intercultural negotiation Archivi - Pagina 2 di 4 - Dr. Daniele Trevisani

Communication Barriers, Psychological Distances, Misunderstanding and Disagreement – T2V model (Trevisani 2 Variabili)

25 Febbraio 2021 Nessun commento

© Article translated from the book “Negoziazione interculturale, comunicazione oltre le barriere culturali” (Intercultural Negotiation: Communication Beyond Cultural Barriers) copyright Dr. Daniele Trevisani Intercultural Negotiation Training and Coaching, published with the author’s permission. The Book’s rights are on sale and are available for any Publisher wishing to consider it for publication in English and other languages except for Italian and Arab whose rights are already sold and published. If you are interested in publishing the book in English, or any other language, or seek Intercultural Negotiation Training, Coaching, Mentoring and Consulting, please feel free to contact the author from the webstite www.danieletrevisani.com

Language Barriers and Cultural Barriers

One of the first discoveries of those who venture outside their own cultural contexts is that the behavioral rules that work in their own culture prove to be fragile and not very productive when transposed into a foreign context. Let’s see some short examples:  In your home: for a while you have wanted to discuss a topic with a family member, but every time you try it, the person escapes.

What is happening?

In your country: a customer would like to buy (a project, a product) but you know that the purchase is underpowered, the problem he would like to solve is big and the budget is not enough to give him a real result, how do you manage to make it understood?
Beijing. 9.30 am, Sheraton Hotel. The client company’s delegation has not yet arrived, the appointment was at 9.15 am. Can we interpret it as a tactical move, or a real delay? Did they want to delay, or did something happen?
Moscow. We offer the counterpart the exclusivity of our product on Soviet territory, the additional benefit of training the staff of their entire sales network, but the counterpart is offended and closes the negotiations. What happened?
Buenos Aires. The negotiations to access the contracts of the ministry of industry are endless, incomprehensible, obscure. How to behave?
Jerusalem. Representatives of the Jewish, Catholic and Muslim cults, ministers and political representatives meet to negotiate a possible peace, you are called to lead the debate, how to avoid a conflict?
Budapest. The plant management fails to break down production defects, any attempt to intervene in depth is in vain. What to do? In each example situation exposed, we are faced with the problem of intercultural negotiation. The intercultural negotiation capacity is in the hands of those who are most skilled in managing communication in the field, applying cultural awareness (power of awareness) in every single contact.

But let’s see some other situations.

Bologna, beginning of the third millennium: a nine-year-old boy no longer wants to go to the football school he has been attending for two years, he prefers to play with his friends on the pitch, and he doesn’t want to hear more about football and league school. Why?
Munich: a 30-year-old husband, freelance, argues with his wife (same age) because he wants to have children only when they have a solid economic base, while his wife wants to have them soon. What’s up?
Your home: you wake up in the morning and you know you had a dream that hit you but you can’t remember the details. What happened?
In your office or company: with a colleague you have not been able to understand each other for a long time, you seem to speak two different languages, the more you try and the more you do not understand each other, you begin to be really tired of the situation. What is actually happening? In all these cases the intercultural dimension enters – at various stages.

A common denominator unites all these cases: language barriers are nothing compared to the different vision of the world that people bring with them, and to the differences that exist between themselves and others, despite appearances. We do not want to reveal or propose easy or immediate solutions for all these different cases (at most, we can propose hypotheses), but we want to give only a clue on the case that is certainly more strange and difficult to frame as intercultural communication: the memory of a dream.

Well, as various researches in the field show, even the dialogue within the same person (interior dialogue) takes on features of intercultural dialogue. When different states of consciousness have difficulty in communicating with each other, eg: the rational state of wakefulness versus the unconscious and subconscious state of sleep, internal incommunicability occurs.

These states are dominated by extremely different logics, and they manage to find moments of commonality only on rare occasions (such as in border states, of semi-sleep, the moments in which neither of them manages to dominate the other). Even on an inner level, therefore, we find symptoms of a condition of intercultural dialogue. Comparison exercise and search for alternative explanations. Attempt, in small groups, to give answers to the questions posed by the cases highlighted above.

Try to highlight

alternative hypotheses or alternative explanations;
the different hypotheses on the ground;
think about the probabilities that our explanations are really the causes of the investigated phenomena;
search for one’s own evaluative rigidity, the hypotheses that start from stereotypes or unverified beliefs.

© Article translated from the book “Negoziazione interculturale, comunicazione oltre le barriere culturali” (Intercultural Negotiation: Communication Beyond Cultural Barriers) copyright Dr. Daniele Trevisani Intercultural Negotiation Training and Coaching, published with the author’s permission. The Book’s rights are on sale and are available for any Publisher wishing to consider it for publication in English and other languages except for Italian and Arab whose rights are already sold and published. If you are interested in publishing the book in English, or any other language, or seek Intercultural Negotiation Training, Coaching, Mentoring and Consulting, please feel free to contact the author from the webstite www.danieletrevisani.com

For further information see:

In intercultural negotiation

Consonances and Dissonances Between Linguistic and Non-Verbal Styles

24 Febbraio 2021 Nessun commento

© Article translated from the book “Negoziazione interculturale, comunicazione oltre le barriere culturali” (Intercultural Negotiation: Communication Beyond Cultural Barriers) copyright Dr. Daniele Trevisani Intercultural Negotiation Training and Coaching, published with the author’s permission. The Book’s rights are on sale and are available for any Publisher wishing to consider it for publication in English and other languages except for Italian and Arab whose rights are already sold and published. If you are interested in publishing the book in English, or any other language, or seek Intercultural Negotiation Training, Coaching, Mentoring and Consulting, please feel free to contact the author from the webstite www.danieletrevisani.com

Negative Non-Verbal Signals from the Interlocutor (Tension, Disinterest)

Non-verbal communication can reinforce the verbal message or be dissonant with it. Listening carefully and nodding can signal interest much more than just a verbal statement. Saying “I am interested” with words and expressing boredom or disgust with body actions produces a dissonant signal and creates suspicion or irritation. The coherence (matching) between words and actions:

increases the perceived honesty of the subject;
denotes trustworthiness;
shows interest;
shows that we are in control of the situation;
produces a sense of security and solidity of the contents.
On the contrary, the incongruity:
creates a sense of distrust;
generates feelings of lack of authenticity;
produces doubts and suspicions of falsehood on the verbal contents heard.

Each linguistic style (on an interpersonal level) is associated with a precise modulation of the non-verbal style. We can in fact have:

situations of communicative reinforcement (the non-verbal style reinforces the verbal style);
situations of dissonance or inconsistency between verbal and non-verbal: non-verbal communication proceeds on a different register than verbal communication).

The dissonances concern every semiotic system, every sign carrying possible meanings. A company that declares itself important and does not have a website, or has an amateur site, expresses an image dissonance, just as a negotiator forgets to bring essential tools with him (catalogs, calculators, and any other necessary and expected tool ).

Non-verbal signals may indicate that the interlocutor is following the dialogue with a positive or negative attitude. Negative reactions in general are denoted by:

angulations of the body: shoulders retracted, distancing;
face: tense, shows anger;
voice: negative tone, sudden silences;
hands: movements of refusal or disapproval, tense movements;
arms: straight, crossed on the chest;
legs: crossed or moving away at an angle.

Exercises of consonance and dissonance between verbal styles and non-verbal communication styles. Initiate a dialogue on a random theme (e.g. where it is more pleasant to take holidays) and express – only through body postures – the following meanings:

I can’t stand you, you give me physical annoyance;
you are nice;  my head is elsewhere, I find it hard to follow you, I am distracted;
I have doubts about your honesty.
Second phase of the exercise. Let’s now modulate the styles, introducing some variations:
verbal expression: saying “I can’t stand you, you give me physical annoyance”, with non-verbal reinforcement (eg: grinding your teeth, clenching your fists);
verbal expression: “I can’t stand you, you give me physical annoyance”, with non-verbal dissonance (eg: smiling amiably).
Following the scheme shown:
Verbal expression: “you are nice”, with non-verbal reinforcement;
verbal expression: “you are nice”, with dissonance in the non-verbal;
verbal expression “I have my head elsewhere, I find it difficult to follow you, I am distracted”, with non-verbal reinforcement;
verbal expression “I have my head elsewhere, I find it hard to follow you, I am distracted”, with non-verbal dissonance;
verbal expression “I have doubts about your honesty”, with non-verbal reinforcement;
verbal expression “I have doubts about your honesty”, with dissonance in the non-verbal.

© Article translated from the book “Negoziazione interculturale, comunicazione oltre le barriere culturali” (Intercultural Negotiation: Communication Beyond Cultural Barriers) copyright Dr. Daniele Trevisani Intercultural Negotiation Training and Coaching, published with the author’s permission. The Book’s rights are on sale and are available for any Publisher wishing to consider it for publication in English and other languages except for Italian and Arab whose rights are already sold and published. If you are interested in publishing the book in English, or any other language, or seek Intercultural Negotiation Training, Coaching, Mentoring and Consulting, please feel free to contact the author from the webstite www.danieletrevisani.com

For further information see:

In intercultural negotiation

Variance of Colors Between Cultures, Variance in the Meaning of Gifts

24 Febbraio 2021 Nessun commento

© Article translated from the book “Negoziazione interculturale, comunicazione oltre le barriere culturali” (Intercultural Negotiation: Communication Beyond Cultural Barriers) copyright Dr. Daniele Trevisani Intercultural Negotiation Training and Coaching, published with the author’s permission. The Book’s rights are on sale and are available for any Publisher wishing to consider it for publication in English and other languages except for Italian and Arab whose rights are already sold and published. If you are interested in publishing the book in English, or any other language, or seek Intercultural Negotiation Training, Coaching, Mentoring and Consulting, please feel free to contact the author from the webstite www.danieletrevisani.com

And Use of Pre-Tests to Evaluate the Impact and Satisfaction

A further element of symbolic communication is given by the use of colors. The use of colors and the symbolisms associated with colors also vary according to cultures. Let’s see some cases: while in most Western and Arab countries the color white is synonymous with purity, in Japan and other Asian countries white is the color of death and mourning.

Yellow is associated in Western countries with signs of attention, while in China it represents wealth and authority. Purple represents in Latin America a funeral color (death) while in Europe it is associated with royalty, with the precious velvets of the courts. It is not possible in this volume to deal with a scale of associations for each color in each nation, but we underline the need to pay attention to the symbolisms associated with colors, whenever problems arise in the choice of colors and graphics, for example in packaging, gifts. of representation, in objects.

Blue is among the “safest” colors on a cultural level, but practically all colors take on some particular meanings in some countries, such as red, the color of the celebration in China, used in events such as parties, weddings or funerals, orange which in Ireland is the symbol of the Protestant religion, or the color Saffron (light orange tending to peach), sacred color of the Hindu religion.

Even the objects and symbols are not neutral. An Italian company used hand symbols (e.g. an open hand) to create company logos and key rings, producing a wave of protests from Greece (where the open hand symbol is used to offend), while still in other countries of the ‘Latin America retailers refused to display packages containing “ok” symbols in stores because they were considered offensive.

The basic principle to avoid macroscopic errors is the use of the pre-test, the “pilot test” on some subjects, small samples, representative people of the local culture who are able to give feedback on the appropriateness of colors, shapes and symbolisms , of messages, seen from within the culture itself. The pre-test method also applies to the choice of gifts, presents, and any other symbolic action whose impact may vary on a cultural basis.

© Article translated from the book “Negoziazione interculturale, comunicazione oltre le barriere culturali” (Intercultural Negotiation: Communication Beyond Cultural Barriers) copyright Dr. Daniele Trevisani Intercultural Negotiation Training and Coaching, published with the author’s permission. The Book’s rights are on sale and are available for any Publisher wishing to consider it for publication in English and other languages except for Italian and Arab whose rights are already sold and published. If you are interested in publishing the book in English, or any other language, or seek Intercultural Negotiation Training, Coaching, Mentoring and Consulting, please feel free to contact the author from the webstite www.danieletrevisani.com

For further information see:

In intercultural negotiation

Personal Look, Clothing, Accessories and Other Elements of Symbolic Communication

11 Febbraio 2021 Nessun commento

© Article translated from the book “Negoziazione interculturale, comunicazione oltre le barriere culturali” (Intercultural Negotiation: Communication Beyond Cultural Barriers) copyright Dr. Daniele Trevisani Intercultural Negotiation Training and Coaching, published with the author’s permission. The Book’s rights are on sale and are available for any Publisher wishing to consider it for publication in English and other languages except for Italian and Arab whose rights are already sold and published. If you are interested in publishing the book in English, or any other language, or seek Intercultural Negotiation Training, Coaching, Mentoring and Consulting, please feel free to contact the author from the webstite www.danieletrevisani.com

The Symbolic Communication Meanings

Can we assert that a manager with long hair, earrings and colorful clothes is considered the same as a manager in a dark suit and tie, in the eyes of a European bourgeois traditionalist client? And again, having a picture of Che Guevara on the wall, or a photograph of the Pope, what does it convey to those present? We can know practically nothing about the real history of the subjects, except the symbols we see and from which we derive possible meanings and associations.

Symbolic communication concerns the meanings that people associate or perceive from particular “signs” that they notice in the interlocutor and in his or her communicative space. By communicative space we mean here any area of elements that is attributed to the subject’s “system”, to its possible expressions, whether aware or not, such as his car, or the background of his PC, and any other sign from which we derive inferences, meanings, interpretations.

From the semiotic point of view, every element from which a subject draws meanings becomes a “sign”, whether the bearer is aware of it or not. Look, clothing and accessories are among the most incisive factors in building a personal image. Differences or similarities in clothing make a subject fall within the professional ingroups (“one like us”, the “equals”) or outgroups (“one different from us”), whatever represents “we” for the subject .

Among the primary elements of symbolic communication we find clothing, hair and hairstyle, jewelry, watches, professional tools (telephones, laptops and other computer tools), but also the marks on the body (cuts, abrasions, tattoos) , the condition of the skin (care, presence of beard and its condition, make-up, body and face hair, skin color, tan, sweat). In a system of enlarged signification, the symbols that express the brands used, the type of car (work, city, off-road, sports, luxury), the designer labels, and even the furniture of the offices, the paintings hanging on the walls, furniture.

Chronemic behaviors (the following of actions over time) are also broadened signals, such as the frequency we notice in changing clothes, punctuality, tranquility or nervousness in the way of driving, the times a person takes in eating or drinking (slow and calm vs. fast and voracious). Even the time it takes a person to answer a question can be significant: slow or too meditated answers can be interpreted as insincere in Western cultures, or on the contrary wise and thoughtful in “high context” cultures such as Eastern ones. It can be said that in the field of intercultural communication nothing escapes the observation of the interlocutor, and every “sign” contributes to its classification and evaluation.

The use of ties, dark tailored suits, high-quality shoes in shiny leather, is one of the emblems of the Western manager and represents one of the cornerstones of “image sales”. The problem at an intercultural level is given by the perception of others within the systems of personal signification. Some managers, insurance salesmen, and corporate executives in career, thinking of “loading” on the front of professionalism, are taken by the temptation to hyper-flaunt brands, luxurious shoes, designer and eye-catching ties, precious watches, unknowingly creating a greater distance than it would be desirable.

The same problem of “status anxiety” applies to the ostentation of excessively flashy cars or to any other accessory that communicates excessive superiority and produces distance. In terms of intercultural impression management (strategic image management), some behaviors – eg: arriving by helicopter – can be implemented voluntarily, to create a status barrier and create feelings of inferiority.

© Article translated from the book “Negoziazione interculturale, comunicazione oltre le barriere culturali” (Intercultural Negotiation: Communication Beyond Cultural Barriers) copyright Dr. Daniele Trevisani Intercultural Negotiation Training and Coaching, published with the author’s permission. The Book’s rights are on sale and are available for any Publisher wishing to consider it for publication in English and other languages except for Italian and Arab whose rights are already sold and published. If you are interested in publishing the book in English, or any other language, or seek Intercultural Negotiation Training, Coaching, Mentoring and Consulting, please feel free to contact the author from the webstite www.danieletrevisani.com

For further information see:

In intercultural negotiation

Expanded Channels

11 Febbraio 2021 Nessun commento

© Article translated from the book “Negoziazione interculturale, comunicazione oltre le barriere culturali” (Intercultural Negotiation: Communication Beyond Cultural Barriers) copyright Dr. Daniele Trevisani Intercultural Negotiation Training and Coaching, published with the author’s permission. The Book’s rights are on sale and are available for any Publisher wishing to consider it for publication in English and other languages except for Italian and Arab whose rights are already sold and published. If you are interested in publishing the book in English, or any other language, or seek Intercultural Negotiation Training, Coaching, Mentoring and Consulting, please feel free to contact the author from the webstite www.danieletrevisani.com

The Communication Tools

Some clichés on multicultural college campuses are that whites “taste like chicken”, Asians “smell of garlic”, blacks “taste of sweat”, and other curious stereotypes. The olfactory differences on the ethnic and genetic level are really existing, but the perceived sense of smell is largely determined by cultural factors such as nutrition, cleanliness or the use of perfumes. Personal olfactory emissions are a communication tool.

It is certain that the sense of smell affects perception, and that nutrition produces essences that exude from the skin and breath. These aspects are to be taken care of for those who want to manage every aspect, even the smallest details, of intercultural negotiation and more generally of human contact The answer is not to become a hyper-perfumed manager wrapped in clouds of strawberry essence, but a conscious management of conscious and subconscious smells.

Even the smell of the room in which you negotiate, the olfactory perceptions encountered along the path, in the corridors, in the parking lots and squares, form the overall “people perception” (the image of the other). Anything that can be attributed to some extent to the subject or to the corporate environment affects perception and image. Some clothing chains have resorted to the targeted odorization of the stores to create a more relaxed and pleasant atmosphere (environmental olfactory marketing).

Smell is a remote sense of the human being, partially abandoned in favor of senses such as sight and hearing. Animal “noses” are able to pick up smells that signal sexual emotions or predispositions, while human noses seem to have lost this trait, as Hall points out: The consequence of the loss of importance of smell as a means of communication, was an alteration in the type of relationship between human beings, which has probably endowed man with a great capacity to resist crowding. If humans had noses as powerful as rats, they would forever be tied up and involved with the full range of emotions and mood swings that people around them need.

Other people’s anger, for example, would have been something we could smell. In homes, the identity of any visitor and the emotional connotations of the various objects and their history would be subject to public registration and dominion as long as their smell lasted: psychotics would drive us all mad, and the anxious would still dilate our anxiety. To say the least, life would be much more complex and intense: it would be less controlled by consciousness, because the centers that preside over smell in the brain are older and more primitive than the visual centers …

Hall’s question is what sense is capable of generating interpersonal trust. Hall points out that in animals the sense of smell is still decisive, while in humans sight and hearing have assumed greater importance: the passage of the body’s confidence from nose to eye, the result of environmental pressures, has given a completely new face to the human condition. The typical human design ability has been made possible by the wider reach of the eye that encodes immensely more complex data, thus encouraging thought and abstraction. The sense of smell, precisely because it is so intimately connected to emotionality and sensual satisfaction, pushes man exactly in the opposite direction.

The evolution of man has received the mark of the development of “remote receptors”, sight and hearing. The signals of trust and distrust, the perception of the emotions of others, are therefore to be refined above all in the negotiator’s ability to grasp the emotionally uncontrolled facial movements, the vocal timbre and the breaks in the tone of the voice that signal vocal and emotional stress.

Other studies, however, argue that the olfactory capacity has only diminished and there are continuous olfactory exchanges at an unconscious level, for example the analysis of possible sexual compatibility between men and women.

At the interpersonal level, negotiation olfactory strategies capable of recognizing emotions on a pheromonic basis (hormones secreted by human glands) are not possible at the moment, but targeted and strategic personal odorizations are still possible. There are practical implications for a conscious personal odor – avoiding foods that can give rise to strong emissions through the breath, avoiding excessive personal fragrances, being aware of personal smells (eg, sweat), considering the importance of adequate olfactory environmental marketing.

In broad terms, non-verbal communication also includes the behaviors held during the negotiation interaction, actions on objects, use and manipulation of tools. For example, during a sale in which you demonstrate how a tool works, the skill and skill with which you manipulate an instrument represents a message (and therefore a form of communication). And again, when taking notes, our interlocutor can pay attention to the care with which you write, to the ticks on the pens, to the precision shown in drawing a diagram.

© Article translated from the book “Negoziazione interculturale, comunicazione oltre le barriere culturali” (Intercultural Negotiation: Communication Beyond Cultural Barriers) copyright Dr. Daniele Trevisani Intercultural Negotiation Training and Coaching, published with the author’s permission. The Book’s rights are on sale and are available for any Publisher wishing to consider it for publication in English and other languages except for Italian and Arab whose rights are already sold and published. If you are interested in publishing the book in English, or any other language, or seek Intercultural Negotiation Training, Coaching, Mentoring and Consulting, please feel free to contact the author from the webstite www.danieletrevisani.com

For further information see:

In intercultural negotiation

Paralinguistic Channels

10 Febbraio 2021 Nessun commento

© Article translated from the book “Negoziazione interculturale, comunicazione oltre le barriere culturali” (Intercultural Negotiation: Communication Beyond Cultural Barriers) copyright Dr. Daniele Trevisani Intercultural Negotiation Training and Coaching, published with the author’s permission. The Book’s rights are on sale and are available for any Publisher wishing to consider it for publication in English and other languages except for Italian and Arab whose rights are already sold and published. If you are interested in publishing the book in English, or any other language, or seek Intercultural Negotiation Training, Coaching, Mentoring and Consulting, please feel free to contact the author from the webstite www.danieletrevisani.com

Non-Verbal Training and Formation

Paralinguistics concerns all vocal emissions that are not strictly related to “words”, and includes:

the tone of the voice;
the volume;
the silences;
breaks;
the rhythm of speech;
the interjections (short emissions, like er, uhm …).

Paralinguistics establishes the punctuation of speech, and helps convey emotional information. Messages such as “I am tense”, “I am angry” or “I am well disposed” ooze more from the paralinguistic system than from the linguistic system. A sentence can carry completely different meanings that depend on the emphasis on words and tone of voice.

Exercise of modulation of meanings through the non-verbal and paralinguistic system

The exercise involves the modulation of meanings through the non-verbal system, gestures, intonations. Convey the different meanings associated with the following sentence: “Our company may be very interested in your proposal”. Possible formulations to be interpreted:

Our company may be very interested in your proposal (emphasis on ours; meaning to be conveyed: “other companies less”)
Our company may be very interested in your proposal (emphasis on can; meaning to convey: “we don’t know, we’ll see, doubtful”)
Our company may be very interested in your proposal (emphasis on a lot; meaning to convey: “really interesting”)
Our company may be very interested in your proposal (emphasis on interested expressed in a doubtful way; meaning to be conveyed: “interested, but it’s all yet to be seen”).

Non-verbal training and formation

Training in the use of paralinguistic requires training on the strategic use of pauses and tones. In general, training for the non-verbal includes access to all repertoires of theatrical and actor techniques, the Stanislavskij method and other theatrical training methods, the only ones truly capable of acting in depth on the transformation of expressive behavior.

Adequate training can be useful to train the negotiator to grasp the trembling of the voice of others (symptom of nervousness and stress), and the non-verbal reactions to one’s statements, to act “theatrically” through movement, pauses and alternating rhythms to give emphasis parts of the speech and key points to emerge. As with any other managerial task, without adequate preparation the chances of being competitive on a negotiating level decrease when the balance of skills is unbalanced.

As the gap between our training and the level of training of the counterpart increases, the risks of an unfavorable outcome of each negotiation increase.

© Article translated from the book “Negoziazione interculturale, comunicazione oltre le barriere culturali” (Intercultural Negotiation: Communication Beyond Cultural Barriers) copyright Dr. Daniele Trevisani Intercultural Negotiation Training and Coaching, published with the author’s permission. The Book’s rights are on sale and are available for any Publisher wishing to consider it for publication in English and other languages except for Italian and Arab whose rights are already sold and published. If you are interested in publishing the book in English, or any other language, or seek Intercultural Negotiation Training, Coaching, Mentoring and Consulting, please feel free to contact the author from the webstite www.danieletrevisani.com

For further information see:

In intercultural negotiation

Body Language

10 Febbraio 2021 Nessun commento

© Article translated from the book “Negoziazione interculturale, comunicazione oltre le barriere culturali” (Intercultural Negotiation: Communication Beyond Cultural Barriers) copyright Dr. Daniele Trevisani Intercultural Negotiation Training and Coaching, published with the author’s permission. The Book’s rights are on sale and are available for any Publisher wishing to consider it for publication in English and other languages except for Italian and Arab whose rights are already sold and published. If you are interested in publishing the book in English, or any other language, or seek Intercultural Negotiation Training, Coaching, Mentoring and Consulting, please feel free to contact the author from the webstite www.danieletrevisani.com

From Facial Expressions to Body Movements

The body speaks, expresses emotions and feelings. Even attempts to block these emotions and feelings are themselves “meta messages”, seeing a person expressing no emotion, acting as an “emotional mummy“, is itself a signal that leads to specific reflections. Body language concerns:

facial expressions and facial expressions;
nods of the head;
the movements of the limbs and gestures;
body movements and distances;
touch and physical contact.

Cultural differences on these points can be very large. Cultures vary a lot on the type of gestures. In an Italian-Chinese negotiation, clear differences can be seen between the Italian gestures (on average wider) and the Chinese one, more contained, as well as in the facial expressions, more evident for Italy and more contained for China.

A negotiator operating in China can therefore choose to contain their gestures and their emotional expression, to “dampen” the stereotypical image associated with their culture, or rather increase it theatrically, to “play a part” and amplify their stereotypical identity. . There are no golden rules on what is best to do, each choice is strategic and linked to the context of the moment, to “contextual appropriateness“.

Physical contact is one of the most critical and difficult elements to deal with on an intercultural level. While some Western standards of physical contact are spreading throughout the business community (eg: shaking hands), each culture expresses a different degree of contact in greetings and interactions. Managing hugs, kisses, touching the body, knowing who can touch whom, remains a difficult point, to be solved above all by resorting to an analysis of the local culture. In general, if it is not possible to gather accurate information from local culture experts, it is advisable to limit physical contact in order not to generate a sense of invasiveness.

Personal Distances

Proxemics defines “the observations and theories concerning the use of human space, understood as a specific elaboration of culture” (Hall, 1988). In his studies, Hall highlights how distances are a highly cultural elaboration, and are managed by each culture in a different way. On the negotiation front, the implications are numerous: being close to or far from the interlocutor is a precise negotiating message.

Standing in front or to the side, or even on the same side, is another form of message. Every culture has unwritten rules for delimiting the boundaries of acceptability of interpersonal distances and people’s dispositions. Also in this case, the principle of resorting to the knowledge of experts of the local culture is valid, while a valid rule in case of lack of knowledge is to let the counterpart define their own degree of distance, without forcing neither an approach nor a removal.

The main awareness to develop is that of the “critical distance” (Hall), which defines the interpersonal distance within which a subject feels vulnerable, exposed to the risks of aggression. Human critical distances have an animal basis and a strong cultural variance, with Arab and Latin cultures often more “close” and Anglo-Saxon cultures very “distant”.

Personal distance is like “an invisible bubble that surrounds the body” Beyond the intra-cultural rules, some attitudes relating to distances are transversal to cultures because they are anchored to the human animal root. For example, “leaving your seat”, giving space to someone, is a tool for assigning status and recognizing the importance of the interlocutor. As Hall points out: stronger, superior individuals tend to establish greater personal distances than the specimens occupying lower positions in the social hierarchy, while it is known that weaker, subordinate animals give way to superior animals.

Therefore, at an intercultural level, “leaving the place” will be a move towards rapprochement, a recognition of status. For the conscious negotiator, it is not to be understood as pure submission, but it can also take on the function of a tactical move, an act of relational courtesy that precedes the actual negotiation confrontation. Making people uncomfortable, on the contrary, is used to establish great distances.

Some negotiators use tactics specifically aimed at upsetting the emotional balance of the subject, making people wait in excessively hot and narrow waiting rooms, without bathrooms or with distant services, for a long time – it is an example of a breakthrough move. Especially when the subject has made a long journey, the temptation to leave will be blocked by the thought of having made a useless journey, and of any repercussions.

The appropriate tactic is to require a higher degree of comfort, but only if you have the almost mathematical certainty that a specific move is underway, and those are not the real maximum reception conditions that the subject is able to offer. The frontal disposition of people is generally considered confrontational, while on the side it is considered more collaborative, and on the same side “between equals“. As Hall points out, “every animal needs a critical space, without which its survival is impossible”. In terms of negotiations, the space to be considered is both environmental and psychological.

© Article translated from the book “Negoziazione interculturale, comunicazione oltre le barriere culturali” (Intercultural Negotiation: Communication Beyond Cultural Barriers) copyright Dr. Daniele Trevisani Intercultural Negotiation Training and Coaching, published with the author’s permission. The Book’s rights are on sale and are available for any Publisher wishing to consider it for publication in English and other languages except for Italian and Arab whose rights are already sold and published. If you are interested in publishing the book in English, or any other language, or seek Intercultural Negotiation Training, Coaching, Mentoring and Consulting, please feel free to contact the author from the webstite www.danieletrevisani.com

For further information see:

In intercultural negotiation

Intercultural Non-Verbal Communication

9 Febbraio 2021 Nessun commento

© Article translated from the book “Negoziazione interculturale, comunicazione oltre le barriere culturali” (Intercultural Negotiation: Communication Beyond Cultural Barriers) copyright Dr. Daniele Trevisani Intercultural Negotiation Training and Coaching, published with the author’s permission. The Book’s rights are on sale and are available for any Publisher wishing to consider it for publication in English and other languages except for Italian and Arab whose rights are already sold and published. If you are interested in publishing the book in English, or any other language, or seek Intercultural Negotiation Training, Coaching, Mentoring and Consulting, please feel free to contact the author from the webstite www.danieletrevisani.com

Attitudes Create the Relationship

A fundamental aspect of negotiation, often overlooked, is the non-verbal communication that takes place between the participants. Body language can express a great variety of meanings, which “ooze” and burst into the negotiation even without the direct control of the subjects.

The negotiator careful to measure words may be little aware of the non-verbal level, and of the “underground” exchange of messages that the body and facial expressions let filter through. The main channels through which the negotiator can launch messages are composed of the paralinguistic system (vocal aspects of communication, excluding the linguistic aspect, such as tones, accents, silences, interjections), body language (body language ), and personal accessories, including clothing and general look.

In order to negotiate at an intercultural level, it is necessary to create a relationship, and bodily attitudes are able to strongly express the satisfaction of the interlocutor, as well as disgust and emotional suffering. The perceived attitude in the other depends largely on “how” the behavior is expressed, rather than on the linguistic content, which remains on the surface of the relationship itself. In depth, the relationship is determined by the attitudes of the body and face, by the looks, by the facial expressions, and more generally by the whole non-verbal repertoire of the communicator.

For example, it has been noted that it is easier to say “you” to someone wearing an unbuttoned tie rather than a strictly tied tie. Obviously, the fact of being “soft” or not rigorous in clothing creates a feeling of less rigidity and greater tolerance towards friendly behavior. This does not mean wearing a tie fastened or unfastened, but simply confirming that attitudes affect the relationship, and that among attitudes there are also apparent details such as the degree of fastening of a tie, or the rigor of clothing.

But, at the same time, it can be seen that an unfastened tie is acceptable in Italian management (a sign of relaxed attitude) or in American management (a sign of a “busy” attitude, of those who work hard), while it is much less acceptable in German management. , or in companies with a high degree of formalization of hierarchies. Therefore, the intercultural negotiator must always consider the possibility that some signals of attitude used in his own culture are caught in a diametrically opposite way in a different culture.

Escalation and de-exclalation: managing the non-verbal to develop a communicative climate and reduce tension

Wrong non-verbal and bodily attitudes can easily lead to an escalation (rise in tension, nervousness and irritation), while the task of the intercultural negotiator is to create de-escalation: moderation of tones, relaxed atmosphere, favorable environment for negotiation. Only settings in which tension is intentionally created, which are not the norm and must be treated separately, as special techniques to be used with caution, are excluded from these principles. The general objective of intercultural negotiation is to be effective and achieve results, which generally involves a climate of cooperation.

The objective of the intercultural negotiator is to activate the conflict deescalation procedures “by default” (as the starting position of every negotiation), the practices that lead to a non-conflictual negotiation situation. What are these practices? In general, each culture uses different non-verbal rules, and therefore a manual would be needed for each nation or culture with which to deal.

The problem with these “easy manuals” is their poor resistance over time (cultures evolve) and in space (cultures change even within a few kilometers and in social strata within the same city), and the concrete possibility – taking them for good – to apply stereotypes that are no longer valid. In the absence of precise indications that come from up-to-date connoisseurs of the culture itself, we can use as a starting point some general rules of good communication to reduce the potential for error, as exposed by the Public Policy Center of the University of Nebraska:

calm, non-aggressive tone of voice;
smile, express acceptance of the other;
facial expression of interest;
open gestures;
allow the person you are talking to to dictate the spatial distances between you (spatial distances vary widely from culture to culture);
nod, give nods of assent;
focus on people and not on documents on the table;
bend the body forward as a sign of interest;
maintains

© Article translated from the book “Negoziazione interculturale, comunicazione oltre le barriere culturali” (Intercultural Negotiation: Communication Beyond Cultural Barriers) copyright Dr. Daniele Trevisani Intercultural Negotiation Training and Coaching, published with the author’s permission. The Book’s rights are on sale and are available for any Publisher wishing to consider it for publication in English and other languages except for Italian and Arab whose rights are already sold and published. If you are interested in publishing the book in English, or any other language, or seek Intercultural Negotiation Training, Coaching, Mentoring and Consulting, please feel free to contact the author from the webstite www.danieletrevisani.com

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In intercultural negotiation

Role Theories and Communication of the Leadership Role

9 Febbraio 2021 Nessun commento

© Article translated from the book “Negoziazione interculturale, comunicazione oltre le barriere culturali” (Intercultural Negotiation: Communication Beyond Cultural Barriers) copyright Dr. Daniele Trevisani Intercultural Negotiation Training and Coaching, published with the author’s permission. The Book’s rights are on sale and are available for any Publisher wishing to consider it for publication in English and other languages except for Italian and Arab whose rights are already sold and published. If you are interested in publishing the book in English, or any other language, or seek Intercultural Negotiation Training, Coaching, Mentoring and Consulting, please feel free to contact the author from the webstite www.danieletrevisani.com

Cooperative Dialogue (Cooperative Interaction)

Being the leader of a family means being able to act as a “guide” of the family itself, and this is expressed in group and individual conversations with family members. Being the leader of a production department means assuming the role of reference point for all technicians, managing to manage conflicts, meetings, training and motivational processes.

Being the leader of a sales force means taking on the role of mentor and coordinator of resources and strategies, and applying the role in every communication with your collaborators. Regardless of which corporate or social reference group is, leadership must be considered a meta-role that transversally invests a subject within a group of individuals.

The assumption of the role is evident in the method of communication adopted, and its lack is equally evident. As Tonfoni points out, each role is charged with expectations and role behaviors: According to the Theory of Roles, a certain sequence of planned actions, called “role”, refers to the individual actors who occupy certain positions within one or more groups, within which there is a balance determined by the fact that at each “status “separate functions are assigned.

Based on the dynamics of the role, each individual must correspond to relative expectations; the role is therefore definable as a model of social behavior appropriate in relation to the expectations and the actual way in which an individual behaves in a certain situation. Failure to respect expectations and role behaviors is evident precisely in the inter-individual and group conversation in which the subject does not act as a “private individual” but as an “interpreter of the role of leader”.

Leadership therefore requires attention to the communicative listening dynamics in which they manifest themselves:

attacks on the role by team members;
improper role assumptions by team members or other subjects;

The correlated communicative behaviors are therefore:

reporting of the leader’s perception of the attack on the role;
clarification of the facts, making it clear that it is understood what is happening.
defense of the role;
negotiation of mutual roles. Leadership move detection exercise
Simulate starting a project to build a new product (banking, automobile, tourism, or others of your choice) that requires joint work between engineers, marketing experts and management control and finance experts.
Have all the participants start the dialogue in turn, with the requirement that those who open the negotiation try to be the leader.
Notice how during a conversation a participant taking an agreed role implements leadership. What to do to manage the power? Participants must decode the moves implemented by the assigned role, understand how the leader implements his leadership on the field.
In the debriefing phase (post-simulation analysis), provide feedback to the conversation leader on the effectiveness of the moves implemented.

Cooperative Dialogue (Cooperative Interaction)

The cooperative dialogue involves a strong concentration of positive moves, of openness, a use of SIM for analysis and sharing, and the elimination of attacks on the role and identity of others. The cooperative dialogue mainly consists of:

listening, avoiding interruption;
strategic shifts between the macro-purposes of the projects and the details, with a preference for macro-purposes and the search for a shared mission; consider the differences on the details as temporary, recoverable, and go in search of a common vision and what they have in common;
search for a win-win approach;
attitudes of openness and avoidance of the judgment of others (suspension of judgment until complete understanding).

© Article translated from the book “Negoziazione interculturale, comunicazione oltre le barriere culturali” (Intercultural Negotiation: Communication Beyond Cultural Barriers) copyright Dr. Daniele Trevisani Intercultural Negotiation Training and Coaching, published with the author’s permission. The Book’s rights are on sale and are available for any Publisher wishing to consider it for publication in English and other languages except for Italian and Arab whose rights are already sold and published. If you are interested in publishing the book in English, or any other language, or seek Intercultural Negotiation Training, Coaching, Mentoring and Consulting, please feel free to contact the author from the webstite www.danieletrevisani.com

For further information see:

In intercultural negotiation

Game Theories and Conversational Leadership

8 Febbraio 2021 Nessun commento

© Article translated from the book “Negoziazione interculturale, comunicazione oltre le barriere culturali” (Intercultural Negotiation: Communication Beyond Cultural Barriers) copyright Dr. Daniele Trevisani Intercultural Negotiation Training and Coaching, published with the author’s permission. The Book’s rights are on sale and are available for any Publisher wishing to consider it for publication in English and other languages except for Italian and Arab whose rights are already sold and published. If you are interested in publishing the book in English, or any other language, or seek Intercultural Negotiation Training, Coaching, Mentoring and Consulting, please feel free to contact the author from the webstite www.danieletrevisani.com

Elements of Negotiation Game Theory

The role of the leader requires a strong attention to the communicative games in progress, with the awareness that in organizations and in negotiation messages are not produced for poetic purposes but above all to manage power. As Tonfoni (2000) points out: On the other hand, considering the communicative model within Game Theory requires the prior clarification of the model itself, as well as of the objectives.

The actors, within the theory, as “players” precisely by designing and implementing sequences of actions aimed at achieving a pre-established goal. This end is constituted by the profit, since the theory is oriented to the behavior of a predominantly economic nature. The “actors” are also “verbal communicators“; as such, their actions must essentially be aimed at a prediction as exact as possible of sequences of actions and an explicit determination of the so-called “rules of the game“.

The actors operate through the implementation of appropriate strategies, aimed at achieving the goal or at opposing counter-strategies activated by the interlocutors, or by other individuals who take part in the communicative game.

The negotiator’s leadership includes the ability to:

Create specific thematic offers: throw non-random arguments on the conversation table, to see what the interlocutors’ reaction is; observe whether they pick up on the theme or let it go, and other possible moves by the interlocutor (diminish, accentuate, cling to the theme, enhance it, ignore it);
Manage the conversational format: which climate prevails during the negotiation? Are we facing a format of “interrogation”, of “search for a solution”, of “mutual confession”, or what else? If during a sales negotiation the seller notices that the buyer is adopting the “interrogation” format, the conversational leadership plans to point this out, with phrases such as “this conversation looks more like an interrogation than a search for solutions, we would like try to give our meeting a different, perhaps more productive cut ”;
Rebalance power relations: in sales, above all, there is an “unspoken” in which the purchaser holds the power to negotiate. This power is exercised through typical attitudes of those in power: control over content, deciding who speaks, what is spoken, and how it is spoken. Sometimes this results in unmotivated arrogance. Conversational leadership involves the ability to reformulate the games, rebalance attitudes, bring the two negotiators back to the same level, so as not to be crushed.

Tutorial: What game are you playing? Who holds the power?

Some communication situations of leadership and negotiation are presented, in which the leader implements a strategic communication game. Participants must evaluate what game is in progress and its intended purpose Some playable games:

Detection of theme offers (which topics of discussion the conductor offers);
Detection of the conversational format (which conversational climate tries to set the subject);
Detection of power relations (who commands over whom).

© Article translated from the book “Negoziazione interculturale, comunicazione oltre le barriere culturali” (Intercultural Negotiation: Communication Beyond Cultural Barriers) copyright Dr. Daniele Trevisani Intercultural Negotiation Training and Coaching, published with the author’s permission. The Book’s rights are on sale and are available for any Publisher wishing to consider it for publication in English and other languages except for Italian and Arab whose rights are already sold and published. If you are interested in publishing the book in English, or any other language, or seek Intercultural Negotiation Training, Coaching, Mentoring and Consulting, please feel free to contact the author from the webstite www.danieletrevisani.com

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