Cultural Barriers to the Use ofWestern Project Management inChinese Enterprises: Some EmpiricaEvidence from Yunnan Province

Xiaojin Wang, Yunnan University, Yunnan, ChinaLanfeng Liu, Anhui University, Anhui, China

ABSTRACT

The Western project management (PM] approach

requires the use of not only PM technology but

also PM values/beliefs. This research is con-

cerned with the likely cultural barriers for

Chinese enterprises to use the PM approach. The

literature review reveals the four cultural barriers

of the Doctrine of the Mean, Strong Hierarchy,

Family Consciousness, and Boss Orientation.

Then, through a questionnaire survey at Yunnan

province, this research provides some empirical

evidence about the actual status of the four cul-

tural barriers. In general, the Chinese traditional

values/beliefs of Strong Hierarchy, Family

Consciousness, and Boss Orientation are empiri-

cally major cultural barriers, and the Ooctrine of

the Mean is not. In addition, this research empir-

ically reveals the differences in the cultural bar-

riers among different types of enterprises and

that appropriate PM training is very important to

overcome the cultural barriers. Limitations of

this research are also discussed.

K E Y W O R D S : project management;

Chinese enterprise; cultural barrier,

values/beliefs

Project Management Journal, Vol. 38, No. 3, 61-73

© 2007 by the Project Management Institute

Published online in Wiley InterScience

{www.interscience.wiley.com)

DOI; 10.1002/pmj.20006

INTRODUCTION

The Western project management (PM) approach is basically differentfrom the traditional vertical management method. To adopt the PMapproach, an organization needs not only to use PM techniques andtools, but also to develop shared cultural values among the organiza-

tions members that support adoption of PM (Kendra & Tapiin, 2004). Ifemployees, because of their values and attitudes, are opposed to workingwith and in projects, even the most sophisticated tools cannot lead to proj-ect success {Vanpel & Schmolke, 2000).

Many Chinese are studying and applying the PM approach to their work.However, because the PM approach has its root in the Western culture that isquite diiferent from the Chinese traditional culture, Chinese enterprisesencounter more cultural difficulties than theirWestern counterparts in usingthe PM approach.

Research QuestionsCulture can be studied at the levels of artifacts, values/beliefs, and/or under-lying assumptions, in this research, the PM culture is defined as those values/beliefs that support the PM approach, and the Chinese culture is defined asthose traditional values/beliefs that are popular in China and significant indetermining the culture of Chinese enterprises.

While some Chinese values and beliefs can foster the use of PM, othersmay hinder it. For example, it is more difficult for Chinese enterprises toadopt cross-functional and horizontal management (Hong & Engestrom,2004; Tsui, 2001), which are inherent in the PM approach. However, previousstudies have found that professional training could play a key role in reshap-ing people's work-related values/beliefs into what a profession requires(X. Wang, 2001). Many Chinese Project Management Professional (PMP®)credential holders certified by the Project Management Institute (PMI)acknowledge the change of their way of thinking and behavior after obtain-ing the certificate (X. Wang, 2006). As required by PMI, to be PMP-certified,an individual must complete a PM training course that is substantially con-sistent with the concepts and terminology as found in A Guide to tlie ProjectManagement Body of Knowledge (PMBOK® Guide) and is at least 35 hourslong. These facts imply the important effects of PM professional training onreshaping some of Chinese PMP holders' work-related values/beliefs.

A culture cannot be said to be good or bad, but its fitness with specificmanagement practices can really be examined. Successful managementinnovations require that either the practices be designed to fit an organization's

J I L E Y

iTiterScieTice' September ZOOF Project Management Journal OOI: 10.100?/pmj 6 1

Cultural Barriers to the Use of Western Project Management

current culture or the organizationalculture be reshaped to fit the demandsof the new practices. Cross-culturalstudies have been conducted in boththe general management and PM areas,for example, Li, Lam, and Fu (2000) andChen and Partington (2004). However,the literature review does not revealany empirical study focusing on how toreshape PM practices to fit the Chineseculture or how to reshape the Chineseculture to fit PM practices.

This research is concerned withwhat values/beliefs ofthe Chinese tra-ditional culture need to be reshaped tofit the PM approach. The researchquestions are as follows;

• Through a literature review, what val-ues/beliefs ofthe traditional Chineseculture are the most likely culturalbarriers to the use ofthe PM approachin Chinese enterprises?

• Could some empirical evidence beprovided to support the propositionsabout the cultural barriers?

• Is training in the PM approach usefulto overcome the cultural barriers?

PM Culture Versus ChineseCulture

On the basis of the literature review,this research summarizes the relevantvalues/beliefs of the PM and Chineseculture as the four pairs below. Itshould be noted that the Chinese val-ues/beliefs might have both positiveand negative aspects in the use of thePM approach in China. This researchfocuses on only their negative aspects.

Integration Management vs. Doctrineofthe Mean (abbreviated as Integ/Mean)The most important fimction of PM isintegration. A project manager is usual-ly an integrator of different manage-ment processes, functional disciplines,organizational units, and even difierentorganizations. He or she needs to bal-ance the competing demands for quali-ty, scope, time, and cost, and also needsto adapt the specifications, plans,and approach to the different concerns

and expectations of various projectstakeholders (PMI, 2004). It is essenfialfor a project manager to achieve inte-gration through the management ofhighly-diverse project teams, compet-ing project stakeholders, and projectrisks. For tbis purpose:

• PM encourages all the different opin-ions to be surfaced for discussion andrecognizes that meaningful conflict canpush project team to pursue more in-depth, insightful analysis of project sit-uafions (Gobeli, Koenig, & Bechinger,1998). Pinto and Kharbanda (1995)even state that conflict is often a signof healthy maturation in the projectteam.

• Conflict is inevitable, but it is bow youdeal witb conflict that really counts.PM requires people to be direct andopen in handling disagreement toensure project success, and regardsthe confrontation (problem-solving)strategy as the best way of handlingconfiict (better than compromising orsmoothing strategies) (Gobeli et al.,1998: Mulcahy, 2002).

• Risks are inevitable in projects, butmany of them are predictable andmanageable. Some studies quote a 90%decrease in project problems throughthe use of risk management (Mulcahy2002). PM allows people to take risksunder good risk management, and PMis generally of weak "uncertainty avoid-ance" (Hofstede, 1983).

In the Chinese culture, Confucian's"Doctrine ofthe Mean" (DOM, zhongy-ongi emphasizes that harmony is "mostprecious" in relationships amongpeople and between people and theirenvironment (Cban, 1963). While itsrequirement of harmony relationships isconsistent with that of integration inPM, DOM requires different ways toachieve harmony relationships. TbeChinese characters of DOM mean "with-out inclination to any extremes, notto exceed, or not to fall short of" and tokeep "constant or unchange|ing]"(Fong,2006, p. 2). DOM stresses to avoid conflict

among people by pushing their differentopinions below the surface, requirespeople less confrontational and direct inhandling disagreement so as to savetheir own and others' faces [mianzi],and encourages people to use compro-mising and smoothing strategies indealing with conflict (Chen & Tjosvold,2002; iarkbride & Tang, 1992; Pan &Zhang, 2004; Tjosvold, Hui, & Yu, 2003;Tjosvold & Sun, 2002). Under the guid-ance of DOM, Chinese tend to be cau-tious, self-repressed, and modest (Liet al., 2000), and therefore not to showup their unique individual characteris-tics. In this way, the disagreementsamong people would be buried. Also,under the guidance of DOM, Chinesehave a tendency of strong uncertaintyavoidance and prefer to keep the statusquo (Pan & Zhang, 2004).

Horizontal Management vs. StrongHierarchy (abbreviated as Horiz/Hiera)PM is horizontal management, basicallydifferent from the vertical managementemphasizing a strong superior-subor-dinate relationship (Kerzner, 2003). InPM, people are of low power distance(Andersen, 2003; Hofstede, 1983), andtheir status comes from what they dorather than whom they are (Firth &Krut, 1991), In the project context, aproject manager is usually not the bossover project team members, sincemany of the members are borrowedfrom functional departments. The proj-ect manager has to coordinate theefforts of the team members withouthaving direct line authority. There is awide agreement about the fact thatproject managers' authority is oftenincommensurate to their responsibilityfor the project, such as Lewis (1998) andFrame (2003). Without sufficientauthority, the only way to get thingsdone for a project manager is throughinfluence.

One ofthe most important charac-teristics of Chinese culture is the notionof wulun (the five basic kinds ofrelationships betweeti people) thatemphasizes the respect for authority

62 September200? Project Management Journal 001: W.1002/pmj

and the unequal relationships betweenpeople (Tsui, 2001). Chinese culture istypically classified as of large powerdistance (Hofstede, 1991). In traditional(Chinese organizations, a junior manag-er owes a senior manager respect andobedience, and the senior managerowes the junior manager protectionand consideration (Jenner, Hebert.Appell, & Baack. 1998). The propersocial order in the traditional Chineseculture is a hierarchy, and that eachperson's duty is to render proper defer-ence to those who occupy superiorpositions (Jenner et al., 1998). TheChinese culture's favor towards organi-zational hierarchy and centralizeddecision-making creates problems forcross-functional, horizontal collabora-lion and participative management(Hong & Engestrom, 2004; Tsui, 2001),which are required by PM.

Team Consciousness vs. FamilyConsciousness (abbreviated as Team/Vamiiy)lii the literature, project teamwork is oneof the hottest topics. Kerzner (2000)states the four basic vaiues of PM ascooperation, teamwork, trust, and effec-tive communication. A project team is anintegrated and multifunctional entity todeliver the specified project product(Kliem, Ludin, & Robertson, 1997). Insuch a team, participation by everyone isessential. The team is not viewed as con-sisting of an elite corps of highly special-ized functions with other oiies as mereappendages. Each discipline has a signif-icant role in contributing to the success-ful completion of the project. Involvingintegration of a variety of complex multi-disciplinary activities, PM is team-basedand even defined as "managing the visi-ble and invisible team to achieve theobjectives of the stakeholders" (Briner,I lastings. & Geddes, 1996. p. 10).

The Chinese culture stresses familyand kinship relationships in doingbusiness (Li et al., 2000), The majorityof the five basic kinds of relationshipsin wulun directly involve family mem-l)crs (father-son, husband-wife, and

older brother-younger brother), andeven the relationships between non-famiiy-members (ruler-ruled, andfriend-friend) are perceived by Chineseas the ones among "family" members,for example, a ruler is often calledfumuguan (an officer regarded asfather and mother). Members of a"family" are linked by various kinds ofguanxi (personal relationships) thatoperate in concentric circles, with closefamily members at the core and withdistant relatives, friends, and acquain-tances arranged on the peripheryaccording to the distance of the rela-tionship and the degree of trust (Park &Luo, 2001). Influenced hy this particularcultural value, talented professionalsmay find it hard to work in a traditionalChinese firm if they do not have anyfamily or kinship relationship with theowner ofthe firm (Li et al.. 2000).

The family consciousness has thefollowing negative aspects to the use ofPM:• Its long-term orientation of relation-

ships does not support the temporarynature of project and project team.

• Its guanxi-onenle6 evaluation ofpeople is not in congruence with thePM's performance-oriented evaluationof project team members.

• It stresses that family members arehomogeneous, while project teamsare often of high diversity.

•It stresses the central position ofjiaozhang (the leaders of a family),while PM encourages everyone to playimportant roles in a project team.

Task Orientation vs. Boss Orientation(abbreviated as Task/Boss)People in PM are task-oriented ratherthan boss-person-oriented. They focuson completing a given job with thecooperative efforts, and nothing is per-mitted to distract from accomplishingthe task (Andersen, 2003). The task cul-ture is dominant in most projects, andprojects are generally more orientedtoward a task culture than are their baseorganizations. Hofstede (1983) states

that PM is very much task-oriented andpeople are expected to be motivated bytheir part ofthe task for the time they areassociated with it and so the relation-ships are peripheral and fluctuating.

As previously discussed, the Chineseculture has the traditional values/beliefsof strong hierarchy and large power dis-tance. These make Chinese more boss-oriented than task-oriented. In thetraditional Chinese culture, people arelikely to take "making the boss happy"instead of "completing the task" as theirultimate pursuit in doing jobs. Theboss-orientation of Chinese is typicallyrepresented by the so-called guanben-wei and jiazhangzhi (the patriarchalfamily system). The central theme ofguanbenwei is to use a person's hierar-chical position as the most importantcriterion for evaluating and respectinghim or her (F. Wang. 2002), and underjiazhangzhi. there is a top leader in anyorganization or any group of people towhom all other members must uncon-ditionally obey (Liu. 2000). F.Wang (2002)and Liu (2000) criticize the negativeimpacXs of guanbenwei and jiazhangzhion Chinese management practices.

Theoretical FrameworkThe main themes of the above fourpairs of the PM and Chinese culture aresummarized as Table 1, and used as thetheoretical framework for developing aspecial questionnaire.

MethodsThis study developed a 40-item ques-tionnaire (in Chinese) on the basis ofthe above theoretical framework, refer-ence to previous relevant question-naires (e.g.. X.Wang |200l| and Kinlaw119981), and a pilot study of 22 respon-dents. The items (see the Appendbt)measure Chinese enterprises' organiza-tional cultures in the four pairs of val-ues/beliefs. The first pair is measuredby items No. 1-10. the second byNo. 11-20. the third by No. 21-30, andthe fourth by No. 31-40. The items usethe combined format of the five-pointagree-disagree format and the

September 200? Project Management Journal ~ 001:10.1002/pmj 63

Cultural Barriers to the Use of Western Project Management

Integration Management:• Encouraging disagreement to be surfaced• Requiring people being direct and open

I • Regarding confrontation strategy as thebest way of solving conflict

• Weak uncertainty avoidance

Horizontal management:• Small power distance• Cross-functional communication and cooperation• Influencing and coordinating ability important

Team Consciousness:• Short-term orientation of relationships

1 • Work contributions oriented evaluation of people• Project team of high diversity• Everyone plays important roles

Task orientation• Completing the task• Viewing people by their work performance

Doctrine ofthe Mean:• Encouraging disagreement to be buried \• Requiring people being less confrontational and less direct• Using compromising and smoothing strategies

to solve conflicts• Strong uncertainty avoidance

Strong hierarchy:• Large power distance• Superior-subordinator vertical work relationships• Line authority and control important

Family Consciousness:• Long-term orientation of relationships• Guanxi-oriented evaluation of people• Family members are homogeneous• Only elite play important roles

Boss orientation• Making the boss happy• Viewing people by their hierarchical position

Table 1: Camparison between PM and Chinese culture,

forced-choice format. Each item con-sists of two logically opposite statem-ents, A and B, one for the PM cultureand the other for the Chinese cuiture.The respondents were required toanswer on a five-point scaie accordingto their perceptions of their enterprises'cultures, from "Agreeing with A muchmore than with B" to "Agreeing with Bmuch more than with A."

The survey was conducted amongthe part-time postgraduate studentsstudying various management-relevantcourses at Yunnan University inNovember 2004. In spite of this conven-ience sampling, the sample's represen-tativeness of the enterprises in Yunnanwas justified because the studentscame from almost all industries and allownership categories of enterprisesand the number of the students wasrelatively large.

Two hundred and fifty copies of thequestionnaire were handed out to allthe students who were in class when thesurvey was being conducted. They wererequired to complete the questionnaireon the spot. The data collection process

produced 211 usable responses, repre-senting a response rate of 91.8%.

Several means were taken to mini-mize the possible response bias,including;•The respondents were told in the

questionnaire cover letter that thisresearch was to investigate "the rela-tionships between project manage-ment values/beliefs and Chinese cul-tural values/beliefs." The researchersdeliberately avoided the term "cultur-al barrier" in the cover letter becauseit might cause response bias.

•The respondents were told in thecover letter that they were required toanswer the questions in accordancewith the "actual situations" of theirorganizations. The words "actual situ-ations" were deliberately bolded tostrengthen that concept.

•The respondents were told in thecover letter that the collected infor-mation would be used only for thisresearch and the survey was com-pletely anonymous, not requiring thenames of the respondents and/ortheir organizations.

• On the day of the survey, the secondresearcher played the role of surveycoordinator, telling students theparticipation was purely voluntaryand requiring them to answer truth-fuUy.

The data were analyzed on SPSS.Descriptive statistics were used to showChinese enterprises' current status inthe cultural values/beliefs, and Spearmanrho was used to explore the values/beliefs' correlations with different cate-gories ofthe enterprises.

ResultsDescription ofthe SampleAll the respondents had at least threeyears of working experience before theystarted their postgraduate study.TXventy-six {12.3%) of them were seniormanagers, 131 (62%) were middle andlow managers, and 54 (25.7%) werenon-managers.

The main characteristics of therespondents' enterprises were as follows:•Ownership: State-owned: 130 (61.6%),

Joint-stock owned: 32 (15.2%),

6 4 September200? ••' Project Management Journal Ei DOh 10.1002/pmj

Privately owned: 35 (16.6%). and Joint-venture (with foreign capital): 14(6.6%). (Note: In recent yecirs, somestate-owned enterprises were refor-med into joint-stock enterprises byselling part, often less than 50%, oftheir ownership to private enterprises)

• Operating years (history): 5 years andbelow: 31 (14.7%), 6-10 years: 45(21.3%), ll-15years:30 (14.7%), and 16years and above: 104 (49.3%). (1 withmissing data)

• PM training (About what percentageof your enterprise staff have receivedPM training?): Zero or nearly zero: 118(55.9%), About 10%: 62 (29.4%), About30%: 17 (8.1%), and About 50% andabove: 14(6.6%).

• Further PM training (Will your enter-prise arrange PM training next year?):No: 46 (21.8%), Don't know: 106(50.2%), Yes: 58 [27.5%). (1 with miss-ing data)

Reliability ofthe Scales1 he four items No. 2, 3, 15, and 28 weredeleted because of their low discrimi-

nation. The four scales correspondingto the four pairs of PM and Chinesevalues/beliefs have these Cronhach'salphas: Integ/Mean: 0.86; Horiz/Hiera:0.85: Team/Family. 0.84; and Task/Boss:0.86, showing the scales' good internalconsistency.

The Current Culture of ChineseEnterprisesAll the questionnaire items were codedin the same direction of their favoritesof PM values/ beliefs, i.e. the higher thescores are, the more consistent withthe PM culture an organizationalculture is. The Chinese enterprises'current status in the four pairs ot work-related values/beliefs is as follows,represented by the summed scales(average scores of all measuring items)ofthe four scales:•Integ/Mean: the mean score of 3.04

with the standard deviation of 1.00;•Horiz/Hiera: the mean score of 2.66

with the standard deviation of 0.92;•Teani/Family: tlie mean score of 2.57

with the standard deviation of 0.89; and

•Task/Boss: the mean score of 2.86with the standard deviation of 0.93.

The Relationship Between Ownershipand CultureDescriptive statistics and Spearmanrho were used to show the relationshipsbetween the enterprises' ownershipsand their organizational cultures (seeTable 2).

The Relationship Between OperatingYears and CultureTable 3 shows the descriptive statisticsof the enterprises with different operat-ing years. The researchers didn't use theSpearman rho because the correlationbetween operating years and culturewas not strongly linear.

The Effect ofPM Training on CultureDescriptive statistics and Spearmanrho were used to show the relation-ships between the enterprises' PMtraining and their organizational cul-tures (see Table 4).

Holding constant the variable ofownership, Table 5 further explores PM

Integ/Mean

Horiz/Hiera

Team/Family

Task/Boss

** Correlation is significant at the 0,01 level [2-lai[ed)

Table 2: Relationships between ownerships and values/beliefs.

j Integ/Mean

Horiz/Hiera

Team/Family

Task/Boss

Table 3: Descriptive statistics of enterprises with different operating years.

September 200? Project Management Journal SI 001:10.1002/pmj 65

Cultural Barriers to the Use of Western Project Management

Integ/Mean

Horiz/Hiera

Team/Family

Task/Boss

2.8?

2.46

2.3?

2.64

0.99

0.85

O.?8

0.85

3.16

2.82

2.6?

2.99

0.98

Q.98

0.95

0.98

3.26

2.90

3.01

3.36

0.95

O.?4

0.88

0.88

' * Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed).

Table 4: Relationships between PM training and values/beliefs.

training's effect on the change of orga-nizational culture. Because of the smallnumber of cases of the 30% group andthe 50%-and-above group, thesetwo groups were combined into thesingle group of 30%-and-above.

Which enterprises would arrangefurther PM training in the followingyear? The calculation of Spearman rhoobtained tbe positive correlation of0.463 (sig. 0.000, 2-tailed) between theenterprise characteristics of 'PMTraining' (already-received) and'Further PM Training' (arranged for thefollowing year). This research alsogrouped the enterprises into the threegroups of No, Don't Know, and ^̂ 5according to the respondents' answersabout whether their enterprises wouldarrange PM training in the followingyear, and obtained tbe descriptive sta-tistics and Spearman rho to show therelationships between the enterprises'values/beliefs and their further PMtraining arrangement (see Table 6).

DiscussionsIt is assumed that a score above 3.00(the middle point ofthe 1-5 scale) rep-resents cultural support for PM and ascore below 3.00 represents a culturalbarrier to PM. It is also assumed thatthe distance above or below 3.00 repre-sents the strength of the cultural sup-port or barrier.

The General Status ofthe Culture ofthe EnterprisesThe general review of the summedscales reveals that DOM does not con-stitute a major cultural barrier forChinese enterprises to use the PM

approach. It obtains the average scoreof 3.04 on the 1-5 scale. The mostimportant theme underlying DOMis harmony (i.e., everyone should keepharmonious relationships with otherpeoples, and should also try his or herbest to assist the maintenance of theharmonious relationships amongthe people or the things around him orher). As part of their national culture,the harmony requirement is well inter-nalized into the Chinese people. Eventhis research selects the DOM's nega-tive aspects for investigation, DOMdoesn't constitute a major cultural bar-rier. Therefore, it could be said thatthe Chinese DOM is consistent with thePM's integration management and itcan support the use ofthe PM approachin Chinese enterprises.

As the research results show, twoimportant cultural barriers are Chinesefamily consciousness and strong hier-archy. They obtain respectively an aver-age score of 2.57 and 2.66 on the 1-5scale. Chinese family consciousness isa major cultural barrier to the develop-ment of a project team. It stresses toestablish and maintain permanentrelationships among people, a group ofsingularity (group members are simi-lar), and guanxi-hased evaluation ofother people. These aspects are oppo-site to PM's requirements of temporaryrelationships, teams of diversity, andperformance-based evaluation. Inaddition, the family consciousnessrequires a clear boundary of the familyand people should clearly identify whois the member of the family and who isnot. In the PM context, a project team

3.?1 ' O.?8

3.34 0.90

3.25 0.91

3.59 D.69

0.205**

0.268**

0.2?8**

Q.313**

should include all key stakeholdersand its boundary is somewhat blurring.The term Project Team is more inclusivethan the one of Family. Therefore, itcouid be said that the Chinese familyconsciousness is too narrow and needsto be expanded so that Chinese enter-prises can use the Western form of proj-ect team more effectively.

Chinese strong hierarchy is basical-ly opposite to PM's horizontal manage-ment. The strong hierarchy can causesignificant difficulties in cross-functional communication and cooper-ation, which are required by the PMapproach. It can also make it difficultfor people to accept the two-boss situa-tion appeared in the matrix form of anorganization. Therefore, it can be saidthat Chinese strong hierarchy is a majorcultural barrier for Chinese enterprisesto use the matrix organizational form,under which many projects are man-aged in the Western countries.

The Chinese boss orientation is alsoa cultural barrier to the use ofthe PM"stask orientation, but it is not as seriousas the above-discussed family con-sciousness and strong hierarchy are. Itobtains an average score of 2.86 on the1-5 scale. There are both consistent andinconsistent aspects between the bossand task orientation. The boss orienta-tion stresses making the boss happy,and the task orientation stresses com-pleting the task. The research resultsshow that the Chinese people generallygive priority to making the boss happy.However, in some cases, it is the samething to make the boss happy and tocomplete the task. People could make

66 September 200? Project Management Journal 001:10.1002/pmj

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September 300?' Project Management Journal DOI: 10.100?/pmj 67

Cultural Barriers to the Use of Western Project Management

Integ/Mean

Horiz/Hiera

Team/Family

Task/Boss

No

- M

Z.79

2.38

2.26

2.62

SD

1.06

0.8?

Q.74

0.84

* ' Correlaiion is significant at the 0 01 level [2-tailed).

Don't Know

M

2.90

2.54

2.44

270

SD

0.94

0.86

0.80

0.89

M

3.48

3.09

3.05

3.35

Yes

Table B: Relationships between further PM training and values/beliefs.

the boss happy by the way of cotuplet-ing the relevant task.

Cultural Differences Among theEnterprises of Different OwnershipsThe cultural differences are obviousamong the enterprises of different own-erships. The enterprises' values/beliefshave moderate and significant correla-tions with their ownership categories.

Among the four categories of own-ership, the state-owned shows signifi-cant cultural barriers in all the four pairsof values/beliefs. Although DOM is, inthe general sense, not a major culturalbarrier, its negative aspect does consti-tute a significant harrier for tlie state-owned enterprises to use the PMapproach. Chinese state-owned enter-prises have heen around since theLiberation (1949), so their structure andculture are usually more traditional.They have more difficulties in develop-ing the PM values/beliefs as an integrat-ed part of their organizational culture.

The joint-stock category is to somedegree improved in all the cultural har-riers, compared to the state-ownedcategory. However, the barriers in fami-ly consciousness, strong hierarchy,and boss orientation still exist in thejoint-stock category. These findings arereasonable hecause the joint-stockenterprises are results of the recentstate-owned enterprise reform andtheir more-than-50% ownership is stillstate-owned. These findings also reflect

that the reform of state-owned enter-prises is more difficult on the culturallevel than on the ownership level.

The enterprises of private and joint-venture categories have no substantialcultural barriers in all the four pairs ofvalues/beliefs. The joint-venture enter-prises ohtain the highest scores in allthe four pairs of values/beliefs amongall the categories of enterprises, show-ing its culture's support of the PMapproach. Private enterprises and jointventures are recent developments inChina. Their structures are more flexi-ble than those of state-owned or joint-stock enterprises. It is much easier forthem to learn and develop the PM val-ues/heliefs. Especially, foreign partnersbring not only funds and technologyinto the joint ventures, but also somework-related values/beliefs. Comparedto the joint-venture enterprises, theprivate enterprises have more difficul-ties in reshaping their traditional val-ues/beliefs, such as from the familyconsciousness to the team conscious-ness and from the boss orientation tothe task orientation.

Cultural Differences Among theEnterprises of Different Operating YearsThe culture of enterprises 16 years andolder is almost the same as the cultureof the state-owned enterprises, show-ing substantial cultural barriers to theuse of the PM approach. This is due tothe fact that the majority of thoseenterprises are state-owned.

SD

0.92

0.92

0.98

0.89

Spearman rho

0.246**

0.281**

0.29?**

0.28?**

The enterprises 11-15 years oldohtain the highest scores in all fourpairs of values/beliefs among all thecategories of enterprises, showing nosubstantial cultural barriers to the PMapproach. The following two reasonscould justify this result:• Those enterprises were established

around the year of 1992, a very impor-tant milestone of China's economicreform. In January 1992, Chineseleader Deng Xiaoping paid an inspec-tion tour to Southern China, where hedelivered a series of speeches to pro-mote China's reform and "opening-up" program.

•Those enterprises already have a rela-tively long history to develop theirorganizational culture, compared tothe younger enterprises of less than 10years old. The literature provides littleevidence ahout how long an organiza-tion needs to develop a mature cul-ture, hut does generally acknowledgethe need of a sufficient time, such asSchein (1992).

PM Trainings Effects on OrganizationalCultureThe research results show that PMtraining and organizational culturehave moderate and significant correla-tions. The more staff in an enterprisethat are PM trained, the more support-ive its culture is ofthe PM approach.

The enterprises with no staffPM-trained have significant cultural

6 8 September 200? Project Management Journal DOU W.1002/pmi

barriers in all the four pairs ofvalues/beliefs. In enterprises with 10%staff PM-trained, the cultural harriersin DOM and boss orientation are over-come or almost overcome, but those infamily consciousness and strong hier-archy still exist (but are improved). Inthe enterprises with 30% staff PM-trained, all the cultural harriers exceptthe strong hierarchy are overcome. Inthe cases of 50%-and-ahove staff PM-trained, none of the cultural harriersto the PM approach exist any more.They obtain scores well above the mid-dle point 3.0 of the 1-5 scale, showingtheir culture's support of the PMapproach.

As shown in Table 5, PM trainingcan well reshape organizational culturetowards the PM values/heiiefs in state-owned, joint-stock, and private enter-prises. PM training does make adifference for state-owned, joint-stock,and private enterprises. The results ofjoint ventures in Tahle 5 are somewhatconfusing, possihiy due to (1) the toosmall number of cases and (2) theirinitial culture (without PM training) isquite supportive ofthe PM approach.

The research results provide furtherempirical evidence to support the state-ment that the purpose of professionaleducation/training is to transmit notonly a body of expert knowledge andskills but also professional values/heiiefsand attitudes (X. Wang, 2001).

The Enterprises' Willingness to ReceivePM Training in the FutureIt is interesting to find out that: (1) themore an enterprise has received PMtraining, the more they would like toreceive in the future, and (2) having nosignificant cultural barriers in all fourpairs of values/beliefs, the "Yes" groupstill would arrange further PM trainingin the following year. On the one hand,(Chinese enterprises' study and use ofthe PM approach are sustainable, andas they continuously study and use it,the cultural harriers can he to a largedegree overcome. On the other, thereare difficulties to sell the PM approachto those Chinese enterprises who have

never received PM training hecause oftheir resistance to the change of theirtraditional cultures (Tahle 6 shows thatthe "No" group has significant culturalharriers in all four pairs of values/beliefs). Since theWestern PM approachis quite new to Chinese enterprises,these results imply a large potential inthe PM training area.

Conclusions and ImplicationsThrough the literature review, thisresearch reveals that the most likelycultural barriers for Chinese enterpris-es to use the PM approach could hesummarized as the following fourpoints:•The Doctrine ofthe Mean that stress-

es to avoid conflict hy pushing dis-agreement under the surface, requirespeople to he less direct and less open,and encourages people to use com-promising and smoothing strategiesfor dealing with conflict.

•The strong hierarchy that requireslarge power distance between superi-or and suhordinator.

• The family consciousness that stress-es long-term relationships, singularityof group, the central role of jiaozhang,and guanxi-OTiented evaluation ofother people.

• The boss orientation that stresses tomake the boss happy and evaluatepeople hy their hierarchical position.

This research provides some empir-ical evidence about the status of theahove cultural harriers in Chineseenterprises. The survey findings couldbe summarized as follows:• In general, the DOM doesn't consti-

tute a major cultural barrier to the useof the PM approach. It is generallyconsistent with the PM's integrationrequirement.

• In general, the major cultural barriersfor Chinese enterprises to use the PMapproach are from the family con-sciousness, strong hierarchy, and hossorientation.

• State-owned enterprises have themost significant cultural barriers in allfour sets of values/heiiefs. They even

have cultural barriers in the DOMvalue/helief. joint-stock enterpriseshave less significant cultural harriersthan state-owned ones, hut still havesignificant cultural harriers in thevalues/beliefs of family conscious-ness, strong hierarchy, and hoss ori-entation. This finding reflects that thereform of state-owned enterprises ismore difficult on the cultural levelthan on the ownership level.

• Private enterprises and joint venturesdon't have significant cultural barri-ers. Their culture represented hy thefour sets of values/beliefs is support-ive of the PM approach. They canlearn and internalize the PM-relevantvalues/heiiefs more easily than state-owned or joint-stock enterprises.Especially, the culture of joint venturesis the most supportive of the PMapproach among the four categoriesof enterprises.

• The enterprises with a long history of16 years and ahove (most of them arestate-owned) have more cultural har-riers than those with a shorter history.The former enterprises have culturalharriers even in the DOM value/helief,and their traditional culture devel-oped in the long history is quite diffi-cult to change.

• PM training has critical impacts onthe culture of Chinese enterprises.The more PM training, the more sup-portive ofthe PM approach an organi-zational culture is. PM training canwell reshape organizational culturetowards the PM values/heiiefs instate-owned, joint-stock, and privateenterprises.

• Chinese enterprises' study and use ofthe PM approach are sustainable. Themore an enterprise receives FM train-ing, the more it would like to receivein the future.

The research findings have impor-tant implications for hoth Chineseenterprises and the PM profession.More and more Chinese enterprises arelearning and practicing the PMapproach, and they need to be aware of

September 200? Project Management Journal " DOh 10.1002/pmj

Cultural Barriers to the Use of Western Project Management

the possible cultural harriers and thenecessity of changes in organizationalculture for them to use the PMapproach. This research has shownthem the four most likely cultural barri-ers and the PM training's impacts onovercoming them. For the PM profes-sion, this research provided someempirical evidence about the culturalaspect of PM, and can further convincepeople that to learn and practice thePM approach is not only to learn andpractice its tools and techniques hutalso to learn, internalize, and practiceits work-related values/heHefs. Thisresearch can also stimulate furtherresearch ofthe same topic hut coveringmore regions of China and even othercountries.

Research LimitationsThis research covered only one region,i.e., Yunnan Province, of China.Compared to the coastal areas, such asShanghai, Zhejiang, and Guangdong, thenon-coastal Yunnan is more traditional.It shouid he noted that China is such ahig country that people from differentregions might be quite different.Although the research findings arereasonable and understandable, theyneed further support from more criticalstatistical analyses, which should behased on a randomly selected larger sam-ple covering various regions of China.Due to these limitations, it is better toregard this research as a pilot exploratorystudy.

AcknowledgmentThis research was financed hy theSocial Research Grant from YunnanUniversity. ••-'-

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Project Management Co. Ltd.(In Chinese)

Xiaojin Wang, PhD, PMP, is associate professor

at Yunnan University, China. He has 13 years of

PM experience on World Bank-financed projects.

He was the first non-North-AmeriC3n winner of

PMI Educational Foundation International

Student Paper Award. He is the author of several

papers published in Project Management

Journal and IntemationalJourncI of Project

Management. He is also the author of Realizing

Your Objectives: Project Management as

Methodology and Volues/Beliefs [People's

Publishing House, 2003, in Chinese].

Lanfeng Liu is a lecturer at Schoo! of

Management, Anhui University, China. She holds

a master's degree in Management Science and

Engineering from Yunnan University, China.

September 200? - Project Management Journal - DOh 10.1002/pmj 7 1

Cultural Barriers to the Use of Western Project Management

Appendix: Questionnaire Items [Translation]In your organization,

1. The usual way for dealing with conflict is to;A. withdraw and let it be B. try every effort to resolve it immediately

2. With respect to project risk, people are usually of:A. weak risk avoidance B. strong risk avoidance

3. Payment to employee is determined by:A. considering an individual's capability B. trying to average among employees

4. Which of tbe following is the most important in resolving work problems:A. guanxi (interpersonal relationship) B. relevant knowiedge and expertise

5. People are encouraged to:A. make innovations B. maintain the status quo

6. If two employees have conflicting/opposite opinions:A. their boss would blame them equally and then B. their hoss would support one of them on the basis of

average their opinions reviewing their opinions

7. Interpersonal relationships are maintained on the basis of employee's:A. pushing disagreement under the surface B. acknowledgment and discussion of disagreement

8. With respect to other employees' excellent work performance, an employee would:A. envy and suppress him or her B. give him or her congratulations

9. While performing their jobs, staff are mainly concerned with:A. not offending others B. getting the job well done

10. Employees' breach of organizational regulation would be punished:A. less than the regulation requires B. strictly as the regulation requires

11. The power distance between superior and subordinator isA. large B. smali

12. The staff disagreeing with their superiors would:A. not put forward their disagreement B. put forward their disagreement

13. Work is performed mainly through:A. the directions from hoss to subordinators B. team cooperation among employees

14. Who plays the most important role in resolving work problems?A. the one on a higher hierarchical position B. the expert/specialist with relevant knowledge

15. When an employee needs to communicate with employees of another department,A. he or she must ohtain permission from his or B. it is allowed for him or her to go without permission from

her hoss his or her boss

16. When making decisions, bosses usually take into account:A. suggestions from employees B. no suggestions from employees

17. Your organization is like:A. a group with equality & interdependence B. a power ladder with strong hierarchy

18. Bosses and employees can:A. discuss with each other equally B. not discuss with each other equally

19. Employees are viewed and respected by their:A. hierarchical positions B. work performance

Continued

7 2 September 2007 Project Management Journal " D0\: 10.1002/pmj

20.

21

22.

23.

24

25

The best award for an employee's excellent work performance is to:A. promote him to a higher position

Employees view others by others'A. kinship/friendship with themselves

Employees are concerned with:A. getting along with all other employees

Opportunities of employee promotion would he given:A. easily to the employees near the boss

B. offer him challenging work opportunity

B. work contributions to the organization

B. forming their own small groups

Organizational regulations can:A. not be broken by any reason

Diverse characteristics of employees are:A. not encouraged to show up

Employees prefer to work together with others ofA. similar personality and background

B. equally to all eligible employees on the basis of their capa-bility and performance

B. beeasily broken because of guanjci

B. encouraged to show up for the purpose of innovation

26.

27. When working in a temporary and not permanent team, employees' work commitment:

B. diverse personality and background

28

29

30

32.

33.

34.

35.

36,

37.

38.

39.

A, would significantly decrease

, Employees prefer to work for:A. a temporary team

, Cross-functional cooperation can:A. not be satisfactorily performed

, Who can play important work roles?A. only some elitists (including superior)

, The ultimate purpose of employees doing work is to:A. complete the work well

Employees' influence comes from:A. their work capability

, Employees' performance appraisal is mainly based on:A. their obedience to the boss

. Employees are concerned with:A. only completing the tasks assigned to them by boss

work assistance

. When doing work, an employee:A. must often guess bis or her boss' intentions

, When assigning work, bosses usually use:A. a directive way

. About the organizational regulations:A. what a boss said can be regarded as part of

the regulations

. Bosses:A. try to hold all authority with themselves

B. would remain the same

B. a permanent team

B. he satisfactorily performed

B. almost everyone has opportunities to play important rolesin something

B. make the boss happy

B. their hierarchical positions

B. their work performance

B. both completing their own tasks and providing others with

B. needs only to concentrate on the work itself

B. a consulting way

B. there are detailed, clear, and operational writtenregulations

B. are result-oriented and try to delegate authority toemployees

When bosses are away, employees' work performance would:A. become significantly poorer B. remain the same

40. When encountering work difficulties, employees usuallyA. wait for directions from boss B. actively seek resolutions

September 200? Project Management Journal DOh 10A002/pmj 7 3