1. Multinational / Multicultural Teams in Offshore IT Projects
Suhail Iqbal, PE, PMP, MCT
SysComp International (Pvt.) Ltd.

2. Multinational / Multicultural Teams in Offshore IT Projects
INTRODUCTION
Multinational / Multicultural Teams in Offshore IT Projects

3. PRESENTATION SEQUENCE
INTRODUCTION
ADVANTAGES OF OFFSHORE IT PROJECTS
TEAMWORK ISSUES CAUSED BY MULTINATIONAL / MULTICULTURAL ENVIRONMENT
BEST PRACTICES
CONCLUSION

4. WHAT IS OUTSOURCING?

5. OUTSOURCING Outsourcing Defined Variety of Sourcing Concepts
Purchasing
Outsourcing
In-sourcing
Onshore
Offshore
Virtual Project Management

6. ADVANTAGES OF OFFSHORE IT PROJECTS

7. REASONS FOR OUTSOURCING
Reduce and control operating costs
Improve host company focus
Gain access to world-class capabilities
Free internal resources for other purposes
A function is time-consuming to manage or is out of control
Insufficient resources are available internally
Share risks with a partner company

8. TYPES OF INTERNATIONAL OUTSOURCING
Table 1 – Types of International Outsourcing
(Mette, et al., 2005)

9. TYPES OF OUTSOURCING COSTS
Production costs are either the costs of internal production or the price of direct purchase.
Bargaining costs include the following kinds of costs;
costs arising from negotiating contract details per se;
costs of negotiating changes to the contract in the post-contract stage, when unforeseen circumstances arise;
costs of monitoring whether performance is being adhered to by the other party, and
costs of disputes, which arise if neither party wishes to utilize pre-agreed-to resolution mechanisms, especially ‘contract breaking’ mechanisms.
Opportunism costs are governance costs arising due to the opportunity.

10. BENEFITS OF OUTSOURCING
A technical and functional edge on the competition, without capital investment.
Faster development and start up
Lower cost or Cost Reduction
Enhanced performance
A better-managed e-business infrastructure
Quality Improvement
Delivery Improvement
Reliability Improvement
Security (can also be construed as a disadvantage or a limitation when using internet).
Maximizes uptime
A more effective operating environment at the backend.

11. TEAMWORK ISSUES CAUSED BY MULTINATIONAL / MULTICULTURAL ENVIRONMENT

12. TEAMWORK ISSUES Project Infrastructure Communication Language Barriers
Face to Face Communication
Information Redundancy
Time
Proper Security
Motivation
Cultural Differences
Conflict Resolution
Trust
Project Team Knowledge And Cross-Team Collaboration

13. BEST PRACTICES

14. FACTOR REINFORCING MODEL
Figure 1 & 2 – Factor Reinforcing Model for VPM
(Iqbal, et al., 2005)

15. BEST PRACTICES
Members in a distributed project management environments often have expertise in a specific area, so there is a great need for knowledge sharing via effective communication and knowledge management techniques.
Initial face-to-face communication is an essential prerequisite in establishing higher levels of trust and motivation among mangers working from geographically dispersed locations.
Managers or team leaders must play as a communication bridge between the two developers of virtual teams in order to minimize conflict.
A single communication point is a must to avoid redundancy and conflict.
For effective communication, the appropriate use of telephones, video-conferencing and face-to-face meetings should be considered essential.
Clear ownership, roles and responsibilities are essential. Leaders should play an effective role to implement these processes.

16. CONCLUSION

17. Contact Information
Suhail Iqbal, PE,PMP, MCT
SysComp International (Pvt.) Ltd.
House No. 374, Street 13, F-10/2, Islamabad, 44000, PAKISTAN
Ph: , FAX: