Project management and the intercultural research – the project iGOES as a case study

Abstract

This is the description of characteristics of successful projects developed in international perspective taking as an example the project entitled iGOES, international Generalization of Expatriate Success Factors. The placement of international staff at work is growing and playing an important role in the development of organizations in the future. Improve their performance and increase their chance of success in new work situations depend on the knowledge gained through secure research with equivalent instruments in international perspective. Survey data in different cultures on the subject of expatriation, the example of criteria for the transfer of employees hired by international companies, their adaptability to new cultural environments and performance in these new situations have been studied only partially and unsystematically. At the same time, managers with international reach believe, in most cases, the success of employees who are in this situation have the same characteristics regardless of their country of origin or destination. For the treatment of questions related to cultural adequacy of projects it was used different instruments such as interviews, questionnaires and psychological tests. With these resources it was possible to raise and increase the knowledge on adaptation and performance of respondents. With the help of appropriate research tools, with the collaboration among different research teams and with no international institutional support it was possible to survey a sample that allows generalization of results on expatriate employees. Therefore, the project iGOES presented itself as the largest project in the field of diagnostic research on expatriation, in which all cultural clusters in the world are taken into account.