Executive Summary
Dealing with multicultural project management is vital to the success of any organization. The success of managing such differences shows the competitive advantage that the International Companies would have relative to the country where they are to open their business.
Cultural differences across most of the International societies have been much debated for a while now, because of the emergence and expansion of businesses globally. The literature review has much to do with a research on the national culture in Nigeria, conflict, and the projects that have been carried out and failed relative to multicultural differences.
The Ajaokuta steel project has been one of the eminent examples of International projects that have failed due to cultural differences and this was due to poor understanding on how to deal with such differences among the project managers. Abereijo supports the importance of understanding cultural differences as vital to the success of International organizations and therefore realized that culture can be viewed as an individual element, “collective and universal” and should be dealt in an effective way (209).
He continues to assert that culture can be a “collective mindset”, however what is not clear amongst most project writers is on how to manage conflict in projects. Critics try to raise issues on whether conflict management is based on the rules or the kind of relationship that exist between the organization and the public (217).
However, there can be a preferred way of conflict management amongst individuals.
Introduction
Several cultures have their own ways of dealing with cultural conflicts and unless a given organization understands this, it might not be able to succeed in such environment. “Expertise” in such scenarios is important, Research shows that through careful studying of the cultures of the several world societies, managing conflict, emotional intelligence, and project management, there exists a universal way of effective multicultural project management (Ahmed 275).
Working in another culture especially for International organization can be difficult and further this call for managers involved in International business to have effective conflict management skills (Garrett 294).
Cross-cultural management is an important “discipline” for project managers working with International organizations because there are challenges that arise out of the organization’s culture on handling issues and the nation where the organization operates and cross-cultural management gives tools that are effective in dealing with such cultural differences (Fan 499).
Often such differences are the sources of conflicts. This calls for effective and universal way to handle conflicts in the International scene and to understand the cultural “diversity” of different countries for project managers (Baba 67). This paper aims to bring into light the factors contributing to cross-cultural differences and its management in Nigeria. This can be realized through analysis using the Principal Component Analysis method.
Objectives
Through the PCA method of analysis, this paper shall achieve its objectives of knowing the factors that caused the failure of the Ajaokuta Steel project in Nigeria. Several studies show that there exists a problem in dealing with the cultures of different communities and this has often been the barrier to the success of businesses.
With the advancement in technology and the emergence of new skills and theories about leadership in organizations, there is need to know how to deal with the public that have different cultures. The behavioural characteristics and the social environment shall be studied relative to cultural differences in the country.
Previous research shows that the Nigerians had a preference of working in “stable environments” and this might have been a challenge to such an International Company that was not used to such an environment in comparison to the Western countries (Balogun & Hailey 68).
Research Purpose
Culture is one of the vital factors that lie behind the success of any organization (Gray 455). These especially in project management where organizations want to be successful and this can be realized through how such organizations manage multicultural differences. Failure to handle such management conflict can lead to failure in the implementation of projects and the performance of organizations and affect how the organization teams operate (Grundy 765).
This research is intended to find out what is the relationship between project management and the success of projects, further the research aims to find out why certain projects fail unlike others. Consequently, the paper aims at how to manage conflicts in such environments with cultural differences.
There is the use of Thomas-Kilmann Conflict Mode that is essential to managing conflicts used by International Project Managers (Haslberger 86).
Assumptions of the Study
Some of the assumptions included: All the people involved in answering the questions would read properly and they were not medically unfit to prevent them from understanding the questions.
Research Questions
What factors contribute to the failure of the project management teams as explained by the emergence of new theories about management styles? Has the new management theories affected the way the project managers effectively manage projects? In answering these questions then the research has succeeded in its objectives.
Literature Review
The Nigerian government controls how projects are managed relative to social environment. The government is vital in approving of projects, allocation of resources, and easing finance (Chong 55).
Therefore, having skills in multinational corporations, managing the relations between the government and the organization, and effective communication skills are vital to succeeding in the International arena. Studies show that there are ways in which the corporations that have varied cultural background can create a competitive advantage and succeed as multinational firms (Hodgson 234).
Clearly, in International business there might be significant changes relative to the production processes, the financial requirements of the organization, the personnel, the mission, the philosophy and vision of the organization (Hoon 344).
Studies show the cultural differences might be as a result of several factors in the host country and lack of understanding by the project managers. Consequently, differences in the objectives of the project managers, their expectations, how to handle certain problems, and the required course of action might differ from individual to individual (Hong 408).
According to Baba’s research, it identified group cultural differences into traditional organization’s culture, differences in management, and different views amongst the project managers relative to the philosophy and “fundamentals” that define the law and contracts that the organization has to abide (68).
He continues to assert that previous research studies focused on the personality of the project managers showed that the differences in the traits of such managers was the cause of low level performers and high level performers in Nigeria.
However, Balogun & Hailey assert that the existence of such cultural differences as regard to traits was the cause of some leaders having effective leadership skills while others cannot be able to manage projects in the most effective manner and this led to the failure of certain projects in International business (84).
In this research, I intend to use the Managerial Competency Assessment method as proposed by Bresnen (157). Through this method I shall be able to know why the project managers that were involved in the implementation of the Ajaokuta Steel Project, which was a project, awarded to the international Company SOLGAS Ltd. in Nigeria.
Nevertheless, Iguisi states that the previous research studies show that the competencies of several managers across the world countries were based on “cultural factors” that guided their direction in terms of making decisions, their personality and their behaviour (166).
The results of the competency analysis amongst the managers showed their decisions and cause of action in regard to cultural differences was based on how they would view their status, whether they would see any importance to consult other when making decisions and their level of communication between them, the public and their employees (Iguisi 142).
According to Hu, the existence of the multicultural differences affects the leadership skills of managers and this in turn influence on how such managers are likely to handle such cultural differences (167).
Cultural factors such as individualism,”masculism” / “Feminism”, the “power distance”, uncertainty avoidance” and fatalism affect how leaders and how effective they can be relative to handling multicultural differences (Brookes 474). According to Haslberger, Nigeria’s cultural setting is in such a way that it is challenging for leaders in applying their leadership skills and this call for appropriate behaviour and leadership traits for them to be successful in such environments ( 99).
However, Casimir states that the power distance index is used to relate to how the society in the given country manages “uncertainty” (48). This implies that how the given organization is managed and “centralized” is important (Jacobs 29).
Nevertheless, individualism is vital to the success of any organization in the multicultural environment as the way the given manager relates to the colleagues is important to the organization. Some culture can be self centred where individual value their families and immediate relatives and this need to be understood by the project management team so that they know how to deal with the issue (Chen 479).
However, the collective society is that society that ensures that the individual is concerned with large groups. This is important in project management as the desire for the organization’s goals over individual goals can be seen to propel the given Company to higher levels (Jassawalla 38).
The Masculine Index affects social and personal goals. Chen believes that the females value social goals while the male are preferred to “egoistic” goals such as being rewarded. Such factors are due to cultural differences, and they influence the decisions by the project management (397).
Nevertheless, other cultural settings require the “organizational performance” that would in the end make the leaders make effective decisions (Cleland 89). In addition, there are other previous studies that have ended that the approach of individual project managers to the “cross-level” might be able to explain the multicultural differences and the “organizational behaviour” (Chung 193).
This study, aims at using the cross-communication competence model in understanding how the multicultural teams work and come up with conclusions on how the Nigeria’s culture affected the decisions of the Ajaokuta Steel Project because of the importance cross-cultural communication (Hofstese 78)
However, clearly the effects of national culture and its differences have led to different views on how the multicultural settings in various countries need to be implemented (Johns 33). Lack of communication skills relative to multicultural differences affects the performance of the International organizations (Jaw 763).
Other research shows that the existence of varied Western and Nigerian management thoughts have resulted to different perceptions of the multicultural and conflict management in the International scene (Luo 54). Consequently, according to Darling there are problems relative to conflict and multicultural project management as a result of the existence of the “characteristics of short life-cycle” (385).
These challenges call for organizations that need to be successful in International business in the ever changing world economy of today to have the skills to adapt to such changes (Johnson and Wichern 45). Being aware and in-depth understanding of the multicultural differences across the world states can lead to the success and attainment of a competitive advantage of an organization (Kanter 20).
In this project, I wish to look at the development of the project culture relative to the project life-cycle. Project cultures at times are likely to stop functioning as a result of implementation of a new phase. It is important therefore for the project managers to understand the process of project management and how it is likely to be affected by the culture of the environment. To bring this issue into light, I will be focusing much on the Ajaokuta project that failed in Nigeria.
However, previous research has attempted to address the failure of this project and ended that lack of focus of the project managers for this project and poor communication skills were the contributing factors for the failure of the project (Kauser 17).
I wish to study and examine in this research how communication and the multicultural differences are likely to affect the success of project implementation. I would go further to use the four dimensions of national culture that were proposed by Hofstede, Low and Shi (4). Analyzing the Nigerian projects based on this model gives important information on the failure of projects and why managers of projects have failed to understand multicultural differences that are vital for project management.
Consequently, I shall rely on Fons Tromenaurs theories for the analysis (Kealey 39).
Hypothesis and proposed data analysis plan
The main hypothesis in this study is the way in which Nigeria’s culture is viewed in the International scene. This is because the Ajaokuta Steel Project is to be located in the country and therefore the way in which the project managers view the culture of the country determines how they can be able to work in such an environment.
This further dictates the methods they are likely to use to succeed in the country. This project is needed in time and therefore I will use the MS Project software to manage my time for this coursework. This software shall enable me to complete the research in time for assessment.
Consequently, the MS Project software shall produce the Gantt chart that is a show of my expenses with the time I use to develop this research. This is important because I will not spend money that has not been planned for the research.
Methodology
Understanding of multicultural differences in project management at Nigerian firms can be through questionnaires, interviews, Internet, and field survey. This shall be through conducting a study where ten questions shall be used and this is based on literature study. These questions shall be answered by the project managers and the management teams that were involved in the implementation of the Ajaoukuta Steel Project, that is an International project that was to operate in Nigeria but failed.
I intend to use a total of seventy questionnaires, these respondents that include 25 Nigerians that is about 38 percent and 45 foreigners that is about 62 percent. The 45 respondents from the foreign countries is an inclusion of around 50 percent respondents from the Western countries.
Consequently, among the 70 respondents, I wish to conduct the research on 60 respondents that have a direct relationship with the implementation of the Ajaokuta Steel Project, 4 of the respondents that work in the human resource department, 4 respondents that work with the logistics department and 2 respondents that are involved in the other areas of the project implementation (Chen 45).
The questionnaires developed in this study required the people involved in the project implementation to give out the factors that affect the multicultural project management, and how such differences are managed (Levine 564).
A five-point Likert scale will be used whereby the higher number 5 represents a crucial factor while the lowest number represent a factor that can be ignored and this is least important (Lin 102). Further, the important factors that affect the multicultural differences can be known through the PCA method as explained previously, and this gives brief information on variables and other factors.
Data Sources and Measures
Most of the information found in literature gives the required information on the factors that have caused the failure of most projects carried out in other International countries.
Expected Problems and Timetable
The PCA method does not often look at the alternatives of the affect project management and handling conflicts in a cultural diversity situation (Mintzberg 453). This might make this research seem one-sided. Therefore this method is likely to make this research method loom as if it is not in depth however the results that will be presented showing the real picture of managing conflict across cross-cultural project teams (Buttery 15).
Conclusion
The implementation of several factors faced projects. This is because such implementation calls for interactions between several cultures, and people (Morris 444). It is often not easy to have full confidence in the success of such projects without the required knowledge and skills to cope in such environments. Therefore cross-cultural and conflict management is the important component in the success of these projects otherwise it would not be possible to operate on a competitive advantage (Reiss 342).
Cross-cultural and conflict management of project implementation further can be faced by several other challenges such as having an effective relationship with the project implements that have cultural diversity.
Hence, these challenges call for a research whose aim is to understand the cultural diversities for foreign projects and come up with appropriate controls for the same (Dye 564). Foreign project managers that are dealing with projects in Nigeria ought to be conversant with multicultural management and how to deal with conflicts for the cultural diversity.
Employing several theories from writers such as Geert Hofsteded, and Fons Trompenaurs, this research shall bring into light the way to manage conflicts in a diverse environment in the process of effective project management. Consequently, the PCA method will enable this research to address the factors that affect multicultural management.
Having effective skills as the project manager to take control of projects has been an issue and the social and behavioral characteristics that are necessary for effective conflict and cultural differences management has been debated for a while (Evans 316).
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