Discussion Instructions

When responding to this and all brainstorming discussions, please put your name in your response's title/subject line, i.e., Sam's Response to Week 6 Brainstorming Discussions. Please refer to the Brainstorming Discussions Grading Rubric for details regarding how your performance will be assessed.

BEFORE STARTING: Review the requirements for the Brainstorming Discussions.

Building Relationships

Skill #8: Hone your Emotional IQ to a level that you not only use them to build relationships and motivate people but to communicate and negotiate better.

Last week Dwight asked you to consider how best to cultivate customers who operate at a long distance from EC. Dwight wants to extend this idea even more to see how you would approach the idea of using your Emotional IQ to communicate and negotiate with the long-distance customer.

Sarah is the team lead for EC in Japan. Sarah wants to find a small office for EC to show its products to potential distributors. She has arrived in Tokyo armed with her budget and culture research and confidence in her negotiation skills.

With the help of a real estate broker, Sarah has found a promising leasehold 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) ask for a monthly rent of 1,000,000 JPY or $8,895.21, excluding utilities. The owners have several buildings in the area and are well-respected real estate brokers in Tokyo, as their family has been in the business for generations.

The broker who arranged the meeting with the owners urged Sarah to think carefully before she spoke to the two men. They were rather old fashioned, and it was probably best to avoid offending them as they controlled a lot of real estate in Tokyo. 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 to $1,500 would be best for the company.

Sarah was due 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. When asked, the broker was surprised by the request. He 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 out of her league? It did not take Sarah long to see the men playing on a different field. They did not talk much and were not interested in Sarah's offer of $1,500 less than the asking 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, nor did they comment. They sat calmly and showed little expression. The son occasionally looked at the father. They both cracked a smile, a funny joke made as Sarah 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 headway in the negotiations? Sarah could not tell. Dwight, having heard the story, was just as confused as Sarah and just as worried. It was a week after the meeting, and Sarah still had not heard anything from the owners. The broker assures her that is good news. She may not have gotten the space, but they did not cut her out from looking at other properties they owned. He would have heard by now.

Dwight is thinking that all the employees may benefit from some basic emotional intelligence tactics that could be used in cross-cultural communication and negotiation.

Title and Reference slides - (not included in the slide count). An explanation of the relationship of emotional intelligence to communication. The barriers that cross-cultural workplaces to using emotional intelligence effectively. How EI can be geared to cross-cultural work experiences. Summarize Sarah's issues and give five tips to improve her EI skills in a cross-cultural workplace. Remember, Sarah has studied the culture of Japan and the language. She is not fluent in Japanese but can carry on a decent conversation. You must use course material, APA in-text citations, and a reference list to support your responses. Make sure you have adequate NOTES for each slide that serves as your transcript for the voice-over component. This should be in the NOTES