MIE 430
TEAMWORK IN ORGANIZATIONS
In Reutlingen we were in a class with German students who were working on their masters in international business. This gave me a great insight to how other cultures compare when working in teams. Being with the German students was an awesome time overall. I made many friends and will one day hopefully host a few of them in America and give them a taste of our culture. In this class we focused a lot on personal values, strengths and how they were applied in a team setting. During this course we also had case studies where I was on a team that helped Bosch solve their recruiting issues. By utilizing everyone's strengths on the team we formed a highly effective team and created an innovative solution.
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CULTURAL COMPARISON & EXPECTATIONS
Coming into Germany I already had a preconceived notion that the culture was much more rigid and that people followed rules to a tee. After my time in Reutlingen with german students my expectations were right, but not to the extent I previously thought. The first day of class when the german walked in, one of the student had a six pack. I have never seen someone walk into class with beer in America. This guy was super laid back and something I didn't expect from a german. My expectations that Germans liked to drink beer was confirmed right then though. The germans were more easy going than I thought they were going to be. When we were working on our case study though that's when I saw my preconceived notion of germans was true. When creating the presentation the germans in our group had a very specific way of working and formatting the presentation. They also made sure we hit every single point on the rubric we needed to in vast depth. American culture is more laid back. A quote I like to use is "It is what it is." When something bad happens you can't do anything about it, you just need to move on. This is also true while in school. American students will sometimes not try to it all the points needed and just move on without a worry in the world. Overall when comparing american and german culture, they are more rule followers than us, but not as much as I previously thought.