24. International
text & photography Malini Witlox
A lot of stress
My boyfriend claims I am a natural in Drama Studies
at T-Challenge Ever heard of the T-Challenge? In five days, five Tilburg students take on a business case for a local organization. Univers tagged along to see what these brave students encountered.
T
his year, the T-challenge focuses on the Onderwijsgroep Tilburg, known for the vocational training institutes (ROCs) in Tilburg. The assignment: find out what the common core values are within the Onderwijsgroep, in order to firmly embed them in the organisation.
Column
Is it Art or is it Science?
Monday 23 January, 10.30 am
My Liberal Arts and Sciences graduation day is in a few months time, but my friends and family still haven’t got a clue what I study. I don’t blame them. My identity and selfdefinition suffer greatly from the ambiguity of my program’s name. Although I study Arts and Sciences, it makes me neither an artist nor a scientist. The name derived from an education in the glamorous classical antiquity, but nobody except Liberal Arts students is aware of this. Fortunately, throughout the years I have developed a reservoir of useful explanations. I tell my father, a lawyer, that I study Roman law alongside a combination of modern European legislation. I have a feeling that this answer does not entirely satisfy him, because he still shrugs his shoulders and says: “It’s just strange, that’s all”. I had to disillusion my mother by telling her that obtaining a Bachelor of Arts diploma will not put me in a position to compete with Picasso. Although I do tell her that I learn other artistic skills, such as storytelling and the art of persuasion. My boyfriend knows what I’m studying, although he claims I am a natural in Drama Studies. I could pass a living example of one. The version for my grandmother’s friends varies from “Communication studies” to “Architecture”. They can’t remember what I said during the last tea party, anyway. I tell strangers that my specialization is in the History of Euro pean Witchcraft and the Ontology of the Supernatural. I’m probably the most intriguing person they ever met on a bus. I appeal to all of you, dear Liberal Artists and Scientists! Let’s change the name of our program to something less puzzling and more clarifying. I’d suggest: Liberal Arts That Has Nothing to Do with Arts but More with Broadly Understood Cultural Studies, Although It Is In Fact Quite Liberal. Sonia Kolasinska is a third-year Liberal Arts student.
Univers 9 februari 2012
Lianne Groot, a 4th year Psychology student, is proposing her plan to the rest of the team. “We should ask the teachers how they feel about the current climate – the way it affects students as well as management. What is most important to them in their day-to-day conduct at work?”, she asks her teammates. Her fellow student Ian Mouser (3th year Business Economics/Accounting) adds: “The question is then of course, does whatever the teachers feel is important, correspond to the values of their management and their co-workers.” The two students are accompanied by Merle Heuvels (4th year International Business), Milou Pulles (5th year Supply Chain Management) and Eefje Wielders (Master student Management of Cultural Diversity). Together, they are about to dive head-first into their case study. Even if you have been given a couple of months, it can be difficult to properly describe the values which are established within any organization, but these five students have to present their results within a week. Time is of the essence. So Ian is checking his watch continuously.
“We have only 20 minutes before we have to present our plan of action. We have to hurry.” A schedule for the entire week lies on the table. Each day, the students start their day with a working breakfast at 8 am sharp and won’t leave their office any earlier than 10 pm. Precisely one hour and 45 minutes later, the students have finished their plan of action. In pairs, they will be interviewing principals and teachers. The evenings are spent on researching scientific literature. They’ve finished just in time: promptly at 12 am the representatives of the Onderwijsgroep enter the conference room. The plan of action goes down well with the audience. “Have you also taken the students into account?” one of them asks. Not yet, so the plan will be revised. And an additional problem: Both on Wednesday and Thursday, nearly all of management will on an away day. All in-depth interviews will have to be planned on Monday and take place on Tuesday and Wednesday. A week is simply not much time. Eventually, the final decision is made: about 18 employees will be subjected to an in-depth interview and a survey will be conducted among the remaining staff (over 2500 employees). But in that case, the students will have to obtain the email addresses of all employees. Milou goes over to the Personnel Manager’s office. “Not a problem,” she says immediately and starts ringing some people. Straight away, some data is extracted from a computer and emailed to Milou. Contentedly, she leaves. The surveys can be sent out.