On the cultural profile of project management

The dominance of technical over the behavioral elements of projects is considered as a failure factor in project management (PM). Projects are not just a technocratic solution but also a social system. Thus, the practice of PM, viewed as an overall management approach, is a function of technical competences of PM but also of the presence and development of certain cultural values among the people in the organization. As far as the origin of modern PM comes from Western management culture, the extent of transferability of “Western” PM knowledge in the practice of other countries, whose national cultural peculiarities differ from the Western ones, is questionable. At the same time professional PM training might be instrumental in changing work values as required by the professional PM culture. In addition to national and professional culture, other cultural layers also play a role, for example organizational culture, and personality characteristics of the individual - participant in international projects. It is the responsibility of the very project manager to judge the ratio of influence which various cultural layers exert on the management of each single project. The article aims at assisting international project managers in their judgment about the cultural profile of the projects, they are responsible for.