Germany Archives - Page 23 of 62

Decision-Making Process

Germans are process oriented. They think through how a task is best completed. Germans set up work processes which are logical, structured, can be monitored and optimized. Since there is no action without first a decision to act, Germans focus on how decisions are made.

The more complex the decision, the more carefully Germans consider how they make it. Who will be affected by the decision? Who has the final say about the decision? Who has what rights and responsibilities? Germans believe that routine, yet complex, decisions are best made with the help of a decision-making process. And the better the process, the better the decisions made.

The Germans are methodical. In order to maintain Überblick (overview) and Durchblick (throughview) they distinguish carefully between specific steps and their individual requirements within a decision making process. Germans believe that a methodical approach minimizes mistakes.

They also assign a generous time frame to an important decision. In order to move carefully through the process they allow for the repetition of certain steps. Germans believe in moving to the next step in a process only after the preceding step has been completed properly. Patience and thoroughness are critical.

A methodical approach means a well-structured process with sequential action. The clearer the process, the tighter and more logical the sequence of the individual steps, the better coordinated all of the related activities.

Method. Latin methodus, Greek méthodos: The path of analysis, the route to somewhere; a set way to reach insight; a specific way of doing something; the path to a specific goal; based on a plan; well thought through.

German education stresses methodology. University students receive their degrees after demonstrating in a thesis that they have mastered the methodologies current in their field of study. The first part of a thesis goes into great detail about the specific methodology of analysis applied to the subject.

Sequence. Latin sequentia: order of things; to place similar things in line; repetition of a musical motif; shorter pieces of a movie put in a specific order; series of cards in a row.

credible and intelligent

“If you care about being thought credible and intelligent, do not use complex language where simpler language will do. Couching familiar ideas in pretentious language is taken as a sign of poor intelligence and low credibility.” From Thinking, Fast and Slow. Daniel Kahneman, 2002 winner of the Nobel Prize for Economics.

Rarely the final step

Formal presentations are rarely the final step in a German decision making process. Rarely do German managers make a critical decision shortly after having listened to the presentation of various options.

Instead they will take time to reflect, discuss with their direct reports, get additional input from subject area experts, use colleagues at different management levels as sounding boards.

The act of persuasion in the German business context is seldom aimed at getting a specific decision. Truly persuasive argumentation seeks to influence, steer, route the thinking to or in the direction of a desired decision.

Lebenslauf aka curriculum vitae

German resumés (curriculum vitae) are written chronologically. The potential employer is given a complete overview of the applicant’s background, from the beginning to the present.

Germans reading a resumé look closely not only at those areas relevant to the job, but at all information which might give them a full picture of the applicant.

Most importantly, and critically, they look for Lücken (gaps) in the Lebenslauf – the German word for resumé or curriculum vitae. Leben life + lauf from laufen + to run: how one’s life has run, proceeded, moved forward. And if they spot any Lücken, they’ll be sure to address them in a face-to-face interview.

Based on what the applicant reveals in the interview the employer can gain even deeper insight into work experience, degree of reliability, motivation, ambitions. The goal is a realistic assessment of the job candidate.

As early as in high school Germans students are told: “Take seriously what you do after high school. Gaps in your resumé are not good!” German university students fill gaps between semesters with internships, language classes or travel abroad.

Starting Point

The present is always the starting point for any action. The present is current, a result of what was decided, of what has been done, of action taken. To understand the present means to first understand how it became what it is, to understand its history.

Before Germans can be persuaded by any future action, they have to be convinced that the presenter has understood the present – the starting point – via its past.

“I am not convinced!“

Entschuldigen Sie, ich bin nicht überzeugt! – “Excuse me, I am not convinced!“ In 2003, at the International Security Conference in Munich, German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer ended the debate against his American colleague Donald Rumsfeld with this reproachful outcry.

But what had happened? Of what was Fischer not convinced? The debate was on the topic of aiding the intervention of U.S. military forces in Iraq. Rumsfeld wanted support from Germany, but the German government under the direction of Chancellor Schröder and Fischer strictly declined his request.

At the conference, Rumsfeld was making one last attempt at getting the still-doubtful Germans on board with his agenda. Nevertheless, his reasoning that Iraq was working on weapons of mass destruction, supporting terrorist groups, and ignoring the UN, was not enough to convince the German side.

The evidence was too scant, the intervention plans too poorly prepared, and the timing of the operation seemed badly selected. It would be better just to give diplomacy another chance, rather than send German soldiers into an adventure with an uncertain end and questionable justification.

Presumably, Fischer (a former participant in the student protest movement of 1968) was drawing on more recent German history to strengthen his resolve in declining. And in this case, he now has history on his side; the Iraq war indeed evolved into just the disaster which he had always warned it would be.

2003. The Munich Security Conference. Then German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer challenges then U.S. Secretary of Defense, Donald Rumsfeld, “to make the case” for war in Iraq. Watch mins. 1:00 to 1:25, where Fischer speaks directly to Rumsfeld.

Bestandsaufnahme

The German term Bestandsaufnahme – baseline survey, appraisal, taking stock, taking inventory – is the critical first step in any kind of analysis in the German context, whether it be in consulting, project management, or a localized problem solving measure. The goal is to give the participants an overview, to establish a common understanding of the current situation.

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.

Academic Papers

For Germans, all new knowledge is based on previous knowledge. Before Germans accept new knowledge, they need to see how it flows from current knowledge.

Academic works in Germany, including Master‘s and Ph.D. level theses, almost always begin with a full account of relevant context information: definition of terms, lengthy description of topic, current status of research, methodology applied. The context can amount to as much as one-third of the length of the paper. Some universities expect that it exceed one-half.

“what holds the world together”

System. Latin systema, Greek sýstēma. A whole made up of many pieces linked together; put together, link, place together; a theoretical scheme.

For Germans the particulars of a system define themselves through their relation to each other. Particulars can only be understand through their relationships, connections, mutual influences. The particular is only significant and understandable as a part of a system. Latin particularis, a part, a minority.

“Do you recognize the system here?” is asked to test whether an event is based on coincidence. Whereas a system explains events as the logical occurrence of individual interactions.

See below Will Quadflieg and the legendary Gustaf Gründgens – Deutsches Schauspielhaus Hamburg, 1960

The Germans are inclined to say: Everything has its cause. Everything is linked to everything else. Nothing is coincidence. The world is a huge system. The Germans believe in systems, in an explanation behind all phenomena.

They seek out those systems. As Johann von Goethe stated in Faust: “to understand what at the deepest level holds the world together.“