The document discusses culture and multi-cultural project management. It defines culture as the collective programming of the mind that distinguishes one group from another. Hofstede identified culture as mental programming patterns learned throughout life. Managing multi-cultural projects requires considering cultural differences to gain a competitive advantage. A framework is suggested based on project complexity and cultural diversity. A study asked project managers about working in culturally diverse teams, finding cultural diversity can positively impact output and interactions when leaders respect differences and find a middle course.

1. Amity Business School
Project Leadership in multi
cultural context
“Let my house not be walled on four
sides, let all the windows be open;
Let all the cultures blow in, but let no
culture blow me off my feet.”
- Mahatma Gandhi

2. Amity Business School
How can we define Culture?
• The word culture originated from the Latin
word colere which means to inhabit or to
cultivate.
• It can be defined as:
“Culture is the collective programming
(thinking, feeling and acting) of the mind
which distinguishes the members of one
group or category of people from another.”

3. Hofstede's Culture Triangle
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• Hofstede identified culture to be mental programming
of the mind: every person carries within him or herself
patterns of thinking; feeling; and potential acting which
were learned throughout their lifetime

4. Multi-Cultural Amity Business School
Project Management
• Multi-Cultural Project Management is
nowadays a very important issue since the
last couple of 20 years immigration and
global travel have been leading to a diverse
workforce within Europe, USA and also the
Asian region.
• International companies have to deal with
cultural differences if they want to gain a
competitive advantage for their organization

5. Law's Framework for Multi-cultural Project
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Management
•
He suggests a framework for managing multi-cultural projects, based on the
degree of multi-culturalism and the project complexity.

6. Multi-Cultural Project Management
Competency Model Amity Business School
This model summarizes the main competencies required for the multicultural project manager.

7. Amity Business School
Methodology used for the project
We asked the following questions to the project manager
and two team members working for a project at Deloitte:
• Do you think that culture was relevant to interactions
within the team during a project?
• Did cultural diversity enhance the work experience for
you, or did it make work more challenging/difficult?
• Do you think that workplace employee traits are more
closely aligned with cultural background, or personality?
• What have you learnt about working in a culturallydiverse team?

8. Amity Business School
Findings from the project
• Cultural and/or personality diversity is in the eye of the
beholder
• Cultural diversity can positively contribute to people’s
professional and personal enjoyment of the project, as
well as a project’s outcome
• Cultural diversity can indirectly encourage project
members to rethink their usual working habits and
expectations, behave with fewer assumptions about the
“right” way to address an issue and promote linguistic
clarity
• The dominance of cultural diversity amongst team
members reduces the bias to interact with people who
have common characteristics and create a unique bond.

9. Amity Business School
conclusion
• From our study, we conclude that cultural diversity had a
positive impact on team performance, both in terms of
output and team interactions.
• What makes a good project leader is knowing about
cultural differences and finding a middle course between
respecting different cultures and insisting on strictly
following rules.