Title: Culture-Based Negotiation Styles | Beyond Intractability
Headings: Culture-Based Negotiation Styles
Culture-Based Negotiation Styles
Cultural Approaches to Negotiation
Time Orientations
Space Orientations
Nonverbal Communication
Power Distance
Uncertainty Avoidance
Masculinity-Femininity
Cross-Cultural Negotiations
U.S. Approaches to Negotiation
African Approaches to Negotiation
Japanese Styles of Negotiation
European Styles of Negotiation
Latin American Styles of Negotiation
The Evolution of Negotiation
Additional Resources

Content: These rules change in Japan, where women are frequently seen holding hands, but not men. In the Mediterranean, it is common to see men holding hands or touching in public, but not women. Greeting rituals fit with these patterns, so awareness of local norms is important for negotiators. Space also relates to comfort with eye contact and attributions related to eye contact or lack of eye contact. In United States and Canadian dominant culture settings as well as many Arab cultures, eye contact is taken as a sign of reliability and trustworthiness. In North American indigenous settings, eye contact may be seen as disrespectful and inappropriate. Similarly, in Asian settings, looking down is usually interpreted as a sign of respect. Beyond these generalizations is a great deal of complexity. Lederach observes, for example, that in Central America, a slight movement of the eyes may indicate embarrassment, showing respect, or disagreement." [ 5]
Seating arrangements for negotiations should take norms for space into account.