Conflict on multi-national construction projects

By definition, multi-national construction projects bring together organisations and individuals from different countries and, therefore, almost inevitably, different cultures. As cultures underpin behaviour and behaviour has major impacts on performance – both what is desired and what is realised – issues of cultural compatibility between project participants are important. A further aspect relates to attitudes to conflict and thence disputes regarding their likelihood, causes and consequences – in essence, how they may be managed. This paper aims to critically review the theory and literature regarding cultures and to examine their relevance to selection of multi-national project participants, management of conflict and resulting outcomes for project performance and participant satisfaction. Of particular note are aspects of cultural compatibility/cultural distance for both selection of project participants and resultant performance.