Managing Global Project Teams: Challenges And Strategies

Challenges of managing global project teams

Global projects have members on the team who are from various different cultural and organizations, and these members are all in different countries, speak different languages and have different time zones. Managing these three dimensions will result in successful management of the team, and ensure that the product of the team is of high quality.

Alami, A., (2016). Global project management challenges. PM World Journal, 5, pp.1-15.

• The author has published many articles on the topic of management and is affiliated with the University of Copenhagen.
• This article has only been cited once.
• The research finds that using traditional methods of implementing projects on teams is not going to be appropriate when the same situation is for a global projects.
• This article is intended for organizational executives who are looking to expand their company operations and willing to incorporate global projects, it will be helpful for them to find out beforehand what challenges they could face in order to be better prepared for it in the future. It is an original concept, and not a literature review. 

Hartio, M., (2017). Managing complexity in global IT projects.

• Mika Hartio, the author, has a Masters’ degree in Information Systems Science and works as an ERP functional consultant, his immense passion towards organizational science supports the authenticity of the article.
• This research article focuses on the complexity that arises from global projects, and unlike the article above, focuses on an IT global project.
• The author then delves deeper into the managing tactics that can be used when dealing with these complexities, and linking it to the various complexity theories.
• This research provides more in depth knowledge into managing complex global projects, and which dimensions that organizations should focus on in order for them to get more effective results.
• This study is a literature review.

Nassif, J., (2017). The Role of Project Leadership in Global Multicultural Project Success.

• The author Jamal Nassif writes this paper as a part of his MBA studies from Purdue University which means that the findings from this report are highly reliable. This paper is a literature review.
• The purpose of this study is to highlight the important of leadership in generating successful outcomes of global projects.
• This paper further highlights the difficulties and challenges that project leaders face in managing a multicultural team handling a global project. Unlike the other articles, this one is specific to another type of industry which is getting a lot of international attention, and in which having global teams will become a necessity.
• This paper is intended to help company executives that have a more global reach, and for them to be able to plan their next step according to the information available from this research. 

Richardson, T.M., Marion, J. and Onu, S., (2015). Insights from global project managers: Career advice for successful international assignments. International Journal of Business and Management, 10(10), p.9.

• The three authors of the article are all affiliated with a university, and are considered to be experts in their field producing reliable and effective literature.
• This article builds on the experience and knowledge expressed by present managers who are in charge of international assignments, and they also offer advice for other managers that want to be successful in this segment of management in their own organization.
• From this article it was found that for managers to succeed in their handling of global projects need to take the initiative in developing the understanding of the language and cultural barriers that exist within the team members.
• This article is different than all the rest in that it provides information from first hand international project managers, making the results of the study more efficient and adaptable for other managers.

Mohammadian, H.D., International Cross Cultural Management.

• The author Dr Mohammadian is a professor at a college teaching International Management classes and is considered to produce reliable work.
• This article offers an overview of the management in cross cultural projects and the importance of the acceptance of the differences among the team members. It is stated in the article that teams are not required to change their language and learn the different ones, but be open to accepting the different forms of data and make sure to consider local customs when assessing the data.
• This article is intended for readers who are interested in finding out more information on International Management of projects and teams in their organization, along with the dangers that can arise if the managers fall prey to stereotyping their team members.
• Unlike the other articles in this assignment, this article first provides an overview on the whole subject and then details different well-known companies to express how they handling the international exposure. 

Xue, R., Baron, C., Esteban, P. and Zheng, L., (2015), April. Analysis and comparison of project management standards and guides. In Proceedings of the International Conference on Mechanics, Materials, Mechanical Engineering and Chemical Engineering (MMMCE 2015) Barcelona, Spain.

• The authors presented this paper at an international conference and is considered to be highly reliable in its context and facts stated in the paper. It has been cited by 3 people, according to the Google Scholar. It is a literature review.
• This article aims to provide detailed global views on the management of projects according to the methodological guidelines so the organization improve the rate of the success of their projects because the managers will be better prepared to handle the situation.
• This article shows that efficient management of global projects expand further than only companies dealing with organizational business, since this paper is related to the engineering industry.

Muszynska, K., Dermol, K., Trunk, V., Ðakovic, A. and Smrkolj, G., (2015), May. Communication management in project teams–practices and patterns. In Joint International Conference (pp. 1359-1566).

• This paper is a part of the Karolina’s, the author’s, PhD paper from a Polish university and is considered to be valid and reliable in its findings. It is a literature review.
• This article aims to identify some real life practices used by communication managers to help with further research in order to develop better project communication practices.
• The results from this research will help companies in the future who want to take on global projects and are not aware of what management practices to implement according to their specific situation.
• This paper is different from the ones mentioned above in that unlike the others, it does not only analyse the situation and provide solutions but provides a framework of a tool that can be effectively used by many companies to make management easy when dealing with international projects and teams.

Lipsanen, P., (2017). The leadership role of the project manager in an international project.

• Penni Lipsanen writes this paper as a part of their Bachelor Thesis done at an university’s business administration department.
• The main purpose of this paper is to highlight the importance of the project manager in managing global projects, by studying the leadership skills that is required by them.
• This article can prove to be beneficial for managers wanting to take on global projects.
• Unlike the other articles, this paper uses results from personal interviews done on existing organisational managers to elaborate on the desired findings of the paper. The information in this article consolidates the identification of the challenges that arise when managers have to take on the responsibility of managing global projects. 

Saha, P. (2017). Power of Nonverbal Communication in Project Management. International Journal of Computer Science and Information Technologies, [online] Vol 8 (1). Available at: https://ijcsit.com/docs/Volume%208/vol8issue1/ijcsit2017080118.pdf [Accessed 9 Apr. 2019].

• The author of this paper is a research scholar and her work is considered to be relevant, along with valid with the conclusion that she arrives at.
• This paper discusses the meaning and role of communication in a project and how this along with nonverbal communication is important in successful project management.
• This paper helps advance the knowledge on the existing literature by putting an emphasis on the nonverbal communication, which is an uncommon topic discussed in majority of the literature works.

van Offenbeek, M.A. and Vos, J.F., (2016). An integrative framework for managing project issues across stakeholder groups. International Journal of Project Management, 34(1), pp.44-57.

• The authors are affiliated with the department of economics and business in a university in Netherlands, hence proving their authenticity in the information given in the paper. The authors of this paper aim to fill the gap in literature that exists in order to provide better support to project managers in dealing with issues relating to the company’s stakeholders.
• This article develops a framework that will connect the relationship between the stakeholders and help examine the issue of developing the skills of the project managers so that they are better able to handle the issues posed by the various stakeholders.
• The framework that is developed will assists managers in being able to recognise stakeholder issues present when dealing with a complex project, i.e. global projects. 

Alami, A., (2016). Global project management challenges. PM World Journal, 5, pp.1-15.

Hartio, M., (2017). Managing complexity in global IT projects.

Lipsanen, P., (2017). The leadership role of the project manager in an international project.

Mohammadian, H.D., International Cross Cultural Management.

Muszynska, K., Dermol, K., Trunk, V., Ðakovic, A. and Smrkolj, G., (2015), May. Communication management in project teams–practices and patterns. In Joint International Conference (pp. 1359-1566).

Nassif, J., (2017). The Role of Project Leadership in Global Multicultural Project Success.

Richardson, T.M., Marion, J. and Onu, S., (2015). Insights from global project managers: Career advice for successful international assignments. International Journal of Business and Management, 10(10), p.9.

Saha, P. (2017). Power of Nonverbal Communication in Project Management. International Journal of Computer Science and Information Technologies, [online] Vol 8 (1). Available at: https://ijcsit.com/docs/Volume%208/vol8issue1/ijcsit2017080118.pdf [Accessed 9 Apr. 2019].

van Offenbeek, M.A. and Vos, J.F., (2016). An integrative framework for managing project issues across stakeholder groups. International Journal of Project Management, 34(1), pp.44-57.

Xue, R., Baron, C., Esteban, P. and Zheng, L., (2015), April. Analysis and comparison of project management standards and guides. In Proceedings of the International Conference on Mechanics, Materials, Mechanical Engineering and Chemical Engineering (MMMCE 2015) Barcelona, Spain.