Creating a Project Culture
Project managers have a unique opportunity during the start-up of a project. They create a
project culture, something organizational managers seldom have a chance to do. In most
organizations, the corporate or organizational culture has developed over the life of the
organization, and people associated with the organization understand what is valued, what has
status, and what behaviors are expected. Edgar Schein defined culture as a pattern of basic
assumptions formed by a group on how to perceive and address problems associated with both
internal adaptation and external integration (Schein, 1990). Schein also described organizational
culture as an abstract concept that constrains, stabilizes, and provides structure to the
organization. At the same time, culture is being constantly enacted, created, and shaped by
leadership behavior.
Characteristics of Project Culture
A project culture represents the shared norms, beliefs, values, and assumptions of the
project team. Understanding the unique aspects of a project culture and developing an
appropriate culture to match the complexity profile of the project are important project
management abilities.
Culture is developed through the communication of
• the priority
• the given status
• the alignment of official and operational rules
Official rules are the rules that are stated, and operational rules are the rules that are
enforced. Project managers who align official and operational rules are more effective in
developing a clear and strong project culture because the project rules are among the first aspects
of the project culture to which team members are exposed when assigned to the project.
Operational Rules on a Project in India
During the start-up of a project in India, members of the project team were given a policy
that stated all travel expense claims must be submitted within three days of completion of travel.
During the first few weeks, the administrative team began to understand that this was a difficult
policy to enforce without creating morale problems on the project. Instead of changing the
official rule, it was seldom enforced. The official rules and operational rules differed.
Later on in the project, a worker was injured after crossing an area that was marked as
unsafe. Workers indicated that they knew the official rules but it took too much time to go
around the unsafe area. They assumed that official rules could be ignored if they were difficult to
obey. The difference between official rules and operational rules of the project created a culture
that made communication of the priorities more difficult.
In addition to official and operational rules, the project leadership communicates what is
important by the use of symbols, storytelling, rituals, rewards or punishments, and taboos.
Creating a Culture of Safety
A project manager in South America who wanted to create a strong safety culture on a
construction project with significant safety concerns used several methods to create the desired
culture. In the first meeting that project team members attended upon joining the project was a
safety orientation. Members were issued a card—a symbol—after the meeting granting
permission to participate on the project. The project leadership team told stories of previous
projects where people were fired for breaking safety rules and often warned that the fastest way
to get fired on the project was to break a safety rule—an example of storytelling. Every project
meeting started with a discussion of a safety topic—a ritual—and any discussion of lessening the
safety rules was forbidden—taboo—and was quickly and strongly cut off by the project
leadership if it occurred.
Culture guides behavior and communicates what is important and is useful for establishing
priorities. On projects that have a strong safety culture, team members feel free to challenge
anyone who breaks a safety rule, even managers. The safety aspects of culture are stronger than
the cultural aspects of the power of management.
Culture of Stakeholders
When project stakeholders do not share a common culture, project management must
adapt its organizations and work processes to cope with cultural differences. The following are
three major aspects of cultural difference that can affect a project:
1. Communications
2. Negotiations
3. Decision making
Communication is perhaps the most visible manifestation of culture. Project managers
encounter cultural differences in communication in language, context, and candor. Language is
clearly the highest barrier to communication. When project stakeholders do not share the same
language, communication slows down and is often filtered to share only information that is
deemed critical. The barrier to communication can influence project execution where quick and
accurate exchange of ideas and information is critical.
The interpretation of information reflects the extent that context and candor influence
cultural expressions of ideas and understanding of information. In some cultures, an affirmative
answer to a question does not always mean yes. The cultural influence can create confusion on a
project where project stakeholders share more than one culture.
Innovation on Projects
The requirement of innovation on projects is influenced by the nature of the project. Some
projects are chartered to develop a solution to a problem, and innovation is a central ingredient of
project success. A project to develop a vaccine in response to a recent flu outbreak is an example
of a project where innovation is important to achieving the purpose of the project.
Innovation is also important to developing methods of lowering costs or shortening the
schedule. Traditional project management thinking provides a trade-off between cost, quality,
and schedule. A project sponsor can typically shorten the project schedule with an investment of
more money or a lowering of quality. Finding innovative solutions can sometimes lower costs
while also saving time and maintaining the quality.
Innovation is a creative process that requires both fun and focus. Fun reduces the amount
of stress on the project. Stress is a biological reaction to perceived threats. Stress, at appropriate
levels, can make the work environment interesting and even challenging. Many people working
on projects enjoy a high-stress, exciting environment. When the stress level is too high, the
biological reaction increases blood flow to the emotional parts of the brain and decreases the
blood flow to the creative parts of the brain, making creative problem solving more difficult.
Project managers recognize the benefits of balancing the stress level on the project with the need
to create an atmosphere that enables creative thought.
Exploring opportunities to create savings takes an investment of time and energy, and on a
time-sensitive project, the project manager must create the motivation and the opportunity for
creative thinking.
