The Method For Managing The Project Overall Is Too Bureaucratic

In some companies projects are run tightly from headquarters. After all, this worked in the past before the firm expanded internationally. When you are dealing with one location, getting decisions made and dealing with bureaucracy can be tolerated. They are part of the job. When the project is international, then there are more problems. This happens in some construction and engineering projects.

Impact

The effect of the bureaucracy can lead to delayed decisions and issues hanging for months. The project gets bogged down. If the rules are not relaxed, then there are likely to be continuing problems. The project will fail.

Prevention

To prevent this problem it is essential to develop project guidelines and rules for international projects. There should be a side-by-side comparison of the rules for headquarters and for local projects. This will ensure that people are aware of the different rules. However, it goes beyond this. People selected for the project must be more flexible and not rigid. Often, this means that new people from outside the organization must be recruited since they are not “tainted” by the bureaucratic procedures. This method was followed by the East India Company and by most of the European powers in the nineteenth century.

Action

If a project is underway and is being buried under bureaucracy, then the entire project should be reviewed. The likelihood of failure should be determined and used as a club to get changes in project management.