THE APPLICATIONS AND FEASIBILITY OF APPLYING

WESTERN PROJECT MANAGEMENT METHODS IN CHINA:

A CASE STUDY IN CHINESE CONSTRUCTION INDUSTRY

ABSTRACT
The ongoing development in Chinese economies had encouraged growth in several industrial
sectors, including the construction industry. In anticipation of the ongoing growth and
astounding infrastructural development in China, the Chinese governments and business alike
had started to adopt western project management approaches in China. However, there are
arguments and previous research findings which indicates that there are barriers and differences
which may cause the western project management approaches to be unfeasible to be fully applied
in China and as adjustments are necessary, many Chinese firms had adopted a mixture of their
traditional project management method with the western project management method.

In order to investigate this issue, this research had enlisted the mixture of both qualitative and
quantitative research method using questionnaire as a medium for data collection, and
subsequently, descriptive statistic analysis with literature review to analyse the issue. This
research enlists the participation of 107 individuals who are currently working in the Chinese
construction industry in order to discover and identify the extent of the adoption of western
project management approaches in China.

The result of this research confirms the findings of the previous researches that there are barriers
which may hamper the adoption and feasibility of adopting western project management
approach in China. In particular, the findings of this research strongly support the previous
findings of Tsui (2001) and Pheng and Leong (2000) which indicate that culture has become the
most prominent barriers in the adoption of the concept. Also, this research confirms the
consideration of Bauer (2004) who stressed out that disparities in culture between the
management methods may also motivate the Chinese to conduct assimilation of both culture to
form new types of Chinese-exclusive project management methods.

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 CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION

1.1. Background of the Problem

As of today, Chinese economies have grown to occupy a slot as one of the biggest economy in
the world, only behind the United States in terms of prowess. The rapid growth in Chinese
economies is also accompanied with astounding development of infrastructure in China, where
significant structures were built for public and there are plans of building numerous unique
buildings and public facilities throughout China. Such condition indicates that there are subtle
developments in terms of their project management design.

The history of project management in China had long been reinforced since ancient times, when
other historically significant structures such as the Great Wall and the Temple of Heaven were
constructed by the ancient Chinese. Lu and Wang (2004) elaborated that it is until the 1960s that
modern project management tools, methods and techniques are introduced into China through
the adoption of Critical Path Method, Program/Graphical Evaluation and Review Techniques
(PERT and GERT) into most Chinese scientific projects. Accordingly, the defence, science and
construction sectors were amongst the very first sectors which applied the usage of modern
project management techniques adopted by the Western countries.
Along with the development of their economic and technology, the Chinese had realised that
project management is an important tool in order to obtain successful economic growth and
social development. It was for this reason that the Chinese had tried to conduct researches upon
the project management approaches which are suitable with the needs of the Chinese
communities. Network-based management techniques and system engineering theories were
amongst the first primary priority of research in China. With the introduction of computers into
China in the 1980s, Chinese project management further develops with invention of new project
management software which are based on the CPM/PERT project management platform.
Stimulus given by the World Bank had also greatly contributable towards the improvement and
rapid growth of project management techniques in China, and this further intensified after
China’s membership with International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) was
renewed in 1980.

The development in 1980s were followed by the next decade where in the 1990s, both scholars
and practitioners had been continuously striving to improve, disseminate and promote modern
knowledge and practice of project management and this also includes the newest project
management system from foreign countries; especially the developed, advanced countries in
Europe, Japan or the United States.
However, despite of the increasing significance and continuous development of the project
management approach in China, and considering the fact that several of the project management
approach is actually formed using the theories of project management adopted by the western
countries, there are still objectives and problems which are experienced by the practitioners in
order to apply such adopted techniques into their corresponding projects.

One of the greatly argued factors would be the difference in culture and approaches in handling
tasks between the Chinese and the Western project leaders. First of all, there are arguments that
the project management approaches are essentially different in nature when it is compared

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against the traditional vertical management methods which are commonly used by most of
Chinese companies. This would subsequently creates a very problematic position to fully adopt
the western project management approach in Chinese companies. Accordingly, Kendra and
Taplin (2004) argued that in order to adopt a project management technique, a particular
organisation would also be required to develop shared cultural values amongst the organisational
members to ensure successful adoption of the whole project management techniques. In other
words, adoption of project management is not solely limited to use the project management
techniques and tools. Both Vanpel and Schmolke (2000) argued that in case that the
organisational members are opposed to the methods and procurements conducted within a
project due to their personal value and cultural attitudes, then the adoption of the most
sophisticated tools and project techniques would roughly had no contribution which may lead to
the success of the project.
Moreover, there are prominent arguments that the differences in availability of resources,
resource allocation and resource management between the Chinese companies against their
western counterparts may also affect the success for the adoption of the modern project
management techniques, this is related to the supply chain of advanced countries (such as the
Western countries) against developing countries (China throughout the 1960s-1980s). Initially,
such difference may discourage the Chinese companies to fully adopt Western project
management approaches and if adopted partially, may constitute hybrid project management
systems which are exclusively available only in China. New ventures from western countries
may also be required to adjust their existing project management method when they ventured
into China.

Whereas Chinese scholars are still attempted to study the Western project management
approaches and practitioners had started to adopt this approach more comprehensively, it is not
uncommon for them to encounter problems in both analysis and applications of the Western
Project management techniques. This is due to the fact that most of the modern project
management approach had its core planted on the western culture, or having its design be based
upon the social conditions in the west; whereas such adopted cultural foundation is definitely
different from the traditional culture adhered in China. It was for this reason that many Chinese
companies had encountered more difficulties in incorporating the modern project management
approach in comparison to their Western counterparts. Moreover, differences in resource
allocations and objectives of projects are also contributing towards the considerations which may
discourage the full adoption of the foreign project management techniques in China; or in several
cases, may motivate the Chinese to be selective towards the idea of partial adoption for these
methods.

1.2. Statement of the Problem

Based on the assessment provided above, there are indications that the modern project
management techniques which are originating from the Western countries may not be fully
adopted by most of the Chinese companies. There are also indications that the Chinese
companies had developed their own framework of project management which are suitable with
the prevalent conditions in China (Bauer, 2004). This condition would raise question as of the
extent of development of the project management systems and approaches in China. With the
general assumption that most of the newest, modern project management approaches are
generally synonymous with the project management techniques coined in the West, then it will

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be meaningful to identify the extent of adoptions of the Western project management approaches
in China, potential barriers which may hinder their full-scale adoptions and the measurement of
the effectiveness in the current project management techniques in China.
To assess this problem more comprehensively, the researcher would select the Chinese
construction industry as the case study subject. The selection is based on the consideration that
this industry is considered as one of the industries which frequently applies project management
techniques in China. Moreover, being one of the industries which contains dense competition
amongst the industrial players, constant innovations and process improvement is required in the
Chinese construction industry, making the adoption and improvement through project
management in the industry becomes necessary.

1.3. Research Questions

Based on the statement of the problem which had been formulated above, this research would
therefore intend to address several issues which are specifically formulated within the research
questions as follows:
- What is the extent of realisation regarding the adoption of western project management
approaches in China?
- Have the realisation and adoption of modern project management approaches provide
significant contributions towards the effectiveness and efficiencies of the project
management in Chinese construction industries?
- What is the role and influence of government towards the adoption of Western project
management approaches in Chinese construction industries?
- Are there any prominent barriers which may discourage the full adoption of the Western
project management approaches in Chinese construction industry?

1.4. Structure of the Dissertation

This dissertation is basically composed of five main chapters. The first chapter houses the
introduction and background of this research, along with the research objectives and aims which
serves as the introductory tools for the readers towards the topic and providing them with
knowledge regarding the focus of discussions which will be inhibited throughout this
dissertation.
The second chapter would enlist theories, previous researches and experts’ opinions and findings
regarding the case of project management in China and the overall pictures regarding the
Chinese construction industry. It presents a comprehensive review of literature materials and
topic, which are summarised as whole literature reviews.

The research methods which are applied in this research would be explained thoroughly in the
third chapter: Research methodology; along with the data-collecting and analytical approaches
and the justifications of using particular methods in this research.
The fourth chapter would present the result of the data collection as well as analysis on the
primary data and theoretical discussions using the secondary data and literatures or articles to
support and enhance the discussions.
Finally, the fifth chapter would house the conclusions which had been formulated based on the
result of the analysis, along with feasible recommendations towards issues and problem which
have been suggested by this dissertation.

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 CHAPTER II
LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1. Project Management and Construction Industries in China

Before 1984, central ministries and local governments in Chinese counties are considered to be
the governing body and possess administrative functions for the Chinese construction companies.
By this time, the operations of these construction companies are strictly restricted by the local
Chinese governmental bodies, hence their operations are mainly concentrated for the
establishment of certain sectors and therefore inhibiting geographically-concentrated tendencies.
Governmental controls are extended to the workloads and resource allocations for the projects
undertaken by these construction companies.
Traditionally, the majority of construction companies would take diverse types of work
regarding construction projects without any assistance from the subcontractors. Moreover, all of
these companies possess similar, essential feature in their human resource functions, that
employees of all segment and management functions (workers, office staffs, managers or
engineers) are permanently employed, regardless of their skills and the magnitude of the
workload (Chan and Wong, 1999). Little project management attempts were evident during this
time hence this period is strongly characterised with low level of efficiency and effectiveness.

Chan and Wong further elaborates that along with the Chinese economy developments, the
government had condoned drastic changes in construction industries and this is also involving
the introduction of the project management methods and their subsequent promotion in the
Chinese construction industry. As of today, the Ministry of Construction (MOC) had been
assigned as the supervisory body to oversee the development of project management system in
the Chinese construction industry. The main objective of MOC is to conduct reform programmes
in order to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the construction companies (especially for
the state-controlled companies) and also, it gradually covers the whole construction industry in
China.
Separation of field operations from management is one of the key prioritised project
management approach which was promoted by the government to the construction industries.
This would subsequently resulting in labour reformation in which the Chinese state-owned
enterprises had decided to discard the system of permanent employees and subsequently
reducing their labour composition. Hong and Engestrom (2004) commented that the reduction is
aimed towards the unskilled labour segments, while the permanent technical, operations and
managerial positions mostly become permanent, but subjected towards employment renewal
contracts in a regular interval between 3-4 years. As the result, the construction industry is now
highly flexible in terms of the allocation of workforce to the workload and there are significant
payroll cost reductions throughout the industry.

Also, there are number of companies which had been restructured in order to be concentrated in
constructions especially for specialist and labour subcontracting issues. General contracting
status made very little portions of these companies’ statuses. Accordingly, with such
arrangement, the efficiency and effectiveness in resource allocation for Chinese project
management had been significantly improved, it is also beneficial in motivating the Chinese
enterprises to be more oriented towards their assigned projects (Fang et. Al, 2004).

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The Chinese project management approach is further developed by the State Technique and
Superintendence Bureau, with the formal promulgation of GB13400, the standard for network
planning techniques which is the first national standards related to the Chinese project
management which were related to the project management.

Liu et. Al (2004) further commented that the government further emphasise the focus on the
construction industry with the formation of the Construction Project Management Committee in
1994. Furthermore, the formal guideline in applying project management techniques in the
construction industry was issued by China’s Department of Construction Industry and
Department of Construction Supervision in 1996. The issuance had profound impact on the
project management approach in China, were guidelines require the company to exert extra
efforts to appropriately apply project management techniques.
To support and strengthen the guideline, the MOC had also issued the Procedures of
Administration of the Qualification of Construction Project Managers, in order to ensure that all
project managers in China had been appropriately qualified based on the standards issued in the
guideline. The improvement of managerial qualities are also emphasised through designs and
availability of training programmes which are offered by and available through the MOC to all
Chinese project managers and all members of the project management teams.

2.2. Differences between the Traditional Chinese Project Management Approaches in

against theoretical concepts of Western Project Management.
Despite of the widespread adoption of project management approaches and constant researches
on the western project management methods by Chinese scholars, project Management
approaches for the construction industry in China is generally classified as a mixed approach in
which Western managerial approaches are applied, but in a sense that it has been adjusted.
Accordingly, it has been argued that there are no pure western project management approaches
which had been consistently applied in the Chinese construction project; they are mostly
modified in order to accommodate the cultural differences in Chinese and Western cultures (Lu
and Wang, 2004).

During their constant studies and researches towards Western project management approaches,
both scholars and practitioners in Chinese construction industry realised an important fact, that
there are cultural differences between the western project management approaches against their
traditional values or at the very least, the existing organisational structure they adhere.

Differences in approaches had also been argued to be resulted upon the remains of the former
centralised project management approaches in China, where resource allocations may be
compromised or a certain organisational structure or organisational culture had obstructed the
chances of fully applying a particular project management method (Newman and Nollen, 1996).
Generally, the traditional organisational culture and organisational structure in Chinese
construction companies which are heavily centralised may cause either positive or negative
impact towards the usage and application of Project management approaches in China, and the
negative impact is mostly resulted from the differences in organisational cultures (Tsui, 2001).

One of the most commonly addressed argument for this issue is the principal difference in the
core management style in western project management against the traditional approach of

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management which is enforced by the Chinese. Project management in the west strongly mirrors
the system of horizontal management (Pheng and Leong, 2000), whereas Chinese management
approach is strongly characterised by vertical management, where strong emphasis upon the
relationship between leaders and subordinates are enforced.
Schwartz (1999) explains that horizontal management style which is prevalent in the Western
project management emphasise the condition where there are low power distance between
project members and participants. As such, the status of these members is earned based on their
role in the project, instead of their social status or social standings. In practise, most project
managers in the west do not assume the position of an authoritative leader, but rather as a
coordinator and a project team member his/herself. This concept is rather reasonable in theory,
considering that many of the members are taken from different functional departments. As such,
the project managers’ main role would be to coordinate the actions of the team members hence
there are no need of direct line authority in such system.
Yet it is for this reason that the western project management approach had received criticism and
assumed to be ineffective. There are arguments which stressed out that such project management
characteristic, while may be reasonable in theory, actually yields potential defects. Many had
viewed that in some circumstances, the authority of the project managers is often insufficient
when it is measured against their responsibility to the project stakeholder. For this reason, many
of the project management theorists such as Kerzner (2003) hypothesised that the western project
management approach strongly emphasise the personal influence in order to motivate the project
members to get things done, considering that there are no emphases on authoritative function.

In China however, there is a tendency to install traditional, cultural principles in their managerial
approaches and this would of course, includes the project management activities. Specifically in
this notion, the Chinese strongly adheres to the cultural concept of ‘wu lun’ which emphasise the
need to respect authorities and that the relationship between social members are relatively
unequal in nature. This is also justified by the classification by Hofstede (1991) who considers
that the Chinese culture is a large power distance culture.
Traditionally, in most Chinese organisational structure, there are widespread social tendencies
that the leaders are entitled to the respect and obedience from the subordinates, whereas
subordinates are entitled to their leader’s protection and consideration. This structure emphasise
strong degree of hierarchical structure, which is in line with the traditional value within Chinese
culture itself: that each subordinates are presumed to possess the duty to provide proper respect
for their respective superiors in accordance to the concept of ‘wu lun’.
Considering that the Chinese culture strongly favours the presence of hierarchy and centralised
leadership (which is the main characteristic of the vertical managerial approach), problems in
project management in China are closely associated with the management problems commonly
regarded as the primary weaknesses in the application of vertical managerial approach. Hosftede
and Bond (1998) explain that this is especially evident in terms of the cross functional, horizontal
member collaborations as well as the initiative in regards to the participative management for the
members. All of these aspects are commonly regarded as the primary prerequisite of a proper
project management system.

Another prevalent argument using Confucian view of Hosftede and Bond may also be addressed
from the cultural point of view, especially in regards to the presence of the Doctrine of the Mean
in Chinese organisations against the core principle of integration management in Project

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Management, which has become the main aim of most of the project managers. Considering that
the project manager’s main role in western organisations would be to act as an integrator
between different management processes, functional segments, organisational units and
negotiator between the project stakeholders, the managers assigned in a project would have to
carefully balance the increasing demands for quality against the scope of the project, its
subsequent deadline and costs. Moreover, the project managers should act as a strategist, in
which the manager assess the project specifications, project plan along with the accomplishing
approaches and integrate it with the project stakeholders’ concerns and expectations (Gatley et.
Al, 1996). Accordingly, this condition indicates that there are highly diverse project variables
which are involved in a traditional project. One of the proposed approaches to settle this issue
would be to normally adopt a set of highly diverse project teams to minimise project risks, and to
facilitate the competing stakes of the stakeholders.
In most of the project management structures which are adopted in the west, this condition of
diversifications would inevitably install several specific characteristics in their project
management approaches. First of all, it would be better to assess the differences of risk
management approaches which were adopted in China and the West. Subscribing to the
conception fo Kliem et. Al (1997), it is generally accepted that risks cannot be avoided in a
project, yet they can be predicted and mitigated to reduce their subsequent impact. In western
project management view, it is emphasised that differences in opinions regarding risk
occurrences should be immediately addressed to be discussed further. Any potential conflicts
may result in improvement of the project and it may motivate the project team to conduct deeper
analysis on the situations and forming a risk reducing mechanism in the project. Subscribing to
this review, it can be concluded that conflicts would be inevitable in the discussions about
project risk. However, the most meaningful aspects in a good project management is on how a
manager could facilitate different opinions. Project management stressed out that disagreement
should be directly addressed and team members should be open in facing disagreement amongst
them. It also emphasised that the brainstorming and problem solving strategy is the best
approach in handling conflict, instead of compromising and seeking comforts.

This perception is certainly different with one of the main core of the Chinese culture which
emphasise “Doctrine of the Mean”. This philosophical adherence in Chinese society highlights
that harmony is the most precious aspect in social life, between people amongst their peers along
with their respective environment. In generalised view, the term “harmony” coined in Doctrine
of the Mean would seemed to be favourable with the main objective of integration in project
management, Doctrine of the Mean had different view on how harmony is obtained, that it
emphasise compromising and deeper understanding towards others’ point of view, thus Doctrine
of the Mean emphasised that a good risk management is the one which could be assessed by
enlisting all opinions of the project members and avoiding potential conflicts in the process
(Tjosvold et. Al, 2003). It is suggested that different opinions should be minimised, team
members must be tolerating and disagreements is better to be handled indirectly to maintain
respect amongst one another. Compromising is highly suggested in this approach in order to
dissolve conflicts and ensure that harmony is achieved in the project processes.
Under the principle of the doctrine of the mean, the traditional project management in China is
rather cautious, repressed and modest. With the principle of achieving harmony between team
members are emphasised using the idea that differences in opinion would potentially yields to
conflict, and that conflict is not beneficial for the project, then individuals are expected to work

8
in unison through discarding their individual attributes in order to prevent disagreements
amongst members. Doctrine of the mean, when being reinforced to project management system
in China, would give a peculiar tendency in the management, in which preserving status quo and
high degree of uncertainty avoidance is more preferred.

It must be noted that most literature would emphasise the importance of project teamwork in the
project management objectives; that the project managers are required in order to enforce and
ensure that teamwork had been the primary priority within the project. The concept of project
management in the west itself can never be separated from the primary values of cooperation,
communication, trust as well as teamwork as stated by Kerzner (2000). The concept of teamwork
in the Western style project management is also prevalent with the concept introduced by Kliem
et. Al (1997), which stated that a system in the project should include the functions of the project
teams, which is the integrated and multifunctional entity which are tasked to deliver a particular
product within the project. In this sense to adhere to the concept of communication introduced by
Kerzner, it is outlined that the participation of every team members would be beneficial. What is
considered to be a team is not a collection of elite and specialised individuals which forms the
backbone of the project, while other members merely served as the condiments.
Referring to the primary concept of integration within the project management, then each
discipline possesses their own role in order to provide significant contribution in order to ensure
that the project would be successfully accomplished. Considering that in this sense, project
management is contributable to the actions in integrating a variety of complex activities from
different disciplinary background, then project management activities can be considered as a
team-based activities. This is also strongly emphasised by the definition provided by Briner et.
Al (1996), in which the project management activities are defined as the activities to fulfil the
stakeholders’ objectives by managing both visible and invisible team involved in the process.

In some sense, such characteristic would directly conflicted with the Chinese cultural value, in
which family and kinship relationship are often prioritised in conducting the business, again, this
is also related to yet another concept prevalent in the ‘wu lun’ Chinese relationship principle
which stresses the importance of relationship between family members. ‘Wu lun’ further
emphasise that there are relationship adherence where individuals which are not related
biologically to a person should also be perceived as the ‘family’ members in case that these
individuals yields an esteemed societal position. In ancient times, leaders and rules are often
regarded to possess the role as parents to the society, and this is still somewhat adhered in China
as of today and it is also exhibited in the organisational structure to some extent. This clansman-
family based adherence and societal perception is further reinforced by the presence of personal
relationship which effectively operates in concentric, peripheral composition. The arrangement
of the structure would emphasise the close family members at the core circles, followed by
distant relatives, friends and acquaintances in a subsequent manner, according to their respective
degree of trust and relationship distances (Li et. Al, 2000). For this reason, it is not uncommon to
see that prioritisation would follows in the Chinese management practices, where importance of
relationship may be prioritised over the actual capability and quality of the project members.

This traditional value had often be criticised to be a progress halting nepotism in managerial
disciples. Talented individuals may experience hardships to be enlisted as the project members in
case that they do not possess, family or kinship related relationship with the project leader or

9
project stakeholders. Subsequently, this will bestow several disadvantages which may cripple the
quality of the project management. Furthermore, it is a common knowledge that nepotism-based
favouring is widely considered to be an unacceptable practise within western management
project for several reasons.
First of all, as it has been previously indicated above, the orientation towards relationship is
perceived to be unsupportive towards the temporary nature which is present in both project and
the project team. Secondly, western project management approaches stressed out the presence
and importance of great degree of diversity in the project (Kinlaw, 1998); this is certainly in
conflict with the principle which considers that the family members are homogenous (and
subsequently, enlistment of family members into the project would create a homogenous project
environment). Thirdly, the evaluation of project members’ value based on kinship is directly
conflicting with the performance evaluation system which is conducted in the west: in a sense
that members’ project values is measured through performance and achievements (Laurent,
1983; Ronen and Shenkar, 1985). Finally, the principle of existence of leader which is often
perceived to be similar as the main leaders of family in Chinese culture is also conflicting with
the value which is suggested by the Western Project Management, that every member within a
project, regardless of their hierarchical position, should play and assume important roles in the
project team.

Of course, such cultural orientation would undoubtedly causes differences in regards to the
orientations which prevail in the project management between the western and Chinese practises.
Western project management emphasise the importance of the project members to be task-
oriented, instead of leader-oriented. In other words, the Andersen (2003) remarked that western
project management approach expects that the project members should solely focused in
completing their given tasks in a cooperative manners and in such instance, no one is permitted
to distract the project members in order to accomplish their given task. In the West, most projects
are predominantly exhibiting this task based characteristic instead of the organisation based
focus.

Andersen’s remarks presented above strongly hints that the project management is heavily task
oriented and the project members are expected to be motivated based on their roles in tasks by
the time they are given the responsibility and associated towards the tasks. In further
consideration that no one is permitted to hamper these project members in accomplishing their
tasks, then it is safe to conclude that relationships in the project are relatively peripheral and
fluctuating in nature. Again, this conflicted against the proposed societal value which is adhered
by the Chinese; that relationship amongst members is prioritised to achieve harmony (Tsui,
2001).
Furthermore, it is important to notice that the Chinese culture is strongly adhering to the
hierarchical concepts and context of leadership and management, as previously discussed above.
Leadership orientation in Chinese project management approach is widely inhibited through the
presence of patriarchal family system, in which a person who possesses prominent hierarchical
position is encouraged to employ such position as the most important aspect of social evaluation
or as a tool for commanding respect (Wang, 2002). Accordingly this is also further stressed out
with the notion that each and every organisation would always possess a leader, whose authority
must be obeyed and respected by the organisational members unconditionally.

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Moreover, Hofstede (1980) also remarked that such characteristic indicates that there is a distant
power distance relationship amongst the Chinese and such characteristic is also inherent in
Chinese culture. Subsequently, this would indicate that Chinese management style is more
oriented towards the leadership role and authority segment instead of orientations towards
project members’ respective tasks.

Traditional Chinese culture and organisational members’ value are mostly generalised to be
leadership oriented, as the members are perceived to be more eager in pleasing their direct
superiors through their organisational conduct, instead of more focused on completing the tasks
which are designated to them. Of course, completing the tasks in a prudent manner would makes
the superiors pleased, but in case of the Chinese organisational members, their attempts of
pleasing the superiors and their prioritisation of such objective would often ends up making them
enlisting ‘any means necessary’ approaches which, in some happenstances, may also sacrifice
the esteem of other members. In project management, this directly conflicted with the principle
of integration which was sought by the western project management concept. Furthermore, this
leadership-oriented mechanism would actually hamper further development of the project, as the
information flow is theoretically, solely restricted only to the “good news” for the project leaders
and project stakeholder, whereas other weaknesses which may actually indicates defects are
preferred to be hidden by the subordinates.

2.3. Project Management Approaches in China Nowadays

With the ongoing population growth and rapid speed of urbanisation from the villages to big
Chinese cities, the need of constructions and establishment of public facilities had been a top-
notch priority for the Chinese government, and to some extent, it also helped them to finally
realise that they need to be innovative in regards to their project management approaches and
enhancing the efficiency and effectiveness in their approaches. One of the approaches would be
to start to adapt some forms of project management approaches for construction projects in
China.

In the past, expert engineers and scientists had been hired to take care of the projects. However,
due to the differences in project management style, many of these hired engineers and scientists
are mostly unable to perform in the most effective manner. As such, both Chinese government
and corporations are now actively looking for foreign management or IT experts, as reflected
through China’s 11th 5-year plan, where the development of human resources aspects are directed
to produce global talents, whereas Chinese companies are now expanding their business to take
cross border project initiatives where they are involved into several projects such as the railway,
energy, mining and of course, construction. Many of China’s monumental creations and unique
buildings such as the sporting facilities which are established for Olympic games are actually
constructed using a semblances of western project management approaches in its construction
process.

The interaction of China to the foreign projects and the entrants of expatriate project managers
greatly enhance the standardisation towards the project handling methodologies and how project
managements are now practised in the country, this had allowed the Chinese to enjoy greater
coordination and enhanced cooperation between their project members during times where they
are required to conduct projects in a larger scale. While China had been categorised as

11
developing country in the past and its traditional project management was often characterised to
be ineffective and inefficient by western project management practitioners, China’s most recent
rapid economic development and development of the Chinese construction industries had been
supported through the wise utilisation of project management techniques, which provides the
country with a competitive edge in the global competitions.

While it is relatively late for China to realise and adopt the project management concept from
western countries, the speed in which they adopt to the western project management concept is
remarkable, nonetheless. So far, in eastern part of China (particularly big, industrialised, coastal
economic-centre cities), there has been widespread modifications and adoptions of the western
project management techniques which replaced the traditional project management approaches.
Such condition had been contributable to the rapid development in the Eastern Chinese cities
over the past two decades. Some Chinese firms had started to adopt a decentralised project
management concept (Park and Luo, 2001). This, topped with the entry of foreign enterprises
(which further introduces organisational concept which is supportive to the western project
management concept), and government initiatives on project management (to introduce western
project management courses in schools and academies) further alter the traditional concepts of
Chinese project management through the introductions of western project management concepts
and approaches.

Regardless of the changes and alterations however, there are still indications that the Chinese
managers would still maintain some semblances of their former, traditional project management
approaches. Accordingly, such behaviour is rather reasonable, considering that the traditional
project management in China is heavily rooted upon societal culture, and somewhat representing
the societal and cultural values which are adhered by the Chinese. Subsequently, this would give
raise to unique patterns of project management in China and there are arguments that “hybrid”
project management approaches had been adopted, which is the mixture of western, foreign
project management approach which still retained semblances of some traditional Chinese values
and this certainly is different from any project management concepts which are present in the
rest of the world (Gale and Luo, 2004).

One of the most inherent difference between the characteristic of the Chinese project
management approaches against the project management approaches applied in the west would
be that they differs in regards to the protocol. As indicated by the previous explanation regarding
the nature of the western project management approach, the task-based principle in the western
project management approach often emphasise a rigid, standardised and systematic procedures in
accomplishing the tasks. Hong and Engelstrom (2004) remarked that in China, while this tasks-
based orientation had been exhibited in many projects, the Chinese projects are still perceived to
run in a more flexible, less rigid manner. The sponsors and executives would mostly take the
accountability for the well-being of the project, while they serve to oversee and coordinate the
project tasks, they are given the ultimate accountability and responsibility for any mistakes
during the conducts or defects after the projects had been finished. This new structure is
perceived to be very favourable using the assessment by Schein (1992), as it requires the project
leaders to actively inspect the project quality and actively involved with the project members,
while effectively negate the premises of the basic Chinese “leadership based” culture where only
pleasing reports are submitted to the project leaders.

12
Furthermore, there are emphases on meetings for both programs and project managers, where
brainstorming and discussions of different opinions are reinforced; this actually hints the
adoption and adherence to the concept of communication and teamwork, two out of the four
most prevalent western project management characteristics by Kerzner (2000). For construction
industries in China, such meetings are often centred into aspects of resource allocations project
designs, to ensure controlled, constant stream of resource.
Trust, another of the fundamental characteristic in Kerzner’s western project management
concept, had also gained prominence, as the Chinese project managers are now vying to gain the
trust from the stakeholders through continuous personal communications with the project
stakeholders, to identify their key priority and their objective in the project and forming a trust-
founded alliance between the stakeholders and the managers.
What is interesting to be noted from this concept of establishing trust in the most recent project
management attempts in China, would be the considerations that project managers in China
perceive stakeholder management as one of the most crucial aspects and their cultural nature
presents a more convoluted approaches in the engagement with shareholder, especially in regards
to how important relationship is perceived in the Chinese culture, hence their pattern of
stakeholder engagement is more complicated than the overall approaches used in western project
management approaches (Hoon-Halbauer, 1999).

Furthermore, there are also shifts from the traditional perception which focused on the family
relationship as the basic quality in valuing the contributions of the project members in a
particular project and that there are wider chances of employment available for the project
professionals to be enlisted in a prominent construction company without the need of family
relationship (Lewis, 1998). In the other hand however, there are still remnants of authoritative,
vertical organisational structure in the current Chinese project management system; aside from
exhibiting their expertise, the project managers are also expected to possess a sense of authority
to gain acknowledgement and respect during their assignment. The cultural quality of authority is
particularly still evident in case that there are greater power gap between the professional in
question against his/her subordinates, and in case that the project manager may not be able to
exert the authoritative position, then it is very likely that their Chinese peers are acting politely
indifferent to his/her presence, as explained by Zoninsein (2011).
Similar with many cases surrounding cultural differences in management concept, it is ultimately
important for the project managers in China to demonstrate a degree of willingness in order to
learn about the established systems and subsequently recognising the importance of values
embedded within the project, although the project management approach in question may has
great degree of conflict towards the personal belief of the project managers, in regards to the best
approaches in conducting the project (Easterby-Smith et. Al, 1995).

Disparity in regards to the authoritative position is also justified, considering that project
managers are still required to adhere to the expectations of the stakeholders, regardless on their
initiatives, there are emphases towards the need to show respect and politeness to the superiors,
which is also exhibited in the relationship between the project managers and the stakeholders or
especially, project members towards the key decision makers; and such aspect is extremely
important to establish trust and consensus between both parties (Lee, 1996).

13
Another inherent characteristic which is still prevalent in the Chinese project management
approaches would be the lack of emphasis over planning. Chinese project management had
greater emphasis on the execution and project basics are often overlooked. As a compensation
however, Chinese project managers exert emphases on the process flexibility, in which the
projects are conducted as the situation deemed, this flexible protocol bestow the project with
easy switch in case of sudden changes. Finally, there are also widespread criticisms over the
Chinese construction projects which are deemed to have lack of environmental sustainability.
Indeed, several constructions in China had been associated with environmental damage, such as
the case of the construction of Three Gorges Dam. While initially indifferent towards the
environmental impact on the projects, the Chinese had started to develop some sort of
environmental awareness in the project, as the Chinese government, in face of global awareness,
had started to develop environmental project protocols and encourage construction industries to
exert sustainability into their projects.

The mixtures of the project management approach which highlights the instalment of some
traditional Chinese value upon the western project management framework actually provided
good lessons for project management practitioners. The philosophy of the western project
management system which stressed out the importance of conducting in-depth planning in each
parts of the system and analysing each process by using logical analysis before finally
formulating an absolute conclusion, is completely different from the concept which is adhered by
the Chinese (who, as indicated above, do not heavily emphasise upon planning). Instead, Chen
and Partington (2004) suggested that it may be useful to reflect upon the great degree of
flexibility exhibited in the Chinese project system. As their emphasis is located upon the
execution of the planning, Chinese project management approaches are mostly characterised
with a thorough analysis upon the whole system, determining interconnection between different
elements which are involved in the project and finally, using intuitive synthesis in order to solve
any upcoming problems.
This new approach in Chinese project management nonetheless suggesting that project
management should be considered as a system which is composed of ready-to-deploy functions
which are expected to be able to handle urgent situations or sudden changes based on their
learning from the concept of the whole project system (Chen, 1995). There are arguments which
used this particular characteristic in order to criticise the western project management approach
and advised that the adherers to the concept to consider neglecting the idea of finding the best
solutions and wasting time on general project planning as the result. Yet in regards for the
construction projects however, it may be better to exert greater degree on planning, since defect
during construction can be fatal, thus the extent of the full benefits of this generalised project
management approach may better be questioned depending on the nature of the project which is
being conducted. Regardless, the Chinese concept that absolutism should never be considered in
the project management process remained as a good contemplation, as it stresses out the
importance of being flexible in projects, given that the Chinese project management approaches
stressed out the idea of relativism instead of absolutism. Depending on the condition during the
execution and supervision of the project, initial planning should be changed and changes should
have been anticipated through the analyses of the whole system.

There is also a good aspect which becomes a distinguishing feature of the Chinese project
management approach: that there are emphases on human relationship in the project process.

14
Criticism that the task-based orientation which is exhibited in the western project management
approach is sometimes centred upon the lack of human interaction; that such task-based
mechanism assumes that manpower in a project is similar to machine. As it has been previously
indicated before, the task based focus virtually explains nothing regarding the relationship
between the project members. While the pure harmonious, conflict-averse embodiment of
humane relationship emphases in the traditional Chinese project management approach had been
modified, the alteration does not indicates that the new project management approach is purely
task-oriented, but it still emphasise discussions where reasonable conflicts are allowed for the
betterment of the project, and that conflicts in the discussions do not embody problems in the
project execution phase; instead, it may shows better approaches to improve the project conduct
(Tjosvold et. Al, 2003). They further explain that harmonious are now being synonymised with
the concept of polite and respect and mutual satisfaction in the project conduct, instead of social
conformation. Using these harmonious principles within the project, the Chinese project
management approach allowed the managers to obtain better understanding towards human
nature and stronger perception regarding human resource management issue through
understanding towards the feeling and intentions of the project stakeholder.
Tjosvold and Sun (2002) believed that harmonious social relationship is also reinforced in the
project system, in a sense that the Chinese project management approach, after being influenced
by some concepts in the western project management, now considers that the workforce should
be arranged instead of managed. In this sense, the arrangement would be the best position
placement for the project member to ensure that they are satisfied with their newly bestowed role
in the project, while ensuring that the appointed role will also be based on the best interest of the
project leaders and stakeholders.
The Chinese project management approach considered that relationship between team members
and mutual understanding which may motivate unified conducts between team members would
actually conform to the idea that a good project management should be based on cooperation and
teamwork, as mutual understanding between members would undoubtedly makes it easier to
conduct both aspects of cooperation and teamwork during the conduct of the project (Liu et. Al,
2004). As such, it perceives that relationships between project members are important and
interactions are highly necessary. Tjosvold and Sun (2002) asserted that relationship itself is
often perceived to be more important than rewards and bonuses, considering that good
relationship may motivate greater degree of harmony hence subsequently resulting in greater
degree of effectiveness and quality of the project’s final result; better than giving rewards or
bonuses for individual performances .

Emphasis on importance of leadership had long been considered to be what is currently lacking
in the western project management approach. In other words, the very aspect which had been
previously described: the lack of leadership and authority line within the western project
management approach. The traditional project management approaches in China had exhibited
on how a leader should act over the course of the project, as an authoritative figure that is
bestowed with responsibility in order to oversee the whole process of the project. However,
recent changes in the concept further encourage the project leader to actively takes part on
improving the project quality, as they are now equipped with the responsibility to the project
stakeholder thus they are required to actively supervise the project processes. The supervision
would allow active orders and provide a clear authority for reporting and discussion purposes
over the course of the project, to ensure that the project would run smoothly.

15
 CHAPTER III
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

3.1. Research Method Concepts

Generally, researchers of all disciples may select either one of the two general research methods
which are available: the qualitative research method or the quantitative research methods. There
are great differences between both of these research approaches, especially in regards to their
method of collecting and analysing the data, as well as the difference in regards to the
interpretations of the research results. However, it is also not uncommon to see that several
researches may resorted to combining both research approaches altogether into a mixed research
approach. This is usually done in case that the researcher believe that the sole usage of a specific
method (either solely resorting on qualitative or quantitative) may not be able to reveal
satisfactory information and the combination of both approaches would be necessary in order to
enhance the overall research results.

Accordingly, this research will apply the usage of combination on both research approach
method in order to analyse the application and feasibility of applying western project
management approaches in China. Each of these corresponding research methods will be applied
through the analysis of the data by using the quantitative research methods and enhancing by
incorporating the usage of qualitative research approaches in order to provide better discussions
and in-depth explanations regarding the conclusions and quantitative findings from the data
analysis in this research.

In order to collect any relevant data which would be analysed in this research, the research would
resort to the usage of questionnaires in order to derive any relevant primary data from the
respondents and research samples. All of the information which had been derived through the
usage of the questionnaire will be processed further and presented based on the mixed research
approaches described above.

Silverman (2006) noted that the usages of qualitative research approaches within social research
mostly shares similar characteristic; in a sense that most of them are intended to observe and
analysing a prevalent social or scientific case, trend or situation. As such, the users of this
research approach would be encouraged to look for more information to support their analyses.
Accordingly, Patton (2002) remarked that qualitative research approaches are mostly
characterised with the presence of intense, in-depth literature review and subsequently, the
attempts of contextual interpretations by the users of this method. The main feature of the
qualitative research also stressed out that the users of this research approach would be more
concerned in finding and determining the core, underlying cause within an issue. Marshall and
Rossman (2010) further commented that such identification is mostly obtained through in-depth
analysis towards unstructured information which are available from a large collection of
literature. Such characteristic in which the qualitative researches are hinted to be strongly centred
upon the notion that there are intense usages of literature review and text interpretations would
subsequently becomes the fundamental research characteristic within qualitative research
analysis.

16
In the other hand, the quantitative research approach is generally characterised with the usage of
data which are mostly structured in numerical orders and therefore, is able to be analysed using
statistical methods. For this particular characteristic, it is very common for the quantitative
research approaches to be strongly associated with the statistical data analysis methods.

Therefore, according to the characteristics which are described above, the design within this
research would employ the usage of quantitative research analysis in order to analyse the primary
data which are available through the questionnaire. In other words the approaches prevalent
within the quantitative research would be employed in order to analyse the results and
information which are obtained from the questionnaire which had been distributed to the
respondents and those which are coming from the result of the direct inquiry with the
respondents. Considering that inquiries and questionnaires distributed to the respondents may not
yet been structured appropriately, then the quantitative research approach would be able to
structure the data and highlighting the information. Furthermore, most of the data will be
structured in form of numbers or in numerical orders; considering this particular characteristic,
then the usage of statistical analyses would be very appropriate within the research. This will
also becomes the main reason for the researcher in order to qualify this research approaches into
the framework of the quantitative research approach, considering that the quantitative research
approaches is mostly associated and characterised with presence of statistical analysis.
Also, reflecting on the consideration that most of the quantitative research approach had similar
main attribute where statistical analysis are conducted towards the numerically structured data
and therefore, highly reliant to statistical analysis, the researcher had also considered to select
proper statistical tools to analyse the variables within the research.

However, considering that there are several types of statistical approaches in the quantitative
research analysis, it will be necessary to highlight and describe the particular statistical analysis
approach which is used within this research. Accordingly, the researcher had chosen to use the
descriptive statistic research approaches. This particular method is capable of providing the
explanations regarding the result of the questionnaire and structuring the quantitative data. This
statistical analysis approach is also able to provide proper description regarding the result of the
questionnaire. The descriptive presentation of the questionnaire result is also very beneficial in
order to inform the inherent characteristics which are inhibited in the primary data; regarding the
applications and feasibility of applying western project management methods in China.
Subsequently, the research result which exhibits the data will be presented and subsequent
explanations of the conditions they respectively represent will also be exhibited to provide
explanations about the nature of the result.

In the other hand, the main focus of the qualitative research within the discussions in this
research would be more emphasised on the attempts in identifying the current presence of
western project management in China and the extent of its adoption in the Chinese construction
industry, as well as identifying potential barriers which may hamper the full application of the
western project management technique in the Chinese construction industry. The enlistment of
this qualitative research approach in obtaining the primary data to accompany the usage of
quantitative research method to analyse the data is actually expected to provide concise, in-depth
description regarding the actual perspective of the project managers in China about the issue.
This perspective will be explained by enlisting arguments and findings from previous studies,

17
analysis and findings from experts and previous researchers listed within the library study
component within this study.
The quantitative analytical framework would be specifically employed in order to analyse and
arrange the results from the questionnaire which had been returned by the respondents and
regarded as valid for further analysis (free from information insufficiencies and had fulfilled the
criteria established by the researcher). Given that most of the data which would be extracted
from the questionnaire would be structured in numerical orders, then it is very necessary to enlist
the usage of statistical analysis which would subsequently qualifies into the framework of the
quantitative research analysis

3.2. Research Instruments

3.2.1. Data Collecting Approaches
As it has been previously described, the main feature of data collection approach would be the
enlistment of questionnaire in order to derive any necessary, relevant primary data from the
respondents, which would in turn, be analysed and processed in order to derive the research
conclusions and outlining the final outcome.

In regards to the conduct of the questionnaire, the researcher will conduct online distribution of
the questionnaire to the respondents. E-mails containing the questionnaire and instructions on the
questionnaire shall be mailed to the respondents, after obtaining permit and correspondence from
the companies where the respondents are currently working in; this is done through direct contact
using phone calls to the construction companies in China. Such approach is chosen due to the
relative distance of the researcher’s current domicile against the respondents’. The questionnaire
which had been fully filled and answered by the respondents and subsequently fulfilled the
sampling criteria which is applied within this research would be chosen as the main data source
within the research, considering that the data which had fulfilled the sampling criteria should be
able to provide concurrent explanations regarding the current application of western project
management in China and identifying any potential barriers which may hamper its full adoption.

The reason of using the questionnaires as the main approaches to conduct data collecting
activities would rest upon the fact that questionnaire had been widely considered to be capable of
providing the real-time conditions which persists within the sample and its benefit in providing
practical information. This is based on the consideration that most information in the
questionnaire is directly derived from the real practitioners in the project management issues in
China, thus they should have possessed adequate experiences, knowledge as well as
understanding regarding the qualities which are prevalent in their project management conducts.
Moreover, personal experiences of the respondents may also become a good informational tool
to describe their personal concern over the application of western project management activities
in China.

The qualitative based, questionnaire data collecting methods is also selected based on the opinion
of Maxwell (2005) who considers that the usage of qualitative approaches within the data
collection method is beneficial, in regards to the high degree of flexibilities in the data-collecting
process. Maxwell justified that the qualitative data collection approach is virtually no subjected
towards a particular type of limitations. Instead, the qualitative data collection approach

18
considered that everything enlisted in the researchers’ personal experiences can also be regarded
as data which may provide contributions for the research
Considering that the researcher emphasise the importance of data validity in a sense that the data
which had been obtained should fully representing the current situation of project management in
the Chinese construction industry, then combining the questionnaire using the qualitative data
gathering methods would undoubtedly be appropriate.

Since the researcher believed that the obtained data must totally representing the situation of the
population, hence the usage of questionnaire combined with the qualitative data collecting
approach is a very appropriate research data gathering method. The qualitative data collection
approach is also not solely based on the attempts of gathering primary data; it also involves the
collection and compilation of secondary data, particularly towards previous researches and
analyses regarding the project management issues which are available in various, diverse array of
texts and literatures regarding project management in China.

3.2.2. Data Analysis Tools

Considering that this research is applying the usage of questionnaire in order to derive the
primary data in this research, the researcher would subsequently consider to apply the usage of
statistical tools in order to analyse the data and predicting the result of the quantitative data
analysis approaches in this research.
In order to simplify the process of the analysis and providing greater degree of accuracy, the
researcher would apply the usage of statistical computer software, SPSS ver. 17.0 in order to
arrange the data and providing statistical analysis on the nature of the data. This statistical tool
would solely be applied in order to provide proper analysis from the result of the questionnaire
and highlighting any relevant information from the data which had been obtained from the
questionnaire. This would allow the researcher to outline the highlights regarding the real-life
information about the application of western project management approach in China based on
the responses which are available from the questionnaires which had been answered by the
respondents.

To further support the usage of the descriptive statistical method to draw the conclusions
regarding the inherent characteristic of the project management approach in China, the
researcher would also enlist the usage of literature discussions which outlines opinions,
conclusions and previous findings from experts and past researches. Therefore, the composition
of the data analysis tools would subsequently be extended by enlisting the literature reviews to
strengthen the result of the questionnaire analysis using the idea that literature analysis had the
capability in organizing the information which had been gathered, hence the enlistment of the
literature review as analysis segment is highly encouraged.

In order to support the usage of the descriptive statistical method in order to draw the
conclusions, the researcher would also employ the usage of the discussions available from
diverse literatures which contains the opinions from the experts regarding the topic in which this
research attempted to solve. Therefore, the presence of literature review as a data analysis tool is
also necessary in order to strengthen the result of the questionnaire analysis with the literature
discussions and with the consideration that the literature analysis capability to organize the
gathered information (Hart, 1998), the presence of this research aspect is highly encouraged.

19
Furthermore, the data will also be arranged by using computer software, particularly for the
Microsoft Office Series in order to provide proper presentation for the readers.

3.3. Sampling Approach

Considering that this research incorporates the usage of questionnaire in order to collect relevant,
primary data, the researcher considers that it is necessary to establish a sample based from the
population. In order to derive necessary sampling, the researcher would incorporate that usage of
purposive sampling approaches in two steps. First step would be to narrow the scope of the
questionnaire distribution only to respondents which are working in the Chinese construction
companies (for both private and state-funded companies). Secondly, there are also several
purposive sampling criteria which would be imposed towards the questionnaire which had been
returned and fully filled by the respondents in order to ensure that the information which is
applied in this research is relevant. Accordingly, the criteria which are applied in this research is
listed as follows:
- Individuals who possess experiences in the Chinese construction industries for at least 2
years when he/she being interviewed.
- Individuals who are still legally enlisted as full-time employees, owners or shareholders
of a Chinese construction company until August 11th, 2013.

3.4. Research Limitations

There are also several limitations which had been encountered by the researcher during the
course of designing this research. Two of the most prominent limitations would be the lack of
time and lack of funds in order to conduct thorough research. It must be noted that there are
differences between the domiciles of the researcher against the domicile of the respondents, the
lack of time and funds would make it not feasible for the researcher to conduct traveling to
China.
Furthermore, it may be important to consider the basic notion of the project management aspect
in China, which is considered to be continuously improving and evolving time-to-time with the
development of new Chinese project management concept and further introduction of the
western project management concept into the Chinese construction industry. As such, the
findings of this research may not be suitable to be used in the long-run. However, this research
can be used as a theoretical framework for future researches which attempted to conduct
comparative investigation regarding the development of the project management issues in the
Chinese construction industry.

20
 CHAPTER IV
ANALYSIS OF DATA AND INTERPRETATION OF RESULTS

4.1. Questionnaire Results

4.1.1. Purposive Sampling Results
The researcher had created and distributed the total of 150 questionnaires to the construction
companies in China. Accordingly, out of these 150 questionnaires, there were 141 questionnaires
which had been appropriately filled and returned to the researcher for further analysis. Therefore,
these questionnaires would further be processed using the purposive sampling criteria previously
described in Chapter III. Considering that these questionnaires are directly distributed to the
company e-mail through permissions on the authority, all of the respondents in this research are
still effectively listed under employment in their respective company.
The result of purposive sampling in this research is presented as follows:

Table 4.1.
Purposive Sampling Progress
Question
NO: QUESTION CONTENTS
What is your gender?
1 a Male 98
b Female 43
Please select your age range from the list below:
a < 20 years old 23
2 b 20-35 years old 61
c 36-51 years old 48
d > 51 years old 9
How long have you been involved in the project management issues?
a < 2 Years 24
3 b 2-4 Years 54
c 5-7 Years 50
d > 7 years 13
What is your employment status?
4 a Full-time 107
b Part-time 10

The questionnaire had actually been designed in order to filter only relevant respondents in order
to cope with the standard of the purposive sampling which is applied by the researcher. Question
no.1 and 2 describe the initial, general characteristic of the sampling data, whereas the purposive
sampling question is located in question no. 3 and 4 for the adequate experience level and the
criteria of the employment level for each of the respondents, respectively.
Initially, out of the 141 samples gained from the population, there were 24 individuals (outlined
by red fonts) who possess less than 2 years experience within the project management issues,
hence per the first criteria, they would subsequently be excluded from further discussions,
reducing the initial sample members into 127 individuals. Furthermore, after the 4 th question
which contains the secondary purposive sampling criteria is presented, the sample is further
reduced by 10 individuals, who are currently not listed as full time employees in their respective
company. Therefore, the total sample in this research would be 107 individuals.
4.1.2. Basic Sample Characteristics

21
After the final sample of 107 individuals had been successfully derived, the next step would be
to describe the characteristics of the primary samples in this research, which is summarised by
table 4.2 below:

Table 4.2.
Sample’s Characteristics
Question
QUESTION CONTENTS
NO:
Are you an expatriate? Or Chinese citizens?
5 a Expatriate 25
b Chinese 82
Have you ever involved in managements of Domestic Project?
6 a Yes 107
b No 0
Have you ever involved in managements of Foreign Project?
7 a Yes 65
b No 42
Please tick a project position which you have experienced during your tenure (you may select more
than one options)
a Field work / practitioners / labours 46
8
b Operational/Field Supervisor 54
c Designer/Managers 29
d Project Stakeholder 15
What is the type of your company?
9 a Privately-owned (including FDIs) 74
b State-owned 33

According to the result presented above, it can be seen that most of the respondents are Chinese
citizens (82 individuals) with 25 others are enlisted as expatriates. All of these respondents had
also involved in management of domestic construction projects, whereas there are 42 individuals
who had not yet managed projects which are sponsored by foreign companies or those projects
which are located outside China.
Generally, the respondents are encompassing operational segments which involves field work
and supervisory tasks along with project management; most of them had experienced the
positions of practitioners and supervisors (46 and 54 out of 107, respectively), whereas there are
lesser degree of presence for project stakeholder (which only encompass 15 individuals out of
107 respondents). At last, most of the respondents (74 individuals) are working in a private
company and the remaining are enlisted as employees of state-owned companies.

4.2. The Application of Western Project Management Approaches in China

This particular chapter segment would present the result of the questionnaire regarding the
application of foreign project management approaches in China. Accordingly, the results would
be presented in segmented basis to provide easy, step-by-step discussion for the readers in order
to comprehend the issues.

Question
QUESTION CONTENTS
NO:
10 Have you ever applied, or being taught about the usage of foreign project management approaches?

22
 a Yes 85
b No 22
In your opinion, had the Chinese government appropriately advocate the usage of western project
management techniques?
11 a Yes 98
b No 5
c Neutral 4

The results highlighted above indicate that there are spread of the western project management
techniques in China in a relatively favourable manner, evident with the fact that most of the
respondents (85 individuals) had experienced the usage of western project management system.
Interestingly, all of the respondents who are working in State-owned companies also select this
option, indicating that the Chinese government also tried to practise the western based project
approaches in their construction projects. Moreover, most respondents agreed that the Chinese
government had helped in advocating the spread and usage of the western project management
techniques in China. Thus it can be outlined that the government plays crucial role in the spread
of the western project management system in China.

In an attempt to measure the adoption and spread of the Western project management in China,
the researcher had designed questions in order to determine the extent of familiarity (knowledge)
and adoption (experience) of the Western project management approach in China by the
practitioners. Accordingly, the result is outlined by Figure 4.1. presented below:

Figure 4.1.
Familiarity and Adoption of Western Management Approaches in China
120
100
80
60
40
20
0
E2 d d ILE d t)
ho iSM ho G ho en Knowledge
INC et PR et A et em Experience
PR in
M
in
M M ag
ed n
Ch
a ha as M
a
al -t C -s b
c en s on
iti Ev ce ati
Cr Pr
o li s
ea
st R
efi
Ben
(
M
BR

Based on the question, the researcher had selected 7 of the most commonly encountered western
project management approaches which are: PRINCE2, Critical Chain, Event-Chain, Process-
based Methods, PRiSM, AGILE and Benefits realisation management (BRM). Accordingly,
based on the results presented above, it can be seen that the rate of familiarity for the project
management methods which are selected above is relatively high, as more than half of the
respondents had known of the methods or at least are familiar with it.

23
However, despite of them knowing many of these western project management techniques, it
seemed that the applications of these methods are not highly widespread in practice of the project
management in China. For exception of theoretical, universal methods such as critical chain,
event-chain and process based management methods, other methods are relatively not widely
practised in the Chinese construction companies

Questio
QUESTION CONTENTS
n NO:
Which type of project management approach which is more comfortable for you?
1
a Domestic, Traditional Chinese Approaches 0
14 2
b Foreign Project Management Method 4
7
c Combination of both Project Management Method 3
Based on your personal opinion, what would be your feeling towards the application of western
project management approaches?
a Very Useful 4
2
b Useful 1
15
5
c Neutral 5
2
d Useless 5
e Very Useless 2

In your opinion, what is the BEST benefit of adopting the western project management techniques in
comparison to the Chinese traditional project management approach?

a Reducing Costs 8
b Improving Construction Quality 5
16 1
c Enhancing Efficiency in Resource Allocations 2
5
d Improving Timeliness 1
2
e Improving Employees' Peformance 4
f None of the above 7

In regards to their perception regarding the project management approaches in China, most of the
respondents (73 respondents) would prefer that strict exclusivity and total adherence to a
particular project management concept is not considered as a comfortable option. Instead, it is
advised that both of these approaches should be combined.
In this regards, it may also be interesting to see that there are preference patterns which prevails
between the respondents who select particular comfortable methods, where there are no Chinese
respondents who are comfortable with foreign, western project management method and there
are no expatriates who are comfortable with the traditional Chinese project management method.
This condition indicates that initial learning may be contributable towards particular method’s
preferences.

24
The general attitudes of the respondents (55 respondents) are also relatively neutral in regards to
the application of Western project management approaches in China and most of them perceived
that the best feature of the western project management approach lies in its capability in order to
enhance efficiency and timeliness in the project (51 and 24 respondents, respectively).
Questio
QUESTION CONTENTS
n NO:
Would you fully adapt a project management technique from the western countries to your project in
China?
17 a Yes, it can be fully adapted (Skip the next question) 6
b No, there must be adjustments beforehand 88
c No, there are significant, irreconcilable differences (Skip the next question) 13
What reason did you consider as the most important reason to modify western project management
methods in China from the list presented below?
a Availability of Funds 10
b Differences in Costs 19
c Differences in Logistical Infrastructure 15
18
d Language Differences 1
e Cultural Value Differences 25
f Governmental Intervention 7
g Differences in Environmental Concern 9
h Other (Please Elaborate) 2
In your opinion, is there any barrier which may hamper the application of Western project
management approaches in China?
19 10
a Yes 4
b No (Skip the next question) 3
Subscribing to the previous question, what would be the primary barrier aspect which may hamper
20 the application of western project management approaches in China?
a Economic 32
b Cultural 44
c Political 9
d Environment 22

Despite of their relatively neutral, indifferent attitude, it must be noted that nearly all of the
respondents (101 individuals) would agree that full adoption of western project management
approach may not be a wise option in China. Instead, there are suggestions that the project
management methods must first be assimilated through sets of adjustments in order for them to
be fully adoptable for the Chinese project framework. In this regards, the most important reason
would be the differences in cultural values, logistic infrastructure as well as costs structure.
This response is in line with the respond by the respondents in regards to their perception of the
barriers which may hamper the application of project management approach in China, in this
respect; most of them (76 respondents) would agree that cultural and economic barriers would be
the most affecting barrier in order to adopt the project management approach in China.

4.3. Analysis of the Result

Based on the questionnaire result which had been highlighted above, it can be seen that to some
extent, the Chinese had applied some sort of western project management approaches, or at least,
is familiar to some of them. Apparently, this may be related to the attempts of the Chinese
government in order to advocate and fostering the adoption of the western project management
25
approaches in China. The fact that all respondents who are enlisted as state employees had
chosen that they had experienced the foreign project management approaches further justify the
findings that the government is a crucial factor which determines the extent of spread of the
western project management approaches’ adoption. Such condition is also normal, considering
that the government would mostly allows its projects to be pilot projects in order to test the
feasibility of the new project management techniques from the west, before the method is
advocated to the public (Jenner et. Al, 1998). This would become one of the primary reasons as
of why the state-funded construction companies are more proficient in terms of western project
management approaches. Presence of strong governmental support is further justified based on
the findings that political barriers are chosen to be the least concerning barrier, whereas
governmental intervention is relatively scarce. In accordance to this, several of the western
project management methods (such as critical-chain, even-chain and process-based method)
which were introduced earlier by the government had been widely adopted in China, further
outlining the governmental importance in the application of western project management
approaches in China.

There are also indications that within the course of their introduction, the selection of the western
project management approaches would be depending upon the available resources and the nature
of the project which is undertaken by the company, as indicated by Pan and Zhang (2004).. This
is shown based on the responses of the respondents who selected several types of project
management approaches out of the available options. Such condition indicates flexibility in the
project technique selections, a characteristic which is often described as one of the primary
quality in the Chinese project management. This is evident based on the considerations that
newer methods incorporating software may not be adopted in similarly wide manners such as the
methods introduced by the government. However, there are relatively no significant problems for
most of the theoretical, conceptual project management project which are introduced by the
government such as the critical chain method, especially considering that the companies are not
required to obtain additional resources, but only to alter their allocations.

The widespread education and government role in spreading the western project management
approaches in China had somewhat altered the perception of the practitioners regarding the best
practise in the project management in China. Particular adherence to a strictly traditional concept
or the total adherence to a particular western project management techniques are no longer
considered as feasible or favourable for the project. Instead, it seemed that there is an ongoing
pattern within the Chinese construction industry which outlines the needs of reconciliation
between the western management concepts against the Chinese environment. Particularly, the
main reason for the reconciliation would be the differences in cultural environment and to some
extent, cost structure between China and the West.
Accordingly, the findings in regards to the cultural difference as the main factor had been widely
inhibited through several literatures presented in the literature review such as those by Pheng and
Leong (2000) or Tsui (2001). This study further confirms that there are some cultural differences
which may hamper the full adoption of the western project management approaches in China.
While government and state owned construction projects had started to adopt the pure western
project management approaches, it must be noted that not all Chinese privately owned
constructors would also consider that the western management approaches yields better results.
Instead, there are indications that they realise how these approaches may directly conflicted with

26
their corporate value. Particularly on this aspect, it is will be useful to reflect upon the previous
findings of Anderson et. Al (2003) which states that many Chinese corporate values are still
embedded in traditional virtues hence the cause of the rejection can be presumed to lie on the
consideration that while these approaches may theoretically yields better result, the potential
conflict between the approach against the corporate value may costs the company more than the
benefits. This indication, while may motivate some Chinese to consider that the western
management approaches are utterly unfeasible to lesser extent and causing neutral attitude, had
also motivate them to consider the option of reconciliation. Reconciliation is very feasible,
considering that not all of the western project management approach would be conflicting to the
corporate value and the Chinese may combine both traditional methods with the western project
management method in order to obtain better results. In fact, the aspect of better enhancement
towards the project timeliness had long been considered as one of the most tempting proposition
to adopt the western project management approaches in China and in many Chinese human
resources assessment, there had been an ongoing considerations on the negative impacts of the
family-centred human resource aspects prevalent in traditional project management method in
China, as highlighted by Jenner et. Al (1998) and Easterby-Smith et. Al (1995.

In addition to this finding, the researcher would also like to stress out that there are also
indications that the differences in cost structure may hamper the actual adoption of the relatively-
stringent western project management approaches. The differences in cost structure are actually
the motivating force for the Chinese managers to reduce considerations over planning and
emphasising flexibilities during the course of their projects. Lu and Wang (2004) remarked that
it is not uncommon for the Chinese to switch their suppliers of raw materials during construction
in order to obtain cost-efficiency in constructions. Differences of wages can also serve as a
motivating reason as of why the Chinese companies would prefer to be more focused on the
execution of the project instead of planning, as costs may changes depending on circumstances
in China.
Considering these findings, the respondents’ neutrality in regards to the usefulness of the pure
western management approach and their rejection towards the idea to fully adopt the western
project management approach is actually reasonable

27
 CHAPTER V
CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

5.1. Conclusions
Generally, this study would conclude that there are semblances of western project management
approaches in China. However, the adoption of the project management approach is rather
limited, in a sense that there may be various aspects which should be considered before fully
applying the western project management approach in China, as previously suggested by Lu and
Wang (2004). Generally, the Chinese are indifferent towards the prospect of fully adopting the
western management approaches into their construction projects yet they are relatively respond
negatively towards the idea of resorting to the full adherence to the traditional project
management methods.

Discussions regarding the adoption of the western project management approaches in China can
never be separated from the influence of the government in order to spread the concept and
advocate the approaches for the society. Chinese government had been considered to be the
primary force which motivates the adoption of the western project management approaches
through the programmes and systems. Moreover, as it has been stated above: state owned
construction companies are mostly content in applying these foreign approaches in precise
manners. The assimilation provided by the government had somewhat helping in changing the
traditional perceptions on how projects should be managed in China. However, the extent of
assimilation is still relatively limited and there are certain factors persisting in China which may
turns into barriers which may hamper the full adoption to the western project management
concept in China.

Similar to most of the previous studies regarding the project management in China, this study
further confirms the effect of cultural barriers which may further hamper the adoption of the
project management approaches in Chinese construction industry and confirms the findings of
both Tsui (2001) and Pheng and Leong (2000). Accordingly, this relationship can be further
traced based on the adherence to corporate values which are mostly inhibited in Chinese
companies. Considering that most Chinese corporate values are formed through the culture, full
adjustments to western values may not be feasible. Instead, this research confirms the previous
findings by Bauer (2004) who stated that there are signs that the Chinese project leaders would
conduct assimilations and adjustments in order to adapt the western project management
approaches. This would ultimately result in partial adoption and to some extent, development of
new project management framework which is exclusively available and feasible only for the
Chinese construction projects. Some concept of western project management approaches which
emphasise the focus on processes for cost efficiencies had also been adopted by the Chinese
project managers for the reason of improving the timeliness of their projects, whereas the
concepts which stressed out the performance measurement based on contributions had been
adopted in order to provide valuation towards the performance of the project members, thus
enhancing the human resource quality in the process (Easterby-Smith et. Al, 1995). Both of these
aspects had somewhat altering the basic, traditional value which was adhered by the Chinese in
the past (especially regarding the adherence to family values).
Aside from this finding, the researcher would also stressed out the notion of considering the
differences within the cost structure which may also affecting the extent of adoption of the

28
western project management. Again, differences in cost structure is often perceived to be the
main reason as of why the Chinese project managers do not exert significant emphases on the
planning, but instead, applying flexible adjustments during the course of the project.

5.2. Recommendations
Given the current situation and public perception regarding the western project management
approach, it is advised for the managers to conduct assimilation towards the western project
management approaches which they intend to use against the traditional project management
approaches in China. Direct, full adoption of the concept may not be advised in case that non-
governmental project is undertaken, under the consideration that private companies may still
cling towards the traditional values. Instead, it is strongly recommended for the practitioners in
order to consider conducting integration between the project management approaches between
the traditional Chinese project management techniques against the western project management
approaches they are intended to introduce.
What we may also learn from this conceptions and characteristics in the Chinese project
management techniques would also include the feasibility of improving the current, rigid
procedure-associated, western project management approaches using the philosophical, humane
project management approaches in Chinese framework, particularly on the concept of human
relationship during the conduct of a project.

It may also be interesting to conduct specific studies on the extent of adoption of a particular
western project management approaches in China for future researches, specifically targeting the
conceptual approaches which had been previously introduced by the Chinese government such as
the critical-chain, event-chain and process based methods.
Furthermore, this study can also be extended into a comparative study which compares two
different industries in order to determine the differences of adoption of western project
management approaches between industries.

29
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32
 APPENDIX
Tabulated Questionnaire Results
Question QUESTION CONTENTS
NO:
What is your gender?
1 a Male 98
b Female 43
Please select your age range from the list below:
a < 20 years old 23
2 b 20-35 years old 61
c 36-51 years old 48
d > 51 years old 9
How long have you been involved in the project management issues?
a < 2 Years 24
3 b 2-4 Years 54
c 5-7 Years 50
d > 7 years 13
What is your employment status?
4 a Full-time 107
b Part-time 10
Are you an expatriate? Or Chinese citizens?
5 a Expatriate 25
b Chinese 82
Have you ever involved in managements of Domestic Project?
6 a Yes 107
b No 0
Have you ever involved in managements of Foreign Project?
7 a Yes 65
b No 42
Please tick a project position which you have experienced during your tenure (you may select more
than one options)
a Field work / practitioners / labours 46
8
b Operational/Field Supervisor 54
c Designer/Managers 29
d Project Stakeholder 15
What is the type of your company?
9 a Privately-owned (including FDIs) 74
b State-owned 33
Have you ever applied the usage of foreign project management approaches?
10 a Yes 85
b No 22

33
Questio QUESTION CONTENTS
n NO:
In your opinion, had the Chinese government appropriately advocate the usage of western project
management techniques?
11 a Yes 98
b No 5
c Neutral 4
Please choose the project management approaches which you are familiar with from the list below
(you may select more than one option):
a PRINCE 2 91
b Critical Chain Method 107
12 c PRiSM 75
d Event-Chain Method 105
e AGILE 82
f Process-based Method 105
g BRM (Benefits Realisation Management) 63
Please choose the project management approaches which you had experienced from the list below
(you may select more than one option):
a PRINCE 2 59
b Critical Chain Method 80
13 c PRiSM 36
d Event-Chain Method 102
e AGILE 69
f Process-based Method 104
g BRM (Benefits Realisation Management) 26
Which type of project management approach which is more comfortable for you?
a Domestic, Traditional Chinese Approaches 10
14
b Foreign Project Management Method 24
c Combination of both Project Management Method 73
Based on your personal opinion, what would be your feeling towards the application of western
project management approaches?
a Very Useful 4
15 b Useful 21
c Neutral 55
d Useless 25
e Very Useless 2

In your opinion, what is the BEST benefit of adopting the western project management techniques in
comparison to the Chinese traditional project management approach?

a Reducing Costs 8
16 b Improving Construction Quality 5
c Enhancing Efficiency in Resource Allocations 12
d Improving Timeliness 51
e Improving Employees' Peformance 24
f None of the above 7

34
Questio QUESTION CONTENTS
n NO:
Would you fully adapt a project management technique from the western countries to your project in
China?
17 a Yes, it can be fully adapted (Skip the next question) 6
b No, there must be adjustments beforehand 88
c No, there are significant, irreconciliable differences (Skip the next question) 13
What reason did you consider as the most important reason to modify western project management
methods in China from the list presented below?
a Availability of Funds 10
b Differences in Costs 19
c Differences in Logistical Infrastructure 15
18
d Language Differences 1
e Cultural Value Differences 25
f Governmental Intervention 7
g Differences in Environmental Concern 9
h Other (Please Elaborate) 2
In your opinion, is there any barrier which may hamper the application of Western project
management approaches in China?
19 10
a Yes 4
b No (Skip the next question) 3
Subscribing to the previous question, what would be the primary barrier aspect which may hamper
the application of western project management approaches in China?
a Economic 32
20
b Cultural 44
c Sociopolitical 9
d Environment 22

35