Between the middle of October and the beginning of January, undergraduate students of SBM had a chance to engage in a cross-border teamwork project with undergraduate students of Reutlingen University’s NXT. A total of 19 students from SBM ITB took a risk in experiencing hands-on what it felt like to work with a global team where geographical distance (Germany and Indonesia) became one main challenge.
Initially, the project was paired with the Intercultural Communication & Conflict Management (ICCM) course offered as an elective at the SBM ITB’s Bachelor of Management but later expanded to include any undergraduate students of SBM, particularly those still in their first semester or year of their study. From the Reutlingen University’s side, the students were also in their first semester or year of their study who were taking the same course.
The whole basic premise of the (ICCM) course is to expand students’ perspectives when it comes to dealing with people coming from different identities, cultures, or backgrounds, with a lot of it having to do with self-reflection of one’s own biases and perspectives. Placing students in a global context will naturally give them the incentive to face the reality of differences in the hope of expanding their own capacity to have a diverse set of intercultural skills.
In the cross-border teamwork project, students were assigned to work on a rather simple project to design effective teamwork processes. The main task, nevertheless, was how they actually dealt with each other. Was there openness in dealing with differences of how things were done? How did they work things out within their own team? In today’s digital world, being able to navigate oneself in a digital environment where work has to be delivered and relationships to be nurtured, it is crucial to have this experience of working digitally or virtually across borders.
Overall, with some challenges (expectedly!), the project turned out successful and students expressed that they had learned a lot from the entire experience.
This exciting project was enabled through a long-term collaboration between Hazel Gruenewald, Ph.D. (Professor in Organisational Behaviour, Reutlingen University) and Andika Putra Pratama, Ph.D. (Associate Professor in Managerial Diversity, SBM ITB), who share common interests and expertise in organizational behavior and intercultural management. The first collaborative classroom project was attempted back in 2018.
Shoutout to all the students* who took the chance to take part in the project and made it work!
*Roofido Zahran Hendes, Jessica Alexandra Tjiang, Theresia Yoana, Adeline Sinurat, Fahri Aulia Rahmat, Fellita Desayu Anggara Salsabila, Kayla Giantoro, Rafi Adlan Winarso, Azutino Agda Qur’za, Vanessa Azzahra Yasifa, Nasywan Raffa Ardiansyah, Immanuel Ryano Tania, Nathanael Carlo Naratama, Fathiyya Nurul Rahmi, Matthew Darwin Gijanto, Hilman Arief Faiz, Cerine Eagleen, Fairuz Chairunnisa Chandrani
Some testimonials
“Participating in a cross-border project offers an enjoyable yet challenging experience. Differences in culture, communication styles, and problem-solving approaches encourage participants to step out of their comfort zones,” says Jessica Alexandra Tjiang (participant of the ICCM course, Bachelor of Management student)
“This realization shifted my mindset: to succeed globally, we must look past national stereotypes and understand the individual,” says Keyfine (participant of the ICCM course, Bachelor of Management student)
“By ensuring everyone contributed ideas sequentially before open discussion, we prevented groupthink and built “swift trust”. This experience taught me that in a high-context vs. low-context environment, having structured processes is crucial to bridging social distance,” says Roofido Zahran Hendes (participant of the ICCM course, Bachelor of Management student)
“Beyond academic collaboration, we also made an effort to bond as a team by playing online games together, such as Scribble.io, and by sharing our daily activities in the group chat to stay connected despite the distance. These small interactions helped strengthen our teamwork and made the experience more meaningful,” says Fahri Aulia Rahmat (TPB Student of SBM ITB)
“Through this Cross Border Teamwork we have learn a lot about cultural differences and many more,” says Fellita Desayu Anggara Salsabila (TPB Student of SBM ITB)
“This project really gave me insights and experiences regarding how to communicate and work together with students outside of ITB (In this case outside of Indonesia),” says Immanuel Ryano Tania (TPB Student of SBM ITB)
“I also learned a lot about how to build cooperation, which requires effective communication. This was evident because Indonesia and Germany have a 7-hour time difference, so we needed to discuss the timing to complete this task. This also trained us to respect each other’s differences in order to complete this project together,” says Nathanael Carlo Naratama Lantong (TPB Student of SBM ITB)
Written by Andika Putra Pratama
