Question

this assignment requires students to think about the cultural diversity in contemporary project teams and how project managers can effectively manage cultural diversity in the project team for the benefit of projects. Following scenarios and questions will help you guide your thinking. Scenarios: Select a scenario from the list below. A project manager leading a cultural diverse project team in delivering a domestic project. A project manager leading a project in another country which has a different culture from Australia A project manager leading a global project with teams from multiple countries. Questions: Select one of the above scenarios and use the following questions as guiding questions to develop your essay. Why is managing cultural diversity important in contemporary project management? How do project managers effectively lead multicultural project teams? How do project managers effectively manage communications in multicultural project teams? What overall advice would you give to someone who would be managing a culturally diverse project team? You are required to, – Read the relevant course material and additional scholarly literature on managing projects with a special focus on cultural diversity in projects, communication management in a multi-cultural environment and virtual project teams etc. – Reflect on the literature on project management specifically on concepts, processes, skills, and methods and your experience in managing projects in organisations including your experience in managing the group project in Assignment 2. – Identify, critically discuss and provide insights into the skills, competencies, and behaviors of project managers that underpin project success in a multi-cultural environment. Present your arguments/recommendations concisely based on your reflections.

Answer 1

With the advent of technological evolution and increase in the level of awareness, companies have become ardent advocates of diversity and inclusion. The companies want to hire diverse workforce. The primary objective behind this is that a diverse workforce at the company facilitates innovative and out of box thinking and helps in strengthening the overall competitive advantage of the company in the market. Multicultural organization is one which appreciated the diverse background of its employees and encourages the employees to come up with unique perspectives based on their varying backgrounds and heritages. Multicultural organizations are great propagators of diversity and inclusion and usually are companies with positive employer brand.

• Changing workforce: The baby boomers are retiring and the millennials are taking their place in the business setting. Millennials prefer companies which have flexible policies and are functional, without any kind of bias or discrimination. Hence the companies need to increase their diversity and inclusion rate so as to attract millennials.
• Gender issues: All kind of gender issues get sorted when the company inculcates diversity and inclusion and offers equal opportunities to all.
• Minorities and immigrants: Various companies are adopting a paternalistic approach to integrate the minorities and immigrants in their workforce. This makes the workforce diverse as well as projects company with a positive employer brand.
• People with disability: Companies are making special changes and accommodations to include people with disability in their workforce. Such employees are specifically referred to as people with special ability and are treated positively by the company.

The challenges that a company faces in managing diversity and inclusion are:

• Ethnic and cultural differences among the employees
• Conflicts leading to cultural insensitivity
• Miscommunication in the project teams due to presence of members with diverse backgrounds

In the 21^st century, the companies are becoming advocates of diversity and inclusion. Multicultural organization is one which appreciated the diverse background of its employees and encourages the employees to come up with unique perspectives based on their varying backgrounds and heritages. Multicultural organizations are great propagators of diversity and inclusion and usually are companies with positive employer brand.

The multiculturism of the organization gets reflected in recruitment and hiring when the hiring process supports the employees with diverse background and have no biases to a specific group or sect. Such companies usually opt for blind recruitment. All specific details of employee apart from the experiences and skill sets are removed from the candidates resume. This facilitates hiring based on right fit and right talent and there is no bias involved in the process.

The companies strive hard to maintain a diverse background. Culture intelligence is one of the most essential competency for leaders of a diverse company, which aids them to work effectively in any kind of cultural background. It helps the leader to propagate a culture of diversity and inclusion.

Agenda for 5-day Leadership Cultural Intelligence Training:

• Day 1:
  • Full Day: Introduction of the basic cultural dimensions suggested by Hofstede so as to make the leader prepared about how he needs to handle the cultural diverseness
• Day 2:
  • Full Day: Introduction to Metacognitive strategies which will help the leaders to handle the diverse workforce
• Day 3:
  • Full Day: Generic Business protocol and etiquettes: This makes the leaders aware about the business protocols followed in various countries
• Day 4:
  • First Half: Negotiation style: In their assignment, the leaders may have to negotiate with the global suppliers or global government. Hence, they should be aware of the global negotiation style and BATNA format followed by various countries.
  • Second Half: Conflict management: This helps the leaders in managing conflicts of the local as well as global employees.
• Day 5:
  • First half: Decision making techniques: This will help the leaders in doing business in any global setting and with any third party supplier or vendor
  • Second Half: Revision and conclusion of the training program