Multicultural Teamwork

During my international studies and extracurricular activities, I developed my teamwork skills. Starting with my professional experiences in Europe (Moldova, Romania, Croatia) and continuing with the ones in the United States, I was constantly learning in each team activity. Whether I was a leader, organizer, speaker, or just a participant, I was inspired by the people around me. There was always something new to discover and improve in my own capacities to interact with other professionals. Cultural differences and language barriers made the teamwork experiences more challenging but also more interesting and rewarding.

Teamwork in Moldova consisted of learning to cooperate with students that speak the same language and have similar expectations but have different ideas and opinions. The first experiences of working in a team were the easiest relative to the ones that followed. As we all were part of the same culture, we had similar views and expectations. The main challenge was to put together our different ideas and opinions. Through brainstorming, we succeeded to get to outcomes better than expected.

Teamwork in Romania consisted of adapting my teamwork skills to students who speak the same language, but have different expectations and views because of its orientation toward the West. When working in a group with my Romanian classmates, I was impressed by the diversity of their knowledge and ideas. After signing the strategic partnership with the United States in 1997, Romania has adopted more Western values and ideals. It joined NATO in 2004 and the European Union in 2007, which further strengthened the ties with the West. The education was modernized too. In the meantime, Moldova was influenced more by Russia and other former Soviet states. Although its official language is Romanian too, there are still not enough books in Romanian for schools.

These different historic paths have had an impact on the people's way of seeing the world. I used to read a lot in high school, so my horizons were broader than the majority of people from my home country. Still, I did not have the same opportunities as my Romanian classmates and thus did not have the same general background. Romania offers more international exchanges in high school than Moldova. Many of my classmates were also coming from wealthy families, so had more chances to travel and experience the world. I only visited Romania and Russia at that time. I also did not know English, which reduced my exposure to English-based materials. One of the classmates had the opportunity to study for one semester in Japan and always contributed to group projects with great ideas based on her experiences there. I learned a lot about Japan's culture and education from her testimonials.

During my team experiences in Romania, I experienced broader brainstorming and adapted to the idea of not having always my idea stated in the final presentation. In Moldova, many teammates relied on my ideas for final decisions because of broader knowledge. ln Romania, I always expressed my thoughts but they were not always the best ones. Sometimes, my classmates with broader horizons were more persuasive in having their ideas in the final project. This stimulated me to come up with better ideas in the future.

Teamwork in Croatia consisted of seeing the world with different lenses by adapting to the cultural differences of other international students who do not speak the same language nor have the same expectations as me. Although I studied in Croatia, most of my teammates were from other countries. The program taught in English included only a few Croatians and many Erasmus students like me funded by the European Commission. Cooperating with them was challenging not only because of the language barrier but also because of different cultural expectations. For example, some countries focus more on theory while others prefer to present just the practical parts since the theory is already in the class book. Thus, I learned not only to brainstorm ideas from other countries but also to negotiate the time or percentage allotted for the theory versus practical section.

Teamwork in the United States consisted of being inspired in a group project by a diversity of perspectives, learning more ways to show disagreement in a polite way for a more insightful discussion. Except for the Public Policy Formation class, I did not have many group projects in the United States. Most assignments consist of individual work and grading. I enjoyed most of the group projects I had in the United States because of each member's commitment and intellect. It was fabulous to see the end result of cooperation between different minds of graduate students responsible for their work. Especially in my first semester, I observed how my teammates structure their sections and manage their time. I adopted many of those strategies in my learning plans to be more efficient and effective. This also helped me save more time in the next semesters.

The most significant multicultural activities:

1. X-Culture - a global hybrid competition that assesses how students from all around the world with different cultures, opinions, and time zones analyze business together.

I lead a multicultural team made up of students from Grenada (Caribbean Island), Taiwan (born in Italy), United States, Brazil, Mexico, and Croatia (born in Moldova) for eight weeks. We had weekly assignments which had to be realized in a group but submitted by each individual separately to reduce the risk of freeriding. The platform also reduced points for the teams whose members do not introduce exactly the same information as the majority. The greatest challenge was to coordinate a team with different time zones since the difference between the upper and lower was 14 hours. Four of the six teammates, including me, qualified for the final step in Miami, being on the list of only 25 out of around 5000 students selected.

2. The Bucharest Summer University - an international summer school organized by my former university (the Bucharest University of Economic Studies). 2018's topic: Cultural Heritage: Fostering Community Spirit and Sustainable Development.

I was part of a diverse team made up of students from Bulgaria, Germany, Ireland (roots in the Philippines), Spain, the UK (roots in Hong Kong), Belarus, and Moldova. Since the organizing institution of the summer school was my university, I felt like a host and participant at the same time. It was very interesting to be both a tourist and a guide in my country. I do not know if that is recommended in general, but since I was like a host, during the teamwork activities I offered more chances to my teammates to express their opinions. I wanted them to make the most of this experience since I get to participate in this kind of activity more often in this city.