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TOOL 'CULTURE IN INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION'

European cooperation QUESTIONNAIRE: the cultural layer
Project generation        After approval        Project implementation phase

Project generation

So now that a good project idea has been generated and plans to involve other European partners are being made, or there is the intention to join a project with other European partners, what then? The most popular option is to work with colleagues from previous networks or with other acquaintances and add some new partners to improve the chances of funding. What should be kept in mind at this stage?

How are partners to be recruited into a new partnership?
Recommendation: Involve 'new' partners in an emancipated, open and substantial way to avoid cultural imbalance when processing the project idea with well-known partners

If you are invited to join a partnership that will submit a project application, are there any opportunities for discussing and improving the project application from a cultural perspective?
Recommendation: Make the effort to comment on preliminary versions of the application and discuss any issues that seem unfamiliar or are too oriented to one way of thinking

Do you have some idea of how the central project ideas interfere with the local context (political, regional, institutional culture) of your partners? (Explore these issues by using the 'what if' questions: For example, if the political colour were to change during the project what might happen to the project? Or: What might happen to the project if the director of your institute were to be replaced?)
Recommendation: Explore connections between project ideas and local context partners

Recommendation: Check with your Programme Secretariat what pre-financing possibilities there are for financing partner meetings and initial research

How is the core of the project organized? Is each partner responsible for his or her own work package, in parallel working groups, or is it structured in an integrated way?
Recommendation: Connect fundamental actions in an integrated methodology. It is better to avoid an organization scheme with closed working groups that will only exchange ideas at the end of a project

When working on the preparation of a project can you handle different views or concepts within your project and how do you evaluate them? Are you aiming at overall consensus?
Recommendation: Utilize differences between partners, because they can be more productive than reaching consensus at any price

After approval

After the project proposal and the participating partners have been approved, it will be necessary to know more about your partners. For example, information about why they joined the partnership, their background, and their significance within their organization, should be identified. How could the basis of a project environment, suitable for several years of intensive cooperation, be facilitated?

It is important to become personally acquainted with the partners in order to reach a good level of understanding right from the start.

Did you meet potential project partners face to face during this phase?
Recommendation: Intensify the number of face-to-face meetings after project approval. Interactive communication right from the start helps to get to know each other and his or her personal interpretation of the project objectives

Another way of getting to know the partners is by making use of informal events. Have you ever participated in informal events in European projects? And what was your experience?
Recommendation: Organize informal events such as visiting local practices. This could help in the exchange of information about institutions, systems and society

While working with new partners it could be of help to know more about authorities and expertise. Do you know the level of competence and scope of mandates of your partners?
Recommendation: Clarify differences in mandates with all partners 

Each partner will express their intention with regard to reaching a successful partnership, but is it really known what the partners consider to be a good partnership?  
Recommendation: Exchange views on good partnership. For example by exchanging experiences and stories on the role and task of the management

In relation to the previously mentioned issue, it is important to know, in a wider context, why partners join a partnership:

Do you know what each partner wants to achieve with this project?
Do you know why this cooperation is of importance within your own cultural context?
Do you know why it is important from the context of your partners to join this cooperation?  
Recommendation: Explore culturally rooted objectives and expectations. They should be made explicit at an early stage 

Are there language problems within your project, and if so how do you deal with them?
Recommendation: In INTERREG projects, language skills are essential. If a partner is not capable of speaking the common language, avoid the solution of a third party representing a formal partner but try to enable face-to-face contacts

Has the issue of common understanding on working definitions been raised?
Recommendation: Work together on a commonly approved set of definitions such as terminology and define the explicit differences in meanings between the keywords in different countries
 

Project implementation phase

During project implementation various issues and problems based on cultural differences maybe encountered. How can they be dealt with, especially when they are seriously obstructing the project's progress? How could they be used in a productive way? The following recommendations aim at improving the understanding of complex situations.

During the project implementation you will pass different phases. A project might need different approaches in the various project phases.

Could other unfamiliar approaches be acceptable?
Recommendation: Give way to the cultural dynamics by exploiting different approaches (result oriented/ exchange oriented/ process oriented/ decision-making sessions, etc.)

It has been shown in practice that different knowledge conceptions meet within a project. Academic knowledge is usually formalized in a special project body and separated from practical knowledge.

Within the project, is there a difference in the valuation of academic knowledge and practical knowledge?
Recommendation: Avoid the ranking in importance of different kinds of knowledge

Conflicts appear in any project but can be difficult to solve in a culturally diverse project. If such conflicts arise, do some ideas as to how conflicts are perceived and solved in the cultures concerned exist?
Recommendation: Each culture has its own way of dealing with conflicts. Information about these perceptions could help to solve the conflict. Ask advice about these perceptions at programme level

If conflicts occur, can the deeper reasoning within the conflicting situation be identified?
Recommendation: In this process avoid dealing with conflicts by e-mail. Preferably try to solve conflicts by telephone or in a face-to-face meeting

Sometimes one of the partners may lose their enthusiasm. If this were happening without any visible or recognized reasons how could it be dealt with?
Recommendation: Find out whether there are institutional or culturally embedded factors in the context of your partner

Administrative problems can occasionally cause other considerable problems. Sometimes these difficulties affect more than one partner or even the whole project.

How can administrative problems be dealt with? Is clarification of local bureaucracy and administrative culture taken into consideration?
Recommendation: Explain reasons why administrative problems can affect everyone

Local context often influences the project as a whole and vice versa. Usually, various local contexts are connected within a project. Local players and important stakeholders can improve the local implementation of the project as a whole. Are concepts, strategies and practices of local implementation exchanged and their cultural embeddings discussed during the course of the project?
Recommendation: Anticipate the effect of partners’ local contexts on the implementation of project results

Did you encounter any deep misunderstandings within the project?
Recommendation: Find out the reasons for such misunderstandings. It is not a question of being right or wrong; openness and willingness to recognize cultural frames can contribute to collaboration

Recommendation: Translate deep misunderstandings into their practical consequences. This could help to clear up misunderstandings

Is it known what precisely triggers the energy of the partners and is this anticipated?
Recommendation: Go with the flow. Don’t hesitate to acquire formal consent to allow changes in the project that improves the added value for all partners