I teach negotiations at my university. Those how can do. Those who can’t, teach. Or those who can’t, persuade their agent or tough cookie daughter to negotiate on their behalf.
The course is The Creative Negotiation. One topic I have to discuss is cross-cultural negotiations. Tricky. Different cultures deal with negotiations and, indeed, life differently. But how do you discuss a different nationality without descending into generalizations and stereotypes? Like I said, tricky.
So, I use the Star Trek episode A Piece of The Action as a case study. The Enterprise arrives at Sigma Iotia II. The planet’s culture is now modeled on 1920’s Chicago gangsters based on a book left behind by another starship. Captain Kirk (William Shatner) must repair the damage to the planet’s culture by negotiating a truce between the mob bosses who rule the planet’s territories. From a negotiation theory viewpoint Kirk takes an integrative approach to the negotiations and tries to grow the pie for all the parties.
In a successful (and funny) cross-cultural negotiations, Kirk studies Sigma Iotia’s old timey gangster culture. He adapts his approach, clothing, language and negotiation techniques to their mores. He shows them respect. And like any savvy mid-Century US industrialist or Wal-Mart today he uses the Federation’s military power (phasers) as leverage to close the deal. The Federation gets its piece of the action.
By James Nadler
