In this video the Kellogg professor Joanne Brett argues too little attention has been paid to managing conflict in business relationships between China and the West. Brett cites the foundational reason for this to be the differences in how conflicts are addressed by westerners versus how they are addressed by east Asian cultures. Brett illustrates the differences in east-west conflict styles using a real-life business problem anecdote between a German buyer and a Chinese manufacturer She concludes that cultural awareness and sensitivity to direct and indirect confrontation styles can really pay off.
This video was presented in complement to class exercises where groups evaluated cases of international conflict management styles. My group was presented with an east-west pairing between American and Russian business interests. In our scenario the Russian counterparts appeared to be dragging out the negotiation with shorter, less productive meetings and staging group outings. This led the Americans to extend their trip and wait them out which led to concessions and a settled negotiation. While this style tested the patience of the Americans it was their lack of cultural awareness that led to the frustration. Russians are high on an uncertainty avoidance, and as such when negotiations are started the focus is on relationship building. Whereas for Americans, negotiations are set to be efficient and aggressive. The lesson I take from this is to engage your counterpart wholly so that you can work collaboratively to identify a share understanding of the situation and arrive at comfortable solutions, in spite of cultural approaches.
LO4: Apply communication-centered scholarship to strengthen communication and effectiveness.
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