Table Of Content$
© 2016, Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht GmbH & Co. KG, Göttingen
ISBN Print: 9783525461679 — ISBN E-Book: 9783647461670
© 2016, Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht GmbH & Co. KG, Göttingen
ISBN Print: 9783525461679 — ISBN E-Book: 9783647461670
Sylvia Schroll-Machl
Doing Business
with Germans
Their Perception, Our Perception
With3Diagramsand1Table
6th Edition
Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht
© 2016, Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht GmbH & Co. KG, Göttingen
ISBN Print: 9783525461679 — ISBN E-Book: 9783647461670
Thepublicationofthisvolumewassupportedby
JörgPlannererdrewthe7cartoons.
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Nationalbibliografie;detailedbibliographicdataareavailable
ontheInternetathttp://dnb.d-nb.de.
ISBN978-3-525-46167-9
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© 2016, 2003,Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht GmbH&Co.KG,
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Vandenhoeck&RuprechtLLC,Bristol, CT,U.S.A.
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© 2016, Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht GmbH & Co. KG, Göttingen
ISBN Print: 9783525461679 — ISBN E-Book: 9783647461670
Contents
Foreword(AlexanderThomas) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
WhyaBookaboutGermans? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
WhatthisBookHoldsforYou . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
WhichGermansareDescribedinthisBook? . . . . . . . . 17
Acknowledgments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
WhatareCultureStandards? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
TheBasis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
TheDefinitionofCulture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
TheDefinitionofCultureStandards . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
LimitationstotheConceptofCultureStandards . . . . . . 29
HowareCultureStandardsGenerated? . . . . . . . . . . . 31
CentralGermanCultureStandards. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
PuttingitallintoPerspective . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
TheHistoricalContext . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
CultureStandardsandTheirHistoricalGenesis. . . . . . . 37
PrincipalErasofGermanHistory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
CentralGermanCultureStandards . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
Objectivism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
DefinitionofObjectivism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
TheObjectiveastheFocalPoint . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
CommunicationStyle. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
TheObjectiveLevelandtheSubjectiveLevel . . . . . . . 56
AdvantagesandDisadvantagesoftheCultureStandard
“Objectivism” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
Recommendations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
HistoricalBackground . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
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© 2016, Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht GmbH & Co. KG, Göttingen
ISBN Print: 9783525461679 — ISBN E-Book: 9783647461670
AppreciationforRules,RegulationsandStructures . . . . . 69
Definitionof“AppreciationforRules,Regulationsand
Structures” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
RulesandRegulationsasHelpfulInstitutions . . . . . . 72
Germans’LoveofOrganization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
AttentiontoDetail . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78
Ambivalence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80
TheProsandConsofAppreciationforRules,
RegulationsandStructures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82
Recommendations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85
HistoricalBackground . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85
Rule-Oriented,InternalisedControl . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
TheDefinitionofRule-Oriented,InternalisedControl . 94
Consensus:theBestBasisforRule-Oriented,
InternalisedControl . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98
LivingtheConviction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100
TheSocialComponent:JusticeandFairness . . . . . . . 102
IndependenceandAutonomy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103
TheObligationtoInform . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106
TheMoralValueofRule-Oriented,InternalisedControl 107
TheProsandConsofRule-Oriented,InternalisedControl 109
Recommendations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110
HistoricalBackground . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111
TimePlanning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121
DefinitionofTimePlanning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122
TheTaskastheCentralFactorinTimePlanning . . . 124
TheImportanceofConsecutiveStepsinTimePlanning 124
AppointmentsasRegulatorsBetweenTasksandPeople . 126
TimePlanninginPrivateLife . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130
TimeManagement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132
DisturbancesandInterruptions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132
ViolationsofTimePlanning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133
ProsandConsoftheCultureStandard“TimePlanning” . 134
Recommendations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135
HistoricalBackground . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136
SeparationofPersonalityandLivingSpheres . . . . . . . . 139
DefinitionofSeparationofPersonalityandLiving
Spheres . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140
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© 2016, Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht GmbH & Co. KG, Göttingen
ISBN Print: 9783525461679 — ISBN E-Book: 9783647461670
SeparationofProfessionalandPrivate . . . . . . . . . . 141
RationalversusEmotional . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 144
RoleversusPerson . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145
FormalversusInformal. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147
Self-AssuranceinOne’sRole . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150
RegulationofDistance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151
RelationshipswithStrangers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152
RelationshipswithAcquaintancesandColleagues . . . . 154
SocialContactbetweenGoodAcquaintancesand
Friends . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157
OscillatingbetweentheTwoPoles . . . . . . . . . . . . . 158
TheProsandConsoftheCultureStandard
“SeparationofPersonalityandLivingSpheres” . . . . . 160
Recommendations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161
HistoricalBackground . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163
LowContext:theGermanStyleofCommunication . . . . 169
Definitionof“LowContext” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 170
DirectCommunication:NoDoubleMeanings . . . . . . 171
ExplicitCommunication:WhateverisImportantwill
BeVerbalised . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 175
ConflictConfrontation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 178
Assertiveness. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 179
DealingwithCriticism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 181
ProblemSolving . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 182
WhenGermansUseaHigherContext . . . . . . . . . . 184
TheProsandConsoftheCultureStandard
“Low-Context:theGermanStyleofCommunication” 185
Recommendations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 186
HistoricalBackground . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 191
Individualism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 197
Definitionof“Individualism” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 198
FormsofExpressingIndividualism . . . . . . . . . . . . 199
“Individualism”andtheOtherCulturalStandards . . . 208
Recommendations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 210
HistoricalBackground . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 212
Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 216
References. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 219
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© 2016, Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht GmbH & Co. KG, Göttingen
ISBN Print: 9783525461679 — ISBN E-Book: 9783647461670
© 2016, Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht GmbH & Co. KG, Göttingen
ISBN Print: 9783525461679 — ISBN E-Book: 9783647461670
Foreword
Accordingtoa3000-year-oldChineseproverbconcerningsuccessful
communicationwithstrangers,“Onlyhewhoknowshimselfandhis
counterpartwellcanachieveonethousandsuccessfulencounters.”
Here the number onethousandreallystandsforan infinitenumber,
thusguaranteeingsuccessinallencountersforthosewhotakeheed
oftheproverb.Inthecontextofinternationalcooperation,amodern
versionofthisancientChineseproverbcouldbe:“Onlythosewho
really understand their foreign colleagues and themselves can
achieve success in international business.”The truth of this state-
ment becomes obvious when we think about the vast amount of
knowledgeforeignersneedtounderstandthestyleof workingand
living,thenormsandstandards,customsandtraditionsofthenew
countryinwhichtheyareplanningtoliveorwork.Whenaskedwhat
motivated themtomake theirmove,studentsplanningtostudyat a
foreignuniversity,youngpeopletaking part in schooland youthex-
changeprograms,experiencedmanagersandspecialiststakingpart
in international professional work exchange programs and many
tourists planning a trip abroad often have the same spontaneous,
simpleanswer:“Iwantedtogettoknowthecountryandpeoplebet-
ter”or“Iwantedtobroadenmyhorizons.”Manytrainingandqual-
ificationprograms–andevenmoretravelandguidebooks–have
attemptedtomeettheneedforextensiveandaccurateinformation
aboutforeigncountriesandtheircustomsandtraditions.
Itisgenerallyacceptedthat“globalplayers”whoarefitto“walk
and workaroundthe world”needtohaveagoodmeasureofunder-
standing, opennessandcuriosityaboutanythingnewanddifferent,
adashoftoleranceand,toroundoffthesuccessfulrecipe,intercul-
turalawareness.
Experiencedtravellerswhohavenotbeenjustvisitorsandspec-
tators, but who have actually come to know a particular foreign
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© 2016, Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht GmbH & Co. KG, Göttingen
ISBN Print: 9783525461679 — ISBN E-Book: 9783647461670
