ENGM117 International Project Management Assignment Sample
Module code and Title: ENGM117 International Project Management Assignment Sample
Introduction
International project management helps the company to form the structure in foreign countries that can help them to operate operation in those countries. International project management also provides required services to meet the requirements of the customers in those countries. Product delivery simply means delivering products from the exporter to the customers. Product delivery is very much important for the company because it helps the company to create its image in the customer. The following report focus on the three major aspects of international project management and how they affect teamwork. The following report also includes a self-reflection of three aspects.
Cultural Aspects
International project management is a process that reaches over the national boundaries for the project purpose. International project management is gradually gaining popularity day by day. The main motto of international project management is to reduce the production cost and usage of raw materials in other countries (Engebø et al. 2020). International project management helps me to know various cultural aspects of my team. Internal project management helps to know about various cultures of different countries. International project management means working with different types of employees. The employees can belong from different countries and different countries bring different types of cultures. Different cultures help the international project manager to know about the heritage of different countries and what are the main cultural aspects of that country (Raouf and Al-Ghamdi, 2019). Working as a team in international project management also focuses on celebrating together. The team can consist of various types of publics who can belong from various portions of the world. The different type of people has different type of festivals and working as a team can help the employees to be a part of each other’s festivals (Li et al. 2020). Celebrating festivals and another cultural thing together can easily elevate the bond between the employees which emphasize the efficiency of the team.
Another cultural aspect of teamwork can be the cultural aspect that reduces the risk of failure. The cultural portion of any team can easily help the employees to unite together (Sepasgozar et al. 2019). This type of unity can help the employees to work more efficiently and increase their productivity. More efficient and productive employees can easily do the same job in a shorter period. This reduces the risk of failing the job and producing more items. A culturally rich team can easily engage more customers. International project management helps the employees to work as a team and also helps to be more culturally rich (Whyte, 2019). A cultural team can make the company more worthy and this attracts more customers to the company.
The cultural stereotypes mainly affect the employee of an organization that is force to leave the job. It is occurring when the people of a particular organization when person act and behave like it in a cultural wave. It is an emotional phrase than cannot explain through someone because it mainly originated in the gender, race or sexuality. Therefore it is an emotion that someone likes some concept that is not relevant with their surroundings. It creates a social group that has different perception to their thoughts. Hence, stereotypes lead inequality due to uncertain contents, early aspects in the children, prevalence, education system, achievement demand and aims, social encounters.
The culturally rich company can understand the emotions of the customers from different countries (Cruz et al. 2020). This aspect can easily gain the trust of the customers and make them more engaged with the company
Figure 1: Cultural aspect of Teamwork in International Project Management Source: (Self-Created)
International project management also helps the team to share goals and ideas. A culturally rich team can easily discuss different ideas for better teamwork (Bygballe and Swärd, 2019). The innovative ideas can also help the team to produce more products in a shorter period and also helps in their carrier advancement. The cultural in of teamwork helps the employees of the team to build trust among them (Piroozfar et al. 2019). The cultural aspect of teamwork in international project management is that it can capitalize on the diversity among the employees. Different types of employees work in a team and the different employees come with different ideas and different ambitions. Working as a diversified team can bring different opinions about the same project and it can also help the employees to come to a powerful result for the same task.
The cultural aspect of international team management can help to build trust between the employees and the management team. International project management unites different employees in the same team (Ika et al. 2020). The team consists of different types of employees and hierarchies. The cultural aspects can help the employees and the hierarchy to gain each other’s trust. Building a trustworthy relationship with employees can help the employees to understand that the company is with them at every point (Huemann and Martinsuo, 2020). This trust can motivate and encourage the employees to work more efficiently. A culturally rich team helps its employees to gain more opportunities to collaborate. The team in international project management can bring various opportunities to collaborate with different employees for a faster work process
Communication
International project management emphasizes the employees work as a team. Good communication is very much needed in teamwork and it also helps the employees to know about what is going on in the company (Bondarenko et al. 2018). Healthy communication in the team of international project management can help the employees to make healthy work relationships. It is important to have good communication skills with the employees in any organization. Good communication skills can help the managers or the management members to understand the psychological needs of the employees (Albert et al. 2018). The step can help the international project management team to improve employee retention rate and also employees’ job satisfaction. A good and healthy environment in the working place can easily elevate the self-esteem of the employees. Companies can easily use digital communication tools for better communication with their employees.
Communication is the effective way in every organization and it helps to keep clear about their conception. Multinational company strongly follows some objectives that assist towards the efficient employment. Listening skills is too important in the company because it enhance the learning capacity and able to capture the criteria or aims. There six strategies that are helps to improve their listening skill in the work place such as always look at the speaker and maintain the eye contact. Therefore in order to develop effective listening skills for the use of multinational teams the attributes that will be required are positive body languages, follow the speaker’s body language, listen properly, do not interrupt in between the meeting and after complete the speaker speech ask the questions and queries.
Maintaining good communication with the employees can easily help to upgrade the employee engagement program. Communicating with the team member can easily clear their self-doubts and confusion about the company (Gutiérrez-Puertas et al. 2020). The employees get a good recognition in the company through good feedback which can only be possible with proper communication skills. This elevates the employee’s morale and encourages them to work more efficiently and also helps the management team to engage more employees in the company (Rohid and Rusmawati, 2019). Good communication with the employees can help the international project management to bring more innovations. Good communication with the employees can easily erase the hesitation between them and help them to open up. This way the employees can bring and discuss more ideas with the project manager and co-workers. The difference in the decision-making between the employees can easily bring better ideas and processes to complete the job in a shorter period which decreases the wastage of resources of the company. International project management unites different types of employees in a team.
Figure 2: Communication helps in teamwork Source: (Coffelt et al. 2019)
Different team members in a united team come with a different set of skills. Having a good conversation with each other can help the employees to learn new skills (Karasheva et al. 2021). The new skills can elevate the work performance of the employees which helps them in their carrier advancement. Effective communication between the employees gives them a proper idea about their performance and working capabilities (Brut et al. 2018). Productive communication between team members in international project management can easily reduce conflicts between them. Conflicts are very common in a working place; differentiation in the decision-making process is the main reason for conflict. Good communication with employees can help them and the management team to understand the reason behind the conflict (Coffelt et al. 2019). This way management can optimize the reason for conflict and maintain a good work environment. Transparency is very much important for any business or company.
Transparency in the company procedures can help the company and international project management to gain the trust of both the employees and customers (Tugtekin and Koc, 2020). Good communication between them can help to improve the transparency of the company. Transparency is very much important in international project management to maintain a smooth workflow. Communication between the co-workers and management team helps the company to come to the best solution to a problem. Effective communication between the employees brings changes the decision-making process (Cummins et al. 2020). The changed decisions can help to generate a more effective way to solve a problem within the organization. Good communication between the employees can motivate and encourage the employees. Communicating regularly with employees can help the management team understand the flaws of the company the employees and it also helps to understand the sorrows and work pressure of the employees (Raeissi et al. 2021). By having Productive communication with the employees, the management team can solve the issues of the employees and motivate them to work. This step improves the workflow and elevates the efficiency of the company.
Geographically Dispersed Teams
A critical understanding has been developed of the international project management-based concept with the inclusion of international project management-based teams. The critical evaluation of appropriate project management at different stages in the development of the project life cycle has been associated here. International project management helps in the matter of providing specific guidelines in order to achieve great aspects in project success management. The whole discussion would be focused on the aspects of project management such as communication, cultural aspects, geographically dispersed team management, and so on. While working in the internationally dispersed team management, several crucial components and aspects are learned. Few components are mentioned here in this aspect that is necessary for managing a geographically diverse team in an effective manner. Therefore different generation attitude conflict the work environment and makes it uncomfortable due to diversity between the employees. Hence, different attitudes towards virtual working amount the staff can be addressed in international teams of project through the strategy that helps the people to manage the generational diversity in the workplace. These strategies are adapt the work circumstance, avoid the age assumption and stereotyping, listen the employees demand, approach the employees and adapt different types of communication style. Work place should relevant and employee should cooperate with the other employee. Everybody has the basic sense to create a comfortable work environment that one can work easily and develop their skills. The young generation should gain knowledge from the senior and senior should cooperate with the new skill that is come from young generation.
Choosing the right team members
There are a few aspects that need to be considered: self-motivation, good communication development, and result-oriented driving forces. In developing association in the management of a geographically diverse team the qualities of being honest and capabilities for associating with other team members are considered to be the essential traits. The team members must be result driven and this should be assessed with the inclusion of key performance indicators.
Figure: international project requirements (Source: Amirtash et al. 2021)
Defining the team’s purpose
The purpose of the team must be described clearly and it is very much essential for the team member to have a clear and well-articulated and common purpose. It helps to ensure that workers would be focused on the development of the right thing from the very beginning of the project management teams (Paulmakesh and April, 2021). The SMART framework can be associated with these aspects for the evolution of the sustainability and development of working procedures goals and objectives. The development of a proper team charter would be beneficial in the matter of establishing team management in problematic situations. Having a strong communication strategy is one of the crucial aspects of the management of geographically dispersed teams in the development of virtual team management (Amirtash et al. 2021). Assuring technologies that are sued for communication and file sharing are in the proper and reliable mode so that frequent technical failure for the remote workers would not be that much frustrating.
Development of strong team, dynamics
As per Xiaolong (2021), In the process of developing a strong team along with dynamics integration of the workers in the existing team is necessary. Management of relationships and fragmenting the team dynamics are considered to be necessary aspects of this association. On the contrary Nagyová (2021), the measurement of working output must be associated in this consideration with the inclusion of assessment in reduced output, reluctance in engagement in telephone calls or video conferences along with shortage of different new ideas. Most of the team follows the following pattern such as forming, storming, morning, and performing.
Giving feedback as well as reward-based on performance
Feedback is considered to be an essential component with helps to develop the performance level of the team along with morale development in a geographically dispersed context. In this proposition stay in contact with everybody, making sure that feedback is consistent and fair, ensuring that equality in reward is associated with these aspects. All these components and application has been proven beneficial for improving the performance level of the team member who is working from a variety of geographical locations.
Promotion of the team bonding
Team bonding is one of the crucial components for developing the working prospect, job alignment, and alignment with the organizational mission and vision statement (Ćutić and Pađen, 2019). For geographically versatile team members, the management must arrange a virtual get-together, setting up an intranet team page, building virtual team rooms, and so on are crucial components (Rodríguez-Rivero, 2020). Furthermore, using a webcam and begging sensitive toward the language barriers are some of the issues which are being addressed in this consideration.
Impact of the module on me
The module has been associated with international team management with the inclusion of communication development, cultural association, and geographically dispersed teams. In the association of international project management, I developed a lot of knowledge and expertise in team association, remote working procedures, and so on. The measurement of working output must be associated in this consideration with the inclusion of assessment in reduced output, reluctance to engage in telephone calls or video conferences along with shortage of different new ideas (Bukvić 2018). I learned various things while working for an international team and as per my experience I have developed my expertise in the management of teamwork and delivery of working objects within the Maintenance of the proper timeline. In my opinion, the geographically dispersed team members can be able to offer huge benefits with the matter of cost-saving, and efficiency development. For making the team members well, choosing the right kind of team player helps to ensure strong communication in technical management (Abbasi. and Jaafari, 2018).
Figure: traits in international project management (Source: Frefer 2018)
The untidiness in team management has been associated here in the matter of choosing the right kind of team members and it helps to ensure strong communication. Having a strong communication strategy is one of the crucial aspects in the management of geographically dispersed teams in the development of virtual team management. All these components and application has been proven beneficial for improving the performance level of the team member who is working from a variety of geographical locations. In this aspect, the development for ensuring strong communication is frequently and clearly objectified (Silvius, 2021). Management of relationships and fragmenting the team dynamics are considered to be necessary aspects of this association. International project management helps in the development of communication skills, and team bonding with the inclusion of cost-effectiveness and increased efficiency level (Frefer 2018). For making the work well, frequent and clear objective alignment is associated with this disposition. Furthermore, ether is some of the negative aspects which have stricken me are language and cultural barriers. Due to this barrier in some cases, as a team member, I faced issues in job accomplishment. However, overall te international project management-based teamwork is very much enriching and satisfying for me in order to develop professional and personal traits.
Conclusion
The following reports focus on the major aspects of international project management and product delivery. International project management is very much important for any organization to operate their operation in foreign countries. The discussion focuses on the three major areas of international project management which are cultural aspects, communication, and geographically dispersed team. The cultural aspect focuses on the various cultural things that motivate to work in a team. The geographic dispersed in a team clarify the diversity of the team and the communication skills help us to understand how communication skill helps to improve the teamwork to maintain a smooth workflow in international team management. This report also depicts my self-reflection in working as a team in international project management. On a short note, this report critically describes what I have learned from international project management while working as a team.
Reference list
Amirtash, P., Jalal, M.P. and Jelodar, M.B., 2021. Integration of project management services for International Engineering, Procurement and Construction projects. Built Environment Project and Asset Management.
Bondarenko, S., Lagodienko, V., Sedikova, I. and Kalaman, O., 2018. Application of project analysis software in project management in the pre-investment phase. Journal of Mechanical Engineering and Technology, 9(13), pp.676-684.
Bukvić, I.B., Buljubašić, I. and Ivić, M., 2020. Project management education in croatia: A focus on the it sector needs. Management: Journal of Contemporary Management Issues, 25(1), pp.255-278.
Burt, J., Abel, G., Elliott, M.N., Elmore, N., Newbould, J., Davey, A., Llanwarne, N., Maramba, I., Paddison, C., Campbell, J. and Roland, M., 2018. The evaluation of physicians’ communication skills from multiple perspectives. The Annals of Family Medicine, 16(4), pp.330-337.
Bygballe, L.E. and Swärd, A., 2019. Collaborative project delivery models and the role of routines in institutionalizing partnering. Project management journal, 50(2), pp.161-176.
Coffelt, T.A., Grauman, D. and Smith, F.L., 2019. Employers’ perspectives on workplace communication skills: The meaning of communication skills. Business and Professional Communication Quarterly, 82(4), pp.418-439.
Cruz, A., Alves, A.C. and Tereso, A., 2020. Traditional, Agile and Lean Project Management-A Systematic Literature Review. The Journal of Modern Project Management, 8(2).
Cummins, C., Pellicano, E. and Crane, L., 2020. Autistic adults’ views of their communication skills and needs. International Journal of Language & Communication Disorders, 55(5), pp.678-689.
Ćutić, D. and Pađen, M., 2019. Project management in government administration. Interdisciplinary Management Research XV, 1 (2019), pp.129-144.
Engebø, A., Lædre, O., Young, B., Larssen, P.F., Lohne, J. and Klakegg, O.J., 2020. Collaborative project delivery methods: A scoping review. Journal of civil engineering and management, 26(3), pp.278-303.
Frefer, A.A., Mahmoud, M., Haleema, H. and Almamlook, R., 2018. Overview success criteria and critical success factors in project management. Industrial engineering & management, 7(1), pp.1-6.
Gutiérrez-Puertas, L., Márquez-Hernández, V.V., Gutiérrez-Puertas, V., Granados-Gámez, G. and Aguilera-Manrique, G., 2020. Educational interventions for nursing students to develop communication skills with patients: a systematic review. International journal of environmental research and public health, 17(7), p.2241.
Huemann, M. and Martinsuo, M., 2020. Is the International Journal of Project Management the right choice for publishing your excellent research?. International Journal of Project Management, 38(5), pp.310-312.
Ika, L.A., Söderlund, J., Munro, L.T. and Landoni, P., 2020. Cross-learning between project management and international development: Analysis and research agenda. International Journal of Project Management, 38(8), pp.548-558.
Karasheva, Z., Amirova, A., Ageyeva, L., Jazdykbayeva, M. and Uaidullakyzy, E., 2021. Preparation of future specialists for the formation of educational communication skills for elementary school children. World Journal on Educational Technology: Current Issues, 13(3), pp.467-484.
Li, Y., Sun, T., Shou, Y. and Sun, H., 2020. What makes a competent international project manager in emerging and developing countries?. Project Management Journal, 51(2), pp.181-198.
Nagyová, A., Pačaiová, H., Markulik, Š., Turisová, R., Kozel, R. and Džugan, J., 2021. Design of a model for risk reduction in project management in small and medium-sized enterprises. Symmetry, 13(5), p.763.
Paulmakesh, D.A. and April, Y.M.Y., 2021. Implementation of Project Management for Strategy Realisation. Journal of University shanghai for Science and Technology, 23(10), pp.887-892.
Piroozfar, P., Farr, E.R., Zadeh, A.H., Inacio, S.T., Kilgallon, S. and Jin, R., 2019. Facilitating building information modelling (BIM) using integrated project delivery (IPD): A UK perspective. Journal of Building Engineering, 26, p.100907.
Raeissi, P., Zandian, H., Mirzarahimy, T., Delavari, S., Moghadam, T.Z. and Rahimi, G., 2021. Relationship between communication skills and emotional intelligence among nurses. Nursing Management, 28(3).
Raouf, A.M. and Al-Ghamdi, S.G., 2019. Effectiveness of project delivery systems in executing green buildings. Journal of Construction Engineering and Management, 145(10), p.03119005.
Rodríguez-Rivero, R., Ortiz-Marcos, I., Ballesteros-Sánchez, L. and Martínez-Beneitez, X., 2020. Identifying risks for better project management between two different cultures: The Chinese and the Spanish. Sustainability, 12(18), p.7588.
Silvius, G., 2021. The role of the project management office in sustainable project management. Procedia Computer Science, 181, pp.1066-1076.
Xiaolong, T., Gull, N., Iqbal, S., Asghar, M., Nawaz, A., Albasher, G., Hameed, J. and Maqsoom, A., 2021. Exploring and validating the effects of mega projects on infrastructure development influencing sustainable environment and project management. Frontiers in Psychology, 12, p.1251.
Rohid, N. and Rusmawati, R.D., 2019. Students’ Mathematical Communication Skills (MCS) in Solving Mathematics Problems: A Case in Indonesian Context. Anatolian Journal of Education, 4(2), pp.19-30.
Sepasgozar, S.M., Karimi, R., Shirowzhan, S., Mojtahedi, M., Ebrahimzadeh, S., and McCarthy, D., 2019. Delay causes and emerging digital tools: A novel model of delay analysis, including integrated project delivery and PMBOK. Buildings, 9(9), p.191.
Tugtekin, E.B. and Koc, M., 2020. Understanding the relationship between new media literacy, communication skills, and democratic tendency: Model development and testing. New media & society, 22(10), pp.1922-1941.
Whyte, J., 2019. How digital information transforms project delivery models. Project management journal, 50(2), pp.177-194.
APPENDIX 1
Issues in Cultural Aspect
In international business, the scope is quite broad; hence, it has to deal with cross borders and cross cultures. Furthermore, in business the impact of culture is massive. As the report states that while international expansion businesses tend to focus on local culture to attract an audience. Research on the local culture is necessary before the expansion as it provides sufficient detail on the practices of the local business. Culture is responsible for influencing people’s thinking, communication and behaviour. Hence, in research on the cultural aspect of international project management, the team has encountered a few issues or challenges. One of the primary challenges of the ten ways to identify the businesses is to work in different cultures. It is essential to mention that in international projects, the focus lies on multiple countries. Hence, the project manager requires us to focus on several different cultures at the same time. While researching the team was able to identify that usually, project managers hire people from the local business to highlight the necessary details; furthermore, before expansion research is also necessary on the different cultures the project is going to focus on.
While managing international projects, it is essential to mention that the whole operation is more challenging in comparison to domestic projects. One of the issues the team has encountered is gathering resources on culture’s impact on international projects. Some the international projects are managed remotely; however it receives less exposure and fails to attract an audience. However, the projects that focus on the local culture and hire local managers to overlook the project gain success instantly. Hence, the team was initially unable to recognise the importance of culture; however while researching and studying multiple journals, the team was able to understand the impact of culture on international project management.
Issues in Communication
Communication is another aspect of International Project Management that is quite crucial; moreover, failure of effective communication results in the downfall of the project. While researching the impact and importance of communication the team has encountered a few challenges, one of the major challenges is the team’s inability to gather data that highlights the importance of communication in project management. However, few instances state that communication is important as the whole planning and organising is dependent on it. Reviewing several journals and articles was also effective in highlighting the importance of communication to the team. Another challenge that was encountered by the team while researching communication is the lack of primary data on the topic.
Primary data is important as it presents the numerical aspects of the data. Primary data is usually gathered from surveys or company reports. However, the exact impact of communication on project management was not highlighted in the primary data. The team resolved this issue by analysing secondary data. The secondary data includes journals, scholars, articles and case studies. This kind of data is quite important as it provides sufficient information on the topic. Furthermore, it is responsible for shaping the report. From the perspective of the project management communication is the foundation of the whole project.
Issues in Geographically Dispersed Teams
The term geographically dispersed team refers to the team members that are working from different locations or different buildings for the same office. In international project management geographically dispersed teams are quite common. While researching the topic of geographically dispersed teams, the issues encountered involve identifying the method based on which the teams are managed. As the report specifies that in internal projects geographically dispersed teams are common and necessary. One team works remotely from the company’s home office; another team is sent out to the location of the project. Initially, the team had difficulties identifying the method based on which the management of two diverse teams was possible. Another issue involves the team’s difficulty in identifying the perspective of the leaders or project managers while handling the team in different locations.
Hence, like previously resolution of the issues as possible through reading journals and articles. As the report specifies that for managing a geographically dispersed team, the leaders need to focus on two factors. Primarily, in cases of a geographically dispersed team, it is essential to have one common objective to unite the members. Secondly, effective communication between leaders and team members is necessary for the success of the project. Hence, while researching the team was successful in understanding the management of a geographically dispersed team and the effective method that the project managers use to handle this kind of team.
Personal Issues
While researching the project, I was able to gather immense knowledge that will be useful for my career as a project manager in future. The important attributes are team bonding, handling different teams, effective communication and collaboration. Furthermore, the importance of culture in projects was all important information that I learned while working on the report. The issues or challenges that I have faced while working or shaping the port are quite the same as the team. For most of the solutions to these challenges, I was able to identify with the team. However, there were a few personal challenges that I faced while working on the report. One of the major challenges is the language barrier; working in different countries with different languages is quite difficult. In most cases the project manager heroes someone from the local culture that can help complete the project. However, in my opinion, the project manager should also research the local culture and understand some basic language to avoid language barriers with the audience. It will provide a better connection with the audience and grant the project instant success.
Another personal challenge that I would like to highlight is cultural differences. While working on the project I understood the importance of culture in project management. However, there is another problem that is cultural differences. For instance, some countries follow a reserved mindset and do not accept innovations easily; hence, in cases of innovative projects, these countries might oppose them. Hence, these challenges help me learn the importance of research before starting a project.
Know more about UniqueSubmission’s other writing services:
