Tài liệu Corporate Reputations, Branding and People Management 27 doc

much of German industry, resulted in a relatively peaceful indus￾trial relations system for many decades. This state of relatively

harmonious industrial relations provided the stability that was

necessary for rapid German economic development since 1945

and consensus between management and labour has continued

to be a feature of German industry even when economic devel￾opment slowed down during the late 1990s.

Supporting these industrial relations factors and the effects

of the Second World War is the traditional German attitude to

education, particularly engineering education, and the beliefs

of German managers in expertise and the importance of the

task. German managers are noted for not distinguishing tech￾nical work from managerial work. Management is necessary to

get things done, is not ‘over and above’ technical work and is best

done by managers taking action themselves, rather than neces￾sarily working, at one remove, through other people (Lawrence,

1992). This attitude, coupled with the much higher technical

education of many German managers, meant that they were able

to define their jobs less as people managers and more as tech￾nical experts. So, given a more harmonious context, higher level

of technical capability and the greater respect from workers for

this ability, it is not difficult to explain why the German busi￾ness system might be quite different, though there are signs that

the reputation for technological superiority may be declining

and that the education system, as presently constructed and once

vaunted, is holding back German progress. According to an

Economist survey of Germany published in February 2006, the

rigid school system has produced the ‘PISA shock’, named after

the OECD programme that produces research on international

comparisons of mathematics and other abilities. Germany came

21st out of 31 countries assessed in 2001 in maths and science

competences for schoolchildren, though there has been recent

improvement (Economist, 2006). Moreover, Germany’s renowned

system of producing high quality apprentices by attending a

Hauptschule is also under threat, as German firms recruit fewer

apprentices and potential students look elsewhere for education

and training.

Geoffrey Jones, a British-born Harvard Business School

Professor, has made an important point about the lessons of his￾tory, comparisons with the American business system and, by

244 Corporate Reputations, Branding and People Management