International Journal of Global Business, 7 (2), 1-8, December 1
Leadership of International and Virtual Project Teams
Dwayne Barnwell, Shea Nedrick, Elizabeth Rudolph, Mohamed Sesay, William Wellen
College of Engineering, Drexel University, USA
[email protected]
Abstract
This paper aims to examine leadership with an emphasis on multinational and virtual team
environments. We outline the drivers and necessity for effective leadership of international
projects because there is a need for project managers to be attuned to cultural differences and the
impact these can have on team-building. We also look at how to manage self-directing teams in
virtual environments. The nature of international project teams needs an emphasis on
communication, and an awareness of increased risks and new barriers to project performance. We
use a "lessons learned" approach to explain our conclusions to prepare for further study through
empirical research.
Keywords: Multinational, Virtual, Team, Project, Leadership
Introduction
The intent of this research is to discuss the complexities introduced into projects when
operating in different locations around the globe. We will explore team building, leadership's
impact on project performance, and management of virtual teams. Multinational projects require
coordination across distance, business processes, management styles, operational support systems,
and organizational cultures. Companies are investing in more projects abroad due to globalization.
Therefore, these companies require leaders who can leverage virtual teams. These teams promise
flexibility, but must be managed appropriately to maximize their output. In subsequent sections,
this will be described in more detail. This theoretical paper focuses on effective leadership for
international projects and navigating in an increasingly complex global business environment.
Literature Review
Today's complex business world requires project teams that are fast and flexible and can
dynamically and creatively work toward established objectives in a changing environment
(Cleland and Garies, 2006, pg.5-3). Because of the increase in the globalization of business, we
see more project teams being dispersed in different geographic locations. For domestic projects,
teams are often centrally located, and project activities and interactions are conducted in the same
vicinity. Multinational projects not only need to be integrated across long distances, but they also
must be unified among different business processes, management styles, operational support
systems, and organizational cultures—thus making it a challenging task (Cleland and Garies,
2006, pg. 5-2),
International Journal of Global Business, 7 (2), 1-8, December 2
Project Team Building
Because of the distributed nature of multinational projects, team members must have the ability
to self-direct and execute multiple tasks concurrently (Cleland and Garies, 2006, pg. 5-5). Project
activities can be complex because of cultural differences, varying levels of technological tools,
and communication barriers. To overcome these challenges, team members should possess the
following traits (Meredith & Mantel, 2012, pg. 111);
1. High-quality technical skills – A strong skill-set is needed to minimize the need for
outside assistance.
2. Political and general sensitivity – Because of the strong chance of cultural beliefs and
rituals, sensitivity is a must during interpersonal communication amongst team members.
3. Strong problem-orientation – Problem-oriented people tend to learn and adopt whatever
problem-solving technique appears helpful to successfully complete tasks.
4. Strong goal-orientation – projects in general are risky endeavors and team members may
need to go above and beyond their regular duties in order to meet project objectives.
5. High self-esteem – Individuals on the team should have high self-esteem. They should
not be afraid to admit their mistakes or, identify team members causing disruption on the
team.
Building a high-performing team starts with making all team members aware of each other's
cultural norms. Some companies host team-building events to allow the team members an
opportunity to introduce themselves in a more relaxed atmosphere. While preparing to host a
team-building event, it is imperative that the project owners understand the culture of the host
nation (such as restrictions on food, alcohol or interactions between genders) and find activities
that respect the values of all team members. This may require substantial research on the part of
the project manager. Regardless of how good intentions are of the project manager, the chemistry
has to be right with the entire team to ensure all members are pulling in the same direction.
Project Leadership and Guidance
International project managers have to deal with a complicated project environment that includes
differences in language, political climates, organizational policies, time zones, and cultures. For
teams to work efficiently, the roles and responsibilities of the leader and team members both
individually and collectively must always be agreed (Turner, 2009, pg. 403). As the leader of the
team, the project manager's role is to establish a team culture that takes into account the dynamic
environment of global projects. Working in multicultural environments requires the project leader
to understand that persons invested in the project including stakeholders, customers, and team
members will not see everything the same way. Drawing on the experiences of peers or upper
management personnel who have worked on international projects will help guide a project
manager who is new to this area. Lessons learned from past experiences will help to avoid pitfalls
that hinder prior projects. The development of good personal relationships between people who
have shared experiences is one of the most potent ways a project manager can affect project
performance (Turner, 2009, pg. 404).
Drivers and Barriers to Team Performance
As a project progresses, drivers and barriers that will impact a team's performance will arise.
Drivers bring positive influences to the project team. Effective team leadership, acknowledgment
International Journal of Global Business, 7 (2), 1-8, December 3
for good job performance, and a well-structured project plan are all examples of drivers. Barriers
hinder a project team from performing well and should be minimized as much as possible. The
most common barriers to multinational project environments are listed below (Cleland & Garies,
2006, pg. 5-9):



Different Points of View – Project teams are composed of several individuals with
varying viewpoints. This is heightened when team members are from other countries
where their cultural beliefs, interests, and standards are vastly different.
Role Conflict – Team members may have many roles and responsibilities in their "home"
department outside of their project duties. Conflict in time management and task
priorities could affect the project schedule.
Implicit Power Struggles – Lack of leadership can lead to a power struggle within a team
and may lead to a possibility that lower status individuals' suggestions are ignored,
robbing the opportunity of creative ideas from surfacing.
Analysis and Discussion
Defining Cultural Norms
Cultural differences on multinational projects can be the greatest asset that project managers have
at their disposal—if harnessed correctly. On the contrary, if this is not properly managed, it can
be the primary reason that a project fails. Managing multinational teams presents its own unique
complexities and rewards. Cultural differences impact most areas of project management. In
particular, they make the project manager approach leadership in different and unique ways
because culture affects motivation and belief systems. (Shepherd, 2008)
Culture—what is it? According to the website Livescience, “Culture comprises the characteristics
of a particular group of people, defined by everything from language, religion, cuisine, social
habits, music and arts.” (Zimmermann, 2012) It is important for any project manager that is tasked
with a multinational project to understand that the way things are done in the home country does
not necessarily translate as the way things are to be done globally.
Cultural Impact on Multinational Projects
An interview was made with the Global Quality Manager for Schlumberger. This interview has
provided insights to managing multinational projects, and how culture affects these projects.
Schlumberger is a multinational oil and gas service company that operates in 85 countries. The
interviewee provided insights on managing cultures and how these different cultures affect the
way Schlumberger handles its business.
The interview revealed that there are four types of multinational business cultures, each requiring
a different type of finesse: (1) Agent-based, (2) Servant-master, (3) Bureaucratic, and, (4)
developing business cultures. Most businesses in North America only require reaching out and
transacting business. In the South and Central American countries, one does not simply approach
a company and try to conduct business. An agent has to facilitate this transaction, and often will
continue to serve as a middleman throughout the life of the transaction/project.
In Asia, the Middle East, and Onshore US, the business climate is very strongly biased toward the
client. The relationship between oil companies and the contracting companies they use to carry out
International Journal of Global Business, 7 (2), 1-8, December 4
the work is one-directional. In these regions, the client is always right and always knows best, even
when the contractor is hired for his technical expertise. In this business environment, it is common
to see a burdensome contracting process filled with requirements that may not be relevant to the
contractor's expertise or technology. Also, there are situations where the contractor's advice is
commonly disregarded, and the resulting poor results are required to be reimbursed by the
contractor to the client.
Many parts of the world are extremely well-developed in their relational methods of doing
business. This clarifies many responsibilities before problems begin, but adds a lot of problems of
its own. In oil and gas, the North Sea and Offshore US are the most bureaucratic. This type of
business is also characterized by cumbersome contracting processes and administrative and safety
programs required to be exactly followed by the contractor, regardless of the applicability. For
example, a very large company in the North Sea may require "Mean Time between Failures”
analysis for all equipment. However, a contractor may be employing experimental equipment that
has only been used a few times. There are no statistics in which to base the MTBF. Nonetheless,
it is a requirement for work. Accounts payable/receivable are usually extremely complex and
nearly always lagging on some of the overly bureaucratic projects.
In areas of the world that simply have not seen "Big Business" before, the challenges are also high.
Projects can experience problems such as high solvency risk: clients often disappear without
paying. A major setback can be the client's inability to find competent personnel locally. Some
projects have failed because contracts are often simply not honored, without recourse or clients
struggle to be technically competent to support the work they have hired.
Managing Virtual Teams
The era of globalization has ushered in a period of significant development in communication and
information technology. Globalization has shaped and transformed the face of international project
management and the flow of international labor between and amongst countries. Dispersed project
teams can be found within the same state, the same country or in several overseas locations. These
developments are making it possible for project teams to operate from different locations around
the globe while maintaining productivity and service delivery. Virtual teams offer great
opportunities for projects. The use of technology makes it possible to hire employees with ease
from various locations around the world. Virtual projects also come with the flexibilities of
working from home; increased propensity to work around the clock; ability to respond quickly to
emerging demands in international project management; greater productivity within the shortest
possible time frames; and, by extension, increasing the global presence of the project.
As projects continue to explore and use the advantages of virtual teams, the complexities of
managing such dispersed groups and teams cannot be overemphasized. Some of the complex
problems of managing virtual teams include, but are not limited to, the degrees of difference
amongst team members. Such differences include distance, time separation, language barriers,
cultural differences, many sites, leadership cultures and issues, information and the political
environment.
Milosevic, Ozbay & Srivannaboon (2006), identify distance as one of the major drawbacks to
virtual teams. They note "when team members are located more than 50 feet apart from each other,
their frequency of communication decreases significantly". This is essentially true even with
International Journal of Global Business, 7 (2), 1-8, December 5
dispersed teams in the same geographic area—let alone of virtual teams spread all over the world.
Distance undermines the ability of team members to meet and talk on issues that affect the project.
The impromptu, informal “water-cooler” meetings that are evident in collocated teams are lacking
in virtual teams due to distance. In projects that require a higher level of coordination,
communication and control, the level of distance may impede and hamper productivity and
performance. The project manager may lose control of the project through lack of communication
with the team due to the effects of distance. Milosevic et al. (2006) observe that the distance factor
also affects the processing and development strategies of the projects distributed across various
sites.
Time Zones
Time separation is yet another pitfall to managing virtual project teams. The advantage of
collocation is that the affairs of the business are conducted within the same time zone. In virtual
teams operated from different time zones, time separation affects communication across the board.
While the project team in France might be asleep, those from say India are ready and up to work,
processing, developing and documenting project results. This time zone differences makes it
extremely difficult to get everyone onboard at the same time. Although they enjoy the benefit of
continuous project work around the clock, team members working on virtual project teams cannot
be readily available for communication at the same time. Locations that use different working days
add more complication to the time zone problem. For example, teams working in the Middle East
and the United States have different weekends.
Language
Language barriers pose a significant problem for project managers working on international
projects. Although many team members may speak English with high proficiency, the proficiency
standards vary from place to place, blurring the lines of communication. Owing to the fact that
most virtual team communications are facilitated by video-conferencing, email and Skype, such
linguistic differences may affect production, and delay a product's time-to-market. It may be
advantageous for the project team members to speak the same language from their different
locations across the globe. However, this is difficult to achieve. Translation services exist globally,
but it is impossible to hire a translator for each member of the team at all times. For a virtual project
team, Finch (2011) advises that written communication may address the shortcomings of language
differences among team members. People with limited speaking proficiency may better express
themselves in writing through emails, chatting and texting to convey enough meaning (Finch
2011). Although there is no form of communication to replace face-to-face communication, using
new technological tools of communication helps to address linguistics differences and minimize
the communication gap.
Culture
Cultural differences are the most predominant problems that virtual projects encounter in
international projects. The sheer size of the team, location, and level of dispersal of the team makes
this such a significant issue. The challenge for the project manager is to promote harmony within
the group to produce the desired results. Such cultural differences vary in scope and type.
Differences in the national culture, project culture, management culture and behaviors, are all
different shades of cultural differences that may impact virtual teams. Miles Shepherd (2008) notes
that cultural factors can range from simple language difficulties through misconstrued
International Journal of Global Business, 7 (2), 1-8, December 6
interpretations of the contracts to complex behavioral patterns. It is important for the project
manager and project team to understand cultural differences and to inculcate cultural competence
through training, learning and cultural understanding.
Leadership
Leading virtual teams goes beyond traditional team management used in collocated teams. The
project manager for a virtual team is also managing morale. To develop morale is to build rapport
with team members. The project manager should motivate team members by keeping in touch. A
regular telephone call or periodic video conference with members is helpful in the provision of
leadership. These regular contacts may help to decrease the chances of isolation. The ability to
manage the individual needs versus the team needs is vital in this kind of setting. Managing
conflicts within the teams, building sustainable relationships, engaging team members, and taking
responsibility as the leader, are all critical issues that affect the success of virtual teams.
In the management of virtual teams, the project manager should establish clear goals to the entire
team, regardless of where they live. Gary Hamilton, Jeff Hodgkinson, & Gareth Byatt (2010)
contend that in order to manage a virtual project team, the project manager should be able to
manage the goals of the project. This includes (but is not limited to): defining clear, precise,
concise, and specific goals that avoid ambiguity. It should be noted, the project manager is not
always available to make clarifications to the virtual team members thousands of miles away.
Team members are better led and better directed from afar when the goals are clear and they know
what instructions they need to follow.
Communication
Communication consumes more time in project management than any other aspect. The
opportunity to meet face-to-face rarely exists on virtual project teams. More often than not, many
projects get one initial meeting and after that, the rest of communication is based on electronic
communication methods. The project manager takes the lead in managing communications to
mitigate risks that this may pose for the project. In the virtual team setting, the project manager
must ensure that language used is appropriate, culturally sensitive, and responsive to the needs and
aspirations of the project. Communication should be designed to ensure participation of all team
members. The project manager on a virtual team is the liaison between the stakeholders, the project
team members, and the home office. The flow of information along these lines must be maintained.
Anything that affects the free flow of information, affects the project.
Technology
In his typology of projects Miles Shepherd (2008) explains that operating multiple projects in
multiple remote sites is the most complex of transnational projects. Virtual teams can be classified
also as a single company operating in many remote sites. Milosevic (2006), states that various sites
are mostly located in developing countries, where both the technological and human resource
infrastructure are different from those in the developed countries. In virtual projects that rely
significantly on data availability for communications and control, the cost and frequent disruptions
to connectivity and power cause frustration and undermine project implementation.
Lessons Learned and Conclusion
International Journal of Global Business, 7 (2), 1-8, December 7
It is easy to take for granted the dimensions that affect the way we interact with other people on a
daily basis. The vast majority of our daily lives are spent in interactions where we can assume a
common culture. Furthermore, we can employ all of our tools in communication through body
language, inflection and expressions. The demands on a project manager leading a virtual
international team are entirely different. None of these aspects of communication can be taken for
granted. The best thing a project manager can do is to be aware of this difference.
A project manager's ability to lead the project is entirely dependent on discovering how to maintain
the appropriate level of power in the exceptionally challenging environment of international virtual
teams. Here are a few suggestions for project managers of virtual teams:
-
Remain relevant. Be in contact often enough to stay at the forefront of the hearts and
minds of team members.
Excellent written communication. Directions must be clear and concise.
Relationships must be solid. There should be a high level of trust between the project
manager and team members, and also among team members, showing adequate personal
concern.
The team must be empowered and self-directed. It is impractical to make every
decision from afar. The more team members can be empowered to make the day-to-day
decisions, the more quickly success can be achieved.
Be sensitive. Cultural differences can foster hostility that manifests itself subtly or in
blatant displays of tension and discord. All members of the team should be encouraged
to be in tune with the cultural sensibilities of each team member.
Whether it is building a high-performing virtual international project team or managing cultural
differences within the team throughout the project lifecycle, the more aware the project manager
is of the additional barriers that exist in communicating and leading effectively in these
environments, the better the chance of overcoming those challenges and accomplishing the goals
of the project.
References
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http://www.projectsmart.co.uk/managing-projects-on-a-global-scale.html.
Hamilton, G., Hodgkinson, J., & Byatt, G. (2010). Managing a Virtual Project Team. Retrieved
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Acknowledgment
We gratefully acknowledge the supervisory and editorial guidance rendered by Dr. Victor Sohmen
(Associate Clinical Professor, Drexel University) in developing this paper.