e-Negotiations Networking and Cross-Cultural Business Transactions

Practical negotiating skills, including those needed for cross-cultural negotiations have long been taught in classrooms, along with some of the theory that underpins them. Most of this has been based on the notion that negotiation will be interpersonal and face to face. In recent years, globalisation, the telecommunications boom and the ever increasing need for today’s professionals to conduct cross-cultural business transactions has led to a new way of negotiating, bargaining and resolving disputes.

In a stimulating and original book, e-Negotiations: Networking and Cross-Cultural Business Transactions, Dr Harkiolakis and his colleagues compare and contrast e-negotiation as it is in the twenty-first century with traditional face to face negotiation. The overall structure of the book and the organisation of material within chapters are well thought out, illustrating how cross-cultural negotiations can be managed through modern channels of social influence and information sharing and shed light on the critical social, cognitive and behavioural role of the negotiator in resolving on-line, cross-cultural, conflicts and disputes, and generally in bargaining and negotiation. In many ways the chapters are complimentary and useful not only to professionals and researchers interested in understanding the various perspectives of e-negotiations but also to non-experts and students who are keen on understanding the relevant academic literature and frameworks to negotiations and especially e-negotiations.

Dr Harkiolakis and his colleagues explore, analyse, explain and assess the very complex constituents involved in e-negotiation. For those involved in business or policy resolution at a distance, they will be happy to have this book clearly in mind and ready to hand for frequent reference. For educators, seeking aids for their management or policy studies students, they would be lucky to find a more comprehensive introduction that provides them with the particulars of negotiation and the impact of the internet and related technologies on the knowledge, communications and other skills of e-negotiation.

The authors with the use of case studies examine how culture is communicated through technology, specifically the use of technologically mediated communication to influence negotiator-thinking behaviours during on-line cross-cultural negotiation. Because of global economics and the pervasive presence of the internet in very business person’s life, the new e-commerce market has taken off from the launch pad. The more e-commerce grows the more e-negotiation flourishes; because of the certain probability of inter-cultural factors influencing e-negotiations worldwide, understanding e-business strategies and discovering the impact of culture on the parties involved has become increasingly important.

Cultural diversity has become one of the most critical issues in negotiation. The integration of diverse cultures in the decision-making structure to reach an agreement has become an inescapable phenomenon for most organisations as well as negotiators in fields other than business, such as government, diplomacy, the law and law enforcement. A successful cross-cultural e-negotiation is largely dependent on whether the parties can unravel the puzzle of negotiating patterns originating from a culture other than their own. In cross-cultural context, negotiation becomes more difficult to yield benefits for all concerned parties. The difficulty is encountered when even seasoned professionals are confronted with different sets of values, attitudes, behaviours and communication styles. The authors consider these as the building blocks of understanding and preparing negotiation strategies in cross-cultural scenarios. So, how to avoid setbacks, surprises and shock so often present by cross-cultural negotiation executives?

As this book illustrates, students of e-negotiation skills must also be the students of worldwide cultures and information technology to even begin to formulate winning strategies in dyadic e-negotiation. Negotiations require a whole range of talents, from strategic vision and creativity to persuasiveness and self-awareness. In the world of e-negotiations, certain skills carry more weight than others due to the nature of the communication mediums we use. It takes time and practice to become aware of the interplay of the various parameters in a negotiation process and requires someone to be alert and informed about trends, practices and future directions.

The explicit choice of approach by the authors, that is, the emphasis on practice and application would appear to be at the heart of both the strengths and weaknesses of the book. Whilst the text is clear, accessible, and concise, allowing for a free-flowing discussion and distillation of a wide range of relevant concepts and theories, it lacks in certain chapters the depth of conceptual and theoretical engagement that one might expect of an academic textbook. Although it is my understanding that there was a conscious choice by the authors not to overburden the text with numerous references, I feel that some of the chapters were short on referencing and weak in their theoretical underpinning. Given the scope of the material and the targeted audience the text is aimed at, this seems not to be a significant weakness.

There is no doubt that the book will spark the interest and engage the reader, as it offers many contemporary and practical examples that allow the reader to develop a progressive and embedded understanding of the process on the formation of electronic negotiations. Innovative, insightful, intelligent and to the point, this easy-to-read text on electronic negotiations, which is a mainstay in today’s on-line, global business marketplace, will help you better understand both the basic skills and subtle nuances needed to resolve conflicts and manage e-negotiations with confidence.