|
Abstract:
|
In the last few decades, companies have diversified across their national borders in pursuit of new markets and access to cheaper material and labor resources. In order to achieve high productivity in the new global economy, companies realized over time that cost-cutting strategies must be coupled with efforts to understand different cultural settings when conducting business across national borders. Balancing must-meet financial targets brought about by globalization, while coping with culturally diverse business contexts has become a driver of high productivity, which contributes to companies' successes.
The objective of this thesis is to explore cross-border project management practices at a business process outsourcing firm (henceforth BPO) located in the United States and India. BPOs such as Company X oversee their client's non-core business tasks (e.g. payroll, customer service), allowing their clients to focus on core business activities. Specifically, this thesis asked how United States and India-based cope with cultural influences on project management at Company X.
To this end, literature by cultural and institutional scholars such as Edgar Schein, Richard W. Scott and others were used to understand what culture is and its impact on management styles in organizations world over. Considering what the experts say about the importance of culture in relation to global business provided the foundation for this exploratory study.
In order to understand how cultural influences are dealt with at Company X, this thesis provided a descriptive study using grounded theory methodology to guide the data collection and analysis process. Employing the grounded theory method ensured that the narrative about Company X emerged solely from the research situation and the senior managers responses. This enabled a thorough understanding of the different values, meanings and perceptions of project management at play between the United States and India-based managers.
This thesis found that Company X's senior managers were coping with each others cultural differences but not actively fostering a strong understanding of each others management styles and factors that influenced those styles. The project management process was in motion but with a number of obstacles along the way. This indicates that in order to create a smooth cross-border project management process while satisfying clients, managers must understand the importance of culture. This thesis points to the value of understanding cultural influences in order to build strategy that deals with and incorporates different cultures' management practices in the cross-border project management process. |