Image behaviour in international engineering projects: A comparison between South African and Chinese groups

There are many factors outside the control of management that could determine the success or failure of a project, especially when managing international development projects. For an international project manager, understanding key concepts in cross-cultural management and project management is the basic requirement in the era of globalization. “Face/image” is a critical cultural issue for achieving project success in Chinese community because it represents prestige, respect, dignity and social status. In this article, the “Face/image” behaviour of Chinese project managers is assessed in a cultural context and the “Face/image” behaviour effect on five project activities (project communication, negotiation, conflict resolution, contract process and team building) is studied. This is an empirical study using surveys to explore the cultural differences between Chinese and South African engineering project managers on “Face/image” behaviour and the effects on the five project management activities. Although, the questionnaire is designed based on Chinese culture, South African project managers have also been asked to participate in order to illustrate the differences where applicable. The results showed that are significant differences between the Chinese and South African project managers in their “Face/image” behaviour on three project activities. However, during the project contract process and project team building, there seems to be no significant difference between their “Face/image” behaviours.