Posts Tagged ‘Stereotypen’

Diversity & Inclusion

Cars, barbecue, beer and soccer – the International men’s day

Thursday, November 18th, 2010 by Astrid Bosten

A guest entry by Felix Eichhorn:

Today it’s International Men’s Day: A cheer for the XY pair of chromosomes! A cheer for fast cars! A cheer for barbecue, beer and soccer!

Are you smiling a little bit?

If yes, you should ask yourself why! After all, this was stereotyping of the most disgusting sort and many women would get angry like hell if such black-and-white paintings would be drawn of them. But for men themselves these stereotypes seem to be okay and also women really do like to use them – ask yourself: who wants to marry a softy?

Is it because these stereotypes are positive ones?

Certainly not! Fast cars rush whole families to death, grilled meat might cause cancer, beer makes you fat and soccer … soccer is soccer – competition, aggression, beer – the quadrature of masculinity.

However, for the whole humankind this seems to have a positive connotation. For the whole humankind? No! A small unbending fringe group indeed doesn’t make resistance but is more than unhappy about this picture of men! Yes, your ears are working fine! There are men for whom the maximization of the items mentioned above is not the ideal they are striving for. But what happens if you confess THAT as a man? Your career is definitely over before it even started!

And this is the crux of gender diversity: also men have to preserve in these stereotypes to make a career – regardless if they want or not. Or: Is a man having parental leave still a man?

If the world (of work) shall change, you don’t only have to fight against stereotyping of women – you must also send signals to men that it is accepted and also desired to break the mold! [DE]

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Diversity & Inclusion

Leadership-mistakes, men make / Führungsfehler, die Männer machen

Tuesday, October 12th, 2010 by Astrid Bosten

After Roland Kopp-Wichmann listed eight reasons why and how women constrain their own career, he published the same list for men.
He explains, that the own father can have a big influence on a man’s career. For example men with dominant fathers often have problems accepting orders or criticism from their boss. Therefore, unsettled father issues should never be solved at the job.
The fear of showing weakness is still a part of the male identity and can stand in the way of the career. Power and strength on the other hand are associated with masculinity. Men in management positions have power, but they often fail to communicate it adequately. While women are communication-experts, men have problems listening and coming to the point. The eight mistakes of women mentioned „asking questions“ and „apologies“. But men, on the other hand, don’t ask enough questions, because they imply ignorance.
One of the biggest mistakes, men make at work, is to believe that they are among themselves. Thus, when filling an open position, they first consider other men and disregard talented women. [DE]
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Women in Business

When women earn the money / Wenn Frauen das Geld verdienen

Monday, August 16th, 2010 by Astrid Bosten

On tuesday evening the ZDF-show „37 Grad“ reported about women who earn more money than their husbands. At Henkel we actively support women to have a successful career, therefore this show was interesting for us. Just a few years ago the gender roles were clearly seperated: the man was the bread-earner. Women mostly worked part-time, if they worked at all. But the times have changed and nowadays it’s not a rarity that women earn more money than their husbands. In every tenth househould, women take the financial responsibility.

The TV-show pursued the questions how couples deal with the situation and how the gender roles are being re-defined. Three different couples were introduced, all of them with a different background. Two of the three men lost their jobs, whereby their wives became the sole earners. The men didn’t feel very comfortable about their situations and suffered from self-doubt. However, it is another situation, if both have a job but the woman earns more money. This was the case for the third couple. The man who stays at home and takes care of the children said: I have never felt better in my life. The TV-show demonstrated that there is a new generation of men, who enjoy staying at home and taking care of the children without feeling unmanly.[DE]

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Diversity & Inclusion

Viva Espania

Friday, July 9th, 2010 by Astrid Bosten

„Maybe this is not the best day?!“ I think this was the most often heard sentence yesterday at our fourth day of the International Week at Henkel, Düsseldorf. When we made the scheduling for this week no one could have guessed how explosive this day would be: the German soccer team lost on Wednesday against Spain. But our Spanish colleagues handled the situation with charm and high spirits.

We switched the location to another canteen at Henkel in Düsseldorf where the majority of our blue-colored-colleagues are having lunch. A complete new situation and a complete new public. The blue-colored seemed to be slightly more irritated by this event than the people we met before… but maybe that was the matter of fact because of the soccer game?!

However, with sweeping Spanish music around bad mood had no chance. And our Spanish colleagues accost everybody who entered the canteen to participate in the every day lottery, with a difficult question: “How many languages are spoken in Spain?” – I would have answered: one (or maybe two). But actually the Spanish team members weren’t quite sure while preparing the answer if there are four or five languages used in Spain: Spanish, Aranese, Catalan, Valenscian and Galencian. And that’s the reason why in fact some members of the Spanish team spoke English with each other. And that’s the reason why some kids in Spain get their Christmas presents on December, 25th while others get them just on January, 6th.

The other obligatory must-have-question: Do Spanish people really make siesta? “I never had siesta in my life!” was the answer of one colleague, but in fact Spanish people take the opportunity to run some errands during lunch hours. That’s why Spanish people return from work just at 9 or 10 p.m.; and that’s why TV films regularly start at 10 p.m. That’s the time when Spanish families usually are having dinner too.

Today our last host of the week is France.

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Diversity & Inclusion, International Ambassadors

Italian Lust for Life / Italienische Lebensfreude

Wednesday, July 7th, 2010 by Astrid Bosten

Yesterday we had our second day during the international Week at Henkel in Düsseldorf.

Host country: Bella Italia. And of course – you are right – this day was a firework of temper and lust for life. Before the first guests came to the infotainment area the team of five Italians had to check out all the game offers. What else: If there is a ball then an Italian couldn’t be far away!

And they really presented themselves as a team. One for all and all for one. Giullia Palazzo for example arrived just three months ago in Germany. When she received our e-mail we sent to all non-german colleagues, asking if they are interested in building a team and join in the International Week, she didn’t know any Italian at Henkel. But now she is in the center position of the team – the only woman.

When I spoke to the team members how the expected Germans and Germany to be before they arrived the answers where nearly similar: Germans are well organized, ambitious and overcooled. But reality sometime’s different. At least Gaetano Cappello experienced that you can have fun with Germans as well as with Italians. But nevertheless there are lots of differences. For example the noise level on the work place. Germans are very quite and disciplined while in Italy usually there is a high noise level because everybody’s speaking all the time.

Happy stereotyping! All in all this day was a huge success in a continuing International Week at Henkel.

Today it’s mixed day: Japan and Portugal.

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Diversity & Inclusion

International Week at Henkel Düsseldorf/ Internationale Woche bei Henkel in Düsseldorf

Tuesday, July 6th, 2010 by Astrid Bosten

The beginning of July – half time. Semifinal. Football United all over the world. All around is cultural diversity. Cultural diversity between teams and within teams, cultural diversity between fans and within fans and cultural diversity between countries and within countries. The disappointment of one team is the gladness of the other one. And finally there will be one winner and lots of connective memories.

Henkel’s team is both – a global and a winning team, and a team full of cultural diversity. This is what makes us at the same time different and unique. Therefore we dedicate the final world cup week from July, 5th to July, 9th to our various colleagues all over the world.

The International Week is a one week event that takes place at Henkel Düsseldorf during lunchtime in the canteens. Colleagues from all over the world present their homeland with traditional costumes, food and music at an infotainment stand. People get to know the different culture, ethnical backgrounds and attitudes but also have fun with each other by playing Tipp-Kick-Soccer, Kicker or Wii Fit. The goal of this event is to show Henkel’s diversity but breaking with stereotyping at the same time. That’s what we are: same, same but different.

Yesterday the German team started with the first event day. Folks music surrounded the information stand. A German police officer, a woman in a dirndl, Santa Claus and a German soccer fan were the host. Especially the Tipp-Kick-Game challenged our colleagues to hit the goal and to win a voucher. But also the Wii Fit header game brought lots of fun and whiplash injury. Today it’s Italian day!

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International Ambassadors

Germans eat Sauerkraut – Americans Fast Food/ Deutsche essen Sauerkraut – Amerikaner Fast Food

Tuesday, March 30th, 2010 by Astrid Bosten

Project Cultural Diversity – A comparison between Germany and the USA / Projekt Cultural Diversity – Ein Vergleich zwischen Deutschland und den USA

Stereotypes often influence the perception of another culture. And working in culturally diverse teams is a big challenge for multinational companies. The improvement of international cooperation is one of today’s top objectives. To perfect cooperation, mutual understanding has to be enabled and encouraged.

The Project Cultural Diversity was conducted internally – wihin Henkel – and compared the different working and communication styles of German and American teams pointing out the cultural uniqueness of both sides.

Read the key findings and recommendations of Project Cultural Diversity. [DE]

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Women in Business

Survey to define the „glass ceiling“ / Studie zur Definition der „gläsernen Decke“

Thursday, March 11th, 2010 by Astrid Bosten

 A survey by Sinus Sociovision GmbH Heidelberg confirms the existence of a glass ceiling, which prevents women from climbing to top management positions. In depth interviews with male managers three mentalities emerged, which summarize themselves to a glass ceiling: The conservative type, who rejects women in management positions, the emancipated type who thinks women have no chance in a masculine world and the individual type who thinks there are simply not enough authentic and flexible women. [DE]

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