Global Project Management

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Global Project

Management

Communication, Collaboration and

Management Across Borders

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All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise without the prior permission of the publisher.

Published by

Gower Publishing Limited Gower House Croft Road Aldershot Hampshire GU11 3HR England

Gower Publishing Company Suite 420

101 Cherry Street Burlington VT 05401-4405 USA

Jean Binder have asserted his moral right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988, to be identified as the author of this work.

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data

Binder, Jean Carlo

Global project management : communication, collaboration and management across borders

1. Project management 2. International business enterprises – Management

I. Title 658.4'04

ISBN-13: 9780566087066

Library of Congress Control Number: 2007927132

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List of Figures xiii

List of Tables xv

Acknowledgements xvii

Preface xix

Introduction 1

Traditional, distributed, international and virtual projects 1

Global projects 1

Examples of global projects 3

Global programs 5

Global projects and programs requirements 8

To be or not to be … global? 10

Organisational change and organisational theory 11

A framework for global programs and projects 12

The framework sources 15

What the framework provides to global organisations 16

The next steps 17

Key concepts 18

Further reading 18

Interactive section 20

Part I GLoBaL teams 21

Chapter 1 Cross-Cultural Collaboration 23

Defining culture 23

Culture and project management 24

The cultural dimensions defined by Hofstede 25

The cultural dimensions from Trompenaars 28

The impact of the dimensions on global project management 33

A 360° analysis of the cultural dimensions on your project team 34

Avoiding generalisations 39

Building on the richness of a multicultural team: crossvergence and hybridisation 40 4-step framework for effective cross-cultural project management 42

Chapter 2 Global Project Leadership 43

Project management and leadership 43

Global leadership 44

Commitment 45

Motivation 46

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Becoming a good global leader 48

Brainstorming on global leadership 49

Chapter 3 trust Building 51

Identifying the level of trust required 52

Trust and communication channels 52

Establishing trust 54

Maintaining trust 56

Long-term trust 59

Chapter 4 Conflict Resolution 61

Global sources of conflict 62

Conflict levels in global projects 62

Global perspectives on conflict 63

Conflict management steps 63

Chapter 5 Coaching over Distance 69

Coaching on global projects 70

Global coaching principles 70

Establishing a global context for coaching 71

Create a global understanding and direction 72

Review achievements and objectives 72

Anatomy of a coaching session 73

Completing the global coaching process 74

Part I: Key concepts 75

Part I: Further reading 76

Part I: Interactive section 77

Part II GLoBaL CommuNICatIoN 79

Chapter 6 stakeholders and Communication Channels 81

Identifying the global key stakeholders 82

Knowing the global stakeholders 83

Analysing the global stakeholders 83

The stakeholder commitment framework 84

Defining strategies to change stakeholders’ commitment levels 85

Completing the global stakeholder register 87

Global communication channels 87

Chapter 7 meeting rules and templates 91

Meeting types and communication media 91

Etiquette for cross-cultural meetings 92

Online meeting templates 92

Visual information 98

Chapter 8 Global Communication strategy 101

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ix C o n t e n t s

Identifying the stakeholders’ requirements 102

Define a global communication matrix 105

Chapter 9 Global Communication techniques 109

Collecting information from the global team members 109

Distributing information to the global stakeholders 110

Exchanging project information 113

Chapter 10 Global Creativity 117

Project management processes and creativity 117

Online brainstorming sessions 118

Limitations of online brainstorming sessions 124

Asynchronous brainstorming 126

Part II: Key concepts 127

Part II: Further reading 127

Part II: Interactive section 128

Part III GLoBaL orGaNIsatIoNs 129

Chapter 11 Global Project structure 131

Centralised project management 131

Distributed project management, with local coordinators 132

Distributed project management, with functional coordinators 134

Round-the-clock project management 135

Project management global network 136

Chapter 12 selection of International Human resources 139

Global team members’ skills 140

Global program and project managers’ skills 142

Recruitment 143

Selection 144

Induction and training 150

Chapter 13 Global Program and Project Offices 153

Defining project offices 153

Program or Project Management Offices (PMO) 154

Program or Project Support Offices (PSO) 156

Features of global project offices 156

Chapter 14 organisational support 163

Build emotional intelligence 163

Promote work-life balance 165

Value the human resources 166

Promote the use of collaborative tools 167

Develop and promote a global project management methodology 167

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Establish a global rewards policy 171

Implement a corporate training scheme 171

Chapter 15 Global Collaborative Networks 173

Collaborative networks: a project-centred approach 173

Understand the challenges 174

Define a collaboration strategy 175

Initiate the collaboration 176

Monitor the interfaces 176

Part III: Key concepts 177

Part III: Further reading 178

Part III: Interactive section 179

Part IV ImPLemeNtatIoN of CoLLaBoratIVe tooLs 181

Chapter 16 Basic Infrastructure 183

Basic technologies 183

Evaluating the current situation 184

Implementing changes 184

Defining documentation and procedures 185

Evaluating the implementation 186

Chapter 17 Interactive audio and Video 189

Evaluation of current audio conferencing solutions 189

Evaluation of new audio conferencing solutions 189

Implementing changes 191

Defining procedures for audio conferencing set-up 191

Video conferences 192

Evaluating existing video conferencing solutions 193

Implementation of new video conferencing solutions 193

Defining procedures for video conferencing set-up 194

Chapter 18 Interactive text and Images 197

Evaluating technologies for instant messaging 197

Evaluation of the existing instant messaging solutions 198

Implementation of a new instant messaging solution 198

Defining procedures for instant messaging set-up 199

Evaluating technologies for web conferencing 200

Evaluation of existing web conferencing solutions 200

Implementation of web conferencing 201

Defining procedures for web conferencing set-up 201

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Chapter 19 Knowledge sharing 205

Evaluating technologies for knowledge sharing 205

Evaluating the existing knowledge-sharing solutions 207

Implementing a new knowledge-sharing solution 207

Defining procedures for knowledge-sharing set-up 208

Chapter 20 Collaborative Project management software 211

Evaluating collaborative project management software tools 211

Defining procedures for the collaborative project management software 213

Implementing the new collaborative project management software 214

Part IV: Key concepts 215

Part IV: Further reading 216

Part IV: Interactive section 216

Part V aDoPtIoN of CoLLaBoratIVe tooLs 217

Chapter 21 Getting Connected 219

Understanding what can be improved 219

What to avoid in e-mail discussions 221

Using telephones 222

What to avoid in telephone discussions 222

Chapter 22 effective audio and Video conferences 225

Using audio conferences 225

Using video conferences 228

Chapter 23 Coordinating and attending online meetings 231

Communication style during online meetings 232

Special considerations for instant messaging discussions 232

Special considerations for online meetings via web conferencing 233

Chapter 24 fostering Knowledge exchange 237

Defining the rules for knowledge sharing 238

Leading people to share information 239

Chapter 25 Collaborative Project management 241

Updating information on the project management software 242

Information pushed by the project management software 244

Pulling information from the project management software 244

Interfaces between the project management software and other tools 245

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Part V: Further reading 246

Part V: Interactive section 247

Part VI ImPLemeNtING tHe GLoBaL ProjeCt maNaGemeNt

frameworK® 249

Chapter 26 a Charter for the framework 251

Stakeholder needs and expectations 251

The benefits of the framework implementation 253

Defining a scope for the implementation 254

Chapter 27 Implementation strategies 255

The emotional intelligence guidelines 255

The maturity model approach 257

The action research cycles 263

Part VI: Key concepts 264

Part VI: Further reading 264

Part VI: Interactive section 264

Coda 267

List of Acronyms and Abbreviations 269

Bibliography 271

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Figure I.1 Dimensions of global projects 3

Figure I.2 A software development global project 4

Figure I.3 A pharmaceutical global project 4

Figure I.4 An organisational change global project 5

Figure I.5 Global program stakeholders 6

Figure I.6 Categories of global programs 6

Figure I.7 Local program of global projects 7

Figure I.8 Global program of local projects 7

Figure I.9 Global program of global projects 8

Figure I.10 Requirements of global project managers – global team management 9

Figure I.11 Requirements of global project managers – communication across

borders 9

Figure I.12 Requirements of global project managers – organisational culture 9

Figure I.13 Requirements of global project managers – collaborative tools 10

Figure I.14 Possible advantages of global projects 11

Figure I.15 Possible challenges of global projects 12

Figure I.16 The Global Project Management Framework©: five categories 13

Figure I.17 The Global Project Management Framework© 14

Figure I.18 The Global Project Management Framework©: sources of information 15 Figure I.19 The Global Project Management Framework©: the deliverables 16 Figure I.20 The evolutionary Global Project Management Framework© 17

Figure 3.1 Communication channels in the same location 53

Figure 3.2 Communication channels not crossing country borders 53

Figure 3.3 Communication channels built from previous experiences 54

Figure 3.4 Weak communication channels that require trust building 54

Figure 3.5 Trust in all communication channels 57

Figure 6.1 Levels of stakeholders’ commitment 85

Figure 6.2 Communication channels in a traditional project 87

Figure 6.3 Communication channels on a global project, two locations 88

Figure 6.4 Communication channels on a global project, multiple locations 88

Figure 6.5 Reducing the number of virtual communication channels 89

Figure 7.1 Example of a project risk register 96

Figure 7.2 Example of drop-down menus 97

Figure 7.3 Example of automatic filtering 97

Figure 7.4 Example of legends to define available entries and their meaning 97

Figure 7.5 Global Project Binder – change record 99

Figure 7.6 Global Project Binder – meeting minutes record 99

Figure 7.7 Graphic representation of project phases 100

Figure 8.1 Examples of global project knowledge components 103

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Figure 8.2 Example of a communication requirements matrix 104

Figure 8.3 Example of a global communication matrix 106

Figure 9.1 Example of a project dashboard – main page 112

Figure 9.2 Example of a project dashboard – second level pages 112

Figure 9.3 Examples of different patterns of project status meetings 115

Figure 10.1 Example of a mindmap produced during a risk identification session 122 Figure 10.2 Example of a mindmap branch detailed during a local session of

risk analysis 123

Figure 10.3 Example of one entry on the ‘risk and opportunities list’ prepared

after the brainstorming session 125

Figure 11.1 Example of centralised structure 132

Figure 11.2 Example of distributed structure 133

Figure 11.3 Example of distributed-functional structure 135

Figure 11.4 Example of round-the-clock structure 136

Figure 11.5 Example of project network structure 137

Figure 12.1 Example of a preparation sheet for a telephone interview 148

Figure 12.2 Example of a preparation sheet for a face-to-face interview 149–50

Figure 13.1 Project office and the stakeholders 155

Figure 13.2 Different types of project office – examples 155 Figure 13.3 Different types of project office – outsourced PMO 156 Figure 13.4 Different types of project office – global PSO 157

Figure 14.1 Traditional performance appraisal in functional organisations 168

Figure 14.2 Traditional performance appraisal in matrix organisations 169

Figure 14.3 360-degree performance appraisal 169

Figure 14.4 360G performance appraisal 170

Figure 15.1 Project-centred collaborative network 174

Figure 27.1 The global project management maturity levels 258

Figure 27.2 Evolving to maturity level 2 258

Figure 27.6 Evolution of productive time and ineffective time as the maturity

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Table 1.1 Countries (regions) and their power-distance relative ranks 25 Table 1.2 Countries (regions) and their individualism relative ranks 26 Table 1.3 Countries (regions) and their masculinity relative ranks 27 Table 1.4 Countries (regions) and their uncertainly-avoidance relative ranks 28 Table 1.5 Countries (regions) and their long-term orientation relative ranks 28 Table 1.6 Countries and their relative universalism ranking (according to

“the car and the pedestrian” dilemma) 29

Table 1.7 Countries and their relative individualism ranking (according

to results of “the quality of life” question) 30

Table 1.8 Countries and their relative achievement-orientation (according to

results of the “acting as suits you even if nothing is achieved” question) 30 Table 1.9 Relative positions of countries on the extent to which exhibiting

emotion is acceptable 31

Table 1.10 Relative positions of countries on cultural-diffuseness, according to

the “paint the house” situation 32

Table 1.11 Classification of country cultures according to their relationship

to fate 32

Table 1.12 Cultural dimensions exercise (sheet 1) 35

Table 1.13 Cultural dimensions exercise (sheet 2) 36

Table 1.14 Cultural dimensions exercise (evaluation sheet 1) 37 Table 1.15 Cultural dimensions exercise (evaluation sheet 2) 38

Table 2.1 Factors of motivation in different areas of the world 48

Table 4.1 Comparison of conflict resolution approaches 65

Table 5.1 Coaching log (example 1) 73

Table 5.2 Coaching log (example 2) 73

Table 7.1 Examples of meeting types 93

Table 7.2 Communication media recommended for each meeting type 93–4

Table 10.1 Example of meeting request for an online brainstorming session 119

Table 10.2 Example of a brainstorming spreadsheet for the identification

of risks and opportunities 121

Table 12.1 Example of a job description 145

Table 12.2 Example of an interview control sheet 147

Table 13.1 Example of a career path for program and project management 160

Table 16.1 Survey to identify efficiency of e-mail, telephones and remote access 185 Table 16.2 Checklist: documentation and procedures for basic technologies 187 Table 17.1 Survey to identify efficiency of audio conferencing 190 Table 17.2 Checklist: documentation and procedures for audio conferencing 192 Table 17.3 Survey to identify efficiency of video conferencing 194 Table 17.4 Checklist: documentation and procedures for video conferencing 195

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Table 18.1 Survey to identify efficiency of instant messaging 199 Table 18.2 Checklist: documentation and procedures for instant messaging 200 Table 18.3 Survey to identify efficiency of web conferencing 201 Table 18.4 Checklist: documentation and procedures for web conferencing 202 Table 19.1 Survey to identify efficiency of existing knowledge-sharing suites 207 Table 19.2 Checklist: documentation and procedures for knowledge sharing 208

Table 20.1 Collaborative project management software – comparison matrix 213

Table 20.2 Survey to identify efficiency of the collaborative project

management software 214

Table 20.3 Checklist: documentation and procedures for the collaborative

project management software 215

Table 21.1 Interview to understand the use of e-mails and telephones 220

Table 22.1 Interview to understand the use of audio and video conferences 226

Table 23.1 Interview to understand the use of online meetings 232

Table 24.1 Interview to understand the use of knowledge sharing 238 Table 25.1 Interview to understand the use of the collaborative project

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Acknowledgements

I would like to thank the following people: Yannick Jolliet, who reviewed many parts of the book and gave me precious recommendations and testimonials; Marie-Paule Sottiaux, for the support, testimonials, review and lunch discussions; David Page, Carolyn McKellar, Marion Sachs, Belinda Freaney-Sadouk, Sophie Domine, Jean-Marc Genier, Jose Gonzalez, Jennifer Hyams, Mark Russell, Reddy Mandala, Viktor Puetzer, Annie Jordan, Patrick Vitzthum, Frank Bondoux, Thierry Sales and Paolo Lenti for the feedback during the interviews and initial brainstorming sessions; John Pelham for the insights on stakeholder management, communication strategies and cross-cultural experiences; Karel de Bakker for the nice suggestions on global risks; Paul Gardiner and Jim Ritchie for the support during my academic research.

Grateful acknowledgement is made to Geert Hofstede, Fons Trompenaars, Charles Hampden-Turner and Peter Wooliams who granted permission to reprint the definitions and classification tables of their cultural dimensions.

Sincere thanks to Jonathan Norman, Fiona Martin and Mike Brooks at Gower for all their trust and support.

Earnest thanks to my cat for the company, my daughters for the inspiration and my wife for the help and endless patience.

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Preface

The need for this book

With the increasing trend for outsourcing, off-shoring and globalisation, many organisations are taking advantage of geographically distributed skills, round-the-clock operations and virtual teams. Small and medium sized businesses are linking up with major companies, forming supplier networks to deliver products and services, and customer networks of distributors, resellers and end-users. Global projects are now the operating units that establish an initial link among these cross-border networks and rely on information flows across the different partners and stakeholders.

Most projects in these global environments involve people from different companies, located in various countries. Currently, many companies struggle to obtain acceptable levels of efficiency and quality from global projects since the organisation structures and project management methodologies are not adapted to a multicultural environment, and because many project managers and team members still feel uncomfortable when they communicate over a distance. Many project managers still rely exclusively on the so-called ‘hard’ skills, such as planning, scheduling and controlling, to coordinate the projects. The ‘soft’ skills (for example, communication, understanding of cultural differences and team building) and the ‘informal’ project management techniques (such as networking, influencing and improvising) are essential for the success of global projects, and require special attention from organisations.

The framework described by this book is all about soft skills and informal project management, suggesting areas of knowledge that require special attention for effective global program and project management. Rather than providing ‘one-size-fits-all’ recommendations, the chapters of this book guide you in a quest to harvest your company’s good practices, using them to develop and implement a Global Project Management Framework© in your company or project.

Intended audience

This book provides a comprehensive framework of good practices on global project management, and is primarily directed at project managers, program managers and project office members involved in the preparation and application of project management methodologies, and working on programs and projects involving different companies and locations around the globe. They can start by improving the project management and communication practices in their current portfolio of programs and projects, and later include these good practices in the company methodologies. They can also identify what types of tools can improve understanding over a distance, deploying them in their current work environment.

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Senior executives can use the information in this book to understand the main challenges faced by global project managers and team members, and to identify how the deployment of tools and practices can improve the productivity of global project teams and the quality of the deliverables, while reducing travel and relocation costs. The senior board have a role model during the implementation of the framework, selecting the human resources to work on global projects, creating a project management office and providing organisational support. This book also provides various types of project structure – adapted to different needs – and some suggestions to improve the motivation of a project team that spans different locations, cultures and languages.

Finally, anyone participating in a global project as a team member or stakeholder can also find useful recommendations for smooth communication with people located in diverse countries, coming from other cultures, speaking different native languages or working in various time zones.

Academic researchers can make use of the framework presented in this book, performing new studies to investigate the impact of each chapter on the efficiency and productivity of global project teams, and to complete the Global Project Management Framework© with new developments, technologies, practices and theories.

The structure of this book

The introductory chapter presents the characteristics of global projects and programs, discusses how these peculiarities affect the work and efficiency of global project and program managers and summarises the main advantages and challenges of deploying a global team for a project or program. It presents a framework that helps global program and project managers to focus on the advantages and address the challenges of having project team members dispersed across the globe: the Global Project Management Framework©.

The chapters in Parts I to V explore in detail the five main categories of knowledge in the Global Project Management Framework©:

Chapters 1–5 (Part I) present the core principles that allow the management of people

across country and cultural boundaries.

Chapters 6–10 (Part II) complement the learning on people management by presenting the communication strategies that facilitate the management of project team members in different countries, and make them collaborate more effectively.

Chapters 11–15 (Part III) suggest organisational structures and practices that create all fundamental conditions for a good collaborative environment on global projects, and expedite the implementation of the people and communication strategies.

Chapters 16–25 guide the development of good practices for the implementation (Part IV) and use (Part V) of the communication media and collaborative tools mentioned in the previous chapters: the technology that allows the management of people and the communication between stakeholders across country and cultural boundaries.

Part VI concludes the book, by presenting different strategies to adapt the recommendations according to the organisational cultures, standards, methodologies and requirements, obtaining buy-in from senior managers, project managers and project team members.

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How to read the book

The book structure allows companies to understand the main domains that have an impact on the performance of global project teams, and then adapt their project management methodologies to a global environment. The sequence of the chapters aims to provide a progressive understanding of the needs and good practices. As an alternative route, project managers and team members may read each chapter independently and address specific issues to improve their efficiency on global projects. Many cross-references are provided to allow the chapters to be read in any order.

The main sources of information

There are different layers of information to consider when looking for good practices on global project management. The first and most important layer is the experience of other global project managers, team members and senior managers from different countries. One way to learn about this experience is to participate in networking events organised by associations such as the Project Management Institute and the British Computer Society.

The second layer is the foundation of knowledge on project management methods, tools, techniques and processes. This book does not redefine this set of principles, preferring to build on the information already established by existing bodies of knowledge. The main references for this book were the PMBOK® guide from the Project Management Institute, PRINCE2® from the Office of Government Commerce, the IPMA Competence Baseline (ICB) and the Gower Handbook of Project Management. However, a certain level of abstraction was adopted to allow companies using other methods and methodologies to consult this book without difficulty.

The third layer is the literature on virtual teams and distributed project management, which establishes the requirements and recommendations for projects involving people in different locations. The third layer is the literature on virtual teams and distributed project management, which establishes the requirements and recommendations for projects involving people in different locations. The main sources are described at the end of each part of the book.

The fourth layer is the knowledge gathered by the intercultural studies from Hofstede and Trompenaars, present in most chapters of this book.

Web companion

The website www.GlobalProjectManagement.org provides tools, templates and an open forum for the exchange of information related to the practices described in this book, also linking to different hardware, software and services solutions.