Intercultural collaboration in projects

Guide to Intercultural Teamwork – now available

International and diverse teams have become an integral part of academic and professional life. Different perspectives, communication styles and experiences offer great potential, but may also create challenges. The guide “Intercultural Teamwork” supports students as well as supervisors of intercultural student groups in reflecting on and shaping collaboration in multilingual and diverse contexts.

The guide is available in both German and English and is particularly aimed at lecturers and supervisors working with intercultural student teams. For further development of intercultural competences, participation in ZIKK activities – especially intercultural simulation games – is highly recommended.

Guidelines for working in diverse teams (PDF file) (opens in new tab)
Guidelines – Supporting intercultural group work (PDF file) (opens in new tab)

Virtual intercultural simulation games: Bilangon and Megacities

The experience-oriented learning method simulation game is not only fun, it also facilitates the experience of being in complex international situations marked by uncertainty. The course is organized as part of the UNITE! context.

“Playing games is an activity that cannot be taken seriously enough”.

Jacques-Yves Cousteau

What is it all about?

Bilangon: In the wake of a natural disaster, you are participating in the reconstruction efforts of Bilangon Island. A share of the profits is offered, provided you succeed in international cooperation by bringing together the owners' interests, economic potential, climatic conditions, and the welfare of the island's inhabitants.

Megacities: A wealthy resident intends to leave a valuable piece of land to three neighbouring cities. Under specific conditions. Sounds simple, right? It isn’t though because while interacting in this cooperative effort, you will encounter different ideas of what is normal, plausible or relevant. The fact that (multiple) foreign languages are being used creates an additional challenge. And if this weren’t enough: The whole thing takes place in a virtual space!

During the simulation game you will meet six times, 3 hours per meeting. If you successfully complete the game simulation, you will earn 3 CPs. If you are a TU Darmstadt student, please register for the Megacity simulation game in TUCaN.

• Reflect on your understanding of what is ‘normal’.

• Reflect on the effect that your actions have on others while interacting with them.

• Learn an unbiased and constructive way of dealing with multilingualism, unexpected situations and unfamiliar patterns of thinking and behaving.

• Learn how to build sustainable relationships.

• Learn about intercultural team work.

Virtual intercultural simulation games such as Megacities and Bilangon were designed by Prof. Dr. Jürgen Bolten and Barbara Nietzel from the Department of Intercultural Business Communication at the University of Jena. While Megacities is considered an accessible introduction to the topic of international collaboration, Bilangon presents numerous challenges for advanced students, incorporating more sophisticated theoretical concepts and complex interaction tasks.Both simulation games are played with kind permission and the much appreciated support of the games designers.