The comedy series Stromberg ran on ProSieben from 2004 to 2012. Most of it takes place in the claims department Schadensregulierung M–Z, which Bernd Stromberg runs. Claims from A to L belong to another department, Schadensregulierung A–L. Its head, Sinan Turçulu, competes with Stromberg for the management of the whole department.
A Table of Duties for Every Station
In 1529, Luther compiled the Haustafel, the household table of duties, and attached it to his Small Catechism. It is a set of Bible verses for eleven stations in life: preachers and bishops, the authorities, husbands, wives, parents, children, masters of the house, servants, young people, widows, and all Christians together. Each station has its own duties. Luther also used the word Beruf, from rufen, to call, for a person’s station, office and work in the world. In Max Weber’s account, Luther taught that the individual should in principle stay in the calling and station where God had placed him.
The Superior Answers for His Orders
Section 10 of the German Soldiers’ Act, the Soldatengesetz, sets out the duties of a superior. Er hat die Pflicht zur Dienstaufsicht und ist für die Disziplin seiner Untergebenen verantwortlich. He has a duty of supervision and is responsible for the discipline of his subordinates. Later in the section, the law adds one short sentence: Er trägt für seine Befehle die Verantwortung. He bears the responsibility for his orders.
Board Portfolios
Under § 77 of the German Stock Corporation Act, the members of a management board run the company together: sämtliche Vorstandsmitglieder nur gemeinschaftlich. The articles or the board’s own rules may provide otherwise, and in practice they assign portfolios to individual members. The member who holds a portfolio is then fully liable for the decisions in it.
The other members keep their part. In the words of one law firm, the principle of overall responsibility nicht durchbrochen, sondern vielmehr modifiziert, is not broken but rather modified.
Love Parade Duisburg
On July 24, 2010, 21 people died in a crowd crush at the Love Parade in Duisburg. Afterward, the city, the organizer and the police blamed one another. The head of the state police of North Rhine-Westphalia said at a press conference: Der Veranstalter und nur der Veranstalter war für die Sicherheit der Menschen auf dem Veranstaltungsgelände zuständig. The organizer, and only the organizer, was responsible for the safety of the people on the site. An interim report by lawyers commissioned by the city concluded, provisionally, that the city had not been responsible for safety on the site. The trial began on December 8, 2017, at the regional court in Duisburg. On May 4, 2020, the proceedings against the last three defendants were discontinued, partly because of the restrictions expected from the Corona crisis. The trial ended without a verdict.
Wirecard and the Gap Between Supervisors
Wirecard filed for insolvency on June 25, 2020. Three days earlier, the company itself had said that balances of 1.9 billion euros in trust accounts most probably did not exist. A committee of inquiry of the Bundestag then asked who had been responsible for supervision. The financial supervisor BaFin is responsible for banks, insurers and financial holding companies. In BaFin’s view, Wirecard was ein Unternehmen aus dem Bereich Informationstechnik und keine Finanzholding, an information technology company and not a financial holding. For money-laundering supervision of other companies, the state authorities are responsible. In Wirecard’s case, the authority in Lower Bavaria took up its responsibility only when suspicion grew. An official of the finance ministry told the committee: Wenn keine Zuständigkeit vorliegt, gibt es auch nichts zu koordinieren. Where there is no responsibility, there is nothing to coordinate.
Who Should Have Sounded the Alarm
In the July 2021 flood, twelve residents of a home for people with disabilities died in Sinzig, in the Ahr valley. The district administrator of Ahrweiler, Jürgen Pföhler, was accused of raising the alarm far too late and ordering only a partial evacuation. He rejected the responsibility. The technical operations command, he said, had been responsible for alerting the population. Prosecutors opened an investigation on August 6, 2021. In April 2024, the prosecutors in Koblenz announced that he would not be charged.
Management by Job Description
The Harzburger Modell was taught at the Akademie für Führungskräfte der Wirtschaft in Bad Harzburg, founded on March 26, 1956, by Reinhard Höhn. Its motto was Führung durch Delegation, leadership by delegation. Responsibility was delegated to the level of the hierarchy that held the authority to decide. Each employee’s area of tasks was in Stellenbeschreibungen fest umrissen, firmly outlined in a job description. By Höhn’s death in 2000, about 600,000 managers and junior managers had been trained at the academy. From around 1972, American management systems gained ground and the model lost importance. Critics said it favored an authoritarian and bureaucratic style. Höhn was a former SS-Oberführer, and his prominent role in the Third Reich also damaged the model once it became known.
Without Regard to the Person
Every German judge swears an oath under § 38 of the German Judiciary Act. The judge promises to judge nach bestem Wissen und Gewissen ohne Ansehen der Person, to the best of knowledge and conscience, without regard to the person. The judge also promises to serve only truth and justice. The phrase is much older than the law. It is found in the Luther Bible. Romans 2:11 reads Denn es ist kein Ansehen der Person vor Gott, for there is no respect of persons with God. The First Letter of Peter speaks of a Father who judges each one nach seinem Werk, by his work.
Public Office by Merit
Article 33(2) of the German Basic Law reads: Jeder Deutsche hat nach seiner Eignung, Befähigung und fachlichen Leistung gleichen Zugang zu jedem öffentlichen Amte. Every German has equal access to every public office according to aptitude, qualification and professional performance. The constitution names three criteria for a public appointment. Who the candidate knows is not one of them.