Introduction
So many contemporary news itemsâBrexit, the Trans-Pacific Partnership, the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership, renegotiating the North American Free Trade Agreement, negotiating and renegotiating the Iranian nuclear dealâdemonstrate the need for negotiating settlements, and the urgency in doing so. When considering the management of global business affairs, factors including changing foreign laws, regulations, national political risks, interfirm strategic alliances, and intra-firm organizational design can all become potential sources of divergence of interests and of confrontation among stakeholders. This generates demands for learning and understanding about the discipline of negotiation, which in essence is enacting dialogue and direct communication between adversaries and among friends, to promote harmony, agreement, peace, and prosperity.
Historically, negotiation is one of the oldest human practices. To this day, the skill of knowing how to negotiate is considered a valuable tool for reconciling differences in our professional and social lives. The need for negotiation skills will endure for as long as humanity does. In modern times, against the backdrop of the emerging global society where people-to-people contact and networking are a day-to-day phenomenon, the negotiation field has attracted attention from scholars and practitioners from diverse disciplines, including sociologists, behaviorists, lawyers, anthropologists, and economists (LangoviÄ-MiliÄeviÄ, Cvetkovski, & LangoviÄ, 2011). Negotiation and diplomacy go hand in hand; international relationships among nations are the outcome of peaceful negotiations based on internationally recognized norms and rules. War, conflict, litigation, use of force, and coercion can solve problems temporarily but they may break down the basic fabric of human societies and their well-being. Even the most complex and complicated of negotiations, on the other hand, can be followed through to a constructive agreement.
Benjamin (2012) writes that âSince the end of World War II, in which the specter of nuclear war impelled the development of more âscientificâ methods of conflict management, negotiation and mediation were reinvented into a more ârationalâ and acceptable form.â Still, the human race has demonstrated, time and time again, a strong reluctance to pursue negotiation as a conflict resolution model. In fact, since World War II we have witnessed many other large-scale instances of armed combat; millions have been killed, villages and cities have been decimated, and there has been human suffering on a vast scale. The negotiation option was always there; still, parties opted to fight, leading to human disaster. The discords of past and present wars continue to haunt nations and societies in many parts of the world, with suffering taking many forms (poverty, hunger, disease, mass displacement, separation of families, death, abuse, and so on). Clearly, we need more negotiation in our world. âEvery human being negotiates at some point in his or her life, on some matter or another, some more effectively than others. We have survived and thrived as a species largely because of this ability. And, of all modes of conflict management, negotiation processes are the most flexible, efficient, economical and eminently sensible in the human repertoire for managing issues, differences, and controversiesâ (Benjamin, 2012).
The Need for Learning About Negotiation
Negotiation is, at once, an art and science. It is a multidisciplinary subject in which socio-cultural, behavioral, psychological, and economic factors interact with each other and with the negotiation subject.
Who negotiates? Well, everybody negotiates. Whether you are a lawyer, a seller or buyer, a health officer, or a politician, you negotiate. In the context of business transactions, negotiations may take place between different players (listed below as examples) to settle issues ranging from type, price, quality, and design, to delivery date, guarantee, warranties, insurance, and afterâsales services:
- 1.Suppliers and producers
- 2.Producers and customers
- 3.Business to business to consumer
- 4.Business to government
- 5.Government to government
- 6.Interfirm co-operations
Negotiation can take pace at local, national, and international levels. Managers need to learn about the various factors involved when negotiating at each of these levels. Learning about factors influencing negotiations conducted at local and national levels is relatively easier than learning about those involved in negotiations that take place at the international level. Local and national cultural systems are more homogeneous than the global cultural system. At the international level, the negotiation environment is diverse, multifaceted, and fast-changing.
The demand for learning about negotiation as a means to resolve human problems is increasing, given that other options (e.g., litigation and the use of military might) have not been able to produce sustainable results, and come with a hefty price tag. Negotiation is a particularly appropriate tool when there are many issues happening simultaneously; it offers the ability to design a wide variety of options to perfect an acceptable solution. These issues range from socio-cultural phenomena, political-economic integration and disintegration, global conflicts, and immigration, to digital transformation, artificial intelligence, and cryptocurrencies. Similarly, other problems such as poverty, unemployment, the wealth gap, environmental issues, and discrimination deserve deep understanding and quick resolution, given that they affect peopleâs most basic well-being; negotiation can provide such understanding and these solutions, whereas other processes cannot.
These issues have increased the challenges for business negotiators as business management is no longer a local issue. The mobility of people, information, systems, and products has made it easier for business transactions and relations to take place across the globe. Such operations and relationships involve bilateral and multilateral negotiation and renegotiation activity. Contemporary business organizations have become even more dynamic and flexible in managing their operations. Information is available to all interested parties, decision-making is less centralized, and managers are empowered to negotiate business transactions. Job options, production options, and service options are available, creating a business and a professional environment conducive for negotiating optimal agreements.
Culture and Negotiation
In international negotiations , the challenge is now effectively managing differences across cultures and dealing with the different expectations of the parties involved in negotiations. Therefore, leading negotiation events does not only involve outcome distribution of a particular bargaining session but also managing context, socio-cultural protocols, and etiquette. Studies show that as differences in cultural systems influence management practices and approaches across nations (Alvesson, 2002), they have a significant impact on the way negotiations are undertaken. For example, national culture influences managerial decision-making...