A Contract Manager Abroad: Cultural Awareness in Asia

When western workers go to Asia to work, they need to learn about the culture of a country that they live in. So, the manager should avoid unnecessary problem that related to cultural differences. To avoid unnecessary problems, managers need to overcome not only the obvious language difficulties but also differing corporate cultures, work methods, national cultures, and beliefs. These problems can be best overcome by adopting a holistic approach and accepting that neither the Western way nor the Eastern way is the only way to manage.

In order to avoid unnecessary problem related to culture differences, contract-based project can be the best choice. In Asia, negotiations can be somewhat of a ritual at times where co-operation and mutual good faith resolution between the parties are always anticipated not least because the avoidance of litigation is a predominant feature (Low, 1996). This may not, in theory, be so far removed from the fundamental principles of the New Engineering Contract (NEC) contracts in the UK. Western contract managers need to adopt a holistic way of contract management thinking and to utilize return of personal
experiences, in particular those associated with cross-cultural management and politics, to organize multinational dispersed e-teams in accordance with a clear matrix of responsibilities based upon the trust equation of computer-mediated communication, competence, credibility, consistency, support, respect and honesty to achieve good collaboration.