Human Relations: "Chapter 9.5: Ethical and Cross-Cultural Negotiations"

Read about the role of ethics when negotiating with others and how national culture plays a role in negotiations. One example of the need to understand differences in cultures is explained in the chapter.  In China, “culturally, Chinese companies and workers do not like to say no.”  A question that asks for a yes or no answer, therefore, may “put the Chinese official in an uncomfortable position of saying no (which they likely would not do).”  To accommodate this Chinese way of thinking, the author suggests that we might rephrase the question to open-ended questions, e.g., “How will you do this for us and will  it be done?” Note: Concepts from this reading will be repeated in subunit 6.5.