N08: Ethics in Negotiation

At the beginning, this chapter mentions about the strengths and weaknesses of the American negotiator in the international political arena as follow: The strengths: Good preparation, Clear and plain speaking, A focus on pragmatism over doctrine, Strong ability to recognize the other party’s perspective and to recognize that negotiations do not have to be win-lose, Good understanding of the concession-making process, and Candid and straightforward communication. The weakness: Serious intergovernmental agency conflicts, the separation of political power between the presidency and congress.

The influence of interest groups on negotiations, media interference, negotiator impatience, and cultural insensitivity, the negotiators from different cultures/countries use different negotiation strategies and communication patterns when negotiating intra-culturally than when negotiating cross-culturally. The culture of the negotiator appears to be an important predictor of both the negotiation process that will occur and how the chosen negotiation strategies will influence negotiation outcomes. This chapter explained about two overall contexts which have an influence on cross border negotiations: the environmental context, and the immediate context. The environmental context is beyond control.

There are some factors that make global negotiations more challenging than domestic negotiations: political and legal pluralism, international economics, foreign governments and bureaucracies, instability, ideology, culture, and stakeholder. The immediate context includes the factors which the negotiators have influence and control. These factors are as follow: relative bargaining power, levels of conflict, relationship between negotiators, desired outcome, and immediate stakeholders. The negotiation processes and outcomes are influenced by many factors, and that the influence of these factors can change in magnitude over time. The challenge for every global negotiator is to understand the simultaneous, multiple influences of several factors on the negotiation process and outcome, and to update this understanding regularly as circumstances change.