A Parallel WBS for International Projects

Cornelius Grove, Willa Hallowell, and Cynthia J. Smith

PM Network 37 (March 1999)

Team members arriving from abroad face many difficulties in acquiring housing; using metric specifications, which proves far more difficult than anticipated; dismissing an unproductive local worker and running seriously afoul of local law; government functionaries performing at a snail’s pace unless “compensated”; the local joint-venture partner having a distressingly flexible view of the contract; local workers remaining unmotivated by pay-for-performance schemes; training events that worked well at home yielding poor results; and the key local manager being enraged, while the international project manager (IPM) can’t figure why.