Chinese And Americans Negotiations Style

Chinese And Ameri undersurfaces dialogs Style chinaw ar has been go a discern player in the world stage since last two decades for her fast organic evolution of parsimonymilitary force and so on. More and to a greater extent(prenominal) countries regard China as an emerging market for her huge authorization market and big amount of potential target customers at that placefore, many countries necessitate to operate trade in China. According to the survey, America is genius of the biggest annihilateureup crackners of China it leads to maintain Chinas second largest trading reciprocation sectionner, bi afterwardal trade amounted to 102.34 adept million million U.S. dollars, an increase of 11.4%. Among them, Chinas exports to the U.S. $ 74,300,000,000, an increase of 6.9%, to a greater extent than a quarter of accelerating 1.5 percentage points whole oer the kindred period accounted for 17.5% of the total value of Chinese exports imported 28.04 billion U.S. dollar s from the unite States, an increase of 25.6%, trade surplus of 46.26 billion U.S. Dollars.As trade increases, more and more Ameri fire companies collect chosen to develop the Chinese market. art object the problem also appears, it is difficult to negotiate with the Chinese. With the 5,000 years Chinese tralatitious nicety, many multi matter firms realized that China has her stimulate duologue style. This get in was mentioned by Lucian Pye (1992, p.74, cited by Tian, 2007), the Chinese may be less create in technology and industrial organization than we, but for centuries they consume cognize few peers in the subtle art of negotiating . When measured against the effort and happen uponment the Chinese bring to the pledgeing table, Ameri provide executives f merely short.From the above background, we privy see that if the foreign phone line people ask to do line of merchandise in China, learning Chinese dialogue style is truly primary(prenominal). With unsatis factory admitledge and skills of Chinese dialog style, it race be difficult for Ameri tidy sums to heed in striking a desirable deal with Chinese partners and in developing clientele in China. For this maneuver, this essay leave behind do a systematic in altogethery analysis on how to dialog with Chinese, particularly for the Americans.This essay aims for effectuate pop out how to understand Chinese talks style and find out the differences of negotiation styles mingled with Chinese and Americans, to provide useful information on how to achieve a win-win object. In this essay, the main body will be the analysis of Chinese negotiation style. Section one will introduce somewhat fundamental information of negotiation in section two, the Chinese culture stands will be illustrated in section three, the affinity of negotiation style between Chinese and Americans will be indicated in section four, the conclusion will be given which is take d knowledgeing though there be many differences among negotiation styles, the common rules quieten existed among these countries.NegotiationBased on Tian (2007), there are two parts confer to negotiation process, which are common interests and conflicting interests. How ever so, many scholars hold diverging views from divers(prenominal) perspectives. From the kind exchange theory, it defines negotiation as a process, which localize on problem-solving communication for both(prenominal)(prenominal) parties aims for a win-win apprehension (McCall and Warrington, 1984 Graham, 1986, cited by Tian, 2007). Which centre it boil d averes on how to maximise the benefits accruing to all parties. and then, it can be seen there is a positive relationship between two parties without hurting for each one other, the conflicts will also be addressed in a way that benefits all.Specifically, cordial exchange theory insists on a cooperative strategy of negotiation. This implies that both parties consider to collabora te with each other and unify the interests of all aim for achieve mutual benefits. The cooperative strategy is illustrated as principled negotiation. As a principled negotiation, it rivetes on separate the human from the problem focus on benefits rather than positions options for mutual benefits insist on objective criteria and no tricks and posturing. In all, the negotiation parties can gain from negotiation in a decent and fair manner. (Tian, 2007).Another theory is the game theory. This theory emphasizes on a win or lose discernment. It fancys negotiation as a process that both parties communicate with each other in a competitive manner. (Raiffa, 1982 Siebe, 1991, cited by Tian, 2007). It defines negotiation as each company postulates to maximize its own benefits at the cost of the other side. During negotiation all the parties can fight with one another in order to maximize their own interests. Hence, we can see that game theory is based on a competitive strategy.The third t heory is called cross-cultural theory. This theory focuses on a specific type of negotiation, which is the divergent culture background. It indicates that unalike cultures may lead to different negotiation styles. Based on Tian (2007), game theory and mixer exchange theory have few implications on negotiation process, darn the around influential factor is negotiators from different culture backgrounds need to have a basic understanding of each others cultural environments and negotiation styles this will very helpful on the success of negotiation. In this essay, we will focus on the cross-cultural negotiation style to analysis the Chinese and Americans negotiation. pagan roots of the Chinese negotiation style dissever of scholars argued that Chinese culture can be divided into two aspects one is traditional Chinese culture, the other one is contemporary Chinese semipolitical culture (Tian, 2007 Fang and Ghauri). tralatitious Chinese cultureConfucianism is one of the most influ ential factors on Chinese negotiation style. There are six basic Confucian values. first it emphasizes on honorable cultivation. It regards trust and sincerity as the most important qualities. Secondly, it think ofs highly of interpersonal relationships. Guanxi is a major mechanism in the Chinese social psychology. Thirdly, Confucianism pays attending on family and group orientation. The fourth factor is the take to be of the age and hierarchy. Being a Chinese who needs to show detect to the aged people for hierarchy, people should does his duty to contribute to social congruity and stability. The fifth factor is harmony first. Confucianism highlighted the need aim for harmony in the whole society by moral conduct in all kinds of relationships. The last factor is face, Confucianism educated the people they all should have a sense of shame in their minds. Face is a fundamental moral mechanism on Chinese way of life. (Fang and Ghauri).Sun Tzus stratagems which known as Ji or Ch inese stratagems, has a huge impact on Chinese strategic business demeanour. Sun Tzus provides Chinese with various kinds of solutions when roach about different situations how to gain psychological and material advantage to achieve ones purpose. Chinese negotiator is often Sun-Tzu- like strategist, seldom wages a physical business war but rather might be keen on a psychological wrestling of wit to create a roaring situation to manipulate his/her counterpart into doing business his/her way. (Fang and Ghauri Chas.W, 1999). The most popular part of Sun Tzus stratagems is the Thirty-six ancient Chinese stratagems.Agrarian mentalities China has a large agrarian population fir over 4,000 years. Even during the pagan Revolution during 1966-1976, millions of students in urban areas were sent to the countryside by Mao Zedong to allow them re-educated by the peasants. Even though most of the students went back to the city they relieve passed their re-educated values gained from countr yside to their off springs which is completely different with westerly countries. Based on many scholars research, (Tian, 2007 Graham and Lam Pye, 1992), thrift and endurance are the most outstanding characteristics of the agrarian mindset when Chinese negotiating. So the agrarian mentalities continue to have a big bring on the way of persuasion of the Chinese.Political CultureMao Zedongs bureaucratic heritage and Deng Xiaopings pragmatism are the most important political cultures in China.Mao Zedongs bureaucratic heritage this political culture based on orthodox Marxist-Leninist political orientation with three main features. Firstly, the leader of the ships company has the biggest power on political and personnel. Secondly, fragmented and stratified bureaucratic agencies. Different ministries, province governments, government departments and agencies bargain and compete with each other over allocation of special(a) resources. Bureaucrats typically have good skills of bargain ing within the system. Thirdly, the art of survival in the bureaucracy was responsibility avoided. The reason for this is how the unique bureaucratic system works. In China, power means allthing especially in political, therefore, everyone tried very austere to avoid mistakes so they can stay at the office as usual. Some of them do everything based on orthodox Marxist-Leninist doctrines, some shifting responsibilities onto the others.Deng Xiaopings pragmatism Deng is the leader of China economy reform which begun with market-oriented economy reform. During the reform period, Deng had to overcome the political barriers left from the previous period. Therefore, Deng promoted a pragmatist ship canal of thinking within the ships company leadership, which has fundamental changed the political beliefs, attitudes, values and feelings of Chinese society at larger ever since. Dengs theory emphasized on practice rather than theory means. Moreover, Deng also promoted that white or black, it is a good cat as broad as it catches nice, in his view, as long as China can achieve frugal development and modernization, no matter what kinds of the measures are, the measures should be taken.From the above analysis, we can say that China not only has her own traditional culture, but also has her tangled political culture. All of the factors have big impact on Chinese negotiation style.The differences between Chinese negotiation and Americans negotiationPolitics influenceLots of scholars pointed that, China constantly has a huge negotiation group but with little power on decision- make. (Adair, et al, 2001 Ghauri and Fang). To be specific, this power refers to the negotiation team power. The key reason to this phenomenon is in China, it is scarcely to separate business from politics. In the Chinese Communist culture, they think politics is all-pervasive while on the contrast, Americans believe that business and politics should be separated (Pye, 1992). Ghauri and Fang also pointed that, if you want to do business in China, you should pay enough upkeep to the Chinese government because the government is the biggest boss and Chinese enterprises are just their factories. Chinese economic structure is more centralized while Americans is more fan out and free. They also indicated foreign firms should be sensitive to the guiding principles of Chinas social and economic development set forth by the Chinese Communist Party and the Chinese government, and also, should make a careful study of the Chinese governments priorities and death penalty policies. In the contrast, Americans regard business is business and politics is politics, which are tout ensemble different aspects in the negotiation process.Legal Influence The Chinese count on the interpersonal relationship is more important than intelligent start out, which is totally different from Americans. As Pye (1992) mentioned, Chinese culture traditionally shuns court-ordered considerations and inste ad stresses good and moralist principles, whereas Americans are thought to be highly legalistic. So historically, Chinese and western cultures has quite different views about the importance of legal process. The Chinese seem to be bound by their tradition non-legalistic practices. Tian (2007) also indicated that, the Chinese negotiators do not pay much attention to legal agreement as western people do. They focus more on interpersonal trust, friendship and guanxi. Some American business community argued that they learned that among Chinese it was a traditional way to seal agreements with only the oral commitment, a nod of the head, or a handshake (Pye, 1992). This Chinese negotiation style is intimately connect to the Confucianism that required people to appreciate interpersonal relationships rather than laws and legal regulations and also, it is a reflection of emphasizes on the harmony. In the contrast, Americans consider legal tailor is much more persuasive than personal rel ationship. As Pye (1992) indicated that the majority of American negotiators are lawyers, which means that the Americans consider the contract is the most important part of negotiation.Holistic Thinking Graham and Lam pointed that the Chinese always consider the question from a whole picture however, the Americans think sequentially and individualistically. Chinese negotiators always start negotiations on the customary principles first and leave details to the later stages (Tian, 2007). Also, Pye (1992) pointed the Chinese seek agreement on generalities, dwelling on overall considerations, and avoiding specific details as much as possible, leaving, as they like to say concrete arrangements to later negotiations. But the Americans are more in favour of solve problems one by one. Why the Chinese like use this negotiation style? The reason can be considered consistent with Maos bureaucratic heritage the party leaders always set the general principles and the fol displaces had to agre e upon before any details can be discussed. According to Pye (1992) and Tian (2007), some western businessmen argued this as a negotiating ploy. They argued that Chinese negotiators can take advantages of the signed general principles at the later stage of negotiations. This ploy is quite obvious when it comes to the specific details. Assume that both parties were arguing about details while at this moment, Chinese negotiators can attack the other side for not complying with the general principles signed earlier. Therefore this can be called one of the thirty-six stratagems-shut the door to catch the thief. Nevertheless, stock-still the western businessmen consider this as a ploy it still has its advantages. Pye (1992) said that Chinese can quickly turn an agreement on principles into an agreement on goals and so insist that all discussion on concrete arrangement must foster those agree-upon goals. This measure is useful during negotiation process approved by a American by making each agreement between us move from a more general to a more technical level, the Chinese can unendingly argue that what they were insisting upon in operating procedures was logically consistent with all that had been agree to before.they sure taxed out patience and always put us on the defensiveInformation exchange (emotional aspect) the Americans pay more attention on the information exchange during negotiation process they can admit the discussion as main method to solve the problems, even the discussion is very intensive. In contrast, the Chinese are focusing whether the counter party gives their face or not. In Chinese business culture, ones reputation and social standing rest on saving face. Assume that foreign businessmen cause the Chinese embarrassment or lose face, even circumstantially it can be disastrous for negotiation process. Moreover, Tian (2007), Ghauri and Fang, found that face is passing important for Chinese. They argued that if someone gives enough face to t he Chinese negotiators, they will express as a Confucian gentlemen otherwise they will return you back or set block in the negotiation process. Therefore, from this perspective we can see that compared with the Americans, the Chinese are thinking highly of face.Time loose Americans in favour of fast meeting when negotiation, while the Chinese need much more time to build the trust with counter party before negotiation. The reason is influenced by Confucianism Chinese only do business with someone they can trust while trust building is a time-consuming issue. As one Chinese negotiator said they western firms want to come and sign the contract quickly and do not know that if we do not understand each otherthere is no business relationship first, we have to know and trust each other, and then we sign the contract(Ghauri and Fang).Patience Compared with the Chinese, Americans are more impatient. As long as an initial agreement has been reached, the American negotiators become more tha n ever impatient for the consummation of a deal, for they tend to assume that the step from general agreement to detailed substantive negotiations should be a short one (Adair et al, 2001). In many cases, the impatience of the Americans is fuelled by the fact that it is not convenient, or economical, to keep their entire negotiating team in China doing nothing (Pye, 1992). For the Chinese, however, this may be the time for substantial delay. The officials who have been talking with the Americans may not have the authority to go set ahead and must wait for the further instructions. The Chinese are also short of expert talent and thus lower officials may have to await the clearing of bottlenecks in their own hierarchies. Also, Chinese cadres often seem genuinely to feel that once there has been an agreement in principle, congratulations are in order, and therefore, they are in no hurry to get into the potentially troublesome haggling over details.Negotiation team the Chinese negotiat ion team tends to be a large one but indecisive compared with Americans. According to Tian (2007), a western businessman pointed that it is common that lots of people from carious government departments and commissions (such like planning, economic and foreign trade commissions and the like) get snarled in the negotiation team. Apart from government officials, some representatives from various departments of the Chinese company are often also invited to participate in the negotiating team, aims for avoid possible non-collaboration in the long term. The feature of the Chinese negotiation style is related to Maos bureaucratic heritage. Economic planning has been playing a key role even after reform since 1978 consequently, fragmented bureaucratic institutions have to maintain hold in over specific resource, which is even true at the enterprise level. As a Chinese negotiator admitted when it comes to negotiation of a lager object in which various departments are involved, if you do not ask each of these departments to come, they will probably make complaints and wont support your work very much in the futuretherefore, in order to coordinate our work, we asked every department to send one representative to form our negotiating team (Fang, 1999, p.208, cited by Tian, 2007).Nothing is ever final Americans hold the view that once the contract universe signed, then all the parties should show up the expected behaviour in a fixed time aims for perform the contract in time. The Chinese seem to have less feeling for the drama of agreement and little expectation that any formalized contract will end the process of negotiations. Lots of western negotiators argued that the Chinese brought up proposals for revising what had been agreed upon, right on the heels of signing a contract. Thus although they are reportedly scrupulous in adhering to agreements, they have no inhibitions in proposing changes. What is more, the Chinese officials do not seem troubled by the thought of explosively terminating contracts or in other words, the Chinese do not stick to the contracts as Americans do. As mentioned above, the Americans are more legalistic, but the Chinese think the sudden change or termination of the contract do not have influence on the relationship between the westerners while this is completely different compared with the Americans. In Americans view, once the agreement being signed, the negotiation process is over while the Chinese always tend to continue the process with always refreshful questions (Pye, 1992).Chinese stratagems The Chinese more likely to use stratagems during the negotiation process, while the Americans always being honest and humorous. Lots of scholars pointed that the Chinese in favour of using stratagems (Ji) during negotiation, which is too hard for them to identify (Tian, 2007 Fang, 2006 Miles, 2003). For example, when Ericson entered China during pre-negotiation stage, the Chinese changed negotiators suddenly, was being regarded as steal the beams and change the pillars, as mentioned above, the Chinese only doing business with the people they can trust with, without solid trust it is hardly for them to be truly honest, therefore they will use stratagems. As one negotiator admitted that they used the stratagems unconsciously but the stratagems occupied more than 10% in the negotiation process. Using stratagems, for the Chinese, is deeply influenced by the traditional Chinese culture.Risk-taking Americans are the endangerment-takers compared with the Chinese. They are often prepared to put forward new and innovative ideas, suggestions. This is often done without prior approval from headquarters and represents the risk the head of delegation is prepared to take, in order to reach consensus. This characteristic is widely neckd and highly respected by other delegations. Compared with the Americans, the Chinese negotiators are more conservative during negotiation, without any back guarantee or the hi gher direction from the upper level, the Chinese negotiators tend to be very careful, speak and act cautiously (Adler et al, 1992).Price-sensitive the Chinese are sensitive to price. Lots of foreigner negotiators said that the Chinese often keep asking for lower price during the whole negotiation process. This difference compared with Americans discussed in almost all the influential studies on Chinese negotiation styles. Such like Tian (2007), Pye (1992). This sensitiveness closely related to the Chinese agrarian mentalities, which emphasized thrift. It also related to Dengs pragmatism, based on the backward reality of China, which is, the resource is very limited that the Chinese have to pay attention to the cost issue. Moreover, the Chinese would think that we have provided you with a huge market with huge potential meshwork you need to give us favour back.The similarities between Chinese negotiation and Americans negotiationProtectionism some scholars argue that the Chinese al ways being protective(p) to the local industries, especially for the national key industries, such like IT, telecommunication constancy. It is probably the common phenomenon in every country. Lately Huawei, the Chinese telecommunication enterprise wanted entered America but rejected by the national security department for the reason that the telecommunication is a key industry and it also consistent with the national security (Xu, 2011). From this we can see that, no matter China or America, both of them pay special attention to the key industries.Pragmatic The Americans tend to be very practical, pragmatic ones. They do not interest in high-flown rhetoric or speeches in the negotiation process. As the Chinese, they are very practical people as well. They have the clear purpose when negotiation, which is obtain the favour and reach the win-win result. demonstrationIn this essay we mainly analyzed the differences and the similarities of the negotiation style between Chinese and Amer icans. It is hardly to give a definite conclusion which is discover than the other one. But for China, there are four points for them to amend compared with the Americans in the negotiation process in the future. Firstly, the Chinese should learn from the Americans they prefer the legal contract rather than the personal relationships. Since nowadays, China is getting more involved in the world business, facing various kinds of counter negotiation parties, different cultures around the world, the business need to base on the legal contract. It should be seen as a secure for the business. With the rapid development of economic and culture, legal, is becoming a main method to protect the rights and interests between the people, the Chinese should recognize this. Secondly, the huge but indecisive negotiation team should be improved. payable to the unique culture of China bureaucracy, the Chinese negotiation team always bigger than its actual needed. This is a waste of human resource a lso, each department of the government should be separate from each other, each performs its own functions, if so, the efficiency of negotiation will be enhanced better. But to achieve this target, it will take a long time and the joint efforts of all departments. Thirdly, the Chinese always behave nothing is ever final even the contract signed already. This is a performance of bad faith it is ill for the Chinese to continue doing business with the foreigner partners. In other words, the root cause of this phenomenon is the indifference of Chinese legal concept. For the Americans, they should learn from the Chinese being patient when negotiating, it is easy to make loss due to the decision make when lost impatience.