International project management

CO-OPERATING IN INTERNATIONAL PROJECTS

Chapter 10

THE CHALLENGE OF CO -OPERATING IN INTERNATIONAL PROJECTS

Co-operation in international projects has to overcome geographical, organizational, cultural, and temporal boundaries.

It is the responsibility of the project manager to lay the foundation for effective co-operation by accomplishing the tasks outlined in Chapter 8.

But ALL project members have to be willing and able to co-operate with each other.

In a nutshell, co-operation in international projects means ‘dealing with differences’.

The following slides outline the major cultural differences with direct

impact on co-operation.

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Individuals from hierarchy-oriented cultures tend to

collaborate openly and intensely only with people with a

similar status and job position. People from equality-

oriented cultures tend to collaborate along the given task

across ranks and files.

Equality Hierarchy

Persons from group-oriented cultures tend to spend

more efforts on maintaining harmony in the group than

people from individualistic cultures. They will feel more

motivated to work in a team than on their own compared

to people from individualistic cultures.

Individual Group

Individuals from consensus-oriented cultures tend to give

face by avoiding open and direct conflict. Individuals from

conflict-oriented cultures will openly address conflict and

try to discuss and solve it directly.

Conflict Consensus

As relationship-oriented people consider a good work

relationship as the basis for task accomplishment, they

tend to put a lot of effort in building and maintaining

smooth relations to their peers and other stakeholders.

People from task-oriented cultures tend to focus on the

task downgrading interpersonal relationship. They tend

to base trust on achievement and competence, whereas

relationship-oriented people tend to base trust on the

overall personality and emotions.

Task Relationship

CULTURAL IMPACT ON CO -OPERATING IN INTERNATIONAL PROJECTS

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THE BASIS FOR EFFECTIVE CO -OPERATION IN INTERNATIONAL PROJECTS: TRUST

Trust is the belief by one person that another person’s motivation towards him or her is benevolent and ‘honest’.

Trust is fed by different sources:

 General context-related knowledge related to cultural norms and institutional rules of the partner.

 Specific knowledge about the behaviour of the partner in different situations.

Trust is determined by:

 Individual characteristics.

 Quality of communication.

 Broader institutional context.

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Overcoming prejudices

Providing informal interaction opportunities

Exploring similarities

Bonding the international project team

Providing context

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

Trust building activities in

international projects

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BEHAVIOURAL ELEMENTS TO FOSTER TRUST

Trust among international stakeholders is endorsed by:

 acknowledging differences and respecting them.

 believing in the goodwill of all stakeholders to work toward a common goal.

 establishing transparency.

 being prepared to strike compromises.

 admitting failure (in a culturally adequate way).

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GROUND RULES FOR EFFECTIVE CO -OPERATION IN INTERNATIONAL PROJECTS

Trust can be regarded as the playground. For playing, we need rules of the game:

 What constitutes effective performance for us?

 How will we evaluate our performance?

 How do we communicate across geographical, organizational, and cultural boundaries?

 How do we design and conduct our meetings?

 How do we give feedback to each other?

 Do we fully understand the responsibility matrix and adhere to it?

 How do we report project progress and communicate owner feedback?

 How do we handle new ideas and inputs?

 How do we pass conflicts up to higher management?

 How do we resolve conflicts? 7

A MAJOR SKILL FOR EFFECTIVELY CO -OPERATING IN INTERNATIONAL PROJECTS: CONFLICT RESOLUTION

Conflict is a dissonance between two or more parties based on incompatible goals, needs, values, attitudes and or beliefs.

Conflicts typically start with a misinterpretation or misunderstanding.

Due to the heterogeneity of stakeholders in international projects, conflicts are ubiquitous.

Hence, conflict resolution skills are paramount to effectively co- operate in international projects.

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GENERIC SOURCES OF CONFLICTS

Ambiguity of project objective.

Insufficient authority of project manager.

Manpower resources.

Equipment and facilities.

Costs.

Technical opinions.

Priorities.

Administrative procedures.

Scheduling.

Responsibilities.

Personality clashes. 9

Reasons for conflict in

international projects

Hidden agendas of stakeholders

Misunderstanding due to ambiguity of

information

Misunderstanding due to misinter-

pretation of communication style

Misunderstanding due to language

issues

Different values and norms

Perceived discrimination

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Why do conflicts occur in international projects?

Co-operation

C o

n fr

o n

ta ti

o n

4. Competing

2. Accommodating

5. Collaborating

3. Compromising

1. Avoiding

ATTITUDES TOWARDS CONFLICT

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CONFLICT RESOLUTION STRATEGIES

1. Bilateral and direct: persuasion (through experience).

2. Bilateral and direct: open and direct discussion.

3. Unilateral and direct: coercion or threat.

4. Bilateral and indirect: third-person intermediary.

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MANAGING HETEROGENEITY

Teams with diverse stakeholders are more efficient if they mutually acknowledge their differences

 Prerequisites:  Knowledge about other norms and values.

 An attitude of open-mindedness and flexibility.

 The willingness to adapt or to create something new.

Adaptation

 Means that project stakeholders are flexible in their attitudes and behaviours and adapt themselves to the necessities of the situation in an international project. This could be the adaptation to the cultural script of the external customer.

Fusion

 Means that all members try to cherry pick what works best in their traditional ways of doing things and fuse the styles. In other words, synergies are created from diversity.

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SUMMARY OF ELEMENTS OF EFFECTIVE CO -OPERATION

1. Project culture of strong internal integration, strong autonomy and involvement, adaptability, fairness and trust as well as open-mindedness towards differences.

2. Solid fundament of trust among internal and external stakeholders.

3. Leadership style dominated by ‘leading by example’.

4. All project members are sensitized and trained towards coping with language, communication, negotiation, and conflict resolution style differences.

5. All project members use and adhere to common ground rules.

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Effective co-operation e.g. by efficient diversity management

International project manager • Possessing the right knowledge and skills

• Possessing the right traits

• Knowing and accomplishing his or her tasks

Building trust

• Overcoming prejudices

• Providing informal

interaction opportunities

• Exploring similarities

• Bonding the group

• Providing context

Communicating

• Overcoming language

diversity barriers

• Understanding different

communication styles

• Switching between

different negotiation styles

• Using agreed on

communication guidelines

and protocols

Using and adhering to

common ground rules

• Performance evaluation

• Task assignment

• Feedback

• Handling of new ideas

and change

Effective conflict

management

• Identifying conflict reason

• Being aware of different

views on conflict

• Conceiving different

conflict orientations

• Using different conflict

resolution styles

ALL project members

Project culture of autonomy, involvement adaptability, trust, fairness, diversity 15