As mentioned before the official language at Volkswagen and Panopa is German. Nevertheless Panopa's website is in German, English and Polish which Dr. Hucht simply explains as a matter of good education. Panopa after all is a Polish company with Polish employees and Polish clients and communication foremost has to work for them.
At the same time, it was easy for Panopa to conduct their business in Poland since everything was communicated in German. Volkswagen simply enforces German in their factories on the managerial level. Evidently, this can be considered arrogant. And Dr. Hucht admits as well that it allowed the German staff in Poland to become quite lazy. Considering to send expatriates to Italy or Spain, for example, the need to learn the language is accepted without doubt. But calling employees to learn Polish would just be another counter-argument for a mission in Eastern Europe. To learn Polish does not attract a lot of Germans, different to learning Italian or Spanish for example. Polish has no use outside of Poland and Poland does not seem very exquisite to Germans. Italy on the contrary has a flair of culture and suits perfect for vacations.
[quotation follow-up]
("Die Mitarbeiter selber und die Kunden aus Polen, die sollen ja das verstehen, das da steht. Ich finde, das ist auch einfach eine Frage der guten Erziehung, wenn ich in einem Land tätig bin, dass ich mich zumindest bemühe, die Sprache dort zu beherrschen. Und auch als Unternehmen so auftrete, dass ich mich dann so präsentiere, dass ich diese Sprache beherrsche. Was es uns da sicherlich etwas leichter macht und auf der anderen Seite, wenn man es jetzt negativ sehen will, uns vielleicht auch faul werden lässt in der Beziehung, ist die Tatsache, dass die Projektkommunikation offiziell in Deutsch läuft. Zumindest auf der Managementebene, Geschäftsführung, Werksleitung, VW und die ein, zwei Ebenen darunter, da ist die Kommunikation auf Deutsch. Weil eben VW sagt: 'Da, wo wir ein Werk haben, wird Deutsch kommuniziert.' Das ist dann so, wenn man so will, die Arroganz, die sich jetzt das Unternehmen eben leistet. Uns kommt es entgegen, weil wenn wir dahin kommen und die Leute mit denen wir zu tun haben sprechen alle Deutsch. Und wenn es in die Werkerebene geht, dann ist zur Not ein Dolmetscher dabei. Das macht natürlich auch irgendwo faul." Dr. Hucht, 2nd 09.05 min.)
("Wenn ich normalerweise sag, ich geh irgendwohin, würde ich eigentlich damit verbinden: 'Du musst die Sprache lernen.'" Dr. Hucht, 2nd 11.29 min.)
("Wenn ich mir jetzt vorstelle, ich würde jetzt beruflich mich dazu entscheiden, in ein Land zu gehen dessen Sprache ich nicht beherrsche, würde ich mich normalerweise dran machen und die Sprache lernen. Und da kommt vielleicht auch so ein Punkt hinzu, wo Polen und auch Polnisch in den Augen von Deutschen einen anderen Stellenwert hat als z.B. Italien, Spanien, England mal sowieso - ich sag mal, Englisch sprechen die Meisten, wenn sie die Ausbildung hinter sich haben, zumindest ein bißchen. Aber wo ich auch schon Diskussion im Unternehmen mitgekriegt hab, 'also, wenn ich nach Polen muss, das ist ja wenig lukrativ' a) das Land und auch die Sprache, da kann ich international nichts mit anfangen. Das sieht bei Spanisch dann schon wieder anders aus. Wenn die Möglichkeit besteht, ich sag mal, einen Job in Italien oder Spanien anzunehmen, trifft man viel eher auf leuchtende Augen als wenn's darum geht, wer geht nach Polen." Dr. Hucht, 2nd 10.05 min.)
("'Kein Thema. Italienisch? Ja, klar, gerne.' Das ist dann auch irgendwie westlich. [...] Das hat dann irgendwie noch was von Kultur. Ich kann jetzt Italienisch - toll. Aber Polnisch hat da überhaupt keinen Stellenwert. [...] Und jemanden zu ködern - 'Da lernst du eine andere Kultur kennen und lernst ne andere Sprache.' - da muss das ja nicht Polnisch sein. Wenn schon, dann was, womit ich was anfangen kann: Urlaub mal - schick." Dr. Hucht, 2nd 12.07 min.)
("Zumal Polnisch sehr sehr schwer zu lernen ist. Ich hab's nicht geschafft." Vieth, 2nd 10.58 min.)
In general Mr. Vieth and Dr. Hucht see the Polish to be quite like the Germans - in terms of values and principles. Compared to the experience he gained in Shangai, Dr. Hucht says that it is fairly easy to get acquainted to the Polish. Even though the language is quite different and the way of living, the similarities still out-rule the differences. They both emphasize that people's behavior is directly connected to one's own behavior. If you treat people fairly they will much likely return that. As long as you do not present yourself has the smart-ass German, who knows everything better and tries to mission-ate everybody, you will not have any problems being German.
[following up just quotes in German:]
("Ansonsten ist das eigentlich wie überall. Behandeln Sie Ihr Gegenüber als Mensch, dann gibt es keine Probleme." Vieth, 2nd 05.50 min.)
("Das ist so wie überall. So wie Sie es in den Wald hinein rufen, schallt es letztendlich wieder hinaus." Vieth, 2nd 07.52 min.)
("Die Polen, in meinen Augen, denken eher wie wir Deutschen." Vieth, 28.53 min.)
("Ich glaube schon, dass es ein Riesenunterschied ist, wenn ich hier in den Nachbarstaaten unterwegs bin, wo sicherlich die Sprache ne andere ist und auch in Details sicherlich bestimmte Gepflogenheiten anders sind, aber man doch immer noch mehr oder weniger in dem gleichen Kulturkreis sich bewegt; das Wertebild so in etwas das Gleiche ist." Dr. Hucht, 2nd 06.12 min.)
("Wenn ich da die Wahl hätte, würd ich jetzt nach Polen oder soll ich nach China gehen, würd's mir nicht allzu schwer fallen. Da [Shangai] hatte ich wirklich das Gefühl, hier bist du vollkommen fremd. Und in Polen.... klar, ich versteh die Sprache nicht, aber das wär ja auch noch ein Thema das zu lernen, ich kann nicht lesen, was da irgendwo steht, aber wenn man mit den Leuten ins Gespräch kommt, wenn die Englisch oder Deutsch sprechen, versteht man sich doch eigentlich relativ schnell." Dr. Hucht, 2nd 06.55 min.)
("Wenn man da nicht auftritt wie der schlaue Deutsche, der jetzt alle missionieren will oder zeigen, wie es richtig geht, dann kommt man mit den Leuten auch gut klar. Die Erfahrungen, die ich da bisher gemacht habe, waren auch durchweg positiv. Ich hatte auch nie das Gefühl, auch wenn ich da abends mal weg war oder auch im Hotel oder bei den Mitarbeitern, da irgendwie geringschätzig behandelt zu werden oder ein Problem damit zu haben, dass ich jetzt deutsch bin." Dr. Hucht, 2nd 07.22 min.)
Situational frames are the smallest unit which can be observed in culture. They are common settings and situations such as greeting, working, eating, bargaining, fighting, governing, making love, going to school, cooking, hanging out, ... (cp. p.129). They are made up of different components: linguistic, kinetic, temporal, social, material, .... Some of these components can be learned, especially what Hall calls the situational dialect. A situational dialect would be how to order or behave in a restaurant:
"a few properly placed words will do" (p.132)
- to facilitate and simplify things and
- to identify the speaker as someone who knows how to work the system and thus as someone who belongs.
Being given the proper expressions, like a condensed code puts the respective individual in high-context.
Hall applies the concept of situational frames not only to cross-cultural encounters. Basically all situations in life are surrounded by a frame of appropriate language and following consequences as well. Hall gives the example of Rosenhan and his group. For the purpose of research they submitted themselves to mental hospitals saying that they heard voices. Once they entered the hospital all their actions were regarded to prove or go in accordance with their insanity.
back to the
table of content
further to
chapter ten and eleven
Hall gets around to define what culture is stating that definitions are just models. Models are actually to be understood in the broad sense: parents are models for the young, mechanical models might explain the construction of a machine, grammar and the system of writing are models of language, ...
"The purpose of the model is to enable the user to do a better job in handling the enormous complexity of life. By using models, we see and test how things work and can even predict how things will go in the future." (p. 13)
Models are based on drawbacks: man's explanation of nature actually tells much more about man than about nature, the model or explanation just expresses how he sees the world. Accordingly, it is impossible for an anthropologist to define the things that make up culture. Every model about culture would just reflect the specific culture from which it originates.
Therefore, instead of developing generalized models he introduced two specific cultural models: language and time.
He quotes Saphir who says that
"[L]anguage is much like a mathematical system which previsages all possible experience in accordance with certain accepted formal limitations.... [C]ategories such as number, gender, case, tense, mode, voice, 'aspect' and a host of others... are not so much discovered in experience as imposed upon it." (p.15) He gives an example of Navajo kids who in school had to learn how to express themselves in English and failed because the language didn't offer them the words they needed for articulating their experiences.
At this point I was thinking of the Inuit whose language offers them 10 or more words for the color white while we have only one. I always saw the language to reflect the daily experience while Hall introduces the idea of a language-model vice-versa: it sure reflects experience but it limits experience as well. (While at the same time it has to be questioned if language equals experience...)
While it sounds as if this as nothing to do with expatriates encountering different cultures it has to be remembered that language is one of the most obvious parts of communication and that it is the very use of words that shape how the other person is perceived. (I'll work on this later: perceived level of language treated as indicator for intelligence, English -> action-orientated, not only the right words but the right use, better have a professional translator, ...)
Another big concern of Hall lies in the modelling of time. He differentiates into monochromic- and polychromic time. Monochromic refers to time as linear, "segmented like a road or a ribbon extending forward into the future and backward to the past. It is also tangible; they speak of it as being saved, spent, wasted, lost, made up, accelerated, slowed down, crawling, and running out. [...] M-time scheduling is used as a classification system that orders life." (p.19) M-time people do one thing at a time, acknowledging the most time to the most important things, ... This means that life gets divided into units. This way time is shaping perception just as much as language is: I only perceive those things I put my attention, too.
Hall puts up a nice connection to space. Only upon the time arriving in the office, I am perceived as to be working. The fact that I might have been sitting at home or might have discussed the problem with friends at night, is not acknowledged as work. This becomes obvious in P-time-cultures. In those cultures, following Hall, everybody is always involved with everybody else. Time and space reveal many more layers which interrelate with each other. Work might not only be about sitting in the office but about being outside and making things happen.
Hall ends this chapter emphazing that models are learned. Language and its used are learned. Time is learned. Our perception of space is learned. Models are not existential in nature but cultural agreements. The problem is that they are felt to be natural.
Back to the
table of content
Further to
chapter two
Hall describes culture to be a screen between man and the outside world. A screen is needed to give structure and prevent "information overload" by organizing what we pay attention to and what we ignore (cp. p.85). While information is simplyfied it loses its characteristics which can only be regained by contextualizing.
Hall compares this to the system of language: one word might mean different things but contexts gives it a specific meaning. This is why translating machines still fail to substitute man:
"the problem lies not in the linguistic code but in the context, which carries varrying proportions of the meaning. Without context, the code is incomplete since it encompasses only part of the message." (p.86)
He especially picks out the Chinese language in which - in order to look up a word - you have to know the significance of 214 radicals (a grammatical phenomena not even known in our languages): to find the word "star" you would have to look it up on the sun-radical. (cp. p.90ff)
Another simplified example would be the laws of perception in which it was proven that colors are perceived differently depending on their background. (cp. p.95)
Contexting works the other way round when people are well acquainted to each other and develop their "own" language in which words and sentences are shortened or new words are invented. (cp.p.92)
His example of contexting in a cultural sense goes back on the idea of body movement.
"[I]ntrusion distance (the distance one has to maintain from two people who are already talking in order to get attention but not intrude). How great this distance is and how long one must wait before moving in depends on: what is going on (activity), your status, your relationship in a social system (husband and wife or boss and subordinate), the emotional state of the parties, the urgency of needs of the individual who must intrude, etc." (p.98ff) This explains quite clearly why body movement cannot be split into units independent from the context.
back to the
table of content
further to
chapter seven
Hall states that every organism controls and changes nature by means of extension. Extensions can either be materialistic (for example a knife extends the teeth in their function of cutting things) or .... (like language for example).
"Extensions often permit man to solve problems in satisfactory ways, to evolve and adapt at great speed without changing the basic structure of his body. However, the extension does something else: it permits man to examine and perfect what is inside the head. Once something is externalized, it is possible to look at it, study it, change it, perfect it, and at the same time learn important things about oneself." (p.29)
To summarize it in a broad sense, Hall sees extensions to improve human talents: take the example of eating or speaking as introduced, or the idea of bridging distances faster by taking the car, seeing things better by taking a microscope, taking photos to extend the visual memory, ...
As in the chapter before he takes the example of language which to him is the
"symbolization of something that happened, could have happened, or is in the processes of happening" (p.28) but language is never the event itself and it is not even the thought itself (mistaking the symbol and its reference is what Hall calls "extension transference"). Language is just an extension, just like mathematics is an extension as well. Einstein, for example, could have visualized his ideas in words as well but decided mathematics to be more suitable. His insights were externalized into a constructed system so that they could be put to use.
Words and numbers are different descriptive system and as extensions they have their disadvantages or limitations. Just like a knife is good for cutting but not for chewing or a car extends certain functions of the legs but not all (it can't climb for example, or dance).
So, summarizing this: models as introduced in
chapter 1 are extensions, right?!
back to the
table of content
further to
chapter three
In Poznań Panopa employs about 700 people which are responsible to store materials and parts as well as assemble some of them ready for delivery and distribute them just-in-time and just-in-sequence at Volkswagen. The smooth functioning is guaranteed by regular communication between and within the companies. ("Weil einfach die Verzahnung der ganzen Kette so eng ist, dass die Information ein wesentlicher Bestandteil ist; ansonsten können Sie den Job nicht machen." Vieth, 04.00min) Every morning at 8a.m. Panopa and Volkswagen sit together to review the last 24 hours: where did something go wrong? Were there distributional bottle necks? How can we avoid them next time? In this Volkswagen, Panopa and in this case Mr. Vieth follow the claim that nothing is worse than a mistake happening twice. Thus all operational departments, and Panopa as service provider is taken as just another operational department, sit together and make sure everything is set for the next day. Quite naturally the cooperation between Volkswagen and Panopa offered more possible sources of friction in the beginning than it does nowadays were the daily meetings can be performed within half an hour.
Start-up problems were diminished by the fact that both parties were basically run by German expatriates: the top two levels of management were occupied by Germans. Consequently, German was enforced as first language within the organizational structures. The situation was further eased by the fact that Volkswagen is the biggest employer in the area which facilitates the communication with the municipal authorities and communities. In terms of infrastructure for example the authorities renovated a quite decrepit bridge which was connecting Panopa's warehouse with Volkswagen's factory 6km away.
Dr. Hucht resumes that it was quite helpful for them to work for a well-known client who is conducting projects which are of public interest and widely appreciated. Nevertheless there were no networks Panopa could fall back onto. Their first project manager, interestingly enough a French, looked for a contact person on site who was then responsible for getting all the necessary admissions (water, electricity, ...). Without knowing a single word in Polish it would have been impossible to talk to the authorities and to apply for permits. ("Weil wenn Sie kein Polnisch sprechen, haben Sie keine Chance." Vieth, 09.14min) The only thing that was not run by their contact person was the building of the storehouse. That was done by a German architect who was already living in Poland since 14 years which left Panopa with hardly any work on that topic of admissions. ("Das ganze übrige Geschäft [..] haben wir eigentlich eingekauft." Vieth, 09.30min) Meanwhile several societies and groups came into existence which establish and open up networks to foreign entrepreneurs. This certainly facilitates start up and the possibilities to gain information.
When Panopa first came to Poland they also faced problems with the different legislation. Since it used to very be difficult for foreigner to actually buy a piece of land in Panopa built their first storehouse onto a site which did not belong to themselves. While they were putting up the lease contracts they had to find out that by Polish Law the building belongs to the owner of the site. ("Weil man eben doch die deutschen Zusammenhänge und Gepflogenheiten überträgt auf das andere Land und dann eventuell auch in eine Falle rein rennt, wo man gar nicht mit gerechnet hat." Dr. Hucht, 11.02 min.) Problems in that direction piled up because as a company you were not allowed to build a house before you were not operating in Poland since two years - but which company can actually wait two years. Thus you need somebody who talks with the parties concerned and explains that Panopa is interested in being a reliable partner and a future employer. ("Sie müssen da irgendeinen Sachverständigen haben, der für Sie dort hingeht und klar macht, dass Sie da eine Halle bauen dürfen; [...] dass Sie ein guter Partner sind, die nächsten Jahre in Polen auch für Arbeitsplätze sorgen und so weiter und so fort." Vieth, 11.52 min)
While being quite happy to write in English, I still face some problems: style of writing. While in German a sophisticated level of language is expressed in the use of context-related difficult vocabulary (you are the expert!), the state of the art in English seems to be to put things as easy as possible (you are only the expert if you can explain it to ordinary people!). I actually much favor the later but agree that sometimes it seems to oversimplify things...
A nice
article on this in German.
While I needed the summaries to understand what Hall was actually talking about, I summarize my own little reflections on it here:
Hall bases most of his findings on his experiences with the Navajo and Hopi. This sometimes makes it difficult to transfer his theories on expatriates encountering a new cultural environment. Nevertheless he provoked quite some thoughts.
1. language.
I had always thought of language to reflect the life of the respective culture. I had thought of the Inuit for example whose language offers them ten words for white while we have only one. Thus: since they experience a lot of different "whites" they need more words to articulate this experience. Vice-versa: since white is not important in our all-day life, we did not invent any words for it. Hall says that man's explanation of nature tells much more about man than about nature. It shows how he sees the world.
At the same time language, according to Hall, is limiting: while it reveals how man perceives the world, it also limits him in his perception. This becomes obvious when you learn a new language and there are simply no equivalent words to express yourself in just the same way as you would in your mother tongue. English for example is regarded as action-orientated and expressing thoughts in another language can provoke completely different images.
I actually get a little stuck in this concept because experience does not equal language. Language is just a model to structure and share experiences and thoughts.
This leads to another of Hall's ideas: we mistake the model, the symbolization of something as the thing itself. This means that we take poor expression for little intelligence. Thus poor English skills is often interpreted as incompetence. This becomes especially awkward regarding the fact that in most cross-cultural encounters English is not the mother tongue for either party. Culturally-learned concepts are transferred into the foreign language which already does not make sense and are then further translated/interpretated by yet another understanding of language. On official meetings this means that it might make sense to rely on professional translators.
This relates to another of Hall's concept: situational frames. People always approve to be addressed in their situational dialect (e.g. ordering something in a restaurant asks for a special style of talking, acting, ... just like any other situation consists of an appropriate catalogue of language, actions, behaviors). Using the situational dialect tags the speaker as insider and earns him recognition. But using the dialect wrong ultimately declares him as outsider.
2. situational frames and action chains
Hall defines all human interactions as situation which are culturally bound by situational frames and follow patterned action chains. While action chains are not explicitly expressed, they define which behavior is culturally appropriate. Not following the expected action chains is ultimately disrupting.
This shows in all aspects of life. While the question "How are you?" seems to be universal, the answers can be very different. Germans, I generalize at this point, like to hold a monologue on how bad everything is. North-Americans on the other hand regard this question only as an opener and are always fine. North-Americans are regarded to be superficial while Germans are just big whiners. Good start for a talk.
On a higher business level all organizational aspects are defined by action chains: who takes part in a meeting? Where does the meeting take place? Who is seated where? Who gets to talk? Who gets involved in conflict resolution?
On a political level this is worked out in the diplomatic etiquette (sag ich mal so!): which country is visited first? Which at all? Which officials are honored with a meeting?...
Nowadays, German is still spoken in the higher management level at Volkswagen as well as at Panopa. In the second level both companies mostly employ Polish people who also speak German.
In general Panopa is sending fewer expatriates to Poland every year. In the beginning jobs in the strategic division were filled project-specific with German expatriates. Nowadays the job is done by two fixed employees and help is only sent in emergencies. Instead Panopa makes sure to grant their employees qualification trainings to build up competencies on site.
This redundantizes the business with expatriates which is comparably expensive and takes a lot of energy from the company as well as from the employees concerned: motivating employees to leave Germany and to stay abroad for weeks and months at a time for single projects, permanent shuttling, ... Dr. Hucht resumes that it is simply easier and less expensive to establish methods of qualification at the respective location. ("Wenn ich in Deutschland jemanden motiviere da rüber zu gehen, dann redet der erstmal über mehr Geld." Dr.Hucht, 13.45 min.)
