GERMANY

IUHOS STEFAN, MRU

CULTURE

In many respects, Germans can be considered the masters of planning. They are highly
organized in their professional life and perhaps in their personal lives too. Also, for Germans
punctuality is a key element in showing your respect towards them, and their culture. They may
seem cold on the outside, just because the Germans are stoical, and they like to keep a sort
amount of distance. They like professionalism, and they have a certain seriousness in their daily
activities (e.g. working). Rules, and especially following rules, are a crucial part of the German
culture. Germans believe, that rules are not meant to be infringed, in order to keep up the good
work you need to obey these.
To summarize, we can list a few core values, as such:
Proper education qualified workers
Professionalism
Following the rules
(Friendly, but from a distance ) -distantness
Faith in bureaucracy
Stoicism
Perfectionism and punctuality
Individualism and meritocracy
COMMUNICATION

The communication and the salutation is mostly formal. Germany is highly bureaucratic, and
everything has a certain type of etiquette to be followed. Germans tend to not engage in small
talks, if its about business they tend to be brief and to the point.
INTERCULTURAL COMMUNICATION

The direct eye contact when speaking face to face is generally required. In a business meeting on
in intercultural communication, the humor and surprises should be avoided. Germans tend to be
direct and rather diplomatic when speaking with co-workers, or with others.
DISCRIMINATION

Germans value professionalism, competence and diligence. They will judge you on these factors,
not based on your sex, ethnicity or age.
CULTURAL LABELING

Germans are labeled as: TO FORMAL, COLD, MERITOCRATIC, PROFICIENT and

DEXTEROUS and HIGHLY QUALIFIED.
ETHNORELATIVISM/ETNOCENTISM

Germans are open-minded and patriotic as well. They respect their own traditions and they
expect from the foreigners to expect them as well. If you visiting Germany, and you do speak a
little German, the Germans will be really proud of you.
Electronic sources:
http://www.commisceo-global.com/country-guides/germany-guide
http://www.livescience.com/44007-german-culture.html