The world of work and employment gets more and more international. It is a common case that companies are looking for manpower all around the world to enhance their ability of dealing with internationalisation. In almost every case there is barriers for both employer and employee to deal with that come from intercultural differences between both the country where the company is based and where the employee is coming from.
This seminar paper examines the intercultural differences between the United Kingdom and Germany by the example of the engagement of Jürgen Klopp as a German manager of Liverpool Football Club in the United Kingdom. In order to get a conclusion on how Klopp can be one of the most honored individuals in his subject in just five years’ time, it is essential to work out the cultural differences and similarities between both countries at first. Therefore, both British and German business culture get observed before comparing both by reference to the cultural dimensions-model by Geert Hofstede. Also, the respective impact on working situations is elucidated by reference to standard situations.
In the last part, the theoretical approach gets exemplified with the leadership style of Jürgen Klopp as a manager in the United Kingdom, having a lot of success and how this is transferable into the management world.
For reasons of clarity and comprehensibility and due to the fact, that England is the by far biggest part of the United Kingdom, this paper will go into detail with England most of the time and place less importance on Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. Furthermore, there is often talk from “players” which refers to the example of Jürgen Klopp being a football manager. This can also be compared to employees or members of a project team.
Contents
1 Introduction
2 Reflecting cultures
2.1 Culture in the United Kingdom
2.2 Culture in Germany
2.3 Differences and similarities
3 Intercultural working
3.1 Standard situations
3.2 Illustration of a practical example: Jürgen Klopp
4 Conclusion
5 Listofliterature
List of figures
Figure 1: Cultural dimensions (Germany = blue bar, UK = orange bar)
List of abbreviations
Abbildung in dieser Leseprobe nicht enthalten
1 Introduction
The world of work and employment gets more and more international. It is a common case that companies are looking for manpower all around the world to enhance their ability of dealing with internationalisation. In almost every case there is barriers for both employer and employee to deal with that come from intercultural differences between both the country where the company is based and where the employee is coming from.
This seminar paper examines the intercultural differences between the United Kingdom and Germany by the example of the engagement of Jürgen Klopp as a German manager of Liverpool Football Club in the United Kingdom. In order to get a conclusion on how Klopp can be one of the most honoured individuals in his subject in just five years' time, it is essential to work out the cultural differences and similarities between both countries at first. Therefore, both British and German business culture get observed before comparing both by reference to the cultural dimensions-model by Geert Hofstede. Also, the respective impact on working situations is elucidated by reference to standard situations.
In the last part, the theoretical approach gets exemplified with the leadership style of Jürgen Klopp as a manager in the United Kingdom, having a lot of success and how this is transferable into the management world.
For reasons of clarity and comprehensibility and due to the fact, that England is the by far biggest part of the United Kingdom, this paper will go into detail with England most of the time and place less importance on Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. Furthermore, there is often talk from “players” which refers to the example of Jürgen Klopp being a football manager. This can also be compared to employees or members of a project team.
2 Reflecting cultures
2.1 Culture in the United Kingdom
Due to the fact that the United Kingdom is separated into four different regions such as England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, this generates a natural mix in behaviour and regional languages. While the country's language is English in general, there is still plenty of dialects in England itself. Furthermore, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have their own languages that can vary widely from the initial “Oxford”-English. Nevertheless, people in the whole UK understand basic English which makes it attractive for many foreigners having English as a second language.
British people favour to start small talk with foreign people, also in their daily business routine. It is uncommon to get to the heart of something directly when a conversation or a meeting has started. It is rather common to talk about superficial things first (e.g., the weather, sports, holidays). There are still things that British people do not want to talk about when it comes to small talk because they might be too private or personal. Politics, the crown or family to name but a few1.
Their humour is a typical characteristic of British people. It is quite subtle, and people tend to not take themselves too serious in some cases. However, this must always come from themselves, not from their interlocutor which might be captured as rude and impolite2. Another important property of the British character is that people value their individual freedom and privacy very high and they try to separate business and social matters strictly.
2.2 Culture in Germany
While it is common manner in the UK to start meetings with a couple of sentences small talk, it is quite the opposite in Germany. German people attempt to stay efficient in any case and try to come to the main topic of a meeting or conference as fast as possible. Beyond that, a German meeting might always be very detailed while the participants follow a strict agenda. Moreover, it is essential for German people to understand every part that has been spoken or written about in order to making a final statement. Nevertheless, as a consequence of negotiations, there will be a final decision made by the top management in nearly every case which approves the typical German top-down-approach.
The German character is said to be quite conservative that reflects in German people being reluctant at greeting other people. It is usual - ignoring the current Covid-situation - to shake hands with other people every time you meet up, but it is not to smile at every occasion which might be affected by the mentioned reluctance3.
2.3 Differences and similarities
The model of cultural dimensions by Prof. Geert Hofstede shows a comparison of six different dimensions and contains empirical data from comprehensive studies. The mentioned six dimensions shall be explained below:
Power distance indicates, how sympathetic people with less influence are that power and influence is unequally distributed.
Individualism shows the importance of an individual being in a society.
A masculine society defines the role allocations. If the society has a high masculinity indicator, this shows that the system is more dominated by men and that the general expectation is that men should be successful.
Uncertainty avoidance shows the degree of people feeling threatened from unknown situations.
Long term orientation shows how a society displays its perspective and if goals can be achieved in the long-term (high value) or in short-term (low value).
A high indulgence value indicates lenient dealing with moral and comities in a society. It answers the question, in which amount generosity and looseness can be accepted4.
Abbildung in dieser Leseprobe nicht enthalten
Figure 1: Cultural dimensions5 (Germany = blue bar, UK = orange bar)
It can be observed that the British and German culture are alike in the dimensions power distance and masculinity. In each culture, people tend to stand against unequally distributed influence in society. On the other hand, both cultures seem to be dominated by men with people expecting them to have a successful career while women should tend to be humbler when it comes to carving out a career. The German culture values the importance of individuals very high while it is still not as high as in the UK. These are signs for societies where people are able to create their own career and where they are not bound to their roots or groups, they were born into5 6.
Another significant value is uncertainty avoidance. While German people fear upcoming negative events, British people are calmer when it comes to unforeseen risks in future. This is often regulated by a distinct risk management in German companies and might be a result of the long-term thinking that is grounded in German culture. The society honours diligence and thrift in order to reach long-term corporate objectives. The British culture seems to focus on the attainment of short-term objectives on the other hand.
The British values exceed when it comes to indulgence and individualism which is obvious because British people love their individual freedom and also their attitude of dealing quite casual with colleagues and other people.
3 Intercultural working
3.1 Standard situations
While British people prefer to have small talk before starting a meeting, this point is mostly neglected in German meetings. For usual, German people come to the point quicker which might be caused by the natural “German efficiency”. The significant differences in behaviour when it comes to starting meetings or projects might always lead to a longer meeting than planned.
One classic situation is comparing the style of greeting between both cultures. While it is usual to German people to shake hands each and every time they meet (and meet again), it is only necessary at the first time British people meet and get to know each other. At following encounters, there is just a verbal greeting that is often connected with the question, how the counterpart is doing today and this leading to the above-mentioned smalltalk.
When it comes to business situations in Germany, the procedure in negotiations with affiliates is mostly similar. The process is quite detailed and accordingly slow, and a final decision is made by the top management level in nearly every case. The ongoing collaboration then starts with a top-down-approach7. Contrasting the German top-down-approach with the more British approach of living and protecting the individualism of everyone might cause problems.
It can also be concluded that the difference in the indulgence dimension which is shown in chapter 2.3 might lead to different views. It is usual for British people to have a “don't worry be happy”-attitude while this might be interpreted rather dubious in Germany. The British culture can be described as more casual in that case8.
[...]
1 cf. (Sprachenmarkt)
2 cf. (Espich)
3 cf. (Passport toTrade 2.0, 2019)
4 Cf. (mapConsult, kein Datum)
5 Own depiction after Hofstede
6 Cf. (mapConsult, kein Datum)
7 Cf. (Passport to Trade 2.0, 2019)
8 Cf. (mapConsult, kein Datum)
- Arbeit zitieren
- Stefan Gübert (Autor:in), 2021, The Assignment of a German Manager to the UK. Using the Example of a Football Manager, München, GRIN Verlag, https://www.grin.com/document/1174014
-
-
-
-
Laden Sie Ihre eigenen Arbeiten hoch! Geld verdienen und iPhone X gewinnen. -
-
Laden Sie Ihre eigenen Arbeiten hoch! Geld verdienen und iPhone X gewinnen. -
-
Laden Sie Ihre eigenen Arbeiten hoch! Geld verdienen und iPhone X gewinnen. -
-
Laden Sie Ihre eigenen Arbeiten hoch! Geld verdienen und iPhone X gewinnen. -
-
Laden Sie Ihre eigenen Arbeiten hoch! Geld verdienen und iPhone X gewinnen.