Title: Indian negotiation style

Authors: Harsh Sharma

Addresses: Administrative Staff College of India, BellaVista, Raj Bhawan Road, Hyderabad, 500082, India

Abstract: Characterising the style of negotiation, depending upon the nationality and cultural practices is important for developing an effective negotiating template in the increasingly interconnected world. A desire to understand cultural underpinnings of negotiating behaviour has led to the emergence of many models in US, Japanese, Chinese and Arabian settings. The present article dwells on the cultural specific tendencies in negotiation in the Indian context. The article explains the Indian uniqueness of negotiating experience in the framework of Hofstede's (2003, 2010) findings on elements of national culture. Discussion based on historical narratives and culture-specific experiences leans towards concluding that there is a clearly visible Indian style of negotiation that is very contextual and perception of factors like power asymmetry, masculinity/femininity, individualism/collectivism and uncertainty avoidance interact with situational factors to determine the Indians' behaviour during negotiation.

Keywords: India; negotiation; Indian management; culture; mythology.

DOI: 10.1504/IJICBM.2018.093022

International Journal of Indian Culture and Business Management, 2018 Vol.17 No.1, pp.94 - 108

Received: 30 Jan 2017
Accepted: 05 Nov 2017
Published online: 04 Jul 2018 *

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