Cultural Reflection
Cross cultural reflection
Introduction
What I felt about the cross cultural simulation was that it was very useful in letting us take on the Disney World France situation at that time. It puts us in the shoes of the different parties affected during that point of time and gives us just sufficient amount of information needed such that we are free to use our judgment to shape the negotiation. For each person, the information and the ideal terms and conditions that each of us are looking for are unknown the other parties and thus no one is sure of the other party’s agendas and objectives. The background knowledge and information also helps us to justify our claims on the slice of pie that we are negotiating on to make it as close to a real negotiation as possible, making me see that you need to understand both sides of a negotiation for it to be even remotely successful. What makes this simulation as much of a clean sheet as possible was that Disney’s name was replaced by Mouse such that no judgment can be made instinctively before the simulation even starts.
However, as this is just a simulation, limitations are there and therefore it cannot be a reflection of the real thing. Some of the limitations that I personally feel affects the simulations are listed below.
Limitation 1 : Cultural differences
Firstly, the cultures that we are brought up are very different from the ones in the simulation, mainly the French and the Amercians. Most of us are brought up in an Asian family whom more or less follows Confucianism, the teachings and thinking of Confucius. Many of us were brought up with a different set of morals and values from those in France and USA such as putting other before self, the importance of seniority and politeness towards others. Some of the other differences can be that Asians are more conservative compared to our Western and European counterparts and may not be as “aggressive” during negotiations to demand our rights. All this inherent
Introduction
What I felt about the cross cultural simulation was that it was very useful in letting us take on the Disney World France situation at that time. It puts us in the shoes of the different parties affected during that point of time and gives us just sufficient amount of information needed such that we are free to use our judgment to shape the negotiation. For each person, the information and the ideal terms and conditions that each of us are looking for are unknown the other parties and thus no one is sure of the other party’s agendas and objectives. The background knowledge and information also helps us to justify our claims on the slice of pie that we are negotiating on to make it as close to a real negotiation as possible, making me see that you need to understand both sides of a negotiation for it to be even remotely successful. What makes this simulation as much of a clean sheet as possible was that Disney’s name was replaced by Mouse such that no judgment can be made instinctively before the simulation even starts.
However, as this is just a simulation, limitations are there and therefore it cannot be a reflection of the real thing. Some of the limitations that I personally feel affects the simulations are listed below.
Limitation 1 : Cultural differences
Firstly, the cultures that we are brought up are very different from the ones in the simulation, mainly the French and the Amercians. Most of us are brought up in an Asian family whom more or less follows Confucianism, the teachings and thinking of Confucius. Many of us were brought up with a different set of morals and values from those in France and USA such as putting other before self, the importance of seniority and politeness towards others. Some of the other differences can be that Asians are more conservative compared to our Western and European counterparts and may not be as “aggressive” during negotiations to demand our rights. All this inherent