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4 Cultural Differences in Negotiations: An Overview on the US, China and Germany |
by the other party: defensive measures and counter-tactics are called for. As situational behaviour qualifies as being tactical, experienced German negotiators often have quite a large repertoire of tactics at their disposal, albeit unwittingly. Thus in Germany, → silence is rarely used as an intentional tactic. Yet when questioned, one professional negotiator reported that s/he has acquired the skill to remain silent for longer than his/her Chinese negotiation partners. This, however, is not the norm: German negotiators often cannot maintain a poker face, or do not alter their → body language in order to disguise their true emotions. Despite emotionality being generally more reserved among Germans, feelings are expressed openly which makes it easier to identify differences of opinion between individual negotiators. According to one study,3 German negotiators have the highest self-disclosure rate among all the nations evaluated. As such, German negotiators tend to disclose a considerable amount of information about themselves, whether consciously or not.
4.1.7 Mock Negotiations
Mock negotiations are often conducted as preparation for the negotiation proper, but in Germany this practice is rather uncommon, even for high-profile business negotiations. If at all, big negotiations are theoretically thought through. It is likewise very rare to create notes on the other party’s negotiators as a follow-up to previous negotiations. Nonetheless, past negotiations—especially if they were high profile— are analysed and their results subsumed in upcoming negotiations. Due to the lack of knowledge management in this field, it is generally the negotiator him-/herself who is usually in charge of remembering past negotiation experiences.
4.1.8 Location, Time and Composition of the Negotiation
Team
German negotiators prefer offices as negotiation locations. This umbrella term encompasses conference rooms at airports and (occasionally) hotels, too. In companies, negotiations are generally held during office hours, which is why they rarely take place on Friday afternoons. This is closely related to the increasing importance of the work life balance and the fixed working hours of most employees; a circumstance which is also sometimes exploited in order to create time pressure (→ deadline) for a final agreement. In the context of international negotiations however, and particularly those held abroad, this time constraint is comparatively irrelevant. In these instances, German negotiators have no option but to adapt to the situative requirements. Generally speaking, German negotiators, who negotiate abroad to be more flexible and take local customs into account.
3 Cf. Hernandez Requejo and Graham (2008), p. 76 et seq.
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Unless the negotiation is very small, negotiation teams are ideally comprised of two members (→ two negotiators): for example one expert for technical questions and one for commercial-legal matters. However, negotiations on industry plants, company acquisitions and similarly important, complex negotiation subjects customarily require larger negotiation teams. Here, the technical, commercial and legal sides are represented separately. Even in very big negotiations, negotiation teams from Germany are routinely smaller than those from comparable countries, e.g. China or USA. In medium-sized negotiations, noticeable differences in team compositions can cause severe issues which in turn can quickly lead to deadlock situations. It is accordingly in the interests of both parties to strive for balanced negotiation teams. Due to the participation of a lawyer being relatively uncommon in certain sectors or negotiation situation, their participation is often perceived as an imbalance. Unless the opposing party’s interests oblige a particular composition of the negotiating team, in Germany negotiators tend to be selected from the lower echelons within the company—even in very important negotiations. In addition, German companies seldom employ negotiation → analysts or other professional negotiation consultants.
4.1.9 Small Talk
German companies deem small talk (→ chit chat) to be of little significance for the overall negotiation process. Neglecting small talk means that German businesses often disregard its potential for creating a positive negotiation atmosphere. They preclude understanding the group dynamics of the other side, and forego analysing the emotionally normal behaviour which can be useful for evaluating emotions during the negotiation itself. Experience gained from students and professional negotiators confirms this assumed disinterest or lack of knowledge. It would seem that Germans tend to believe that the risks incurred by small talk (i.e. offering insights to the other party) and the costs occurred far outweigh the potential advantages (i.e. understanding of the other party and trust building).
This said, small talk harbours practically no “taboo topics” for German negotiators; and yet only a handful of topics are deemed appropriate. This is to prevent the risk of creating an uncomfortable atmosphere whilst at the same time being able to use these topics as the basis for the following main negotiation. For instance, although a very common topic, small talk about the weather is unpopular as it proves difficult to link to other conversations. Unsurprisingly, private matters are very rarely discussed (see above). Topics such as the journey, traveling and sports (particularly soccer) are prevalent. If the host of the negotiation openly communicates his sympathy for a specific hobby or interest, e.g. illustrations or models displayed in the office, this may be used to form the basis for small talk. Business dinners might be organised as part of the actual negotiation, although their attendance is subject to observing the compliance rules as mentioned earlier. As a rule, when negotiating with German corporations, an invitation to the company canteen