Does culture affect the negotiation process?
While some claim that culture is irrelevant in international diplomacy, almost all practitioners disagree. Diplomats have long shared a professional and international culture. Many experienced negotiators, both American and non-American, also see another culture at work: national cultures. This book is particularly concerned with the intersection of America’s national culture and its institutional culture (i.e., the structures, norms, and behavioral predispositions of U.S. government agencies such as the State Department, especially the Foreign Service). This book contends that the shared national background and institutional context of U.S. negotiators does exert a significant and recognizable impact on many facets of negotiating encounters and that the behavior of American negotiators reflects to some degree American cultural influences. 3. Why is the time ripe for a study on American negotiating behavior? Why is this volume important? Negotiation is becoming more, not less, importan
