Comparison Between the Culture of United States and Germany

Comparison Between the Culture of the United States and Germany

Part One: Common Information for Each Country

Information	United States	Germany
Government Type	Democratic	Democratic
Commonly Spoken Languages	English, Spanish, and Chinese	Christianity, Judaism, and Buddhism
Commonly Practiced Religions	Christianity, Judaism, and Islam	Christianity, Judaism, and Islam
How to Greet Men and Women	Mostly hugging	Handshakes are the most common
General Negotiating Styles	Urgent, explicit, forceful, legalistic, and results-oriented	Avoiding, compromising, competing, accommodating, or collaborative
Accept Business Attire	Light-colored suits	Traditional dark suits, white shirts, and ties

Identify three tips for doing business in the non-U.S. country you selected for your project.

Some business requirements may resemble stereotypes, but Germans are serious about etiquette. Firstly, they tend to take scheduling seriously. Late arrival at a business meeting with Germans leaves poor first impressions (Lehmann-Willenbrock et al., 2013). Besides, they prefer to prepare ahead and set the agenda of the day’s business way before the actual meeting day. Another crucial tip is the need to stick to business. Germans prefer to keep their personal life issues private (Lehmann-Willenbrock et al., 2013). Therefore, business participants should not mix topics such as religion and politics. Germans also prefer honesty instead of beating around the bush. A candid ‘no’ will not be frowned upon. They also tend to trust people who offer positive criticism more than the yes people.

Part Two: Hofstede Model of National Culture

For each of the six cultural dimensions in Hofstede’s model of national culture, list the scores for both countries and then draw conclusions based on the scores’ differences. To find the scores, use the Hofstede Insights: Compare Countries tool. When you select both countries, the device will give you the scores. It would be best if you also chose the option to read more about your chosen countries to learn about the implications of those scores.

Cultural Dimension	United States	Germany
Power Distance Index (PDI)	High power distance 0.453	Low power distance 0.2322
Individualism Versus Collectivism (IDV)	Individualistic (91)	Individualistic (67)
Masculinity Versus Femininity (MAS)	Highly Masculine (66)	Highly Masculine (62)
Uncertainty Avoidance Index (UAI)	Uncertainty accepting (46)	Uncertainty avoidant (62)
Long-Term Orientation Versus Short-Term Normative Orientation (LTO)	Long term oriented (83)	Short term oriented (29)
Indulgence Versus Restraint (IVR)	Indulgent (68)	Restrained (40)

 Part Three: Conclusions

Conclude how doing business in your selected country will differ from doing business in the United States.

• Identify any significant differences in scores between the two countries.

One of the significant score differences is power distance. Americans accept uncertainty at 46, while Germans are uncertainty avoidant with a score of 62. Besides, Americans tend to be long-term oriented while Germans are short-term oriented. A key difference between Americans and Germans is their problem-solving abilities. On the one hand, Germans tend to analyze problems critically before offering critical solutions. Americans prefer brainstorming with colleagues to solve issues and practice hierarchical power.

• Conclude the significance of the significant differences in scores.

Americans find Germans harmful due to cultural differences (Hedderich, 2010). For instance, Germans view Americans as unrealistic since Americans prefer brainstorming with colleagues to solve problems (Hedderich, 2010). The differences may hinder international business between nationals between the two countries, hence the need to understand them and compromise. Power distance is also a significant cultural difference between people from the two cultures. Americans tend to practice hierarchical power by addressing people below them in the organizational rank with authority (Hedderich, 2010).

• Based on cultural dimension scores, list conclusions on the differences in doing business between your two countries.

These cultural differences among Americans are surprising since they tend to be optimistic about their relationships. Although Germans may deem the behavior change, it is common among Americans. Also, offering praise at the workplace differs among the two cultures. On the one hand, Americans prefer credit at the workplace for a job well done. A failure to give them credit may be deemed as a negative appraisal.

On the other hand, Germans rarely compliment people for doing their jobs and are quick to point out weaknesses. Lastly, cultural differences between the US and Germany may lead to severe misunderstandings in businesses that involve Germans and Americans. A US company that sets up operations in Germany may take them by surprise, just as Germans may create a false first impression.

References

Hedderich, N. (2010). German-American inter-cultural differences at the workplace: A survey. Global Business Languages, 2(1), 14.

Hofstede, G., Hofstede, G. J., & Minkov, M. (2010). Cultures and Organizations: Software of the Mind: Intercultural Cooperation and Its Importance for Survival. Mcgraw-Hill.

Lehmann-Willenbrock, N., Allen, J. A., & Meinecke, A. L. (2013). Observing culture: Differences in U.S.-American and German team meeting behaviors. Group Processes & Intergroup Relations, 17(2), 252–271. https://doi.org/10.1177/1368430213497066

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Germany – compare the culture of the United States against the culture of the country you chose in Milestone One to show how doing business can be very different from one country to another.