Of companies and cultures – VW as anitculture?
The triple complexity
We have always pointed out in our seminars that participants face a threefold complexity when doing business in and with foreign countries: On the one hand, they have to deal with the foreign culture, know it and adapt their actions and assessments accordingly. On the other hand, there is always the personal component, because nobody is the same, there is no such thing as “the German” or “the Chinese”. A simple example: in response to the German national drink, I almost always hear beer. That’s true. But there are also Germans who prefer wine and therefore rarely or never drink beer. Are they not Germans then? Of course they are. Punctuality is also a relative, culture-dependent concept. On the other hand, I know Germans who have a tendency to be notoriously unpunctual. On the other hand, I know people from other cultures who are said to have a more relaxed approach to time, who always show up on the dot.
Last but not least, there is always a corporate culture in companies. Through mission statements and codes of conduct, companies also promote the creation of a certain desired culture. Whether or not this is the case remains to be seen, because what has grown over decades, and also differs from department to department and from task area to task area, cannot be changed overnight with a piece of paper. It is a process that companies want to implement and shape through various measures.
Missions
All these mission statements are of course filled with political correctness and positive principles. Volkswagen also has such a mission statement. The sentence “If we don’t achieve our targets technically, we’ll cheat and try not to get caught out for as long as possible” is not in it. It is nothing new to realize that car manufacturers do everything they can to keep the official fuel consumption figures of their vehicles as low as possible and therefore use every leeway that the regulations allow them. It is therefore hardly surprising that the official consumption values are sometimes significantly lower than the values achieved in practice. Personally, I always look at the figures given for city consumption, as these are generally quite close to the fuel consumption in practice.
Of course, it takes a certain amount of criminal energy to actively manipulate these values through unauthorized measures. And this has been going on for years. With updates and improvements, as has only recently become known. What was that all about? There has been extensive speculation in the press about who knew what and when. The “clean-up” at VW has only just begun. The first resignations have taken place, the possibility of claims for damages is being examined and a possible avalanche of lawsuits is being prepared. Consequently, the full extent of what could affect the Group and also individual employees or employees who have left the company has not yet come to light.
I’d rather be shot next year than this year
I don’t want to speculate further here, but the following facts caught my eye. The manipulations affected the Group’s “bread and butter engine”. Obviously, the technicians did not succeed in making the engine fit for new emission regulations. Developing a new engine or modifying the existing engine would be expensive and take time. Time that was apparently not available. Money that had not been budgeted for. Someone came up with the well-known “creative solution”. Of course, it couldn’t have been a single culprit. But who knew when and how much is not yet known and is the subject of speculation. Was the board informed? Maybe, maybe not. If it was not, it now faces the dilemma of not having fulfilled its functions. Mr. Winterkorn has already had to draw the appropriate consequences. But then the question remains as to why this was not the case. Did VW not have a culture of error? Did they not want to expose themselves to the public, when VW stands for progressive technology? Or was it individuals who wanted to prevent their careers from being jeopardized by not being able to meet the requirements? A former colleague of mine once said about bad news: “I’d rather be shot next year than this year.” That’s only human, but it says a lot about how corporations (he also worked in a corporation) deal with unpleasant truths. This is also part of a corporate culture, even if it is not exactly a positive aspect.
What must not be cannot be
What still seems strange, however, is that the deception was maintained for years. Perhaps VW would have gotten away with it if the “creative solution” had only been used for a short time and the interim period had been used to find a real, technical solution. This did not happen. What led those involved to believe that they would get away with it for years? What must those who were in the know have felt to be permanently “dancing on the volcano”? VW has huge funds and an impressive investment program. Why were some of these funds not used to solve the problem? The answer remains open at this stage. The phrase that comes to mind is “what cannot be, must not be”. Completely different companies, even entire companies, have already failed with this principle.
It remains to be said that the corporate culture at VW obviously did not provide the space to deal with such problems. It is also always a question of control. If the control function of the company’s individual bodies was exercised correctly, the ludicrous notion of a grand conspiracy arises. If it was not, then the company management must accept the accusation that it acted sloppily and failed to fulfill its duties. A third possibility would be that the control mechanisms were inadequate. And you’re always smarter afterwards.
Other car manufacturers have also been caught in the crossfire of criticism. Fuel consumption or not, so far only VW is known to have engaged in targeted unlawful manipulation. This makes all the difference. What impression should a foreigner have of VW, or even of Germany itself? Germany is regarded as a country with little corruption, where everything is done according to the law. So how could something like this happen there of all places? Apart from the fact that Germans are only human and therefore susceptible to human weaknesses, I believe that the corporate culture plays a particularly important role here. If you follow the press reports of recent years, you get the impression that the upper echelons of VW are not only economically but also highly politicized. This is certainly not unique to VW, but also affects other companies around the world. But one can also deduce from this that the internal politics at VW stood in the way of a correct solution, or at least contributed to it.
Culture and corporate culture – inextricably linked in business practice
This brings us back to the beginning. Knowing the culture and mentality of a country is only part of the knowledge and understanding needed to overcome cultural challenges. It is always people who act, and in the case of business, it is also corporate cultures that have a significant influence on whether and how successful you are. This is not a new insight, but VW has involuntarily contributed to making this very insight present once again in an unfortunately negative way.
In our workshops and seminars, we therefore also attach great importance to this aspect, especially when it comes to secondments. Our experts actively incorporate this cultural aspect and are therefore able to develop a coherent overall concept for our seminar participants.
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