German & American Perspectives
Question #1
Identify all the differences you can find between the management approaches in Germany and the U.S.
This is a unique case study which provides a great comparison between two different cultures. It 's difficult to label one of the perspectives as being superior to the other; rather they each have their advantages and disadvantages. Additionally, the players within the organization are individuals and can 't be seen as representatives of their respective cultures; Jim is simply one American businessman and Klaus is merely one German man.
The project is dominated by Germans First described is the American perspective of Jim. It 's important to note, that he thought himself to be a good fit, due to his experience traveling to Germany, as well as his ability to speak the language, his wife being a native to the land and his email contact with his German colleagues. Simply understanding the German language proved to be insufficient; Jim lacked an understanding of their culture and their business practices, which made fitting in a battle. Jim was met with immediate problems, mostly because he had expectations of how he thought things would begin and lacked openness. The first step was the planning phase, and the Germans believe in taking time to come talk plans out thoroughly. Jim became irritated, and wanted to move forward. Due to his frustration he began to pay attention less, and his negative attitude became clear to his German counterparts. At the end of their planning phase, Jim felt unprepared as to how he should proceed. He felt he fully understood the problem, but was unclear of how to proceed. This experience demonstrated how "Germans are obsessed with their focus on the problem, whereas we Americans focus more on solutions" (Hitt, Miller, Colella, 122). Americans tend to want to get moving on a problem quickly and figure things out as they go. Moving onto working under his team leaders, proved to demonstrate
Identify all the differences you can find between the management approaches in Germany and the U.S.
This is a unique case study which provides a great comparison between two different cultures. It 's difficult to label one of the perspectives as being superior to the other; rather they each have their advantages and disadvantages. Additionally, the players within the organization are individuals and can 't be seen as representatives of their respective cultures; Jim is simply one American businessman and Klaus is merely one German man.
The project is dominated by Germans First described is the American perspective of Jim. It 's important to note, that he thought himself to be a good fit, due to his experience traveling to Germany, as well as his ability to speak the language, his wife being a native to the land and his email contact with his German colleagues. Simply understanding the German language proved to be insufficient; Jim lacked an understanding of their culture and their business practices, which made fitting in a battle. Jim was met with immediate problems, mostly because he had expectations of how he thought things would begin and lacked openness. The first step was the planning phase, and the Germans believe in taking time to come talk plans out thoroughly. Jim became irritated, and wanted to move forward. Due to his frustration he began to pay attention less, and his negative attitude became clear to his German counterparts. At the end of their planning phase, Jim felt unprepared as to how he should proceed. He felt he fully understood the problem, but was unclear of how to proceed. This experience demonstrated how "Germans are obsessed with their focus on the problem, whereas we Americans focus more on solutions" (Hitt, Miller, Colella, 122). Americans tend to want to get moving on a problem quickly and figure things out as they go. Moving onto working under his team leaders, proved to demonstrate
Bibliography: Hitt, M.A., Miller, C.C., and Colella, A. (2011). Organizational Behavior: A Strategic Approach. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons. "What is a Global Perspective." The Global Perspective. Bournemouth University, n.d. Web. 6 Sept. 2014. .