I don't know if it's because we have all come a long way since the beginning of the semester, but after reading and negotiating the first half, I had a feeling that this simulation resembled the real-life Toyota/GM JV that sprung out of their relationship.
Probably out of all the simulations, I performed the most poorly in this one.
Instead of acting as much as my culture as I should have, I wanted more to get to a solution, and my own way of negotiating and way of acting came through.
I remember after one of our simulations, Dr. Osland stated that, although we each had cards with our culture's description on them and the tools to "become" a new culture, we would bring our own beliefs, traits, and personalities to the role.
However, this time I completely failed to act the part and acted as ALICEA, and sadly I feel maybe that was a part of the failure of the simulation.
Another interesting thing happened--I don't know if the sheets we got were actually denoting the facts, or just the perceptions' that our culture felt were the facts. Although I did not want to bring up the issue of our company's technology with the "seeing androids" (that was supposed to be our trump card, and a heavy bargaining tool), one of my associates brought it out right away and kept pushing for what we wanted with that ONE bargaining chip. To my surprise, the other side did not want it and actually kept insisting that it was not important--that it was not something they were seeking.
Well that left US (or maybe just ME) stumped. If that was not what they wanted, why did our description on them say they did? Was that another misunderstanding due to miscommunicated cues from our culture or was it just something they were hiding till the end?
The other side kept insisting they didn't want it, and that was when I began to think that the descriptions we got of the other side were just the perceived understanding our side has of the other and not the actual truth.
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I wish they had something similar in companies, or offered this class every semester, because I feel like there is still so much left to learn.
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