Interpersonal orientation

Most of the literature summarized in later sections suggests that negotiators will adjust their behavior from one situation to another. However, Rubin and Brown imply that people with a low interpersonal orientation (IO) will behave consistently across intra-and cross-cultural situations. They suggest that a high (IO) person is "responsive to the interpersonal aspects of his relationship with others. He is both interested in, and reactive to, variation in the other's behavior". Alternatively, a low IO is "characterized, first and foremost, by a nonresponsiveness to the interpersonal aspects of his relationship with the other..." .

Thus, one might conclude that some people will behave in the same way no matter who is on the other side of the negotiation table someone from the same culture or someone from a different culture. Graham and Herberger carry this idea one step further when they suggest that American negotiators naturally tend to be low IOs: 

I am what I am. Few Americans take pride in changing their minds, even in difficult circumstances. Certainly John Wayne's character and behavior were constant and predictable. He treated everyone and every situation with his action-oriented, forthright style. He could never be accused of being a chameleon. 

Many American bargainers take the same attitude with them to the negotiation table, but during international business negotiations, inflexibility can be a fatal flaw. 

So an explanation for ethnocentricity and obstinacy at the international negotiation table is offered. However, most of the rest of the pertinent literature argues that behavior differences will occur across the two settings, and for a variety of reasons. 

Back to '4.2: Understanding People from Different Cultures'