Analyzing Project Management and Cultural Differences in Business

This report explores the significant impact of cultural differences on project management success. It begins by addressing how diverse cultural backgrounds within a project team can influence outcomes, highlighting potential risks such as communication breakdowns, lack of trust, and various project-related uncertainties. The report then provides practical strategies to mitigate these risks and ensure project success in a multicultural environment. These strategies include avoiding stereotypes, encouraging cultural calibration, allowing sufficient preparation time for team members, actively monitoring team dynamics, and breaking down communication barriers. The report emphasizes the importance of proactive management in fostering a collaborative and effective project environment, with references to Kerzner and Kerzner (2017), Binder (2016), de Carvalho, Patah and de Souza Bido (2015), and Gurung and Prater (2017) to support its findings.

Running head: PROJECT MANAGEMENT AND CULTURAL DIFFERENCES
Project Management and Cultural Differences
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note:

2
PROJECT MANAGEMENT AND CULTURAL DIFFERENCES
Question No 1
How does people coming from different cultures affect project success? What kind of risks
does this impose on the project?
Answer to Question No 1
The constantly changing global business environment and the understanding of different
business cultures have now became an essential part and a pre requisite for the success of the
business. According to, Kerzner and Kerzner (2017) the proper and effective understanding and
management of the people who work in the same company but are categorized under different
cultures can help to gain success for the organization. The understanding of the cultures and
taking the right steps for the organizations helps them to ensure success for the organization.
Cross Cultural management can be viewed as an organizational knowledge resource which can
be managed. The success of the project has been extensively examined in the project
management literature. The success of the project depends totally on the workforce and the
difference in the culture will have a negative impact on the organizational success. The main
problems in the presence of the different kinds of organizational cultures will be the absence of a
proper communication that can stand as a barrier to smooth operations. The absence of trust and
inability to understand each other will act as a major hurdle to the different kinds of projects that
may be undertaken by the organization.
Binder (2016) has said that the cultural risks can attract a number of different other
related risks to the completion of the following project. This includes Uncertainty Avoidance,
Long Term orientation, Traditional Risks, Language based risks, Legislation risks and many

3
PROJECT MANAGEMENT AND CULTURAL DIFFERENCES
more similar risks that can be harmful for the project and may stall the project. These risks must
be controlled at an early stage to ensure the presence of smooth operations.
Question No 2
How can you ensure project success when working with different people coming from
different cultures?
Answer to Question 2
The success of the project will depend on the implementation of a number of different
steps. This includes;
1. Avoiding Stereotypes- There is a fine line in between being aware of the different kinds
of cultural differences and stereotyping. The management of most of the companies have
the tendency to make all of the employees listed under a common category created by the
organization. However such a category will only complicate things (de Carvalho Patah
and de Souza Bido 2015). The management must be open minded and the employees
must be provided the freedom to communicate in their own styles.
2. Calibrate- Calibration is one of the most important processes as each and every employee
has to ensure that they adapt to the changes in culture and can easily communicate with
people coming from different culture and different background.
3. Allowing the Preparation Time- The employees must be provided with the necessary
time to help them adapt to the new culture. It is not favorable for the management to
ambush the employees and expect them to start behaving in the lines of the organization.
The providence of the necessary time is essential for the success of the organization.

4
PROJECT MANAGEMENT AND CULTURAL DIFFERENCES
4. Monitoring the Team Dynamics- A clear monitoring of the team is needed to be
followed accordingly by the supervisor or the leader (Gurung and Prater 2017). The
monitoring of the cultural adaptations will help the organizations to manage the project in
a much better and organized manner.
5. Breaking Down the Barriers- The management of the organization has to approach all
the employees in a friendly manner and ensure that they break down all the barriers of
communication. It is important to break down the barriers of communication as it will
make the employees belonging to different cultures approachable and will ensure a
smooth workplace.

5
PROJECT MANAGEMENT AND CULTURAL DIFFERENCES
References
Binder, J., 2016. Global project management: communication, collaboration and management
across borders. Routledge.
de Carvalho, M.M., Patah, L.A. and de Souza Bido, D., 2015. Project management and its effects
on project success: Cross-country and cross-industry comparisons. International Journal of
Project Management, 33(7), pp.1509-1522.
Gurung, A. and Prater, E., 2017. A research framework for the impact of cultural differences on
IT outsourcing. In Global Sourcing of Services: Strategies, Issues and Challenges (pp. 49-82).
Kerzner, H. and Kerzner, H.R., 2017. Project management: a systems approach to planning,
scheduling, and controlling. John Wiley & Sons.