It was John D. Rockefeller who said, “I will pay more for the ability to deal with people than any other ability under the sun.” Working in teams has become the norm for most businesses, where the internal walls between functional areas such as marketing and production no longer exist.

In a team setting, communication and people skills are as vital to the team’s success as each team member’s field of expertise. In a world where information grows exponentially, teams are the key to maintaining a competitive advantage. Organisations must continuously realign themselves in response to a rapidly changing competitive environment, and they must do so with ingenuity and precision - a teamwork specialty. Fierce competition means teams must be flexible, willing to take chances, and able to think on their collective feet.

Stick Your Neck Out!
Here in the United States, we say that every now and then you have to stick your neck out, meaning that you must be willing to take chances to get ahead. But sometimes you stick your neck out and it gets chopped off - figuratively speaking! In other words, mistakes are an unavoidable part of life.

The ability to recover from these mistakes is often what’s crucial to success. The communal brainpower of the team helps turn those inevitable mistakes into a learning experience that will make the team and its members stronger and more nimble. Vital to a company’s success is the team’s capacity to grow and move ahead, and growth often comes from failure.

Take a look at just one of the many international students working for their MBA in America.
Jorge Marin came to our MBA program from Medellin, Colombia, where he was an experienced financial analyst in search of personal and professional growth. Now approaching graduation, Jorge has secured a management position at 1st Source Bank, one of Indiana’s largest state-chartered banks.

To be a valued team member, the bank wants him to have exposure to all facets of the bank’s activities, such as portfolio management, commercial lending, and mortgages. Jorge has helped 1st Source significantly increase their presence in Indiana’s growing Hispanic community, and he attributes much of his professional success to his experiences in the Indiana MBA program, where he learned to think strategically and function in a team environment. Jorge also brings his team savvy to his personal life, singing and playing in his own Latin band with other Latin American students from Indiana University and the surrounding community. Embracing the team philosophy and time-management skills he learned during his MBA program has brought Jorge tremendous professional success and personal satisfaction.

Teamwork is the backbone of any top-rated MBA program. International students have unique managerial perspectives that add to the structural integrity of student teams, and the cultural diversity that international students bring to any group is a crucial dimension that energizes everyone’s learning experience. Students are the first to say that teamwork is vital to their learning. They pick up a remarkable amount of knowledge from each other, during experiences that they would not have otherwise had - without their involvement in teamwork during their educational journey.

Author
Katherine L. Jackson, Ph.D.
Director of Graduate
Business Programs
Indiana University South Bend