Korean Job Discussion Forums

[mack4289]

http://joongangdaily.joins.com/article/view.asp?aid=2883843

"According to a survey by Brett of 2,450 business people in 16 countries which Kotra released yesterday, Korea ranked first when it came to self-interest in negotiations. Palestine and Israel, now in one of the world�s most serious political disputes, ranked second and third, respectively.

The two Middle-Eastern countries also took the highest positions in mastery of negotiations. Korea, on the other hand, ranked the lowest.
Regarding these results, Brett said in an interview with the JoongAng Daily on Tuesday, �In Korea, some negotiators are too accepting and some are too self-interested.�

�In an exercise [at Kotra] there were many cases that when one party made an offer and the offer was minimally acceptable, the other party just accepted it, not pushing it back,� she said. �So they just accepted the offers that are satisfactory but are not excellent.�

�And many [Korean] people are very concerned about themselves and they are not thinking about the other party,� she said. �I have to make concessions to you for things important to you, so that you can give concessions for things that are important to me. Negotiations are give and take.�

Her remarks show that Koreans tend to go to either of the two extremes in negotiations, failing to pursue a win-win strategy.

Asked whether lack of proficiency in English is one reason for Koreans� weakness in international negotiations, she said, �Proficiency in English is not as important as proficiency in communication.

�The problem comes from not understanding cultural differences, rather than language barriers.�

She also pointed out that many Koreans enter negotiations without sufficient alternative proposals and that they are sensitive to hierarchy, so they are greatly influenced by their position with respect to that of the other party�s negotiators."

We should all be familiar with the self-interested part. The part where they fold like lawn chairs isn't so familiar.

[Boodleheimer]

so if i get my grandfather to negotiate my contract on my behalf, i'll get the world's sweetest deal?

[reactionary]

Sure, unfamiliar to you or I because in our "negotiations" with Koreans we, in their eyes, never rank higher than them on the social hierarchy.

The article seems to state that if the negotiator from the other country is of some higher rank, then the Korean negotiator folds. Hell, maybe even if the negotiator is simply OLDER than the Korean counterpart they fold.

I definitely think anyone negotiating in Korea could learn a thing or two from this article to their benefit...maybe we should all get our mommies to negotiate our contracts for us because they're older

[Boodleheimer]

^ grandparents, dude. (if they're still around.)

[GoldMember]

The trouble is Koreans need to save face.
Go into a store, just before closing. The store owner may not have had a single sale that day. Offer a lower price, often rather than take the lower price and at least make some money, and eat that day, he'll reject your offer. To accept your offer means he loses and you win. The dude would rather go hungry than lose face.
What you need to do is show him the offer you you made is all the money you have, then he'll accept because he 'wins', because he took all of your money.
Koreans don't understand win:win, for them it's win:lose.

[VanIslander]

[reactionary]

YES!

As characterized by their EXTREME music.

EXTREME Chosun dynasty TV dramas.

EXTREME sports (sitting in an intertube on a beach).

And of course

EXTREME hype.

[Ilsanman]

Go talk to the boss of an English school totally desperate for an English instructor. You will see how bad they are at negotiating.

[CeleryMan]

[billybrobby]

[Fishead soup]

Koreans like high stress situations for example after a five minute talk on the phone.


Korean: Are you ready to accept our offer?
English teacher: Well I'd like to see the contract first and take a few days to think about it.

Korean: No you need to make a decision now. We have other people waiting. If you don't accept our offer now we will hire someone else.
This is your last chance to work for us.

[Yu_Bum_suk]

The thing that really gets me about the face-saving aspect of negotiating is that it's often a case of why lose a little face now when we can lose a later?

If I were sending negotiators to Korea I'd make damn sure they were all men in their 60s in big, ugly suits.

[Ilsanman]

Then how would you be able to distinguish them from the locals?

[Mix1]

hmm...the article makes me think. I have to renew my contract or not in a few months. I'm not so hot on the job itself, but the pay is decent. I wonder how I should handle it.
"I want X amount increase in pay or I walk." ?? (I'm hoping for 20 man ($200 ) increase a month) I'm at 2.5 mil won now...I wonder if this is a realistic pay increase? I wonder where salary caps out for private institutes.
or... "Let's pursue a "win-win" strategy" ?? (yeah, right)

If I walk, the owner has to pay a recruiters fee, plus deal with all the red tape of new regulations.
I'm guessing with the new regulations we should all be thinking about how to negotiate properly too.

[Ilsanman]

If you ask for that much more, you can highlight things you are NOt asking for. Such as extra vacation, less hours, or something like that. That is, if you are not asking for those things.