The opportunity to improve psychological competences of project managers in international businesses

Abstract

Many projects are currently conducted in international businesses in which cultural issues play an important role. In-depth analysis of the risks associated with the unknown of this type of issues offers companies a better understanding of how to focus their marketing tools to be more effective, and provides project managers with strategies to improve customer relationships. Hofstede's Cultural Dimensions and Meyer's Culture Map have demonstrated that every society possesses distinguishing features. These cultural theories serve as foundation for including the category of culture in a proposed Cultural Risk Breakdown Structure. Through a literature review, risks associated with cultural differences are identified in projects executed in Africa, China, and the Middle East. By linking these risks to cultural dimensions, it is possible to identify the psychological competences framework in international businesses. Therefore, the aim of this paper is to create not only a comprehensive record of these risks but also a list of the new skills and competences that project managers must possess to improve client satisfaction and make decisions in a crosscultural environment. By considering the association between psychological aspects and cultural issues, this analysis will be of considerable benefit for improving relationships in international contexts. K E Y W O R D S culture, international business, project management, relationship marketing, risk Psychol Mark. 2018;35:150-159.

Finding the Links between Risk Management and Project Success: Evidence from International Development Projects in Colombia

“…Working with different cultures implies a need to train in a series of competencies, including teams' and project managers' capacities to adapt to the environment in which a project is executed [50]. This adaptability is also highlighted by Ika and Donnelly [22] in studying 20 cooperating professionals of four IDPs.…”

Identifying Risks for Better Project Management between Two Different Cultures: The Chinese and the Spanish

“…Both in research more focused on the figure of the project manager and in studies focused on risks, it is increasingly common to find interesting links with cultural aspects [38][39][40][41].…”

“…In a professional relationship before or during the execution of a project, it is advisable to consider these differences that are so closely related to communication management and task implementation. As some of these dimensions are related, in previous works of the authors, an attempt to synthesize both Hofstede and Meyer's cultural approaches was made [41]. These dimensions were the following:…”

“…This is because Chinese culture is considered to hold values that differ not only from Spanish values but also from most of the values of Western cultures. This includes ways of doing things that are often very different from those of the West [41,[54][55][56]. Chinese culture is a collectivistic culture.…”

Metodología del Marco Lógico con Enfoque de Gestión de Riesgos para mejorar la eficacia de los Proyectos de Cooperación al Desarrollo

“…Trabajar con diferentes culturas, como sucede en el caso de los PCD por regla general, conlleva la necesidad de formarse en una serie de competencias, entre las cuales, destaca la capacidad de adaptación del equipo y del director del proyecto al entorno en el que se desarrolla el proyecto (Rodríguez-Rivero et al, 2018). Esta misma capacidad de adaptación fue también la más valorada en el estudio de Ika y Donnelly (2017) con 20 profesionales de la cooperación en cuatro PCD.…”