Senior People To Negotiations With Ascriptive Cultures example essay topic

It seems clear that this situation describes the problems that arise, when the meeting between ascription based and achievement based cultures is not handled in the right way. Achievement based cultures accord status on the basis of what you have achieved, while in ascription based cultures your status depends on your family background, gender, age and education. Things you should avoid when doing business with ascription based cultures is sending young executives to important negotiations, using performance related reward and fast track promotion policies. The main problem in the situation seem to be the fact that Mr. Yamamoto, coming from an ascriptive culture, does not feel that Janne Sundhagen, coming from an achievement based culture, has the necessary skills to handle such an important negotiation. Ascriptive based cultures must be assured that your organisation has great respect for you and that your are near the top. The fact that Mr. Yamamoto politely insists to speak with her boss might indicate that he does not believe her to be in a position to make important decisions.

Her status in Norway is based on the fact that she has successfully negotiated two important contracts, in other words her status is based on something she has achieved. But, as we all know, the Japanese respect age and experience much more than specific achievements. This may lead them to ascribe lower status to her because of her age and gender. The fact that her colleagues are men in their late twenties does not exactly improve her case. As a result of lack of status and power, in the eyes of the Mr. Yamamoto, they would have to arrange a follow up meeting at some time in the future.

This situation could easily have been avoided, had the president of Imaging Inc. been aware of the cultural differences. It is important to send senior people to negotiations with ascriptive cultures, even if they are less knowledgeable about the product. The Japanese were interested in making significant changes to the product in order to meet their needs. They needed to be assured that the persons who attended the negotiation had the power to make this changes. Due to the fact that the Japanese respect age and experience more than specific achievement, the delegation who attended the negotiation could not assure Mr Yamamoto that they had the necessary power to see this through. If the Norwegians had sent some senior people to accompany Sundhagen this problem would have been avoided.

Furthermore senior managers in ascriptive cultures are typically middle-aged men who are qualified by their background. In achievement based cultures we find senior managers of varying age and gender. In light of this we can see that Mr. Yamamoto, coming from an ascriptive culture, was a bit suprised that the president of Imaging Inc. would send a young female to such an important negotiation. In conclusion, it is clear that there are several aspects that people from achievement based cultures need to take into account when dealing with people from ascriptive cultures. In our situation we could have reached a quicker and better agreement for both parties, had the president of Imaging Inc. been aware of the importance of approaching other cultures in the correct way. QUESTION 2 C) HOW MIGHT THE BEHAVIOR OF A UNIVERSALIST DIFFER FROM THAT OF A PARTICULARIST According to Hofstede universalists tend to have an abstract and rule based behaviour.

Universalist cultures often use the court to mediate conflicts. The more universal a country is the greater the need for an institution to protect the truth. On the other hand particularists focus more on the circumstances for the behaviour. They see the relationship as more important than the rules. Universalists are more common in protestant counties, while particularists are more common in catholic countries. As we have already said the particularist tend to see the relationship as more important than the rules or the contract.

While the universalists sees the rules or the contract as the most important part. When these to parties meet at the negotiation table we van often see differences in their behaviour. Particularists may terminate their relationship with universalist business partner because the partner's offend them, and the contract terms are to rigid to allow a good working relationship to evolve. The contract is often seen as definitive by universalists, but only as a roughly guideline for particularists. And contracts often lack the flexibility and durability that relationships often have.

D) WHAT ARE THE MAIN DIFFERENCES BETWEEN FEMININE AND MASCULINE CULTURES There are many significant differences between feminine and masculine cultures. In masculine cultures the dominant values are material success and progress. Other cultures, that are defined as feminine, tend to see people and relationships as more important than material success. For example in Japan most people stress solidarity and the quality of work life, in other words they see the relationship as more important than material success. In Norway it is the other way around, at least to a certain extent, we value our achievements in material success instead of quality of life. The role of men and women are also quit different.

In masculine cultures the men are supposed to be ambitious and tough, while women are expected to be tender and take care of relationships. But this is not the case in feminine cultures. Here both men and women are allowed to be tender and to be concerned with the relationships. E) IS NORWEGIAN CULTURE AFFECTIVE OR NEUTRAL Although Trompenaar rank the Norwegian culture as neutral, I feel we can find both signs of neutral and affective culture in different parts of Norway. According to Trompenaar members of neutral cultures tend not to telegraph their feelings, but to keep them carefully controlled and subdued. In contrast people from affective cultures show their feelings plainly by laughing smiling etc.

In this essay I will analyse whether the Norwegian culture is affective or neutral, and finally I will present my conclusion based in the previous analysis. Firstly there is no doubt that the majority of the Norwegian people can be conceived as neutral, however, there are certain geographically differences. People from the northern part of Norway tend to be more free spoken then people from other parts of Norway. They often show their feelings plainly in public, something which people from the southern part of Norway may find inappropriate. In the southern part of Norway people tend to keep their feelings subdued and behave in a more civilised manner, at least in their eyes.

In conclusion we will have to say that the Norwegian culture is a neutral one. However, as I see it, we can find clear signs of an affective culture in some parts of Norway.