SUBJECT: INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS.

PLEASE, THIS IS A CASE STUDY. . STUDY CAREFULLY AND ANSWER CORRECTLY.

ANSWER QUESTIONS 3 & 4 ONLY.

You Americans Work Too Hard

Andreas Drauschke and Agie Clark work comparable jobs for comparable pay at department

stores in Berlin and suburban Washington, D.C. But there is no comparison when it comes to

the hours, they put in.

Mr. Drauschkes job calls for a 37-hour week with six weeks annual leave. His store

close for the weekend at 2 P.M. on Saturday and stays open one evening each

week---a new service in Germany that Mr. Drauschke detest. I cant understand that people

go shopping at night in America, says the 29-year-old, who supervises the auto, motorcycle,

and bicycle division at Karstadt, Germanys largest department store chain. Logically

speaking, why should someone need to buy a bicycle at 8.30 P.M.?

Mrs. Clark works at least 44 hours a week, including evenings shifts and frequent

Saturdays and Sundays. She often brings paperwork home with her, spends her day off

scouting the competition, and never takes more than a week off at a time. If I took any

more, Id feel like I was losing control, says the senior merchandising manager at J.C.

Penney in Springfield, Virginia.

The 50-year-old Mrs. Clark was born in Germany but feels like an alien when she

visits her native land. Germans put leisure first and work second, she says. In America, its

the other way around.

While Americans often marvel at German industriousness, a comparison of actual

workloads explodes such national stereotypes. In manufacturing, for instance, the weekly U.S.

average is 37.7 hours and rising; in Germany, it is 30 hours and has fallen steadily over recent

decades. All German workers are guaranteed by law a minimum of five weeks annual holiday.

A day spent at a German and an American department store also shows a wide gulf between

two countries work ethic, at least as measured by attitudes forward time. The Germans

fiercely resist any incursion on their leisure hours, while many J.C. Penney employees work

second jobs and rack up 60 hours a week.

But long and irregular hours come at a price. Staff turnover at the German store is

negligible; at J.C. Penney it is 40 percent a year. German serves apprenticeships of two or

three years and knows their wares inside out. Workers at J.C. Penney receive training of two

to three days. And it is an economic necessity, more than any devotion to work for its own sake,

that appears to motivate most American employees.

First its needed and then its greed, says Sylvia Johnson, who sells full-time at J.C.

Penney works another 15 to 20 hours a week doing data entry at a computer firm. The

two jobs helped her put one child through medical school and another through college. Now

51, Mrs. Johnson says she doesnt need to work so hard but still does.

My husband and I have a comfortable home and three cars, she says. But I guess

you always feel like you want something more as a reward for all the hard work youve

done.

Mr. Drauschke, the German supervisor, had a much different view: Work hard when

youre on the job and get out as fast as you can. A passionate gardener with a wife and young

child, he comes in 20 minutes earlier than the rest of his staff but otherwise has no interest in

working beyond the 37 hours his contract mandates, even if it means more money. Free time

cant be paid for, he says.

The desire to keep hours short is an obsession in Germany and a constant mission

of its powerful unions. When Germany introduced Thursday-night shopping in 1989, retail

workers went on strike. And Mr. Drauschke finds it hard to staff the extra two hours on

Thursday evening, even though the late shift is rewarded with an hour less overall on the job.

My wife is opposed to my coming home late. One worker tells him when asked if he will

work until 8:30 on a coming Thursday.

Mr. Drauschke, like other Germans, also finds the American habit of taking a second

job inconceivable. In vacation, it is illegal yes, illegal for Germans to work at other jobs

during holidays, a time that is strictly for recovering Mr. Drauschke explains. He adds, If

we had a condition like in America, you would have to think hard if you wanted to go on in

this line of work.

At J.C. Penney, the workday of the merchandising manager Mrs. Clark begins at 8

A.M. when she rides a service elevator to her windowless office of a stock room. Though

the store doesnt open until 10 A.M., she feels she needs the extra time to check schedules.

Most of the sales staff clock in at about 9 A.M. to set up registers and restock shelves a sharp

contrast to Karstadt, where salespeople come in just a moment before the shop opens.

Source: Griffin & Pustay (2010). International Business. 6 th ed. Pearson

Questions:

1. Compare and contrast Human Resource Management in the United States and Germany. (10 marks)

2. Explain TWO (2) advantages and TWO (2) disadvantages of each system. (20 marks)

3. If you were the top HRM executive for an international department store chain with stores in both Germany and the United States, what basic issue would you need to address regarding corporate HR policies? (10 marks).

4. Under which system would you prefer to work? Justify. (10 marks)