P2P  Off-­‐campus  –  The  Hague  University  
A  self-­‐reflection  by  Hari  Muryanto    
(MBA  –  Part  time  2011)  
 
 
Arnhem,  20-­‐22  February  2011  
 
1.  Introduction  
 
What  is  P2P?  That  was  the  first  question  came  up  in  my  mind  after  receiving  
information  about  a-­‐three-­‐day  program  from  the  school.    
 
It  was  a  nice  sunny  Sunday  afternoon  to  start  P2P  campus  in  Arnhem,  a  city  
somewhere  about  1.5  hours  by  bus  from  The  Hague.  To  the  fact  that  I  had  never  
been  to  Arnhem  before,  I  could  not  imagine  what  the  city  looked  like  and  most  
importantly,  to  be  honest,  there  was  no  ideas  what  the  programme  would  be.  
 
Prior  to  the  programme  I  allocated  some  time  to  google  and  find  out  more  about  
the  solar  panel  industry.  This  is  the  topic  which  would  be  discussed  during  the  
programme.  The  topic  was  challenging  since  I  had  never  been  bothered  to  read  
about  solar  energy  topic  until  the  P2P  programme.  Some  un-­‐clarities  on  where  
would  the  topic  go  also  made  it  even  more  challenging  and  confusing.    
 
 
2.  Programmes  overview  
 
The  programme  started  at  1530  hours  which  was  30  minutes  late  from  the  
original  schedule.  Lateness  and  slowness  of  the  participants  were  the  main  
problem.  After  the  group  allocation,  we  focused  on  to  make  a  kind  of  network  
within  the  team  members.  I  was  surprised  to  be  in  a  group  where  team  members  
except  me  were  from  full  time  master  programme.  However  it  was  good  to  know  
some  non-­‐part  time  students  here.  
 
The  first  session  about  cultural  or  diversity  awareness  was  good.  From  this  
session  I  could  learn  more  on  how  the  culture  played  a  significant  role  in  
delivering  messages  or  information  among  the  people  as  well  as  how  to  have  the  
messages  or  information  been  absorbed  properly  by  the  audience  or  the  
addressee.  I  also  gained  more  knowledge  on  how  to  approach  people  in  an  
appropriate  way  due  to  cultural  differences.  
 
However,  there  was  one  thing  which  questioned  me  about  the  cultural  
awareness  standard  after  the  session.  It  looked  like  that  the  presenter  tried  to  
standardise  the  idea  with  western  culture,  which  is  not  wrong,  but  knowing  that  
there  were  also  some  positive  sides  from  other  cultures,  for  example  Asian  
culture,  this  should  be  brought  into  attention  as  well.  
 
The  self-­‐reflection  through  questionnaires  presented  by  John  Brennan  was  very  
interesting.  The  result  of  the  questionnaires  gave  me  more  ideas  to  know  myself  
even  more  and  how  I  position  myself  in  a  group.  It  was  helpful  to  know  that  the  
team  members  had  various  different  type  of  personalities  and  from  there  our  
group  could  allocate  the  roles  to  the  team  members  effectively  based  on  each  
individual’s  character  and  personality.  
 
There  are  few  things  which  can  be  my  concerns  with  regards  to  the  programme:  
time  management  of  the  participants  and  the  willingness  of  the  participants  to  
actively  involve  in  the  programme.  It  was  annoying  that  most  of  the  programme  
started  late  because  some  participants  came  late  to  the  programme.  Not  only  in  
the  morning  programme  which  was  late  15-­‐25  minutes  due  to  the  fact  that  not  
all  participants  were  not  on  their  seats,  the  same  experience  also  happened  
during  the  evening  programme:  some  participants  were  late.  This  lateness  was  
really  annoying  since  we  had  to  wait  for  those  late  participants  who  apparently  
were  not  bothered  to  hurry  up  to  the  programme  venue.  
 
 
3.  Group  assignment  
 
The  group  assignment  was  the  though  one.  From  nine  people  in  the  group  
(including  myself),  only  three  people  were  actively  involve  in  the  group  
discussion.  There  was  a  tough  time  when  I  had  to  ask  everyone  (one  by  one)  to  
speak  up  or  if  they  said  they  did  not  have  objections,  they  needed  to  be  forced  to  
write  down  their  opinions  or  thoughts  about  the  topic  we  were  working  on  
(Suntec  Power  presentation).  At  the  end,  they  gave  some  objections  on  some  
cases.  
 
The  different  way  of  thinking  among  the  team  members,  especially  between  the  
full  time  students  and  part  time  students  was  also  a  challenge  for  me.  In  this  
situation,  I  did  my  best  to  be  patient  and  make  them  to  understand  the  different  
between  the  real  presentation  way  which  I  thought  was  the  more  practice  one  
and  very  details  complicated  presentation.  Probably,  because  I  get  used  to  the  
presentation  in  my  work,  so  it  was  difficult  to  follow  the  way  of  my  group  
members  to  prepare  the  presentation  which  is  too  details  and  less  focus.  
 
At  the  end,  the  help  from  the  communication  advisor  (Mrs.  Hanneke)  was  very  
helpful  since  she  explained  to  us  clearly  how  to  deliver  a  presentation  in  a  timely  
manner,  in  a  very  short  time  (10  minutes).  As  an  expert,  her  advice  about  to  
focus  on  how  to  approach  the  board  member  instead  of  delivering  a  heavy  
content  was  a  very  good  experience.  I  never  thought  that  the  culture  differences  
would  affect  the  reaction  or  feedback  of  the  audience  on  the  presentation.  Her  
advice  really  helped  my  group  to  deliver  the  presentation  successfully.  
Unfortunately  the  coaching  time  was  so  short,  30  minutes.  In  the  similar  P2P  
programme  in  the  future,  to  have  a  little  bit  more  coaching  time  would  be  more  
appreciated  and  helpful.  
 
Speaking  about  participants  during  the  workshop  and  group  assignment,  there  
were  many  participants  who  were  so  quiet  and  showed  no  willingness  to  actively  
participate  in  the  discussion.  I  suspect  the  culture  played  significant  role  for  their  
passiveness  and  unwillingness.  Or  was  it  just  laziness?  As  an  Asian  person,  I  
understand  why  some  of  those  Asian  fellows  were  quiet  and  hardly  ever  talked  if  
were  not  asked,  but  as  we  were  in  an  international  master  programme,  thus  we  
suppose  to  be  able  to  break  the  cultural  barrier  which  had  been  with  us  since  we  
were  born.  Having  been  in  the  Netherlands  for  almost  five  years  has  really  
helped  me  to  think  of  and  cross  the  cultural  barrier  and  be  more  speak-­‐out.  
 
There  was  a  nightmare  experience  when  one  fellow  group  member  said  that  she  
had  to  leave  for  her  medication,  the  fact  was  she  never  came  back  to  the  group  
discussion  which  lasted  until  2230  hours.  The  following  morning  I  found  out  that  
she  spent  the  whole  evening  before  in  the  sauna.  This  is  rude  and  definitely  a  big  
no-­‐no  in  a  civilised  culture.  I  think  this  attitude  is  more  into  personal  or  
individual  matter  instead  of  the  nation  or  race  culture.  
 
 
4.  Personal  plan  and  self  learning  
 
The  general  ideas  from  the  programme  to  have  socialisation  with  other  master  
programme  students  of  The  Hague  University  were  more  or  less  achieved.  
During  the  breakfast,  lunch,  dinner  and  “bar  time”,  the  socialisation  worked  
smoothly,  eventhough  not  all  of  the  participants  were  there  at  all  time.  During  
these  ‘sessions’  and  especially  during  the  group  discussion,  I  could  get  to  know  
more  people,  share  some  ideas  with  them  and  the  more  important  thing  was  to  
get  to  know  people  who  were  not  from  my  part-­‐time  programme  class.  
 
Dealing  with  hard-­‐head  people  is  also  something  that  I  need  to  focus  on  at  this  
moment.  The  P2P  programme  has  given  me  such  ideas  on  how  to  deal  with  
people’s  behaviour  which  often  frustrating.  Being  more  patient  is  also  another  
thing  for  me  to  work  on.  I  always  have  ideas  that  people  from  the  same  level  of  
education  should  be  able  to  understand  things  at  the  same  speed  with  me,  but  
unfortunately  it  is  not.  And  the  fact  that  there  is  a  different  level  of  language  
proficiency  is  also  frustrating  and  it  often  creates  misunderstanding  within  the  
group.  
 
In  relation  with  the  current  company  I  work  for,  P2P  helps  me  in  getting  the  
work  done  effectively  and  efficiently.  I  also  have  some  ideas  to  change  the  
current  work-­‐flow  and  to  utilise  the  diversity  environment  as  a  rich  ‘think  tank’  
instead  of  just  a  bunch  of  people  with  differences.  
 
Despite  facing  difficulties  to  be  in  a  group  where  cultural  and  individual  issues  
challenged  all  the  participants,  I  enjoyed  so  much  time  to  work  on  assignments  
with  them.  I  learnt  a  lot  how  to  deal  with  those  people  and  how  to  explain  in  a  
simple  way  so  that  everybody  in  the  group  could  understand  the  message.  
 
Towards  myself,  there  is  one  thing  which  I  see  as  a  very  important  point:  to  
listen  to  other  people  and  be  patient  while  listening  to  them.  I  have  been  busy  to  
improve  my  self  in  listening  skills  and  this  is  one  of  few  things  I  focus  on  these  
days.  
 
 
5.  Conclusion  
 
All  in  all,  I  have  got  some  real  experiences  on  how  to  work  on  an  environment  
where  different  cultures  can  make  people  think  and  act  differently.  In  some  cases,  
these  differences  mean  weakness,  however  the  P2P  programme  has  given  me  an  
idea  on  how  to  convert  these  differences  into  strength.  I  believe  I  can  use  this  in  
the  future  to  convince  people  with  my  ideas  or  when  I  am  applying  for  a  job.  
 
Another  positive  thing  is  that  now  I  have  more  knowledge  about  solar  panel  
energy,  the  required  materials  to  produce  the  solar  panel,  the  issues  which  might  
come  with  its  production  and  distribution  and  its  unlimited  resources  to  produce  
the  energy.  This  topic  makes  me  think  that  there  are  always  chance,  challenge  
and  solution  to  any  existing  problems.  
 
Working  effectively  in  a  group  is  also  a  key-­‐take-­‐away  which  I  gained  from  this  
workshop.  At  the  end,  people  are  people;  people  are  different  from  others;  none  
is  resembled  whatsoever;  and  from  this  point  I  can  learn  to  listen  to  other  
people’s  opinions  and  accept  their  capabilities  and  differences  in  order  to  
successfully  achieving  group’s  main  goal.  And  it  is  a  fact.