How does globalization effect project management?

Globalization has led to multi-disciplinary, multi-cultural project teams that operate across borders, across time zones, and in multiple languages. It is now common to see project teams using web-based tools for collaboration, in addition to or even in place of traditional conference calls and on-site visits.

Stakeholder management has become more complex, as has project governance, scope change control, and risk management. Even procurement management has become more complicated, when contracts require execution and delivery in multiple jurisdictions.

Some examples include:

1. Currency fluctuations across the world could increase the cost of raw materials;

2. The transfer of data between countries can be extremely complicated (e.g. ITAR products);

3. Training staff to be culturally aware when they do business in other countries is important;

4. Having backup plans should any of your staff run into difficulties in other countries is becoming more important;

5. Loss of IPR when dealing with other countries that may not have very strong legal protections;

6. The issue of transfer of equipment between countries can lead to project delays if the equipment is impounded because the appropriate paperwork or taxes have not been paid;

7. Taking into consideration 'project language'. Each discipline has its own language, acronyms and technical processes and procedures, that need to be learnt and understood before teams can work together effectively;

8. Manufacturing, testing and certification standards do vary across the world, and understanding what each means and if there are any gaps can be difficult;

9. Don't underestimate the silly things, such as travel time, different electrical connections of equipments, working hours and different national holidays etc.