Negociate with an Algerian
Algeria is a country with a long history and many identities. For 40 million people, we have many languages spoken within the country, many religions, and many skin tones. The richness of the fabric of society is often a double-edged sword, as much as it makes us interesting unique, it divides us in many ways.
Geographically, Algeria is the biggest country in Africa with an area of 2,381,741 square kilometers spanning from the Mediterranean to the heart of Central Africa. Historically, this part of the land has known many empires, villages, stories, and religions. As a result of that, many parts of the country have their history, traditions, and pride. However, in 1962, the Algerian people at the time, 10 million strong, won the war of independence against the French colonization with losses of 15% of the population. The bloody 8-year war is the most unifying tragedy in recent history for Algerians and it is also the most impactful on recent Algerian identity. An Algerian will always tell you which part of Algeria they are from, because it matters, at least to them as different parts have different personalities.
When it comes to negotiations, Algerians have a strong reputation. So as bring more insight into this paper, I made a poll on my Instagram account which contains many Algerian young people my age who either grew up there and left or still live there. I posed both questions we were asked and received many answers and points of view which I will try to summarize in the next paragraph.
Firstly, I asked what they think is true about Algerian culture, but others do not believe it is. Diversity was the most frequent answer. 50% of respondents said that they believe Algeria has much more diversity in culture from one region to another but that the outsiders only view a few aspects. I agree with this as well as I find our community to be conservative, even with our traditions and showing them off. The second answer I agreed with is the unique sense of humor that Algerians have but aren’t too famous for. Having had many bloody years in our recent history, Algerians have developed a very sarcastic and pessimistic way of being. However, they show resilience and patience in a collective way that I find extraordinary.
Secondly, I asked what are two things that are not true but others from outside our culture believe to be true. This turned out to be a tough question to answer as I received fewer responses on the poll and I had trouble answering it myself. My first thought on this is the generosity or the lack thereof. I believe that the old generations truly lived up to the stereotype of a very generous host, one that would put their guest’s needs before their own. It is not the case in recent times, as the country suffers from bigger and bigger economic issues and the youth find it hard to build themselves a future, Algerians are a lot less generous. The second answer came to me from a very insightful friend who has traveled extensively, because we speak Arabic, we are expected to resemble the middle east in our traditions, and yet, because of our colonial history, we are more similar to south European communities than middle eastern ones. Except for the religion, you will find that foods, habits, and thoughts of an Algerian are closer to their Italian neighbors than to the Emirati peoples.
Finally, to the most interesting part of the assignment and my poll, the tips for negotiating with Algerians. This was the question that received the most answers which I found interesting because I think it means that we are (My friends who took the poll at least) more experienced in negotiating with each other than in understanding ourselves deeply. The most mentioned topic in these tips was emotions and then pride as well as honesty and directness.
As I tried to make sense of the answers and examples I received as well as my own experience, I found an example by a friend to be the best in putting the 3 aspects together. The example is given by a previous PWC manager who worked in Algeria leading a team of consultants for about 4 years. He told my friend of 2 experiences he had with an employee. The first one was with a client that was putting much pressure on the project and the deadlines were coming up, so this manager ordered his consultants, in what he considered a proper professional way, to pick up the slack and work extra hours to finish the project. His team’s response was to refuse and quit the job. On another project, he learned from his experience, and this time, he approached his team in a personal setting to say that he was in trouble as he does not have the resources to reach the deadline and that he needs their help to make it. The team’s response was to work the necessary extra hours with the amount of productivity needed to reach the goal. This manager concluded that Algerians are emotional in reacting to situations but I believe it goes deeper than that.
We tend as peoples to try to be heroes. In every life-threatening situation, you see in Algeria, you will always find a dozen people jumping in to help. I think this not special only in Algeria but in many countries in which community is very strong and honor is a highly esteemed trait. Appealing to the heroism in the Algerian personality is a very good tactic to get us to lower our guard. In a negotiation, it is almost always better to go in as an underdog in need of their help, even when you hold the power such as this manager did. Furthermore, flattery and recognition, though transparent methods, still work very efficiently on the Algerian personality.
The next point that I believe this manager may have missed in the story, is honesty. Lying or betraying is a grave sin within the Algerian culture. This goes back to the war of independence in which some people helped the French army against the Algerian army, they were called Harka. To this day, 59 years later, this word remains a very serious insult. That shows how deeply we despise liars, and worse of all, liars who get caught. It is important in a negotiation with an Algerian to try to be direct, precise, and honest. If you decide to ‘exaggerate or ‘oversell’, you may be setting yourself to fail as you will lose credibility and the respect of your fellow negotiator. And if you lose an Algerian’s respect, you have very little room left to make a good deal.
The final tip is one that I learned the hard way. Make sure they never get angry, it is not easy to bring them back down if anger takes over the negotiation. It is important to keep cool and composed throughout the negotiation but not too cold that you show no emotion. Algerians expect and value emotion, we are lively and energetic, and if you can not match that we may not relate to you. If we can not relate to you on a personal level, the professional aspect will be very hard to establish. Therefore, show emotion, but steer away from conflicting subjects that may hold too much emotion in them.
An example of this was very generously given by one of my poll answerers, never speak of their favorite football club, their origins, or their food. Unless it is a compliment of course.
Note : This piece was a school assignment called “In My Backyard” in which we try to answer this question : ‘What’s special about your culture’s negotiation style that negotiators should know about? In what way does your culture’s norms differ from those you may see in the classroom? And what reasons cause these differences (the social fabric of your culture, historical/religious reasons, etc.)’
