INTRODUCTION
Introducing international project management (PM) practices and the related formalization of the PM function usually requires significant adjustments in attitudes, understanding, responsibilities, methods and reporting relationships. These changes affect the organization sponsoring and paying for the project—the project owner—and all the people contributing to planning and execution of the project the project team, whose members represent the key organizations involved in the project.
Cultural factors—within the project environment, the involved organizations, the industry, the geographic region and the involved nations--create barriers to these required changes. These barriers can require substantial effort to overcome or mitigate, and if they are not overcome they will reduce the effectiveness of the project management efforts. This article outlines a five-phase strategy to implement changes required for effective project management and to manage the barriers that will be encountered:
- Identify and understand the barriers anticipated in regard to a proposed change,
- Create awareness of the needs and identify the motivating forces that will help to overcome the barriers,
- Educate and train the affected people using the knowledge gained in the first two steps,
- Take appropriate actions to support the changes, and
- Modify and evolve the PM practices and/or the manner of their implementation to accommodate the current or anticipated cultural barriers.
KEY CHANGES REQUIRED FOR EFFECTIVE PM
The basic project management practices used here to identify potential barriers to change are those which are accepted in both industrialized and newly industrialized countries. The essence of these practices is contained in three basic concepts:
- Single points of integrative responsibility for the project:
- In the owner organization
- The Project Sponsor [2]
- The Owner Project Manager
- In the executing organization
- The Execution Project Manager
- In the owner organization
- Integrative planning and predictive control of the project and all interrelated projects:
- All functional contributors, project elements, project phases, essential elements of information (time, cost, technical)
- For all interrelated projects (interdependencies or common resources)
- The Project Team:
- Members of the Project Office (the inner sanctum)
- All other contributors to the project: functional specialists/managers, contractors, vendors and suppliers, consultants, outside agencies, approving and funding authorities, including the project owner's key contributors
The task of implementing practices based on these concepts requires changes in a number of areas, regardless of region, country, industry or specific organization. Some organizations have made many of these changes, but few in any culture have totally adapted as yet to these concepts. Some of the primary areas of change that generate barriers and require understanding and acceptance are:
- Integrative roles below the general manager
- Shared responsibilities for projects
- Direction from two bosses: functional and project
- Integrative, predictive planning and control
- Computer-supported management information systems
- Project objectives over department objectives
- Working, and being rewarded, as a team rather than as individuals
- Temporary assignments on projects, rather than permanent niches in the bureaucracy
In order to overcome cultural barriers to change, each organization needs to first identify and prioritize the key changes, such as those listed above (the list is by no means complete), that are required for it to progress toward full management by projects. Then the cultural barriers to each of these can be identified so that strategies for mitigating them can be developed.
IDENTIFYING CULTURAL BARRIERS TO CHANGE
Integrative Roles Below the General Manager
In the functional organization, the president, managing director, or chief executive officer plays the key integrative role at the corporate level, and division general managers (or equivalent titles) play this role at lower levels. Project managers are assigned within the organization as integrators for their projects.
Barriers: This integrative assignment of the project manager creates barriers that stem from the bureaucratic structure of many cultures. Since the general manager traditionally has been the primary integrator, a subconscious feeling is that this new integrator is trying to act like, or take over the authority of, the general manager. Because the project manager is not the general manager, people will often resent and resist this role unless they fully understand it. The more authoritative the culture, the more difficult this barrier will be to overcome. These barriers can be made worse when the project manager thinks she or he must act like the general manager, and tries to assert full authority over all project team members and their responsibilities.
Shared Responsibilities for Projects
For effective management by projects, both functional and project managers must learn how their responsibilities are properly shared on projects. In over simplified terms, the project manager is responsible for what (project scope) and when (project schedule), while the functional managers are responsible for who does the work and how the work is performed. How much (the project budget) is the responsibility of the project manager, but is usually based on the functional managers’ estimates.
Barriers: The culture of traditional functional organizations, with each manager totally responsible for the what, when, how, and how much, is a source of barriers due to lack of understanding and acceptance of this sharing of responsibilities that is required for effective management by projects. The functional managers feel they have lost power and prestige, and do not like the feeling or the fact. In national cultures that place a heavy emphasis on power, control, and hierarchical position, this barrier is very strong. Such shared responsibilities may, in fact, be perceived as a sign of weakness for both parties.
Direction From Two Bosses: Functional and Project
Project team members usually must take direction from a functional boss (how to do the work) and from a project boss (what to do-scope of task—and when to do it to meet the project schedule).
Barriers: In traditional corporate or national cultures where people have learned that every person should have only one boss, this attitude produces another barrier to effective PM. Additionally, some team members may play one boss off against another to cover up problems, aggravating the obstacles mentioned in “shared responsibilities” above.
Integrative, Predictive Planning and Control
Project planning, scheduling and budgeting tools and methods are designed to integrate information and predict outcomes if the project plans are followed.
Barriers: People in bureaucratic organizations have learned that “information is power” and, therefore, have developed attitudes and habits which causes them to “play it close to the vest” and hold back information about their work. Some national cultures do not encourage the sharing of information. Information access may be linked to position in the hierarchy rather than the person's need to know it. These attitudes, habits and customs cause resistance to the new methods that are designed to integrate everyone's plans for the various tasks on a project, openly communicate the status of everyone's work, and reveal problems or conflicts in a predictive way, so that they can be resolved or avoided. These obstacles are added to the aversion that many technical people have to planning in any form.
Computer-Supported Information Systems for Management Purposes
Computer-supported information systems, especially those using microcomputers, are becoming more useful and necessary for effective management by projects.
Barriers: Older managers, and managers from cultures who view a keyboard as something only a low-level clerk would ever touch, have difficulty understanding how such systems are useful for management purposes. Other managers view computer systems as only for accountants or engineers, not managers. Sometimes the “computer experts” promote and exploit the mystique of computer systems, and multiply these barriers. The traditional barriers between technology and management must be broken down.
Project Objectives Over Department Objectives
Most of us, in all cultures, develop a sense of loyalty and commitment to our own departments or other organizational units.
Barriers: For effective management by projects, we need to be able to recognize the importance of the project objectives, and even place these above our departmental and sometimes our personal objectives. The inability or unwillingness to develop a loyalty to the project, and become committed to its objectives, can be a significant barrier to its success. Some cultures base personal rewards almost solely on achieving departmental objectives and satisfying the functional manager, with no regard for the individual's performance on a project. Cultures that reward loyalty and status quo over performance and professionalism can be especially affected here.
Working, and Being Rewarded, as a Team Rather Than as Individuals
Successful projects require all project contributors to work closely together as a team. However, most project team members have been successful in the past, and have been rewarded, for working as individuals.
Barriers: This need to change behavior and work habits toward multi-disciplinary teamwork exposes barriers that prevent many individuals from wanting to, or being able to, work as members of a well-oiled team. In national cultures that have fostered and perhaps even glorified individual work, these barriers can be formidable. At the other extreme, team solidarity can be a barrier to good performance when team members protect each other to the detriment of overall project performance.
Temporary Assignments on Projects, Rather Than Permanent Niches in the Bureaucracy
Everyone seeks the security of a long-lasting, stable, predictable organization, and many of us find it less than desirable to be in a temporary, personally risky, less predictable project situation where the end is not only in sight, but great pressures are exerted to complete the project as soon as possible.
Barriers: After observing what can happen to the people assigned to a project that is abruptly canceled, or fails, or even when a project is successfully completed and the team members are rewarded with demotions or termination of their employment, people will not be motivated to follow in their footsteps. These barriers, as well as many of those described earlier, are primarily psychological, but they can be very powerful deterrents to accepting and using effective project management practices.
In addition to these specific project management derived barriers, cross-cultural lack of understanding or longstanding animosities bring with them additional barriers. These can be found in joint venture projects bringing together two corporate cultures in the same country or projects involving two industries, or multinational projects involving two or more nationalities and languages. A number of additional cultural factors that create barriers to effective project management can no doubt be identified.
FORCES HELPING TO OVERCOME THE BARRIERS
A number of forces will usually be present in a given situation which, if harnessed, can assist in overcoming the barriers. Pressure from the company's competitors, failures which show that the existing methods are not adequate, the interchange of people with different experiences in other organizations, the desire within many people to improve and do a better job, the need to prepare the organization for the future, dissatisfaction with the present situation—all of these plus others are sources of energy that can be harnessed.
Of critical importance is the need to create an awareness of the need for the change in question. This awareness is often the result of a project disaster, either within the company or the industry, that brings home to all concerned that products and markets are changing, environments are changing, competition is becoming global, and if we want our organization to survive, it is necessary for us to change also. Creating the awareness of need for a given change requires demonstration, education, and communication. Once the awareness of need exists, the barriers will be less formidable, and can be surmounted or mitigated more easily. In laying out a strategy for dealing with change, priorities must beset, considering both the importance of each factor, and the feasibility of making the change.
EDUCATION AND TRAINING
Having identified the expected barriers, and having gained an understanding of the forces that are present that will assist in making a change, one can design an education and training program to support the implementation of the change. The nature of PM, which involves discrete projects, allows the use of selected projects as the education and training vehicles. Such projects can be thought of as prototypes from the management viewpoint, testing the new practice or method, and demonstrating to the project team and the entire organization what the role of the project manager really is and how the changes being introduced in the project planning and control system really work.
Team planning workshops are being recognized more widely as a very effective method of (1) introducing new project management practices; (2) educating, training and developing the project teams; and (3) overcoming the barriers that may block the total effectiveness of the PM approach. One group of PM professionals recommended four types of workshops for cross-cultural projects: workshops at both the management and project team levels, and—for each level—two workshops, one dealing with the cultural aspects and factors, and the second dealing with the project objectives, scope, content and plans [3].
It is not effective to simply announce the appointment of a project manager or the acquisition of a new planning and control system, for example; a well-designed education and training program is required, anticipating the barriers to be expected, and capitalizing on the motivating factors which will assist in the acceptance of the change.
TAKING APPROPRIATE ACTIONS TO IMPLEMENT THE CHANGE
Either in conjunction with or following the proper education and training, management actions are required to introduce and put into practice the PM concepts summarized earlier. Senior managers themselves must learn about, understand and support the new practices, and demonstrate through their communications and behavior that these are important to the future of the company. Senior managers must recognize that they are role models in the organization, and that their actions and attitudes speak far louder than their words. The introduction of new integrative roles, new planning and control methods or tools, and new ways of working together as teams, must be viewed as projects in themselves. We can “let the medium be the message” in this regard. These change projects must be carefully planned, and must include supporting education and training efforts designed around the anticipated barriers. Recognizing these as “management research and development projects” can be a useful way of positioning them and gaining greater acceptance and support throughout the organization.
MODIFYING AND EVOLVING PM PRACTICES
In all organizations that manage projects, their practices have evolved over a period of time. It is not possible or even desirable to attempt to leap from no formal PM practices to the full-blown ultimate in PM that can be envisioned, or that some organizations have actually achieved over a number of years. Many of the cultural barriers are formidable, and will not be overcome in a short time. In each of the three basic concept areas (integrative roles, planning and control, project teams) it will be necessary to introduce changes on a step-by-step basis. Compromises will often be required between the ideal and what can be made to work this year. Experience will be needed in absorbing one level of change before the organization is ready for the next. For example, an organization may elect to start out with assignment of a project coordinator, with a more limited integrative role, rather than a project manager, due to cultural barriers involved in the “manager” title or in acceptance of the full integrative role. In such cases, the manager to whom the project coordinator reports will probably carry out the role of the project manager, in addition to his or her normal duties.
SUMMARY
Success in overcoming the cultural barriers to effective management by projects can be enhanced by using the five-phase strategy described here:
- Define the changes required and identify the anticipated barriers.
- Create an awareness of the need for change, and identify and harness the motivating forces that will help to overcome the barriers.
- Educate and train all affected people using the knowledge gained in the previous steps.
- Define “change projects” to implement new project management practices, and use good project management practices to plan and execute them.
- Modify and evolve the project management practices to accommodate the barriers.
Project management is the management of change. Using PM requires change. Therefore, implementing or improving PM itself requires the use of effective PM practices, and must be viewed from a long-term perspective. There is no one best answer that fits all situations. The concepts of project management must be tailored to the culture, or the cultural mix of the team.
