TU of Babel – working in multi-cultural teams

It is believed that there was a time on earth when all people spoke one language, and that these people decided to pool their resources to build a great city with a magnificent tower. However, the forces above felt that this was too dangerous, as they were one people, spoke one language and thus nothing would be impossible for them. To disrupt this harmony, many languages were created and soon, confusion ruled. People were scattered around the globe. The grand project, now known as the Tower of Babel, remained unfinished.

Many of us who work in multi-cultural teams can sympathize with the frustrated people of Babylon. It’s indeed difficult and challenging to work with people from varied backgrounds, in which language barriers are just part of the problem. However, at the end of a project, after many trials and tribulations, each multi-cultural group member will have gained a great deal from the others and learned something more about our world.

The question that comes to mind is: How does TU Delft help new students from all over world fit into a heterogeneous team culture? In response, the Faculty of Industrial Design Engineering (IDE) organized a workshop last September for MSc students. The workshop was an opportunity to get to know your future classmates.

A series of activities were organized to familiarize students with the challenges of working in international teams. “One of the activities was a card game”, says IDE participant Amrita Kumar. “Groups were seated at tables and given a set of open rules. Each group adapted these rules to begin playing the game at the table. Once the game began, the group was allowed to communicate only through gestures and drawings. Once a player won a round, he or she moved to the next table, where they had to learn a completely new set of rules.”

Some of learning that the participants took back from the workshop included the value of setting down ground rules at the start of a project, understanding different styles of working and the need for clarity when communicating to team members without the help of a common ‘language’.

As a follow-up to the workshop, IDE now has a Blackboard site, listed under ‘My Organizations’, called ‘General Guide to Teamwork’, which acts as a platform for information that can help students whenever they form a new team or encounter difficulties related to teamwork.
Difficulties

In a study conducted by IDE’s Annemiek van Boeijen in 2005-2006, group dynamics in a multi-cultural team were observed as part of the Hong Kong summer course. The teams consisted of students from the Netherlands, Hong Kong, Sweden, Korea and the USA. Clear differences emerged in working styles, the ability to express one’s ideas, and attitudes towards criticism. For instance, Swedish students were perceived to be most democratic when including opinions in the group, ensuring everyone’s ideas were represented, while American students used their familiarity with English to their advantage.

Despite some hurdles, the study confirmed what many multi-cultural teams know: that diversity fosters creativity. The richness of the final output reflected the many techniques, ideas and opinions that the different members contributed to the project. The message is clear: results are better if the team is diverse. However, it’s likely that when we enter the professional sphere, teams will not only be diverse but also dispersed. Does university learning prepare us for such situations?

‘Globally Distributed Design Studio’, an elective offered at IDE, was developed to prepare students for working in geographically dispersed teams. Students from TU Delft work with a client team at the University of Northumbria in the United Kingdom to develop a product. All the communication between the teams and part of the teaching and assessment is conducted via email and web tools.

One of the course’s instructors, Kristina Lauche, says: “Although the UK and the Netherlands aren’t that different culturally, the course presented some unexpected difficulties. Understanding a foreign market, in this instance the UK market, was difficult for Delft students due to a lack of a cultural context. Communicating to the UK team during the embodiment phase was particularly tough, as the teams had varying levels of fluency in English. Also details such as holiday times that did not match added to the problems. However, the overall experience has been very positive and the course should be more widely available within our university.”

In the field of global team management, Geert Hofstede’s cultural dimensions are frequently brought up. Hofstede, a TU Delft alumnus and influential Dutch management guru who proposes theories on the interaction between national cultures and organisational cultures, is the author of several books, including ‘Culture’s Consequences‘, and ‘Cultures and Organizations: Software of the Mind‘.

Hofstede proposes a model that identifies four primary dimensions to assist in differentiating cultures: Power Distance, Individualism, Masculinity, and Uncertainty Avoidance. However, in relation to the ‘Globally Distributed Design Studio’ elective, Lauche believes that such models are limited in their application. “People cannot be boxed into pre-specified roles. Each problem requires the team to agree on goals and task division. Thus, instead of classifying individuals, my role during the elective is to regulate and guide the team.”

When questioned about her personal experience in working in international teams, Lauche said: “I’ve always enjoyed working with people from different cultures, although it requires greater effort to explain who you are, how things work in your country and what you take for granted.”

Rest assured though, if the Tower of Babel were to be rebuilt today by a multi-cultural, possibly globally dispersed team that is far more creative and empowered than mono-cultural teams, the gods would really have something to worry about.

It is believed that there was a time on earth when all people spoke one language, and that these people decided to pool their resources to build a great city with a magnificent tower. However, the forces above felt that this was too dangerous, as they were one people, spoke one language and thus nothing would be impossible for them. To disrupt this harmony, many languages were created and soon, confusion ruled. People were scattered around the globe. The grand project, now known as the Tower of Babel, remained unfinished.

Many of us who work in multi-cultural teams can sympathize with the frustrated people of Babylon. It’s indeed difficult and challenging to work with people from varied backgrounds, in which language barriers are just part of the problem. However, at the end of a project, after many trials and tribulations, each multi-cultural group member will have gained a great deal from the others and learned something more about our world.

The question that comes to mind is: How does TU Delft help new students from all over world fit into a heterogeneous team culture? In response, the Faculty of Industrial Design Engineering (IDE) organized a workshop last September for MSc students. The workshop was an opportunity to get to know your future classmates.

A series of activities were organized to familiarize students with the challenges of working in international teams. “One of the activities was a card game”, says IDE participant Amrita Kumar. “Groups were seated at tables and given a set of open rules. Each group adapted these rules to begin playing the game at the table. Once the game began, the group was allowed to communicate only through gestures and drawings. Once a player won a round, he or she moved to the next table, where they had to learn a completely new set of rules.”

Some of learning that the participants took back from the workshop included the value of setting down ground rules at the start of a project, understanding different styles of working and the need for clarity when communicating to team members without the help of a common ‘language’.

As a follow-up to the workshop, IDE now has a Blackboard site, listed under ‘My Organizations’, called ‘General Guide to Teamwork’, which acts as a platform for information that can help students whenever they form a new team or encounter difficulties related to teamwork.
Difficulties

In a study conducted by IDE’s Annemiek van Boeijen in 2005-2006, group dynamics in a multi-cultural team were observed as part of the Hong Kong summer course. The teams consisted of students from the Netherlands, Hong Kong, Sweden, Korea and the USA. Clear differences emerged in working styles, the ability to express one’s ideas, and attitudes towards criticism. For instance, Swedish students were perceived to be most democratic when including opinions in the group, ensuring everyone’s ideas were represented, while American students used their familiarity with English to their advantage.

Despite some hurdles, the study confirmed what many multi-cultural teams know: that diversity fosters creativity. The richness of the final output reflected the many techniques, ideas and opinions that the different members contributed to the project. The message is clear: results are better if the team is diverse. However, it’s likely that when we enter the professional sphere, teams will not only be diverse but also dispersed. Does university learning prepare us for such situations?

‘Globally Distributed Design Studio’, an elective offered at IDE, was developed to prepare students for working in geographically dispersed teams. Students from TU Delft work with a client team at the University of Northumbria in the United Kingdom to develop a product. All the communication between the teams and part of the teaching and assessment is conducted via email and web tools.

One of the course’s instructors, Kristina Lauche, says: “Although the UK and the Netherlands aren’t that different culturally, the course presented some unexpected difficulties. Understanding a foreign market, in this instance the UK market, was difficult for Delft students due to a lack of a cultural context. Communicating to the UK team during the embodiment phase was particularly tough, as the teams had varying levels of fluency in English. Also details such as holiday times that did not match added to the problems. However, the overall experience has been very positive and the course should be more widely available within our university.”

In the field of global team management, Geert Hofstede’s cultural dimensions are frequently brought up. Hofstede, a TU Delft alumnus and influential Dutch management guru who proposes theories on the interaction between national cultures and organisational cultures, is the author of several books, including ‘Culture’s Consequences‘, and ‘Cultures and Organizations: Software of the Mind‘.

Hofstede proposes a model that identifies four primary dimensions to assist in differentiating cultures: Power Distance, Individualism, Masculinity, and Uncertainty Avoidance. However, in relation to the ‘Globally Distributed Design Studio’ elective, Lauche believes that such models are limited in their application. “People cannot be boxed into pre-specified roles. Each problem requires the team to agree on goals and task division. Thus, instead of classifying individuals, my role during the elective is to regulate and guide the team.”

When questioned about her personal experience in working in international teams, Lauche said: “I’ve always enjoyed working with people from different cultures, although it requires greater effort to explain who you are, how things work in your country and what you take for granted.”

Rest assured though, if the Tower of Babel were to be rebuilt today by a multi-cultural, possibly globally dispersed team that is far more creative and empowered than mono-cultural teams, the gods would really have something to worry about.