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The Joint AdVenture in Shanghai - I
Lei • 3.Januar, 2008 @ 08:43 • Abgelegt unter: Allgemein
AdVenture 1: Organization
The phone rang for the 10th time within 5 minutes. When I returned to my desk, my German colleague said, “Either you’re really popular, or there’s an emergency somewhere.” Turned out to be a bit of both. On the other side of the world was a Chinese trainee, frantically calling and asking whether he could join the ToST in
Shanghai, even though the registration deadline had passed a week earlier. He hoped that if he just called one of the organizers often enough, he could still attend. I told my German colleague that this is normal in China. He did not believe me.
ToST stands for “Trainees organize Seminars for Trainees”. These events are organized by teams of trainees who, for example, happen to be in the same place and have an interesting topic. Then this organizing team finds a local Bosch sponsor to provide a meeting room and some interesting speakers (e.g. the plant manager) and invites all trainees (often worldwide) to attend. Trainees who attend must take vacation or flex time and pay for their own expenses. This time, the location was Shanghai, and I was one of the organizers. The first day featured lectures, discussions, and a plant tour; the second day was pure fun in Shanghai:).
We had also asked every participant of the ToST to send us a personal profile, which would be distributed to all participants of the ToST before the event. One minute before we sent them out, we still kept getting new profiles from those who didn’t make it to the deadline. In Germany, people probably would not bother to send anything after missing the deadline, but the Chinese are flexible (however you define it) and more importantly, it is natural for them to expect it reciprocally from others. To work in China means to respect this cultural difference and work out a fine balance of the Chinese and German ways.
7.Mai, 2008 @ 01:26
I am very pleased that my first article read on this site, refers to the sensativity of cultural differences, and acceptance and willingness to work within these borders.