Revision as of 09:16, 25 September 2015

Cross-cultural, languages and geographical challenges are some of challenge areas that can influence the work of a global virtual team, meaning a team where the members are geographical spread out and do not have face-to-face communicate. The team members might have different cultural backgrounds, language barriers or may be located in different time zones. These types of challenges influence the communication and the understanding within the team, which can lead to misunderstandings or disagreements. In project management this is something to consider in project management process, when trying to predict, manage and control possible issues and delays within the work as well as the execution of the work, in order to make the process as smooth as possible. To use the global project management as an advantage it is important to be aware of the differences, understand where the different stakeholders or members of the team come from and use the differences to your advantage. This article focuses on the challenges, which should be dealt with through out the process of managing a global project. Three of the project management knowledge areas within a project management framework will be discussed with focus on a virtual teamwork. The areas in focus are; project human resource, communication and stakeholder management.

Introduction^[1]

To become a large company with an international business plan, teamwork across different countries is inevitable. Focus on global project management (GPM) is important when dealing with larger projects on a global scale. The company might want to outsource or offshore parts of the developing of the product or service, in order to save cost and time, make the process more effective or acquire certain skills. E.g. local people could do the market analysis, the exploration and the sale of the product/service. As well the production or parts of it could take place either close to where the raw materials are extracted, in the country where the product is to be sold or in a country where the labour is cheaper. As a project manager you have to be able to handle different stakeholders; within your project team, the market, suppliers and possible collaborating companies. The PMI standard of project management (PM) ^[2] framework entails ten main knowledge areas that a project manager has to master in the five project process stages: initiate, plan, execute, monitor and control and closing project. This article will consider the areas where global project management (GPM) mainly differ from “regular” PM. The three areas in focus in this article are; Project Human Resource, Communication and Stakeholder Management. The other seven areas will not be approached in this article.

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Definition of culture

To see how culture influences a team it is important to understand what culture is. In Cambridge Dictionary ^[4] culture has different definition: National culture: “the way of life, especially the general customs and beliefs, of a particular group of people at a particular time”. Culture in at a workplace: “the ideas and ways of working that are typical for an organization, and that affect how it does business and how its employees behave” Organizational culture: “the types of attitudes and agreed ways of working shared by the employees of a company or organization”

These definitions all describes culture as something that is shared by a group of people, whether it is in a company or a nation, and that culture influence the way a person think, feel and act.

Culture’s influence on a person and a team ^[5]

How a person thinks and behaves are influenced by the human nature, culture and personality as seen in Figure 1. E.g. meaning all human by nature eats when they are hungry. Culture could affect what they choose to eat. Personality could influences what you like or what you do not like to eat. The human nature is universal and inherent. The culture is acquired by a specific group or category and the personality is inherent and acquired and is specific to the individual.

Figure 1: Culture’s part of a persons thinking and behaving.

In a cross-cultural team the members can have very different cultural backgrounds, which can affect their thoughts, behaviours and how they interact with others. If the members have very different ways of doing things this can lead to disagreements and conflicts. In the next section these differences as well as language barriers and location will be discussed.

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Pros and cons in global project management (GPM) ^[7]

In many big companies cross-cultural virtual team work is a inevitable, to mention some companies; Toyota, As described in the previous section culture, language and geography can have a great influence on project management. In Table 1 the pros and cons with GPM are described.

Pros Cons Language If research is done in the country where the researcher is from the communication or understanding of the surveyed will give a greater insight. Communication issues: Languages difficulties; Pronunciation and understanding of idioms and words both written and spoken. Jargon, how people communicate and what is allowed to say and what is not. Culture Researchers who research in own country know the customs and know how to approach those interviewed or observed. As well as have more insight and understanding of the culture. Misunderstandings within the team due to differences: Cultures have different work ethics and “rules”. Structure, punctuality, clarification of tasks etc. Personally needs and what is seen as important. In some cultures relationship is a high priority where in others individualism and self-dependence is crucial. What different cultures priorities and expectations, short or long term view.

Hard to make time schedules, due to different national holidays and traditions. Difference in ways of handling conflicts and dealing with disagreements. Some cultures do everything to avoid conflicts, some are very willing to discuss issues. Geography Possible to hire specific skilled workers living in another country. No day-to-day face-to-face interaction. Need for communication channel, makes it harder to create trust, team spirit etc. ^[8] Possible to work around the clock Time difference can make it hard to find a time to schedule virtual meetings Production, research and marketing can be done on site, meaning less need for shipping and travelling over long distances. Production can be done in a country with lower labour. Harder for manager and all team members to see the final outcome, which can give lack in motivation, feeling of responsibility and ownership. Table 1: pros and cons in GPM

=Ten principles of making virtual teams work ^[9] =

As described before the company can have different reasons for off-shoring or outsourcing parts of the process but to keep up the efficiency it is important to be ready for issues that can occur. In order to avoid or deal with some of the issues, which can arise in a virtual team ten principles can be taken into account.

1. Early face-to-face meeting In communication theory it is common known that different types of communication media is richer than others meaning some channels is more effective than others. On the top of the list of most effective communication media is face-to-face meeting “Face-to-face is the richest medium because it provides immediate feedback so the interpretation can be checked”.^[10]More than just being a communication media, meeting people in real life is also more effective when building relationships and is important for a team to establish an essential foundation for the further work. As meeting annually or more often improves the feeling of connections and enhances the shared vision.

2. Align roles within the team In the global team with no day-to-day meetings it is crucial to have detailed clarification of the different roles, tasks and responsibilities to make it easier to coordinate the work. As well reviewing the work is important to keep track of the time, cost etc.

3. Structure the communication In order to have effective communication with as few misunderstandings or disagreements it is a good idea to make a communication charter, where the norms are established, conversation rules, which media to use in which situations. E.g. using emails for reply could be inefficient in some cases but very practical in other. As well interrupting or sitting in a room with a lot of noise when on a videoconference can be very disturbing.

4. Deciding for the best possible communication channels Which communication programs are on the market is constantly changing, and developers add new features, new names etc. to the program. However it is important not to be blinded with all these possibilities. Maybe the best possible media is not the newest, if some members can not use it or the connection is slow, the reliability is low and so on. It is important to include all team members on the platform to not impair the communication.

5. Creating and maintaining team rhythm To enable coordination of work tasks, regular communication is needed. When being a virtual team with rare face-to-face meetings and with no daily interaction it is easy to loose contact. It is important to make some routines and schedule meetings, e.g. by having videoconferences every Monday at 1 pm etc. As well if the meeting time is unfortunate for some members due to time difference make sure to not burden only some members, but maybe change the time of day every second week.

6. Create common language understanding and use In a cross-cultural team, members might not all have the same mother tongue. Therefore it is important to agree on the communication language within the team and also decide what specific important words mean. A list of words and meaning should be share among the team members.

7. Creating room for a virtual “coffee break” When team working with people in the same building or at the office next door it is easy to socialize and build a relationship. When having a virtual team, it is important to still have focus on this aspect. A way of doing it is by having each meeting starting with checking in on each team member, what is going well and what the challenges are. Other ways are to use online networking platforms or make virtual team building exercises.

8. Ensuring and tracking commitment It is easy for a project manager to keep track and know if the team members are up to date with their tasks when he meets the members on a daily basis. However when managing a virtual team it is harder to do this. To keep milestones and to engage in commitment e.g. a deliverables dashboard can be used. With this tool the project manager is able to plot the tasks and allowing all members to see the board makes it possible for them to see where they should be and keeps them responsible for finishing the task on time.

9. Engage team by sharing leadership Using shared leadership as a way of engaging the members can be useful in a virtual team. Smaller tasks such as facilitating a team building exercise or helping a new team member getting to know the routines can help engaging team members and letting them take part in the leadership.

10. Individual coaching and leading To enhance productivity and commitment one-to-one meetings between project manager and team members are important and should be a part of the weekly routines. In this meeting the members should give updates, get feedback but also be reminded on their role in the project and the common vision.

Improving a PM process in a GPM ^[11]

In this section the knowledge areas; Project Human Resource Management, Project Stakeholder Management and Project Communication Management will be discussed in a GPM context and the ten principles as well as theory on cultural differences will be addressed in the context. To narrow it down this section will focus on a team, however many of the approaches can directly be translated to interaction with other stakeholders such as business partners etc. Due to the many overlaps between Project Human Resource Management and Project Stakeholder Management these two areas will be looked at together in one section. Within each process step some matters should be taken into account when the team members are geographically dispersed, might have language barriers and different cultural backgrounds.

Table 2 gives an overview of the different activities within the different knowledge areas. However be aware that the two knowledge areas overlap which means that one activity in human resource could also be seen as an activity in communication management. Each activity is explained in the sections below.

Initialising Planning Manage and control Closing Project Human Resource and Stakeholder management - Identify stakeholders - Recall knowledge and experience on cultures and cross cultural teamwork - Identify staff; roles, responsibilities, capabilities - Consider off-shoring and outsourcing - Consider culture when planning time schedules, meetings etc. - Acquire members - Develop team; Face-to-face meeting, teambuilding, create vision - Coach, give feedback etc. - Manage conflicts, be aware of culture differences Project Communication management - Decide for communication channel - Consider culture differences and communication - Keep the communication rhythm Table 2: Considerations and activities, which can be applied within each step of the GPM process

Project Human Resource and Stakeholder Management

Within these knowledge areas there is four steps; planning, acquiring, developing and managing the team.

‘’1 Planning human resources - Define needed project staffing; roles, responsibilities and capabilities. In a global team it is important to consider where are the needed skills available, maybe some countries and people have more knowledge within a specific area or as mentioned in pros and cons, a researcher researching in own country has an advantage due to culture and language understanding. However also pay attention to how it could have disadvantages off-shoring or outsourcing, due to cultural, language and time difference within the team. - Use

‘’2: Acquire project team Acquire the needed team members.

‘’3: Develop team - When developing a team it is important to pay attention to interpersonal skills such as cultural background etc. As a project manager it is also important to understand own cultural background to find common ground, identify similarities and differences within the team. In order to get insight and understanding of the individual team members tools as attitudinal surveys [Link: http://www.aabri.com/manuscripts/09301.pdf], belbin test [Link http://www.belbin.com], interviews, ability tests etc. can be used. These tools can help the project manager when proactively trying to avoid conflicts or understanding how to possibly handle future conflicts. As well it can lead to more efficiency, trust and commitment within the team. - Create trust and agreement within the virtual team: As described earlier face-to-face meetings are one of the best ways to create trust and understanding. Having an early meeting enhances the chances of a good group dynamic ^[12]. - Another way to enhancing the level of understanding and trust within a team is by making team building exercises ^[13]. - Develop informal socialization customs such as checking up on team members, making a virtual room for informal socialization or similar. - Aligning roles, tasks and responsibilities for each member. - Make a resource calendars to ensure tasks are solved on time, consider time zones and days off. Remember that other cultures have other holidays and traditions.

‘’4: Managing project team - As described in the ten principles it is important to keep a rhythm within the virtual team. Keeping the meeting plans ensuring every team member is engaged in the work and takes responsibility. - Share leadership by giving specific tasks to specific team members. - Listen to the members and provide feedback and coaching. - In a virtual team as in every other team, conflicts are likely to occur. Some approaches can be taken into account for resolving conflicts that can be a threat to a project. Solving the issue by confronting it, compromising, avoiding confrontation, smoothening out and forcing the team to move on ^[14]. The project manager should be aware that different cultures react very different on conflicts some are very willing to confront, takes criticism as a way to improve, and some are more likely to avoid the conflict and see confrontation as a way of getting the team out of balance ^[15].

Project communication management^[16]

In project communication management the focus is on planning, managing and controlling the communication.

Plan communication - Determine appropriate channel for communication [Link: http://www.thecouchmanager.com/the-ultimate-list-of-virtual-team-technology-tools/]. Maybe some members need training in using a specific communication media. - Establish ground rules, communication rules and create a common language and common understanding, e.g. a list of important words and their meaning.

Manage and control communication: As a project manager it is always important to be aware of different communication techniques and even more crucial it becomes when the communication is to a cross cultural team. Generally a message should have a purpose, is it to control, motivate, express an emotion or inform. However when communicating there is always some background noise which can disturb the purpose. Too much information could give an overload meaning some of the information might not be recorded. Emotions could influence how the receiver interprets the message, language barriers can make it hard for some to understand the meaning etc.^[17]. Model XX shows a message’s way from the sender to the receiver. In a cross cultural team it is important to remember that the members have very different backgrounds, might interpret the message differently, might have different limits to information overload, might have different motivations etc. The way a person interprets a message can be influenced by different dimensions as mentioned, however the manger can control this by choosing an appropriate style, using visualization and appearing credible ^[18]. For more information on communication, research, theories and techniques visit e.g. http://communicationtheory.org.

Figure 2: Shannon and Weaver Model of Communication

Application:

Further reading: Book

Binder, Jean. Global Project Management: Communication, Collaboration and Management across Borders. Aldershot: Gower, 2007. Print.