germany china

Zhang  and  Song  (2003)  write  that  in  21  years,  population  went  from  being  concentrated  18%  in  urban  areas,  to  31%  of  China's  population  residing  in  urban  areas.  The  total  in  2014  as  calculated  by  World  Bank  is  that  53%  of  Chinese  residents  are  living  in  an  urban  area.  This  rapid  migration  and  urbanization  of  China  has  led  to  an  increased  wage  gap,  as  well  as  growing  inequalities  between  different  regions. One  of  the  most  important  metrics  in  understanding  how  technologically  advanced  a culture  is  becoming  is  the percentage  of  a population that use a car. A concept  that  is  vital  to  the  business  landscape  of  China  is  gaizhi  which  translates  into  "changing  the  system".  This  concept  means  that  with  the  change  from  a command  approach  to  the  economy  to  more  of  a market  fueled  economy,  many  companies  had  to  change  the  way  that  they  did  business.  Some  of  the  newer  additions  into  the  company  landscape  are  the  joint  ventures  between  governments  and  companies,  local  government  investing  in  startups,  as  well  as  the  government  running  a  publicly  traded  company.  This  idea  of  "State  Capitalism"  is  one  that  continues  to  change  and  shape  the  different  ways  to  conduct  business  in  China  (2011).  a Chinese  manager  would  seldom  directly  criticize  his/her  subordinate  and  would  do  so  far  less  than  his/her  German  counterpart.    Asian  cultures  the powerful  eschew  decision  making,  a power  is  not  an  abstract  ideal  but  instead  is  seen  as  circumstantial  Asian  power  conception  is  characterized  by  a desire  to  avoid  decision  making."  This  greatly  differs  from  an  American  concept  of  power  which  has  a much  greater  emphasis  on  the  individual  in  a position  of  power  not  only  make  decisions,  but  have  the  power  to  make  future  decisions  and  to  override  decisions  of  individuals  of  a lower  position.   China  is  considered  to  be  a polychronic  culture;  this  means  that  largely  individuals  are  doing  many  things  at  one  time  and  can  balance  tasks,  however,  the  culture  also  does  not  arrange  meetings  and  task  deadlines  in  advance  as  much  as  a  monochronic  culture  does.   + Germany  is  a country  that  has  an  extensive  and  a diverse  business  history.  As  a  current  economic  and  political  power,  the  World  Bank  ranks  Germany  fourth  in  nominal  GDP  and  ranks  first  amongst  countries  that  belong  to  the  European  Union.  Not  only does  Germany  rank  well  in  economic  terms,  but  in  terms  of  soft  power  which  is  the  amount  of  attractiveness  and  influence  a country  has  as  thought  of  by  other  countries,  Germany  ranks  first  amongst  countries  in  the  world  (Albert,  2013).  Germany  is  also  home  to  28  of  the  top  500  companies  in  the  world  as  ranked  by  Forbes  (2015),  as  well  as  is  home  to  the  third  largest  beer  drinking  population  per  capita  (2012).  Ethnically,  Germany  is  home  to  90%  of  those  who  identify  as  ethnically  Germany,  as  well  as  almost  equal  shares  of  Roman  Catholics  and  Protestants.  In  terms  of  management,  Germans  have  a high  appreciation  of  performance  and  the  technical  ability.  As  a quality  listed  by  457  managers  in  German  companies  in  1999,  performance  orientation  was  the  most  pronounced  German  cultural  value.  "The  hallmark  of  German  cultural  practices  is  high  levels  of  uncertainty  avoidance  and  assertiveness,  along  with  low  levels  of  humane  orientation"(Brodbeck  et.  al.  2002).  Also,  effective  German  leaders  are  attributed  with  low  compassion,  low  team  orientation,  high  autonomy,  and  high  participation.  These  values  are  based  upon  a cultural  value  of  technical  ability  and  skill,  as  well  as  an  orientation  towards  data  and  hard  occurrences,  rather  than  that  of  ideas  and  opinions.  Language  In  the  2010  version  of  the  Nationalencyklopedin,  it  is  stated  that  90  million  people  speak  German  as  a native/first  language.  This  ranks  as  number  11  in  a ranking  of  languages  with  the  highest  number  of  native  speakers  (2007).  As  a proportion  of  those  who  speak  German  as  a first  language,  56%  of  Germans  also  have  at  least  an  elementary knowledge  of  English.  In  2005,  a study  was  conducted  to  see  how  comfortable  different  EU  countries  are  at  holding  an  English  conversation.  In  the  study,  45%  of  Germans  responded  that  they  would  feel  comfortable  holding  a conversation  in  English,  up  from  35%  in  1994.  In  a study  as  well  of  EU  countries  advertising  in  English,  it  was  found  that  57%  of  German  advertisements  contain  English  (Gerritsen  et.  al.  2007).  To  speak  English  is  viewed  as  a technical  skill  in Germany,  and  is  not  viewed  so  much  as  one  having  a  passion  for  language,  but  rather  as  a functional  trait.  The  use  of  dialects  also  is  important  to  display  which  region  a person  has  learned  German  from.  In  figure  3,  Germany  is  shown  to  possess  regional  dialects.  In  addition  to  different  dialects,  Germany  also  has  many  minority  and  immigrant  languages  that  play a  major  role  in  the  lives  of  many  Germans.  Sorbian,  Romani,  Danish,  and  North  Frisian  are  the  recognized  minority  first  languages  in  Germany;  all  of  which  add  up  to  about  25  out  of  1000  people  speaking  them  as  a first  language.  The  most  common  of  all  immigrant  languages  is  Turkish  with  almost  2%  of  the  population  speaking  it  as  a first  language.  The  BBC  (2015)  also  lists  Kurdish  as  another  large  minority  language  with  30  out  of  1000  speaking  it  as  a first  language.  With  widespread  English  use  and  a growing  population  of  non-native  German  speakers,  the  number  of  native  German  speakers  has  not  grown  significantly  in  the  last  twenty  years.  As  a result,  making  an  attempt  to  speak  German  is  both  viewed  as  a sign  of  respect,  as  well  as  a display  of  care  for  German  culture.  This  is  beneficial  for  many tourists  on  a vacation  and  also  for  a manager  looking  to  better  identify  with  his/her  German  counterparts.  Environment  and  Technology  The  attitude  towards  finding  alternative  sources  of  energy  as  well  as  limiting  pollution  and  reducing  emissions  has  become  a large  part  of  national  strategy  for  Germans.  The  German  government  (2015)  writes,  "climate  protection,  promotion  of  renewable  energy  sources  and  protection  of  the  environment  are  major  focal  points  of  German  Government  policy.  These  policies  have  also  become  a driving  force  for  German  businesses,  which  are  already  at  the  forefront  of  innovation  and  job  creation  in  the  field".  This  attitude  is  at  the  core  of  many  German  attitudes  towards  policies  to  become  more  environmentally  friendly.  One  theme  that  affects  the  working  environment  and  many  of  the  relationships  that  one  has  when  working  within German  companies  is  compartmentalization.  Neulien  (2009)  writes,  "Germans  have  a tendency  to  isolate  and  divide  many  aspects  of  their  lives  into  discrete,  independent  units".  Within  an  office  setting,  this  can  lead  to  floor  plans  being  adjusted  so  that  different  business  units  (such  as  Finance,  Engineering,  Sales,  Human  Resources)  would  be  compartmentalized  into  their  own  spaces.  This  concept also  affects  task  compartmentalization  by  causing  more  defined  roles  and  a  more  structured  and  layered  working  environment.  For  example,  a series  of  interviews  was  done  to  compare  U.S.  companies  to  German  companies  to  understand  cultural  differences. Privacy  and  formality  are  significant components  of  the  German  working  environment.  The  belief  that  one  can  place  different  functions  of  life  into  different  identities  is  one  that  lends  itself  to  having  a strong  preference  for  privacy.  In  the  above  mentioned  series  of  interviews,  it  was  also  reported  that,  "People  have  a tendency  to  keep  to  themselves  a  lot  more."  (Neuliep,  2009)  This  not  only  affects  social  settings,  but  relationships  are  based  upon  function  and  not  so  much  on  the  relationship  between  people.  Social  Organization  When  describing  one  culture's  social  structure,  it  is  important  to  note  that  all  individuals  do  not  have  the  same  ideals  when  it  comes  to  status.  Some  differ  on  the  way  that  they  judge  one  to  be  highly  achieving,  and  by  having  this  difference  in  opinion,  an  analyzer  of  culture  has  to  use  generalizations about  social  structures  to  try  and  create  an  order  of  class.  As  was  stated  above,  Germans  have  a high  appreciation  for  performance  orientation.  One  that  is  able  to  perform  quality  tasks  has  an  advantage  over  someone  who  cannot. Education plays a very important role in German life and is influential to the rest of the world. Primary schooling starts at age six with grades one through four; each being completed one after another.   After grade four, there are five options for secondary schooling, all which lead to vocational school, apprenticeships, or universities (as well as one can end schooling after secondary school if they wish). Since the path of the student is determined after grade four, which is accomplished by age 10, many times the fate of the student is decided at age 10 as after primary school the path for a student has a typical end result. As a detail to how schools function, each of the 16 states in  Germany has its own school system and control the rules and regulations of the state sponsored schools. The role of women and the role of minorities is one that is increasingly important for countries. Germany ranks third in the world in the gender inequality index that determines how well a country's men and women are integrated into the country and how fair policies are that affect both sexes. (2014) For minorities in Germany, many find it difficult to integrate into a system which some minorities do not believe they are welcome into. More than 3 million Turks live in Germany, as well as the largest population of Muslims in the EU; however, some Germans are hesitant to accept the influx of population as it is viewed as a threat to national culture. (Poggioli, 2009) Contexting As a whole, Germany is a very low context culture. As a definition, this means that Germans are more likely to appreciate and seek very direct and explicit communication and communicate through writing or talking readily. To contrast with the Chinese, Germans are much more likely to openly criticize coworkers, to speak to bosses about problems that they are having with tasks, as well as Germans will tend to speak and write more than a Chinese counterpart. Since the orientation is more towards directness and explicitness, the view of truth is very different. When an individual may ask a German coworker how they are, one would respond honestly and directly. One may tell about the entire day leaving no details out because if one was to leave a detail out, the whole truth would not be told. Within a very low contexted culture, explicitness with answering as well as questioning becomes very important as one does not want to leave any answer untold. As cultures move lower on the contexting scale, there begins to more transmitted information. For example, the importance of following rules becomes very important because without the detail of the rules, individuals would not feel comfortable within a task. This plays an important role when a manager has to detail a job description or write out work expectations for a coworker. Authority Conception Power and authority are concepts that change depending on the culture that one is looking at. In Germany, power is viewed in a similar way to the United States. Those in power should be the technically best at the skill that they are in charge of. Technical ability is viewed as a way to determine who is the most powerful in an organization and authority should not only be based upon which individual has stayed at the company the longest but also about who can complete tasks well. Decision making also falls into authority conception and it is also a concept that changes depending on the culture. In Germany as well as China, long term decision making is the focus. Having a plan and maintaining that plan is an extremely important component of success in Germany. Since adherence to the plan determines success and failure, going off the plan or being uncertain of a plan is something that Germans are not comfortable with. Following the plan as well as the rules that keep the plan in place are so important that not following could cause a disruption of the entire business function. To conclude, Germans value knowledge and technical ability as a measure of power and prowess. If one does not have technical ability, scrutiny will be placed upon the person in power. Another important part of being a good manager in Germany is to understand that having a long term orientation and planning ahead is something that is successful. Adhering to the plan as well as making a clear decision is important to performance. Once a decision is made from the top, all subordinates will honor the decision because the person in power knows what they are doing. This is because whichever individual is in power is typically the one that knows the most or has the most technical ability.