Improving intercultural competency in global IT projects through recognition of culture-based behaviors

The success of global IT projects is highly influenced by culture-based behaviors. Issues between individuals arise when behaviors are (mis-)perceived, (mis-)interpreted, and (mis-)judged by using the perceiver’s expectations, beliefs, and values. Misperception results when the behavior is not anti...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Richard Amster, Christina Böhm
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: UMinho Editora 2022-02-01
Series:International Journal of Information Systems and Project Management
Subjects:
Online Access:https://revistas.uminho.pt/index.php/ijispm/article/view/3877
_version_ 1819045959281147904
author Richard Amster
Christina Böhm
author_facet Richard Amster
Christina Böhm
author_sort Richard Amster
collection DOAJ
description The success of global IT projects is highly influenced by culture-based behaviors. Issues between individuals arise when behaviors are (mis-)perceived, (mis-)interpreted, and (mis-)judged by using the perceiver’s expectations, beliefs, and values. Misperception results when the behavior is not anticipated because it would not occur in ones own culture. As a result, behavior should be the starting point for cross-cultural research. But, studies have primarily focused on belief and value systems which are more abstract and less specific than behaviors. This paper presents a study that analyzed cultural behavioral differences between Indian project managers and their counterparts in other countries. The conducted qualitative, semi-structured interviews revealed insights into cross-cultural challenges and shed light on the complex ways that culture-based behaviors impact IT projects. The study identified 127 behaviors that significantly affected project success and cross-cultural cooperation between Indian managers and managers from all over the world. These behaviors were grouped into 19 behavior clusters. Understanding these behavior clusters, and correlating these behaviors to values and beliefs, will improve project collaboration, and inform cross-cultural training strategies. In addition, existing cultural dimensions were reduced in scope, additional dimensions were defined for clarity, and new business-related dimensions were identified. Finally, based on the study’s results, the paper suggests four important components that should be added to cross-cultural training programs for international project managers.
first_indexed 2024-12-21T10:36:51Z
format Article
id doaj.art-56b7421e555f4ac2beab552d57e43bcd
institution Directory Open Access Journal
issn 2182-7788
language English
last_indexed 2024-12-21T10:36:51Z
publishDate 2022-02-01
publisher UMinho Editora
record_format Article
series International Journal of Information Systems and Project Management
spelling doaj.art-56b7421e555f4ac2beab552d57e43bcd2022-12-21T19:07:02ZengUMinho EditoraInternational Journal of Information Systems and Project Management2182-77882022-02-0142Improving intercultural competency in global IT projects through recognition of culture-based behaviorsRichard Amster0Christina Böhm1Webster University - Vienna FacultyUniversity of Vienna - Faculty of Computer Science The success of global IT projects is highly influenced by culture-based behaviors. Issues between individuals arise when behaviors are (mis-)perceived, (mis-)interpreted, and (mis-)judged by using the perceiver’s expectations, beliefs, and values. Misperception results when the behavior is not anticipated because it would not occur in ones own culture. As a result, behavior should be the starting point for cross-cultural research. But, studies have primarily focused on belief and value systems which are more abstract and less specific than behaviors. This paper presents a study that analyzed cultural behavioral differences between Indian project managers and their counterparts in other countries. The conducted qualitative, semi-structured interviews revealed insights into cross-cultural challenges and shed light on the complex ways that culture-based behaviors impact IT projects. The study identified 127 behaviors that significantly affected project success and cross-cultural cooperation between Indian managers and managers from all over the world. These behaviors were grouped into 19 behavior clusters. Understanding these behavior clusters, and correlating these behaviors to values and beliefs, will improve project collaboration, and inform cross-cultural training strategies. In addition, existing cultural dimensions were reduced in scope, additional dimensions were defined for clarity, and new business-related dimensions were identified. Finally, based on the study’s results, the paper suggests four important components that should be added to cross-cultural training programs for international project managers. https://revistas.uminho.pt/index.php/ijispm/article/view/3877cross-culturalbehaviorproject managementskillsdiversity
spellingShingle Richard Amster
Christina Böhm
Improving intercultural competency in global IT projects through recognition of culture-based behaviors
International Journal of Information Systems and Project Management
cross-cultural
behavior
project management
skills
diversity
title Improving intercultural competency in global IT projects through recognition of culture-based behaviors
title_full Improving intercultural competency in global IT projects through recognition of culture-based behaviors
title_fullStr Improving intercultural competency in global IT projects through recognition of culture-based behaviors
title_full_unstemmed Improving intercultural competency in global IT projects through recognition of culture-based behaviors
title_short Improving intercultural competency in global IT projects through recognition of culture-based behaviors
title_sort improving intercultural competency in global it projects through recognition of culture based behaviors
topic cross-cultural
behavior
project management
skills
diversity
url https://revistas.uminho.pt/index.php/ijispm/article/view/3877
work_keys_str_mv AT richardamster improvinginterculturalcompetencyinglobalitprojectsthroughrecognitionofculturebasedbehaviors
AT christinabohm improvinginterculturalcompetencyinglobalitprojectsthroughrecognitionofculturebasedbehaviors