German Negotiating And Communication Styles, And Their Cultural Bias

The paper is about how cultural roots influence language and behavior. The people which it is focused are Germans, which - due to their culture have logical goals and are capable in finding extremely practical solutions. In a rapidly globalizing business environment, it is a keystone to understand other people think, and as a consequence how they act. Here cultural traits play the most important role in defining peoples' behavior. But language is a part of a people's culture; it is a social coagulant, which facilitates social interaction. One could not enter a society if he/she cannot speak the language of those with which he/she interacts. Furthermore, language is a soft element of the cultural tools and traits of a people; it expresses the way the people belonging to a peculiar culture, and which speak a peculiar language see the world, their relation to the environment in which they live and act, the way they use that environment, the way they use time, space, and social relations. The research is both theoretical, and empirical, looking at the cultural traits of the Germans both from inductive and from deductive perspectives. It is a qualitative research aiming at helping understand the roots of German negotiating behavior and the way Germans communicate in negotiations, and in their normal life. Furthermore, the paper will present some examples of the reasons for German behavior and negotiating style, and how the German language expresses their most peculiar characteristics: precision, and parsimony. The role of the "idea" in German thinking is presented, too; and connected to this how they see the Gesamztkonzept of a peculiar negotiation, and how they relate to it all what they are looking in that peculiar negotiation. Of course, the roots of these peculiar traits of German language and negotiation style are to be found in Germany's history, geography, economy, and philosophy, all of them being explained in a manner which is aimed to the reader's enlightenment.