TOE Timeline US-Germany Teamwork
From AFSWiki
Event Activities
Based on the literature review, the American group members were asked to prioritize the top 4 topics on which they would like to work further. Members of the two groups were then paired to develop a presentation on an assigned topic. Most group members were assigned 2 topics, and, in most cases, were paired with different German group members on the presentations. In addition to expressed interests, the proficiency level of the group members (in each others' language) was used as a factor in assigning teams. Suggestions were provided for different formats for the presentations and a suggested amount of time (5-10 minutes) for each presentation was also given.
Evaluation
While the group members agree that this was an essential step towards developing a joint product and getting the two teams to work together, the qualty and approach to the individual presentations varied widely. In most cases, nearly all prep work was done by e-mail (depending on schedules and technological capability of the participants). It was challenging to work with a partner we had never met or talked to on sensitive intercultural topics. The most successful of the partnerships began with telephone calls between a German group member who spoke excellent English and the American group member who was most proficient in German. We recommend that, in the future, some provision be made to allow the group members to get to know each other personally, at least through technology (Skype calls with a webcam or something similar), before joint projects are attempted. It would make sense to do this for the individual country groups as well. However, potential members should not be excluded from the workgroup because they don't have access to certain technologies such as webcams(provisions for this could be built into the budget, as many of these technologies are very inexpensive). We believe that doing relationship-building up front would be even more critical when the cultures are very different (e.g. Japan, Thailand). Also, bringing a gift for the partner at the first in-person meeting would help cement the partnership.
Resources
- Check list of readings
- Sample of presentations
