Project Team Members Lack Experience And Knowledge About Conditions In Other Countries

Going beyond the project leaders, problems arise among team members. You can have critical team members in one country who have traveled very little and are unaware of the cultures in other places. They may have been chosen for the team based on their technical or business knowledge. It is too bad that cultural and societal experience turned out to be more important.

Impact

Some team members in projects we have participated in have acted arrogantly and assumed that staff in other locations were dedicated to the project and to them full time. This causes much ill will and antagonism toward the project. The situation often deteriorates rapidly before the project leaders and management are aware of the problem. It surfaces often when the line manager in a location brings the problem up with his counterparts in other locations. People do not respond to the team members. Or they mislead them with optimistic reports.

Prevention

Selection of team members in international projects is a critical success factor in international project management. For international projects, team members must be informed of cultural and other factors in each location. They should be presented with a variety of issues and situations and tested through simulation. From our experience, the result often is to search for new team members.

Action

One action is to replace the team member. However, this can leave a gaping hole in the project. Another, better course of action is to identify other team members or new team members and assign them to joint tasks with the individual who has created the problem. It is not feasible to have the project leader act as a liaison for each and every communication with other locations.