3 Pitfalls of Global Project Management

3 Pitfalls of Global Project Management
By Tommy MC Grath

Managing a project is a challenge; it becomes an even bigger one, once it changes into a global project. The ease of communication through the internet and the possibilities it has brought, have brought about a global way of doing things in many organizations. Once a project crosses from being local to global, a new set of challenges crop up. The challenges include language barrier, cultural barrier, geographic barriers among may others. These are some of the pitfalls an organization could find itself and here are some of the solutions to them.

Geographical Boundaries

In an ordinary setup, communication can be improved if there are several meetings every so often to check up on the status of each of the team members and ensure everyone is on track. But with a global project, this is not easy given that people are on different time zones. It can be a challenge if the different time zones are so spread apart that none of the team members working time, coincides with the other.

The best thing is to set working times from the beginning so that there will always be a time when all the groups can meet. If you have a good voice data cabling then communication will be better within and outside the organization.

Cultural Differences

Another pitfall you could fall into is cultural difference. It can affect the communication between the team players and the project manager. Most of the time, the frustrations may be failure by somebody from a different culture to get the implications of certain actions. It may be attitudes towards work ethic or how to handle customers in the organization. It is difficult to change people's attitude towards culture. Whether you are dealing with programmers or data cabling contractors, you need to ensure that you learn these cultures and learn to anticipate problems as they arise.

Planning and Co-ordination

Another pitfall that sounds obvious but is easy to overlook is the planning and coordination. Planning involves looking at all the aspects of the project and what is needed including data cabling contractors to laying out the network.

There are certain areas that you need to put emphasis on when planning. This includes technology requirements indicating things like Voice and Data Cabling to facilitate communication between remote areas. The scope of the project should also be considered given the size and complexity of a global project management endeavor.

Comm-Works is an experienced Content writer and publisher for Business Development. Visit at http://www.comm-works.com/ to know more about Technology Integration and Wireless Design.

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