Guest Speaker: Dr. Wolfgang Allehoff on Globalization

The first Guest speaker session was held on the 11^th of February, 2015. The guest was Dr. Wolfgang Allehoff, a German businessman who had completed his Degree in Organizational Psychology before furthering his studies in Business Research. He had prepared his session on Globalization.

Initially, he introduced us to management and told us its importance in all fields of life. He justified this importance by giving us the examples of Computerization and Multiculturalism.

Further on, he explained the term Globalization along with its merits and demerits. The merits included spread of democracy, better usage of skills and equality. Whereas, the demerits were lack of national control, elimination of local culture and unfair competition.

In the remaining part of his session, Dr Allehoff emphasized the need of communication and negotiation to global managers. He explained a general template of negotiation where one ought to have a win-win strategy. Cross cultural negotiations, Dr Allehoff said, were the most delicate due to their complex nature.

Focus on groups	Focus on individuals
Importance of rules	Importance of personal strategies
High Authority	High participation
High competition	High concern for others
Decisions based on external facts	Decisions based on personal knowledge
Punctuality	Flexibility in time
Highly contextual	Low context of words
Conflict orientation	Harmony orientation
Task orientation	Relationship orientation

Fig: Some of the differences that make cross-cultural negotiations complex

Finally, Dr Allehoff gave some valuable tips to prepare for negotiations:

• Never get emotional.
•  Make two sets of notes, one for yourself and one for your counterpart.
• Try ti interpret the inner meaning of words.
• Don't make it a buffet. Don't sway in and out.
• Have your BATNA prepared. (best alternative to negotiation agreement) 

      By Muzammil Ahmed, BScs Student- Volunteer at Flow