Professional Documents
Culture Documents
27 April 2019
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Table of Contents
Page 1………………………………………………………………………………………….Title
Page 19 ……………Cultural Issue and its Influence in the Management of Global Project Teams
Page 23 …………………………………………………………………………………Conclusion
Page 24 ……………………………………………………………………………….Bibliography
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In this section I will be discussing the article titled Globalization Challenges in Project
Management by Dr. Abdulrazak Abyad. In this article Dr. Abyad discusses a wide range of
problems faced by project managers in globalization. His main focus in this seems to be the
explains that the discipline of project management was started in the western culture. Therefore
this creates incompatibilities between the values and beliefs of western cultures of business and
markets abroad” (Abyad). Globalization has become more and more prevalent over the past few
years. The ability to reach and open up new markets in order to grow a business has become a
major focus of big companies. One of the biggest markets being bridges is that of Eastern and
western countries and cultures. Both sides are making a huge push to stake out a growing market
share across the world. This means that companies have to become more competitive.
“Throughout the world, firms that formerly competed only with local firms - from airlines to car
makers to banks - have discovered they must now face an onslaught of new foreign competitors”
(Abyad).
“The big cultural differences between East and West lead also to different approaches in
project management, both at high level of thinking and general attitudes, as well as at the level of
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looking for new, more effective methods of managing projects and managing project based
organizations” (Abyad). He has laid out what he believes are 4 major conflicts faces by trying to
The first major conflict is integration management vs. doctrine of the mean. In western
cultures the integrations of opinions, resolving conflicts and confronting risks are greatly
new ideas. However, in Asian culture they tend to avoid conflict as much as possible. The rule of
make the boss happy as opposed to coming up with new ideas through conflict seem to be the
norm. This seems to promote an atmosphere of people staying inside there perceived box instead
The next major conflict stems from horizontal management vs. strong hierarchy. “This
refers to the incompatibility between project management, which works best in a flat (or project-
oriented) hierarchy, and the strong vertical hierarchies prevalent in Chinese organizations”
(Abyad). This refers to the relationship between supervisors and subordinates. Western cultures
tend to promote a hierarchy that is based on each individual project. This allows team members
more freedom and power when making decisions on a project. They are encouraged to always be
thinking and allow them the ability to bring to the attention of their supervisor if they feel they
have a better way of accomplishing a task. While is Asian organizations the relationship is much
more formal and rigid. This does not encourage subordinates to “question the boss” or make
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suggestions based on trying to better a process. The superior has all of the authority and final say
on all decisions. It is seen as disrespectful to offer an opposing opinion or question a decision for
any reason.
The next major conflict revolves around team consciousness vs. family consciousness.
“Project teams are generally temporary, and tend to emphasize collaborative work across
functions and merit-oriented performance evaluations. On the other hand, Chinese culture values
long-term family and kinship relationships” (Abyad). This relationship allows project teams to
be fluid. Allowing intra-personal relationships to be formed and dissolved with the birth and
finalization of projects. This is very helpful in creating teams. This also allows team members to
function and work as a team without having any prior history of working together. However in
the Asian culture this is not the case. The ability to form and dissolve relationships is not
possible. They tend to be loyal to the same people regardless of the project they are assigned to.
This removes the ability to be fluid and collaborate based of each individual project as opposed
The final major conflict discussed between Asian and western cultures are task
orientation vs. boss orientation. “In project management getting the job done is paramount,
whereas in Chinese culture the emphasis is on keeping the boss happy” (Abyad). It is important
for the success of a project for the team members to be focused on the overall success of the
project. This will lead to innovation and success. Team members should always strive to do
what’s best for the success of the project as opposed to what’s best for a team member. If each
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team member focuses on keeping their respective boss happy they will lose focus on the success
These major conflicts seem to pose enormous barriers when trying to do business
between the two major cultures. In a world where we face a great divide between race, religion,
language, economic and legal barriers, we cannot even begin to do business if we cannot bridge
the different business cultures. Without the ability to work together successfully in support of the
project we will fail. This in my opinion is one of the most important factors faces by teams trying
to globalize. I thing Dr. Abyad did a great job contrasting these two cultures in a way as to show
this struggle.
In today’s Global marketplace the ability to work across borders is becoming a necessity.
Companies no longer have to worry only about local and domestic competition. If we cannot find
a way to make our business cultures more compatible in order to promote overall success. I
enjoyed the article and feel that I have been made aware of issues faced by project teams that I
did not know of before. I feel that this big difference in business culture between the East and
West is stemmed from major differences in the culture of the people themselves. Most Asian
families also follow a very rigid family hierarchy where questioning is not encouraged. They
tend to be focused on making the head of the house happy instead of individual success.
However in western cultures, we tend to be more conflict based in our family structures. Most
decisions are based on discussion and debate with people being able to “control their own
destiny”
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In this section I will be discussing the article Culture and Project Management by Dorota
Kuchta and Joseph Sukpen. In this article the authors have examined two different case studies.
One deals with the extent to which the cultural context of the society played a significant role in
particular projects. The second will involve the significance of culture at each stage of a project.
Both of the studies seem to focus on the importance of the culture of not only the team members
on the project but also the culture of the people and society in which the project is based. “This is
because projects are implemented in societies, implemented by persons and these persons and
societies have certain thoughts and mindsets which influence whatever it does; therefore any
factor which might seem important in the project management process is ultimately influence by
The first study was conducted by ‘FELLNER Executive training und Consulting’ and
‘Project Management Austria’. This study involved 250 project managers. They identified key
factors critical for the success of a project and the role of social competences for project success.
“From their findings the most critical factors emerged as the relationships and social
competences within the teams. These among others include team building; atmosphere at work;
relationship with the owner of the project as well as the involvement of the clients” (Kuchta).
However the factors that over the years that had been considered the most important did not
emerge at the top of the list as expected. The three that did however proved to be closely aligned
with the culture of the group and atmosphere. “All these factors highlight the human element and
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every human entity/grouping is identified by a set of values and convictions” (Kutcha). This
survey also investigated the skills a project manager needs in order to be successful as a leader.
The competencies used in the survey are the fifteen social competencies listed on the
that were rated as the most important were leadership; commitment and motivation as well as
result orientation. The rest did not show much variation in importance. The second part of this
survey shows that people agree that the input of a manager is vital in the success of a project.
Kutcha suggested that “the interaction of personality, culture and the universal group lead to a
mental programming of the individual which in any situation results in a behavior” (Kutcha).
This means that every action or behavior is strongly tied to the cultural background of the
person. Another aspect to consider is that fact that these results all differed depending on what
country the survey is taken. That means that culture plays a significant role in the importance
The authors go on to compare these findings with the dimensions of culture identified by
Dutch social psychologist Geert Hofstede. The definition of these dimensions was as follows;
“PDI – Power Distance: This dimension deals with the fact that all individuals in
societies are not equal – it expresses the attitude of the culture towards these inequalities
amongst us.
IND – Individualism: The fundamental issue addressed by this dimension is the degree
of interdependence a society maintains among its members. It has to do with whether people’s
MAS – Masculinity/ Femininity: This dimension indicates that the society will be driven
by competition, achievement and success, with success being defined by the winner / best in
field – a value system that starts in school and continues throughout organizational behavior.
UAI – Uncertainty Avoidance: This has to do with the way that a society deals with the
fact that the future can never be known: should we try to control the future or just let it happen?
This ambiguity brings with it anxiety and different cultures have learnt to deal with this anxiety
in different ways.
LTO – Long Term Orientation: The long term orientation dimension is closely related to
the teachings of Confucius and can be interpreted as dealing with society’s search for virtue, the
conventional historical short-term point of view” (Kutcha). These factors are shown to be critical
The next study dealt with the importance of these factors at all stages of the project
management lifecycle. “The division of a project into phases/lifecycles makes it easier to give
the project the best direction and the various phases divide the work load into smaller units and
components thus making performance monitoring much easier” (Kutcha). Dividing these phases
is one of the key components of project management. In the following table provided it will list
the critical success factors in conjunction with the life cycle phases of a project. The study
they have attempted to recognize difference in behavior and approach that a project manager can
plan for.
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I believe that the difference in culture depending on the regional differences of a project
can change greatly. These differences mean that not every project can be approached the same
way. As a project manager it is important to know the culture of the project location in order to
adapt. As a project manager you have to be away of all social influences in order to plan and be
successful. As project managers we must be fluid and respectful of the people and culture we are
In this section I will be discussing the article Global Project Management Challenges by
Adam Alamni. In the article Alamni discusses the problems faced by Global Software
Development (GSD) teams. He uses the findings of a Case study where a partnership agreement
is formed between a bank in Australia and a software developer in the United States. According
to Alamni, “The findings propose that the traditional project implementation is not an excellent
fit for global projects” (Alamni). The project was comprised of people who all hail from different
backgrounds, work cultures and used different project execution practices. The problem
according to Alamni is that “the findings suggest that a global project with two distinct execution
processes diverts the teams’ energy toward the implementation rather than the project goals and
Alamni had performed an in depth analysis of the case study. The study was globally
executed by three countries: Australia, the United States of America (USA), and India. USA and
Australia are offshoring two functions. These functions include enterprise testing and software
development and are core activities in the project. The client had entered a partnership with the
service provider. The service provider was hired to provide technology for a payment platform
for a mobile banking platform. The project had a two part mission. Part one was to develop and
customize the bank’s systems’ functions to support the new product. And part two was to
integrate the bank’s systems with the service provider payment platform. Both parties had set up
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separate project teams with separate structures and hierarchies. Both teams had a standard project
plan.
“Fragmented execution alginates the teams and deepens the divisions and the geographic
isolations. The choice of running a global project with two distinct execution processes diverted
the teams’ energy toward the implementation rather than the project goals and the business
defined outcome” (Alamni). Alamni describes the issues facing Global Software Development
(GSD) teams who operate on a fragmented execution process. This type of process tends to
separate plans, allegiances and goals. The bank goes for a very rigorous and structured process of
execution. This puts barriers in place to ensure that each phase of the process is separated by
intensive testing and approvals. The service provider on the other hand uses a very lose and
lightweight project management approach. Where this may promote creativity and less constraint
One major problem with the two teams using two distinctly differing styles of project
management is the assumption by both parties that they could depend on the other to provide.
“However, the divergence in project execution negatively impacted the progress of the project. It
also caused conflicts and breakdowns in communication” (Alamni). A detailed assessment of the
issues using the SLDC (Software Development Life Cycle) stages of project execution was
provided.
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In the requirements stage it was found that the bank believed that the service provider
should be omitted in the formulation of the requirements. According to a stakeholder, the bank
had exclusive rights to the software. This in the banks opinion would mean that the service
provider was not needed until the requirements were already decided on. “At this early phase of
the task, the bank has practiced its power position and decisiveness in the relationship. The bank
In the design stage they began with meetings to clarify the business requirements. The
difference in project management disciplines really begins to cause a divide. The bank had the
plan of instructing the service provider of their requirements. They believed the service provider
would record and implement the requirements laid out and begin to formulate the plan needed to
progress with the project. However the service provider did not see it this way. They believed
this was the “beginning stage for collaborative communication of the requirements” (Alamni).
The service provider began to make inquiries to condense prerequisites and make inquiries into
In the development stage another problem arose. The service provider decided to offshore
the software development activity to another company in India. This created another level of
problems. There was no communication between the bank and the offshore service provider in
India. Without direct communication between the two, the project was delayed even farther. The
software developer in India did not have access to the banks requirement resources and had to go
communication meant that problems arising in the development would slow the project to a halt
waiting on answers.
In the final stage of testing introduced another party into the mix. A company in India
was contracted to perform the product testing for the bank software. “The project lacked a
process to manage and coordinate defects resolution across the distributed team. This delayed
defects resolution and added strain to the already fatigued teams” (Alamni).
I believe the bank was hindered by two major problems. A difference in business
structure and approach cause the second problem of a communication breakdown. This problem
relationship needed in project management. The bank was too high on the power scale of the
relationship and therefore able to exercise too much control. This did not allow the service
provider to collaborate fully the way their structure is set up to support. On the other hand, the
service providers lack of formal structure where needed did not allow them to work with the
bank in a conducive manner. These problems need to be addressed in the beginning of the
collaborative talks, before the development begins. I believe this will allow the two companies to
address differences in style and structure in order to either prevent these problems by
acknowledging them in the beginning. If these differences cannot be resolved it will allow the
bank to find a service provider more aligned with their business structure and needs.
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In this section I will be discussing the article Intercultural Project Management for IT:
Issues and Challenges by Germinal Isern. In this article Isern will go over the intercultural issues
According to Isern “The success of the Indian companies, the appearance of new players like
Brazil, China, and particularly programmers coming from Eastern European and from Latin-
Israel, has made the Project Management Business for Software Development the most
challenges, human resources issues and heterogeneous legal frameworks in order to be able to
deliver high quality results” (Isern). According to Isern almost 50% of joint ventures between
china and western companies fail due to cultural differences. The differences in not only local
culture but business culture between china and western project managers is a major obstacle and
Chinese workers leads to major problems in project management. Some of these problems
include poor quality, weak team ethics, hiding issues from supervisors and poor technical
communication.
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According to Isern “project managers are usually very experienced professionals with
great ability to plan and organize tasks and people” (Isern). The major problem being the lack of
planning for intercultural issue they may face. This could sometimes be due to lack of
preparation or poor communication. Project managers must take time to make themselves
familiar with the political and cultural climate of an area they wish to break into before they can
be successful. “Cultural dimensions are identified factors of great influence on the expected
success of IT systems. These aspects must also be contemplated by institutions which projects
integrated with staff coming from all around the world, with different social backgrounds, with
But he does not feel it completely covers the issue. He also talks about E.T. Hall’s Cultural
Facto. According to Isern, “E.T. Hall, based on anthropological analyses identified key cultural
factors. These are classified into High Context and Low Context based on time and space. Hall
also looked at the way cultures handle time mono-chronic cultures versus poly-chronic cultures”
He also goes on to discuss the Fiske forms of socialite. These forms include;
– EM - equality matching: how people keep track of the imbalances among them.
The next item discussed in the article is the Project Management Body of Knowledge
(PMBOK). The (PMBOK) deals with the theory of project management. It gives and in depth
look at not only the intricate frame work used in project management but also the theory behind
it. “Project management is itself a complete science and as a discipline is useful in a wide variety
(Isern). The use of this system has grown drastically since the mid-90s. It is used to help guide in
the practices of project time management, risk management, integration management, scope
One of the major problems I am seeing is a lack of research on cultural issues facing
offshoring and global outsources if IT project. While there is lots of research and guidance on the
practice of project management itself, we still are just beginning to understand how these
practices adapt to different cultural settings. With project management being a western invention
it is based on western culture and business practices. These practices do not always translate into
different regions. If we are to better understand the delicacies of intercultural business, we must
first take the time to familiarize ourselves with our new business venture and team members.
Isern does a good job of pointing out the contrast and contradictions between the few items of
Isern shows that while global business practices are becoming more and more prevalent,
we are still in the infancy of the practice. In order for an ITPM to be successful, they will have to
be fluid and humble in their approach. They will have to understand that they are dealing with
not just customers and suppliers, but most importantly people. These people are the real reason
for failure or success. We can provide a product all we want, but if we do not tailor our business
Cultural Issue and its Influence in the Management of Global Project Teams
In this chapter I will be discussing the article Cultural Issue and its Influence in the
Management of Global Project Teams by Nadia Lima. This article deals again with the cultural
challenges faces by project managers when working in a global setting. The issues of dealing
with not only the local culture that the business is set in but also multicultural team members and
the diverse problems associated within. “The interactions between the project manager and team
members may be affected by several variables, such as culture, leadership style of the project
manager, and the complexity of the developed tasks” (Lima). This again deals with the problems
faced by project managers who lack training and proper knowledge of multicultural issues. This
Lima begins this article by describing the concepts and approaches of culture. “The
concept of culture is essential and widely used because it meets the diverse needs and interests of
society and of researchers. The culture involves stability, stresses conceptual statements and
serves as a factor of union to lead the members of the group towards consensus (Pires & Macedo,
2006, quoted in Lima2016). “Stewart (2006), for example, defines culture as the sum total of the
beliefs, standards, techniques, institutions and artifacts that characterize human populations. For
Zein (2012) culture is a collection of values, norms, beliefs, customs, institutions and forms of
expression that reflects the thoughts, feelings, actions and interests of people” (quoted in Lima
2016).
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“The culture can also be characterized as a shared set of attributes of any group, as this
group organizes their lives, their environment and their solutions to social issues together
(Obikunle, 2002). According to Pires, and Macedo (2006), addressing the theme culture means
addressing the issue of adaptation of the individual to the reality of the group in which he or she
is inserted. The culture, focused on building of the social significance and in rules and standards,
“The culture reflects the values and beliefs that the members of a group share. These
values are expressed through symbols, such as myths, rituals, stories, legends and a specialized
language, influencing the individuals of a given culture how to think, act and make decisions
(Pires & Macedo, 2006 quoted in Lima 2016)” In these observations we can see that almost all
aspects of not only business practices but daily interactions and behaviors are very much
controlled by culture. The culture of a person and their surroundings can affect how they eat,
sleep, interact, forms of entertainment as well as address conflicts. These actions are very
important in the way we do business professionally. While we continue to try and break into new
markets and do business in new places we must always be trying to learn and grow as leaders.
One of the most important aspects of this growth is our knowledge and understanding of the
“Culture is a dynamic phenomenon that permeates the individuals at all times and is
constantly being enacted and created by the interactions of individuals and shaped by the
behavior of the leadership, as a set of structures, routines, rules and norms that guide and
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constrain the behavior. In the organization and even in groups within the organization, it can be
observed how culture is created, incorporated, evolved and is manipulated, and, at the same time,
as the culture constrains, stabilizes and provides structure and meaning to members of the group
(Schein, 2004 quoted in Lima 2016)”. “In the context of project management, cultural diversity
is a theme in which project managers must focus their attention in order to be successful
manufacturing company. “For data collection, proposals were initially drawn up based on the
theoretical referential of this study and, based on these propositions, it was developed both a
structured interview with semi open questions, as a questionnaire for the lifting of the level of
agreement of respondents with the statements presented” (Lime 2016). Lima conducted each of
these interviews personally with the managers in hopes of identifying cultural influences of
managing practices. For these interviews Lima not only used questionnaires but also gathered
information about the project each manager was assigned to. This was in order to contrast each
manager’s cultural views against the surrounding culture they operated in.
“Based on the information provided by the professionals interviewed in this research and
literature review performed, the results demonstrate that the cultural diversity that exists between
those involved in a global project and also the culture of the company itself are critical factors
for the performance of the project and members of the project team, and that different cultures
can bring to the environment of projects both negative and positive influences. As a result, it is
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necessary that the managers of projects with multicultural teams understand and know how to
manage these differences, in order to promote greater integration and synergy between all those
This study reveals what I believed to be true. The culture of the team members combined
with the local culture can greatly affect the ability to be successful. If the team members cannot
synergize and work together, the project will fail. The ability to not only get along but to work
together harmoniously and strive for innovation and progress is key to the success of the project.
A lot of that falls on the project manager. The project manager is responsible for educating
themselves on each individual member of the team as well as the local culture and atmosphere in
which they will be operating. These differences are important when developing a strategy for
“Finally, based on the information obtained in this study, it is still verified that the
cultural issue in the environment of project management is a theme that can be worked in a more
intense and detailed way in the corporate environment in which it is developed global projects. In
addition to the efforts of their own managers of global projects, who seek in the day to-day to
develop within their team’s strategies for dealing with cultural diversity in the work
environment, the organizations themselves can offer greater support to managers and teams of
global projects enabling the performance of training on diversity and cultural coexistence and
extra activities of integration for those involved in the project” (Lima 2016).
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Conclusion
“A Project Manager must possess a broad set of skills; leadership, poise, change
They have to be able to use this set of skills to create an environment in which the project reach
its immediate goals but also functions successfully in terms of meeting the expectations, feelings
and needs of its team members” (Isern). I believe that a project manager must first understand
the people they work with and the environment they work in before they can be successful. The
culture of the team members is fundamental in how they will not only interact in the day to day
but also how they will conduct business. As a future project manager I believe it is my
responsibility to be fluid and open to change. Each new project brings a new set of people. These
new people bring with them new and different cultural beliefs and practices. As a project
manager I must always be learning and bridging these cultural gaps. I believe the most important
thing to remember as a project manager is that I am managing people first. These people deserve
Bibliography
Abyad, Abdulrazak. "Globalization Challenges in Project Management ." Middle East Journal Of Business
(2017): 1-15. PDF.
Alami, Adam. "Global Project Management Challenges ." PM World Journal (2016): 1-15. PDF.
Isern, Germinal. "Intercultural Project Management for IT: Issues and Challenges ." Journal of
Intercultural Management (2015): 53-67. PDF.
Kuchta, Dorata and Joseph Sukpen. "Culture and Project Management." Journal of Intercultural
Management (2013): 23-38. PDF.
Lima, Nadia and Leandro Alves Patah. "Cultural Issue and its Influence in the Management of Global
Project Teams." Future Studies Research Journal (2016): 90-112. PDF.