Decision Making and Ethical Behavior

Question:

An international negotiator must take into account when interacting with persons form different cultures in an international business the different aspects that influence that person when he is going to make a decision.

Cultures influence people in many significant ways especially in ways of thinking and reactions to common situations in a organization and in life.
For example a contract in a business negotiation between in a international organizations can have many interpretations by the different cultures involved in the negotiation agreement or in a job interview in a organization that belongs to a different county with a different culture, lets see some examples:

To a Swiss, Scandinavian, American or British person a contract is a formal document that has to be signed after a deal or a business agreement and the parts involved should be adhered to it. The approval if formalized by the signatures of the parts involved and gives it a sense of finality.

A Japanese businessperson regards a contract as a starting document to be rewritten and modified, as circumstances require.

The German think that truth will allow parties to achieve a successful outcome of a business meeting.

South Americans sees contacts as an ideal that is unlikely to be achieved but that is signed to avoid argument.

Persons of most cultures see aspects of life by the way they have been teach and different ethical behaviors influenced people take different positions of same situations.

This simple example shows as how difficult could be to reach to a successful negotiation when ethical behaviors influence in different ways a decision process in a common document in business like a contract. The decision process harder and complicated when different ethical behaviors interact

References:
Book: “When Cultures Collide”. Third Edition. Publisher: Nicholas Brealey International--- By Lewis, Richard D – Chapter: “Concepts and Notions”