Written by The past few weeks, we’ve discussed how to tap into these codes by using analogies constructively.
So can they be used to tap into negotiating with other cultures.
Innate Analogous Terms in Negotiation
Negotiation is a game.
In each culture, this game has different rules.
Strategy in negotiation requires understanding the game you’re playing.
Language used in negotiation is, of itself, analogous.
Negotiation is sometimes likened to going to war. Rules are minimal. Often, sports jargon is used, such as “fair play,” which is:
“in sport, the fact of playing according to the rules and not having an unfair advantage.”
Negotiations are something to be “won.”
These analogous terms used in negotiations naturally extend to cultures.
Framing a foreign culture’s negotiation tactics in the form of an analogy will help drive the correct strategy to “win.”
Cultural Analogies in Negotiation
In negotiation, Russians are “playing poker”; Germans are “playing chess.”
These are pretty straight forward analogies, easily understood by Westerners.
But what about the Chinese?
Chinese negotiations can be an enigma to foreigners.
You might feel mutual confidence, trust, and cooperation one day and, the very next, feel tricked into accepting something you hadn’t discussed.
The “pattern” is not like poker; it’s not like chess.
It’s variable and inconsistent.
To understand this seemingly random give-and-take, a friend provided me a succinct analogy: Chinese negotiations are like working in a rice field.
Rice is, without a doubt, an important part of Chinese culture.
It provides the people sustenance every single day from childhood to old age.
Cultivating this crop necessitates much more cooperation within a village than do crops in Europe or the U.S.
The rice field terraces in the countryside are flooded with a common irrigation system. The water irrigates one field to the next, and this requires that the entire village collectively working together.
Focusing on your land, alone, won’t work.
Instead, you must both hold your own and cooperate with others in equal parts.
This is what negotiating in China requires.
View it as working together on these rice terraces: you must hold your own while using the same irrigation system as that which feeds your business partner’s field. And your business partner is doing the same.
In order to be successful, you must support and cooperate with your business partner while playing defensively and cleverly, seeking your own advantage and ensuring that your partner doesn’t exploit his.
When negotiating with Chinese partners, you aren’t playing poker, neither are you playing chess.
You’re working in a rice field together, both supporting and competing.
Success Across Cultures 