Large international Projects are multicultural. They are executed in various countries. Cultural differences need to be taken into account as well within the team as with regards to the client and the local context. This aspect is often underestimated, in particular by international project specialists, under the belief that conventional rule of contract and project management approaches prevail. However it not always so, and Project success requires to be attuned to cultural differences. Our new White Paper 2017-11 ‘How to Take Into Account Cultural Differences in Large Complex Projects’ elaborates on some aspects that need to be considered carefully.

Cultural differences express themselves at two levels on a Project:

• Large Projects are always global when it comes to the entire value chain (suppliers, contractors) and often at the Project team level as well,
• The Contractual approach and strategy needs to be adapted to the cultural context of the Client.

The impact of cultural differences on Project communication and performance should not be underestimated. It will inform the leadership styles that need to be used. It will also require substantially more investment in team members’ integration for the team to be fully effective in an atmosphere of trust. Cultural differences also too often lead to general categorization which relates to blame, and this effect needs to be carefully avoided in the Project team in particular in periods of stress.

An other aspect which is often underestimated by (western) organizations is that the British or American tough and formal contractual approach does not work universally. While it is formally the manner in which most large global contracts are setup nowadays, the way those contracts should be managed varies greatly with the local culture of the Client.

To the contractor’s dismay, in many countries, trust is more important and issues tend to be resolved at the end of the Project in a single wash-out package where both parties aim at not losing face. If the contractor has done great efforts to respond to the Client, he can generally hope to be rewarded at the end. However this creates difficult situations with respect to the formal accounting rules for profit recognition because this generally leads to a substantial degradation of the formally recognized Project bottom-line in the second half of the Project. In these cultures, writing tough contractual letters in the midst of the Project might also not be acceptable to the other party because of face-keeping issues and the expected deference to the Client.

We see too often Projects in dire straits because of some cultural misunderstanding – either within the project team itself or with the Client or local communities. The capability to be attuned to cultural differences and adapt accordingly is a key skill for the successful Project Manager on Large International Projects. The availability of a local partner and/or counsel is also an essential success factor that should be taken into account when setting up such Projects for execution. Read our new White Paper 2017-11 ‘How to Take Into Account Cultural Differences in Large Complex Projects’ to understand better those issues!

Update and correction on 4 December 2018: the link to Hoefstede National Culture Dimensions is now https://www.hofstede-insights.com/product/compare-countries/. The White Paper has been updated accordingly.

If you can’t access the link to the white paper, copy and paste the following link in your browser: http://www.projectvaluedelivery.com/_library/2017-11_MultiCultural_Aspects_Large_Projects_v0.pdf