Although for the group as a whole, the responses by males and females
did not reveal significant differences, one did find substantial variations
between genders within certain cultures. Thus, whereas 66.7 percent of U.S.
male respondents chose contract as a negotiating goal, 71.4 percent of the
U.S. female respondents opted for relationship — a finding supported by
American studies on the impact of gender on negotiation ( e.g., see Kolb and
Coolidge 1991). On the other hand, 75 percent of French females and 66.7
percent of Spanish women chose contract — data suggesting that gender
roles in negotiation may be more influenced by culture than biology.
Negotiating Attitude: Win-Lose or Win-Win?
Because of differences in culture or personality, or both, persons appear to
approach deal making with one of two basic attitudes: that a negotiation is
either a process in which both can gain (win-win) or a struggle in which, of
necessity, one side wins and the other side loses (win-lose). Win-win negotiators
see deal making as a collaborative and problem-solving process; win-lose
negotiators see it as confrontational. In a reflection of this dichotomy, negotiation
scholars (e.g., see Hoppman 1995; Lewicki et al. 1993) have concluded
that these approaches represent the two paradigms of the negotiation
process: distributive bargaining (i.e., win-lose) and integrative bargaining or
problem-solving (i.e., win-win). In the former situation, the parties see their
goals as incompatible, while in the latter they consider themselves to have
compatible goals.
Among all respondents in the survey,. approximately one-third claimed
to see negotiations as win-lose, while two thirds saw it as win-win. Gender
appeared to have no influence on responses, for the distribution among men
and among women was essentially the same — one-third of the male respondents
and one-third of the female respondents considered negotiation to be a
win-lose process.
On the other hand, the survey revealed wide differences among the cultures
represented in the survey on this question. Whereas 100 percent of the
Japanese viewed negotiation as a win-win process, only 36.8 percent of the
Spanish were so inclined. The Chinese and Indians, the other two Asian cultures
represented in the survey, also claimed that negotiation for them was
win-win, and the French, alone among Europeans, took a similarly pronounced
position on the question. Table 3 summarizes the results.