Reference no: EM132712690
Sarah is the team lead for EC in Japan. Sarah wants to find a small office for EW to show its products to potential distributors. She has arrived in Tokyo with a budget, cultural research and confidence in her negotiation skills.
With the help of a real estate broker, Sarah has found a promising lease in Tokyo near medical centers and elderly communities. The building is small, but has good foot traffic and signage space, and is located in a premier area of Tokyo. It is 75 Tsubo or 2,669 sq. ft. in size. The owners (a father and son) are asking rent of 1,000,000 JPY or $8895.21 per month, excluding utilities. The owners' family has been in the real estate business for generations, have several buildings in the area and are well-respected in Tokyo.
The broker who arranged the meeting with the owners urged Sarah to think carefully before she spoke to the two men. The broker explained that the men were rather old-fashioned, so it was probably best to avoid offending them since they controlled a lot of Tokyo real estate. It might be hard to find a good space if they did not like her. Still, the rent was higher than she budgeted for and getting the price down $1500 would be best for EC.
Sarah was to meet the father and son the next day. At first, she thought it best for the real estate broker who showed her the space to carry out the negotiations without her. When asked this, the broker was surprised and declined immediately explaining that it would be impolite. Sarah was worried. She always thought she could read people and their body language. She also felt confident in her negotiating skills as she was an active listener. Was she unprepared? In the meeting, it did not take Sarah long to understand that the men did not talk much and were not interested in Sarah's offer of $1500 less than the asking rent price. She began to talk too much and became more urgent in her demand for a lower price. The men said nothing except no. They did not get up to leave nor did they comment. They sat calmly and showed little expression. The son occasionally looked at the father. They both cracked a smile at a funny joke that Sarah made as she left. Sarah was not sure if that was good or bad: were they laughing with her or at her? The real question was: did Sarah make any progress in the negotiations? She could not tell. When Dwight heard this story, he was just as confused and worried as Sarah. It was a week after the meeting and Sarah still had not heard anything from the owners, yet the broker assured her that this was good news: she may not have gotten the space, but he would have heard by now if they had cut her out from looking at other properties they owned.
Dwight is thinking that all the employees may benefit from some basic emotional intelligence tactics that could be used cross-cultural communication and negotiation.
-What relationship does emotional intelligence have to communication? Why?
-What are some cross-cultural workplace barriers that can benefit from using emotional intelligence?
-How can EQ improve cross-cultural work experiences?
-What are the issues that Sarah faces?
-What are 5 tips that will improve Sarah's EQ skills to better perform in a cross-cultural workplace? Why?? Remember Sarah has studied the culture of Japan and the language. She is not fluent in Japanese, but she can talk conversationally.