X-Culture: A Great, But Trying Experience

Guest Blogger: Jeffery Null, Nathan M. Bisk College of Business student

At this point in the project, we are almost finished with the team portion and ready to submit our final paper. In general, everyone has contributed their fair share and made a good effort in completing the assigned tasks. However, upon submitting our rough draft, there were some obvious signs of plagiarism concerning a few sections. A few team members have been a great help in resolving these issues in the short amount of time available. It is unclear whether these issues are a result of a language barrier, or indifference toward the project. When speaking with individual teammates, they indicate their understanding of the tasks to be done, but sometimes miss the mark, excluding important details. The process of editing and correcting the teams work has been exhausting and time consuming. Regardless, I think the project has come together pretty well. This entire experience has been very enlightening, and I have learned a lot about managing a global virtual team.

The next twenty-four hours will likely be very stressful, as we put the final touches on the report. While I have enjoyed this experience, I am ready for it to come to a close. If I had to do it over again, I would spend more one-on-one time with each team member outlining the specific details needed in each section in an effort to ensure their understanding of the requirements. This would have led to the production of a more cohesive report without the need for so many last minute adjustments. Again, I think we have a really great idea and I hope it comes through clearly in the final paper. Given more time between the submission of the rough draft and the final draft, I think the end result could have been better, but it is not over yet. We will see how I feel about it after the final submission; my feelings may change when I have a chance to relax and reflect when I am not so exhausted.