Webb, E (2015) A contract manager abroad: Cultural awareness in Asia. Proceedings of Institution of Civil Engineers: Management, Procurement and Law, 168(6), pp. 261-268. ISSN 17514304
Abstract
Western contract managers often enter the Asian construction sector with personal, as well as corporate ways of working that will almost certainly not be a perfect fit with both the new environment within which they have to perform and the dispersed multicultural contractual teams within which interaction is invariably necessary on large complex projects. The management style expected and required in Asia is unique and, for many, appears to be unstructured, unsystemised and autocratic, with varying strains of Chinese-based ethics and beliefs, including networking, trust, face and avoidance of confrontation heavily influencing management practices. To avoid unnecessary problems, managers need to overcome not only the obvious language difficulties but also differing corporate cultures, work methods, national cultures and beliefs. These problems can be best overcome by adopting a holistic approach, collective work style, understanding the importance of hard and soft management, and by accepting that neither the Western way nor the Eastern way is the only way to manage.
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | contracting; management; project management |
| Index terms: | construction sector, corporate culture, management practice, Asia, face, networking, contract manager, manager, project management, interaction, complex project, holistic approach, national culture, ethics, management style |
| Subjects: | cross-cultural studies, behavioral psychology, practitioner, psychology, strategic project management, ethical practice, management, project management theory and practice, sociology, industry analysis, business, communication, regions and continents |
| Topics: | Human Resources, Digital Applications, Organizational Design, Research Practice, Business Strategy, Roles and Professions, Geographical Context, Project Management |
| Descriptive scope: | 3 PCT |
N.B. Descriptive scope is a count of how many of the five facets of empirical research are indicated by the words used in title, abstract and keywords. It is not intended as a judgement on the research; merely a count of the kind of word we would expect to indicate Phenomenon, Concepts, Theoretical framing, Empirical techniques, Analytical techniques. If all five are present, then a code of “5 PCTEA” will indicate this. If you feel the coding for this record is questionable, we welcome discussion around the terms we matched or the way we categorized them. The facet you would expect may not be coded, or a facet may be coded inappropriately. This can also bear on a larger question, of which facets should be treated as defining in construction management research. Please get in touch, and we will look at it. More details here