The purpose of the chapter is to address the importance of building the project team in order to contribute to maximize the number of project success histories in an international context. The design science research methodology allowed, based on the literature review on the thematic domain, to elaborate a reference framework in order to obtain the scientific validation of the work. The main conclusions focus on presenting the added value of the team building in the implementation and adaptation of software products. The need to define strategies when setting up the teams is emphasized, so that specialists are incorporated in the various domains, taking into account the specificity of the country in which the project will take place. Thus, the definition of team formation policies is considered a differentiating factor, in order to include the knowledge in the domains of the culture of the country, organizational culture and current legal and fiscal frameworks as well as the interpersonal relations component.
TopIntroduction
The use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) to support Information Systems (IS) and people management activities provide a competitive advantage and a contribution to the promotion of more sustainable and inclusive development models (Reis, Silveira, Carvalho, Mata, & Madeira, 2020) in the long term, enhancing innovative solutions.
The ICT sector has concerns in implementing green IT policies, actively contributing to the sustainability of the sector. Thus, it is important that when a project starts it has underlying sustainability policies replicable in different departments/projects thus reinforcing the importance for the organization and the relevance of the results achieved from a sustainability perspective.
Currently, the most common business processes, of organizations are supported by generic software pro-ducts (Silveira, 2006), such as Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) or Enterprise Systems (ES). The implementation/customization/adaptation of these products sets important challenges to the teams. It is very important that the project team understands better what are the obstacles to ICT implementation and what initiatives are needed to overcome them (Gichoya, 2005). In this sense, the issue of setting up and managing international teams in the scope of parameterization/customization of generic software products is addressed.
Another issue to take into account and try to avoid, it is the failure of realizing expected IT-induced benefits has led to a growing number of senior executives to question the value of IT investments (Stewart, 2008). In practice, about 25% of the organizations felt it necessary to customize the software in order to support unique business processes, even though customization normally amounted to time and cost overruns (Sumner, 2018).
Based on a well-designed and accepted project plan by all, the authors (Smith, Bruyns, & Evans, 2011), believe that to improve the chances of success in a project, ICT project managers should have a positive but realistic degree of optimism. Although the project team should wait and be confronted with stress during the project, it must be carefully managed.
For (Luckmann, 2015) successful projects it is needed to effectively involve the project customers, and the key issue is in the proper involvement of international customers with different cultural backgrounds.
International projects, (Schibi & Lee, 2015), can be considered as the means by which organizations achieve objectives and meet customer needs. Successful project implementation is critical to the performance of an organization and overall profitability. It is therefore considered that the responsible person for the international team should have specific project management skills and the ability to integrate a solid culture of project management.
The process of recruiting and selecting members, (Ekwoaba, Ugochukwu, & Ufoma, 2015), for the establishment of a multidisciplinary team in the context of international projects is crucial to the success of the project. Thus, it is considered that the success of any organization or the efficiency in the provision of services depends on the process of recruiting quality and the workforce recruited for this purpose.
Integration can be considered, (Baiden, Price, & Dainty, 2006), as the fusion of different disciplines or organizations with different objectives, needs and cultures into a cohesive and mutually supported unit. Integrated approaches require individuals of various specialties to work together, to achieve common project objectives through information sharing. Thus, it is considered that a multidisciplinary team can constitute added value in the context of International Projects.
Devaluing the evaluation of barriers to effective implementation, monitoring and evaluation of international projects can condition the success of the project (Tengan & Aigbavboa, 2016). The training of the institutions where the projects are implemented cannot be underestimated. It is not surprising that this variable has occurred as the most critical challenge of monitoring and evaluating projects in the specific context of the country. The authors, (Callistus & Clinton, 2018), emphasize the importance given to monitoring and evaluating the entire project implementation process to ensure the successful completion of projects.