Just as he does little preparation, the Latin American negotiator does not do pre-negotiations either, but this is facilitated by the informality of the deal; in fact, he feels more comfortable in informal negotiations, outside the negotiating table.
He tends to start negotiations in a traditional tone, with a high request, and is very careful of the counterpart's reaction, manipulative of emotions and power games that aim to intimidate the counterpart.
He is very proud and can go all out, taking very high risks in the negotiation process. the negotiation process. He tends to argue in a general way, vague in terms, but solid in general principles; alternatively, he argues about personal needs and those of the counterpart, taking them as legitimate and valid criteria. Agreements are equally quick, vague, verbal or, paradoxically, of a meticulous legality.
These conclusions were reached in an extensive study on cross-cultural negotiation, conducted through 1,500 interviews with people who recounted their experience in a specific negotiation.
The study began with negotiations between Japanese and Colombians (during a semester of research in Tokyo with the Institute of Developing Economies); then interviews were conducted on negotiations in Venezuela, Ecuador, Mexico, Brazil, Argentina, Chile and other Latin American countries. Likewise, negotiations between Colombia and the United States, France, the Middle East, Germany, China and other countries or cultures of the world were studied.
Latin Americans have a reputation for non-compliance because they are very risky: they commit themselves to do things that from the beginning they know they will have a hard time fulfilling. The second problem is that within their spontaneous short-term conception, they do not believe that they have to give explanations for their non-compliance.
"I just couldn't do it," as an explanation, causes astonishment and even indignation to people from other cultures; for Latinos, promising something in the context of a negotiation is merely a declaration of intent rather than a formal commitment.
At that moment they felt the desire to do what they promised, but feelings may change at a later time: they will seriously and honestly try to do it, but it will be seen if it is possible, life can not be so planned.
A big difference that causes misunderstandings between Latin Americans and Japanese is that the Japanese start negotiating from the lower levels of the organization and work their way up, while among Latinos the boss is the one who negotiates.
Latin Americans are not very attached to protocol, which they often do not know at all, as they prefer a certain personal informality that facilitates rapprochement, breaks the ice and creates a friendly atmosphere.
Unlike the Chinese, who take an attitude of humility and low profile, Latinos believe in appearance and their dignity as gentlemen; in this they are very similar to the Arabs, whose magnificence and courtesy of aggrandizing the other (particularly when they are the hosts) seems to be very much to the Latin American taste.
On a par with the Japanese, Latinos are masters at informal negotiations, those that occur outside the negotiating table, in promptu or on social occasions. In this they also resemble the Middle Easterners, and the Chinese.
Despite their ease in conducting informal negotiations outside the table, Latinos miss opportunities because they improvise due to their lack of preparation, which also makes it difficult to make pre-negotiations. The latter are the greatest virtue of the Japanese (nemawashi) that allows them to go far beyond the traditional definition of an agenda of points to negotiate and who will sit at the table.
Latinos will open with a very high demand, as an exploratory probe of the other's reaction, but will generally fail to support their demand with technical criteria as do the French (who also ask for the sky to be lowered much later, at the end of the negotiation).
If you listen to the recordings of a negotiation you will find in the Latin Americans a general argumentation, with a tendency to abstract and deductive thinking, mixed with individual personal reasons in which they are introducing the personal needs of the negotiators to the problem to be dealt with.
Questions of concrete detail asked by the Japanese are frequently left unanswered by the Latins, or to be answered later. This tendency to big ideas and generality rather than concrete thinking is probably a heritage of the Hispanic tradition which, like the Roman and Napoleonic legal system, is based on deductive processes rather than inductive jurisprudence of past cases.
Latinos are highly emotional in their negotiation process, as are the French and Middle Easterners, because part of personal authenticity lies in being spontaneous and allowing for the expression of feelings.
Power tactics and the use of power at the negotiating table is open and common among Anglo-Americans, French, Middle Easterners and Latin Americans. When Latinos appeal to the legal system they have already broken relations and are at war; hence the threat of a lawsuit.
Negotiation is the behavior and the concepts, expectations and values that people have when faced with a situation of difference of interests, a situation in which there is a conflict, but also a common zone where the conflict can and will be resolved between the parties. The advice for those who are going to negotiate in Latin America is that they should not try to be like Latin Americans, but neither should they act unilaterally ignoring their peculiarities.
