engr103, week 6

Eric Lynn in his work gives plenty of examples how people from different countries were unsuccessful working together, because each of those countries has peculiar engineering culture.

In one example, Mark, a British businessman has a meeting with Max, German banker. Each one is surprised of the way other acts. While Mark is willing to know his colleague personally and talks about non-job related topics, Max, on the other hand, immediately begins to talk about business.

Then, author explains this situation by describing British and German approach to work. He portrays the British as relationship oriented. They usually try to get to know people they are working with, by this way they feel more comfortable. On the other side, the Germans are task oriented. They tend to finish their job quickly and use time more efficiently.

Then Lynn compares German and American engineers. Germans try to manufacture a product that will not break down. The Americans tend to find feasible solution that can be improved later. To illustrate this, Lynn gives a specific example of a team consisting of 50% Germans and 50% Americans. They could not come to consensus, accusing other team of working not the same way. Eventually, they were not able to finish the task, which caused a loss of a lot of money.

In my opinion, whoever we work with, we should strive to cooperate. We may have different cultures, but it should not hinder efforts to find a common language.