One of the major challenges in negotiating cross-culturally is to establish open and constructive discourse and develop relationships based on mutual trust and commitment that value but transcend social and cultural differences. To optimize this process, the negotiating parties in the merger must collaborate and establish an open relationship in which mutual understanding, trust, and learning prevail. Productive relationships and negotiations can be fostered through focusing on personal identity and language issues, developing common experiences by using an effective negotiation process that leads to deeper understanding and resolves issues while evolving relationships, and designing an environmental context conducive to productive negotiations.
Warzynski, Sidle, Gasser & Basten (2006). A Collaborative Strategy for Cross-Cultural Negotiations: Facilitating Socio-Cultural Integration in Mergers. Proceedings of the Global Forum Business as an Agent of World Benefit: Management Knowledge Leading Positive Change. Case Western Reserve University Cleveland, Ohio, October 23-25, 2006.
