[...] contexts: > [1] > *""According to Hofstede, a typical conversation in a German cultural > context is characterized by a large degree of honesty, even if it hurts.* > > > > > > > *Consequently, Germans are perceived to be among the most direct > communicators in the world (Yin, 2002).Presumably, the strategy “be honest > even if it hurts” offers the other party the opportunity to understand and > learn from possible mistakes.In a qualitative study, Yin (2002) explored > the concept of German wahrheit (truth), in terms of a German standard for > communicating in public.She describes wahrheit as expressions of an > individual’s personal opinions, using the first pronoun: “The wahrheit can > be displayed in a manner that implicitly or explicitly indicates the > rightness of one’s own opinion. In public talk, as one German informant put > it, ‘Telling the wahrheit hurts a little bit, but it’s okay’” (Yin, 2002, > p. 249). As a result, frank and forthright discussion with open > disagreement for the sake of the discussion is preferred" Indeed, not > directly telling the wahrheit was perceived as hiding personal opinions or > lying by the German participants in Yin’s (2002) study....Additionally, > Yin’s (2002) findings suggest that German and U.S.-American meetings might > differ in terms of the frequency of counteractive meeting behaviors. Her > finding that Germans were more outspoken, cared particularly for telling > the honest truth (even if it hurts), and expected others to do so as well, > could imply a higher tendency to show counteractive behavior. For example, > complaining as one type of counteractive behavior can also be an expression > of honest criticism of the current situation. Similarly, complaining can be > used as a means to “vent” about the current situation of a team (cf. > Lehmann-Willenbrock & Kauffeld, 2010). We argue that these behaviors will > only occur if they are socially acceptable. According to Yin (2002), open > and honest criticism is far more likely among Germans compared to > U.S.-Americans."""* > Observing Culture: Differences in U.S.-American and German Team Meeting > Behaviors > March 2014 Group Processes & Intergroup Relations 17(2):252-271 > DOI:10.1177/1368430213497066 > read more: > > https://www.researchgate.net/publication/260425358_Observing_Culture_Differences_in_US-American_and_German_Team_Meeting_Behaviors > > > [2.] > *"Generally speaking, Americans do not like to directly disagree with > another person. They are more harmonious in negotiating and like to find a > “Win-Win” solution. Therefore, Americans don’t usually use the word “No”. > When disagreeing they may say, “I see your point, however you might want to > consider…” or “Additionally, I would add…” or “Perhaps we might want to > look at this way…”* > > > > *Germans prefer to debate a point to find the best option, and this debate > can be quite direct, and even hurtful for Americans. When Germans disagree > they will start a sentence with, “No, I think…” or directly say, “I > disagree.” Or even, ‘That idea doesn’t make any sense.’* > > > *Americans interpret “No” as a blocking the conversation. It ends the > conversation for them. As well as seeing it as rude and potentially harming > the relationship. Germans interpret someone agreeing all the time as weak > and not able to make a good point. “No” for Germans is making a good > argument by offering another idea. But it does not necessarily mean they > have made up their mind in a final manner. Additionally, the American > subtle (positive) way of disagreeing is misunderstood by Germans and they > can walk out of a meeting thinking they have agreement when they don’t.* > *Another word that is different is “problem”. Germans use problem to > describe any issue, concern, worry, difficulty, and obstacle or possible > mistake. To an American’s ears everything is a problem to Germans and again > they interpret this as a block to a solution. The word “problem” for an > American is usually a crisis. It is something that may not be easily > solvable. For a German a problem is something that can most likely be > solved. It does not sound as negative to a German as to an American. > Americans use “issue”, “concern”, “challenge”, or “opportunity” for the > word “problem”. And in turn, these words may be confusing to the German who > again may think there isn’t a problem."* > > read more: > https://blogs.sap.com/2006/07/24/german-american-cooperation-unexpected-cultural-differences/ > > [3.] > "Team creativity/innovation in culturally diverse teams: A meta-analysis" > First published: 27 February 2019 https://doi.org/10.1002/job.2362 > PDF: https://gwern.net/doc/sociology/technology/2019-wang.pdf > *"This meta-analysis investigates the direction and strength of the > relationship between diversity in culturally diverse teams and team > creativity/innovation. We distinguish the effects of two diversity levels > (i.e., surface level vs. deep level) in culturally diverse teams and > examine the moderators suggested by the socio-technical systems framework > (i.e., team virtuality and task characteristics in terms of task > interdependence, complexity, and intellectiveness)...."* > > Best regards, > Imre > From the Hungarian culture, which might be closer to the German culture > than the American one. >
Bravo Imre. Thank you Imre. You can't say it better than that. These remarks should be pinned in capital letters on the front door of OpenStreetMap! I experienced this with a staff member from India. - Greetings - ;-) We often talked about the issue. She finally realised that clear statements are not meant to hurt (personal aspect) but to get to the point (factual aspect). The statement then needs no further interpretation! One no longer has to ask oneself: "What does my counterpart mean?" And a clear statement of the matter has nothing, absolutely **nothing to do** with a rude/impolite/unfriendly tone. Imho, we should all work on our intercultural competence ;-) -- ## Manfred Reiter - - ## www.weeklyOSM.eu ## https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/EuYoutH_OSM
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