ABSTRACT
This chapter provides some idea of the character of German management and the ethos of the German company. Visitors to Germany often comment that it is an Americanised country. American banks, advertisements, companies, radio stations and tourists abound. The Bundeswirtschaftsministerium commissioned a report on German management from the Dusseldorf office of the American consultancy firm Booz, Allen and Hamilton. German companies are criticised for being person-oriented rather than system-oriented; that is, being oriented to the practices and predilections of top managers as individuals, rather than to an impersonal management system with its own dynamics. The Booz, Allen and Hamilton Report reveals a pattern of consistent and far reaching differences, differences in training, in the use of managerial instruments, in organisation, business strategy and in attitudes. A further dimension to the consciousness of German managers is the pervasive influence of Technik.
