The United KingdomvsGermany
イギリスとドイツUKDE
Seen from the United Kingdom: each line below describes Germany relative to the United Kingdom.
Culture Map: eight scales
Erin Meyer's eight scales, sorted by how far apart the United Kingdom and Germany sit, largest gap first.
Filled dot: the United Kingdom, where you are looking fromHollow ring: Germany
Where you will notice the difference7 scales
Persuading
Germany wants the theory before the conclusion more than the United Kingdom (3 steps)
The United Kingdom +2, Germany −1, on a line from −3 (Principles-first) to +3 (Applications-first).
Evaluating
Germany gives negative feedback more directly than the United Kingdom (2 steps)
The United Kingdom 0, Germany −2, on a line from −3 (Direct negative feedback) to +3 (Indirect negative feedback).
Disagreeing
Germany is more willing to disagree openly than the United Kingdom (2 steps)
The United Kingdom 0, Germany −2, on a line from −3 (Confrontational) to +3 (Avoids confrontation).
Scheduling
Germany sticks to fixed plans and deadlines more than the United Kingdom (2 steps)
The United Kingdom −1, Germany −3, on a line from −3 (Linear time) to +3 (Flexible time).
Communicating
Germany spells things out more explicitly than the United Kingdom (1 step)
The United Kingdom −1, Germany −2, on a line from −3 (Low-context) to +3 (High-context).
Leading
Germany keeps more distance between boss and team than the United Kingdom (1 step)
The United Kingdom −1, Germany 0, on a line from −3 (Egalitarian) to +3 (Hierarchical).
Deciding
Germany decides by group agreement more than the United Kingdom (1 step)
The United Kingdom 0, Germany −1, on a line from −3 (Consensual) to +3 (Top-down).
Where you are close1 scale
Trusting
The United Kingdom and Germany sit on the same step
The United Kingdom −2, Germany −2, on a line from −3 (Task-based) to +3 (Relationship-based).
Hofstede: six dimensions
Scores from 0 to 100, sorted by the gap between the United Kingdom and Germany. They describe national averages, not either country's character.
Uncertainty avoidance
Germany scores 30 points higher than the United Kingdom (65 against 35)
The United Kingdom 35, Germany 65, on a line from 0 (Tolerant of ambiguity) to 100 (Avoids ambiguity).
Indulgence
Germany scores 29 points lower than the United Kingdom (40 against 69)
The United Kingdom 69, Germany 40, on a line from 0 (Restrained) to 100 (Indulgent).
Individualism
Germany scores 3 points higher than the United Kingdom (79 against 76)
The United Kingdom 76, Germany 79, on a line from 0 (Collectivist) to 100 (Individualist).
Long-term orientation
Germany scores 3 points lower than the United Kingdom (57 against 60)
The United Kingdom 60, Germany 57, on a line from 0 (Short-term) to 100 (Long-term).
Power distance
Germany and the United Kingdom both score 35
The United Kingdom 35, Germany 35, on a line from 0 (Low power distance) to 100 (High power distance).
Motivation towards achievement and success
Germany and the United Kingdom both score 66
The United Kingdom 66, Germany 66, on a line from 0 (Consensus-oriented) to 100 (Decisive).
What the sources say, theme by theme
Entries for the United Kingdom and Germany, side by side on wide screens. Each keeps its own confidence label and citations.
Design & quality
United Kingdom3 claims
The GDS Government Design Principles (published 2012, updated 2025) include "Start with user needs," "Do less," and "Iterate. Then iterate again." Iterative development is an official principle of the public sector.
Well attested1 source2025gb-design-1
Point 8 of the GOV.UK Service Standard is "Iterate and improve frequently." It states that a service is never finished and that maintenance such as bug fixes is not enough.
Well attested1 sourcegb-design-2
According to a 2023 NAO report, there have been 11 cross-government digital strategies in the past 25 years. The Police National Computer, introduced in 1974, is still in use.
Well attested1 source2023gb-design-3
Germany2 claims
Meyer's Culture Map (2014) places Germany near the principles-first end of Persuading and the linear-time end of Scheduling. She describes this as a preference for reasoning from principles to conclusions and for keeping to the plan.
Attested1 source2014Datedde-design-1
In the automotive industry, Automotive SPICE, maintained by VDA QMC, is a de facto condition of doing business. According to itemis, OEMs require suppliers to reach Level 2 to 3 with bidirectional traceability between requirements, design, and tests. This is a customer requirement, not a law.
Attested2 sources2023de-design-2
Failure & risk
United Kingdom4 claims
The GDS Way incident management standard requires incident reviews to follow a blameless post mortem culture.
Well attested1 sourcegb-failure-1
GOV.UK publishes incident reports, such as one on increased error rates on 5 January 2022. A former GDS staff member wrote in 2018 that publishing them builds trust and an atmosphere where people can learn safely.
Well attested2 sources2022gb-failure-2
In a 2019 blog post, the London fintech Monzo explained that it runs on-call with two people and records every incident. The Pragmatic Engineer warns against "blameless buck-passing," where blame is shifted while claiming to be blameless.
Well attested2 sources2019gb-failure-3
In the Post Office Horizon scandal, testimony that Horizon was "robust" was used despite bugs in the Fujitsu system, and more than 900 people were wrongly convicted. The Court of Appeal found that the Post Office had in effect reversed the burden of proof.
Attested2 sourcesgb-failure-4
Germany5 claims
In the Randstad-ifo HR survey (Q3 2026, 469 companies), 28% of firms with 500 or more employees said mistakes are discussed openly, against 62% of firms with 49 or fewer. 34% of large firms see their error culture as a barrier to innovation, while 56% of all firms report no effect.
Well attested1 source2026de-failure-1
In a YouGov survey commissioned by AXA (May 2024, 2,132 people), 25% said they cannot admit mistakes at work, rising to 44% among those under 25. 23% expect negative consequences if they disclose a mistake.
Well attested1 source2024de-failure-2
According to an article on an EY survey (around 2023, about 1,000 people in machinery, automotive, finance, and other sectors), 64% of managers did not admit, or only partly admitted, their own mistakes from the past two years.
Attested1 source2023de-failure-3
In a survey by the industry association Bitkom (October 2024), 70% of companies said data protection hinders digitalization. At 63%, innovation projects failed or never started because of data protection rules. A follow-up survey put that share at 77%.
Attested2 sources2024de-failure-4
A study comparing GDPR coverage in Germany, France, the UK, and the US (Sanford & Yasseri, 2021) found that German and French media tend to frame privacy as a fundamental right, while British and American media focus on compliance and commerce.
Attested1 source2021de-failure-5
Feedback & code review
United Kingdom3 claims
Meyer writes that the British deliver negative feedback less directly than Americans and far less directly than the Dutch. She describes frequent understatement using downgraders such as "a bit" and "slightly."
Attested1 source2014Datedgb-feedback-1
The Anglo-Dutch translation guide that Meyer cites reads "With all due respect" as "I think you are wrong" and "Very interesting" as "I don't like it." The guide is half a joke, and its authorship is disputed.
Attested2 sources2014Datedgb-feedback-2
A study of 44,000 pull requests across 20 projects that compared acceptance rates with the developer's country HDI (Furtado et al., 2020) placed UK developers in the group with the highest acceptance rates.
Attested1 source2020gb-feedback-3
Germany3 claims
The Culture Map (2014) places Germany on the direct side of Evaluating. Meyer describes this as a tendency to deliver negative feedback without softening it.
Attested1 source2014Datedde-feedback-1
One book review explains that Germany is on the confrontational side of Disagreeing, but that German disagreement is objective and emotionally restrained, unlike the expressive confrontation found in France.
Thin1 sourcede-feedback-2
A 2021 review of factors behind pull request decisions cites a study (Rastogi et al., ESEM 2018) finding that pull requests are more likely to be accepted when the submitter and reviewer are in the same country.
Attested1 source2021de-feedback-3
Hierarchy & decisions
United Kingdom3 claims
In Meyer's 2017 HBR chart, the United Kingdom sits in the same egalitarian and top-down quadrant as the United States, Canada, and Australia.
Attested1 source2017gb-hierarchy-1
In the public sector, the service assessment against the Service Standard acts as a de facto gate. According to DfE guidance, a service can fail its assessment if it does not publish new source code without a good reason.
Well attested1 sourcegb-hierarchy-2
The NAO (2023) identifies as a problem that many digital decisions in government are made by generalist leaders without technical expertise.
Well attested1 source2023gb-hierarchy-3
Germany3 claims
Meyer classifies Germany as more hierarchical than the United States but also more inclined to build consensus before deciding.
Attested1 source2014Datedde-hierarchy-1
Under BetrVG §87(1) no. 6, introducing technical equipment that can monitor employees' behavior or performance requires codetermination by the works council (Betriebsrat). The test is whether it can be used for monitoring, and in 2022 the Federal Labor Court (1 ABR 20/21) treated Microsoft Office 365 as covered.
Attested2 sources2026de-hierarchy-2
At N26 in Berlin, management opposed a works council election in 2020 and fought it as far as a court injunction. A works council was still elected in November and December that year, with turnout of about 30%.
Attested2 sources2020de-hierarchy-3
Communication & docs
United Kingdom3 claims
According to a book summary, the United Kingdom is on the low-context side of Meyer's Communicating scale but relies on context more than the United States, Canada, Australia, the Netherlands, and Germany.
Thin1 sourcegb-communication-1
"Make things open: it makes things better" is one of the government design principles, and publishing new source code is point 12 of the Service Standard. GDS explained the benefits of coding in the open in a 2017 blog post.
Well attested2 sources2017gb-communication-2
In 2015, Inside GOV.UK published a blog post describing what happens when something goes wrong on GOV.UK.
Well attested1 source2015Datedgb-communication-3
Germany3 claims
The Culture Map places Germany on the low-context side of Communicating. In Meyer's description, people say things explicitly, repeat points to confirm them, and prefer to put things in writing.
Attested1 source2014Datedde-communication-1
SUP.10 in Automotive SPICE requires change requests to be linked to the affected work products and analyzed in advance. In regulated industries, documentation is also a contractual requirement.
Well attested1 source2023de-communication-2
According to startuprad.io, English is the main working language at Berlin startups. Estimates of the share of foreign employees range from 30% to 49% depending on the source.
Thin1 source2026de-communication-3
Work & careers
United Kingdom4 claims
According to the ONS, full-time workers averaged 36.6 actual hours per week in 2024. The figure covers all occupations, not only engineers.
Well attested1 source2026gb-work-1
In the Stack Overflow Developer Survey 2025, 31.9% of UK respondents work fully remote and 25.8% work hybrid leaning flexible. Median salaries were $136,141 for engineering managers and $108,913 for back-end developers, about 60 to 70% of US levels.
Well attested1 source2025gb-work-2
Making 20 or more people redundant requires collective consultation. Consultation must start at least 30 days before the first dismissal for 20 to 99 redundancies, and at least 45 days before for 100 or more.
Well attested1 sourcegb-work-3
In a 2022 four-day week pilot (61 companies, about 2,900 employees), 56 companies continued afterward and 71% of employees reported less burnout. Most participants were small companies, and the pilot was not limited to tech.
Attested1 source2023gb-work-4
Germany5 claims
According to Eurostat, average actual weekly hours in 2024 (ages 20 to 64, full-time and part-time combined) were 33.9 in Germany, below the EU average of 36.0.
Well attested1 source2025de-work-1
In its decision of 13 September 2022 (1 ABR 22/21), the Federal Labor Court held that employers must record working time. Trust-based working time (Vertrauensarbeitszeit), where employees manage their own hours, remains lawful.
Attested2 sources2022de-work-2
According to Destatis, SMEs as defined by the EU made up 99.3% of all enterprises and 54% of persons employed in 2024. IfM Bonn defines the Mittelstand by the unity of ownership and management rather than by size, so it is a separate concept.
Well attested2 sources2024de-work-3
According to a site compiling Eurostat data, about 13.2% of employed people usually worked from home in 2025, above the EU average. Destatis figures cited by Euronews put the share at about 24% in 2024 when occasional home working is included.
Attested2 sources2026de-work-4
According to OECD data for 2019, establishments with 10 or fewer employees are exempt from the standard dismissal protection rules. Dismissals must also be notified to the works council beforehand.
Well attested1 source2019de-work-5
Open source & community
United Kingdom3 claims
According to Octoverse 2024, the UK has more than 4 million developers on GitHub, up 19% year over year. Octoverse 2025 projects about 11 million by 2030.
Well attested2 sources2025gb-oss-1
- GitHub Octoverse 2024 (2024)
- GitHub Octoverse 2025 (2025)
An estimate by the industry body OpenUK (2023) attributes 27% of the UK tech sector's gross value added in 2022 to open source.
Attested1 source2023gb-oss-2
The public sector has made publishing code the default. The Skills Funding Agency reused GOV.UK's Smart Answers code and finished in under a week work that would otherwise have taken at least two months.
Well attested1 source2017gb-oss-3
Germany5 claims
According to Octoverse 2024, Germany has more than 3.5 million developers on GitHub, up 21% year over year. Octoverse 2025 says the number of German developers more than tripled from 2020 to 2025.
Well attested2 sources2025de-oss-1
- GitHub Octoverse 2024 (2024)
- GitHub Octoverse 2025 (2025)
Germany had the second-largest number of respondents to the Stack Overflow Developer Survey 2025 after the United States (3,022, or 8.6%). This measures participation in the survey, not developers per capita.
Well attested1 source2025de-oss-2
By October 2024, two years after its launch, the Sovereign Tech Fund (now the Sovereign Tech Agency) had invested more than $24.9 million in 60 open source technologies. Recipients include curl, OpenSSH, systemd, PHP, and FFmpeg.
Attested2 sources2024de-oss-3
The CCC's Chaos Communication Congress drew about 15,000 people to 38C3 (December 2024, Hamburg). KDE e.V. was registered in Tübingen in 1997 and is headquartered in Berlin. SUSE was founded in 1992 and is based in Nuremberg.
Attested3 sources2025de-oss-4
In 2024, Schleswig-Holstein announced it would move 30,000 government PCs to LibreOffice and Linux, and the LibreOffice migration was about 80% complete by the end of 2025. The federal government develops openDesk through ZenDiS and released version 1.0 in October 2024.
Attested3 sources2025de-oss-5