DYNAMICS OF MANAGEMENT IN MULTICULTURAL PROJECT TEAMS

Abstract

With the emergence of globalization, the business models have been completely transformed. A growing number of businesses are operating globally giving rise to diverse multicultural teams. Nevertheless, cultural differences have undermined the efficiency and decision-making of the international project teams as there is more cultural diversity in the teams than ever before. Hence, it has become imperative for the organizations to take cultural diversity into consideration. Prominent cultural studies postulate that having diverse teams in the organizations can have both challenges and opportunities, yet it lacks emphasis of cultural understanding in project management. Moreover, digitization of business operations has moved organizations towards more specialized roles instead of traditional roles. Therefore, this study highlights the importance of team dynamics, their cultural backgrounds, values, and beliefs. It also emphasizes project team development to adopt increased empathetic attitude and emotional intelligence. The research has employed qualitative data retrieved from questionnaires and interviews. A paradigm for project group development is provided in order to avoid disputes caused by a lack of cultural understanding. The findings indicate that cultural differences will cause disputes in multicultural project groups. Therefore, cultural awareness is essential for group members prior to beginning to collaborate. Cultural training, good communication, team-building exercises, and well specified project objectives are also important for avoiding team conflicts. Furthermore, project management approaches should include cultural components of project groups in addition to technical details, as present studies lack any cultural recommendations.

Keywords

• cross-cultural management
• teambuilding
• project management
• conflicts
• multicultural team