Business culture in Germany

Business culture in Germany

Socializing

Qualities of a manager

To the Germans, the work and personal lives are rigidly divided: they think that there is a proper time and place for every activity, in other words, they don't mix the private life with the business. That's why is not common in Germany, give gift among business associates.

Conclusion

The German manager concentrates intensely on two objectives: product quality and product service. He wants his company to be the best, and he wants it to have the best products. The manager and his entire team are strongly product oriented, confident that a good product will sell itself. But the manager also places a high premium on customer satisfaction, and Germans are ready to style a product to suit a customer’s wishes.

Business executives who hope to profit from their travels in Europe should learn about the culture and customs of the countries that they wish to visit. Some of the cultural distinctions that business people most often face include differences in business styles, attitudes towards the development of business relationships, attitudes toward punctuality, gift-giving customs and the meanings of colors and numbers. Those sections before, have showed an insight into the values, attitudes and culture of Germany.

However, a gift is a oportunity for more social occasions, recomendations about it:

Acceptable gifts at business meetings are items of office equipment, good quality pens with your company’s logo.

When you are invited to a German home, is appropriate to bring a gift of flowers, wine, chocolates, or a small gift that represents your home country or region.

Germany generally has the same traditions as most other European countries in terms of gift giving.

The Germans can be considered

the masters of planning

Relationship-building

Dress, punctuality and formality

Germans value order, privacy and punctuality. They are prudent, hardworking and industrious. Germans respect perfectionism in all areas of business and private life, and in their approach to work they tend to focus on achieving the task at hand. This, coupled with their well-defined structures, implies that interpersonal relationships play a secondary role in business dealings.

The time is the resource more important to the Germans, they like to organize to feel more comfortable, therefore, and they manage carefully their time with calendars, schedules and agendas that must be respected.

Do not turn up late for an appointment or when meeting people.

Appearance and presentation is very important to Germans, particularly with regard to business. Although their clothes are never ostentatious, they are neat and conservative; the Germans like to dressing well.

Businessmen should wear dark colored, conservative business suits; solid, conservative ties, and white shirts. Please, a strong recommendation; you don't remove your jacket or tie before your German colleague does it.

Women also dress conservatively, in dark suits and white blouses or conservative dresses

Cultural influences, attitudes and behavior can propitiate a good or bad business, it varies within and across nations and with the different people that visit a country in specific.

"This is a culture that prizes forward thinking and knowing what they will be doing at a specific time

on a specific day."

Decision-making in the workplace

Business culture in Germany

Germany is a nation that is strongly individualistic, and demands the utmost respect at all times, therefore the highest of standards are expected. Although, the individualists promote the exercise of the goals and desires by own independence and self-sufficiency. The Germans see the companies like a community.

The German thought process is extremely thorough, every each aspect of a project being examined in great detail.

The Germans do not like surprises. Sudden changes in business transactions, even if they may improve the outcome, are unwelcome.

Germany share inclinations with Japan toward productivism with a strong culture for the manufacturing

by

Liliana María Barrera Londoño

Leonardo Zabaleta Tautiva José Francisco Gaviria