ABSTRACT
Negotiation is a peculiar mixture of conflict and cooperation. It takes place between parties with interests that conflict. The parties share, at the same time, a common need to agree because of the expected gain from such agreement. Chinese managers bring to the table the distinctive values we have touched upon earlier and this influences how they blend these two elements. Concern with harmony and hierarchy shape the style of communication. Ideals of Confucian gentility promote respect for those who maintain self-control, who embody ‘perfect calm’ (xinping qihe). Emotional outbursts, on the other hand, arouse strong distrust and antipathy. In the context of cross-cultural negotiations, Chinese preference for restrained, moderate behaviour means that the ‘American task-oriented approach, which allows for the admission of differences in the positions of the parties to a negotiation so as to promote “honest confrontation” is viewed by the Chinese as aggressive, and therefore as an unacceptable mode of behaviour’ (Shenkar and Ronen 1987: 268).
