Global Considerations and Trends “Global projects consist of teams formed from multiple countries, continents, and cultures, which crisscross functions, work locale, markets, and products” (Gray & Larson, 2006, 489). Benefits and disadvantages of global projects can be sometimes similar. Benefits can range from obtaining different points of view based on culture, function, religion and time zones. Disadvantages can also be limited based on the same considerations. Team A will provide information regarding the management of global projects, challenges faced, similarities, differences and three trends that will be important in the next decade. Challenges of Global Teams Outsourcing and globalization are two opportunities for organizations to have teams made up of members from multiple ethnic and sociopolitical backgrounds. “By and large, project teams succeed or fail based on the strength and diversity of the team and its ability to harness distinctive competencies to achieve team goals” (Chapman, 2008, week 2). Consideration of language, political views and economic status is an important consideration to the success of the project. Gender, religion, age and other cultural beliefs may have a significant impact on team cohesiveness. When planning, a project manager should undrestand the team members’ backgrounds. The backgrounds of the team members may affect the way the project is planned. Some cultures are very sensitive to time and others are not. If the project manager (PM) considers these differences no one will be offended. Additionally, some cultures are more individualistic and ohers are more community oriented. Again if the PM is sensitive to backgrounds team membes will not be offended. An effective project manager will be able to get the most out of their team by undertanding the the differences in ethnic and sociopolitical backgrounds. “Essentially, every project team must fit within its environment and, if a team is working globally, then it must recognize and adjust for the diversity of working in other cultures and business systems and adapt to local systems and norms” (Chapman, 2008, week 2). Managing a Global Team “Project teams operate in global environments, and because they do, there are a host of issues that face project managers” (Chapman, 2008, week 1). Project teams are all over the world and face to face interaction is limited. Projects can be conducted via electronics; phone, web conferencing, instant messaging, fax, email and video conferencing. Communication, leadership and direct support from the executives are key factors in running a successful project. Clear roles need to be established by the PM based on individual member skills and understanding of the project goals.
There are many similarities and differences between domestic and global project management. A project manager must realize that what might work in their country may not work in a foreign environment. Project managers might find themselves using practices that have worked for them in the past, without even thinking of the new environment, and issues may arise. Project managers need to understand the differences in a different country's environment to avoid and reduce any obstacles that there may be. Some considerations global project managers must consider are the legal, political, security, geographical, economic infrastructure, and culture implications of working with different countries (Gray, 2006).
From this study conducted, the knowledge, skills and abilities that I need as project manager is very well explained and can help me to focus and achieve success on my career path. No generalization can be assumed from the results of this study simply because the requirements and demands for recruitment vary between countries and industries.
Keogh, Jack. "International Teams: Beyond Cultural Difference." www.jackkeogh.com. Keogh and Associate Consulting, LLC, n.d. Web. 6 May 2012. http://www.jackkeogh.com/Multicultural team article by JK.pdf
The purpose of creating teams is to solve a problem or issue through the use of diverse ideas and solutions. There are many times in life, whether at work or at school that one will encounter a diverse mix of personalities. Workplace diversity is everywhere, from the small corner business to the fortune 500 company, and is one of the most important challenges facing companies today. This mix of diverse personalities, gender, race, experience, and culture is what makes a team successful. This is an example of a heterogeneous team. On the other hand, a team with the same make-up, or homogeneous, has limitations on creativity, viewpoints and ideas. This paper will look at cultural diversity and demographic characteristics, specifically age, gender, expertise/ experience and how each plays an integral part in the construction of a high performance team.
The use of culturally diverse business teams is an increasingly common situation in today’s world; especially as the world continues to become a global village. Leveraging on the cultural diverse backgrounds and experiences of members of such teams can be a source of improved performance which can ultimately reflect a competitive advantage in the business market. As Symons and Stenzel (2007) aptly state, “culturally diverse teams are more likely to engage in innovative `out-of-the-box' thinking, given their different life experiences in diverse social environments.” Another pointer to suggest that multicultural teams tend to be a source of competitive advantage in business is found in the paper by Di Stefano and Maznevski (2000) where they state that “multicultural teams have an enormous wealth of material with which to create innovative approaches to complex organizational challenges.” They furthermore state that “today’s business cannot flourish without the creative value afforded by high performing global teams.”
Project managers working in a global environment must recognize the various ethnic and sociopolitical challenges involved.
These project managers are also examining teamwork for ways to improve project success. However, since the benefits of leadership behaviors can be rather intangible, this has slowed or prevented the implementation of leadership theories. Accordingly, the impact of leadership behaviors on project performance has been one of the major issues for both industry and academic fields (Keller, 1992; Kendra and Taplin, 2004; Turner and Muller, 2005). In order to understand the benefits, there is a need for quantification of the benefits derived from leadership behaviors. Research on leadership behaviors and theirs associations with project success should offer tangible evidence of advantages from adopting a certain leadership style (Giritli and Civan, 2008). There is a need for more comprehensive empirical evidence that evaluates the benefits associated with the project manager's leadership style and, more specifically, its associations with project success. This study attempts to fill this void of empirical evidence by identifying the associations between leadership style and project success. The purpose of this research is to investigate the effect of the leadership style on project success and to examine the mediating role of Team stability in the relationship between leadership performance and project success. In other words, the analysis shows the relationship between
In today’s globalized world, multicultural teams accomplish a significant proportion of organizational work. Multicultural teams are formed because they improve organizational effectiveness in the global business environment. As such, multicultural teams offer huge potential to organizations. The most critical and practical challenge multicultural teams face is managing conflicts across members’ national cultural boundaries. Other cultural challenges in multicultural teams include dealing with coordination and control issues, maintaining communication richness, and developing and maintaining team cohesiveness. For multicultural teams to be effective, members must learn to address the challenges that arise from team members’ differing nationalities and cultural backgrounds.
“Project management is the application of knowledge, skills, tools, and techniques to organisational and project activities to achieve the aims of an organisation through projects” (PMI, 2003).
From the lessons, I have been able to understand various methods and procedures in managing a project team. My lecturer gave a brief introduction of the topics which are going to be discussed in the 2nd course “Managing the Project team”. I was excited to go through those topics as some of the terms were familiar to me.
In the globalized economy, Successful project managers are in much demand across many industries. Organizations strongly need experienced project managers to lead their staff to accomplish their business goals and deliver successful projects. In an increasingly complex environment, project managers need to turn into many roles and have all kinds of responsibilities at each level of management within an organization. Good project managers are not born. They need to be trained. They develop their skills through study, practise and experience. They become better project managers after they finish a successful project each time. They learn new techniques and apply them on their projects. They learn their lessons from failed projects and then improve to be better project managers in the future.
Project management involves all activities that encompass scheduling, planning, and controlling projects. A successful project manager ensure that an organization’s resources are being used both efficiently and effectively. Most projects need to be uniquely developed require a sense of customization and the ability to adapt to any posed challenges. The scope of effective project management includes defining what the project is and what is being expected to be accomplished. Projects are imposed to fulfill a certain need and project managers must have the ability to create the proper definition. Goals and the means used to attain those goals have to be clearly stated. Project Managers must also have the ability to plan
Project managers have to improve their skills every day to deal with the organizational change and especially the world’s Megatrends. However, it can be a challenge for a project manager to comprehend what skills they should be improved, what sections of project management knowledge that should be tried to perceive, and how to measure and enhance their performance.
When planning a new project, how the project will be managed is one of the most important factors. The importance of a managers will determine the success of the project. The success of the project will be determined by how well it is managed. Project management is referred to as the discipline that entails the processes of carefully planning, organizing, controlling, and motivating the organization resources so as to foster and facilitate the achievement of specific established and desired goals and meet the specific criteria of success required in the organization (Larson, 2014). Over the course of this paper I will be discussing and analyzing the importance of project management.
Over the course of my professional life, I have become increasingly involved in project management roles. Doing so has made me aware of the many varied challenges that can face projects and the project managers who are charged with bringing them through to completion. The success or failure of projects, in whatever economic, political or social field, rests not just on the quality of the project’s goals, but also on the abilities of those involved in the project – and above all those who are managing it – to bring it to successful completion. To do this, project managers need to be equipped with a very wide range of skills, many of which are unrelated to the type of project itself. So, for example, a project manager of an engineering project must not only have engineering