Page 212 - Cultures and Organizations

188 DIMENSIONS OF NATIONAL CULTURES

to come. The sentry looked at the notebook page, said, “This is for you
personally,” and let him in.
Arndt Sorge became an organization sociologist, and he remembers
this experience as an example of how differently the British seemed to
handle such an unplanned request in comparison with what he was accus-
tomed to in the German army. The Germans would have taken more time
and would have needed the permission of more authorities; they would
have asked for more information about the applicant and issued a more
formal document. Finally, the document would have been issued to him as
a member of the armed forces, and there would have been no possibility of
his using it after his demobilization. 1

The Avoidance of Uncertainty
Germany and Britain have a lot in common. Both are Western Euro-
pean countries, both speak a Germanic language, their populations are of
roughly equal size, and the British royal family is of German descent. Yet it
does not take a very experienced traveler to notice the considerable cultural
difference between the two countries.
Peter Lawrence is a British sociologist who wrote about Germany:

What strikes a foreigner traveling in Germany is the importance attached
to the idea of punctuality, whether or not the standard is realized. Punc-
tuality, not the weather, is the standard topic of conversation for strangers
in railway compartments. Long distance trains in Germany have a pam-
phlet laid out in each compartment called a Zugbegleiter (literally, “train
accompanier”) which lists all the stops with arrival and departure times
and all the possible connections en route. It is almost a national sport in

Germany, as a train pulls into a station, for hands to reach out for the
Zugbegleiter so that the train’s progress may be checked against the digital
watch. When trains are late and it happens, the loudspeaker announce-
ments relay this fact in a tone which falls between the stoic and the tragic.
The worst category of lateness which fi gures in these announcements is
unbestimmte Verspätung (indeterminable lateness: we don’t know how late
it is going to be!) and this is pronounced as a funeral oration. 2

Sorge’s surprise at the easygoing approach of the British sentry and
Lawrence’s at the punctual German travelers suggest that the two coun-