Germany - Country Analysis

Germany Report

Germany Report

Every manager going to a foreign market or country should be current with the customs, manners and tradition of their respective country. The following guide to the country of Germany should give enough highlights to help managers be more successful.

Social Institutions

Family: nuclear or extended

In general, family life in Germany is much like Canadian family life. Families may consist of one or two parents and children, or simply two people living together. Traditionally the man is the head of the family, but increasingly there is joint responsibility in the home. The postwar economic boom saw many women join the paid work force in a wide range of occupations. At the same time, families headed by single mothers are increasing and many of these live below the poverty line.

Most Germans live in apartments or condominiums, because the cost of land and house construction is high (two or three times the cost of Canada). Only 39 percent of Germans own their own home. German towns and cities have strict rules about how houses can be constructed, what materials may be used, and how a house may look. Property limits are clearly marked, with fences and walls separating houses.

The long workweeks of the past few decades have given way to a more relaxed approach to life. Surveys indicate that family, friendships and leisure are more important than work in most Germans' list of priorities. Many Germans do volunteer work in hospices, churches and fire brigades, and about half are members of some type of club, most of them sports clubs. (CCP, 2006)

Dynamics: parental roles, marriage and courtship

As in many European countries, many couples go through two marriage ceremonies. For a marriage to be recognized legally, couples must have a state wedding, which takes place at the Standesamt (marriage bureau) at the city hall. Couples may also have a church ceremony, but this ceremony is optional. Before a wedding, Germans sometimes hold a Polterabend, a noisy ceremony related to a traditional German saying that broken pottery brings good luck. (Germany, 2006) The friends of the couple bring plates or cups of pottery, and china or glass, and smash them outside the couple's door. The couple then must sweep up the broken pieces.

Male and female roles: changing or static

Young women find that most of the traditional barriers to a career of their own choosing, in particular barriers to diversify vocational and higher education, have broken down. Women have also been freed from the constraints of the traditional family roles of motherhood and child rearing by birth control and a greatly lowered birth rate. Today, Germany's birthrate is among the lowest in the world.

Education: primary, secondary or higher

Full-time school attendance in Germany is free and mandatory from age 6 to age 14, after which most children either continue in secondary schools or participate in vocational education until the age of 18. Kindergarten is not part of the public school system, although before unification East Germany had a nearly universal system of childcare facilities.Under the treaty of unification, the East German public education system was required to conform to the model in use in West Germany. Education in Germany is under the jurisdiction of the individual state governments, which results in a great deal of variety. Most states in the former West Germany have a three-track system that begins with four years of Grundschule (primary school), attended by all children between the ages of 6 and 9. (Encarta 2006) After this period, a child's further educational program is determined during two "orientation grades" (ages 10 and 11). Those who are university-bound then enter a track of rigorous preparatory secondary education by attending a highly competitive, academic Gymnasium (junior and senior high school). Many Gymnasium students leave school at age 16 to pursue business careers. Others graduate at age 19 after passing a weeklong examination called the Abitur. If they pass, they receive a certificate, which is a prerequisite for entering a university. The Gymnasium has three alternative focuses: Greek and Latin, modern languages, and mathematics and science. Only about one-tenth of German students graduate from the Gymnasium.

The overwhelming majority of German students attend either a six-year Realschule (post primary school), which offers a mixture of business and academic training, or a five-year Hauptschule (general school) followed by further skills training and on-the-job experience in a three-year vocational program, or Berufsschule. From age 14 nearly all Realschule and Hauptschule students, both male and female, enroll in trade apprenticeship programs, which combine training in workshops, factories, or businesses with vocational schooling. (Germany, 2006) Apprentices are supervised by a trade master and must demonstrate their mastery of the trade in examinations. Since the German three-track system has often been accused of conforming to class distinctions, some states have opted instead for a comprehensive high school system that combines all the tracks within the same institution. The result is somewhat similar to an American high school, but far more competitive. Before unification, East Germany's polytechnic high schools also provided a comprehensive program. Since 1990, East German education has moved in the direction of West German models.

The Abitur is required for university entrance but there are alternative routes to it. Some students are permitted to change from one kind of school to another during the course of their education. Such midcourse changes are easiest at comprehensive high schools. Those who opt for three years of vocational training after tenth grade can also go on to specialized trade colleges, or Fachhochschulen. Schools of continuing education for adults, such as the many Volkshochschulen (German for "people's colleges"), offer a variety of adult education courses and have some programs leading to diplomas.

Enrollments at German universities have quadrupled since the 1960s, which has caused the expansion of many old universities and the building of a number of new ones. Germany has quite a few venerable old universities, such as those of Heidelberg, Freiburg, Munich, TÑŒbingen, and Marburg.

Literacy rates

The literacy rate, as defined in the CIA World Fact book,