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Hasan Taufique Imam Project Management in International Settings Individual Paper

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Managing Cross-Cultural Conflict: minimizing cross-

cultural misunderstanding

What tools can help to reduce cross-culture conflict in international project?

Abstract

In recent years, the trend for project development becomes more

challenging. Now a day, businesses become more competitive. In order to get

several advantages, companies start their operation globally. Many

international projects are developed in different places with the collaboration

of different companies from different country. According to Gupta (2008),the business become complexly globalized and become more challenging. If

we look at international project development, most of them are established

in different countries in order to take advantage of place, cost, and expertise

on specific area. But in an international project development, we found

barriers, like skill barrier, cultural barrier, communication barrier within

different nation workers in a single project. Culture differs from country to

country and it impacts on development of international projectmanagement. Cross- cultural conflict may spoil project in the middle. In this

paper, we are trying to focus on why cultural conflict arises in the

international projects and what can be possible solution to minimize the

cross cultural conflict.

Introduction

In business, it is common now a day that stakeholders and project owners

need not to be present where project is established. It is becoming more

international. In developing projects, it is important to communicate with

every departments and places which are connected with the ongoing project.

To finish a project successfully, we need skilled people from different part of

the world those who has experience, knowledge and experience in that

particular project. This is advantage in an international project. But there

are barriers in managing skilled people from different part of the world aswell. In an international project, it is common that there can be


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misunderstanding among stakeholders. Reason of conflict in an

international project could be cultural, language, technological, time

difference and so on. Working in a different environment and with people

from different region could be cultural shock. Different region has differentwork culture. Corporate culture in Western Europe, Eastern Europe, North

America, Asia and Nordic working culture differs in many ways. There are

many articles and books published about this communication problem in

different work environment. There are many examples about failure of

negation due to cross-culture communication barrier. Difference between

two nations could be totally opposite. According to Lewis (2005), Like,

Spaniards are generally friendly and affable, extremely hospitable whenhosting. Enthusiastic small talk and socializing precede and procrastinate

getting down. While Swedish management is decentralized and democratic;

the hierarchical structure of the typical Swedish company has a decidedly

horizontal look about it. Power distance is small and the manager is

generally accessible to staff and available for discussion. Therefore when

people are away from home and enter a new environment, they have to come

into contact with many new values, new practices and ways of living. These

changes may stress for people from different cultures working together. So,

due to cultural difference, there might be conflict between companies who

are from different nation working on an international project. But there are

some tools that can help to avoid or reduce the barrier and make the project

successful. Mostly in an international project, we found that cultural

difference causes big difficulties among the stakeholders. Projects delayed

not because of technical inconvenience, rather for cross cultural conflict.

According to Dadfar (1992), most of the international project was not

successful due to cross- cultural conflict.

Theoretical Section

Before talk about culture conflict, we need to know about what culture

means, why culture is important and how it impacts on international projectdevelopment. According to Hofstede (1994, p.1), culture is collective


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programming of mind that distinguishes one member of an organization to

other. Campbell on his part defines culture as a complex web of

information that a person learns and which guides each persons actions,

experiences, andperceptions

According to Payne (1996, ), Culture is aboutvalues, and developing systems and symbols that reinforce and perpetuate

those values, so that people behave reliably and predictably to achieve the

culture's purposes. Culture plays important role in an international project.

A projects success mostly depends on it.According to Edger Schein (1990),

Culture is the pattern of basic assumptions that a given group has

invented, discovered or developed in learning to cope with its problems of

external adaption and internal integration, and have worked well enough tobe considered valid and, therefore, to be taught to new members as the

correct way to perceive, think and feel in relation to those problems.

According to Hofstede, there are there are several factors that are

responsible for cross-cultural conflict. He figures out five factors that varies

from nation to nation and that impact on international project development.

They are power distance, uncertainty, individualism, masculinity and long

term orientation.

1. Power Distance

Power distance is the extent to which society accepts the fact the

power in institutions and organizations is unevenly distributed.

Cultures that approve low power distance expect and accept power

relations that are more consultative or democratic.

Power distance is important factor in an international project. Every

country has different corporate culture. Organizational hierarchy is

different in every country. For some country, employees are familiar

with horizontal organizational hierarchy; some are used in vertical

hierarchy. Power distance for both of the hierarchy is different and it

impacts in workforce and time for completion of project.


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2. Individualism

Individualism is the degree to which individuals are integrated to

groups. In individualistic societies, the stress is put on personalachievements and individual rights. They measure their success or

loss based on individual performance.

According to lewis (2005, p.341), every employee has different belief.

One could believe in individualism, others may not. Like in Sweden

they believe in collectivist and that costs time in decision making. On

the other hand, US corporate culture beliefs in individualism. Their

business decision does not affected by sentiment. They usually takerisk, go alone and do their job. This is their way of doing business. In

an international project, way of making decision impacts its deadline.

3. Uncertainty

Uncertainty means a degree to which a society feels threaten by

uncertainty and ambiguity. People from high certainty tend to more

emotional than people who like to face uncertainty. They try to avoid

unusual circumstances and carefully change steps and rules to

achieve their goal. In contrast, low uncertainty avoidance cultures

accept and feel comfortable in unstructured situations or changeable

environments and try to have as few rules as possible. People in these

cultures tend to be morepractical and more tolerant of change. In an

international project, we see uncertainty is an important issue. Some

nation, like to take risk like USA. They consider uncertainty as

challenge, on the other hand, Sweden has the fear of confrontation,thats why like to avoid conflict and prefer lower degree of uncertainty.

It impacts on international project in decision making.

4. Masculinity

It is the distribution of emotional roles between genders. It is

preference for achievement, assertiveness and material success.

Masculine cultures values arecompetitiveness,assertiveness,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pragmatismhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Competitivenesshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assertivenesshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assertivenesshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Competitivenesshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pragmatism


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materialism,ambition and power, whereas feminine cultures place

more value onrelationships andquality of life.In masculine cultures,

the differences between gender roles are more dramatic and less fluid

than in feminine cultures where men and women have the samevalues emphasizing modesty and caring.

Some countrys corporate culture believes in money, power, success

and objects (lewis, 2005; p.342). This is why they prefer masculinity.

In project development, if the project is based on the criteria like

developing something thats purpose is more object oriented prefer

masculinity.

5.Long term Orientation

It describes societys time horizon. Long term oriented societies attach

more values in future planning. They foster their values towards

rewards, savings and adaptation capability. On the other hand, short

term oriented societies, values promoted related to the past and

present, respect of tradition and fulfilling social obligations. To

develop an international project planning is important thing. Projectcould be long term or short term depends on its criteria. If project is

sensitive, it needs long term orientation to avoid conflicts.

Why Culture is Important

Culture is an important thing in an international project. According to Gore

(2013, p.3) Itdescribes the ability to successfully form, foster, and improve

relationship with members of a culture different from ones own culture.within an organization, when employees from different country work

together to develop a project, it is important to know other co-workers

culture. It will help them to communicate efficiently and help them to avoid

conflicts between their thoughts and views. It helps to build understanding

within the group of people who are responsible for developing projects.

In an organization, we found many people from different country those who

hold different cultural values. These differences are cross-cultural barriers
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Materialismhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interpersonal_relationshiphttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quality_of_lifehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quality_of_lifehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interpersonal_relationshiphttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Materialism


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in an international project. These cross-cultural barriers could be language

barrier, perceptual barrier, emotional barrier, gender barrier. Organizational

cultures of employees vary in these ways and it may create difficulties when

they work together in a project. Sue and Sue, (1977) pointed out thatmisunderstandings arise from cultural variations in verbal and nonverbal

communication and may lead to lineation and/or an inability to develop

trust and rapport. So it is important to know and understand culture of

employees from different area and communicate efficiently to overcome the

cross-cultural barrier. In this paper I will focus on cross-cultural conflict in

an international project and tools that would minimize the conflicts and

develop the project efficiently.

In order to achieve goal, organization has their value, norms, culture.

According to dauber (2012), organizational culture is one of the influential

factors to measure its performance. In his article he explains different

cultural models developed by different author within the organization and

their effectiveness in various projects. Among all of them, a model developed

in 2006 by Hatch and Cunliffe which is the successor of other models and

effective one according to Dauber. Unlike other models, this model considers

organizational as a whole and practice and develop cultural value and

norms within the organization. Hatch and Cunliffe (2006) showed that all

domain within are organization are connected to each other and create a

culture where all domain are inter connected with each other. As they


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believe, organizational culture is guidance for an organization and it helps

organization to run projects efficiently.

It is obvious, if an organization works with different stakeholders from

different culture, there will be cultural conflict. It may hamper the whole

project. Conflict is a situation of competition in which the parties are aware

of the incongruity of possible future positions and in which each party

wishes to occupy a position which is incompatible with the wishes of the

other. According to Najafbagy (2008), many projects have been failed that

are related to communication problem and cultural difference. In an

international project, cultural conflict could be for language barrier, working

hour barrier, power distance barrier and so on. According to Quaddus

(2002), conflict can be issue based or it can be interpersonal. Issue based

conflict occurs when there is misunderstanding between stakeholder about

resource allocation and work distribution. But Interpersonal conflict arises

due to language barrier and misunderstanding of their individual belief.

According to Marcus (2005) case analysis on French food retailers operate

business in Poland; i found that there is big conflict going on among two

stakeholders. It was due to lack of integration of knowledge, different routine

and cultural difference. Due to cross-cultural communication barrier,

project faces difficulties in decision making, setting objective.

Empirical Section (Saab 2000 Case)

As we mentioned earlier in the previous section about cross cultural

conflicts and its characteristics, that is regular issue in an international

project now a day. This is why we are going to dig dipper about some case

scenario of international projects in the following paragraphs and emphasis

the importance of perfect tools to minimize cross-cultural conflict.

The Saab 2000 case

An empirical review of international Project management

This case describes about international project development of a new

aircraft where many stakeholders were involved to make the project


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successful. As a part of international project, Crossair, a Swiss airline was

customer for the new aircraft and there are several suppliers as Allison (a

USA based engine manufacturing company), Casa (a company from Spain as

wing supplier). Among all of them Saab was facing difficulties in starting theproject through industry specific problem, technical complexities, staffing

and conflict with suppliers. In the beginning, Saab made an agreement with

these suppliers to develop Saab 2000 project. They encourage on the project

due to success of Saab 340 project. As a part of agreement, they initially

start the project and go for production then they found problem with each

other. It happened due to cross cultural conflict among suppliers and Saab.

Saab is a Swedish aircraft manufacturing company, did inefficientcommunication with other stakeholders because of lack of cultural know-

how and lack of integration of knowledge about their culture. That is why

communication between Saab and stakeholders was slow and it costs time

and money. According to Hofstede, the five factors those are responsible for

cross-cultural conflict. In the case, I found that Swedish corporate culture is

based on collectivism. Whenever they work on project like this, they take

decision in long term basis, and they are reluctant to take any risk. In that

case, to cover the project expenditure and in considering the experience

from Saab 340 project, they want to start the project with more stakeholders

to avoid financial risks. In Swedish working culture, they prefer lower degree

of uncertainty. That is why they take support on specific stuffs like, wings

and other things from the stakeholders in order to run the project smooth.

But their stakeholder Allison is an US based company, whose corporate

culture is aggressive and risk taking behavior in developing a project. On the

other hand the other stakeholder Casa is Spanish company, whose

corporate culture is stubborn. Negotiation with Spanish is not a easy thing

according to lewis (2005, p.270).

Analysis

If we look at Hofstedes cultural review on those stakeholders, we can see

the why the project was not a successful project.


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Saab, Sweden based aircraft manufacturing company. Saab was interested

to start their international project (Saab 2000) with several stakeholders.

They were inspired by the previous project Saab 340. It was the

collaboration with a US based company named Fairchild. According toHofstede, we can say Sweden is a country where organization is used to take

less risk and make secure long term planning.

Allison, a USA based aircraft engine manufacturing company, who take part

of Saab 2000 project. They support

Saab for supplying engine for the

project. As they are US based

company, they have different time

schedule or work hour and that

makes difficulties during the project

work. And their corporate culture is

different in compare with Saab.

If we look at Hofstede review of USA

culture, USA deal more with

uncertainty and mostly believe in

individualism. Compare with Sweden, they are ahead in making long term

future plan.

Casa, a Spanish part of Saab 2000

project worked with Saab. They are

supplying wings. But according to

hofstede review, we know that

Spanish culture is different from

Swedish culture. They deal with

uncertainty and emotional in decision

making. As they have higher power

distance and they are emotional, they

are less efficient in long term

planning.


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In Saab 2000 case, we see that there was a problem with suppliers in the

middle of the project. All happens due

to improper communication and lack

of cross-cultural knowledge. Saab as a

initiator of the project, they failed to

communicate with their suppliers.

They did not study about their

stakeholders corporate culture. As a

result, there is a big problem arising

during the project running period and

that cost extra money for the project.

According to Lewis (2005), we can see there is cultural difference among

supplier and Saabs corporate culture. In decision making, US oriented

companies are faster than Spanish. US culture is fast enough than Spanish

corporate culture. In compare with Sweden, managers have low power

distance than any other supplier. If we compare hofstedes review of three

companies, we can see the cultural conflict among these companies.

If we consider these three stakeholders cross-cultural behavior, we can see

that their mode of operation is

different in accordance with

Hofstedes five factors. In the

Saab 2000 case, we have seen

that they have conflict in

developing the project. It

happens because of each others

different value, objective,

mindset. Like, as a US based

company, Allison goal is to make

profit as fast and as much as

they can. They have lower power


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distance and high risk taking ability and mentality of high risk taking

culture. Their intension is to finish the project on time and gain profit from

it. On the other hand, Swedish culture is more of feminist. They care about

humanity rather than making profit. Their decision making is timeconsuming, which impact negatively in the project. Spanish company, casa

has the power distance problem. They take long time to make any decision

that cost time and money for the other stakeholders. So, continuous delay

in project creates conflict among the stakeholders and slows down the

project.

In an international project, it is very important to finish project on time.

Projects have relation with profitability and perfection. If the stakeholders of

a project are not well communicated, it hampers the flow of the project and

that results failure of the project. So it is very important in project

management that project manager should careful about time, resource and

cost of the project and understand stakeholders mindset and organize the

project based on their ability and skill and make project successful.

According to Saab case, it was problem among suppliers with the main

aircraft manufacturer Saab. These three big companies has language

barriers, cultural difference was another problem to communicate with each

other. Among the three companies, they have different level of power

distance, so it is obvious that decision making will be time consuming and

not profitable for any of them. According to Gupta (2008), it is necessary to

learn others culture and act like that. So it would be easier for Saab, if they

quickly learn their suppliers culture and act them like that. If they arrange

more face to face meeting with stakeholders when it is necessary, that could

help them to avoid misunderstanding between stakeholders. Following those

tools could help stakeholders understand their roles in international project

and their importance in the project.


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Conclusion

Possible solution to minimize cultural conflict

It is common now a day that in an international project, there is conflict

among stakeholders. To reduce cross-cultural conflict, there are some tools

or strategies that could reduce misunderstanding between stakeholders

from different country and run the project successfully.

1. Understanding others culture

To reduce cultural conflict, it is important to know about

stakeholders cultural values, norms. Measuring the countrys cultural

difference helps manager to overcome the conflict.

2. Building interpersonal relationship

To overcome cultural barrier, it is important to build interpersonal

relationship among stakeholders. According to Dadfar (1992),

managers can obtain training at home and use their local partner for

developing interpersonal relationship.

3. Organizing social events

In order to reduce cross- cultural conflict, manager can arrange social

events to reduce the distance among stakeholders. According to

Chevrier (2003), it helps to build personal relationship.

4. Integrating knowledge among stakeholders

It is very important for international project manager to integrate

knowledge about stakeholders culture and share it among everyone

so that they can understand and respect others belief. According to

Gupta (2008), international project manager must need to learn

culture from different countries and integrate it to their workplace in

order to become successful in international project.

Some organizations sometime overlook the necessary communication

strategy throughout the development of project. Cross-culturalcommunication strategy helps to reduce misunderstanding between people


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from different countries. These strategies will differ from one organization to

other based on its type of work area and size of organization. When in an

organization follows strategy of knowing each others culture and set plans

based on their work ability within the diversified team, the level ofmisunderstanding among the team will be automatically reduced and can

take the best outcome from the culturally diversified team and make the

project successful. In the beginning of Saab project, if manager share

knowledge about cross-culture values, norms and beliefs, then project might

not face difficulties as they faced in the middle of the project. Everybody

would be aware of each others duty for the project development and set

their plan based on it.


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References

Campbell, D. E. (2000), Choosing Democracy, 2nd ed. (Englewood Cliffs, NJ:

PrenticeHall), 38.

Chevrier, S., (2003). Cross-cultural management in multinational project

groups. Journal of World Business, Vol.38, pp.141-149

Dadfar, H. & Gustavsson, P. (1992), Competition by effective management of

cultural diversity: the case of international construction projects. Vol.22,

No.4. pp.81-92

Dauberet al. (2012), A configuration model of organizational culture. P1-16.

Gore, V. (2013). The importance of cross-cultural communication. IUP

Journal of Soft Skills. Mar, Vol. 7 Issue 1, p59-65. 7p.

Gupta et al. (2008), the quest for global dominance: transforming global

presence into global competitive advantage, San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Hallett, Tim, T.(2003), Symbolic Power and Organizational Culture.

Sociological theory 21.2; (pg. 128-149).

Hatch, M. J., & Cunliffe, A. L. (2006), Organization theory. Oxford, UK:

Oxford University Press.

Lewis, R.D. 2005. When cultures collide: leading across cultures. Nicholas

Brealey publishing.

Marcus & Hurt. S. (2005), Transfer of managerial practices by French food

retailers to operations in Poland. Vol.19, No.2.

Najafbagy, Reza. (2008), Palestine-Israel Journal of Politics, Economics &

Culture. Vol. 15/16 Issue 4/1, p146-150. 5p

Quaddus, MA & Tung, LL. Explaining cultural differences in decision

conferencing. August 2002, Vol. 45. No.8.


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Sue, D. W. and Sue, D. (1977), Barriers to Effective Cross-Cultural

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Retrieved from http://geert-hofstede.com/

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