Domestic and Global Project Management
...rs, and traffic on the network. Video conferencing solutions are either: expensive and good quality only in a LAN but not in WAN or cheap and unacceptably but low in quality. Broadband services may not be available everywhere and installing dedicated lines could increase the cost to the organization and therefore offsetting any cost savings from telecommuting or reduced travel. • Project Management - Time difference becomes a greater concern as the distance between the virtual teams grows. All over the world we have different time zones and it may be difficult to get everybody on the right team. It may be midnight in one part of the world and it may be the rush hour in another business. This is a problem because everybody needs to be on the same page and doing the same thing. If communication needs to be immediately connected to another area users will have a hard time to obtain communication because it will be a different time in that country and people will probably be asleep and not receive the intended communication in time. • Home Office Family and Home Issues - When virtual employees work from a home office, sometimes family and home-related issues receive a higher priority than work issues. That is only human nature. These issues come in the middle of getting the project work completed. Issues such as: kids sick at school, doctor's appointments, car-pooling all seem to take top priority when the employee is home and able to get away for a "couple minutes" to do these chores. All of these issues can be showstoppers for projects. They can literally stop a project in its tracks if a project manager does not have established procedures in place to use to handle these issues when they do occur. It is hard enough to motivate employees to do work and maintain schedules when they are face-to-face; it is more difficult when they are in different cities, states, or countries. A project manager who is being presented with managing the project team in a virtual environment must take strategic and creative steps to ensure tasks are being completed on time and under budget. Technology has provided much advancement in regards to communication and conferencing. Today’s organizations have virtual teams where members are located all over the world. They are brought together through technology through applications such as video conferencing, net meetings, and voice over IP. These applications can bring teams together and feel like they are almost in the same room. Challenges of Multiple ethnic and sociopolitical backgrounds: The simultaneous effects of globalization and technological advances have created potential business advantages. They have eliminated the limitations which physical boundaries once imposed on companies. However, with the availability of conducting business anywhere in the world come the challenges of managing members from multiple ethnic and sociopolitical backgrounds which can be attributed to the six fundamental patterns of cultural difference (www.1000ventures.com): • Communication styles • Attitudes towards conflict • Approaches to completing tasks • Decision-making styles • Attitudes towards disclosure • Approaches to knowing Culture is often the root of communication challenges. Even when face-to-face, speaking the same language, coming from the same culture, and within the same office, it is easy for employees to say one thing and for their colleagues to hear something quite different. This underscores how much more difficult it is then, to achieve a specified goal when the team of people involved is separated by both work and social cultural norms. Effective communication is an important aspect of project management. Understanding the cultural differences, as well as exploring cultural similarities, can facilitate effective communication between the involved parties. In some cultures, looking people in the eye is assumed to indicate honesty and straightforwardness; in others it is seen as challenging and rude. Conversely, do not assume that a communication issue is due to negative attitude or incompetence. Even with the best of teams, conflicts arise and managing conflicts between team members can present quite a challenge to a project manager especially in a multi-culturally diverse team. It is important to realize that different cultures have different attitudes towards conflict and must be addressed appropriately to have a successful conflict resolution when the challenge presents itself. The project manager must be aware and foster awareness that culture can be a factor in what may appear as non-cohesiveness between team members. Likewise, people of different ethnicity have different approaches to completing tasks so it becomes crucial for a project manager to acknowledge the differences. The project manager should focus on the end result and allow team members some latitude in completing assigned tasks. Members of a culturally diverse team can also have differences in decision-making styles, attitudes towards disclosure and approaches to knowing which if not managed well can be problematic to team members. As with any cultural differences, it is necessary to realize that such differences exist so they can be addressed accordingly. Global awareness is a vital component to managing a culturally diverse team due to contrasting national and cultural business practices surrounding the issues of tasks and relationships, communication styles, speed, decision making, and other processes. It is critical and urgent to reconcile different ways of working. Competitive versus cooperative alliances between competing organizations Businesses have a naturally competitive nature. In many corporations, there are phrases that are repeated around being the number one company in this or the leading company in that. On a domestic level, competition is more natural due to the perception of an even playing field. Large corporations lobby for lawmakers to create or amend laws in their favor. The culture is well understood and business is conducted on a day to day basis on this more competitive level. When it comes to global business, not only does the playing field change, but so does the rules. The norm for doing business in other countries is sometimes totally different than the company’s country of origin. In order for competing corporations to effectively do business in other countries, it may have to rely on company’s they normally compete with to help create a presence elsewhere. There is also a chance to merge ideas with the local companies to offer the consumer more of a full service. Local companies would have the best understandings of what their local community is looking for. Combining that with outside companies will give the consumer a fresh perspective on various products and services. Strategic alliances are arrangements between two or more independent companies that carry out a project or operate in a specific business area by coordination sills and resources jointly rather than either operating on their own or merging their operations (Dussauge, Garrette & Mitchell, 2004). Several factors have contributed to the greater need for cooperation (Kolasky, Jr., Wilmer, Cutler & Pickering,1997): • Globalization. Competing in a global economy requires a much larger scale and scope of operations. In addition, in many national markets, the presence of well-entrenched local firms, different cost structures, local customs and preferences, and restrictive national laws make it difficult for foreign firms to compete successfully. Strategic alliances provide a way to achieve the scale and scope necessary to compete globally and to overcome the many obstacles to global expansion. • Increasing economies of scale and scope. More generally, in more and more industries, the scale and scope of the optimal-sized firm seems to be expanding dramatically due to technological change. Again, strategic alliances provide a means of competing on a much larger scale through a network of firms. • Specialization. At the same time as the economies of scale and scope in individual markets increase, there is increased consciousness of the diseconomies of a large firm trying to do everything itself. The current business school mantra is to concentrate on your core competencies. This imperative drives firms to outsource everything else and to form strategic alliances with the firms on whom they then become dependent for strategically important functions. • Complexity. Many key technologies have grown so complex that few if any companies can master them all, especially considering the risk involved. This drives firms to look for partners who can provide the expertise they themselves lack. • Pace of technological change. R&D alliances are frequently a response to the need to move quickly in rapidly changing markets. Alliances are flexible enough to adapt to changing market conditions, have comparatively low entry and exit costs, and can be abandoned if the market, or the technology, takes a different course. • Network effects. In technology-driven markets, network effects make it critical that a firm capture the first mover advantage so that its technology becomes the industry standard. Alliances between new technology firms and established manufacturers are often used as a way to get off the starting block more quickly in order to capture these network effects. While forming strategic alliances between competing organization offer great benefits, there is some risk involved as alliances...