Rajesh Kumar

The Role of Affect in Negotiations An Integrative Overview

This article analyzes the role that is played by affect in negotiations. I analyze the origins of affect and its implications for negotiation processes and outcomes. Negotiation may entail both positive and negative affect; in addition, the two kinds of affect may have positive as well as negative consequences. My analysis of the role played by affect occurs primarily at the level of the dyad; however, I do explore the impact of organizational context and its impact on the development of the negotiation process. Implications for future research are discussed.

Interpartner Legitimacy in the Alliance Development Process

We propose a framework to understand interpartner legitimacy in strategic alliances. Interpartner legitimacy is the mutual acknowledgment by the alliance partners that their actions are proper in the developmental processes of the alliance. We argue that interpartner legitimacy is needed for cooperation to achieve alliance objectives. We propose three types of interpartner legitimacy - pragmatic, moral, and cognitive legitimacy - and discuss the dynamics of these three types in the formation, operation, and outcome stages of alliance development. Further, we discuss the salience of interpartner legitimacy in different alliance types. Finally, we derive propositions for further research, and discuss strategies that alliance managers can adopt to develop interpartner legitimacy. Copyright Blackwell Publishing Ltd 2007.

Inside the kaisha : demystifying Japanese business behavior

Written by an experienced Japanese manager and an American scholar of organizational behavior, this book presents a series of apparent contradictions in Japanese business conduct. The authors show why behavior that appears inconsistent to the Westerner is perfectly congruous to the Japanese way of framing the context of the situation or using a particular model to guide behavior. The book is organized around six puzzles about Japanese business behavior that perplex outsiders. The authors unravel each puzzle in a systematic way to demonstrate why, from the Japanese perspective, the behavior is in fact appropriate and consistent. For each puzzle, the authors generate a set of specific insights that can be used in everyday business practice.

Regulatory Focus and Opportunism in the Alliance Development Process

The authors examine the motivational determinants of interfirm alliance behavior through the sociocognitive principle of regulatory focus, with particular reference to the role of opportunism at the formation, operation, and outcome stages of alliance development. Regulatory focus pertains to whether an organization engages with the external world to achieve positive outcomes (promotion focus) or to avoid negative outcomes (prevention focus). The authors believe that the motivational orientations of the alliancing firms play key roles in shaping tolerance for opportunism, and they argue, broadly, that alliance firms with a promotion regulatory focus will be more tolerant of their partners’ opportunistic behavior than alliance firms with a prevention regulatory focus. Propositions are developed regarding the linkages between the regulatory focus of an alliance firm and its sensitivity to partner opportunism in the different stages of alliance development. The authors discuss further research directions and the managerial implications of their analysis.

Learning dynamics in the alliance development process

Purpose – The paper seeks to propose a framework for examining the dynamics of learning in the various stages of alliance development.Design/methodology/approach – The three kinds of learning in alliances are described – namely, content, partner‐specific, and alliance management – and the saliences and implications of particular types of learning in different alliance stages are discussed.Findings – The framework makes clear that alliance learning varies according to the stages of the alliance developmental process (formation, operation, outcome), and that different types of learning have different strategic implications.Practical implications – Briefly, content learning augments the collective strengths of the alliance, partner‐specific learning (i.e. learning about a partner as opposed to learning from a partner) is crucial in determining whether or not an alliance gets formed, and alliance management learning helps build the confidence of the alliance partners in managing alliances.Originality/value – ...

Interpartner sensemaking in strategic alliances

Purpose – This paper aims to propose a framework for understanding interpartner sensemaking in cross‐national strategic alliances, and to discuss how to manage the problems arising from the cultural differences and internal tensions that are inherent in such alliances.Design/methodology/approach – The paper starts from the notion that interpartner sensemaking of the complexities of strategic alliances has important implications for the evolution of cross‐national alliances. The two fundamental interpretive frames that relate to sensemaking are described, that of sensemaking of chaos and that of sensemaking in chaos, and the paper examines how an appreciation of these interpretive frames enables one to better manage cultural differences and internal tensions that inevitably arise in cross‐national alliances.Findings – The framework makes clear that the two types of interpartner sensemaking (“sensemaking of chaos” and “sensemaking in chaos”) need to be appreciated as interpretive frames that are present amo...

National Cultural Values and the Evolution of Process and Outcome Discrepancies in International Strategic Alliances

The article assesses the role played by national cultural values in shaping the evolution of international strategic alliances. The authors build on a systems dynamic model of alliance evolution in which the developmental path of an alliance depends on how the partners manage process and outcome discrepancies that may emerge during the course of an alliance. They argue that national culture affects alliance evolution by influencing partners’ sensitivity to discrepancy detection, shaping the nature of attributions they make, and by affecting the partners’ reactions to discrepancies. They focus on differences in three value orientations among cultures. Activity orientation, mastery over nature, and assumptions about human nature are the value orientations that affect alliance functioning. The authors argue that alliances are prone to interpretational, attributional, and behavioral conflicts originating from differences in value orientation among partners. The three value orientations are shown to be the most useful in explaining the dynamics of alliances.

Social capital and the dynamics of business negotiations between the northern Europeans and the Chinese

The paper assesses the impact of social capital on the dynamics of Sino‐northern European business negotiations. It is argued that, while conflicting negotiation styles create interactional difficulties between the Chinese and the northern Europeans, the impact of the interactional difficulties on the processes and outcomes of negotiations is critically dependent on the pre‐existing level of social capital among the negotiators. Social capital has three major components, namely cognitive, relational, and structural. The cognitive dimension highlights the level of shared understanding among the actors; the relational dimension focuses on the affective bonding among the actors; while the structural dimension highlights the nature of interconnectedness among the actors. This is an exploratory study conducted through in‐depth interviews with 24 northern Europeans and 15 Chinese managers, who have been negotiating with each other for several years. We highlight the linkages between the different dimensions of social capital and negotiation processes and outcomes, and conclude with implications for research and practice.

Brahmanical Idealism, Anarchical Individualism, and the Dynamics of Indian Negotiating Behavior

The article analyzes the implications of the Indian mindset on the dynamics of Indian negotiating behavior. I argue that the constructs of Brahmanical idealism and anarchical individualism capture the nature of the Indian mindset. Brahmanical idealism reflects the tendency of the decision makers to seek the most perfect solution. Any discrepancies between the realities of the external world and the logic of the inner world as manifested through a search for the ideal solution are not problematical for it is only the inner world that defines the true reality. If Brahmanical idealism focuses on the purity of the mental world, anarchical individualism lays emphasis on the primacy of attaining the ideal solution through absolutist forms of interpersonal behavior. That is to say, since each individual is engaged in searching for the ideal solution, and furthermore, as each individual’s ideal solution is either no better or no worse than that of their counterpart, the attainment of this ideal is problematic because under these conditions cooperative behavior is a rarity. In this sense, anarchic individualism fragments rather than enhances total effort, thereby draining energy away from the system. I analyze the impact of this mindset on the Indian negotiating dynamics and outline the implications of the framework developed here for the theory and practice of cross cultural management. Implications for negotiating with Indian businesspeople are also discussed.

Inter firm diversity and the management of meaning in international strategic alliances

Cross-national alliances have become an increasingly salient part of the contemporary global environment. These alliances bring together firms embedded in diverse institutional environments. Diversity in institutional environments makes meaning creation difficult as well as necessary. Our paper suggests that the alliance partners need to manage three kinds of meaning, namely pragmatic, moral, and cognitive. It is the effective management of meaning, which determines whether an alliance is able to achieve legitimacy. Implications for alliance management are discussed.