Effective Communication among International Project Team Members affects Project Success in Multinational Organizations

This research project examines the impact of effective communication among international project team members on the success of the project in multinational organizations. It covers communication management, policies, and practices, and provides strategies for mitigating communication issues. The study uses interpretivism as the research philosophy to understand the subjective experiences and perspectives of international project team members. The literature review defines key terms such as effective communication, project team members, global projects, and multinational organizations, and examines the significance of effective communication management for project success. The study also identifies various communication management issues and provides strategies for mitigating them.

Effective Communication among International
Project Team Members affects Project Success in
Multinational Organizations

Table of Contents
Chapter 2..........................................................................................................................................3
Literature review..............................................................................................................................3
2.1 INTRODUCTION..........................................................................................................3
2.2 DEFINITION OF TERMINOLOGY...........................................................................3
2.2.1 DEFINITION OF MAIN TERMS.............................................................................4
2.3 EXAMINING THE VARIOUS ISSUES......................................................................5
2.4 THE IMPACT OF THE THINGS YOU HAVE IDENTIFY....................................................7
2.5 ACCESSMENT OF THE VARIOUS ISSUES.........................................................................7
2.6 MITIGATION ISSUES.............................................................................................................8
2.6.1 REVIEW POLICIES..............................................................................................................8
2.6.2 CHOOSE THE APPROPRIATE DESIGN OR METHOD...................................................8
2.7 PRESENT CHALLENGES OF MULTINATIONAL ORGANISATION.............................10
2.8 CHAPTER SUMMARY..........................................................................................................11
References......................................................................................................................................12

Chapter 2
Literature review
2.1 INTRODUCTION
This research project is based on the process of communication and it aims to determine
the impact of effective communication among international project team members on the success
of the project in multinational organizations. Within this project, there will be a description on
the communication process and its management and policies within the organizations. Along
with it, this research project also covers multinational project team members as well as global
projects and multinational organizations. Moreover, there will be an examination of the different
issues and significance of effective communication management for the success of the project,
strategizing communication management and administrative aspects as well as communication
management practices.
2.2 DEFINITION OF TERMINOLOGY
Effective Communication: According to the viewpoint of Lee and Kim (2018), this term is
defined as the process of exchanging, sharing, and transferring thoughts, ideas, knowledge,
information, and opinions. This helps in easily receiving as well as understanding the message in
a well-defined and clear manner. When communication is effective then it leaves all the persons,
who are involved, satisfied and feeling accomplished. In an organization, the process of effective
communication assists in the management of manpower and developing teams. This also
facilitates in enhancement of the process of innovation as well as creativity within the workplace.
In the context of multinational organizations, effective communications assists in maintaining the
complex dealings of the business.
Project Team Members: These are the persons who are working on a single or various stages of
a project. A person is accountable to develop contributions to the process of decision-making.
This becomes significant for the members of the project team in order to assist the goals as well
as objectives of the project where the members of the team are willing to share their skills and
knowledge. A study by Kabore, Sane, and Abo (2021) indicates that, the International project
team is the one that makes optimum utilization of the resources as well as members of the team
who are based within multiple nations throughout the world. In the context of the international
project team members, the key role of these people is to contribute to the overall objectives of

the project, accomplishing individual deliverables, providing expertise, and working with the
users for establishing as well as attaining the requirements of the international business.
2.2.1 DEFINITION OF MAIN TERMS
What is communication
Communication is the process of exchanging, sharing, or transferring information, ideas,
opinions, and thoughts among people. As per the viewpoint of Lisa Nielsen (2022), Effective
business communication occurs when both management and manpower interact with each other
for meeting organizational aspirations. The key purpose of communication within the workplace
is to improve the practices of the business and minimize errors.
Figure 1:16 Types of Modes of Communication
Communication management/ policies
According to Kelechi Udoagwu (2021), Communication Management is considered as a
deliberate art of the process of planning, monitoring as well as improving the approaches of
communication within a project, team or organisation. Effective communication policies within a
business assist in setting the expectations and also manage the flow of the communication both
inside and outside the workplace. Such policies assist in meaningful and essential
communication for the productivity and morale of the employees without restricting
communication.
Effective communication
The author, Nurullayevna (2020), said that Effective Communication is an approach of
sharing, exchanging and transferring knowledge, ideas, thoughts, information, and opinions to

other people in a clear and well-defined way. For communication to be effective, this must be
clear, complete, correct, compassionate and concise. One of the major benefits of effective
communication includes that it helps in the growth of the organization in a fast manner and
retains the manpower also.
Multinational project team members
Lucy Brown (2021), stated that project team members are those key people who work on
the different phases of the project. The primary responsibilities of project team members include
working with the users in order to determine as well as accomplishing the needs of the
organization, meeting individual deliverables and many more. In the context to multinational
project team members, the role of such people is to mainly contribute to the process of decision-
making within multiple organizations throughout the world. This becomes significant for the
multinational project team members to support the goals and objectives of the projects.
Global projects
As per the viewpoint of Jeremy McAbee (2021), global projects become increasingly' in
this modern era. The author stated that a global project is defined as one that provides assistance
in utilising the resources as well as members of the team who are based in various nations
throughout the world. With the global projects, various project teams and people are spread
throughout the different nations wherein a single individual works on a single project at the same
time. This concept generally face a situation where the members of the project or different parts
of the project team get dispersed on locations that are belonging to different time zones.
Multinational organizations
As per James Chen (2022), multinational organisations usually located in multiple
countries with a centralised head office where they coordinate international management. These
kinds of organisations have facilities as well as other assets within at least a single country
instead of its home country. Multinational organisations can have a favorable economic effect on
the nation where the business takes place. These organizations are also known as transnational
organisations that are registered and operated in more than a single country at a time. Basically,
these organisations have their headquarters in a country and operates entirely or partially owned
subsidiaries within the other nations.
Literature Gap in relation to the given study is communication management, policies and about
multinational project team members. For further improvement of the limitations various sources

and articles can be used to further enhance the knowledge and presentation of the study. That
improvement will also be used in another researches as the previous problem will be addressed.
2.3 EXAMINING THE VARIOUS ISSUES
Significance of effective communication management for project success
As per the viewpoint of Aastha Shaw (2022), the management of the effective
communication is significant for the success of the project because it allows a project to progress
in a smooth way and in a defined time period. This also makes sure that members of the team are
aligned on the objectives of the project as well as understand what is expected of them exactly.
This also facilitates in developing trust so that each person works better together from the
starting of the project to its ending. However, in case if there is lack of effective communication
management, then the success of the project can be hindered in a great way. Several
communication management issues can create a barrier in success of a project and these are
discussed as under:
2. Lack of transparency and trust: This is extremely typical for communicating anything
when there is absence or lack of transparency as well as trust. For instance, if the
employees of the multinational organisations believe that they are holding something
back then it will be anxious, some will speculate and as an outcome, this will be more
crucial for them to process any effort that is made by the organisation to communicate
with them.
3. Inability to listen to others: Active listening is considered as a significant aspect of the
effective communication. Inability to listen to others is another kind of issue in which an
individual cannot engage with someone in case if it is not listening to them. As it will
tend to make assumptions regarding the needs that are based on their perceptions versus
actuality.
Strategizing communication management and administrative aspects
In context to communication management and administrative aspect, there are different
issues and some of these are discussed as follow:
2. Unclear line of communication: Without proper communication flow, employees of
organisation are uncertain about responding answers to whom which creates a lack of
accountability as well as confusion. In such way, not having a clear line of

communication makes effectively communicate top-level information to the employees a
challenge.
3. Ineffective communication tools: It is another issue related to administrative aspect of
communication that using wrong and inappropriate communication tools can cause
miscommunications, delayed response times, information loss and distractions.
Communication management practices within international project team’s members
Various issues are concerned with communication management practices within
international project team members and some of them are as follows:
2. Inconsistency in communication: In context to international project team members,
because of communication inconsistency people may not provide enough information
regarding changes in strategy at the workplace which can result in ineffective results.
3. Inefficiency in leadership: There are several cases where there is poor or zero
communication by leadership. Due to this international project team members can face
difficulty in working with the team from across distributed places. This ultimately leads
to misunderstanding and stalled projects which may be a great challenge.
Figure 2:Communication with customers: Five essential factors
2.4 THE IMPACT OF THE THINGS YOU HAVE IDENTIFY
The communication has main impact on the overall organization as it leads to affect the
relationship of the management. Communication in the management is known to bring better
clarity in the direction of the business. Moreover, the level of engagement can be improved in the
work and the management policies. When the policies are made as per the company and its
employees then the team building is improved. Due to which this effective communication
among international project team members can be achieved. Moreover, the company will not be
able to stick to the schedule and project planning will not be done in a planned manner which can

further result in the further delays in project execution, completion and various other functions.
In order to protect the failures in the global projects, the international project team members are
required to fill the gap of inefficient communication by making use of effective communication.
The failure and delay in the global project execution as an issue of communication challenges
necessitates to be managed properly. That is why, the multinational organizations should grasp
and identify certain conditions that will serve as indicators for the training needs of their team
members.
2.5 ACCESSMENT OF THE VARIOUS ISSUES
There are various ways that can be used to resolve and solve the issues of effective
communication. In addition to this, various multinational organizations are to take care of their
international reputations. As there are various people which are involved in it at global level as a
result their inability to train and develop their international project team members on how to
achieve effective communication can be a main issue. When executing the global projects by
employing the necessary knowledge and skills and this may result in to the poor project delivery
because instructions and requirements were not effectively communicated in the workings. Due
to which the ineffective communication of international project team members has been
criticized by different sectors globally.
2.6 MITIGATION ISSUES
As from the above projection of the information, it can be said that there are about various issues
related to effective communication management, strategies linked to it, various practises which
are involved in effective communication management. In relation to the project management,
communication is one of the essential element to bring better success with progress. With the
help of better communication, the company will be able to enhance the level of trust in the
company. The project team comprises of various professional which all belong to the various
backgrounds with different bunch of skills. In order to mitigate the issues, the company can
make use of phone calls, Email, surveys, various presentations, project plan and many others.
Managing business is one of the complex job to succeed at the workplace and there are various
theories which are available for companies they can use from it. Such as Fayol's Principles of
Administrative management, Luther Gulick and the POSDCORB Theory, (James and
Ashirkulovna, 2022). Mooney’s Administrative Management Theory and many others. Various

companies are required to make use of various preventive measures to deal with the above
mentioned issues of the company.
2.6.1 REVIEW POLICIES
There are various policies which can be considered and the old policies can be reviewed in order
to bring better changes in the management. Communication is one of the main part of the
management and as international project team members comprise of various individuals which
are engaged at the different levels. Moreover, in multinational companies from the initial stage to
final stage it completely depends upon the effective way of communication. That is why the
members of an international project team must have proper communication skills in relation to
get the project completed properly. It can be seen that due to the changing nature of global
projects that is their different time zones, cultural backgrounds, various environmental elements
and the complexity of projects. There are some kind of communication challenges which may
lead to poor execution of the project (Turakulovna and Ashirkulovna, 2022).
2.6.2 CHOOSE THE APPROPRIATE DESIGN OR METHOD
Research methodology is defined as the term which is explained as the appropriate set of systems
which are used in order to outline and observe the information which is linked with the topic. It
is also known to let the readers evaluate the overall reliability of the information. This
methodology covers the right procedures which are utilised to examine about the information
related to the topic and it is one of the significant area in the research project (Moon,2022).
Research philosophy
Research philosophy is characterized into two parts such as positivism and interpretivism
philosophy. In this the researcher will choose the positivism research philosophy because it helps
in gathering the quantitative data for the research. Additionally, the research philosophy displays
the defined structure with the aim of conducting the whole research thoroughly.
Research Choice
It is further allocated into two parts such as quantitative and qualitative method and in relative to
this study, the researcher will reflect the quantitative method as it is linked to collect the
numerical data in the present research (Thorpe, 2022).
Research Strategy

The term research strategy is accessible in several forms that is interview, surveys, observation
and many more. In relation to the present research, the researcher will choose the survey strategy
because it aids in getting the numerical data from various respondents. Research strategy is
known to be the cost effective methods that is why the researcher will be able to conduct whole
research in low cost.
Research Instrument
Surveys, checklists questionnaires, tests are some of the types of research instruments. From all
the options available the researcher will select the questionnaire as its instrument because under
this the researcher can gather the data in a correct manner in relation to the topic.
Data collection
In the data collection there are two forms which are involved in it such as primary and secondary
data collection. In this research data collection’s both method will be utilised since it supports in
collecting the information directly from the respondents. In addition to this, there are various
other sources that is journals, books and many others (Grimm and Schwartz, 2021).
2.7 PRESENT CHALLENGES OF MULTINATIONAL ORGANISATION
As there are various challenges which are faced by the multinational companies such as the
language barrier when the company in involved in the international business. Then it can be seen
that various people speak different language and it is also essential to communicate the message
properly. There various issues that can take place due to the cultural difference as a country is
made up of various culture and languages. Another present issue is related to managing the
global teams as all the people live in different part which means it can be difficult to account for
language barriers, various cultural differences, time zones, and varying levels of technology
access and reliance (Knight, 2019). Moreover, the issues are related to currency exchange,
inflation rates and also the tax competition, political instability, different demographics,
infrastructures and many others. As selecting the best place for the MNC can be a challenge in
which the demand is high, that is why they are to book large office spaces before commercial
projects can be fully constructed and handed over. The term communication is defined as the the
process of sharing or transferring, exchanging, the information, ideas, opinions and thoughts
among the people. Effective business communication takes place when both management and
manpower interact with each other for meeting organisational aspirations. The main purpose of

the communication within workplace is to improve the practices of the business and minimising
the errors.

2.8 CHAPTER SUMMARY
From the above analysis, it can be summarised that the research covered the various impacts
in relation to the effective communication among international project team members. Its main
role in improving the overall international project team member's performance, with the help of
using most effective communication the company can improve the overall productivity in the
international project team members in multinational organisational growth by bridging the
ineffective communication gap by using NISSAN Motor Manufacturing Sunderland branch
office staffs as a case study. The necessity for the effective communication among international
project team members and its problems and prospects was also explored.

CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
It is the significant chapter which generally gives the details about the way investigator
has approached the report and the techniques and methods they had considered. While designing
a study, the it is necessary to understand the selection of apt research method. Thus, this is the
section in which explored and used research methods are discussed in a systematic way. In
simpler words, it explains the method intends to conduct the investigation. Researcher will be
following Saunders research onion to accumulate and analyse assembled information for
achieving the objectives.
3.1 Research Philosophy: The primary layer of the Saunders research onion framework
is research philosophy. It is the foundation of every study because it provides the set of
principles and beliefs on which the proposed investigation is built upon. The philosophy is
categorised in the two forms which include: positivism and interpretivism philosophy.
Investigator has used positivism philosophy because it gives the view that knowledge exists
outside of what is being discussed and studied. With the principles and beliefs of positivism
philosophy, it is done objectively and researcher does not involve personal opinions. It is
selected because it only measures and evaluates numerical data so that objectives could be easily
achieved (Bauer and et. al., 2021). The positivist view is acquired by empirical investigation
which is generally dependent upon observation and measurement. Thus, with the help of
positivism philosophy researcher proves whether the carried out information is true or false.
However, if the the assembled numerical information is found out to be meaningless then it is
seen or considered as meaningless.
3.2 Research Approach: The other important second layer of the Saunders research
onion framework is research approach. It is one of the broader methods which is used by
investigator for conducting the investigation. The approach contains two forms that are:
inductive approach and deductive approach. It is significant for clarifying to determine
investigator's research approach as it appropriately informs the decisions they take in terms of
data analysis and data collection in the study. Investigator has chosen deductive approach as it
begins with the assistance of a theory and work to test on it by investigation. Deductive approach
is strongly linked to quantitative research and it mainly gives importance to numerical piece of
information (Rinjit, 2020). Quantitative study reflects a deductive approach, generally informed
by positivism philosophy. Therefore, deductive approach is apt for the accumulation of

numerable piece of information in a way so that defined objectives and aim could be easily
attained.
3.3 Research Strategy: It is another layer which is very conceptual aspects of the
Saunders research onion framework. For making investigation more practical, researcher has
taken help of research strategy. It gives the details the way by which aims and investigation can
be completed systematically. There are many approaches that can be taken by investigator, so
some of them are: action research, grounded theory, experimental research, archival research,
case study, survey, interview and many more. Survey and case study are used by investigator
because it is linked with the collection of appropriate and relevant information. Survey is
considered by investigator because it helps in the collection of numerical and raw piece of
information (Kurten and et. al., 2022). The major benefit of survey strategy is that it directly
approaches the respondents to accumulate apt information. On the other hand, with the help of
case study strategy, researcher carries out information which is already carried out by companies.
This helps in making the study systematic and precise manner.
3.4 Research Choice: The other significant layer of the research onion is “choices”. This
is the layer which assists in determining and selecting how many information (quantitative or
qualitative) kinds investigator uses in the investigation. In general, there are three significant
options: mono method, mixed method or multi-mixed method. Investigator has chosen mono
method because it allows investigator to choose any one choice. So, it allows to select
quantitative research choice as it assists in the accumulation and analysis of data which
numerical terms and numbers (Afriana, Rahmaniar and Shaleh, 2022). The major advantage of
quantitative research choice is that it helps in taking out outcome which can be measured in
numerical terms and objectives of the study can be easily achieved.
3.5 Data Collection: It is the other method of research which allows researcher to collect
information from the different available sources. It is categorised in the two important kinds
which include: primary and secondary data collection. Researcher has selected both the methods
of data collection so that objectives can be easily achieved. It contains two types which include:
primary and secondary data collection. The method of primary data collection is chosen for the
accumulation of raw and first-hand information in the systematic way. With the assistance of
primary method, researcher gathers insights which are raw in nature and collected for the very
first time (Tabuena, Hilario and Buenaflor, 2021). The major advantage of primary method is

that it carry out insights which are raw in nature and never carried out before. So, for
accumulating first-hand data questionnaire is used and data is collected directly from the source.
On the other hand, secondary data collection method is also used because it assists in the
accumulation of second-hand data. Some of the important secondary sources include: journals,
newspapers, publications, articles, books, already conducted surveys & interviews and so on.
The major benefit experienced by the investigator through secondary method is that it saves time
of the investigator and carries out large piece of information in short duration of time.
3.6 Data Analysis: It is the method which assists in the procedure of analysing gathered
data. It provides the technique for the systematic analysis of information. Some of the major
techniques are: content analysis, frequency distribution analysis, thematic analysis and so on.
Researcher has used frequency distribution analysis to analyse information and make a great
conclusion in a systematic way (Dzwigol, 2020). The major benefit of frequency distribution
analysis is that mainly focuses over numerical piece of information. Thus, investigator has used
this for the evaluation and analysis of data which has numerical terms and make a summary in a
systematic way.
3.7 Research Instrument: It is the research method which allows investigator to collect
apt piece of information. In the current investigation, questionnaire is used as one of the
significant instruments because it assists in the accumulation of numerical and raw piece of
information in a precise manner (Al-Ababneh, 2020). The major benefit of using the
questionnaire is that it does not take longer time duration and save cost of the researcher.
3.8 Sampling: It is one of the significant methods which allows investigator to select
right number of representatives for collecting information from them. This is the method which
is categorised in the two important forms which are: probability and non-probability sampling.
Investigator has used probability sampling because it helps in the selection of large number of
respondents from the available large population (Sarwono, 2022). In the probability sampling,
random strategy is followed by the researcher because it does not follow certain criteria to select
respondents. The major advantage experienced by the researcher is that they can have large
number of respondents for the collection of data. 40 respondents are chosen to collect
information from them.
3.9 Time Horizon: Time is one of the significant elements which helps in the completion
of a study in a timely manner. It is the framework which helps researcher to schedule the time for

completing each activity of the whole study. This method is divided in the two major kinds:
cross-sectional and longitudinal time horizon (Zakrzewska-Bielawska, Lis and Ujwary-Gi 2022).
Investigator has chosen cross-sectional time horizon because it helps in achieving objectives in
short time duration. The major benefit of cross-sectional time horizon is that it mainly depends
over real-time.
3.10 Ethical Consideration: Ethics are very significant for a research paper because it
make the investigation relevant and accurate. There are several ethical principles which are
followed by investigator. Investigator has received informed consent form, not harming any
respondents, avoiding deceptive practices, protecting confidential data and so on.

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