Project Management In a Global Setting
Do you:
- know how to diagnose, describe and mold the culture in your multinational project?
- have the skills and tools to influence the role that the culture plays in promoting or inhibiting project success?
Global projects are those projects that are stirred by human and regional characteristics:
- diversities of cultures
- political and economic systems
- languages and dialects
- business and project practices
- sophistication with PM concepts and tools
Culture and change are dominant themes in the leading of multinational projects. Errors of culture and the managing of change cost considerable amounts of time, effort and money to put things right. Prevention costs are much lower than the costs of jeopardizing a career or rework. (Vicarious experience is less powerful than real experience - but it doesn't hurt as much.)
Project Management (PM) of an international project requires unique capacities. The management of culture and change requires superlative project management. Over the last several years Moravec and Associates PM consultants informally surveyed 53 project managers (from Asia Pacific, Europe, Scandinavia, and the Americas) with one to 26 years of experience leading projects that cross multinational cultures. The countries included: Australia, Indonesia, Korea, Japan, Venezuela, Colombia, Mexico, Canada, USA, United Kingdom, France, Germany, Tunisia, Egypt, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Greece, Turkey, Thailand, People's Republic of China and New Zealand.
Advice from PMs
(On numerous occasions we were requested to remind PMs that reciting culture factors does not mean the individual has a working capacity for the nuances of the factors in specific international cultures.)
- Understand your attitude toward the people. "Know yourself" is the first step in understanding people in other cultures.
- Make no assumptions. Especially don't assume that you know the business, project organization and management practices of that country unless you have lived there.
- Understand the politics of the country and the organization you are visiting. Find out if politics is a proper topic for discussion. Read their local newspapers; view their TV news; read articles in magazines from different countries about the country to be visited.
- Know the economy, financial practices, basic history, main cities, languages, current affairs.
- Verify the proper speaking distance between people.
- Understand the greeting habits. Have lunch with a national before departing.
- Know the work week, times of the work day, and after-hour expectations.
- Get a feel for how the types of people you'll be working with spend their free time.
- Find out if alcohol is permitted.
- Understand key religious practices.
- Understand the social classes that may exist and office decorum.
- Find out if men and women are treated equally.
- Learn what kind of humor is accepted.
- Investigate the preventive measures necessary to maintain good psychological and physical health.
- Determine whether there is more emphasis on groups than on the individual.
- Discover the meaning of interpersonal relationships and organization structures
- Assess time orientation and relevance of organization practices.
- Anticipate miscommunications and decision problems.
- Clearly identify the purpose of your trip. Confirm the project meeting agenda prior to departure.
- Know the background and responsibilities of the people you'll be meeting. Have them identify their titles and responsibilities before the first meeting. Make the effort to meet with each person individually prior to the first project meeting.
PM Challenges
- Civil laws, safety codes
- Geography/location/time
- Taxes, government and municipal agencies and codes
- Labor laws, wages, benefits, reductions in force
- Codes governing expatriates, families and visitors
- Housing, food, local transportation, schools, medical services
- Language, dialects, translators, written language of business
- Client and project organization politics
- Work customs, "siestas", recreation
- Visas and work permits
- Gender stereotypes
- Holidays/calendars
- Customs/exports/logistics
- Infrastructure, telecommunication services, AC/DC
- Ownership without presence
- Meetings/teleconferences/information technology
- Earning trust of nationals, nonverbal/verbal differences between cultures
- Currency exchange
- Class/structure position
- Confidentiality/trade laws/censorship
- Interaction/integration of operations
- Support infrastructure
- Safety/security/terrorism
- Software/hardware compatibility
- E-mail delays
- Data security
- Headquarter agendas
PM Tools for Global Projects
- Culture due diligence
- Project directions and results
- Key measures
- Key project drivers
- Infrastructure
- Organizational practices
- Leadership/management/administrative practices
- Contractor and work practices
- Technology use
- Physical environment
- Perceptions and expectations
- Culture indicators and artifacts
- Project management of change
- Don't think: "The culture will take care of itself." Lesson learned: "The human part has been more difficult than I might have imagined."
- Change requires resources and commitment, not just passive agreement and "We told them all right - we just didn't communicate…"
- Resistance to change is normal and inevitable - even in multinational projects.
- Prevention is better than cure. Resistance to change thrives in darkness. Encouraging limited tactical increase in openness and trust is a better way forward than saintly pretense of complete openness.
- Performance may drop during the change process.
- Management is political; change in multinational settings is much more so.
- True change is operational improvement (new behavior), rather than merely restructuring (different jobs, organization roles).
- People on projects learn the skills to develop (and change behavior and culture) given enabling mechanisms for change.
- People (including the PM and client) need skilled help in resolving the myriad issues thrown up by a multicultural project.
- Projects require renewal. Prepare for it.
- Knowledge and empathy of differences
- Hiring locally
- Cultural awareness
- Attitude adjustment
- Communication protocol
- Insurance
- Training
- Partnerships/joint ventures
- Cash fund
- Cultural exchange
- Over-communication
- Selective technical and administrative skills
- Advanced technology
- Situational awareness
- Translators/interpreters
- Shared communication responsibility to "set the stage"
- Personal safety and emergency evacuation measures, health services, foods
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