American customer service, IT support and project management define escalation as a named stage with its own criteria, timers and owners. A ticket escalates. An issue gets escalated. The verb is neutral in American usage. Escalating is a procedure being followed correctly, not a relationship breaking down.
The open door policy
American companies publish them: any employee may go to any level of management with a concern, without permission from the level in between. The policy exists because the chain of command would otherwise block the route. It is a formal exception to hierarchy, announced in advance.
Your day in court
The American phrase for the right to have a grievance heard, and it is used far outside the courtroom — in workplaces, schools, homeowner associations and disputes of every kind. The claim is procedural rather than substantive. It is not that you will win. It is that somebody with authority is obliged to listen to you before deciding.
Isn’t that what management is paid for?
Americans and Germans have very different expectations about how to manage interpersonal conflicts when they arise, which can lead to huge misunderstandings. As part of an ongoing series of articles, an American consultant living in Germany offers some advice.
When Germans and American collaborate, there will be conflict. This is normal. However, their respective approaches to conflict resolution differ. These differences, if not understood and properly balanced, can hinder just and lasting conflict resolution. And unresolved conflict threatens collaboration and success.
“Whistleblowing”
Even if an American loses a conflict within a company, after having escalated it once or twice, if he/she strongly believes to be in the right, it is not uncommon for that American to seek an even higher authority – the public at large. When that happens, the person who exposes the conflict is called a “whistleblower.”
Edward Snowden was working for the NSA when he publicly accused them of spying. Snowden said that the reason why he decided to make his accusations public was that he “can’t in good conscience allow the U.S. government to destroy privacy, internet freedom and basic liberties for people around the world with this massive surveillance machine they’re secretly building.”
In 2014, former State Department official John Tye wrote an editorial in The Washington Post in which he discussed his concerns about his department.
Thomas Drake was an executive in the NSA (National Security Agency) when he began to disagree with the agency’s policies. After several attempts to address his concerns internally, Drake decided to make his complaints public and turned to reporter Siobhan Gorman in 2006.
Resolve
Conflict: Fight, battle, war; competitive or opposing action of incompatibles; antagonistic state or action as of divergent ideas, interests, or persons; mental struggle resulting from incompatible or opposing needs, drives, wishes, or external or internal demands; the opposition of persons or forces that gives rise to the dramatic action in a drama or fiction. From Latin conflictus act of striking together, from confligere to strike together.
Escalate: To increase in extent, volume, number, amount, intensity, or scope. From escalator.
Resolve: Break up, separate; to reduce by analysis; to deal with successfully, clear up; to find an answer to; to make clear or understandable; to reach a firm decision about; to declare or decide by a formal resolution and vote; to make (as voice parts) progress from dissonance to consonance; to become separated into component parts; From Latin resolvere to unloose, dissolve, release.
Life on Mars
In January of 2014, NASA’s Mars rover Opportunity took a picture of a location that it had recently photographed (12 Martian days earlier), but now there was a new object in the image.
Nicknamed “The Jelly Donut” NASA assumed that the rover had caused a nearby rock to move, but because of the odd appearance of the rock, decided to conduct a short investigation of the object.
However, neurologist and author Rhawn Joseph didn’t believe that NASA was doing enough to investigate, and demanded that NASA perform a much more thorough examination of what he called “a biological specimen on Mars.”
When the organization didn’t respond, Joseph filed a lawsuit to compel NASA “to perform a public, scientific, and statutory duty which is to closely photograph and thoroughly scientifically examine and investigate a putative biological organism.”
Additionally, because NASA referred to the object as a rock, not a biological lifeform, Joseph also made sure to claim that the discovery of life on Mars was done “by Petitioner” (a.k.a. Joseph himself).
Court Case Duration
Court cases in German can last between 4 and 24 months, some as long as 36 months. A recent law allows the parties in a court case to demand that the court system speed up its proceedings.
German companies promise their employees that internal conflicts will be moderated and resolved within two months. If no resolution is found, the conflict parties have the right to escalate their case to the next level of management.
6th Amendment
The Bill of Rights are first ten amendments to the U.S. Constitution which guaranty personal freedoms and limit governmental powers. The Sixth Amendment states:
„In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the State and district wherein the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the Assistance of Counsel for his defence.“
The following part of the Sixth Amendment is named the confrontation clause: “In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right … to be confronted with the witnesses against him.”
The Confrontation Clause has its roots in both English Common Law, protecting the right of cross-examination, and Roman Law, which guaranteed persons accused of a crime the right to look their accusers in the eye.
According to the Bible, Acts 25:16, the Roman Governor Festus, discussing the proper treatment of his prisoner, Paul, stated: “It is not the manner of the Romans to deliver any man up to die before the accused has met his accusers face-to-face, and has been given a chance to defend himself against the charges.“
Reality TV
One of the most popular genres of television in the U.S. is reality tv. In 2001, two of the top ten most popular primetime television shows in America were reality tv shows, compared to six in 2011.
Many of these shows focus on conflict and personal drama as their main premises. Even when the show’s premise is about something unrelated to the dispute, such as singing on the “X Factor” or cooking on “Top Chef”, the actual episodes invariably focus on the conflicts between the cast members and/or their family and friends at home.
In 2011, an American reality TV show H8R filmed various celebrities as they confronted people who were critical of their success. It was marketed as giving celebrities a chance to try to change the minds of the people who hated them. The primary appeal of this show was that it would allow these conflicts to be discussed publicly.