INTERNATIONAL PROJECT MANAGEMENT

What is culture? And why is it so important for international project management?

Culture is sometimes represented as an iceberg that symbolizes the visible and invisible parts

of experiences and values that shape people's behavior. The visible component of the culture, or practices, is the part that is immediately perceived when people interact.

It comes across in symbols such as words, gestures, pictures, heroes (which is a display

of model behavior), and rituals which are activities that bind a group together. These practices are easy to observe when you travel to another culture or receive guests or team members. In the business world, symbols include writing conventions, how co-workers address each other, the presentation of diagrams, physical gestures of respect, and even eye contact. Understanding models of appropriate behavior, or heroes, is critical to showing respect.

Stereotyping and cultural intelligence.

A stereotype is a standardized mental picture that represents an oversimplified opinion, prejudiced attitude, or uncritical judgment. People are influenced by their culture but also by local sub-cultures and regional traits, which would render universal truths and profiles inaccurate if they weren't already inappropriate. Cultural intelligence is your ability to interpret someone's unfamiliar gestures the way that person's culture would, in a natural fashion (without resorting to analytical tools, or, if you will, while "thinking on your feet").

The following is a summary of the five dimensions defined by Hofstede.

First, we will talk about power distance.

This dimension measures how people handle inequality within the group.

Team members from countries with lower power distance seek a distribution of power

and feel comfortable disagreeing with senior team members.

Team members from countries with high power distance find it hard to disagree in front

of senior team members, and look for senior approval before executing tasks.

A project manager can still engage team members from a high power distance culture,

without forcing them to agree or disagree, by asking them to contribute their opinion and experience.

Next is individualism to collectivism.

This dimension represents the relative value of the individual compared to the collectivity.

More individualistic cultures prefer to have individual choices when planning and executing tasks, value personal achievements and are encouraged when project success ties personally to them. More collectivistic cultures are more likely to tie project success to morale and group achievements, value group consensus in decision-making, and are less likely to move forward until all are on board.

The next dimension is masculinity to femininity.

Using Hofstede's terminology, in the more masculine countries, the degree of gender differentiation is high, men are associated with control and assertiveness, while women are associated with modesty, caring, and focus on the quality of life. In the more feminine countries, gender differentiation tends to be lower. Project managers from more feminine countries may need to be more assertive to work with teams from more masculine countries.

Project managers from more masculine countries may need to show humility and competency to work with teams from more feminine countries. Note, while this terminology can seem outdated, the values associated with it are worth considering.

Now let's talk about uncertainty avoidance.

This dimension relates to the ability of certain cultures to deal with change, risk, ambiguity, tight rules, and standards. Countries with strong uncertainty avoidance tend to work better with strict rules, detailed planning, and predictability.

Countries on the other end of the spectrum with low uncertainty avoidance are comfortable with ambiguity and loose directions.

And finally, the dimension of long-term orientation.

People from long-term-oriented cultures value persistence, thrift, and deference to status.

People from short-term oriented cultures value personal steadiness and stability, respect for tradition, and protecting their reputation.

The following is a summary of the dimensions defined by Fons Trompenaars. These are an alternative to Hofstede's dimensions. The Seven Dimensions of Culture model was created by Fons Trompenaars and Charles Hampden-Turner, and was published in their book, "Riding the Waves of Culture."The model highlights cultural preferences for each of the following seven dimensions.

The first dimension is universalism versus particularism or rules versus relationships.

People from universalist cultures place high importance on laws, rules, values, and obligations. They try to deal fairly with people based on these rules,

but rules come before relationships. People from a particularist culture believe that each circumstance, and each relationship, dictates the rules that they live by. Their response to a situation may change, based on what's happening at the moment, and who is involved.

The second dimension is individualism versus communitarianism:

This dimension is similar to Hofstede's. Individualist cultures place a high value on personal freedom and achievement. They believe that you make your own decisions and that you must take care of yourself. Cultures that value communitarianism believe that the group is more important than the individual and provides help and safety in exchange for loyalty.

The group always comes before the individual.

The third dimension is specific versus diffuse, or how far people get involved. People from specific cultures prefer to keep work and personal lives separate. They believe that relationships don't have much of an impact on work objectives, and, although good relationships are important, they believe that people can work together without having a good relationship. People from diffuse cultures believe that good relationships are vital to meeting business objectives and that their relationships with others will be the same, whether they are at work or meeting socially. People spend time outside work hours with colleagues and clients.

The fourth dimension is neutral versus emotional, or how people express emotions.

People from neutral cultures make a great effort to control their emotions. Reason influences their actions far more than their feelings. People don't reveal what they're thinking or how they're feeling. People from an emotional culture want to find ways to express their emotions at work. In these cultures, it's welcome and accepted to show emotion.

The fifth dimension is achievement versus ascription, or how people view status.

People from achievement cultures believe that you are what you do

and they base your worth accordingly. These cultures value performance, no matter where you stand in the hierarchy. Ascription cultures put a high value on power, title, and position.

The sixth dimension is sequential versus synchronous time, or how people manage time.

People from sequential cultures prefer events to happen in order. They place a high value on punctuality, planning, and staying on schedule. People from synchronous cultures see the past, present, and future as interwoven periods. They often work on several projects at once, and view plans and commitments as flexible.

The final dimension is internal versus outer direction, or how people relate to their environment. People from internal direction cultures believe that they can control nature or their environment to achieve goals. This includes how they work with teams and within organizations. People from outer-direction cultures believe that nature or their environment controls them; they must work with their environment to achieve goals. At work or in relationships, they focus their actions on others, and they avoid conflict where possible.

Managers are constantly learning that what gets you to "yes" in one culture gets you to "no" in another. First, you'll need to adapt the way you express disagreement.

In some cultures, it's appropriate to say "I totally disagree"

or to tell the other party he's wrong.

This is seen as part of a normal healthy discussion.

In other cultures, the same behavior would provoke anger and possibly,

an irreconcilable breakdown of the relationship.

The key is to listen for verbal cues, specifically what experts call upgraders

and downgraders.

Upgraders strengthen your disagreement and are often used by Russians, Germans,

Israelis, the French, and the Dutch.

If your German counterpart says he completely disagrees,

you may be on the verge of a highly enjoyable debate.

Downgraders soften the disagreement.

Mexicans, Thai, Peruvians, Ghanaians, and the Japanese use a lot of these.

If a Peruvian you're negotiating with says he disagrees a little, it might actually mean

that a serious problem is brewing.

The British are masters of another type of downgrader, a deliberate understatement.

To them, this is a polite way to deliver negative feedback, but to a very direct

and unfiltered culture like the Dutch,

these understatements lead to massive miscommunications.

One of the most confounding aspects of international negotiations is

that in some cultures, the word "yes" may be used when the real meaning is no.

From an Indonesian perspective, it's rude to say no to someone you respect.

Instead, they may say "We will try our best" to suggest they would

like to do what you want but it just isn't possible.

In other cultures, "no" is the most frequent knee-jerk response,

but it often means "Let's discuss this further".

By engaging all your senses and paying attention to tone and body language, you can usually tell

when a yes feels more like a no, or vice versa.

But the best way to avoid a misunderstanding is

to simply avoid yes-or-no questions as much as possible.

Instead of asking, "Will you do this?"

try "How long would it take you to get this done?"

You'll negotiate more successfully by understanding these subtle messages

and adapting your conversational style.