Cultural Conflicts in Multinational Projects

When companies from different countries come together to develop large-scale projects, the work will inevitably be affected by conflicts generated by cultural differences.

Friday, January 17, 2014

In today's world it is not strange that the punctuality of the English or the precision of the Swiss is a surprise to a Latin American.

These cultural differences are also reflected in the working methods of companies who join up in order to develop projects where often a lack of agreement or communication problems delay the progress of projects .

This seems to be the case of the Consortium in charge of the Panama Canal expansion, consisting of companies and cultures which have very different ways of working together.

An article in Prensa.com reports that, "A study by Karen Smits on organizational culture developed during the redevelopment of the Canal and mentioned by the former canal administrator Alberto Aleman Zubieta, states that 'the work was chaotic in its first two years of implementation, among the causes were internal wars and difficulties of communication inside the business consortium." This may explain the delays in the project, which now add up to nine months. "

"...Smits antropological research, published by University of Amsterdam and The Next Generation Infrastructures Foundation, explains than since the beginning of the works problems related to the designation of responsibilities arised."

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More on this topic

Design Must Be Integral Part of Project

February 2016

The Panama Canal Authority will be making changes to the composition of consortia in tenders for construction works in order to prevent millions in losses because of claims made by subcontractors.

Conflicts between contracted parties who design and those who carrying out the works, and the lack of clarity in the responsibilities of each of the companies during the Panama Canal expansion motivated the adjustments to be made to future tender specifications.

Canal Expansion: History of the Award

January 2014

"The Canal Authority did not leave any loose ends, it was a very rigid system in which everything was recorded."  

"Impartial, transparent and confidential" is the description of the bidding process by the former Canal Administrator Alberto Alemán Zubieta, who started the Canal expansion project in 2007.

Canal Expansion Delayed 7 months

March 2012

Work began seven months later than stipulated due to the quality of the cement which was originally intended to be used, but the contracted company tries to meet the deadline of October 2014.

The administrator of the Panama Canal Alberto Alemán Zubieta, admitted that the work of expanding the waterway should have begun in January 2011 but didn’t start until July last year due to problems with the standard of the cement brought by the contractee the first time.

Panama: SOM to Design Infrastructure Mega-Projects

February 2010

The Government of Panama has hired Skidmore, Owens and Merril (SOM), to create the conceptual designs of several infrastructure projects.

These include the Financial Tower (“Torre Financiera”), the new Conventions Center, the Government City and the Yacht and Fishing Club.

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