Lanes Archives - Page 2 of 5 - understand-culture

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.

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 Worker Checks His Own Part

In German manufacturing, Werkerselbstprüfung means worker self-inspection. Der Werker, der das Teil produziert, prüft es selbst. The worker who produces the part checks it himself. One definition states the rule in four words: Kein Weitertransport ohne positives Ergebnis. No onward transport without a positive result. The worker is to sign the check with his name. The method arose in the mid-1960s, and the trade journal Produktion calls it disputed.

The Claw Left on the Track

In the night before 12 April 1999, a crew worked on the track of the Wuppertal suspension railway. A steel claw fitted for the work was not removed. The first train of the morning struck it and fell into the river Wupper. Five passengers died, and at least 37 were injured. Before the line was released, three supervisors each had to check on their own that the track was clear. The regional court convicted them. It acquitted five other defendants. It reasoned that each worker could rely on the others, under the Vertrauensgrundsatz, the principle of trust. On 31 January 2002 the Federal Court of Justice overturned four of these acquittals. Where the danger was obvious to everyone working there, a worker had to make sure that his colleagues had done the work given to them.

Every Unit Signs for Its Part

In a German federal ministry, every matter has one lead unit. The Joint Rules of Procedure of the Federal Ministries give the lead to the unit that is mainly responsible under the distribution of business. In case of doubt, the ministry’s organization division decides. The lead unit then decides which other units take part. Co-signing, the Mitzeichnung, is reserved for matters of importance. Durch Mitzeichnung wird die fachliche Verantwortung für den vertretenen Aufgabenbereich übernommen. By co-signing, a unit takes professional responsibility for its own area. The file must show which units worked on the matter, co-signed it and signed it. If ministries still disagree after a personal attempt to settle the matter, the cabinet paper must set out the dispute, together with proposed solutions.

The Rapporteur’s Recommendation

Why do the members of a parliamentary group usually vote the same way? In 2022 Jakob Blankenburg, an SPD member of the Bundestag, answered this question from a citizen on the platform abgeordnetenwatch.de. The members have divided the committees and topics among themselves, he wrote. No single member can study every topic in detail. Dementsprechend geben die sogenannten Berichterstatter:innen … in der Fraktionssitzung eine Empfehlung zur Abstimmung ab. Accordingly, the so-called rapporteurs give a voting recommendation at the group meeting. He also named shared values as a reason.

Everyone Sweep Before Their Own Door

Goethe wrote a short verse called Bürgerpflicht, civic duty. Ein jeder kehre vor seiner Tür. / Und rein ist jedes Stadtquartier. / Ein jeder übe sein’ Lektion, / So wird es gut im Rate stohn! Let everyone sweep before his own door, and every quarter of the town is clean. Let everyone practice his own lesson, and all will be well in the council. The first line became a common saying.

When the Coach Goes Shopping

In March 2020, Bayern Munich’s coach Hansi Flick publicly called for new players. The sporting director, Hasan Salihamidžić, clearly disliked this. Flick had also asked for a veto on transfers. A sports site wrote that there had already been Kompetenzgerangel, wrangling over competences, with the previous coach. During the 2020/21 season the disagreements continued. Club officials objected that Flick had contacted players he wanted on his own. In April 2021, after winning the league, the cup and the Champions League in 2019/20, Flick said he wanted to end his contract early.

Two Leaders, Two Areas

Shared leadership, two people in one job, is becoming more popular in German organizations. In 2024 the trade magazine Computerwoche asked two co-heads of a department at the Fraunhofer Institute IESE for advice. One of their warnings: Beide machen alles – das funktioniert nicht. Both doing everything does not work. Schließlich bleibt dann auch unklar, an wen von beiden man sich mit einem Anliegen wenden kann. After all, it then remains unclear which of the two one should turn to with a request. Their advice is to divide the areas of responsibility as clearly as possible and to tell the team.

A Clear Division Between Managing Directors

On 6 November 2018 the Federal Court of Justice ruled on a company with two managing directors. The company’s insolvency administrator sued one of them for payments made after the company had, he argued, become insolvent. The lower court had accepted the director’s defense that the matter lay with his co-director. The Federal Court of Justice held that a division of areas requires klare und eindeutige Abgrenzung der Geschäftsführungsaufgaben, a clear and unambiguous demarcation of management tasks, agreed by all members. The management as a whole keeps responsibility for matters that cannot be delegated. The division need not be in writing.