Evaluating the influence of the Mexican culture and team alignment on the success of a culturally diverse project in a global environment

M.Ing. (Engineering Management)Abstract: The objective of this research is to develop an approach to design management of multinational construction engineering projects with a strong Mexican influence. This research focused particularly on the following elements of design management: •Project success as a key objective of design management. •The effect of team alignment on project success. •The influence of culture and in particular Mexican culture on team alignment. Roles, hierarchy, planning and control are influenced by multi-enterprise collaborations, this in turn affects project performance and organizational operability. A number of international, multicultural projects have experienced challenges in executing project successfully as a result of team misalignment at a cultural level. Current research published has focused on the various cultural influences in engineering projects yet limited attention to Mexican cultural influences in mega engineering projects undertaken by multinational teams in Mexico. To achieve the research objective, three research questions are addressed through case study of a multinational engineering design project in Mexico, the case study are complemented with focused interviews of 5 key participants in the project. The results are comparatively analysed against literature on these topics to ensure reliability and viability of the conclusions. The final conclusions of this research suggest that when embarking on a multinational engineering design project in Mexico or with a strong influence of the Mexican culture, team alignment is key to achieving project success in terms of time and quality. The Mexican influence on team alignment is most significant in alignment of culture and goals. To improve team alignment and thus project success of such projects it is suggested that design project management ensure that teams are familiar with the Mexican culture and that the project goals / expectations are also aligned with the Mexican culture