| dc.description.abstract | Cultural differences are one of the important factors that can affect whether an
international project is going to be a success or failure. Therefore, it is important to be
aware of the cultural differences and to take them into consideration when managing an
international project.
The thesis has conducted a cross-cultural analysis of the Norwegian culture in
FMC Technologies and the French culture in TOTAL E&P. The framework for this
analysis has been the on-going international subsea project Pazflor. The data that is the
basis for the analysis is a combination of data and conclusions from other researchers on
similar topics, and in-depth interviews of eight Project Managers from
FMC Technologies and TOTAL E&P. The in-depth interviews, which were partly based
on a research article by Johnny Wong, Philco N. K. Wong and Li Heng in 2006, have
been done at the facilities at FMC Technologies in Asker. The interviews lasted for
approximately one hour and were tape recorded and thereafter written down. All the
interviews in the thesis are given as appendixes.
The results gathered from the research have a foundation from relevant theory which
strengthens the quality of the thesis. Theory from among others Hofstede’s Five
Dimensions of National Culture, Hall’s Low-Context-High-Context Approach and
research conducted by Trompenaars & Hampden-Turner has been used, and this theory
has contributed to either confirm or showing the conflicts with the results gathered from
the in-depth interviews
The thesis has been limited to focus on the challenges that have been evolved as a
consequence of the cultural differences. Certainly there would be many differences that
could affect Project Management in a positive way, but the focus has been on the
challenges.
Through the cross-cultural analysis the biggest differences between the Norwegian and
the French cultures lies in the control by the hierarchy, the level of need for knowing
details before making decisions, the concern of loosing “face” in public, the importance
of not showing disagreement with an authority in public and the concern about not
offending others in public. These differences may have affected Project Management in
Pazflor with regards to among others time consumption, control and predictability,
creativity, decision making, negotiations, efficiency, and some other aspects.
The results gathered from the research have a foundation from relevant theory which
strengthens the quality of the thesis.
The thesis contains a presentation of relevant theory and the research methods that have
been used. Further on, it gives a presentation of the results and makes an analysis based
on the findings. Finally, the thesis discusses the results and analysis before drawing conclusions. | en |
