Cross Culture Germany vs. Spain
Cross Culture
Assignment: Analyse the cultural differences of your home country and the country chosen for stage by using any of the models learned during the lectures.
I am going to choose Lewis' Model for this Assignment
To begin with, when comparing two cultures it is important to examine your own culture. According to Lewis' model my home country Germany belongs to the linear-active group. This means that we always do one thing at a time, concentrate hard on that thing and do it within a scheduled time period.
Spain is the country that I have chosen for stage and it belongs to the multi-active group. Multi-active people are not really interested in schedules or punctuality[1]. Furthermore they think that reality is more important than man-made appointments[2]. Also multi-active people don't really like conversations to be unfinished.
How do these points affect my stage? First of all when people from these two cultures work together it might cause irritation. Because they have totally different ideas of how and when things should be done there can be conflicts. Further on the punctuality is also one aspect to be mentioned here. Germans are always on time, whereas Spanish people don't take punctuality too serious. Another point to be mentioned here is the extrovert an talkative character of the Spains. Germans are more introvert and quiet. This might also result in some irritation between these two cultures.
To summarize, according to Lewis' Model, Germans are very task-oriented and highly organized planners. Spanish are more people-oriented, loquacious interrelators. The interaction between these two cultures can be very difficult.
For myself I see these five months as an opportunity and a challenge where I can only learn from other cultures. Only because I am German it doesn't mean that my way of doing things is the right way. I will try to be open and patient in order to get the best results when working with Spanish people.
Assignment: Analyse the cultural differences of your home country and the country chosen for stage by using any of the models learned during the lectures.
I am going to choose Lewis' Model for this Assignment
To begin with, when comparing two cultures it is important to examine your own culture. According to Lewis' model my home country Germany belongs to the linear-active group. This means that we always do one thing at a time, concentrate hard on that thing and do it within a scheduled time period.
Spain is the country that I have chosen for stage and it belongs to the multi-active group. Multi-active people are not really interested in schedules or punctuality[1]. Furthermore they think that reality is more important than man-made appointments[2]. Also multi-active people don't really like conversations to be unfinished.
How do these points affect my stage? First of all when people from these two cultures work together it might cause irritation. Because they have totally different ideas of how and when things should be done there can be conflicts. Further on the punctuality is also one aspect to be mentioned here. Germans are always on time, whereas Spanish people don't take punctuality too serious. Another point to be mentioned here is the extrovert an talkative character of the Spains. Germans are more introvert and quiet. This might also result in some irritation between these two cultures.
To summarize, according to Lewis' Model, Germans are very task-oriented and highly organized planners. Spanish are more people-oriented, loquacious interrelators. The interaction between these two cultures can be very difficult.
For myself I see these five months as an opportunity and a challenge where I can only learn from other cultures. Only because I am German it doesn't mean that my way of doing things is the right way. I will try to be open and patient in order to get the best results when working with Spanish people.