they have to confer
 The winning team is the one that gets the most points
What to do next
 Complete you draft assignment and submit it by 11.55pm on
Monday 10th November
 Next week’s learning outcomes:
 Consider the significance of a multi-cultural workforce
 Assess the challenges of managing a culturally diverse team
 Discuss the variation in management practices in different
countries
 Examine the requirements of expatriate employees