IX Международная студенческая научная конференция Студенческий научный форум - 2017

The workplace is going global. Working in a multi-cultural environment with much of your workgroup dispersed around the world can be challenging and frustrating. But it doesn’t have to be! With proper training and experience, going global can be exciting and rewarding, both economically and personally [3].

The purpose of this article is to share the experience of participating in the international on-line project X-Culture, highlight its challenges and provide useful tips to benefit from cross-cultural communication in English.

The X-Culture project was launched in 2010 by a professor of Greensborough University, the USA, Vasyl Taras and has been repeated every semester since then. To recruit participants, the project coordinator sends calls for participants via the Academy of International Business and the International Management Division of the Academy of Management mailing lists several months prior to the start of a new season.

About 450 students from seven countries participated in the first season of X-Culture. The project has grown since then, reaching over 3,200 students from 98 universities in 40 countries on six continents in the last session of 2015. About 30 percent of participants are in MBA and other Master’s programs, while the rest are undergraduates, mostly in their third or fourth year.

50 students of Tyumen State University, Financial Economic Institute have participated in the project since 2014. The project was carried out within a framework of Professional English course.

Students were randomly assigned to global virtual teams of about 6-8 people from different countries. The teams were developing a business plan for a real multinational company according to their own choice. The team reports provided recommendations for the location of the business, target market and the international market entry mode, staffing policies, financing options, product/service marketing, and other strategic decisions.

Studying key concepts of International Business , Management and Marketing during the course of International Business English enabled students to work in global teams for about 8 weeks on real-life business challenges for large multinational companies ( Pantofola d’Oro, Innospark, Mobius Slip, Daffodils and others). The project constituted 30 percent of the course grade. All students were offered free on-line training on the availability and use of free on-line collaboration tools (Doodle, Google +, SKYPE etc.). Individual and team performance were monitored and evaluated, and upon successful completion of the project, the students and instructors received X-Culture certificates. It’s the best way to learn practices of cross-cultural collaboration through personal experience [3].

Although international collaboration exercises have the potential to enhance International Business English curriculum and improve learning, they pose a number of challenges [4].

• Since the process of communication is electronic, there are no chances of arranging face-to face meetings, thus, you can’t rely on understanding your team- mates through using a body language, and it is difficult to strengthen a team spirit to build up more trustworthy relationships at the very beginning of the project.

• The communication is “distant”, all team members may have huge differences between their time-zones, different academic calendars across countries, as well as various structures of the academic year. It may cause a lot of problems, some students may get very tired because of sleepless nights while communicating with those, who can be available only at a very specific time either late at night or early in the morning.

• Cultural differences in virtual teams can lead to conflicts, mistrust and other complications in fruitful collaboration which is so vital for the success of virtual team functioning. For example, while an American would write a straightforward email describing a bad situation, this would be perceived as impolite by a South Asian (say Japanese) member of the team.

• Communication (language, vocabulary, language style) confusion can arise if individuals simply do not understand one another in terms of the language being used; difference in vocabulary, pronunciation, use of slang and idioms can all cause problems. Also, different styles of language can also lead to difficulties in comprehension. For example, some people may be very direct, whilst others are indirect; some may be expansive whilst others are reserved.

• Using technology – the geographical distances that often exist between international team members mean that technology plays an important role in enabling individuals to communicate on a regular basis. Problems with incompatible technology or lack of access to appropriate technology can mean that some individuals do not receive all the information they need in time to be able to perform effectively [1].

Taking into account my own experience of participating in the project, I would like to give some useful tips not to get lost in a virtual reality and enjoy the process of international on-line communication:

1. Be available

Working virtually can be isolating. Don’t make team members feel you are absent: be in regular contact to talk not just about your and their day-to-day duties, but get interested in their social life, get ready to exchange your points of view on different issues.

1. Encourage informal conversations

Humans are social animals and people tend to assume the worst if they don’t know what others are up to. To help build relationships and trust between members, encourage your team to share their feelings and chat informally whenever they can.

1. Treat time zones fairly

With teams, spread around the world, you may have a very short window to meet some members or the whole team. Rotate the time for meetings every week to make sure, that nobody sacrifices his sleep or other important activities.

1. Prioritize cultural sensitivity

Being culturally aware in a virtual environment, where people are based around the world, is even more important than in face to face settings, It’s crucial you have an awareness of the cultural differences in your team, because some normal things people do can seem to you probably offensive[4].

1. Share information

We tend to make judgments based on our stereotypes by reason of lack of information. Thus, if you are working with people from different cultural backgrounds, then try to be open and share information about your own culture and about YOU, so that they can get a better understanding of your background. Be the first to take the risk and start building trust!

1. Keep it Simple

It is a mistake to assume that every person speaks good English. In fact, only about half of the 800 million people, who speak English learned it as a first language. And, those who speak it as a second language are often more limited than native speakers.

When you communicate cross-culturally, keep your communication clear, simple and unambiguous. And (sadly) avoid humor until you know that the person you're communicating with "gets it" and isn't offended by it. Humor is notoriously culture-specific. [2]

1. Don’t take all the responsibilities!

When you are working in a team, all of you are expected to reach the same goal successfully. However there are always few people, who are like “free riders” and ready to get off responsibilities as soon as possible. Also there are kind of extra responsible and self-confident people, who think, that only they can do the entire job properly. That’s wrong! It’s vital to divide responsibilities and take time to get to know all team members’ strengths and make the most of them.

1. Use imagination!

If one day you realize that your approach towards tasks and communication doesn’t work anymore, try to be more flexible and full of energy to spread it around! Organize some brainstorming, push forward your imagination and suggest even the craziest ideas to solve the problem.

Although, there are many challenges in participating in X-culture project, advantages outweigh disadvantages, in my opinion. Let’s focus on key benefits of working in international teams:

• Synergy of skills and knowledge – obviously, “two heads are better than one”. You can combine all the ideas and make the best decisions.

• Increased knowledge and broader skills - being a part of an international team can expose you to a wider variety of experiences and knowledge, and greatly enhance your interpersonal skills, giving you a broader perspective.

• A valuable experience – as more and more work teams cross national boundaries, having experience of working within an international context is becoming increasingly important. It may be very useful for you in future roles, even if you are going to join international management team!

• Making new friends, English language conversational practice, improving and developing cultural awareness will obviously help you in your personal and professional growth [1].

Multi-cultural projects are becoming common in the global workplace now. More and more projects are being completed successfully using multinational teams. They can provide a source of experience and innovative thinking to enhance the competitive position of their companies, and to resolve potential communication barriers.

Participating in on-line international projects, while studying at the University, is learning to apply theoretical knowledge into practice. Although this process is challenging, it gives students great opportunities to develop necessary skills to propel in their future professional careers.

References:

1. Creating Effective Collaborative Learning Groups in an Online Environment [Электронный ресурс] – Режим доступа. – URL: http://www.irrodl.org/index.php/irrodl/article/view/675/1271

2. Cross Culture Communication [Электронный ресурс] – Режим доступа. – URL: http://www.mindtools.com/CommSkll/Cross-Cultural-communication.htm

3. Project description [Электронный ресурс] – Режим доступа. – URL: http://www.x-culture.org/

4. Taras, V., Bryla, P., Forquer, S., Jimenez, A., Minor, M., Muth, T., Ordenana, X., Rottig, D., Sarala, R.M, Zakaria, N., & Zdravkovic, S. (2012). Changing the Face of International Business Education: The X-Culture Project. AIB Insights, 12(4), 11-17.

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