Canadian/Iranian negotiating a lease for an INGO in Afghanistan

Canadian/Iranian negotiating a lease for an INGO in Afghanistan

Landlord, Mr. Golam, pays a surprise visit to the office of the INGO and wants to see the new Director Ramin, who arrived in country 3 weeks ago

Ramin: Hello, I hear you are our landlord, my name is Ramin Shahzamani, I have replaced Julian

Golam: Hello Mr. Shahzamani Sir Boss, how are you? How is your health? How are you? Are you ok? My name is Golam Golam.

Ramin: Thank you Mr. Golam Golam, I’m very well and how are you?

Golam: Blessed God, I’m fine, how is your health, how are you?

Ramin: (I was starting to feel like something was wrong with me) I’m fine thank you

Golam: How are your wife and the children?

Ramin: (I can’t tell him that I have a partner but not married) Oh, I’m not married.

Golam: Inshallah (God willing) you will be bless you with the pleasure of sons one day.

Ramin: uhhh, yes Thank you … I have always wanted children. Please have a seat.

Golam: I heard there is a new person in charge so I’ve come to say hello and welcome you to Afghanistan. I have also heard you are from the same region, which makes me very happy because you will understand us more.

Ramin: Thank you, it is very kind of you to come by and greet me.

Golam: Mr. Sir Boss I hope you are comfortable in our country. You know this is a very difficult place, we have had 30 years of war and it still continues here. We have seen many destructions and deaths.

Ramin: Yes, I’m aware of the history and of course the current situation.

Golam: let me tell you a story of when I first met a young Russian business man, who was here doing business when we were invaded by them. He also was using this office space and he knew our history too, but he left. If you look at our history, the Roman’s came and left, the British came and left, the Russians came and left and.. well. But us normal average people we want to just live with Allah as our protector.

Ramin: Yes fortunately we are not here for business, we are here to try to provide assistance to the war affected children and their families.

Golam: Yes a very noble thing and may Allah bless all those who help this poor country. But Mr. Sir Boss as I said we just want to live our lives. Now that I am here, perhaps we can also discuss your lease, my sons tell me that the rent is very low here, much below market value. We could be getting $10,000 per month for this place.

Ramin: I’m sorry I wasn’t aware we were going to discuss the rent so I’m not aware of what we are paying now. I will call the Administrative officer and go to get the lease.

Ramin: Please let me pour you a cup of tea before I go talk with my administrator. Here you go, as Ramin pours half a cup of tea, Golam stops him, please leave some room for sugar, Golam continues to fill the other half of cup with sugar. Ramin leaves the room and returns 5 minutes later after a short discussion with the administrator to get the lease and discuss briefly the rental situation in Kabul city.

Ramin: Here it is, it looks like we are paying you $2500/month. From my discussions with my colleagues I’m informed this is already a high rent for such a property and you believe you can get 4 times as much.

Golam: Mr. Sir Boss as Allah is my witness, I have had offers many times what you are paying me.

Ramin: Also looking at clause ‘12’ in the contract it clearly says any changes to the contract must be negotiated 8 weeks prior to the end of the contract or the same terms and conditions role over into another year. There is only 2 weeks left to this contract, which means that the time to negotiate has long passed.

Golam: We are in Afghanistan, we have lost 30 years of our lives with wars, these time restrictions do not mean anything, you know there was a time in Kabul, where rockets were flying all over the city, 2000 rockets every day. Time, contracts, paper, what does that mean, how much significance can we give to them. After all this is my property and I can do as I wish with it and I can ask you to leave.

Ramin: Yes sir, that is your choice with sufficient notice you can ask us to leave and if you choose to do so we will of course vacate the premises. However, that would not be to neither of our advantage. We are leasing several properties from you and I would hate for us to part ways after being your clients for a number o years. Although I have not been for a long time, because of our policy, we always pay our bills on time and take care of any repairs to any of the properties and we abide by the customs and rules of this great country. So, you may be able to find a tenant who will pay you more, but not much more and you can not be sure if that tenant will be a good tenant.

Golam: Allah willing I will have good tenants. Your organization has asked to see proof that I am paying the taxes on this property. Why should I prove to you that I am paying the taxes? Do you know where these taxes go, into the pockets of people who only steal from this country.
Ramin: Well sir, you have to understand this is an organizational policy because in the recent years in different countries where we work, we have faced government officials who tell us it is our responsibility to withhold the rental tax and pay the government or they charge us a big fine. We are just trying to avoid that issue.

Golam: But that is 20% of the rent.

Ramin: Well sir that is the law of your country, and you are a parliamentarian so I would think you would understand that we have to abide by the laws of this country.

Golam: Are you implying that I don’t know the laws of my own country

Ramin: No sir but I’m saying we are bound by the laws of your country

Golam: This is unacceptable for me, you will pay me twice what you are paying me or else you have to leave

Ramin: Mr. Golam, be reasonable, you have to understand, first that we have restrictions on what we can do, we are not a business and can not produce more and make more money, so even if we wanted to we could not pay you twice as much. Secondly, any additional money we pay takes away from the money we can spend on the beneficiaries, the children of this country and its future.

Golam: I guess we are at a hard place.

Ramin: Mr Golam, what I can do is to increase the rent by 5% and we will subtract the taxes from the rent and pay them so you do not have to go through the trouble of wasting one of your days dealing with this issue.

Golam: That is unacceptable, it has to be at least 50% for all the properties you are renting from me.

Ramin: Please understand even the 5% will be difficult for me.

Golam: Then you will have to leave.

Ramin: Mr. Golam Golam, the best I can do is to increase the rent by 10% and even that is going to be difficult for me.

Golam: I’m afraid that will not do, you must realize I have a large family and my sons will never accept this.

Golam stands up to end the meeting, we shake hands and we walk out.

Ramin thinks we better start looking for other properties.
Next day Golam comes to the office and meets Ramin.

Golam: I have spoken to my sons, it was a very difficult conversation because they think you are cheating us. But I told them you are helping our people and that is the only reason we have decided to agree to a 20% increase.

Ramin: I cannot guarantee I can come up with that much money but I will try.

Mr. Golam: Allah willing you will and we will do business for many years.

Next day, Ramin accepts 20% increase to the rent.



Analysis of the negotiation between Ramin and Golam through Trompenaars’s Cultural Dimensions

1. Universalism vs. Particularism

Difference between the two cultures is apparent from the start when Golam at first encounter and under the guise of welcoming Ramin uses the occasion to dive into a lease negotiation. Ramin, a Canadian expected certain rules and approaches (universalism). For him a business meeting would be clearly arranged and the intentions of that meeting would be clear to all. However, for Golam who is from a culture where circumstances dictate how practices are conducted (particularism), it was very normal to dive into a contentious business issue without any set meeting or knowledge of the other party.

Also in not understanding the business practices in Afghanistan, Ramin refers to a clause within the lease which indicates a time limit for negotiations and points out that time limit has passed. In a culture where rules and contracts are binding, that would be a natural assumption and a strong negotiation point, however in a culture where rules and regulations are fluid that argument was not seen as a relevant argument by Golam.

3. Individualism vs. Communitarianism

In the negotiations Golam refered to his sons and their influence on the decision. Coming from a communitarian culture, ownership is familial and decisions are communal. For Ramin, who represents the organization and is from an individualist culture, Golam’s inclusion of his absent sons in the negotiations was seen as a way for Golam to shift responsibility to his sons and make himself appear as the good guy where his sons are the ones causing the difficulty.

4. Neutral vs Emotional

Both Canadian and Afghan cultures are neutral in their approach to negotiations therefore in that sense there was compatibility. However, what is interesting with the Afghan culture is that in the negotiation they attempt to push the buttons of the other side, Golam did this by referring to the history of Afghanistan and in a disguised way comparing Ramin, a foreigner with previous foreigners/invaders who were not successful in their endeavors in Afghanistan. In making this comparison Golam was trying to shake Ramin and gain an advantage in the negotiation

5. Specific vs. Diffuse

Canada is a specific culture and in a negotiation issues are raised, clarified and discussed. However, Afghan Culture is a diffuse culture where things are not said clearly and it takes some time to understand what is the real issue being negotiated. Not understanding this Ramin thought Golam was being unreasonable and wanted to increase the rent 4 times the current rent. Ramin took the initial point of discussion as the main reason why the landlord was there. However, later on in the conversation the real reason for the meeting and the negotiation was identified, that being that the landlord was not happy having to pay the 20% tax and that the entire negotiation was about the tax and not the rent. If Ramin had a better understand of the culture, he would have first tried to understand the real reason why the landlord was there, which would have strengthened his negotiation tactic.

6. Achievement vs. Ascription

Canada is an achievement culture and status of an individual is based on his or her performance, however Afghan culture is very much an ascription culture in which the status of the person is based on who that person is and usually the older a person is the greater his status. The wise, experienced and powerful people are called ‘white bearded ones’. Hence when Golam an older gentleman was negotiation with Ramin a younger individual most likely he was not seeing Ramin as an equal to him in negotiation and perhaps thought he could dictate his terms. However, Ramin, not having the same perception did not see the power difference which worked to his advantage in the negotiation.