GERMAN CULTURE

I have chosen this topic since i had the opportunity to research more deeply for my presentation, so now lets talk about this two cultures

countries like Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Nerthelands, and  Belgium , as we can see in the chart, those countries shared almost the same percentages in the hofstede cultural dymension, those ae also characterized for sharing the use of the same germanic language 
The official language of the country is German. More than 95 percent of the population speaks German as their first language, according to Angelo State University's Center for International Studies. Other languages spoken include Serbian in eastern Germany; North and West Frisian, spoken around the Rhine estuary; and Danish, primarily spoken in the area along the Danish border. Romani, which is an indigenous language, Turkish and Kurdish are also spoken 

According to Zimmerman Germany is at the center of Europe, not only geographically, but also in terms of politics and economics. The country is Europe's second most populous after Russia, with more than 81 million people, according to the World Factbook. The German economy is the largest on the continent and the fifth largest in the world. While German exerts its influence on the countries that border it — Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Switzerland and Poland — all of these cultures have, in varying degrees, had a hand in shaping today’s Germany.

RELIGION: Christianity is the predominant religion with the almost 70% of the population, followed by That number includes 24 million Catholics, according to CBS News. Muslims make up 3.7 percent of the population, according to Angelo State University, while 28.3 percent are unaffiliated or have a religion other than Christianity or Islam.

FOOD AND DRINKS  : Beer is the most popular alcoholic beverage, and the country is known as the birthplace of a number of beer varieties,Bratwurst, a form of sausage, is closely associated with German food. Cabbage, beets, and turnips are commonly incorporated into meals, as they are native to the region, and potatoes and sauerkraut are also stars of German cuisine.

BEER AND SAUSAGE

  

BUSINESS AND CULTURE: The desire for orderliness spills over into the business life of Germans. Surprises and humor are not welcomed. Everything is carefully planned out and decided upon, with changes rarely occurring after an agreement is made, according to the German Business Culture Guide.

The desire for orderliness spills over into the business life of Germans. Surprises and humor are not welcomed. Everything is carefully planned out and decided upon, with changes rarely occurring after an agreement is made, according to the German Business Culture Guide.

Characteristics of German behavior 

Unfortunately, German people are often considered as rude, cold and humorless. This is quite a stereotype and whether it’s true or not you will discover yourself when living in Germany. Nevertheless, there are some personality traits many Germans have in common.

1. They are efficient  and disciplined: they work hard to always find a way to solve problems in almost every case , also their culture have create a lot of innovative invension that are worthy enought to our society like cars, german culture do not rest without solving even the smallest problem 

2.Their Sence of Hummor : have you ever met a german? do you still think they do not have a sense of hummor? yes, they have, maybe different from the rest type of hummor people have, but in thei own way they enjoy, they dislike sillynes and clownish type of hummor, they enjoy sinical and ironic class of hummor, always when you see a german laughing it is because he really liked the joke, they are not that serious people we imagine before knowing them

3.Well-Orgnised:germans are plannign lovers, they do like to have as much under control, but it does not mean that they are not spontaneous, they just have a plan B for any possible scenario,and like to have everything clean and tidy, they structure their day and schedule appointments exactly 

4. Punctuallity: Germans are known by their punctuality but everything has their exception, not all of Germans are puctul as not all colombians are umpuctial, but the mayority of Germans try to follow the norm, unless there are some inconvinientes to get on time, such a traffic jams or somethig serious has happen , as a recomentadion always be 5 minutes earlier if you have a metting with a german in order to do not ofend them 

5.Traditionals: Once the germans get used to someting would be very hard to do not continue using it,as for example, they like to drive a mercedes, they will continue using that brand for the follow cars they buy, this is on the personal level, but the same happens in the cutural or interpersonal level, they like to keep their traditions alive, 

The German personality. (n.d.). Retrieved April 1, 2015, from https://www.justlanded.com/english/Germany/Germany-Guide/Culture/The-German-personality


Zimmermann, B. (2015, January 23). German Culture: Facts, Customs and Traditions. Retrieved April 17, 2015, from http://www.livescience.com/44007-german-culture.html

RELATIVISM VS UNIVERSALISM

Hello Everybody, in this case i will be talking about Relativism and Universalism which are an important topic understanding cultures in business.

Lets start defining:

RELATIVISM:  

Judging morality of an action on the legal and social standards of each society. “No cultures ethics are any better than any other’s” (Carl Rodrigues 2009).

Relativism is sometimes identified usually by its critics as the thesis that all points of view are equally valid. Relativism is the philosophical position that all points of view are equally valid and that all truth is relative to the individual. This means that all moral positions, all religious systems, all forms of art, all political movements, etc., are truths that are relative to individuals

There are 3 types of relativism:

1. Cognitive: States that all truth is relative. This would mean that no system of truth is more valid than another, and that there is no objective standard of truth. Naturally, this would negate the existence of a God of absolute truth.
2. Moral / Ethical: All morality is relative to the social group within which it is built.
3. According to the situation: The (right and wrong) ethics are dependent on the situation

In a society where we are all responsible for our deeds, who can tell us what's wrong or it's okay if our eyes are acting as we should? Judging people in concordance with our view is easy, we will always think that the other person is wrong when we believe have committed any unfair or irresponsible ... but injuzto for whom ??? The thread behavior of a person is based from his birthplace, his family, values that were imposed, even the people you relate daily

acts that for us could be terrorist attacks and multitudinales murderers for the person who is performing can be only an act of courage with your country and / or religion, this is an extreme case, but I hear about such simple cases as defined because for one culture is better conduxir the right side and the left side for others? These "good ways and bad" cosmically are not set in stone nor are derived from some absolute rules of conduct for something unknown. These are relative and rightly so, the end justifies the means, no matter what you do, if the way you're doing is fine for some, may be the worse for others
Another example of relativism unused acts which may be frowned upon is eg taste, anyone can quickly annoyed by a sound or a smell, that at the same moment another person may be fascinated in this sense it is true for one is not necessarily true for others


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Now think of something ...  what my eyes see and recognize the color blue for someone else may be yellow or vice versa? will this be an example of relativism?

well, according to Relativism ¿¿Does anyone have the right to punish someone judging their actions or behaviors ??  To say that something is wrong, first, we have a standard by which to weigh what is okay and what is wrong and to make a judgment. If that standard of right and wrong it is based on relativism, then, is not, after all a standard. Relativism, standards of right and wrong are derived from social norms. Because society changes, the rules change, also changing what is good or bad. If they change, then how can anyone be rightly judged for something he did wrong if that could wrong in the future become something good

on the other hand tries to explain that Universalism esxist as a theory and a guide to do things differently from relativism.
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Universalism:

"Universal Truth" is the philosophical doctrine that asserts the existence of certain principles that are universally undisputed, being true, and therefore must be supported by all individuals and cultural groups to guide their behavior and to distinguish the good deeds the bad.

on the religious level, each religion try to prove that their own beliefs are true, likewise as in the political side, each party tries to convince people of his power and thus extend and concentrate their power from imperialist policies. 

Slick, M. (n.d.). ¿Qué es el relativismo? Retrieved April 1, 2015, from http://www.miapic.com/qué-es-el-relativismo

Concepto de universalismo. (n.d.). Retrieved April 1, 2015, from http://deconceptos.com/ciencias-sociales/universalismo

CONFUCIANISM

In my seventh class, we talk about Confucianism, as we all know this is not a very popular topic to discuss in business meetings or less at family gatherings, let see which is the definition of Confucianism and broaden a little more theme

Confucianism: is the oldest school of Chinese thought, and takes its name from the celebrated philosopher Confucius, who was his prime disseminator

According To Berling Confucianism is Often Characterized as a system of social and ethical philosophy rather than a religion, In fact, Confucianism built on an ancient religious foundation to Establish the social values, Institutions, and transcendent ideals of traditional Chinese society
Confucianism is a philosophical belief system consisting of doctrines (or teachings) moral and religious preached by Confucius.

Confucianism has a huge importance to Chinese culture, because of this many behaviors emerge, which define their culture and therefore can be called as the backbone of culture, as well as to our religion, Confucianism is the spiritual leader Chinese culture, (without being described as deligion) and as every doctrine, some values ​​that stand as they appear:

Human quality or benevolence: Rén
Righteousness: Yi
Challenges: Li
Wisdom: Zhi

What are the caracteristics that can be shown in actions or behaviors of Confucianism?

They are people who are very concerned about social harmony, care of people as if they were taking care of his own family, based on the experience to improve the mistakes made, where according to the theory of Hofstede : how every society has some links to Maintain With Its own past while dealing With The Challenges of the present and future (LTO) And Also have too much respect for the elderly, accounting for wisdom and experience. giving a lot value to hierarchies

-there are two terms which are exposed by confucianism 

GUANXI: is a general Chinese term used to

 describe relationships that may result in the exchanges of favors or "connections" that are beneficial for the parties involved. Sounds like a simple way to create business right? The truth is this type of relationship can become somewhat time consuming and complex. 

for this culture social relations are very important, people often depends on your network connections to solve problems or achieve goals, in China the real goal is not get to know as much people but the quality of the people you meet and with this there is almost nothing impossible to achieve, relationships are very respected and valued within this culture but especially when they have direct contact, for example, are not known from an acquaintance, but rather that you are friends directly related and there is something that is very resemblance to our own culture is that when one of these relationships has transcended barriers of trust can be given the label of a true friendship 

MIANZI: represents a person’s reputation and feelings of prestige (both real and imagined) within their workplace, society, their family unit and among their friends The concept of “face” can be more deeply understood  if one recalls that China has traditionally been (and continues to be) a highly hierarchical society. The position a Chinese person occupies relative to others (e.g. a boss to an employee, or a father to a son) is typically thought to command a certain degree of respect and requires certain types of behavior 

The values of Chinese society based on human feelings and less on religion, which makes it a little different from our culture, because we are still very much governed by the acts ue whether or not they are permitted by religion and not by look at the person as though this is what our religion taught us, what we do is just to follow the religion. The mianzi define the position of a person in your social network, is your status

THE WATER SYMBOL

Though this worldview is recognized as one of the eleven main living religions, it has no standard symbol or icon representing its belief system. Quite often, though, this Chinese ideogram for water is utilized. It represents the 'source of life' in Chinese philosophy

Finally I should mention something very important and useful for all those who are trying to negotiate with China, should be aware and very present some basic rules of that culture as it is different from ours and we procupara not overlook this

Punctuality: the Chinese are quite intolerant to wait
Greeted: Always greet the person with highest rank first
Take some present to them? Do not forget deliver with both hands and bowing slightly

¿ What is the influence of confucianism in our culture?

as we saw earlier Confucianism is a doctrine based on the human being, behavior and potential of their own qualities, and we can see the latest content in our culture is like now everyone has been influenced a little by the spiritual and for managing the mind and suspensamientos in order to concentrate more on the I and the powers of himself, as does Chinese culture, Confucianism teaches that there must be harmony between human beings, that we do not have the relogion I have learned, then as conclucion I can say we are a follower indirectly Confucian culture where we want to achieve the balance of this culture I have.

A. Berling, J. (2015, January 1). Confucianism. Retrieved from http://www.asiasociety.org/confucianism?page=0,1

El Confucianismo. (n.d.). (7), 10-10. Retrieved from http://iluterana.cl/index/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/El-Confucianismo.pdf


Hofstede, G. (n.d.). What about China? Retrieved April 17, 2015, from http://geert-hofstede.com/china.html

What is Guanxi? (n.d.). Retrieved April 1, 2015, from http://www.worldlearnerchinese.com/content/what-guanxi

Upton-McLaughlin, S. (1013, October 10). Mianzi – How to Make & Keep ‘Face’ in China. Retrieved April 1, 2015, from http://learnchinesebusiness.com/2013/04/21/mianzi-how-to-make-a-keep-face-in-china/

Bravo, G. (28, June 28). Confucio alimenta el 'sueño chino' - Salud - El Tiempo. Retrieved April 1, 2015, from http://www.eltiempo.com/estilo-de-vida/salud/reportaje-confucio-regresa-a-china/14183121

Toro, P. E. (Director) (1015, March 1). Confucioanismo, Cultura y Etiqueta en China . Lecture conducted from Pablo Echavarría Toro, Medellin.