...Introduction With the initiation of global economy comes an increased interaction between people of different countries and an increase in the need to deal with cultural differences. Thus, there must be an understanding of how the international project will affect people and how people will affect the project. This requires an understanding of economic, demographic, educational, ethical, ethnic, religious, and other characteristic of the people for whom the project affects or who have an interest in the project (Egeland, 2011). Today’s projects have dramatically increased in complexity, which requires a culturally and functionally diverse mix of individuals who must be assimilated into an effective unit – a project team. In order for the project to succeed it will be predicated upon the effectiveness of teamwork during all phases of the project life cycle (Knutson, J, 2001). Therefore, it is critical that organizations involved in international projects take into consideration “cultural risk”, which, if not consciously recognized may lead to ineffectiveness and in some cases prove to be very costly (Sennara & Hartman, 2002). Therefore, it must be understood that the most crucial element in international projects is “culture” (PM Hut, 2012). What is Culture? “Culture” refers to a way of life for a group or community that practices and shares values and common experiences that shapes the way in which the group or community understands the world. These values and practices...
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...RISK MANAGEMENT FOR COLLABORATIVE SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT MOJGAN MOHTASHAMI is a Ph.D. candidate at the School of Management of Rutgers University and a lecturer at New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT). She can be reached at mojgan@oak.njit.edu. THOMAS MARLOWE is a professor of mathematics and computer science at Seton Hall University. He received Ph.D.s from Rutgers in 1975 and 1989. VASSILKA KIROVA received a Ph.D. in computer science from NJIT. Her areas of interest include specification and software productivity and quality. She can be reached at kirova@bell-labs.com. FADI P. DEEK is professor and dean of the College of Science and Liberal Arts at NJIT. His research interests include software engineering and learning systems. Mojgan Mohtashami, Thomas Marlowe, Vassilka Kirova, and Fadi P. Deek Collaborative software development involving multiple organizational units, often spanning national, language, and cultural boundaries, raises new challenges and risks that can derail software development projects even when traditional risk factors are being controlled. This article presents a framework that can be used to manage collaborative software development projects, based on an extended set of risk management principles. Three risk factors — trust, culture, and collaborative communication — are discussed in depth. OLLABORATIVE SOFTWARE DEVELOPment (CSD) entails multiple teams, working for multiple organizational units within the same or different companies, and no clear...
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...with members of different cultural backgrounds because leaders gradually promote their company to the world. Global projects with using virtual teams are primarily linked through computer and telecommunications technologies across national boundaries. Globalization of the construction industry has brought unique challenges such as coordination among project participants from different countries, and individual’s preferences in decision make and communication. As economic borders between countries come down, cultural barriers will most likely go up and pose new challenges and opportunities for business. Solving the cultural issues has been found to be of crucial importance for the success of virtual teams. This research attempts to characterize cultural differences along the dimension of cultural values and cultural practices Keywords: Virtual global project; Cultural diversity; Project management. Introduction Traditionally, a team-based project requires all team members physically present in a specific location for a period of time. But virtual global project requires a virtual team that members can engage in and deliver projects with limited or no direct physical interaction with other members. It allows multinational enterprises to draw on the widest talent pool available among their global employee base. Team members typically don't need to meet face-to-face, they can use several different virtual meeting applications to conduct all project work. Globalisation has...
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...Conference CULTURAL BOUNDARY SPANNING IN GLOBAL PROJECT NETWORKS Melissa Di Marco, 1 John E. Taylor 2 and Pauli Alin 3 ABSTRACT Projects are increasingly global in scope and outsourcing on projects increasingly common. Along with globalizing trends in projects, the workforce is also globalizing. It is common for engineers to move to other countries as expatriate workers or as emigrants to pursue job opportunities in other firms. Where much is known about global networks of engineers collaborating on projects, little is known about the mediating role played by individuals that share the same nationality as an international partner on a project. In this paper, we examine two project teams executing complex, reciprocally interdependent design projects in India. One team was comprised of Indians and Americans. The other team was identical, but also contained an Indian national who had studied and worked in the U.S.A. Both teams worked on similar design schedule optimization problems. Over the duration of three days we examined the interactions of the teams assembled to finalize their designs. Through quantitative network analyses and qualitative observations of the cross-cultural interactions, we found the Indian expatriate to play a cultural boundary spanning role resolving cross-cultural knowledge system conflicts and increasing collaboration effectiveness. We induce a propositional theoretical model of cultural boundary spanning in global project networks. KEYWORDS:...
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...The influence of cultural difference on managing emotions in project management teams. Abstract Managing emotions is a part of emotional intelligence that is, according to previous researches, counted as a significant aspect for successful management of project teams. With globalisation companies hire employees with different cultural backgrounds which is in its turn may lead the possibility of misunderstandings between team members. The purpose of current study is to examine the relationship between the outcomes of managing emotions test and different cultural background of individuals. In this study 30 participants of 6 different nationalities took part whose professional field is project management. Data collection process was conducted through self-report scaled questionnaire based on Mayer–Salovey–Caruso Emotional Intelligence Test (MSCEIT) but only four factors of MSCEIT that relate to emotional management branch was used for assessment. However, the findings of the survey indicated that ability to manage emotions does not relate to nationality. Also, the limitations and obstacles of this study are presented. 1 Introduction 1.1 Background The first definition of emotional intelligence that was given by Professors P. Salovey and J. Mayer states that emotions can influence the logical thinking and goal focused actions. Moreover, it can improve rationality. There were many debates around emotional intelligence mostly because it combines fundamentally...
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...TU-53.1360 Cross-Cultural Management Assignment 1.12 Mister Y Mister X Mister Z Mister W Mister Q Table of Contents 1. Introduction................................................................................................................................... 1 2. Group Members and Dynamics of Team............................................................................... 2 2.1. Mister Y ...................................................................................................................................................... 2 2.2. Mister X ...................................................................................................................................................... 2 2.3. Mister Z ...................................................................................................................................................... 2 2.4. Mister W ..................................................................................................................................................... 3 2.5. Mister Q ...................................................................................................................................................... 3 2.6. Dynamics of the team .................................................................................................................
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...Knowledge of Cultures and Politics as Critical Success Factors in Enhancing Managers Success in Managing International Business Dzulfakar Bin Abdullah (Student no: 20131241445) UiTM Programme Code : BM 995 (Doctor of Philosophy in Business Management) Course Code : MGT 950 (Global Strategic Sustainable Management) Assignment 3: Theoretical Paper Lecturer : AP Dr Roshidi Hassan ABSTRACT Business life in the new millennium is becoming increasingly global. The concepts of globalization apply to both large multi-national corporations as well as to local organizations. Knowledge of local culture and politics has become critical success factors (CFSs) for multi-national corporations in their effort for global expansion. Thus in enhancing the success of managing international business (IB) managers must have knowledge of local cultures and political situations. Research on the impact of local culture and political stability on successful management of international business has become of interest only recently due to globalization process. The paper reviews several literatures that try to prove that knowledge of culture and political situation as CFSs for the success of managing international business. Keywords: Critical Success Factors (CFSs), Knowledge, Culture, Politics, International Business, Success. Knowledge of Cultures and Politics as Critical Success Factors in Enhancing Managers Success in Managing International Business Introduction Globalization...
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...Cross-cultural Differences in Management If you talk about the culture can tell that it is an issue that causes a great impact on society since each person have different ways of seeing and resolve things, values and habits that we have been implemented throughout our lives, depending on the place where we grew up. This may affect our workplace, because today we live in a globalized society. Human beings have different perceptions about the way in which we work on every day in our work. For example, there are countries where they are used to work collaboratively and in others not prefer to do so individually. We can say that culture is dynamic, since this is something that you can go transforming and molding in accordance with time and experiences that live or that we need to experiment. What should be clear is that there are no social classes in the culture, and we should not be discriminated against by this. From this concept born intelligent culture where we see the adaptability of staff with their environment, to overcome obstacles and be able to adapt to the way of working in a company or in another place, we must not forget that we live in a globalized world. The cultural management is a professional activity that is linked to the existence of a project, facilitating the realization of a fact of any nature. A cultural Manager seeks to promote, encourage, design and/or carry out projects, from any field. Cultural management is not more than the efficient and effective...
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..."Organizational Culture and Cross-Cultural Management" Please respond to the following: * Hofstede’s study is an important contribution to cross-culture management research. Analyze the impact that culture exerts on recruitment and selection, training and development, compensation, and task distribution. Determine whether or not there are leadership behaviors, attributes, and organizational practices that are generally accepted and effective across cultures. o * *From the e-Activity, compare the two (2) cross-cultural management theories that you researched to Hofstede’s cross-cultural theory. Determine two (2) fundamental differences and similarities between each theory. The impact the Hofstede’s study had on the cultural context of HRM practices are as follows: Recruitment and selection: In cultures low on “in-group” collectivism such as the U.S., and the UK, individual accomplishments are important selection criteria, and societies high on “in-group collectivism” such as China and Spain put more importance on team-related skills than on individual capabilities. Training and development: While no country has perfect gender equality, societies high on the gender social equality scale have more women in positions of power and similar levels of education as men, such as the U.S, women usually have the same chances for a straight up career progression as men and societies which score low on gender social equality such as Afghanistan and Liberia do not have nearly...
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...Diversity management Student’s name Lecturer’s name Institution Date Introduction One of the greatest tasks individuals face is communicating across differences resulting from different cultural diversity. There is always fear that exists that what an individual will intend to say will be understood in a way that they never meant it to be due to cultural differences in a team (Chauvet 2009, p. 221). My research team was composed of seven members that were four local students and three Chinese. Through the group activity, I have personally gained a lot from working with my research team on diversity management. The paper analyzes my self-awareness on cross-cultural issues and provides an insight into our chosen research topic ‘benefits and challenges of a cross-cultural team’. The paper further analyzes the implications of diversity management in an organization as a manager. My self-awareness on cross-cultural issues From the group activity, I was able to learn that cultural awareness is the base of communication and it entails the ability of individuals to stand back and become aware of their cultural values, beliefs, perceptions and differences. It is essential for individuals to understand the reason why they do things differently, why they react differently in a particular ways and perceive the world in different ways. Cross-cultural awareness is central when individuals interact with people from different cultures as individuals will evaluate and interpret...
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...Where Growing Minds Go Global… What is Cultural Awareness, anyway? How do I build it? “A fish only discovers its need for water when it is no longer in it. Our own culture is like water for the fish. It sustains us. We live and breathe through it.” Becoming aware of our cultural dynamics is a difficult task because culture is not conscious to us. Since we are born we have learned to see and do things at an unconscious level. Our experiences, our values and our cultural background lead us to see and do things in a certain way. Sometimes we have to step outside of our cultural boundaries in order to realize the impact that our culture has on our behavior. It is very helpful to gather feedback from foreign colleagues on our behavior to get more clarity on our cultural traits. by Stephanie Quappe and Giovanna Cantatore Cultural Awareness is the foundation of communication and it involves the ability of standing back from ourselves and becoming aware of our cultural values, beliefs and perceptions. Why do we do things in that way? How do we see the world? Why do we react in that particular way? Cultural awareness becomes central when we have to interact with people from other cultures. People see, interpret and evaluate things in a different ways. What is considered an appropriate behavior in one culture is frequently inappropriate in another one. Misunderstandings arise when I use my meanings to make sense of your reality. Projected similarities...
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...main categories and describes the common issues leaders and team members need to address and overcome in order to succeed. The five categories are time zones, cultural differences, language, trust and relationship building, and technology. The purpose of this division is to help a better understanding of different type of issues in global virtual teams. Knowing these challenges allows leaders and team members to increase team’s performance through good planning and training, and avoid problems other global virtual teams had in the past. In addition, cases study showed communication and technology usage norms play an important role in global virtual teams, these norms or rules are more important in global virtual teams than collocated teams. Communication Challenges in Global Virtual Teams Global virtual teams “work across space, time and organizational boundaries” (Montoya, Massey, Hung, & Crisp, 2009, p. 139). A global virtual team is a group of people located in different geographic regions that communicate via telecommunication technology and share a common set of tasks to accomplish when completing a project. Virtual teams working in non-overlapping time zones rely mostly on asynchronous communication, such as e-mail and voicemail. Asynchronous communication adds extra challenges to the team’s management and performance (Furumo, 2009). The purpose of this paper is to present the most common communication challenges managers and team members in global virtual...
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...practice. 8 References 9 MANAGING ORGANIZATIONS & LEADING PEOPLE-BIP2 Task 2 Evaluation of my Personal Leadership Style Reflection on the Results of my Seven Habits Profile The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People (1989) is a business and self-help book bestseller. The work brings up that success comes from developing personal leadership, from which leadership of others can follow. I had the opportunity to participate in a one day seminar with Mr. Covey, sponsored by my employer in 2010. At the time I took the seminar, I was an experienced software developer but I wanted to transition to the role of project manager. Covey’s work helped me to identify and work on some of my behaviors, which in turn helped me to take on the project manager role successfully to date. I executed a particular approach, I applied Covey’s teachings to my transition to project management, and then to a personal level. One of the good consequences at a personal level was obtaining my bachelor’s degree at Western Governors University, in 2014. Covey’s work proposes that just changing outward behaviors or attitudes is not the way to succeed. First, our principles, the way we perceive the world, and our perceptions of others need to change. Only then our behavior towards others will change, aligning to those principles. These principles should be timeless, and the basement of all civilizations, communities, religions and ethical systems. These principles include honesty, fairness, service, integrity...
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...Introduction Cross cultural studies has great impact especially to business managers. National culture or core culture that developed the individual before it is influenced by other factors in the environment and society is subject to change depending on how strong the influences would be. However for the individual to fit in, they have to embrace the new found culture or a new culture might have evolved combining the core values and the current society’s value. Literature Review In Kelley, MacNab and Worthle (2006) paper, they have studied that when two or more diverse cultures are combined together, depending on how strong the county’s core national culture, three things may occur – culture convergence, divergence or crossvergence. Their study of US, Hongkong and Taiwan for years had gave them results on how culture can change. Like for example is in terms of uncertainty avoidance and power distance between Hongkong and Taiwan. It was found that Hongkong increases its uncertainty avoidance than Taiwan and the reason for this could be because Hongkong was turn over from UK to China. US known to be the first individualist country from previous studies appears to becoming collectivist and the power distance increases from their study of US banking industry. This one has been attributed to the lay offs happened in banking industry when the study was conducted. The authors remarked that Culture can change due to influences like globalization, economic and technological change...
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...THE EFFECTIVENESS OF CROSS-CULTURAL TRAINING FOR EXECUTIVES IN OIL & GAS COMPANIES WITHIN THE KLANG VALLEY A Master’s Project submitted in partial fulfilment Of the requirements for the degree of Master of Human Resource Management The Effectiveness of Cross-Cultural Training for Executives in Oil & Gas Companies within the Klang Valley ABSTRACT Cross-cultural interactions are rapidly increasing. Globalisation and cultural diverse communities are lending themselves to daily intercultural exchanges. With greater diversity, we require greater open-mindedness, tolerance and sensitivity. Those in direct contact with culturally different members are in greater need of such skills, and often require training to become more cross-culturally sensitive. Cross-cultural training program for individual going abroad, address such issues and prepare participants to work and live overseas. Cultural conflicts affect the efficiency of the employees’ performance at workplaces and it is believed that employees from different cultural backgrounds will have to improve their communication skills. An intercultural training programme is needed in order to prepare multicultural employees for surprises that could arise in complex cultural situations without being frustrated, stressed, and puzzled. TABLE OF CONTENTS TITLE PAGE PAGE ABSTRACT ii ABSTRAK ...
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