8. How do American and German Businesspeople differ in terms of relationship to business (impersonal/personal), different personal needs in the workplace, and vary communication styles?

Relationship to business. Americans - impersonal. They will move on when business does not serve their needs or when better opportunitiesarises. They solve problems by there own. German - not as impersonal (corporation is more cohesive unit). Identity more closely assosiated with position, and security needs met by corporation. German look traditionally to the problem.

Personal needs. Americans need to be liked - expressed throught informal address and gestures. German wants to be respected - expressed throught formal address and gestures. Communication styles. Americans like to play by rules - prefere honest game. They also try to find compromise in solving problems. Germans don't play by rules - they like secrets. They have wide outlook thank to strong education - so when they know some facts, they are sure that they are right (they pressure on the speaker). Germans like phylosophical discussions.

9.How do cultural differences in learning processes in both countries affect business environments?

For Germans motivation is more of a long-term consideration such as an annual bonus or career advancement. Problem solving for Germans is more compartmentalized and individualized. Germans are better trained and better educated than Americans. A German university degree means more than its U.S. equivalent because German educational standards are higher and a smaller percentage of the population wins college entrance. Their undergraduate degree is said to be on par with our master's degree. It is taken for granted that men and women who work in business offices are well educated, able to speak a foreign language, and capable of producing coherent, intelligible, thoughtful communications. German business managers are well versed in history, literature, geography, music and art. American college graduates are not known for having a firm or detailed idea of what happened before they were born. While some pockets of integrated, sophisticated thinking exist, it is by no means the standard. Indeed, many American college students are unable to place significant (newsworthy) events within an over-all political/philosophical framework two months after the occurrence. In contrast, college educated Germans tend to express a need to know why they should do something - a reasoning grounded in a logical understanding of the past. Americans often appear to be arguing from unverifiable aspirations of a future imagined. While such vision is often a valuable driving force and the basis for American innovation and inventiveness, it may not answer the German need to explicitly know why and, thus, may fall short (from a German perspective) in group problem solving when these two cultures are represented. From the educational perspective, one must conclude that more than a few days of awareness training is needed before successful discussions can result between German and American managers, primarily because of what is not required by the American education system. The contrary may also be true in the preparation of Germans to work with Americans. Tolerance for intuitive thinking may well be a proper focus in part of the German manager's training prior to working with American managers.