Germany – Page 77 – understand-culture

German efficiency

Germany is known for producing high-quality goods, but did you know that the Germans rarely work overtime and usually leave the office at 5PM?

This video cites four reasons for why the Germans are very efficient in what they do. It’s a bit simplified, but it their core the messages are accurate.

One clearly false statement is that for Germans the path to the goal is of secondary importance. In Germany the process used to reach a goal is seen as one side of the coin, with the other side being the outcome

The voice is computer-generated, but clear. The statements about Japanese business culture are not relevant for us, at least not yet on UC.

When German engineers are bored

Engineering in Germany is prestigious. As a field of study it ranks among the most respected. Germany‘s economy, its sophisticated technical products, rely on an abundance of first-class engineers. More than 20% of all first-year university students major in a technical field.

No other European country has a higher percentage of engineers among the workforce than Germany. Nonetheless, industry and the media constantly warn of decreasing numbers of Germans willing to enter the engineering profession.

In order to attract more women to the engineering sciences, German schools and universities organize so-called Girls Day, hoping to fascinate young women with the prospects of a technical career. Engineers begin their careers with a yearly salary of roughly 45,000 Euros. Graduates in the humanities, in contrast, earn about 31,000 Euros per year.

German bread

What do most Germans miss when they are abroad? Their bread! Hannah Hummel at Deutsche Welle explains why people in Germany are so crazy about it, how Germany developed such a huge bread diversity and why so many bakeries are under threat nowadays.

Her German father baked bread for the family in Scotland. It is very common for Germans living outside of Germany to bake their own bread.

German Engineers – Quotes

“The way in which one handles risk distinguishes between a serious engineer and a speculator and gambler.” Adolf Münzinger, agricultural economist, 1876 – 1962.

“Every person is an artist, whether trashman, nurse, medical physician, engineer or farmer.” Joseph Beuys, German sculptor, 1921 – 1986.

“A German engineer strolls into a primeval forest with a few tin cans and comes out later with a locomotive.” Felix Wankel, inventor of the rotary engine, 1902 – 1988.

“Engineers are the camels on which the business people ride.” Author unknown

Germany the world’s most innovative economy

October 2018. Germany is currently in the driving seat when it comes to innovation – thanks in part to the speed it’s developing new technologies like driverless cars.

In the World Economic Forum’s latest Global Competitiveness Report, Germany came top as the world’s most innovative economy, with a score of 87.5 out of 100 in the Innovation capability pillar – one of the 12 drivers of a country’s productivity.

build a better mousetrap

“Build a better mousetrap, and the world will beat a path to your door” is attributed to the American writer Ralph Waldo Emerson from the late 19th century.

It may, however, be a misquotation of “If a man has good corn or wood, or boards, or pigs, to sell, or can make better chairs or knives, crucibles or church organs, than anybody else, you will find a broad, hard-beaten road to his house, though it be in the woods“.

The phrase “to build a better mousetrap”, has come to signify a false belief that companies need only build a better product for them to succeed, as if the sales and marketing of that product played an insignificant role. Americans rarely believe that a product can sell itself.

World-class whiners

Jammern auf hohem Niveau – whining at a high level. This is one of the many ways in which Germans complain about their complaining. And, indeed, the Germans complain quite a bit. Nothing seems to be right, or just right, or good enough.

Sven Astheimer wrote a very interesting editorial in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung in June of 2015. His basic argument was that German whining – a more accurate term is German Unzufriedenheit or dissatisfaction – is one of the German people’s great strengths.

Never being fully satisfied. Always “looking for the hair in the soup.” Striving for perfection. “Geht nicht, gibt’s es nicht” is a very well-known German figure of speech. It translates loosely into: “It can’t work, doesn’t work for me.” Or “It’s impossible, is impossible.”

Astheimer fears that Germans are becoming too satisfied. The country is extraordinarily successful. Strong economy. Balanced federal budget. A finely meshed social net protecting the weak and the unfortunate (and the lazy).

In other words, Jammern is under threat. Germany does not have abundant resources. It has only the creativity, the innovation, the strong minds of its people. Knowhow. And knowing how to do something – how to do it better or in a new way – is driven, is sparked, by Unzufriedenheit.

Ten Principles of Design – Dieter Rams

Innovative. Useful. Aesthetic. Understandable. Honest. Unobtrusive. Long lasting. Consequent to the last detail. Environmentally friendly. As little as possible.

“Konsequent bis ins letzte Detail.” Translated as thorough down to the last detail. That’s a lousy translation. Rams says literally consequent/consistent to the last detail. Meaning, integrated in each and every aspect.

Embarrassing clichés

This video is full of rather embarrassing clichés. And those clichés say more about the people repeating them than they do about the people they purport to describe.

Germany has the third-largest economy on the planet with only ca. eighty-five million people. Many of their companies dominate their markets. As if the German people did not know how to solve problems.

As one German commenter wrote: “I really don’t get how we are one of the most productive and powerful economies in the world while having to agree with this 100% at the same time.”

Oh wait, maybe because the maker of the video, Daniel-Ryan Spaulding, is an American comedian based in Berlin, and not, for example, an engineer working in any of the many world-class German companies.

A Critique of Dieter Rams

“Dieter Rams is one of the most influential industrial designers to ever live. Even if you don’t know who he is, you probably use products that were inspired by his thinking everyday. He wrote the Ten Principles for Good Design, and they’re basically like the design bible. Designers must never question them. So that’s exactly what we’re going to do now.”