Intercultural Project Management for IT: Issues and Challenges

Abstract

Abstract The development of Information Technology projects using Project Management Methodologies like PMP-PMI, Agile or SCRUM for software development, CPM, CCPM, RAD, XP, FDD, ITIL, JAD, LD, PRINCE2, etc.; may be a complete success or a total catastrophe, for series of reasons, events and circumstances that frequently are not related at all with the deliverables, the products being built, the IT technology involved, the level of expertise, the responsibility and professionalism of the stakeholders including the project manager, but due to intercultural factors. The PMP-PMI Model (PMBOK) describes 10 areas: Cost Management, Time Management, Scope Management, Risk Management, Quality Management, Procurement Management, Integration Management, Stakeholder Management, Human Resources Management and Communication Management. An IT project is considered successful if the customer is happy, but technically and formally if the TEAM was able to meet the triple constraint set up by time/cost/scope. This happy ending is not possible if the project manager and the team as a whole are not able to confront, attack and solve the issues associated with Human Resources Management, Stakeholder Management and specially Communication Management. These three areas are highly influenced by Intercultural factors like language, race, age, gender, religion, sexual preferences, beliefs, habits, etc., becoming their analysis an essential task if we want to accomplish and guarantee a favorable outcome. This position paper concludes in contradiction with what is a very common believe between many technical project managers that the most important factors to take in consideration for the success of an IT project management is the careful and planned attention to the potential issues and challenges associated with the cross-cultural communication and the human resources implicated in the projects. This paper will describe the cultural dimensions, issues and challenges associated with Intercultural Project Management for IT.