Global Project Management – Challenges and Barriers

 

Dr. Pritpal Singh Bhullar

Assistant Professor, Department of Humanities and Management Studies Giani Zail Singh Campus College of Engineering and Technology, Bathinda.

ABSTRACT:

The present research paper carries a lot of weight in current global business scenario. With globalization, the volatility in business and project management has been increased. Many internal and external factors have been affecting the successful execution of global projects of multinational companies. This present examine the responses of 50 managers of multinational companies from IT and Construction companies and evaluate the various factors within and outside of company that may affect the performance of global project team. T-test has been implemented as statistical technique in the research paper. The results indicate that Organizational Culture, Socio Economic Factors, Cross National Culture and Top Management Attitude influence the performance of global project team. The study will assist the decision makers in exploring and considering the factors that affect the performance of global projects while taking their final verdict. The findings of study will help the organizations in formulating strategies to tackle the expected challenges and barriers.

 

 

 

INTRODUCTION:

Globalization and rapid advances in global business environment have presented the business houses with new business opportunities and challenges. Interdependence of global economies, diversity among manpower and shrinkage of economic boundaries around the world has been listed among the influential by-products of globalisation. Globalisation has expanded the horizon of business markets, raised the level of competition and technological advancements (Sealy et al, 2010). The increase in volatility in global economy has been compelling business houses to adapt themselves with fast changing global business environment (Yaprak 2002). To make their presence at global platform and to boost their international trade, the organizations consistently made their efforts to adopt global business tactics.

 

It has become imperative for the multinational organizations to be strategic efficient through developing synergy between their operations and capital and human resources in their businesses. Project activities do not remain confined within the premises of an organization and also within the geographical boundaries.

 

This change, in flavour of business environment due to globalization, has revitalized the new developments in project management. Project management is maturing and has been developing as complex equation to manage the diversity among employees and make balancing in their work culture at global level. Successful execution of global projects by multinational companies, create positive vibes in the organizational working environment.

 

In today’s highly volatile business environment at global level, Globalisation has put the question marks on the conventional project management skills and capabilities that were effective for handling business operation at domestic level. Capability and adaptability of human capital and the level of co-operation among the project team members plays a significant role in project management and such traits can’t be taken granted at global level (Vakola and Wilson, 2004). The rapid change in technology has brought the revolutionary change in the nature of roles and responsibilities of the global managers. The dimensions of risks that companies face in foreign land are significantly different than they face at domestic business field. Diversified project team and cultural differences hinders the efficiency and effectiveness of project management team for multinational organizational. Global management comprises a set of requisite skills necessary to widen the business networks beyond domestic markets across national geographical boundaries (Cabrera and Bowen, 2005). Absence of trust among the team members in cross national project management has been emerging as a big challenge. It has become a herculean task for the multinational companies (MNC’s) to bring a synergy in globally diversified project team and propel them to give their best. Global mindset can be described as a combination of effective handling of multiple cultures and business strategies at global level (Levy et al, 2007). It has become a big challenge for the multinational companies to develop a coherence in the working environment that comprises of diversified cultural background workforce (Ananthram and Chan 2013).

 

Many researchers devoted their efforts to determine the factors lead to project success global level. Since last decade, debate has been raised about decoding this emerging global issue but very few were successful to touch the pain point related to global project management. The present study attempts to make sincere efforts to analyze the challenges and barriers that global project management is facing in current rapid changing business environment. The current paper makes an attempt to decoding the unique challenges to global project management and magnitude of their effect on project team performance at global business environment. The present study aims to contribute some impactful findings in the existing literature and try to extract practical implications with main focus on the potential opportunities and barriers and their remedies for the cross national companies.

 

REVIEW OF LITERATURE:

The main aim of global project management is to fulfil the niche demand of global consumers by keeping in mind their culture and preferences through effective utilisation of global manpower and resources. An intensive literature was has been studies about effect of various factors affecting global project management. Globalization gave birth to outsourcing of work from developed economies to developing and under developing economies due to lower cost of raw material, availability of cheaper workforce etc. This further raised the need of reshape the workplace structure with integration of workforce beyond national geographical boundaries (Kleijnen and Smits, 2003).

 

The success of multinational companies depends upon the success of global projects (Meskendahl, 2010). Project management has not been developed empirically still it is based upon general theories and it has been considered as techniques to control the complex business problems (Packendorff, 2004) Global risks are now termed as systematic risks that are unavoidable and the companies have to face during their operations at international level (Sahay et al., 2003). Cross national Cultural diversification has the prominent impact on the performance of the project team. It has become a tough job for the multinational organizations to handle this effectively (De Bony 2010). Recruitment of global workforce with requisite skills bring competitive advantage to the company in the global business scenario (Glenn, 2008).

 

The impact of external environmental factors like social, political, economic and advances in technology on the global project management can’t be understated (Granharan et al., 2012). The effect of organizational culture on project performance was investigated in Slovenian enterprises. The results find that attitude of top management and priorities of project were the most influential factors (Stare, 2012). The significance of interpersonal skills in global project management can’t be ignored. It helps the multinational company in attaining the cutting edge over its global competitors in foreign business market. An effective interpersonal communication motivates the team members to share their knowledge, experience in their project team while execution of project strategies (Wilson, 2005). Flexibility, Sensitivity, Analytical and Reflective capabilities have been emerged as the important qualities among global project manager for effective execution of project operations at global level (Rhinesmith, 1992). Cross culture sensitivity and global managerial mindset among project managers are among the major key successful factors for multinational companies (Harveston, 2000). While execution of project strategies at international business environment, the project managers have to handle the cultural differences in their international manpower as they belong to different geographical boundaries, cultural and ethnic background (Paul et al., 2011). With globalization and expansion of business horizons, the need of optimizing the efficiency of cross cultural operations has been emerged. This has further raised the concern of redefining HR strategies to improve and maintain the performance of multinational companies (Appelbaum, Roy et al., 2011).

 

After carefully analyzing the part literature, some gaps have been found that needs to bridge. Very few have worked upon the cross national opportunities and challenges for global project management.

 

OBJECTIVES OF STUDY:

The main objectives of the study are

a) To study the cross national culture on performance of global project team

b) To study the effect of socio economic factors on performance of global project team

c) To study the effect of organizational culture on performance of global project team

d) To study the effect of top management attitude on performance of global project team

 

Hypotheses for Study:

The following hypotheses have been formulated to achieve the above stated objectives:

H1: Cross National culture has significant effect on performance

H2: Socio-economic factors have significant effect on performance

H3: Organisational culture has significant effect on performance

H4: Top management attitude has significant effect on performance

 

Research Design:

A Descriptive research design is used to achieve the objectives. It is the most suitable research design for the current study as being a scientific method it consists of observation, description, recording, analysing and reporting of the opinion of the respondents. Descriptive research design can be applied to collect the relevant and precise information related to the objective of the study. This research design further helps in drawing the valid general conclusions from the information collected during research study.

 

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY:

Stratified Sampling technique has been used to select the respondents. 50 managers of multinational companies from IT and Construction companies have been selected as the sample size for the current study. The primary data has been used to achieve the objectives. The interview technique has been selected to collect the primary data for requisite information. The interviews have been conducted with project managers of multinational companies from IT and Construction companies. Around 50 project managers were interviewed and their responses are collected and recorded. A structured questionnaire was developed. The questionnaire consists of questions on the basis of Likert scale, Multiple Choice Questions and Dichotomous questions. Likert Scale is the most appropriate scale used to analyze the opinion and attitude of the respondents about the system, culture, product and service. The questions have been framed in such a way that they will be enabled to collect the requisite information to achieve the objectives of the study.

 

The response of the respondents provides the actual scenario about the research objectives. The responses collected through the questionnaires have been analyzed by devising statistical software SPSS (Statistical Package for Social Sciences) on the research data. The statistical techniques i.e. Frequency Distribution and t- test have been devised to analyze the responses of the project managers. T- test is the most appropriate statistical technique to compare the means of the two samples. In the present study the respondents have been categorised into two samples: who think the research factors influence the performance of global project team and who think the research factors have no significant affect on the global project management.

 

Data Analysis:

The data has been analyzed on the basis of four research factors: Organizational Cultural Factors, Socio Economic Factors, Cross National Culture and Top Management Attitude. The following section depicts the statistical output of analysis of all the four research factors.

 

 

Analysis of Impact of Organizational Culture Factors:

Table I - Group Statistics

 

The statistics depicted in Table I indicates frequency distribution of the respondents. The result shows that majority of the respondents (72%) supports the fact that organizational culture has impact on the performance of global project team whereas 28% of the respondents have opposite opinion and deny the impact of organizational culture on global project management.

 

 

 

 

Table II - Independent Samples Test

		Levene's Test for Equality of Variances		t-test for Equality of Means
		F	Sig.	t	df	Sig. (2-tailed)	Mean Difference	Std. Error Difference	95% Confidence Interval of the Difference
									Lower	Upper
Organisational Culture	Equal variances assumed	1.057	.309	.099	48	.922	.01984	.20142	-.38513	.42482
	Equal variances not assumed			.128	43.753	.899	.01984	.15483	-.29225	.33193

 

The respondents have been questioned to know their opinion about impact of organizational culture on global project management. The responses of the respondents have been analyzed by applying t-test and Levene’s test (Table – II). The significant values of t-statistics on the basis of Levene’s test have been analyzed. The statistics in Levene’s test indicates the acceptance of Equal Variance Assumed under Levene’s test as the significance value (0.099) under Levene’s test is higher than significance level (5%).

 

The t – test statistics shows that respondents have same opinion about the objective as the significance value or p-value (0.922) is higher than significance level (0.05). It signifies the acceptance of null hypothesis that confirms that majority of the respondents supports the significant impact of organizational culture upon the global project management.

 

Analysis of Impact of Socio Economic Factors

Table III - Group Statistics

	Designation	N	Mean	Std. Deviation	Std. Error Mean
Socio Economic	Project Leader	18	2.5139	.35146	.10146
	Team Member	32	2.3509	.48829	.07921

 

The statistics in the table III indicates the responses of respondents about impact of socio economic factors on global project management. The results show that majority of the respondents (78%) give their positive nod and only 22% of respondents show their opposition. The results signify that respondents agree with the fact that socio economic factors have significant impact upon the global project management.

 

Table IV - Independent Samples Test

		Levene's Test for Equality of Variances		t-test for Equality of Means
		F	Sig.	t	df	Sig. (2-tailed)	Mean Difference	Std. Error Difference	95% Confidence Interval of the Difference
									Lower	Upper
Socio Economic	Equal variances assumed	3.266	.077	1.069	48	.290	.16301	.15250	-.14361	.46963
	Equal variances not assumed			1.266	25.662	.217	.16301	.12872	-.10174	.42776

 

The target respondents have been asked to share their opinion by responding though the questionnaires about impact of socio economic factors on global project management. The statistics depict in Table IV shows their opinion. t-test and Levene’s test have been implemented to analyze their opinion. The t- test values have been examined on the basis of of Levene’s test. The statistics indicates the acceptance of Equal Variance Assumed under Levene’s test as the significance value (0.77) under Levene’s test is higher than significance level (5%).

 

The results indicate the same opinion of the majority of the respondents. The t-statistics shows that respondents have same opinion about the impact of socio economic factors upon the performance of global project team as the significance value or p-value (0.290) is higher than significance level (0.05). It signifies the acceptance of null hypothesis that confirms that socio economic factors of the foreign country where the project is being executed has significant impact upon the performance of global project management team.

 

Analysis of Cross National Cultural Factors

Table V - Group Statistics

	Designation	N	Mean	Std. Deviation	Std. Error Mean
Cross National Culture	Project Leader	18	2.7381	.73091	.15950
	Team Member	32	2.3448	.65606	.12183

 

The statistics in the Table – V indicates the responses of respondents about impact of cross national cultural factors on global project management team. The output of the statistical test indicates that majority of the respondents (58%) give their positive nod and only 42% of respondents show their opposition.

The results signify that respondents agree with the fact that cross national cultural factors have significant impact upon the global project management.

 

Table VI - Independent Samples Test

		Levene's Test for Equality of Variances		t-test for Equality of Means
		F	Sig.	t	df	Sig. (2-tailed)	Mean Difference	Std. Error Difference	95% Confidence Interval of the Difference
									Lower	Upper
Cross National Culture	Equal variances assumed	.348	.558	1.994	48	.052	.39327	.19720	-.00324	.78977
	Equal variances not assumed			1.959	40.337	.057	.39327	.20070	-.01226	.79880

 

In the present study respondents have been asked about impact of cross national cultural factors on global project management. The statistics depict in Table VI shows the results of their opinion. Their responses have been analyzed through t-test and Levene’s test. The t- test values have been analyzed on the basis of Levene’s test. If the significance value under Levene’s test is higher than significance level (5%) then we assume significance value of t-test under Equal Variance Assumed. The results indicate the same opinion of the majority of the respondents. The t-statistics shows that responses of the respondents about the impact of socio economic factors upon the performance of global project team do not differ as the significance value or p-value (0.052) is higher than significance level (0.05). It signifies the acceptance of null hypothesis that supports that cross national cultural factors in the globally diversified project team of has significant impact upon the performance of global project management team Analysis of Top Management Attitude:

Table VII - Group Statistics

	Designation	N	Mean	Std. Deviation	Std. Error Mean
Top Management Attitude	Project Leader	18	2.6042	.60438	.15110
	Team Member	32	2.6618	.53613	.09195

 

The statistics depicted in the Table – VII indicates the responses of respondents about impact of top management attitude on global project management team performance. The statistical results show that majority of the respondents (68%) give their positive response and responses of only 32% of respondents differ. The results signify that respondents agree with the fact that top management attitude have significant impact upon the performance of global project

management.

 

 

Table VIII - Independent Samples Test

		Levene's Test for Equality of Variances		t-test for Equality of Means
		F	Sig.	t	df	Sig. (2-tailed)	Mean Difference	Std. Error Difference	95% Confidence Interval of the Difference
									Lower	Upper
Top Management Attitude	Equal variances assumed	.038	.846	-.340	48	.735	-.05760	.16928	-.39795	.28275
	Equal variances not assumed			-.326	26.513	.747	-.05760	.17687	-.42082	.30563

 

In the present objective, the aim is to analyze the impact of top management attitude on the global project management. T- test has been applied to analyze the responses of the respondents. The statistics depicted in Table VIII indicates the results of t – test. The t- test output has been examined on the basis of Levene’s test. If the significance value under Levene’s test is higher than significance level (5%) then we assume significance value of t-test under Equal Variance Assumed. The results indicate the same opinion of the majority of the respondents. The t-statistics shows that responses of the respondents about the impact of top management attitude upon the performance of global project team do not differ as the significance value or p-value (0.735) is higher than significance level (0.05). It leads to the acceptance of null hypothesis that confirms the no difference in opinion of respondents about impact of top management attitude factors on the performance of globally diversified project team.

 

FINDINGS:

The statistics output of the analysis of responses of target respondents indicate that Organizational Culture, Socio Economic Factors, Cross National Culture and Top Management Attitude influence the performance of global project team. The significant value of t-statistics for all the above factors is higher than the significance level of 5%. It indicates the significant influence of all the four factors on the global project management.

 

CONCLUSION:

The company should encourage the policy of providing equal opportunities and eliminate discrimination of any level within the company at global level. The communication level plays an important role in the performance of global team. Effective communication acts as backbone for the success of any company. It is recommended that the future researchers can explore the influence of other factors like leadership, hierarchy in the organization and level of training etc. on the project performance. The size of the sample was also limited. The scope of the future research can be widened with increase in size of the samples in the study by including other industrial sectors in the study.

 

SIGNIFICANCE OF STUDY:

The study will assist the decision makers in exploring and considering the factors that affect the performance of global projects while taking their final verdict. The findings of study will help the organizations in formulating strategies to tackle the expected challenges and barriers. Also the consequential increased performance will enable the global industries to grow and add to the overall economic growth.

 

REFERENCES:

1.        Ananthram, S. and C. Chan (2013). Challenges and strategies for global human resource executives: Perspectives from Canada and the United States. European Management Journal, 31(3): 223-233

2.        Appelbaum, S. H., et al. (2011). Globalization of performance appraisals: theory and applications. Management Decision, 49(4): 570-585

3.        Cabrera A. and Bowen D. (2005). Professionalizing global management for the twenty-first Century. The Journal of Management Development, 24(9), 791-806.

4.        De Bony, J. (2010). Project management and national culture: A Dutch–French case study, International Journal of Project Management, 28(2), 173–182.

5.        Garbharran, H.; Govender, J.; Msani, T. (2012) Critical success factors influencing project success in the construction industry. Acta Structilia 19, 90–108

6.        Glenn, J. L. (2008). The “new” customer service model: Customer advocate, company ambassador. Business Education Forum, 62(4), 7–13

7.        Kleijnen, J. P. and M. T. Smits (2003). "Performance metrics in supply chain management." Journal of the Operational Research Society 54(5): 507-514.

8.        Levy O., Beechler S., Taylor S. and Boyacigiller N. (2007). What we talk about when we talk about “global mindset”: Managerial cognition in multinational corporations. Journal of International Business Studies, 38, 231-258.

9.        Packendorff J. (1995). Inquiring into the temporary organization: new directions for project management research. Scandinavian Journal of Management. 11(4), 319–34

10.     Rhinesmith, S. H. (1992). Global mindsets for global managers. Training and Development, 46(10), 63-69

11.     Sahay S., Nicholson B. and Krishna S. (2003). Global IT Outsourcing: Software Development across Borders. Cambridge University Press.

12.     Sealy I., Wehrmeyer W., France C. and Leach, M. (2010). Sustainable development management systems in global business organizations. Management Research Review, 33(11), 1083-1096.

13.     Snyder, L. A., Rupp, D. E. and Thornton, G. C. (2006). Personnel Selection of Information Technology Workers: The People, The Jobs, and Issues for Human Resource Management. In J. J. Martocchio (Ed.), Research in Personnel and Human Resources Management, 25. Oxford: Elsevier.

14.     Stare, A. (2011) The impact of the organisational structure and project organisational culture on project performance in Slovenian enterprises. Management Journal of Contemporary Management Issues,16, 1–22.

15.     Vakola, M. and Wilson, I.E. (2004). The challenge of virtual organisations: critical success factors in dealing with constant change. Team Performance Management 10(5/6), 112-20.

16.     Wilson, D. (2005). New perspectives in applied Communication. Ibadan: SterlinHordan Publishers

17.     Yaprak, A., (2002). Globalization: Strategies to build a great global firm in the new economy. Thunderbird International Business Review 44(2), 297–302.

 

 

 

 

 

Received on 09.01.2018          Modified on 10.02.2018

Accepted on 22.03.2018           ©A&V Publications All right reserved