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HR departments as business partners? Work-Life balance? Diversity Management? Compensation schemes? Job security or flexibility? – These subjects and more were the core issues of the interdisciplinary HR project that 11 students from the Faculty of Society and Economics of Rhine-Waal University of Applied Sciences worked on in cooperation with 13 students from The Hague University of Applied Science. The challenges facing businesses in the 21st century were discussed and presented from both an HR perspective as well as a business perspective with the goal of providing helpful consultation to foreign companies interested in expanding operations to either the Dutch or German markets. The project began in November 2014 with a three-day, introductory workshop in Kleve; since then, participating Dutch and German students have been working diligently in small, cross-cultural groups to prepare professional presentations on their assigned topics.

In the first week of January 2015, the students organised a two-day workshop in The Hague to put the finishing touches on their projects. In addition to their project-related work, students and their supervisors were able to take a tour of the city and learn more about Dutch culture. The sightseeing tour included stops at famous historical sites as well as a visit to the beach in Scheveningen.

The project’s focus was not only on management skills in HR contexts, but also on improving and strengthening students’ cross-cultural competencies. Students learned, for example, how cultural differences between Germany and the Netherlands can influence team management strategies and workflows. Under the supervision of Prof. Dr. Philipp Schorn, professor for Accounting and Auditing, and with support by Fabian Dargel, B.A. of Rhine-Waal University of Applied Sciences, as well as the supervision and support of their Dutch colleagues Michel Hermans and Manolis Mavromatis from The Hague University of Applied Sciences, the students successfully completed their projects and presented innovative approaches and solutions to the challenging topics.