This report contains a literature review of culture as it relates to projects and project management.

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Christopher Jones

Project Management Theory & Practice – 7042-201112 BEPG

Abstract

This report contains a literature review of culture as it relates to projects and project management.  It has defined culture as an accumulation of shared traditions, rituals, behaviour patterns, norms and values that distinguishes groups. Culture can be separated into national and organisational levels. At these levels they can be differentiated and compared using various dimensions and typologies.

A project management culture has emerged to support and compete against traditional hierarchically structured organisations that are ill-equipped to cope with the demands of rapid change and task orientation. Traditional hierarchical cultures are cumbersome and their structures ineffective in a dynamic workplace. The project organisation is task orientated comprising many different actors and is dynamic. Project managers have to integrate the various cultural issues to achieve client satisfaction.

The construction industry has a culture and image problem. Holistic partnering encompassing the full supply chain and a more market orientated approach applied to address these problems.

Table of Contents

Culture        

National Culture        

Taxonomies of Organizational Culture        

Project Management Culture        

Project Organisation Culture        

Conclusion        

Introduction

This report aims to firstly define the concept of culture. It will  examine culture from a national and organisational perspective. It will then seek explore an emerging project management culture, comparing it with traditional hierarchical organisational culture.  This will be followed by a look at project organisation and the culture of the temporary organisation/ project coalition. The report will then define pertinent issues in the construction industry and conclude on the findings.

Culture

Culture is a collective mental programming of minds that distinguishes groups from one another (Hofstede, 1991). It develops through early childhood and family life and later becomes reinforced through schooling and organisations. (Hofstede, 2001) It is the shared way groupings of people understand and interpret the world. (Trompenaars and Hampden-Turner, 1997). We have other words such as traditions, rituals, behaviour patterns, norms and values that indicate this sharing but culture implies a structural stability in a group. Something cultural is not only shared, but stable and deep. This depth is less conscious, tangible and visible. It is the sum of shared learning of a given group. (Schein, 1992)

For the project manager an understanding of culture is important.” Every project must operate within a context of one or more cultural norms” (Project Management Institute [PMI®], 2000, p. 27)

National Culture

If culture distinguishes groups then national culture does so on a national level. Geert Hofstede in his capacity as a psychologist at IBM conducted empirical research which included questions on attitudes and values at the 116000 employee strong multinational corporation. He discovered that questions that dealt with values showed ‘remarkable and very stable differences between countries.’ (Hofstede, 1983) He found average patterns that correlated along national groupings.  Differences were observed in the values of individuals within the national constructs, however, there were trends of high averages correlating to value questions along national lines, implying potential scope for defining national cultural norms.

Hofstede initially developed a four dimensional model of national culture, he argued that: “ ..national differences in work-related values, beliefs, norms and self-descriptions, as well as many societal variables, could be largely explained in terms of their statistical and conceptual associations with four major dimensions of national culture.” (Minkov and Hofstede, 2011)

Hofstede’s study measured culture along dimensions of:

  1. Power distance: the degree of social inequality that exists and is accepted by people with and without power.
  2. Individualism:  the connection amongst society members, the strength of ties between members of a society beyond family and friends.
  3. Masculinity: the stance on gender, whether more traditional male/female role are valued and observed or a more equal perspective prevails.
  4. Uncertainty/ Avoidance: the degree of anxiety members of a society feel in unknown or uncertain situations. More anxious societies would have more rules and regulations.
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These dimensions provide a framework for analysing national culture and for considering effects of this on management and organisation (Pheng and Yuquan, 2002).

This ‘unpackaging’ of national culture has been described as a ‘paradigm shift’ in cross-cultural research. (Minkov and Hofstede, 2011) Hofstede’s and other similar studies (Globe etc.) findings and indices are of huge benefit in terms of project organisation and project management. From a construction project point of view, to be successful, companies managing projects across borders need, to understand the culture of the countries in which they operate, or at least the differences.  “Differences in national ...

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