06 Emcm5203 T2

Topic  Context of
2 International
Projects
LEARNING OUTCOMES
By the end of this topic, you should be able to:
1. Describe the concept of strategy and strategic management;
2. Explain the relationship of projects with strategic management;
3. Discuss organisation culture and the culture that support effective
project management; and
4. Select the nature of management by project.
 INTRODUCTION
In practice, success in projects and project portfolios is critical as it vastly
contributes to the success of organisations (Cooper, Edgett & Kleinschmidt,
2004). Drawing on theories and models of corporate culture, strategy and
organisational orientation; the importance of firm specific factors for positive
performance, concurrently considering the impact of cultural contexts on project
and project portfolios towards performance contribution is very critical (Unger,
Rank & Gemünden, 2014).
Additionally, with the recognition that most projects are managed ineffectively,
both practitioners and academicians for centuries have been examining a better
way to manage projects (Williams, 2005). In addition, the traditional approach on
accomplishing the time, budget and scope (or performance) goals is not adequate
to guarantee the achievement of organisational business objectives (Shenhar &
Dvir, 2007).
Copyright © Open University Malaysia (OUM)

36  TOPIC 2 CONTEXT OF INTERNATIONAL PROJECTS
Increasingly, projects are the vehicle to create value and at same time, the
number of projects performed is often massive. Furthermore, projects are
recognised as being introduced to accomplish business results and organisational
goals (Turner, 2014). Achieving the organisational objectives and efficiency has
continuously and will always be imperative for project success.
However, in contemporary organisation, a project manager should acquire how

to plan and execute projects, not just attaining the goals, but also creating value
for customer satisfaction and above all, achieving organisational results.
In this viewpoint, the most difficult aspect of international project is determining

the actual context of the project. Based on direct involvement with a variety of
organisations, this suggests that it is important to explicitly consider
contextual issues. The context of a project can be very significant.
For example, if a car manufacturing company that utilises a global network of

production facilities is considering locating to a new facility, it therefore needs to
take into account the geographic, economic, political and cultural implications of
the country involved or chosen. This advocates that it is vital to understand and
provide a comprehensive documentation of pertinent issues relevant to
overall project strategy for all parties involved over the project life cycle. This
further indicates that context forming should be part of the overall representation
to understand project environment.
Likewise, Ginsberg (2016) supported various opinions (such as Easterly & Pfutze
2008; Ife, 1995; Pieterse, 2009) central to project success, which is recognising that
many projects do not realise their full potential because the project framework
fails to identify critical contextual considerations in part or as whole.
Commonly, it is agreed that projects need to take the local context into account
(Crossley, 2010; Muriithi & Crawford, 2003). Equally, it is alarming that many
organisations however still fail to present correctly the project context. In
addition, they somehow exhibit project in isolation and deal with local context
separately and also removed from project planning process.
As emphasised in Topic 1, international projects need to be observed as an open

system embedded in an international context. In this contextual perspective, a
project consists of both elements within and outside the project organisation
itself. With this viewpoint, this topic focuses on institutional context of
international project inside the organisation, concentrating on corporate strategy
and organisational culture.

TOPIC 2 CONTEXT OF INTERNATIONAL PROJECTS  37
Accordingly, this topic focuses on the key areas in comprehending the context of
international project management as follows:
(a) Strategy and strategic management;
(b) Relationship of strategy with project;
(c) Organisational culture;
(d) Culture supporting effective project management; and
(e) Management by project.
So are you ready to discover more? Let us continue our lesson!
2.1 CONCEPT OF STRATEGY AND STRATEGIC

MANAGEMENT
In this subtopic, we examine the various perspectives of strategy and strategic
management. The views focusing on strategy have evolved for decades. Generally,
early concept of strategy in 1960s mainly deal with corporate planning.
Since then, within a given organisation, the focus has changed from analysis and
development of strategic competency or capability to concentrate more at aiming
towards obtaining competitive advantage. Nevertheless, whatever the focus of
organisational strategy, understanding exactly what the strategy consist of is
important.
2.1.1 Defining Strategy

Now, let us look at the definition of strategy carefully from many angles. Even
though the focus of strategy has changed over the past years, however the
definition of strategy by Alfred Chandler is still used until today.
‰Strategy is the determination of the basic long-term goals and objectives of

an enterprise, and the adoption of courses of action and the allocation of
resources necessary for carrying out these goals.‰
Chandler (1990)

In this view, a strategy is a pattern of actions and resource allocations designed to

achieve the specific goals of the organisation. This is normally reflected in an
organisationÊs mission or vision and usually can be seen on the website of the
company. An organisation's strategy therefore describes how it intends to create
value for its shareholders, customers and citizens accordingly.
In practice, however, there is no two organisations that perceives strategy in the

same manner (Kaplan & Norton, 2004). Some organisations describes strategy by
financial plans for revenue and profit growth while others by products or
services, targeted customers (from quality and process orientation) and from a
human resources or learning perspective. Kaplan and Norton (2004) stated that
very few had a holistic view of their organisation.
The outlook depends on whether one-dimensional or narrowness, varies and are

intensified by the individualÊs background on the organisationÊs executive team.
For example, top management viewed strategy from:
(a) Financial perspective;
(b) Sales and marketing executives took a customer standpoint;
(c) Operations people looked at quality, cycle time and process perspectives;
and
(d) Human resources professionals focused on investments in people.
Nevertheless, others may see strategy as a way of doing business, for positioning
an organisation and determining competitive differences from a prospective or
an emergent standpoint (Turner, 2014).
Summing up, the perspective of strategy tends to be involved in processes and

end with goals. However, it also includes continuous adaptation to shifting
conditions and circumstances in the globe dominated by change and uncertainty.
This further amplifies that strategy has many definitions, and its meaning
depends on one's perspective.

2.1.2 Defining Strategic Management

As stated in the previous subtopic, strategy is integral to all organisational
businesses today and has different meanings to different people.
Now, let us briefly explore the various definitions of strategic management. First,
let us look at a definition by Digman (1990).
„Strategic management is continuous process that involves attempts to match

or fit the organisation with its changing environment in most advantageous
way possible.‰
Digman (1990)
This obviously include adapting the organisation itself (through internal changes
such as shifting conditions and circumstances) to fit the external environment
(Moore, 2001).
In contrast to strategy, strategic management is much more complex and concerns

mainly with understanding the strategic position of an organisation, strategic
choices for future, continuous change and fine tuning of strategies as well as
include strategy implementation. The strategic planning involves making decisions
about the long term organisational goals including external orientation and cover
major portions of the organisation itself (Bateman & Snell, 2015).
Therefore, the major targets or results relate to the long-term organisational

survival, value, increase market share, improve profitability, boost return on
investment and growth.
ACTIVITY 2.1
1. Differentiate between strategy and strategic management.
2. Identify the viewpoint of strategy as perceived by your

organisation.

2.2 RELATIONSHIP OF PROJECTS WITH

STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT
In Topic 1 and previous subtopic, we have described what is project and strategy
are all about. Now, let us examine what is the connection of project with strategic
management in the context of project management.
Project management is widely understood and accepted as delivering

undertakings on time, on budget and on scope (Morris & Geraldi, 2011). As
stated earlier by Shenhar and Dvir (2007), the traditional importance on meeting
the goals of time, budget and project performance is not able to assure the
realisation of organisational goals. In reality, projects are resource consuming
activities used to implement organisational strategies, achieve company goals
and objectives, and contribute to realisation of a companyÊs mission (Cleland &
Ireland, 2002).
Indeed, how can an organisation ensure that projects contribute to the realisation
of its mission and vision instead of towards failure? In this perspective, it is
therefore imperative to coordinate between strategy creation and approval of
projects. Grounded on the recognition that projects are initiated to achieve
business results, therefore the concept of project and strategic management thus
aids organisations, project teams, project managers and executives
focus project execution on achieving business results without discarding the
traditional mindset (Turner, 2014). Achieving the operational goals and efficiency
therefore, has always been and will continue to be vital for project success.
Modern organisation emphasise that project teams must be able to organise and
implement international projects, not just to achieve time and budget goals, but
more importantly creating customer satisfaction, and above all, accomplishing
the organisational business results. From this standpoint, the orientation or the
alignment between project objective and organisational goals are of utmost
importance. Collectively this alignment is a new emerging trend and is referred
to as „strategic project management‰ (Cleland, 1998; Shenhar, 2004).

To comprehend better, Figure 2.1 illustrates clearly the relationship between

project and strategy.
Figure 2.1: Goal alignment between projects and strategy
To further support the organisational relationship between strategy and culture,

an interesting study was conducted by Australian researchers, which confirm the
association of culture and strategy (Baird, Harrison & Reeve, 2007) accordingly.
This denotes (in order to implement a specific strategy), that it is necessary to
build proper organisational culture and with it will lead to the selection and
implementation of a specific strategy for the organisation.
Observing from this standpoint, projects are used by many organisations (public
and private companies) as an instrument of strategy. Unger et al. (2014) agrees
with this viewpoint that projects are the vehicle to create value, while having a
great number of projects performed simultaneously. Additionally in this context,
many forces can drive a project in an organisation.
Yet, depending on the nature and type of organisation, these possible forces for
project creation varies. It can be due to current market demand, process change
in manufacturing, meeting external business needs, new research and
development product, competition for competitive advantage or even other
needs to satisfy requirement or changes internally.

To have a better understanding, these project driving forces is depicted in

Figure 2.2.
Figure 2.2: Driving forces of projects
In addition, recent studies by Wronka-Pospiech and Fraczkiewicz-Wronka (2016)

reveals that the basic factors that may shape strategic orientation include:
(a) Environmental factors (market turbulence, technology); and
(b) Organisational factors (organisational structure, organisational culture and
leadership) or institutional factors (government intervention, corporate
governance).
Keep in mind that it is important not only to analyse and diagnose existing
organisational culture, but also to examine its setting, background and outcomes,
as this may allow more conscious and deliberate shaping of the future culture.
Finally, in this strategic project management context, to be successful in a

sustainable manner, an organisation must ensure that its projects are aligned
with its strategy. This can be performed by clustering projects into programmes
that will assist the organisation to use synergies between the projects thereby
making a large number of projects manageable.

SELF-CHECK 2.1
1. Describe the relationship between projects and strategy.
2. Explain briefly what are the possible forces that drive projects in
an international context.
2.3 ORGANISATION CULTURE

This subtopic observes the concept of culture and describes culture from various
perspectives. The focus is however on the organisational viewpoint especially on
internal organisational setting and the levels of organisational culture that exists
in the context of a project environment accordingly.
According to Liu, Meng and Fellows (2015), cultural influence in projects are
unavoidable and a clear understanding of it is vital for successful project
management.
In fact, one of the most important factors that influence the success of an
international project is the internal environment of the organisation itself. The
way the people behave in an organisation, together with the goals they set and
the manner they treat their customer are shaped by forces within the
organisation. All of which and together with the organisational members will
have a special set of values and attitudes that influence all levels of the
organisation.
2.3.1 Understanding Organisational Culture

First, let us begin by clarifying the term culture. Are you aware that culture has
been a popular topic of management theory for several decades (Maull, Brown &
Cliffe, 2001)? The term „culture‰ has its theoretical roots within social
anthropology and was first introduced in a holistic way to describe the qualities
of human or group passing from one generation to another (Maull et al., 2001).
Yet, according to Karlsen (2011), many literature stress that the term is difficult to
define. Moreover, it is a comprehensive multi-dimensional subject which can
have a range of meanings (Morrison, Brown & Smit, 2006).

In addition, many frameworks or models for understanding organisational

culture have been proposed, using an extensive variety of ideas (Kimbrough &
Componation, 2009). There is a widely recognised definition of culture as
provided by Schein (1996).
„The pattern of basic assumptions that a given group has invented,

discovered or developed in learning to cope with its problems of external
adaption and internal integration, and that have worked well enough to be
considered valid, and therefore to be taught to new members as the correct
way to perceive, think and feel in relation to those problems.‰
Schein (2010)
In this view, the key feature here is that culture is presented to new
organisational members as the correct way to behave, thus spreading
organisational survival and growth. Culture too can be seen as the shared
patterns of fundamental assumptions (such as human nature, social interaction
and perceptions of the environment) prevailing within an organisation (Schein,
2010). However, a more simple definition is the way things are done in a certain
organisation, an example being „the Nokia way‰.
Observing from an organisationÊs point of view, Marquardt (2002) stated that

culture is an organisationÊs values, beliefs, practices, rituals and customs. While
Hofstede (2011) defined culture as „the collective programming of the mind
which distinguishes the members of one group or category of people from
another.‰
Such description according to Hu, Chen and Zhu (2011) is applicable to both
national and organisational levels. Karlsen (2011) further stressed that there are
three levels of culture that can influence the management of projects – national,
organisational and individual. This perspective is also supported by Ajmal and
Koskinen (2008) who stated that culture exists at various levels in the
organisation and is manifested in virtually all aspects of organisational life.

2.3.2 Levels of Culture in Organisation

Looking from an organisational perspective, Schein (2010) highlighted that
culture need to be distinguished among the three levels of organisation through
artefacts, espoused values and basic assumptions (see Figure 2.3).
Figure 2.3: Three organisational cultural levels

Source: Schein (2010)
These three levels are further explained in Table 2.1.
Table 2.1: Three Levels of Organisational Cultural
Level Description
Artefacts Refers to visible organisational structures and processes. In any project
environment, it can be the project logos, language, special terms for
milestones, ethical codes for project procurement guidelines, project
structure, the authority levels of project manager, project team members
and so on.
Espoused These values are the organisational goals, strategies and philosophies
values that are not necessary based on basic assumptions of the workforce. In
project environment, the project management standards can be artefact
based on espoused values, if it is documented (visible) even though not
implemented.
Basic The basic underlying assumptions are unconscious beliefs that are taken
underlying for granted such as perceptions and feelings. Ultimately, the
assumptions assumptions become the source of action in the organisation.
Source: Schein (2010)

In an international project context, the basic core assumptions can differ greatly
between geographically dispersed organisational entities. This is due mainly by
the influence of national culture values. Examples of these basic underlying
assumptions are open mindedness, autonomous working style, accountability or
valuing diversity.
Simply put, these elements of organisation culture entail visible and invisible, as
well as conscious and unconscious. However, based on experience, the
unconscious and invisible core assumptions are most difficult to manage and
change.
Conclusively, organisation culture is the set of important assumptions about the

organisation, its goals and practices which the members of the organisation
share. Therefore, the factors that influence an organisationÊs response to its
external environment are its culture.
SELF-CHECK 2.2
1. Define culture in the context of project management.
2. Briefly describe the concept of culture from organisational

viewpoint.
3. Describe the levels of organisational culture that needs to be

taken into consideration in a project context.
2.4 CULTURE SUPPORTING EFFECTIVE

PROJECT MANAGEMENT
Grounding from various literatures, cultural influence is unavoidable in any
projects and a clear understanding of it is vital for successful risk management
(Liu, Meng & Fellows, 2015).
However, culture can be influenced by the organisational members and it can be

changed. Drawn from the study conducted by Karlsen (2011), organisational
culture is an effective tool to support the implementation of strategies. In
addition, it can also support the efficient use of project management, programme
management and portfolio management (Koster, 2011).

In this premise, how can the organisational cultures be captured in more detail?
As mentioned, there are numerous models that can be used to classify cultures
(Karlsen, 2011; Kimbrough & Componation, 2009). Looking from an international
project management context, the Cartwright and McCarthy (2005) model is more
appropriate although it emerged from the context of project acquisitions and
mergers. The Cartwright and McCarthy (2005) model has five organisational
dimensions as depicted in Figure 2.4.
Figure 2.4: Five dimensions of organisational culture

Source: Cartwright and McCarthy (2005)
To have better comprehension, let us briefly describe the dimensions from an

international project viewpoint (see Table 2.2).
Table 2.2: Five Dimensions of Organisational Culture
Dimension Description
Degree of internal Refers to the intensity of internal integration within the internal
integration project environment. It extends the internal relationships within
the organisation with respect to cooperation and coordination.
This includes sharing of information and ideas, achievement of
common objectives and goals supported.
Autonomy and This involves individuals on how much authorities are given and
involvement the freedom in exercising control. It touches the organisational
membersÊ degree of authority to make decisions concerning the
way they perform work. In the case of international projects,
project manager and team need sufficient autonomy to react
flexibly to changing circumstances and sufficient authority to
decide on resource allocation as well as performance rewards.

Adaptability: With adaptability and innovation, risk is unavoidable. Similar to

Speed, innovation autonomy, willingness towards risk-taking include decision-
and risk making under pressure, which is favourable to project
management performance.
Employee welfare, The perceptions by employees of fairness (justice) on how they
fairness and trust are treated with regard to promotion, pay and individual
consideration have important consequences on organisational
performance. This is especially important when it involves
international projects where the employees from different
cultures, different educational background, different
organisational entities and different functions, tend to have
different views on adequate treatment of employee and fairness.
Trust is prerequisite for efficient cooperation in international
project (Cartwright & McCarthy, 2005). This dimension will be
deliberated further in Topic 9.
Diversity The belief that oneÊs own national culture is superior to those of
other employees or team members is referred to ethnocentricity
as postulated by Hofstede (as cited in Chipulu et al., 2014). This
has been continuously identified as barrier to the efficient
management of international projects (Liu et al., 2015). Tendency
in viewing „what is different is wrong‰ is counter-productive to
building trust, as it strongly shows disrespect towards diversity
and heterogeneity. An international project culture should be
built on ethno-relativism, whereby organisational members value
diversity to the extent that they fuse differences to become
something more creative and effective.
Source: Cartwright and McCarthy (2005)
In summary, to ensure effective and successful management of international

projects, an organisational culture needs to have:
(a) A strong degree of internal integration that offers autonomy to
organisational members;
(b) Be greatly adaptable and open towards risks;
(c) Built on fairness and trust between employees; and
(d) Managers should be able to cope with diversity.
However, there is no one best or most suitable organisational culture to support

efficient project management. It needs to fit into the environment the
organisation is performing accordingly. This is consistent with the concept of fit
as highlighted by Thomas and Mullaly (2009) (see Figure 2.5).

Figure 2.5: Concept of fit between the internal organisation and external environmental
Source: Thomas and Mullaly (2009)
According to Thomas and Mullaly (2009), the design of an organisation and its
subsystems must „fit‰ with the environment that an organisation functions. It is
more effective when its design and management style are appropriate to both the
tasks undertaken and the environment of the organisation accordingly.
SELF-CHECK 2.3
1. Briefly discuss the five dimensions of organisational culture that
support effective project management.
2. Discuss the importance of understanding culture from

international project context.
2.5 MANAGEMENT BY PROJECTS

Lastly, this final subtopic considers the concept of management by project that is
adopted by many organisations today. Most organisations presently are engaged
in some kind of project activity (Maylor, Brady, Cooke-Davies & Hodgson, 2006).

Over the decades, organisations have turned from operations to project

management as part of their competitive strategic advantage. Accordingly,
Turner (2014) defines project as a temporary organisation. This is evident from
research on project organising, that concurs projects are temporary organisations
(Winch, 2014).
Yet, in project practise, it is a fact that project management usually cannot

achieve favourable results merely by isolating the temporary organisation.
Therefore, this calls for a broader management concept and a supportive
platform provided by the strategic level or the level of permanent organisations.
2.5.1 Concept of Management by Projects

As a discipline, project management has undergone significant changes in the
past decades. The development in numerous project works is acknowledged
across most industries. Consequently, this leads to an increasing importance of
projects being recognised as value-creating business processes (Hanisch & Wald,
2011).
Likewise, Maylor (2006) stated that tasks in permanent organisations become

projectised to deal with the rapid changing macro and micro environment that is
usually characterised by diversity and uncertainty. Much operational work is
carried out as projects (such as client projects, new product development) and as
organisational change initiatives (Maylor, Vidgen & Carver, 2008). As more and
more work is performed through projects, it becomes increasingly essential that
the basis for practices being employed is critically analysed.
According to the Project Management Institute (PMI, 2008), the ‰management by

projects‰ is a managerial approach adopted by a number of organisations. In this
regard, project management is expanded to the activities in the area of ongoing
operations that are redefined as projects using the same definition in Topic 1.
To elaborate this, the management by projects (MBP) concept incorporates the

confluence of the strategy implementation part of strategic management,
organisation behaviour and project management. With this understanding,
management by projects goes far beyond project management and project
portfolio management, whereby the entire organisation is seen as a whole project
or project portfolio. This approach will then enable organisations to adapt to
rapid changing of the global environment. Normally, organisations practising
this approach are called project based organisations (PBO).

A research by Ou (2013) to develop a systematic framework (MBP model) for all

kinds of permanent organisations revealed that relevant studies have been
developed from this concepts to specific aspect of organisational project
management. In these circumstances (drawn from selected literature reviews of
Ou (2013), Table 2.3 expresses the various viewpoints that have connection with
MBP concept accordingly.
Table 2.3: Various Concepts Develop from Management by Projects (MBP)
Source Viewpoint
Anderson (2003) Stresses that projects without strategic direction from
permanent organisations usually show poor performance or end
up with failure.
Thiry (2007) Validates that there is a collaborative relationship between
project management practise and organisational practise in
project-based organisations (PBOs).
Turner Offers a perspective that governance structures and operational
(1991; 2001) control in PBOs need to vary according to the difference of
projects and further propose different governance models for
PBOs.
Audry (2007); Present PMOs are part of a network of complex relations that
Hobbs (2008) links strategy, project and structures and thus is a point of entry
to foundation of organisational project management.
Source: Drawn from selected reviews of Ou (2013)
In light of MBP, many organisations recently stressed the need to further develop
towards a fully projectised structure, which goes beyond a simple portfolio
approach and involves the management of strategic decisions through
programmes (Ren, Yeo & Ren, 2014).
With this move, it has somewhat shifted the responsibilities and decision-making
roles whereby several projects need to be managed together in order to create
synergies and deliver benefits to the organisation rather than delivering a specific
product or service in isolation.
Notably, a project-oriented management system can dynamically integrate

organisational resources to better achieve project goals in permanent
organisations in order to thrive in the uncertain external environment (Hanisch &
Wald, 2011).

Finally to conclude this topic, organisations have to go beyond project

management and embark a path moving towards a project based organisation.
Yet, as stated before, there is no single best solution that fits all situation and
settings (Thomas & Mullaly, 2009). What is more significant is to highlight the
consistency regarding strategy implementation and the benefits of a holistic
management approach towards project management.
 A strategy is a pattern of actions and resource allocations designed to achieve

the specific goals of the organisation.
• An organisation's strategy describes how it intends to create value for its

shareholders, customers and citizens accordingly.
• Strategic management is much more complex and concerns mainly with

understanding the strategic position of an organisation, strategic choices for
future, continuous change and fine tuning of strategies as well as include
strategy implementation.
• In the context of project management, the alignment between project and

organisational strategy is collectively called as strategic project management.
• In the context of strategic project management, an organisation must ensure

that its projects are aligned with its strategy in order to be successful in a
sustainable manner.
• Culture is seen as shared patterns of fundamental assumptions prevailing

within an organisation.
• Elements of organisation culture entails both visible and invisible as well

include conscious and unconscious.
• Five dimensions of organisational culture that support effective project

management include:
 Internal integration;
 Autonomy and involvement;
 Adaptability (speed, innovation and risk);
 Employee welfare, fairness and trust; and
 Diversity.
• Concept of fit states that the design of an organisation and its subsystems
must „fit‰ with the environment that an organisation functions.
• The management by projects (MBP) concept incorporates the confluence of

the strategy implementation part of strategic management, organisation
behaviour and project management. It goes far beyond project management
and project portfolio management, whereby the entire organisation is seen as
a whole project or project portfolio.
Concept of fit Strategic management

Culture Strategic project management
Organisation culture Management by projects (MBP)
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Topic  Context of

Copyright © Open University Malaysia (OUM)

However, in contemporary organisation, a project manager should acquire how

In this viewpoint, the most difficult aspect of international project is determining

For example, if a car manufacturing company that utilises a global network of

As emphasised in Topic 1, international projects need to be observed as an open

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So are you ready to discover more? Let us continue our lesson!

2.1 CONCEPT OF STRATEGY AND STRATEGIC

2.1.1 Defining Strategy

‰Strategy is the determination of the basic long-term goals and objectives of

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In this view, a strategy is a pattern of actions and resource allocations designed to

In practice, however, there is no two organisations that perceives strategy in the

The outlook depends on whether one-dimensional or narrowness, varies and are

Summing up, the perspective of strategy tends to be involved in processes and

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2.1.2 Defining Strategic Management

„Strategic management is continuous process that involves attempts to match

In contrast to strategy, strategic management is much more complex and concerns

Therefore, the major targets or results relate to the long-term organisational

2. Identify the viewpoint of strategy as perceived by your

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2.2 RELATIONSHIP OF PROJECTS WITH

Project management is widely understood and accepted as delivering

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To comprehend better, Figure 2.1 illustrates clearly the relationship between

Figure 2.1: Goal alignment between projects and strategy

To further support the organisational relationship between strategy and culture,

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To have a better understanding, these project driving forces is depicted in

Figure 2.2: Driving forces of projects

In addition, recent studies by Wronka-Pospiech and Fraczkiewicz-Wronka (2016)

Finally, in this strategic project management context, to be successful in a

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2.3 ORGANISATION CULTURE

2.3.1 Understanding Organisational Culture

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In addition, many frameworks or models for understanding organisational

„The pattern of basic assumptions that a given group has invented,

Observing from an organisationÊs point of view, Marquardt (2002) stated that

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2.3.2 Levels of Culture in Organisation

Figure 2.3: Three organisational cultural levels

These three levels are further explained in Table 2.1.

Table 2.1: Three Levels of Organisational Cultural

Source: Schein (2010)

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Conclusively, organisation culture is the set of important assumptions about the

2. Briefly describe the concept of culture from organisational

3. Describe the levels of organisational culture that needs to be

2.4 CULTURE SUPPORTING EFFECTIVE

However, culture can be influenced by the organisational members and it can be

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Figure 2.4: Five dimensions of organisational culture

To have better comprehension, let us briefly describe the dimensions from an

Table 2.2: Five Dimensions of Organisational Culture

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Adaptability: With adaptability and innovation, risk is unavoidable. Similar to