Literature Review & Practical - Assignment Example

Negotiation with the Chinese has been identified as a critical factor in developing business relationships with the Chinese. In order to understand the Chinese negotiation style, researchers have drawn from the findings of the research conducted by Hofstede with respect to analyzing various cultures on the basis of certain dimensions. These dimensions include power distance, masculinity, uncertainty avoidance and long term orientation. The Chinese society tends to be characterized by high power distance, low masculinity, high uncertainty avoidance and long term orientation.

This is reflected in how deference is shown to those who are higher up in the social hierarchy. Furthermore, decision making is largely influenced by the highly collectivist nature of the Chinese people who tend to take pride in social gains rather than individual ones. As a result of this and the moderate masculinity, the Chinese are generally less ambitious and do not seek personal achievements by and large. Satisfaction is derived primarily from social order and harmony. Another critical basis of analyzing the Chinese negotiation style is to draw the line between cultures that are labelled as “high context” and those labelled as “low context”. . ext cultures, on the other hand, rely more on verbal communication and negotiation and direct eye-to-eye contact that is missing in cultures such as that of the Chinese.

Managers under low context cultures, therefore, tend to be result-driven and focused on getting things done as soon as possible which leads them to negotiate aggressively. Under high context cultures, however, managers tend to focus on building interpersonal relationships as well as trust on an individual level before negotiating on business matters. Therefore, it is not surprising to see hospitality being extended through social gatherings particularly meeting in restaurants. Giving expensive gifts and discussing personal topics such as family wellbeing are a commonplace in the Chinese negotiation style (Edfelt, 2010).

The principal force guiding Chinese negotiation is Guanxi. Guanxi is described as the web of personal connections that is quintessential to get things going and done (Edfelt, 2010). Legal contracts are, therefore, overshadowed by interpersonal relationships. Guanxi is therefore, essentially an implied commitment which two or more people share with the belief that their current relationship is heavily influenced by the possibilities that lie in the future (Edfelt, 2010). As a result, the Chinese may not trust the party they are dealing with during the negotiation process which is why they may be reluctant to hand over significant responsibility to the other party.

This has been illustrated by one of the negotiations between employees of a Western firm called Electrolux and a Chinese firm called Motosuzhou. The negotiation pertained to the formation of a joint venture between the two firms. However, as it turned out, the Chinese delegation engaged in significant effort to analyze whether