Areas of Responsibility Archives - Page 2 of 2

Your Contact Person

Ihr Ansprechpartner — your contact person, often printed with a name and direct line

der zuständige Sachbearbeiter — the caseworker responsible

Ich verbinde Sie mit dem zuständigen Kollegen. — I will put you through to the colleague responsible.

Dafür ist eine andere Abteilung zuständig. — Another department is responsible for that.

Unser Zeichen — our reference. German business letters print it in a block beside the address, with Ihr Zeichen, your reference, and the name and phone number of the person handling the matter. A reply that quotes it reaches the same desk.

Your Surname Decides Your Caseworker

The housing benefit office in Erlangen assigns each applicant to a caseworker by the first letters of the surname. Its page in the Bavarian service portal lists ten ranges, each with its own room and direct line. One reads Buchstabenbereich HAJ – KRA, letter range HAJ to KRA, in room 424. The city of Bielefeld’s guardianship support unit works the same way: Die Zuständigkeit richtet sich nach dem Nachnamen des Kindes. Responsibility follows the child’s surname. Each letter has one caseworker, one room and one phone number.

Pass A38

In the animated film Asterix erobert Rom, released in 1976, Asterix and Obelix must obtain Passierschein A38, pass A38, from das Haus, das Verrückte macht, the house that drives you mad. Officials send them from one counter to the next. In German, Passierschein A38 became a common phrase. People use it to mock or complain about bureaucratic madness, when they are sent from office to office. The phrase came back in March 2020, when Germans joked about needing a pass to leave home during the first coronavirus lockdown.

Bookbinder Wanninger

In Karl Valentin’s sketch Buchbinder Wanninger, a bookbinder phones the construction firm Meisel & Co. He only wants to know when he may deliver the books he has bound, and whether he should send the invoice with them. He is passed from one extension to the next. Nobody feels responsible, not even Herr Meisel. When he finally reaches the right person, he is told to call again tomorrow: wir haben jetzt Büroschluss! We are closing now. His last words are Saubande, dreckate!, a Bavarian curse. A recording with Valentin and Liesl Karlstadt dates from 1940.

The District Chimney Sweep

Each chimney-sweep district in Germany has its bevollmächtigter Bezirksschornsteinfeger, the chimney sweep appointed for that district. Since 2013 owners may hire any chimney sweep for routine work such as measuring, sweeping and cleaning. Some tasks stayed with the district sweep alone. He carries out the Feuerstättenschau, the inspection of all fireplaces and heating systems in a building. The law requires it twice during his appointment, no sooner than three years and as a rule no later than five years after the last one. He also checks newly installed heating systems. Owners who miss the deadlines in his written notice risk a fine of up to 5,000 euros.

Authority in Front of the Name

A German business letter often shows, in front of the signature, how far the signer’s authority reaches. i. A., im Auftrag, means on instruction. The signer carries out a task but has no power of attorney. i. V., in Vertretung, means acting as a representative, with power of attorney. ppa., per procura, marks a Prokurist, who holds the broad commercial power of attorney of German law. The Commercial Code requires it: the Prokurist must sign with an addition that shows the Prokura.

Applications Sent to the Wrong Office

German social law has a rule for the citizen who asks the wrong office. Under § 16 of the First Book of the Social Code, an application filed with an authority that is not responsible, an unzuständig authority, must be passed on to the responsible one unverzüglich, without delay. Since April 2011, the public service number 115 has answered questions about dealings with the authorities. Its promise is that it does not matter welche Behörde, Verwaltungsebene oder Zuständigkeit betroffen ist, which authority, level of government or area of responsibility is involved.

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.