In an experiment in which German and American teams attempted to reach consensus on a complex task, the German groups generated 30% fewer statements focused on possible solutions than the American teams and more than twice as many statements focusing on various problems, such as inadequate information, say Nale Lehmann-Willenbrock of VU University Amsterdam and colleagues. The findings, drawn from research on 30 teams of university students, support past research suggesting that culturally, Germans tend to desire a substantial amount of background information before making decisions and prefer clarity over uncertainty, whereas Americans tend to quickly come up with solutions, often without having a complete and thorough analysis of the problem. Insights like these can be valuable to managers running intercultural teams, the researchers say.
Source: Observing culture: Differences in U.S.-American and German team meeting behaviors
