Germany Archives - Page 36 of 62

Knowledge Society

Because Germany has few natural resources, its economy has had to produce high quality, high technology products and services.

In politics, economics and the media the Germans stress time and again the importance of maintaining a knowledge society, of education as its key resource. Germany‘s high standard of living, its high level of social welfare services, can only be financed if it can continue to develop and market high margin goods and services. The Germans stress, therefore, the need to produce generations of scientists and engineers.

There is consensus across the country on this point. Every chancellor, state governor, head of a major German company stresses time and again how critical it is to stay on the cutting edge of science, engineering, technology. Germany sees itself as the land of ideas, recognizes that its future depends on it producing breakthrough ideas.

In dubio pro reo

In German conflict situations, such as criminal law, the general rule “in dubio pro reo” (when in doubt, for the accused) applies. During the examination of a conflict and in reconstruction of the facts, it is requird that the judiciary be extremely accurate.

This means among other things, that subjective evidence, such as taking testimonies on the basis of assumptions (even though they might be accurate), are not sufficient indications of the facts. This protects the German defendants from unlawful decisions.

However, this also means that even if the subjective evidence is convincing, the prosecutor does not have the right to use it, unless and until objective evidence (e.g. reviewed testimonies, video- or tape recordings, images) verifies it.

If the prosecutor is not able to find such evidence and tries to support his argument by using subjective testimony, he still carries the burden of proof.

Let’s take the example of a prosecutor whose house was graffitied. The prosecutor does not know with certainty that the graffiti was actually done by the defendant, but he has a strong subjective presumption since the defendant is a well-known graffiti artist in the neighborhood.

The prosecutor carries the burden of proof. Relying only on subjective reasoning will lead to the lawsuit being rejected due to lack of conclusiveness.

Good old watering can

Gardena is located in Ulm, Germany. With approximately 420 million Euros in yearly revenues it is Europe’s leading maker of gardening tools. Owned by the Swedish Husqvarna-Group, Gardena was founded in 1961 by Eberhard Kastner und Werner Kress.

One of Gardena’s products is the Micro-Drip-System. The Gardena website says: “Water your yard the intelligent way!” Watering manually is hard work and it leads to “uneven results.”

The Micro-Drip-System is a great relief, “because you only need to turn on the water (faucet, spigot) or to give the command into the system’s on-board computer.”

“The system does the rest of the work itself.” Instead of watering too much or too little, the grass and plants get just the amount they need as determined by sensors which measure humidity and rainfall.

Gardena tools are so intelligent that they can decide themselves how much water is necessary for even and uniform growth. This also saves water.

Of course, the question remains if the proud homeowner would not prefer to demonstrate his or her gardening expertise by using the good old watering can.

Patience of an Angel

That Germans avoid rushing into action is imbedded in many of their figures of speech. They communicate the advantages of being patient, and the disadvantages of hastiness and pseudo-solutions to problems.

“Geduld bringt Rosen” – patience brings roses. “Gut Ding will Weile haben” – good things need time. Patience in the German language is often seen as a superhuman trait.

Chancellor Angela Merkel. 2019. Press conference. European Union Summit in Brussels postponed. 0:38 Gut Ding will Weile haben.

Germans speak of Engelsgeduld – the patience of an angel. “Geduld ist eine Tugend” – patience is a virtue.

Even when Germans have to move fast, when they know that they need to “hurry up”, they say “Eile mit Weile!” Eile is speed, rush, hastiness. Weile is stay, linger, dwell. Meaning something like “Hurry up, but take your time doing it.

Hasty

Überstürzen. To act impatiently; in haste, without thinking it through; to decide, act, react too quickly; a situation develops too quickly to react to; rapid developments.

Hastig. Hasty, due to impatience; lack of grounding, emotionally excited; in a hurried manner steps, breathing, movements, thoughts.

Holzweg. Literally wooden path. Middle High German holzwec, path in the forest where cut wood is transported; wrong path, path in the wrong direction; to misunderstand a situation, to think wrongly, to err in thinking.

Vertagen. To postpone; to push off to another day; to extend a decision, an event.

Vertuschen. To hide, cover up; to mask something unfortunate, embarrassing or incriminating.

Symptome. Latin symptoma, Greek sýmptōma, temporary characteristic, coincidental event; in medicine an indication of an illness; an observable trait or sign of something negative.

Nachhaltig. Sustained, sustainable, an effect which is lasting, of duration, of influence and importance; to make a sustained impression; to exert influence in a sustained way.

Etwas über das Knie brechen. Literally to break something over the knee. To do something out of haste, without reflection, to force something.

Gut Ding will Weile haben. Literally good things demand patience.

Tischtuch zerschnitten

Der Tischtuch ist zerschnitten. The tablecloth has been ripped in two.

In the German context, to escalate a conflict within the team to the next management level is considered to be a sign of failure. Failure of the conflict parties to resolve their problem. Failure to at least come up with a proposed resolution which they can take to their team lead for her input, and perhaps her decision.

Escalation is the equivalent of going to court, of one party suing the other. For Germans, the severity of such a step just about rules out any chance that the two parties will be able to work together again. And regardless of how their German manager assists in the resolution, regardless of the outcome, she will view her two team members as having failed themselves, the team and her.

Warranty, guaranty not the same

Two-year warranty: Set by law in Germany allowing customers to return a defective product. The seller is obligated to either repair or replace the product.

Garantie. Guaranty. The promise, security that something is correct, right, works; a promise by the maker of a product that it functions as advertized; a contractual promise.

Worst Case Scenario. An English phrase used in Germany. The German consumer expects a product to always work as advertised, last long, meet fully their expectations.

German consumers often confuse warranty and guaranty, believing that they can return the product for repair or replacement during the two-year period regardless of the cause of the defect. The law, however, requires the maker/seller of the product to repair or replace a product based only on defects at the time of purchase. Misuse of the product or normal wear and tear are not covered.

If for example a television does not work perfectly after a year, the German consumer typically will return it to the store and demand repair, replacement or their money back. The retailer, however, is permitted to repair the product as often as he chooses without obligation to return the purchase price. Nor is the retailer obligated to supply a replacement product during the time of repair.

The mere returning of a product angers the German consumer. They expect near 100% reliability. Good customer service – friendly, fast, uncomplicated – can help things, but is seldom seen by the German consumer as an excuse for a technical defect. If the problems reoccur, the German consumer will quickly switch to a competitive product. Good technical service is best when it‘s not needed.

„Streit vom Zaun brechen“

Streit vom Zaun brechen. To let a conflict get out of control. Germans prefer to hide their internal conflicts for as long as possible. Conficts attract attention and curiosity. They force the conflict parties to take a stand, to explain the problem.

This, in turn, offers management and related organizations an opportunity to get involved, to exert influence on the conflict parties, thereby reducing their ability to address the problem alone and independent of outside influence.

Germans, therefore, try their best to avoid escalating a conflict to the next management level. The side which chooses to do so is viewed as impulsive and thoughtless. Germans would rather give in a bit in order to reduce tensions than to strike back. Avoiding open conflict is seen as intelligent, restrained and prudent. Conflict is for the unsophisticated.

Der Klügere gibt nach. To be willing to compromise instead of insisting on being right; to see the other side‘s point of view as valid; to take the hit in order to reduce the tension.

Das Feuer schüren. Literally to stoke the flames. To provoke; to start a fight; to turn a difference of opinion into an open conflict; to whip up the emotions.

Germans want to be responsible for their work and to perform it independently. They want their work to be clearly defined and distinguishable from the work of their colleagues. Germans do not feel comfortable with having to explain or justify how they complete their tasks.

Every form of supervision or monitoring is a sign of mistrust. Escalating a conflict is risky, therefore, for it invites a third party, typically the next level of management, to take a closer look into how the conflict parties actually do their work. This makes them vulnerable to outside influences on how they work.

Autonomy. Greek autonomía. Independence, self-governance. From autos, selbst und nomos, law. To be responsible for oneself, self-determination, self-reliance, decision making freedom.

Markenprodukte

Markenprodukte. Brand name products: Products which are immediately recognized as excellent based on the name of its producer; often products which are of average quality but remain in the minds of consumers due to constant advertising.

German companies have been exporting high quality products consistently since the end of the Second World War. Their products have gained an international reputation for being very good, often better than their competitors. The Germans view reliability as one of the key characteristics of a well-known brand.

Qualität ist, wenn der Kunde wiederkommt, nicht das Produkt. Quality is when the customer returns, not the product. This well-known saying indicates the importance quality plays in the German product philosophy. A product which does not function perfectly and therefore needs to be returned is an embarrassment to the producer.

Peinlich

Konflikt. Conflict. Latin conflictus. Collision, hitting, crashing together; a difficult situation caused by opposing opinions; to go against something, to argue, battle, fight with another.

Streit. Argument. Old High German strīt. To go against, uproar, to argue against each other vociferously; to bicker, to argue loudly, emotionally, intensely, including physical attacks. A term used in the past for battle, military confrontation. To arm yourself for a Streit.

Auseinandersetzung. To address an issue at length; discuss, debate, argue; sharp, bitter verbal confrontation; conflict between peoples fought militarily.

Peinlich. Embarrassing. From Middle High German pīnlich. Painful, from pein, pain; Latin poena, punishment; feeling of discomfort, unease, shame.

Überspielen. To hide something negative, cover up; to distract from an embarrassment; to refer to a negative situation with humour so as to mask it.

Petzen. To „rat on“ another person. Germans team members are very reluctant to go to their team lead in order to inform about a problem or another team member‘s poor work.

Denunzieren. To denounce. To go to an authority in order to provide negative or incriminating information about another person. To be an informant.