Can Cultural Differences Derail Project Success?
Today’s complex mega infrastructure projects require the formation of joint ventures and other type of associations in order to have either the talent, skills and/or monetary funds required to complete the project. Because of the nature of mega projects, owners, financial agencies, contractors, sub-contractors, vendors and suppliers, often come from different cultural backgrounds-much as the direct result of globalization. Differences in approaches, values, and experiences have led to many mega-project failures. Therefore it is imperative to understand the impact of cross-cultural differences among the team players in order for a mega project to be successful. Project Management staff members often have engineering degrees. The project engineers do too, and are trained to focus on technical data, scientific evidence and hard facts. Because the laws of physics are universal, staff often tend to expect that nationality and cultural differences will not play a significant role in the prac
