Cross Cultural Business Negotiations (United States and Japan) Essay

Abstract catch Cultures and acquiring skills necessary to make a ford cultural stemma duologue a successful and pleasant visualize for both theatrical roleies snarly makes much much than just the overview of the culture and it becomes unwaveringly because of the complexity of the culture to grab the entire core of a immaterial culture without investing liberal time and effort into it, however sign visiting of the c formerlypts sas wellge be a good start. General k without delayledge is that Ameri excepttocks railway line men or coach-and-fours at times thumb out of their comfort z one when negotiating with their Nipponese counterpart because of the behaviours demonstrated by Nipponese which argon, just like all separate culture, argon merely based on their assumptions , beliefs, norms and customs which argon unfamiliar to early(a) party. Understanding the cross cultural aspects atomic number 18 extravagantlyly beneficial for either of the parties involved and fecal matter proudly facilitate communication by decreasing the accident of every possible misunderstanding.Either Ameri dismisss or lacquerese both gain t sackency to bring their own cultural background with them while negotiating which of rail line affects the behaviours and ultimately the end result. American and Nipponese cultures hardly prep ar either similarities so clashes caused by cultural differences atomic number 18 inevitable for example what may be beted acceptable by the standards of one party might non be acceptable by the standards of early(a)(a). This makes understanding the cultural issues and behaviours in hold outledge more burning(prenominal) especially for Americans if they plan to negotiate with Nipponese because Nipponese might non combine both direct clue well-nigh where the dialogue is heading as Americans expect from other American managers during business negotiations. In this paper mevery cross cultural areas based on dis similar models are discussed which helped us to identify the similarities and differences among these cultures, understanding of these similarities and differences can help managers to formulate by rights strategies to achieve maximum output from the negotiation process and make cross cultural interactions and negotiations a pleasant stupefy down for bothparties involved.Cross cultural Business Negotiations (United States and japan) In todays global world, businesses are continuously expanding all over the world. For the business world, thither are no boundaries or borders. Companies are constantly moving to newly places and finding new business opportunities, new business partners. And in this search, they are often expanding their business across countries. Although, companies are adopting an international approach and partnering with other companies across borders, in this process they cod to cope with the cultural differences of different countries. Talking intimately A merican and Japanese business culture, there are big differences surrounded by the deuce. If an American businessman decides to do with business with whatever Japanese lodge, he allow for have to plan and prepare for his come across extensively. First, lets talk well-nigh the differences in American and Japanese culture.GLOBE Study was able to establish nine cultural dimensions which al world-class baseed capturing the differences and similarities between different societies and cultures in the basic nature of it, which consists of behaviours and artefacts, different beliefs and jimmys a particular society have, interpreting patterns and assumptions. It allowed GLOBE to create country clusters. flat fit in to GLOBEs country clusters U.S.A is in Anglo cluster whereas Japan is in Confucian cluster and differences become greater as the outmatch between clusters increase. Anglo and Confucian cultures are almost on the opposite sides. This mover they hardly share similarities in context of dimensions given by Hofstede. post distance is first and new-fashioned course of actions suggest that Japan has just now started making its place near the world average in baron distance for example victory of the democratic party of Japan in the elections of 2009 as they vowed to diminish the power of bureaucrats which makes it evident that they are becoming less(prenominal) tolerant of the power distance hardly lighten they have a bulky itinerary to go. Americans on the other hand always had a low power distance as the Anglo cluster ranks high in participative approach but Confucian is at the bottom in front affection East. In Case of individualism Japan is at the collective end of the individualism/collectivism. Recent trend suggests that the descents between employee and employer in Japan are becoming strained but collectivism is still more dominant. In context of this dimensionAmericans have one of the highest constructs in individualism. The vertical structures of American organizations are designed for convenience and to make superiors accessible. Managers have high dependency on individual employees for their expertise.Next dimension is of Masculinity/womanhood and Japan has one of the most masculine society around the globe. According to Hofstedes original sample Japan ranked highest among all the countries in this dimension. Like many other dimensions trend in this dimension has besides started shifting in Japan for example the equal employment probability legislation which happened in mid 80s helped removing many barriers for the women but still according to studies more than 60% of disciplineing women quite their jobs aft(prenominal) their first child. High ranking of Japan in masculinity excessively indicates that the Japanese society is driven by competition and achievement. Low score on masculinity or being placed on or close to femininity end means that the dominant values in particular society are caring for othe rs and being more c erstwhilern active quality of life.Americans ranked just slightly above the halfway on masculinity which means that distance between these two cultures in context of this dimension is considerable. Next dimension is uncertainty evasion. Talking rough Japanese, generally they have tendency to avoid uncertainty but as in past long time almost manufacturers left Japan and this trend affected the tolerance for uncertainty in pretend environment. If trend continues it can significantly reduce the number of mountain who are loyal to the employer and can flourish the entrepreneurial trends which are commonly seen in United States as it willing affect the number of job opportunities available domestically. Students after gradation will face immense competition and will probably have one shot at employment or they will be frozen out of the job market. United States is more risk fetching society but currently it had also started to lean toward uncertainty avoida nce because of some different trends, for example decline of the stock market and recent recession period of 2007-2009 plus the housing bubble bust.All these factors make people to seek for security and less risky investment opportunities. other factor which might have effected is the treat they have from other emerging nations which are economically becoming more powerful and it can cause Americans to take more defensive stance and to look for more stable grounds rather than being risk taking society. one(a) other dimension called pragmatism which deals with thebehavioural trend of people near having the invoice of the things. If we talk active normative societies most of the people require of have a hale desire to have an explanation but in pragmatic societies, people might not require explanation for everything because they consider it almost impossible that a person can amply understand the phenomena around them because of the complexity of life. Americans have tendency t o check and meditate the information they receive for validity. This trend in culture makes us consider most of the Americans as non-pragmatic but the fact that they are very functional should not be confused. Japanese culture is more of a high context culture.In Japanese business culture, they have more brain of belonging i.e. insider vs. outsider. They are more focused towards grammatical construction long confines kinships. Japanese are more relationship oriented rather than assign oriented. They are more focused on communicated understanding rather than bollock information. On the other hand, American culture is kind of a low context culture. It is more oriented towards rules and tasks. Tasks are given more importance than relationships. Relationships are universally short-term dependant on the tasks. Now as we have established the base and have the general understanding about the differences and similarities among both cultures we can move in advance to the negotiati on process between American and Japanese Managers. When an American manager plans on doing business and negotiating with a Japanese manager, the American manager of course has to be more active compared to the Japanese. Although both managers will have to be prepared for the showdown and negotiation on their behalves, still in case where American is approaching the Japanese, he will have to fully understand the culture and cultural differences, and because plan accordingly for meeting and negotiation.High context cultures are always harder to enter due to the fact that you cannot instantly create close relationships which are a trait of a high context culture. Americans need lavish time to understand and gather information about the culture, and plan extensively before they are prepared enough for the meeting with much(prenominal) huge cultural differences. They will have to work continuously to build relationship that Japanese can trust and consider an insider. Although tasks are important to Japanese, still they are more focused on get holdings rather than opinions and facts. As discussed before American culture promotes individualism while Japanese culture is moretowards collectivism. It is due to these and many other differences that the Japanese culture is looked at as a big obstacle in the way of doing business with Japanese companies or in Japan but once they have enough understanding and have enough preparation the simple differences and ways of Japanese culture are not that hard to start building relationship and earning the opportunity to become a part of Japanese business.For example, if an American manager wants to do business with a Japanese manager, and he is looking forward to a great start and getting a positive response, the first tone of voice in the meeting will be the greeting. Greeting is an important part of Japanese culture. Japanese people are always too polite. The deviate is an integral part of Japanese greeting, to show grati tude. Although, westerners are not pass judgment to bow, they are greeted with handshake combined with a slight bow from their Japanese counterpart. The next step is the turn of business cards. In Japanese culture, followed by greetings, all the professionals present in the meeting are expected to exchange their business cards. It can be seen as a way of introducing yourself and your organization. An American manager should collect enough information and work on clarifying piths of different aspects before getting into a meeting with any Japanese manager, as in Japanese culture, it is considered impolite to directly asseverate something or directly refuse.Disagreement is usually expressed nonverbally. Even if the Japanese are not interested to do business with you, they will not communicate it verbally or directly, in fact they will await for you to lose interest. Even if talking about employees, in Japanese culture, non performers turn int get fired. They could be transferred to another department or any other organization but are not fired. So the American manager has to be prepared for understanding this type of situation where he could anticipate the response of his counterpart. When talking about meetings, American manager must(prenominal) understand that to Japanese, meetings usually mean the opportunity to exchange information. Decisions are not usually made in meetings. In Japanese culture, meeting could be attended by subordinates but no one is expected to give any response at that time. It might seem to the foreigner in this situation that no one is taking interest but he should not be disheartened. This is how Japanese usually do business. They have ont discuss with outsiders.What American managers can do is they can take along an interpreter to helpbetter understand the Japanese counterpart and the meaning of their behaviour. Japanese people also take time to vex trust and a better relationship. So it is not expected to get on the spot res ponse from them. Japanese managers want to develop good and long lasting relationships before moving ahead in the business. In Japanese business culture, the core pillar of the culture is the come with. The company shapes the image of the person. So much importance is given to the company that even in their usual matters of life finales like marriage or renting out prop are based on the company one works in. If soulfulness wants to rent an apartment, the landlord will want to know in detail about the company that person works in. Even if that person changes the job, he will be obliged to let the landlord know.Then the landlord will take finality about continuing to let that person live there or not based on the reliability of the new company. Japanese people are socially ranked based on the company they work for. Japanese people are not expected to change jobs. The careers are developed within the company compared to careers developed within the market in American culture. In J apanese culture, people are expected to work for the same company throughout their life until they retire. This is helpful for both the company and the employee. Company saves the cost of new hiring and training while employees choose to be on a safe path and they have a genius of security in their careers. The same thing can be attached to business partners. Japanese managers will not move forward until they get to build a trustworthy relationship with an American manager. But once the relationship is developed, it will go a long way and the Japanese would like to keep on doing business as they look for consistency.This Japanese sense of loyalty could be very beneficial for the foreign company. some other part of Japanese culture is punctuality. So when planning for a meeting, the American manager should take note of being on time. They have learn specified start times and end times. Even deadlines are stringently followed. So being on time also shows your interest and helps d evelop some of the trust. Another aspect of Japanese business culture is that they dont talk about coin specifically. If money is discussed right away, it is taken as if the only concern is money here and that is all the terra firma negotiations are taking place. Japanese managers like to refer to money by expressions that are associated with it like payments, profits, wages, salaries etc and they only discuss itwhat they consider to be the right moment for it. Still their major concern is always about building relationships.If any manager starts away by talking about money he will be considered greedy and ill stylused. One discernment of not talking about money is that they consider counterparts to be outsiders unless they are able to develop enough trust. Also in cases where Japanese managers commemorate that they are comparatively in weak position, they avoid using ostracise words while talking about their organizations. It is expected that the other company will not be in terested to do business with them if they are in a weak position. So in such cases, they gain the interest of the other company by using words such as profits and success. Japanese managers try to develop interest in their company by taking confidence in their company and viewing satisfaction in their performance. At first, Japanese managers like to gather as much detail as possible about their counterpart and about the organization they are representing. It is then followed by a careful finis of whether they are ready to do business with them or not.So American managers should not get in any hurry and should not be expecting on the spot response. The first step for the Japanese managers is to determine the value of whatever is being offered. Even the foreign manager should not get up to talking about money as this is considered as an ill manner when one talks about money before them making a decision whether or not they want the service or business partnership. So any manager s hould wait for them to start talking about money as for Japanese, money or price is the second step in any negotiation although for Americans, this is considered to be an important part of any negotiation. Before entering into negotiation, American manager should study or understand the importance of nonverbal communication in Japanese culture. As we know that Japanese managers or businessmen are not that much straightforward, so their response is often portrayed by non verbal expressions or their frame language.Non verbal communication could include facial expressions, eye contact and other body language. But it could prove to be hard to detect as Japanese people are very subtle compared to Americans. Another strong part of Japanese culture during any business meeting is the exchange of gifts. Japanese always present their counterparts with gifts or exchange gifts as this is considered to be a demonstration of appreciation and courteous feelings. They consider it to be the part of their manners to give or receive gifts by standing up and using two hands. If these manners are not followed, Japanese feel hurt and take it as no value was given to their gift. A gift also serves the purpose of showing that they want to have some kind of relationship built with each other.The intention of building a relationship is made clear. Exchange of gifts is considered to be a part of Japanese greetings. As for Americans, gift giving is usually associated with asking for any favor or getting a return out of it. But for Japanese it is a mere custom and a way to praise. Contrary to American business culture, a delay in making any decision is not considered to be someones inefficiency. They rather take it as a difference in decision making process. But once they take the responsibility of completing a job, one can easily put their faith on them even if it is out of reach of their capabilities and they have a way of coming out with exceptional results.ConclusionCompared to othe r business cultures in the world, the Japanese business culture is unique in its own way. And it may seem like an obstacle, but once one get to understand the basics of culture, it also provides security to their business by building life time relationships. Some of the traits of Japanese culture are their loyalty, consistency, collectivism, their way of giving respect. If American managers do their research before meeting Japanese managers for negotiations, and take care of little details while complimenting them in accordance with their culture, Japanese will be very pleased and any negotiation can be expected to result in opt of both the parties. Japanese are pleased by foreign managers who are acquainted with their customs and they will in return make the American managers feel more comfortable and relaxed. And at the same time it will be beneficial by enhancing the communication among both parties. In short, cognizance of cross culture is the key to better communication betwe en two so distant cultures.ReferencesBrislin, R. (1970). Back-translation for cross cultural research. Journal of Cross Cultural Psychology, 1, 185216.Arizona Republic, September 14, 1986, Meishi Card of status, p. F-1 and F-8.Wall Street Journal, Aunt Helen Japans Answer to Dear Abby, March 26, 1987, p. 36.Barnett, A. & Kincaid, D. (1983). A mathematical scheme of cultural convergence. In William B. GudyKunst. ed., Intercultural Communication Theory Current Perspectives. (pp. 171-179). Beverly Hills. CA Sage.Economist. (2010). Into the terra incognita A special report on Japan. Nov. 20, 116.Hofstede, G. (2001). 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