IPD from a culture perspective

This chapter focussed on the IPD-alliance workplace culture and how it enables collaboration. One aspect of the chapter that introduces new ideas about PM for highly relational IPD projects, such as for alliances, is that there is a pressing need for alliance team members to have considerable cultural-cognitive ability. This may be demonstrated by, for example, awareness of the national-culture dimensions of people from a different culture. To be able to engage in effective dialogue in re-framing a workplace culture to effectively meet the needs of the project, a person needs to understand ‘the other’ culture so that assumptions can be explored and examined and so that the kind of hybridisation discussed by Matinheikki et al. (2017; 2018) can effectively take place. The chapter explained the cultural dimensions offered by Hofstede et al. (2010) to provide readers with some baseline cognitive-mapping ability. The GLOBE study literature and dimensions were also discussed (House et al., 2004; Chhokar et al., 2008) and compared with that of Hofstede et al. (2010). The other elements of professional culture and workplace culture were also discussed, with an important new insight being drawn from the culture chapter content, so that Figure 10.3 could be introduced to readers to better understand cultural learning complexity and the impact of the different learning styles of people on how they perceive learning. This could also help people to be better positioned to understand how best to frame their ideas when engaged in collaborative dialogue with others so that any re-framing may occur to enable co-creation of ideas rather than being coerced. Mechanisms and processes ensuring that an institutionalised IPD project culture supports collaboration were then explored. Primarily, badging, the ‘big-room’ concept and affiliation mechanisms were referred to, with an illustration of how an ambience for collaboration may be created.