Culture as a notion is a quality of society (rather than an individual construct) within which individuals identify with and are apart of. Stanford, B. (1999) argue that culture is developed though the process of ‘acculturation” or through “socialization by individuals from their respective societies” hence, culture encompasses a complex set of attributes relating to the every day area of social life.
Carnevale, P, & Choi, D (2000) illustrates that culture describes the behaviors that are considered “1) desirable for a member of the culture, 2) individuals in the social structure, and 3) the values in ones life, i.e. goals and principles’. Furthermore, as culture also articulates, “how things are to be evaluated”, it implies that individuals within different cultural norms will have different levels of interaction, understanding and negotiation prowess, Carnevale, P, & Choi, D (2000)
As we have discussed over the last few weeks, culture encompasses a broad definition, a notions which conveys basic level ‘psychology’ of behaviors and human nature, such as language, economic ideology, beliefs and values (tradition) and so forth. Hence, Kremenyuk, VA (1988) notes that negotiation can therefor be seen as a human process that is related to problem solving and thus “towards a peaceful means of dispute resolution”. In this regards, we can view negotiation as a reality of culture as it values a “code of conduct” that is used for “civilized ways of solving disputes”.
Perceptions and behaviors
Different cultures will have an impact on the way individuals react and behave during international negotiations. We can argue that self-assumptions and opinions would be considered realistic as they are considered a normal part of domestic negotiations, Kimmel, S (1994). As a result, Kimmel, S (1994) notes, “negotiators are prisoners of their culture” which serves as a system of “social interaction”. This assumes that people are considered to be the same