Intercultural Teams and Project Management

Faculty of Engineering and Computer Science

Version 6.0 of 12/12/2022

11B0585

Intercultural Teams and Project Management

• Fahrzeugtechnik (Bachelor) (B.Sc.)
• Maschinenbau (B.Sc.)
• Maschinenbau im Praxisverbund (B.Sc.)

2

Working and communicating in intercultural teams and project management are central elements of engineering work. Students get instructions for their practical work.

• Part 1: Team building , 3 weeks at the beginning of EPSContents:Initial “Adventure Tour”, team types, group dynamics, social roles, individual role finding, motiviation, conflicts, role play, discussion leading, confidence building, conflict management strategies.
  
  Part 2: Intercultural Communication, 3 weeks at the beginning of EPSContents:Relativity of cultures, sympathy, fear and prejudice, taboos, theory of 4 ears, nonverbal communication, intercultural misunderstanding, role play, bridge building, negotiation techniques, diplomatic communication tools.
  
  Part 3: Project Management, 3 weeks at the beginning of the semester as well as during the semester together with the project progressContents:
• Projects in generalo Types of projectso Project phase models
• Team and organizationo Forms of organizationo Types of employees in project teams
• Project communication and reporting
• Goal analysiso Stakeholder analysiso Requirement analysis and requirement managemento Detail specification
• Project planningo Project planning methods (PSP, Gantt chart, Network technique)o Project management tools
• Risk managemento Risk assessmento Troubleshooting
• Project monitoring / indicators
• Project closure / lessons learntLearning subjects are to be trained in an example project. Live application of the lessons learnt to the respective EPS project.

Knowledge Broadening
Students are able to watch and interprete group dynamic behavior of individuals and teams, characterize roles, find their own roles, criticize their own thinking and behavior, structure their co-operation and to work together in groups and teams.
Knowledge Deepening
Students are able to understand projects in general, in the context of business processes and enterprise organization. They develop team competence, managerial responsibility and are able to understand synergy effects. Students develop the ability for decision-making and can perform in key situations of projects. Students understand the importance of project documentation, communication, reporting and can efficiently make use of project management procedures and tools.
Instrumental Skills and Competences

Communicative Skills and Competences
Students are able to describe their own cultural background, preferences and some of their prejudices. They can abstract form these, reduce a communication to objective terms and make use of professional negotiation tools.
Systemic Skills and Competences

Seminar, small groups, individual work, role play etc.

1 year of study successfully completed.

Mechlinski, Thomas

Joseph-Magwood; Pusch; Mechlinski

5

• Belbin, R. Meridith. Team roles at work. 2nd ed. Routledge, 2010
• Corbett, J. (2010) Intercultural Language Activities, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
• Gibson, R. (2000) Intercultural Business Communication, Berlin: Cornelsen & Oxford University Press
• Gudykunst, W. and Kim, Y. (2002) Communicating with Strangers: An Approach to Intercultural Communications, 4th edition, New York: McGraw-Hill
• Hofstede, G. and Hofstede, G.J. (2004) Cultures and Organizations: Software of the Mind, 3rd Millennium edition, New York: McGraw-Hill
• Trompenaars, F. and Hampden-Turner, C. (1997) Riding the Waves of Culture: Understanding Cultural Diversity in Business, London and Boston: Nicholas Brealey Publishing

Viva Voce

The student can adequately answer and dicuss questions and problems in the field of ITPM

1 Term

Only Winter Term

English