How to Manage Global Projects Successfully

As the speed of globalization increases, more and more people find themselves working on international projects. Managers of such projects face all the usual problems – meeting deadlines, staying within their budgets and reaching their targets. Now, however, they often have to work with multinational teams in unfamiliar intercultural environments a long way from headquarters.

Companies that wish to manage international projects successfully need to take cultural differences seriously. The best ones will see cultural diversity not as a problem, but as an opportunity.

Professor Rolf-Dieter Reineke of the Ludwigshafen School of Business has identified some key features of international projects for Global Player, Siemens’s in-house magazine. These are:

• cross-border tasks that are innovative and unique;
• a clearly defined project goal (with a deadline for reaching the goal);
• a high level of uncertainty and risk;
• limited resources with different teams based in different countries;
• creation of a significant part of value abroad.

Some of these features are, of course, found in domestic projects, too; but their effects are often more dramatic in an international context. Experienced project managers are aware that the international project may be tougher to handle than a purely domestic one, but they see the advantages of working with an effective intercultural team.

Nevertheless, for project managers there often seems to be a serious gulf between vision and reality. How do you cope with a team that is working on a prestigious Asian infrastructure project and that is made up of Indians, Chinese, French, Malaysians and Germans?

In such situations, the guidelines from headquarters in Europe are not always very useful. First, there are linguistic problems to deal with, and then there are the infamous cultural differences; some of the team even refuse to sit down in the canteen together. Heavy penalties have to be faced if the project is behind schedule or fails to reach its targets with the resources available.

Communication styles can also be a major factor in international projects. Italian project managers felt that their German colleagues emphasized the importance of formal documentation, whereas they themselves preferred more informal communication.

Project team members need to be given feedback on their performance, but how this is done can differ widely across cultures: should feedback, for example, be direct or indirect? Attitudes to project milestones and to keeping to deadlines also vary, as does the question of whether the project manager’s main focus of attention should be the person or the task.

Most of the managers interviewed saw culture as just one of the factors determining what happens in complex situations. Indeed, cultural differences can easily be blamed when things go wrong, when the real reason for problems might be found elsewhere.

Nevertheless, the key to managing international projects successfully is to take cultural factors into account at every stage of the project process and to turn potential problems into advantages. The three main stages of project management can be divided up as follows:

• forming: getting the team together;
• storming: collecting ideas (in other words, brainstorming);
• norming: getting everyone in the team on the same track.

The diversity of opinions and attitudes in an international project team can make decision-making slower, but it also creates potential for innovative solutions. Typically, the early stages of an international project will take longer than in a domestic one. However, time invested in “forming, storming and norming” will pay off in the “performing” phase.

Practical tips for international project managers

• Be aware of time zones and working hours in different countries. Use them to create competitive advantage (for example by having call centres in different time zones, so your staff can offer 24-hour service).
• Allow more time for the first stages of the project than you would usually allow in domestic projects or projects with monocultural teams.
• Check common understanding of project goals.
• Clarify and communicate roles.
• Establish clear rules for communication.
• Invest time in face-to-face communication.
• Spend time on team building to create trust and common commitment.
• Use job rotation, so that project managers get international experience.
• Respect the cultural values of your project team and your customers.