words Archives - Page 16 of 19 - understand-culture

Stringency

Analysis. Latin analysis, Greek análysis: to pull apart, dissolve into parts; to study something by taking it apart and considering its individual components; investigation into the particulars of a whole.

Analytical thinking is in those professions critical where a system is understood via its parts. A psychoanalyst pulls apart the patient’s past experiences. The financial analyst considers the entire spectrum of transactions in order to get into the details of specific market movements. Police investigative work, all approaches in medicine, every type of research and development must employ sophisticated methods of analysis.

Stringent. Latin stringens: strict; convincing based on logical arguments; logical, clear, without internal contradiction.

Stringent analytical methods are particularly important in the academic fields, whether the natural sciences, engineering sciences, economics or the humanities. Master’s or Ph.D. theses in Germany are not accepted without meeting high standards of analytical stringency. All professions based on deep analysis depend on stringent methods.

Penetranz. Penetration: Latin penetrare: to place into; to enter into, get into, to move in a certain direction.

To be penetrating has a negative connotation in Germany: overly direct, bearing in on a point, intense. A certain perfume can be too penetrant. A person who dominates a conversation, making long speeches and moralizing is penetrant.

In the positive sense penetrant means dogged, focused, determined, working to understand something at as deep a level as possible. Like an archeologist who digs deeper, forever searching for evidence, for insight into the lives of our human ancestors. The same goes for analysts of any kind, for the medical profession, for linguists, historians and research in all of its forms.

Heinrich Schliemann (1822-1890) comes to mind, the German archeologist who discovered the ancient cities of Troja and Mykenes. Many years of painstaking research led to archeological and historical proof that these two cities had in fact existed.

Mitbestimmung

Mitbestimmung: to determine with, to co-determine, co-decide; to be involved in a decision making process; representatives of blue and white collar workers having a seat at top management levels.

German law guarantees that employees have a say in all issues affecting the workplace, including internal rules and regulations, work conditions, personnel policy and those decisions determining the future of the company.

Mitbestimmung has its roots in the 19th century, when workers associations were established to improve work conditions and to check the unlimited power of management. The associations evolved into labor unions, which by the end of the 19th century had the legal right to represent workers over and against management.

The creation of labor unions was supported politically not only for ethical reasons, to protect the interests of the worker. Both sides – labor and capital – wanted to establish mechanisms to balance out the interests of both in ways which would avoid stikes, protests and social unrest. This is the spirit behind Mitbestimmung.

Betriebsrat. Works council. Any company with five or more employees must by law allow the formation of a works council. These are elected democratically and represent the interests of all employees – both white collar (non-labor) and blue collar (labor). If management and the works council cannot agree on certain issue, the law requires that a neutral third party mediator be involved.

The interaction between management and works council can be either positive or negative. Well run companies have a very cooperative relationship, which contributes to company success. In other companies the relationship is contentious, especially in those struggling in the market. The works council can often block management attempts to downsize the workforce, close down plants or otherwise restructure in ways negative for the (white collar workforce) employees.

Gewerkschaften. Labor unions in Germany unite employees of one industrial sector. They mostly represent their members in wage negotiations which are obligatory for the whole sector (labor agreement). They have the right to strike, an instrument they use only when negotiations have broken down and after serious deliberation.

Constructive Criticism

Critique: A detailed analysis and assessment of something, especially a literary, philosophical, or political theory. Derived from mid 17th century from French, based on Greek kritikē tekhnē ‘critical art”.

Constructive criticism is legitimate criticism – fair, objective, well grounded. It is constructive when its purpose, tone and spirit aim to help the other person recognize, understand and then correct their weaknesses. Constructive criticism is helpful.

Employee evaluation helps management to measure performance while maintaining motivation and reducing employee turnover. It has three components: praise work well done; address areas of improvement; recommend improvement measures. Employee evaluations also serve as documentation of future goals to be reviewed at a later date.

There are 58,885 books on self-improvement on Amazon.com. The most popular areas for self-improvement are money management, healthy living, attitude, speaking skills, time management, and interpersonal relations.

Popular titles include “The Power of Self-Coaching: The Five Essential Steps to Creating the Life You Want” by Joseph J. Luciani, “The Secret Art of Self-Development: 16 Little-Known Rules for Eternal Happiness & Freedom” by Karl Moore, “50 Self-Help Classics: 50 Inspirational Books to Transform Your Life from Timeless Sages to Contemporary Gurus” by Tom Butler-Bowdon, and “I Had It All The Time: When Self-Improvement Gives Way to Ecstasy” by Alan Cohen.

Impersonal Critique

In the German context feedback about one‘s work is in and of itself not personal. Germans – team leads as well as members – can argue vehemently about business topics and at the same time have a friendly, collegial working relationship. German management can criticize harshly an employee but still respect and personally like that individual. In Germany feedback is not personal.

In German team meetings open, honest, direct feedback is not only permitted, it is desired. Weaknesses in individual performance are addressed by team lead and members alike. The criticism, however, is not meant, and is not taken, as a personal attack, not jemandem etwas ins Gesicht sagen (to tell them off), but more to „get a it on the table“, in den Raum stellen.

Jemandem etwas ins Gesicht sagen: to say something critical to another person‘s face; to say something mean, unfair, provoking; to tell someone the unadultered truth; to give another person „a piece of your mind.“

Etwas in den Raum stellen: to put something in the room; to raise a question, a problem; to comment on, to make an observation; to bring a subject into the discussion.

Be wary. Be happy.

Germans strive to remain clear-headed, to avoid incrementally inflated euphoria, to avoid a step-by-step distancing from a sober assessment of reality. For Germans it’s not “Don’t worry. Be Happy.” But instead “Be wary. Be happy.”

Wary: marked by keen caution, cunning, and watchfulness, especially in detecting and escaping danger.

“Escaping danger.” Dangerous can be thinking too highly of oneself. Dangerous can be misreading a situation. Dangerous is unjustified happy, euphoric.

But, there is another reason to “be wary.” Neid, envy. The Germans themselves speak of their Neidgesellschaft, “society of envy”, of their Neider, the envious.

Public recognition can lead to envy within the team. Envy threatens cohesion. Germans are not comfortable with “stars” or “rainmakers” in their organizations. Neid is one reason. The other is purely rational.

In complex organizations, especially those which are highly matrixed, how can individuals or individual teams be cited as especially successful? As clearly better than others? How can that be measured?

heraufbeschwören

Anhörung. Hearing. A discussion open to the public in which subject area experts are asked their opinion; statements given by witnesses; a questioning of participants and or witnesses in a conflict.

Ursache. Cause; from the beginning, start, origin; the reason for a court proceeding; something which causes an event, a development; the immediate and actual cause; to investigate, identify, establish the cause; the law of cause and effect.

eindämmen. Containment; to control the flow of water via a dam; to influence or steer the direction of something; to limit the spread of something, wildfire, costs, crime; to limit another person‘s influence.

heraufbeschwören. To bring about a negative event or development; thoughtless provocation of something negative, destructive; to cause a danger, a conflict.

Verzögerte Anhörung. A delayed hearing. German mediators reserve the right to call a hearing with both conflict parties present, but at a later stage in the resolution process.

Verleumdung. To bear false witness against another person; to damage someone‘s honor by making an untrue accusation; to knowingly state a falsity about the other conflict party; lie, defamation.

Schlichten

vermitteln. To reach agreement among enemies; intervene in a conflict, argument; enable communication between opposing parties; to bring about, to make happen; to bring those in disagreement together; to facilitate; to make a match, marriage, friendship; to help someone achieve a goal.

Diktat. Latin dictatum, from dictare. Dictation; to dictate, determine; a written command, order; to force something on another person, from the outside; dictator.

schlichten. Old High German slihten, to even out, smoothen; as a neutral party help resolve a problem, end a fight; to make a wooden or metal surface smooth, shiny; to make leather soft, pliable.

Holzhammermethode. Literally wooden hammer method; to try to accomplish something with force. Using a wooden hammer is a metaphor in Germany for taking an unsophisticated, rough, impatient approach to a sensitive matter.

Rekonstruktion

Rekonstruktion. Reconstruction. To rebuild; to explain an event, situation, thing as it once was; a work of art, music, literature, a physical thing such as a building or the behavior of people, an historical development.

Sich ein eigenes Bild von etwas machen. Literally to make for oneself a picture of something; to look at something with one‘s own eyes; to inform oneself at the scene.

Wahrheit. Truth; as it is, was; what is true, is lasting; what was truly the case, what is accurate.

Umstand. That which is present, literally standing around; what was present and influenced an event; contextual factors; an important, critical factor or influence.

Einordnen. To put into order, to fit in; to put in place within a system; to judge; to fit into an existing pattern or set-up; to size someone up, to get a read on.

Beweismaterial. Evidence; information relevant to a court case; to gather, secure, proof, destroy, hide evidence.

Schlichter

The process of Schlichtung – arbitration, mediation, conciliation – is a bit different in every case. To get a sense for the process it is helpful to take a look at the Mediationsgesetz – mediation law, for there is actually a law in Germany supporting out-of-court arbitration.

The law states clearly that the Schlichter takes a neutral position during the mediation. She or he is to lead the conflict parties to a consensual (both agree freely) resolution of the conflict, so as to avoid the need for a court case.

The Schlichter speaks with each party separately in order to reconstruct the conflict as objectively as possible. But what does “objective” actually mean? The mediation law does not answer that question. It is the job of the Schlichter, typically via a long process, to find the truth.

The one conflict party tries to prove the guilt of the other party. That party, in turn, does their best to prove lack of guilt. The mediator does her best to get as objective a picture of the situation as possible.

Lobgeiz

Lobgeiz. There is no such word in German. It is a creation out of Lob, praise and Geiz, stinginess. An unwillingness to give praise where it has been earned. The Germans can be long on criticism and very short on praise.

Nicht geschimpft, ist genug gelobt translates into “Not criticized is praise enough.” Or perhaps the scanty praise they give is enough for the Germans. They are certainly not lacking in self-esteem, motivation, ambition or drive.

The Germans speak of the happy filter in the U.S. Happy filter? Each time results are reported upwards in an American organization they become more positive, with the goal of keeping the higher-ups in the hierarchy happy. It can become a kind of incrementally inflated euphoria. Self-intoxicating. A step-by-step distancing from a sober assessment of reality. “Don’t worry. Be Happy.“