Culture Analysis Paper

Culture Analysis Paper

Companies and organizations have the ability to thrive or plummet when the time comes to implement a new project. Project management has become one of the cornerstones to successfully expanding customer base and even maintaining a good relationship with existing customers. Now more than ever project management is almost an essential part for organizations. It has become so important that project management is now not just a job for a manager. It is the responsibility of many of the workers in an organization. As the world becomes more globally connected, the need for project managers with larger skill sets continues to grow. Many projects today are global projects that have far-reaching impact on all those involved. “Global projects often require the project manager to resettle in a foreign environment to manage a project. Cross-cultural considerations become extremely important and require a great deal of the project manager’s attention. For example, in Japan project managers are not as sensitive to time as a constraint as a project manager trained in the States. However, if the same manager were to be sent to Israel to manage a project, time would be very important as a project constraint.” (Gray and Larson p.2) Not only are cross-cultural ties important in today’s society, but the culture within the organization plays an important role in the lives of everyone who is touched by each and every project. For the purpose of this paper, I will analyze the relationships among organizational culture, project structure, and project resources for Siemens Medical Solutions because I have first-hand experience with some of the project management team in the Seattle area.

Organizational culture shapes every dimension of project management. It is defined as “the shared beliefs and values that influence the behavior of organizational members” (Schermerhorn, Hunt, Osborn p.25). When I think about the organizational culture of the company I work for, Siemens Medical Solutions, I think about how much the organization has evolved into what it is today. I have not worked with Siemens for very long, but in talking with the older generation, I am able to see how far the organization has progressed both technologically and diversely. Siemens first started out as a German company that was a big supplier to Germany’s war effort. One could imagine the negative connotation this would impress as Siemens began its quest to expand to other countries. The attitude at the workplace used to be one of very strict policy and unwavering standards. Today, though, Siemens has become one of the biggest companies in the world in terms of employees largely due to desire to fully embrace the concept of diversity in the workforce. Through this diversity, Siemens has a new organizational culture that many companies would love to emulate. The flow of communication both internally and externally is one of the biggest reasons for the continued success Siemens has experienced. Internally communication flows upward and downward in semi-formal fashion. However, it makes sense and is understood that the farther up the chain of command