Cultural Challenges in International Project Management Illustrated by Research Paper

Cultural Challenges in International Project Management Illustrated by Comparing Germany and the United States of America - Research Paper Example The first step in any cultural study is to attempt to define what exactly is culture. Due to the varied and basic intangible nature and the existing dissimilarities in the world’s cultures, it is a very difficult task to correctly define culture.There are over 300 widely accepted definitions of culture, with prominent researchers like Taylor, Down, Hofstede providing their own versions. All of these definitions contain some similar elements which h can be grouped together to form an encompassing idea of what a culture is. Sennara and Hartman describe culture assets of shared beliefs, attitudes, values and ideas which make up the core essence of a culture and are accepted by the majority of the population. These shared values then further become a part of the accepted behavior concerning family, social culture, law and other noticeable areas. There are three determinants of any culture - Human Nature which his universal and refers to biological and physiological needs, Cultural traits which are distinct for every nation and formed through traditions and history and personality which differs for every individual and may not be in direct complement to the cultural traits.The culture is also the major influence in determining the ‘work culture’ and ethics of the nation and the reason why organizations place so much importance on understanding the culture as a whole. From the management perspective, Mario Eberlein divides known culture into the three levels of National, Organizational, professional level.