Cultural differences in internal negotiations

Most people assume cultural differences are between negotiators from two or more different companies or countries. Reality? Cultural differences exist between functional groups within a business, large or small.

The business development team often complains that the technical organization is infatuated with a “maybe winner” rather than improving “proven winners” to win big. They argue that the technical team focuses on custom or applications-based products, making exponential growth difficult. The technical team thinks business development wants to allocate resources to not-so-innovative work.

A large U.S. telecom company lost a significant network upgrade opportunity. The technical organization wanted to propose a state-of-the-art network operations center (NOC) with all the bells and whistles. The business development team wanted to win the bid with a modified version of the current least-cost NOC. The internal conflict delayed the response to the request for a proposal, and the customer did not grant an extension.

The cultural differences between functional groups can delay agile decision-making and successful outcomes. The primary reason is that different cultures drive different behaviors, communication styles, and norms.

Cultural conflict in negotiations occurs for two main reasons:

First, negotiators stereotype when confronting cultural differences. Stereotypes are often pejorative (Business Development organization does not care about the quality). They lead to misleading assumptions about the other side’s behavior.

Suppose a negotiator is consistently late to meetings. In that case, you might better understand his behavior and change your negotiating approach for that particular situation. In addition, awareness of your cultural norms can help you anticipate how your counterpart might interpret your negotiating behavior. It’s not just about being aware of the other side’s behavior but also how they might perceive yours.

A second common reason for cultural misreading is that we interpret others’ behaviors and norms from our cultural perspective. It is essential to learn other parties’ criteria to avoid this mistake.

In any negotiation, study the context and the person on the other side of the bargaining table. Know the various cultures she belongs to—engineering, finance, and marketing.