Even if they form the largest ethnic group after Germans, Turks are considered as the 'most foreign' group in Germany. Communication between German and second and third generation immigrants from Turkey is no longer characterized by language difficulties but there remain some intercultural missunderstandings.
Thyssen Krupp Steel is a German company where 16% of the employees have Turkish origins. The company used to have a big problem: The workers from the different backgrounds did not get along. There were often confliction between them. In the breakroom, the Germans were sitting in one corner of the room, reading the Spiegel or the Süddeutschezeitung, while the Turks were sitting in the opposite corner reading the Turkish journal.
Most of the conflicts between the German and the Turkish employees were based on cultural differences, e.g., the Turks felt often offended at the straightforwardness and honesty of their German colleagues and the Germans did not like the implied statements usually used by the Turks.
The situation got worst after the events of 9 11. Even the few Turks who used to have some German friends at work felt that they were avoiding them and felt the gap between them becoming bigger and bigger.
That's when the company decided to take action and tried to resolve the problem by introducing the idea of 'culture mediators'. Those persons help workers in the company from differents backgrounds to get along. They are sort of bridge-builder: they try to find solutions for conflicts between employees from different origins by organizing seminars and workshops. The purposes of the seminars is to show respect the other cultures and avoid cultural misunderstanding. The way to reach these goals is to encourage the effective intercultural communication and the emphaty with people from different backgrounds without any kind of cultural prejudice.
Hi Nesrine,
ReplyDeleteI think this is an interesting post on cultural differences and it could also thread on nationalistic views in my opinion to some extent. I feel that it is really sad that people are divided on such issues which really does not add any value or productivity to the work. But, I guess, where there are people, there are bound to be such problems.
However, I feel that you did not include how you have observed this directly. Did you work there or have an internship in the company?
Nonetheless a good read which provided me with some knowledge about what's happening in Germany.
Cheers
Hey,
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing.
I feel the same as Ramandeep. You haven't given concrete examples for the cultural differences, which would make the reader understand better.
@ Zongyang: I gave some examples illustrating cultural differences like the "straighforwordness of Germans Vs. implied statements of Turks ", and the religion remains also a big cultural difference (events of 7 11)..
ReplyDelete@Ramandeep: It is true that I did not mention how I observed the scenario. I see those cultural differences in the daily life. I live in Germany and I have seen that the turks are not socially integrated. The example of the company was something I read in a newspaper..
Thanks, Nesrine, for introducing this discussion. You give lots of good background on the topic of a cultural divide existing between Germans and Turks. What would enhance this per the assignment would be for you to describe any experience that you have had where you were similarly exposed to discrimination, or where you observed such an act first-hand. I presume you are an Arab, and I wonder if you have had any problems during your study abroad.
ReplyDeleteI have not really experienced discrimination in Germany. I guess Germans do not judge you based on who you are but how you do your work and if you are reliable. Turks living in Germany are not succeful in the labor market (only 17% of them finished their A-level) and that is probably why they are having integration problems.
ReplyDelete