Critical Reading Assignment

This assignment is to help you understand the agreement and its provisions.

Reflective reading is an influential tool for learning and increases engagement and participation among students.

Your submission can be in writing, or it can be a video or audio recording.

The assignment has three requirements:

  • Requirement 1: Read the US-ROK Nuclear Agreement. Choose the three most important aspects (concepts, issues, factual information, etc.) of the reading, and describe them, justifying your choices.
  • Requirement 2: Identify two aspects of the agreement that you don’t understand. Briefly discuss why these confusing aspects interfered with your understanding of the reading. Put them in priority order and limit your submission to the two most important ones.
  • Requirement 3: Pose a question to the text’s author (this will not go to the author, but will be discussed in class). The question should go beyond the reading content, reflecting your curiosity about the topic. It should reveal what you think are the implications of the agreement.

The completed assignment should be submitted in electronic form (word, video or audio file) before class on Tuesday, October 29.

Analysis of Negotiation Language

We viewed these videos in class and identified negotiation tactics, body language and linguistic features, as well as power positions.

Which negotiator is stronger and why?

Start at 3:19

What tactics do you recognize in this negotiation exchange between the British Chancellor and his US counterpart?

Do you recognize negative and positive denial? Competitive and cooperative approaches?

Start at the beginning; stop at 2:09.

Writing the Opening Statement

Assignment: Opening Statement

An opening statement can help set the tone for the negotiations. The statements should contain the team’s expectations for the meetings, why they have agreed to participate in the process, and their expectations regarding their relationships.

Your assignment:

  1. Read the sample opening statements
  2. Each team member will write an opening statement
  3. It should be emailed to the instructor by Monday, Dec. 2, 6:00pm
  4. Practice delivering your opening statement

The statement should include:

  • Addressing the venue and the participants
  • Framing the context of the negotiations to support your positions, goals in the negotiation (e.g., historical context; recent events; legal instruments, treaties, frameworks, etc.)
  • Acknowledging mutual interests
  • Framing the issues to be discussed (the agenda) in support of your positions, goals in the negotiation
  • Judicious use of rhetorical devices for persuasion (i.e., not overly persuasive or emotional, but compelling)
  • Acknowledging the value of the other side
  • Setting a positive tone

Each team member will read an opening statement at the beginning of the negotiation.

Part 2: Framing the Issue towards a Joint Solution

Expert Interviews

Watch Miles Pomper talk about looking beyond impasse.

Looking Beyond Impasse

After watching the video, take this quiz.


Watch Miles talk about framing the issue, then take the quiz and do the graded assignment, below.

Framing the Issue Toward a Joint Solution

After watching the video, take this quiz.


Graded Assignment

Follow the link to the instructions for this assignment: Framing the Issue Toward a Joint Solution


Required Readings

 

Part 1: Framing Your Side’s Position

 Interactive Lessons

Creator_balloonWriting the Opening Statement

Follow the link to instructions on writing your opening statement.

Record Your Opening Statement

Repairing Communication Breakdowns

Avoiding and Responding to Communication Breakdown

When communicating across cultures, it is easy to fall into the pitfalls of intercultural differences in how people should communicate, levels of politeness and rhetorical orientations.

communication breakdown image

 

In “An Analysis of an Intercultural Communication Breakdown,” Zhu Yunxia and Peter Thompson use the above model for analysis of intercultural issues between high-context and low-context cultures.

Cultural Differences in High- and Low-Context Cultures

  • Internalized, implicit messages; indirect (high)
  • Explicit messages; direct (low)

Rhetorical Orientations

Remember Aristotle’s orientations for persuasion? High-context cultures focus more on relationships, feelings, and social status when attempting to be persuasive. Low-context cultures focus more on logic of an argument.

High Context

  • Ethos: character, status, social conventions
  • Pathos: emotions, feelings

Low Context

  • Logos: reason and logic

Politeness Principles

What is considered polite varies from culture to culture. Cultures differ in:

  • Who is in the legitimate position to make a request, offer an invitation, etc.
  • What phrases are used, if any, to mitigate the face threat
  • Rules for making the other speaker comfortable
  • Need for harmony (high context) vs individuality (low context)

Prevention and Repair

How can we try to prevent communication breakdown, and how do we repair the situation once a breakdown has occurred?

A sampling of repair strategies:

  • Repetition
  • Paraphrase
  • Clarification requests and Confirmation checks
  • Comprehension checks

(Schegloff et al., 1977; Schegloff, 2000; Nagano, 1997; Drew, 1997).

1. Repetition. Repeat what the other person says as closely as you can recall. Be sure you have heard correctly.

2. Paraphrase. Rephrase what others say in your own words to confirm your understanding.

3. Clarify and Confirm that you have heard or understood correctly. You might define key terms. E.g., “what do we mean by takeaway?”—can save time and energy later on.

  • Going back to what you just said about … could you clarify what you mean?
  • So, correct me if I’m wrong, but did you say … 
  • I’m sorry, could you go over that again?
  • Excuse me, but I must have misunderstood what you said, do you mean that…
  • What exactly do you mean by …

4. Comprehension checks. Check with your counterparts to be sure that you understood what they said and that they understood you.

  • Does that make sense?
  • Could you explain how you understand this point?
  • Let me be sure I understand what you are saying …
  • Correct me if I’m wrong, but do you mean…

Other Hints:

Never assume. Don’t take it for granted that everyone is using terms or understanding concepts in the same way. Always double-check. 

Try not to rush. If you seem rushed and distracted while communicating with others, they may feel offended.  If you can’t avoid being rushed, provide a brief explanation about why you are busy but emphasize that they are important to you and arrange for a follow up meeting or phone call.

Encourage questions. Make your counterpart feel comfortable and safe to ask questions.  Conversely, if you are unsure or unclear about something, always ask.

Practice active listening. Back channeling is a technique in English to let your counterpart know that you are listening and understanding. However, back channeling can be interpreted as interrupting by people from high-context cultures. Eye contact is also culturally sensitive. Ask questions, invite questions, ask someone to provide a brief recap of what was said. Actively engage your mind so you really listen.  Afterwards, be ready to ask for clarification or examples if there is anything you don’t understand.

Reference: Zhu Yunxia, Peter Thompson. (2000) Invitation or sexual harassment? An analysis of an intercultural communication breakdown. M/C: A Journal of Media and Culture 3(4). <http://www.api-network.com/mc/0008/invitation.php>

Part 2: Mindful Listening and the Middle Way

Interactive Lesson

What do cultural dimensions have to do with mindfulness and communicating across cultures in negotiation?

To be mindful communicators, individuals need to recognize the value systems that influence others’ self-conceptions. They need to be open to a new way of identity construction. They need to be prepared to perceive and understand a behavior or problem from others’ cultural and personal standpoints. Mindful communicators need to be on the alert for the multiple perspectives that typically exist in interpreting a cultural collision episode (Ting-Toomey, 2004).

We recognize and study cultural and personal dimensions in our negotiation case:

  • value systems
  • self-conceptions
  • identity construction
  • cultural and personal standpoints
  • multiple perspectives

TingAnd apply that knowledge to linguistic and paralinguistic practices in negotiation:

  • mindful attention
  • listening
  • reframing
  • collaborative dialogue

In this lesson, you’ll interact with material for each of the four practices above. Then you’ll put it all together for a Strategy for Negotiation Mindfulness in the Graded Assignment.


Mindful Attention

Mindful attention begins with understanding our own mindfulness strengths and areas needing improvement.

Take this mindfulness survey. Record your scores for:

  • Observation
  • Description
  • Acting with awareness
  • Accepting self without judgment

Keep your notes for the Graded Assignment.


Listening

Listening is more than just hearing. How can we listen deeply to understand our counterpart’s negotiation orientation and frame.

Listen to this video, then take the quiz

TED Talk on Listening

After watching the TED talk on listening, take this quiz.

Use this information in your Graded Assignment.


Reframing

Reframing is a way to diffuse emotional language and change the assumptions underlying the negotiation orientation of the counterparts.

Read Framing and Reframing_Handbook of Global and Multicultural Negotiation. Use this Reading Guide_Framing and Reframing to help you.

Listen to this video, then take the quiz

What did you learn about reframing?

After watching the video on Reframing, take this quiz.

Use this information in your Graded Assignment.


Collaborative Dialogue and the Middle Way Approach

Joint decisions shift the focus from separate interactive actions to group actions. Collaboration emphasizes direct communication of interests, aspirations, expectations, beliefs, and visions of the future. Open communication allows for enhanced creativity in the actions negotiators take and the decisions they make. Negotiators can invent new strategies, create new alternatives, and develop new ways of implementing agreements. (Smutko)

The principles of collaborative dialogue and the Middle Way approach are overlapping and complementary. They emphasize collaboration, mutual interest, open and respectful communication, and creativity.

Read this page on Collaborative Dialogue and the Middle Way


Graded Assignment: Mindfulness Strategies

  1. Write a self-assessment of your mindfulness strengths and areas needing more improvement. Use your scores from the mindfulness survey, above. In the conclusion, describe how you will use observation, description, awareness, and judgment, as well as mindful listening, in the negotiation. This should be approximately 300-500 words.
  2. Imagine the cultural and personal dimensions of your team and of your counterparts in the negotiation, as well as both sides’ potential concessions and BATNA. Create a dialogue between you and one or more counterparts regarding an issue in the negotiation. Your dialogue can include both collaborative and competitive approaches, but you must employ mindful speech, reframing, and collaborative dialogue and Middle Way approach for your side of the negotiation. With one or more team members, record this dialogue and upload to sans space. It should be no longer than 2 minutes.

References this page

Collaborative Dialogue: L. Steven Smutko, Natural Resources Leadership Institute, NC State University. 2005, http://www.ncsu.edu/nrli/decision-making/projects/documents/NegotiationCollaborativeProblemSolving.pdf

Ting-Toomey, S. (2004). Translating conflict face-negotiation theory into practice. In D. Landis, J. Bennett, & M. Bennett (Eds.), Handbook of intercultural training (3rd ed., pp. 217-248). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

Part 1: Thinking about Intercultural Dimensions

Interactive Lessons

Hofstede’s Cultural Dimensions

Follow this link to the Hofstede Centre website. Professor Geert Hofstede “conducted one of the most comprehensive studies of how values in the workplace are influenced by culture.”

Cultural Dimensions Comprehension Check

Take the quiz after you have already reviewed the Hofstede website and have a thorough understanding of the information on the website.


High Context & Low Context Cultures

This webpage High Context vs Low Context Cultures provides a list of behaviors generally found in high and low context cultures. As the website notes: “… few cultures, and the people in them, are totally at one end of the spectrum or the other. They usually fall somewhere in between and may have a combination of high and low context characteristics.”

High-Context vs Low-Context Quiz

After studying the webpage on high and low context, take this quiz.


Expert Interviews

Watch the interviews and take the quizzes

Example of Power Distance

Power Distance Quiz

After watching Dr. Hofstede talk about power distance, take this quiz.

Long-term vs Short-Term Orientation

Long Term vs Short Term Quiz

After watching Dr. Hofstede discuss time orientation, take this quiz.

Indulgence vs. Restraint

Indulgence vs Restraint Quiz

After watching Dr. Hofstede discuss indulgence vs restraint in cultures, take this quiz.


Team Assignment: Case Study

View the video on the meeting between ROK President Park and Bill Gates. Also, read the articles below. With this information and what you have learned about cultural dimensions in this lesson, work with your team to develop a set of behavior protocols for the negotiating team to follow in order to show respect for both their own culture and that of the other side–without compromising the strengths of your position.

Submit your team’s set of protocols HERE.

Module 3 Synchronous Meetings

Week 6

  • Oct 7: No Class; Mid-Term Assessment

Week 7

  • Oct 15: Class meeting with Instructor
  • Sept 17: Mentor meeting

Week 8

  • Oct 22: Class meeting with Instructor
  • Oct 24: Mentor meeting
  • Schedule a meeting with your negotiating team