X-Culture: Communication = Working Together

Guest Blogger: Michael Volanti, Nathan M. Bisk College of Business Student

I dealt with a great amount of diversity since my last blog. The feeling of camaraderie and teamwork had disappeared during the last few weeks until the final submission. My group had a new member from Malaysia, and from the start he and I were unable to work as a united duo. I ended up being the person that put together the draft, which was something I did not mind. It was not until I realized the draft was missing at least 30 percent of the assigned sections that I began to become frustrated with my group. I realized it was not the groups fault, it was the person who assigned the sections. I looked back and found that team member from India had taken to the initiative to assign everyone different sections, but she failed to assign three of sections. She had written a message that stated, “Whoever wants to do the other three sections can just volunteer.” It was not until I looked back to see the message that I noticed this. The outcome was me trying to put together a draft with a lot of missing information. I managed to put together a decent draft, which the group would be able build off of. The Turn-It in results stated 30% of the draft was plagiarized by one person. (Highest % in Mr. Muth’s Class)

This caused a great deal of frustration and arguments within the group. It is during this time, a face to face meeting would have benefited my team. Dealing with people via email, on different time zones was probably the most difficult issue of the X Culture project. A majority of the emails were between myself and the newest member from Malaysia, Asad. We were emailing each other back and forth like immature 3rd 30% of the draft was plagiarized, however it was only one section that had been plagiarized. The team member from India was responsible for the entire section of plagiarism and unsuccessfully assignment of the sections. Instead of arguing over who was responsible for the huge dilemma, the group needed to reassign the missing sections and finish the project. Asad managed to contact me via the WhatsUp App on my iPhone. It was during this time, we were able to talk to each other and work out our underlying issues. It is amazing how a few minutes of verbal communication can sort out a weeks’ worth of disagreements via email.

Unfortunately, the Indian team member had not been responding to any of the emails regarding her entire section and the plagiarism. Asad wanted would rework the plagiarized section, and I would be responsible for editing the rest of the proposal. In the end, Asad and I had a great deal of conflict, because we both wanted to ensure the success of the group. It was not until, we were able to talk via telephone that we could move past our petty arguments and finish the project as a team. The project ended up looking awesome, and had no plagiarism. Asad managed to write my favorite section, the firing of our Indian group member for high amounts of plagiarism. The X Culture project was a lot of late nights, a lesson on the importance of communication. I ended up making three new friends on Facebook, and one of them was Asad.